One of blogging’s greatest strengths is its accessibility and low bar for entry. An unhoused person on a public library computer has the same springboard as everyone else when it comes to making words appear on a screen for all to see. The other edge to this sword is that it’s so accessible it becomes harder and harder to stand out and be heard in the first place. There’s also competition from the other mediums, namely video. Just like books and television, why actively read a story when you can passively watch it? We can talk about how this relates to personal taste and strength of character until doomsday, suffice to say there is no accounting for taste and everyone’s time is precious.
Whenever I’m not talking about religion on Quora, I’m usually answering questions about YouTube, especially how to get started and what to expect in terms of return on investment (respective answers typically being “don’t” and “nothing”). One piece of advice I always place above anything else when it comes to producing any video content is to focus on your audio quality. People will forgive a mediocre or otherwise uninteresting image so long as the audio is good (and this is important for later). However, unless you’re showing off some amazing travel footage or animation or funny/adorable pets, bad audio can bring down the entire viewing experience. If people have to crank their volume up to make out your breathy mumbles or you’re drowned out despite volume because of bad acoustics, it’s just as easy (if not easier) for them to find something else to tune in to than to give you the benefit of the doubt you’ll get better with more uploads. As I’ve said, time is precious and the most important task ahead of you in content creation is not to waste your audience’s time.
I started thinking about this again while perusing some gaming trivia channels like Did You Know Gaming and Matt McMuscles. Recently, they began making compilation videos of their content. Given the move toward shorter form content thanks to TikTok, this seemed a bold move. Their respective explanations were nearly identical.
Alongside shorter video content, there also seems to be an equal or greater need for content so long form that the already passive viewing experience becomes more so. Streaming has grown in popularity to where many YouTube content creators have all but abandoned posting content in favor of livestreams, especially in the gaming sphere. I’ve never been a big fan of streaming, be it for games or art or even simple meetups. The former two remind me of that Vladimir Nabokov quote about exhibiting rough drafts. I’d rather hear the collected and clarified thoughts on a game than watch someone play through the entire thing while occasionally commenting on the goings-on. As for the latter, I can understand the appeal, as some streamers’ sessions can go on for hours, starting in the early evening and into well past midnight. People generally aren’t glued to their screens for this entire length of time, with many simply leaving it on in the background while doing other things.
That’s exactly the reason McMuscles and DYKG gave for their longer compilation videos. They aren’t meant to be viewed in a single sitting as much as they’re meant to merely have on while their listeners do housework or study or relax or whatever else doesn’t require their complete and full attention. Matt McMuscles trademark series Wha Happun has a visual element, sure, but it’s not especially important. They’re predominantly narration over b-roll of whatever game or franchise is being discussed. The same goes for the majority of posts from Did You Know Gaming, where the visual element is almost inconsequential to the audio. These have more in common with podcasts than typical video content.
Touching back on low bars for entry, producing broadcast quality audio hasn’t had nearly as low a bar for entry as blogging, but it more than outpaces produces broadcast quality video. While the majority of 4K footage on the web is shot with GoPro action cameras, it still isn’t on the level of producing a short film or full series. Home movies in 4K are still home movies. As for audio, even NPR professionals have resorted to using their iPhones for recording purposes. Of course, just like the video comparison, having the means to make broadcast quality audio isn’t the entire equation. It would be easy enough for me to use my Zoom H2N and GarageBand to put together an audio component to this blog, and I’m no stranger to recording narration for various purposes, but that’s not the full picture. Acoustics elude me because of living circumstances, and for as self-conscious as I am when I’m simply putting sentences together, I’m easily ten times worse when it comes to reading a script aloud over and over again. It’s like what Douglas Adams once said about Dictaphones, how the button to start the recording is the same button that turns your brain off. In fact, it almost seems to require a whole different style of writing as we don’t technically speak punctuation. We speak in pauses, accents, and volumes. It’s not quite the same as semicolons, exclamation marks, and ellipses.
In any case, it’s merely something I’ve been thinking about trying. Goodnight, and good luck.
Decay-Proof Record Scroll 