Andrew Dubber

I do a weekly jazz show on Rhubarb Radio – an internet-only radio station based in the Custard Factory. I’ve been doing it for a little while, and we’re pretty much left to our own devices.

Over the Christmas period, there seems to have been one or two unattended-to technical issues that I faced today. For a start, the speakers didn’t go off when the mic came on (a genuine problem in radio studios, because of microphone feedback) – so we were having to remember to turn the volume down before speaking.

That was one of the problems – though not the worst of them…

This one goes out…
I’ve also been messing with the video camera this week and so I thought I’d capture some stuff, do a rough edit and throw it up online. I asked Ringo, who does the rock & roll show before my jazz show if he’d mind me filming one of his voice breaks for my blog.

“Who reads your blog?” he asked.
“Um… my parents do…”
“What are their names?”

And so a dedication from the other side of the world. Not bad going. Only one hitch: the station’s live stream was broken today. I don’t know if Ringo was aware of this – but nobody heard either of us today.

Still, it was worth continuing, simply because the station automatically records everything and throws it into a Listen Again system – which means that even though I had what might have been the world’s first totally silent specialist jazz radio programme, you’ll still (eventually) be able to hear it.

The rough video edit you see above is a little lacking in finesse because cut-and-paste in QuickTime is way simpler than doing sophisticated transitions and titles in iMovie (for which I have very little patience).

This is just to give a taste anyway – and I was only playing with the technology.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year, everyone by the way…

Tagged: arts, Birmingham, Custard Factory, IMovie, Internet, jazz, Music, QuickTime, Radio broadcasting, rhubarb, Video camera