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January 04, 2005
Podcast Review: The Bitterest Pill
This entry posted in:
4 stars
, I subscribe
, Podcast Review
Format: online blog post
Content: Comedy, commentary and music from a stay-at-home dad/shut in
Rating: 
What I'm going to do: listen often
Typical Length: 20 - 30 minutes
I recently spoke to Daniel Tierdiman for his latest article on podcasting (Wired News: You, Too, Can Be a Podcaster, if you're interested). He didn't use much of what we talked about, probably because the other folks he talked to (Dave Slusher, Doc Searls, Carl Franklin, and Andrew Leyden, to name a few) had much more interesting and insightful things to say.
All of this is related to The Bitterest Pill. Really.
One of the things I mentioned that Daniel also heard from a much more thoughtful voice was in response to the question "What's most important in a podcast?" My answer was "honesty", which is where Dan Klass and The Bitterest Pill come in.
"Comedy, commentary and music from a stay-at-home dad/shut in" is the tagline for The Bitterest Pill, and that's pretty much what you get. Dan used to be a stand-up comedian and is now an actor, not to mention a shut-in. Dan makes the most of the fleeting moments he can grab while his young daughter naps, and we get pretty much all of it, from chance encounters with his slightly older son to phone calls to the faltering, frustration, and confusion involved in trying to learn something new while the world is watching. Dan mostly edits pretty lightly, resulting in some definite rough-around-the-edges 'casts, which is part of the charm of The Bitterest Pill. Dan is at heart a performer, and even in the depths of technological hell he keeps the patter going and salvages some humor about the situation. In fact, as Dan's become more adept at podcasting some of what entertained me about his earlier work has evaporated. Not to worry; as he's had to expend less energy fighting the tools (or has become resigned to them), he's filled the gaps with insightful commentary about his life, and by extension ours.
As a comedian, Dan has a sharp eye for the foibles and follies of human nature, especially his own, and his commentary is wry and self-deprecating. It's also broader than his life alone, as a lot of his observations apply to other humans as well (or at least they do to me). A case in point is Dan's retelling of the story of his family's most recent Christmas Tree buying foray. As Dan describes the emotions that caught him up, I could replay those same feelings in myself in other situations. His relationships with his children, to the extent that we are witness to them, are also heart-warming. To my mind, The Bitterest Pill is one of the most honest pieces of podcasting out there right now.
Dan's audio is generally good, although there are times when he gets a little too far from the mic and is hard to hear. There's little distortion and the levels are comfortable and even between vocals and music. Production values are pretty high as well, with the fades well-executed and the music choices integrated nicely. Dan's encoding at 96 kps, which might be a little high, but not outrageous.
Dan usually plays music at the end of the podcast, so musical track lengths are not as important as they might be (although they're always nice to have (rant)). Podcast track tagging is adequate, with the title including the podcast number and often a brief synopsis of the contents and the album title representing the podcast channel name. File naming, on the other hand, could be a little better, usually consisting of "BP" and the 'cast number - at least the full name of the podcast would be much appreciated, and the addition of a date-stamp would be great (rant).
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Tagged: podcast podcasting review
Posted by cori at January 4, 2005 12:16 AM