Okay... Clearly we've missed our Halloween launch.

Let me explain why in this State of the Podcast Address.

I realized that I bit off a little more than I could chew. The #1 stumbling block I tripped over was music and sound effects.

If I were only giving away HMW for free, there would be tons of resources available. Since we do plan on selling CDs eventually, we either have to buy the rights to music and sfx or we have to use public domain resources. So what does that mean?

Public domain means that it belongs to all of us and can be repackaged, reworked and sold by anybody. Most anything that was written or recorded prior to 1962 are now in the public domain unless the copyrights have been renewed. Dracula and Frankenstein are in the public domain, but Superman, Tarzan and Mickey Mouse aren't.

Public domain music is tricky because you have pay attention to when it was recorded and the release date. Sure Bach's complete works are in the public domain, but you can't use a Yo-Yo Ma recording of it. So if you can't find what you need, you have to buy the rights. Music rights can run from $30 to $300+ depending on the piece. I did contact a composer who was willing to contribute original music, but we've fallen out of touch and I'm trying to get ahold of him again.

Decent public domain sound effects are few and far between. While I could buy a large sound effects package pretty reasonably, I'd be lucky if I could use 10% of them. Modern and science fiction sfx aren't of any use to this project. I have yet to find offerings of "period" sfx packages (Victorian, Old West, WWI, WWII). So I'm working with a professional sfx company and building a package of the effects I'll need. Since I don't have deep pockets, I have to be conservative and get as few effects as I can get away with.

Yes, I can and will have to record some of my own sfx, but I want to do as little of that as possible.

So as of this writing here we are.

• We have 2 episodes and our first promo recorded waiting for music and sfx.

• I have some public domain music selected that should work well, and will soon have the sfx.

• I have concept plots for about 40 episodes and detailed (script-ready) plots for two episodes.

• I have a finished script that needs a little reworking.

• I'd prefer to have the first 6 episodes (5 for the free podcast and the 6th for the 1st CD collection) finished and in the can before we launch, and have at least two more recorded and ready to mix.

Since my process is a) concept, b) detail plot, c) draft script, d) final script, e) recording, f) mixing; I'm going to get those detail plots into draft stage and get more concepts into detail plot stage.

And with sfx in hand I can start mixing. As I build up more experience mixing I should be able to improve my 1 hour mix time to 1 minute of episode, ratio.

I should be recording again by the end of January, and shoot for a spring launch.

Here's hoping!

Baxter