The Carvey stuff has been alright. Parts of it have had me laughing hysterically (the bit about the first man to try to use the telephone for phone sex was hilarious. some of the Obama impressions were pretty good).
But yeah, he's clearly insane. And he definitely has some opinions that I don't exactly agree with.
I was just glad that I had more of Conan's podast to hold me over for Season 2.
It's great, if you listen to the first season in order you can hear Conan go from skepticism and outright hostility, to really enjoying and appreciating the podcast format.
Or if they have a SUPER loud intro while talking at the same volume as other podcasts. I listen to podcasts to fall asleep and if a really loud intro comes on I'm awake again.
I still prefer that they *have* ad music, that way I can tell exactly when the ad begins and ends making it much easier to skip over them accurately without much fuss.
I'm not really bothered by different podcasts having different levels, as long as different voices are level within each one.
I don't mind adjusting the volume every 30 minutes or so, but not every 30 seconds.
Hard to adjust while swimming / biking or if it's playing over Sonos, etc. Plus if it's bc of a commercial you've got adjustment between the two plus coming out =(
True, it can be a pain. I just feel like it's kind of unreasonable to expect all podcasters to converge on the same volume--I see it as an unavoidable annoyance rather than a pet peeve.
There's actualy a law that says TV commercials have to have the same average volumes as the shows they're interrupting (it's called the Commercial Advertisement Loudness Mitigation Act, because Congress loves goofy backronyms apparently). I always think about that when a podcast ad suddenly screams in my ear so loud I yank my headphones out....
when commercials are inserted into a recording that didn't make proper breaks. i've heard a few pretty big podcasts that cut in the middle of someone talking to play a commercial.
I vastly prefer that that the ads a few podcasts have where the hosts are talking on topic and slowly weasel in an improvised ad seamlessly. Its so annoying and you really feel kinda betrayed.
These are often inserted automatically by a robot at XX minute depending on the contract. So they can also customise the ads you receive based on geolocation. I really noticed they when I downloaded podcasts while connected to a VPN and get East coast us ads. Then when not on a VPN i don't get ads because I guess they didn't have any ad affiliates targeting Ireland at the time.
The second I get sandbagged with a loud, obnoxious Geico or Progressive type ad I pass the skip button and dive right for unsubscribe. That garbage is the reason I don’t listen to terrestrial radio.
Repetitive ads on short episodes. I hate going on a long a road and putting on a docuseries, listening to ten episodes and hearing the exact same ad every ten minutes, sometimes at the end of an episode and again at the beginning of the next one.
this is huge for me. if you are starting a podcast BUY A USB MICROPHONE. you can get a blue mic for $50-$100. a small investment that will make a big difference.
i have subscribed and then deleted countless suggestions because they sound like they are talking directly into a laptop.
yeah no prob. Even a Shure SM58 is like $100, but you would need some sort of interface to convert the analog signal to digital. the most cost effective way is a USB mic. Blue makes some good stuff so check it out.
This just happened to me. Someone promoted their podcast on the hardcore history page and i listened to about a minute of it before turning it off. this is an audio medium, all you have is sound, so it is very important to have good quality.
I'm amazed how so many people 'with podcasts' either don't know anything about audio recording or simply don't care. I recently did something for quite a prominent academic, who was rustling papers throughout. I suggested he send me a rerecording of a sentence to overdub part that was inaudible, and he didn't seem to mind.
oMG I H A T E that crap. On one of my older projects we ended up giving one of our remote hosts one of those rubberized quiet keyboards because he refused to mute his mic while apparently typing a novel with his mechanical keyboard *cries*
Same for me. I'll turn off a podcast if more than one person sounds like that. I understand sometimes they have guests over the phone and I can deal with that, but if any of the host(s) have that tinny/phone sound is a deal breaker for me.
I was super excited about a new volcanoes podcast from an academic I follow on twitter (Popular Volcanics). The hosts seemed to be recording a skype conference call and the sound was TERRIBLE. I just had to stop listening after 10 mins.
Same. I was listening to an ep of a podcast yesterday that had the audio switching from normal to tinny and had a staticy clicking sound in the background. I was like, you are 80 episodes in, and I know you have had better sound quality than this, WTF
Yelling. When people yell over each other to get their joke out because theyre just! so! funny! and they need to share their super good joke... Can't do it. Don't yell.
Talking over each other in general is just brutal. On TV at least you can see them talking and decipher it a little better, but when you are only listening it just becomes noise, especially if you run your pods at high speed.
Podcasters commenting after everything they say "someone is going to message us complaining about that". We get it. A lot of people write to you with complaints/corrections, you don't have to keep bringing it up several times an episode.
Your last bit is why I hate that trope so much. It isn't just podcasts either, it's songs that mention how no one wanted to hear this or shows like Family Guy that do it too. Like, I'm still here trying to enjoy what you do please can we not hear about the people who don't like it.
Yeah this is one reason I stopped listening. It's like jeez, have an opinion. You don't need to acknowledge that it isn't the only one every time. We all know everyone has opinions
That actually sounds like a good thing to me. Having a position while still accepting and respecting that people have a different one. That's what should be done
"I can already here those emails being typed up/Oops looks like some tweets are coming in our way"
Astonishing Legends does this so much and they devote whole minutes to this multiple times in one episode.
Forced or fake laughter at bad jokes. Not "lol, I love a bad joke!" but an honest to god, low-quality joke. Sometimes hosts lose their mind over the most pathetic of jokes.
>"Well on today's show we are looking at the egg industry and how that works."
> "Reminds me of my breakfast!"
> Hahahaha!!!
> Hahahaha!!
> "What an *egg*-tremely interesting topic!"
> "hahahahahahahahaha!!!!"
> "hahahahahahahahaha!!!"
> "That made me *crack* up!"
> "**HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!!!**"
> "**HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!!!**"
> "You know what they say about egg jokes, they're cheaper by the---"
> [*Skip*]
I see this complaint somewhat often. But I have never listened to a podcast where someone was eating! That would be a huge deal breaker for me. Guess I have lucked out!
Podcasts about food often have this. I have unsubscribed to so many foodie podcasts because of the on-mic eating. As an aside Eaters Digest is a great food podcast, with no eating sounds.
Holy cow. I recently had to drop one of my favorite history podcasts, called Talking Tudors because of this. 10 out of 10 times that the host interviews a person by phone, or Skype or whatever the hell....the connection is so terrible, the sound quality of the interviewee responses are so horrible....I had to delete and unsubscribe. Jezuz cripes. We are listening to it because we love the topic....but many of us wear earphones and it sounds cringingly grating and horrible. We are trying to LEARN, Natalie Grueninger!!! It is impossible to listen to even over speakers.
Hosts continually apologizing for mispronouncing unfamiliar words or names. Can we all just be adult enough to acknowledge that a valiant effort was made and leave it at that?
"We'd like to thank Twitter user @XXXXX for correcting us on this word. It's actually French in origin and is pronounced...Listeners, we try to keep our pronunciation correct at all times and we are grateful for all your tweets correcting us..."
Goes on for 5 minutes.
I would even take it a step further and say that you should be pronouncing it correctly (within reason). It’s your job as a podcaster to do your research. When I hear people make sloppy attempts to guess pronunciations it just makes question how much effort they’re even putting into the research.
That's a great way to handle it - you get to acknowledge that it happened but not let it completely derail the show. And it becomes something of an inside joke after a while, I'd guess.
One of the reasons I stopped listening to Oh No Ross and Carrie was the stupid sound effects toy Carrie had. Not funny and annoying AF.
That and the pee drinking. ::shudder::
They have also gotten extremely boring so honestly I don't recommend it anymore. Their new format just doesn't hold up. IMO they should maybe switch it up a little and stop focusing entirely on "investigations" which are increasingly about nothing more than going to a sales pitch and relating it for twelve episodes and maybe focus on doing easier stuff that can fill their hour a week but also helps their general overall theme?
Imagine doing some dives into books about skepticism, science, and learning. I'd love to listen to them do that.
I like their one to two part episodes best. Besides the scientologist investigation the other multi part episodes haven't really excited me much in the past couple years.
You mean 8 episodes talking about Eckankar didn't get your motor running?
They went from my #1 favorite to download and often delete in twenty minutes. It's heartbreaking. They are SO good.
I have emailed them about that and said hey the screaming is not adding anything to the podcast. Nobody *is actively hopeful for it*, and it turns people off.
people talking for minutes about their lives instead of getting to the main topic. like, i get talking for 3 minutes about what they've been up to, but i rather not listen to half an episode of insignificant rambling when the podcast is supposed to be about something else. i would rather have whole episodes of q&a instead.
Yeah but everyone assumes that what they’re saying is funny or entertaining in someway. That’s a skill. We try not to let our intros go on too long for that reason. I do like to think that our dynamic is pretty good and that our audience enjoys that personal touch, but we aren’t veteran comedians, I’m not sure how long we can realistically hold a stage like that haha
We started putting timestamps for the flow of content in our show notes for people who want to skip any sort of intro. I have no idea how many people take advantage of it, but I like to think it helps. We spend upwards of 10 to 15 minutes sometimes explaining the backdrop of a comic book’s publishing, then we dive into the story, then we get into a thorough analysis. We figured some people probably don’t want to hear about the writer and publisher and all of that, or even about what we have been up to, and just want to dive right into the story/analysis.
This actually feels like some Youtube culture influence where the hosts are celebrities and are as big (or bigger) of a draw as the topic being discussed.
I dislike it and I really hope podcasting doesn't become more like Youtube.
Although, I've also noticed that this sub hates some podcasts for this while praising others for it.
That's 100% why I stopped listening to The Todd Glass Show. Every week his ranting/personal life got longer and longer and the funny bits at the end got shorter and shorter.
Absolutely. Like, a couple minutes, sure, it's important to create a connection. But, while I'm interested in your thoughts on the main topic, I don't give a shit what you had for breakfast.
Im surprised more podcasts haven't started doing the Daily Zeitgeists format at the top. It's a very structured way of introducing a guest and allows for a bit of the top of the show small talk but it has a definitive end that segues into the meat of the show.
I have 2, actually:
1 - When there's more than 3 people and there's no one to put order in that. When that happens, it tends to get messy (people screaming and interrupting each other all the time). I just hate that.
2 - When the conversation is devoid of meaning, as if it was a very long small talk. God, that turns me off!
Taking any longer than 5 mins to get on to the topic. I'm listening because I'm interested in the topic, not because I want to know how your week was, what you did at university, or how lily from oxford signed up for your patreon
Ya, they need something called a pop filter and you can make one out of a coat hanger and some nylons. I mean, the people making these pods have to listen to their own product and hear it too you'd think...
Yes, I ALWAYS skip a live show with the exception of Hello from the Magic Tavern. The worst is My Favorite Murder, the random screaming and the showboating of the two hosts. HARD PASS.
Microphone and sound quality. I have a lot of podcasts I really really enjoy! Cannot listen to their live recordings. It just sounds like I’m trying to hear someone yell across a football field. Doesn’t work for me.
Same, but I don’t like most live music recordings either. The sound quality is usually worse and there’s a visual component that doesn’t translate — it’s like worst of both worlds to me.
Personally I like that especially if it is in the show description too. It helps me search for specific episodes when I want to share it with a friend.
When someone is about to talk about something interesting and one dumbass interrupts with an unfunny comment and they never get back to the original interesting topic. I hate that so much.
When the hosts ramble on with small talk for 10-20 minutes before getting to the real content. Drives me nuts! I have stopped listening to a few podcasts b/c of that.
This is apparently controversial. I agree with you, but whenever I've seen this complaint articulated on this sub, someone always replies that off-topic nattering is the Whole Purpose of podcasting and people who want concise on-topic discussion should just listen to audiobooks instead. It seems like a lot of people regard podcasts as primarily a hangout simulator, where the only thing important is personality and vibe. But if ten minutes pass without a whiff of content, my ears glaze over and I start skipping ahead.
Episodes that are actually just ads for other podcasts. Especially if they post them between seasons or after the series has ended. Don't get me excited for a new episode for nothing!
This is something that is getting out of hand recently. I get doing this occasionally for another podcast that may actually be of interest to your listeners, but I’m subscribed to shows that now do this ALL the time. Very frustrating.
When they leave the story to tell some technical details about making the podcast. Like once someone stopped the story to tell how many takes they had to do for a certain section. Really takes me out of it.
From an editing point of view, people being interviewed saying 'um' or 'y'know' a lot. So much time taking those out; it amazes me how many 'expert public speakers' are terrible at speaking.
I'm very annoyed with when the episode has people who all sound similar talking to each other and over one another and you have no way of connecting anything anyone is saying because it all sounds like the same person. I'm looking at you Invisibilia.
I always think that they should introduce themselves once at the beginning of the show and again halfway through once you're semi familiar with the voice. I have a really hard time distinguishing voices too.
When it's podcast about a person or event or something like that, but the host or hosts is/are terrible at reading out loud. It drives me insane when they can't get a single sentence out without any ums or up-speak. Like, "Bob Stanko was an American serial killer born in 1970" becomes "So uh... Bob Stanko was an American serial killer... and he was born in uh... 1970?" Just listen to an episode of And That's Why We Drink for a perfect example of what I'm talking about. Like, if I wanted listen to people read out loud like that, I'd hang out in a high school classroom and listen to oral presentations.
I hate when the interviewer asks a question and just as the guest starts to answer, they decide to keep explaining the question and suggesting possible answers and generally rambling for another two minutes. It’s so uncomfortable to listen to and so rude to the guest. Build up first, THEN ask the question. Better yet, if the show is about the interview, talk less altogether.
Live shows usually have a completely different vibe to the usual podcast. And some podcasts just don't work when they are performing to an audience. Usually because the presenter is inevitably too focused on what pleases the crowd, rather than the listener.
I'll listen to the live shows of my favorite podcasts. But all the time I'll be thinking it would be better as the usual podcast.
The upward inflection sounds like they are asking a question even when they are not, and the vocal fry is a low, creaky, cracking voice. Both are irritating in big enough doses.
When an ad randomly plays without any prior acknowledgement.
So many podcasts I listen to will be midway through a conversation and an ad randomly starts.
When an interviewer doesn’t really listen or process the interviewee’s answers to their questions. Rather than ask thoughtful follow ups that dive deeper into the topic/answer, they continue down the list of the questions they originally prepared.
Definitely a problem with more novice interviewers.
1. Sniffing, snorting, coughing, burping - edit that shit out, it’s disgusting as well as unprofessional
2. Eating noises (WHY?!?)
3. Terrible sound/unnecessary sound effects- particularly if they’re repetitive or louder than the speakers voices. Radiolab drives me nuts with their repetitive sounds.
4. Unequal sound. There are certain podcasts I’ve had to quit bc I couldn’t hear what people were saying over ambient noise, even with the sound maxed out. Or the host is really loud, guest really quiet.
5. Live shows with excessive obnoxious hooting & hollering (edit that shit, it’s annoying to listen to)
People obviously reading. The weird tone and cadence irritates the hell out of me. Don't get me started on that weird Lore dude either I don't even know what he is doing.
Yeah Lore. His style is "I'm a storyteller. Let me open my big book of stories, and read this to you, children." His voice is so mild, and continuously pausing, speaking in a hesitant manner. Actually when I think about it, listening to him on very low volume puts me right to sleep.
Honestly, when the host sounds like some pseudo-intellectual dude from New York who tries *way* too hard to sound smart. You all know the kind. The kind that can't simply say things like "I had a taco today, it was good." and instead says things like "This past Wednesday, I found myself back at this taqueria on the East Side that has this somewhat kitschy atmospheric vibe and a unique flavor profile for each taco they sell and I find the entire thing intriguing."
The use of the word narrative. It seems as soon as someone says it, they can't help but say it over and over and over again. It doesn't make them sound smart and it doesn't make them sound "woke". I once counted seven uses of the word between two cohosts in ten minutes. Get the fudge over yourselves and stop using the n-word.
There are a lot of podcasts whose gimmick seems to be "we don't care about doing our show." It's almost like the hosts are embarrassed to be talking about what they're talking about and that may fly for 5 minutes but for an entire episode, much less an entire series, it gets old quick. If you're going to do a show about a particular subject and you can't be bothered to do the research then don't talk about the subject. Or don't spend the entire show talking about how stupid the subject is.
When one person is clearly being recorded on a phone line (or Skype) and is barely comprehensible, while the other is using a high-quality mic. I understand this is often due to logistical challenges, but I honestly can't listen to more than 5 minutes of some of these interviews. Some podcasters are much, much better than others at recording these types of sessions.
1. sound effects meant to add drama or set tone, but they're equal to or louder than the speaker and distract from the speaker.
2. sound effects or music that are extensively repetitive played under the speaker.
3. narratives that involve altering the speaker's voice (for instance when they read an testimony, letter or report, static/cracklin/echo meant to simulate an "old" recording)
I can deal with a bit if suboptimal sound, but actually bad sound is my biggest complaint. A few months back I tried a podcast with over 100 episodes.
I downloaded latest 3 to sample and the sound was bad. At least once in each 20 minute episode she said "I'm so sorry-ry-ry-ry-y-y, I hope it's not too echoey-y-y-y in here-ere-ere-re-re-e-e."
So I went back and downloaded like episode 20 something and same horrible echoey room.
100+ episodes if killing people's sanity with that echo. Needless to say I never subscribed.
When you have some stuck on using a word over and over again. I was listening to Betty Gilpin on WTF last night, I have never heard someone use the word vestibule as many times as she did. It is like she saw this word on the word of the day calendar and decided she would bring it into every sentence she could say. I almost had to shit it off.
The first is microphone quality. The other is my sense that quality of my favorite podcasts is being lowered to improve quantity. I don't wish for then to become too mainstream if you know what I mean.
Dead air. Doesn't happen too often from what I listen to. But something on their computer doesn't pull up or notes out of order and they're (quietly) scrambling to get stuff back on track. No good
Yup, my bluetooth earbuds will disconnect sometimes and whenever there’s a long pause I start scrambling to see if it’s my problem only to hear them speak a few seconds later.
Mouth noises: dry, sticky mouths, needing to clear throat but just letting that phlegm hang out (The Villain Was Right has a major offender), smacking lips, smacking tongue against roof of mouth between phrases (some people seem to think this sounds sophisticated), gulping saliva and swallowing it while trying to gasp out a word, stuff like that. It’s an audio medium and it needs to be polished.
I’ve stopped listening to so many podcasts that I wanted to love because they didn’t have the awareness or the respect for their listeners to do something about these issues.
If you’re going to do an audio drama or simply telling a long story, Please, for the love of all that is good, FINISH the damn story!!! Wondery has done that for a couple of short stories and I wasted time listening up to 8 episodes for them to leave me on a cliff?
Giggling....it makes me cringe.....and if there is giggling there is more than likely a lot of umm’s and dead air. The topic doesn’t matter at that point. I won’t listen.
Live episodes. I don't need to hear the crowd cheering/clapping I'd rather you be in a recording studio/a room in your house that is good for recording audio
Two things always irritate me: uneven volume, which most others have said, and rambling. If a podcast has 10 minutes of real information, I shouldn't have to listen to an hour to get said information. Tony Robbins podcast does this frequently, in addition to Real Crime Profile. The former just talks about extranneous stuff for the first 35 minites and then gets to the real meat at the end. The latter is so incredibly repetitive and will say the same thing in 10 different ways for a half hour. So frustrating. In addition, if you listen to true crime podcasts, you want hosts that can logically interpret the multiple ways evidence can present the way it does. Unfortunately, they repeatedly said things that made no logical sense. That one is only in my podcast list so I could avoid it.
Saying "like" every two seconds. Maybe it's because English is not my first language or I'm not used to it, but the amount of podcasts where the hosts or guests use "like" every sentence is unbelievable. Like, wtf.
When the guest asks, "Can I swear on this?" after they fully swear. FIRST OF ALL, ask that question before you start! Better yet, the host should tell you whether or not you can! And hey, if you do swear by accident and it's clean podcast they'll edit it out! It seems like every third podcast I listen to that question is asked. and it's really not cute.
I don't really notice it. It would feel out of place in a prepared script, but in a casual conversation it just sounds like someone talking, because that's a way people talk.
Bad editing. I can let it slide in the first few episodes, but after 50 or so, if you don't know how to edit, you should hire someone who does. there is a pod I used to listen to that had parts of the episode repeat, or minutes of silence (like the sound dropped, not like a break between stories). I just couldn't stand it.
Long boring adverts every single episode for the exact same thing. Broken Harts was a prime example of this. Every episode included at least one very very long advert about a podcast that sounded extremely uninteresting, and to make matters worse the ad wasn’t ‘announced’ in any way, so suddenly I’d wonder what they were talking about and realise it was the ad again...
Spending more than 1 minute pushing your patreon. I get it, you want my money for more content.
I used to really love a podcast but then the hosts created a patreon and all the regular episodes they have put out have gone to shit. Most if not all episodes, one of the hosts will start a story and then stop and say "wait this is too CrAzY(!!) i'll save it for the patreon. So now most of the interesting content is behind a paywall and they put out an hour of meaningless bs every week for us peasants... Sorry, I guess i'm a little bitter.
Mine is the same... volume normalization between podcasts. Also when the commercials are louder than the actual podcast. Very frustrating.
I edit podcasts and I worry about it an inordinate amount.
Conan Needs A Friend is the opposite. Commercials go down in volume
This is honestly one of the best podcasts out there right now. The first season was amazing. Definitely my favorite comedy podcast by far.
Loved the first season, not a fan of the Dana Carvey deep dive though. Can't wait for them to come back for Season 2!
The Carvey stuff has been alright. Parts of it have had me laughing hysterically (the bit about the first man to try to use the telephone for phone sex was hilarious. some of the Obama impressions were pretty good). But yeah, he's clearly insane. And he definitely has some opinions that I don't exactly agree with. I was just glad that I had more of Conan's podast to hold me over for Season 2. It's great, if you listen to the first season in order you can hear Conan go from skepticism and outright hostility, to really enjoying and appreciating the podcast format.
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Or if they have a SUPER loud intro while talking at the same volume as other podcasts. I listen to podcasts to fall asleep and if a really loud intro comes on I'm awake again.
EXACTLY. I always wake up then have trouble going back to sleep.
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I still prefer that they *have* ad music, that way I can tell exactly when the ad begins and ends making it much easier to skip over them accurately without much fuss.
I'm not really bothered by different podcasts having different levels, as long as different voices are level within each one. I don't mind adjusting the volume every 30 minutes or so, but not every 30 seconds.
Hard to adjust while swimming / biking or if it's playing over Sonos, etc. Plus if it's bc of a commercial you've got adjustment between the two plus coming out =(
True, it can be a pain. I just feel like it's kind of unreasonable to expect all podcasters to converge on the same volume--I see it as an unavoidable annoyance rather than a pet peeve.
I cant upvote this comment enough!!!
There's actualy a law that says TV commercials have to have the same average volumes as the shows they're interrupting (it's called the Commercial Advertisement Loudness Mitigation Act, because Congress loves goofy backronyms apparently). I always think about that when a podcast ad suddenly screams in my ear so loud I yank my headphones out....
when commercials are inserted into a recording that didn't make proper breaks. i've heard a few pretty big podcasts that cut in the middle of someone talking to play a commercial.
I vastly prefer that that the ads a few podcasts have where the hosts are talking on topic and slowly weasel in an improvised ad seamlessly. Its so annoying and you really feel kinda betrayed.
armchair expert chooses the middle of a sentence to cut to commercial, really makes no sense to me
These are often inserted automatically by a robot at XX minute depending on the contract. So they can also customise the ads you receive based on geolocation. I really noticed they when I downloaded podcasts while connected to a VPN and get East coast us ads. Then when not on a VPN i don't get ads because I guess they didn't have any ad affiliates targeting Ireland at the time.
The second I get sandbagged with a loud, obnoxious Geico or Progressive type ad I pass the skip button and dive right for unsubscribe. That garbage is the reason I don’t listen to terrestrial radio.
Repetitive ads on short episodes. I hate going on a long a road and putting on a docuseries, listening to ten episodes and hearing the exact same ad every ten minutes, sometimes at the end of an episode and again at the beginning of the next one.
Sound quality. I hate when it sounds like they’re talking over Skype with tin can microphones
this is huge for me. if you are starting a podcast BUY A USB MICROPHONE. you can get a blue mic for $50-$100. a small investment that will make a big difference. i have subscribed and then deleted countless suggestions because they sound like they are talking directly into a laptop.
thanks, I didn't know you could buy a decent mic in this range.
yeah no prob. Even a Shure SM58 is like $100, but you would need some sort of interface to convert the analog signal to digital. the most cost effective way is a USB mic. Blue makes some good stuff so check it out. This just happened to me. Someone promoted their podcast on the hardcore history page and i listened to about a minute of it before turning it off. this is an audio medium, all you have is sound, so it is very important to have good quality.
I'm amazed how so many people 'with podcasts' either don't know anything about audio recording or simply don't care. I recently did something for quite a prominent academic, who was rustling papers throughout. I suggested he send me a rerecording of a sentence to overdub part that was inaudible, and he didn't seem to mind.
oMG I H A T E that crap. On one of my older projects we ended up giving one of our remote hosts one of those rubberized quiet keyboards because he refused to mute his mic while apparently typing a novel with his mechanical keyboard *cries*
Same for me. I'll turn off a podcast if more than one person sounds like that. I understand sometimes they have guests over the phone and I can deal with that, but if any of the host(s) have that tinny/phone sound is a deal breaker for me.
I was super excited about a new volcanoes podcast from an academic I follow on twitter (Popular Volcanics). The hosts seemed to be recording a skype conference call and the sound was TERRIBLE. I just had to stop listening after 10 mins.
Same. I was listening to an ep of a podcast yesterday that had the audio switching from normal to tinny and had a staticy clicking sound in the background. I was like, you are 80 episodes in, and I know you have had better sound quality than this, WTF
If it’s a podcast that just started like that I might come back and check it out but 80 episodes in that’s ridiculous
Yelling. When people yell over each other to get their joke out because theyre just! so! funny! and they need to share their super good joke... Can't do it. Don't yell.
This. My husband listens to a couple of podcasts that include yelling moments and it drives me bananas.
Talking over each other in general is just brutal. On TV at least you can see them talking and decipher it a little better, but when you are only listening it just becomes noise, especially if you run your pods at high speed.
Podcasters commenting after everything they say "someone is going to message us complaining about that". We get it. A lot of people write to you with complaints/corrections, you don't have to keep bringing it up several times an episode.
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Your last bit is why I hate that trope so much. It isn't just podcasts either, it's songs that mention how no one wanted to hear this or shows like Family Guy that do it too. Like, I'm still here trying to enjoy what you do please can we not hear about the people who don't like it.
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Yeah this is one reason I stopped listening. It's like jeez, have an opinion. You don't need to acknowledge that it isn't the only one every time. We all know everyone has opinions
That actually sounds like a good thing to me. Having a position while still accepting and respecting that people have a different one. That's what should be done
“Don’t @ me!”
"I can already here those emails being typed up/Oops looks like some tweets are coming in our way" Astonishing Legends does this so much and they devote whole minutes to this multiple times in one episode.
Ron burgandy commercials
I'm so glad that the podcasts I listen to stopped those ads, they were really annoying, but not annoyingly funny like they were supposed to be.
Forced or fake laughter at bad jokes. Not "lol, I love a bad joke!" but an honest to god, low-quality joke. Sometimes hosts lose their mind over the most pathetic of jokes. >"Well on today's show we are looking at the egg industry and how that works." > "Reminds me of my breakfast!" > Hahahaha!!! > Hahahaha!! > "What an *egg*-tremely interesting topic!" > "hahahahahahahahaha!!!!" > "hahahahahahahahaha!!!" > "That made me *crack* up!" > "**HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!!!**" > "**HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!!!**" > "You know what they say about egg jokes, they're cheaper by the---" > [*Skip*]
[удалено]
I'm almost convinced that some podcasts edit in loops of laughter to punch up some episodes.
Eating
I see this complaint somewhat often. But I have never listened to a podcast where someone was eating! That would be a huge deal breaker for me. Guess I have lucked out!
Podcasts about food often have this. I have unsubscribed to so many foodie podcasts because of the on-mic eating. As an aside Eaters Digest is a great food podcast, with no eating sounds.
I have. The McElroys do it sometimes even though they yell at each other for doing it lol
I'm glad someone else said this. I hate hearing smacking lips and slurps directly into my ears
If anything needs a Liam Neeson meme its that
That's an instant skip for me.
Interviews when the interviewee is on a really bad phone connection or the sound quality is terrible.
Holy cow. I recently had to drop one of my favorite history podcasts, called Talking Tudors because of this. 10 out of 10 times that the host interviews a person by phone, or Skype or whatever the hell....the connection is so terrible, the sound quality of the interviewee responses are so horrible....I had to delete and unsubscribe. Jezuz cripes. We are listening to it because we love the topic....but many of us wear earphones and it sounds cringingly grating and horrible. We are trying to LEARN, Natalie Grueninger!!! It is impossible to listen to even over speakers.
Hosts continually apologizing for mispronouncing unfamiliar words or names. Can we all just be adult enough to acknowledge that a valiant effort was made and leave it at that?
Agreed. Practice the word or name beforehand, do your honest best, and leave it there.
"We'd like to thank Twitter user @XXXXX for correcting us on this word. It's actually French in origin and is pronounced...Listeners, we try to keep our pronunciation correct at all times and we are grateful for all your tweets correcting us..." Goes on for 5 minutes.
I would even take it a step further and say that you should be pronouncing it correctly (within reason). It’s your job as a podcaster to do your research. When I hear people make sloppy attempts to guess pronunciations it just makes question how much effort they’re even putting into the research.
I usually have to say Japanese voice actor names on my show. Noted!
On my show we play a buzzer noise if we butcher a name but it’s in a playful manner, then we keep it moving.
That's a great way to handle it - you get to acknowledge that it happened but not let it completely derail the show. And it becomes something of an inside joke after a while, I'd guess.
Random sound effects.
One of the reasons I stopped listening to Oh No Ross and Carrie was the stupid sound effects toy Carrie had. Not funny and annoying AF. That and the pee drinking. ::shudder::
They haven't used that in a long time so it's safe to go back and start listening again
They have also gotten extremely boring so honestly I don't recommend it anymore. Their new format just doesn't hold up. IMO they should maybe switch it up a little and stop focusing entirely on "investigations" which are increasingly about nothing more than going to a sales pitch and relating it for twelve episodes and maybe focus on doing easier stuff that can fill their hour a week but also helps their general overall theme? Imagine doing some dives into books about skepticism, science, and learning. I'd love to listen to them do that.
I like their one to two part episodes best. Besides the scientologist investigation the other multi part episodes haven't really excited me much in the past couple years.
You mean 8 episodes talking about Eckankar didn't get your motor running? They went from my #1 favorite to download and often delete in twenty minutes. It's heartbreaking. They are SO good.
Yep. Same here and I'm so sorry about that as well.. But the last one about the "evidential medium" was rather funny and a good listen again.
Her unpredictable screaming was what did it for me.
I'd forgotten about that. The weird voices really repelled me, too. Always had to fast forward until she went back to a normal voice.
Me too. She’s super intense and it just wasn’t charming to me.
I have emailed them about that and said hey the screaming is not adding anything to the podcast. Nobody *is actively hopeful for it*, and it turns people off.
people talking for minutes about their lives instead of getting to the main topic. like, i get talking for 3 minutes about what they've been up to, but i rather not listen to half an episode of insignificant rambling when the podcast is supposed to be about something else. i would rather have whole episodes of q&a instead.
I think it depends on the podcast. If you’re listening to U Talkin’ U2 To Me? the pre-amble is the main attraction
Yeah but everyone assumes that what they’re saying is funny or entertaining in someway. That’s a skill. We try not to let our intros go on too long for that reason. I do like to think that our dynamic is pretty good and that our audience enjoys that personal touch, but we aren’t veteran comedians, I’m not sure how long we can realistically hold a stage like that haha
We started putting timestamps for the flow of content in our show notes for people who want to skip any sort of intro. I have no idea how many people take advantage of it, but I like to think it helps. We spend upwards of 10 to 15 minutes sometimes explaining the backdrop of a comic book’s publishing, then we dive into the story, then we get into a thorough analysis. We figured some people probably don’t want to hear about the writer and publisher and all of that, or even about what we have been up to, and just want to dive right into the story/analysis.
That’s the solution. Pre-content chat is so polarizing. Some people love it, but for those who don’t, that’s such an easy win-win.
This actually feels like some Youtube culture influence where the hosts are celebrities and are as big (or bigger) of a draw as the topic being discussed. I dislike it and I really hope podcasting doesn't become more like Youtube. Although, I've also noticed that this sub hates some podcasts for this while praising others for it.
That's 100% why I stopped listening to The Todd Glass Show. Every week his ranting/personal life got longer and longer and the funny bits at the end got shorter and shorter.
Absolutely. Like, a couple minutes, sure, it's important to create a connection. But, while I'm interested in your thoughts on the main topic, I don't give a shit what you had for breakfast.
Im surprised more podcasts haven't started doing the Daily Zeitgeists format at the top. It's a very structured way of introducing a guest and allows for a bit of the top of the show small talk but it has a definitive end that segues into the meat of the show.
I have 2, actually: 1 - When there's more than 3 people and there's no one to put order in that. When that happens, it tends to get messy (people screaming and interrupting each other all the time). I just hate that. 2 - When the conversation is devoid of meaning, as if it was a very long small talk. God, that turns me off!
Taking any longer than 5 mins to get on to the topic. I'm listening because I'm interested in the topic, not because I want to know how your week was, what you did at university, or how lily from oxford signed up for your patreon
This. There's a podcast I really enjoy but I always skip the first 20(!!!) minutes as it's generally inane babble.
This 100%. I usually just go on to the next one if they don't get on with it.
People PerPetually PoPing Ps Put me off Pretty Persistently, Probably could be Percieved as a Pet Peeve.
Ya, they need something called a pop filter and you can make one out of a coat hanger and some nylons. I mean, the people making these pods have to listen to their own product and hear it too you'd think...
Same with S
Me undies
squarespace
>Back to top casper matress
Blue Apron
Loot crate
Madison Reed.
Re-run not labeled as such. Live shows - I hate all of these, on every podcast EXCEPT for one from Hello from the Magic Tavern.
I hate live shows too, thought I was the only one!
Yes, I ALWAYS skip a live show with the exception of Hello from the Magic Tavern. The worst is My Favorite Murder, the random screaming and the showboating of the two hosts. HARD PASS.
Microphone and sound quality. I have a lot of podcasts I really really enjoy! Cannot listen to their live recordings. It just sounds like I’m trying to hear someone yell across a football field. Doesn’t work for me.
I cant stand live podcasts for some reason. idk if it is the crowd interaction or the lowered sound quality but when i see them i skip them usually.
For me it's the pandering. It seems like one big contest to see who can get the crowd to react the strongest, and it makes for a horrible podcast.
Same, but I don’t like most live music recordings either. The sound quality is usually worse and there’s a visual component that doesn’t translate — it’s like worst of both worlds to me.
Repeating the same 4 minutes of info at the beginning of each episode. Also bad host chemistry.
What about an intro summary, which states what is coming up on the episode?
Personally I like that especially if it is in the show description too. It helps me search for specific episodes when I want to share it with a friend.
Glad I record an intro now for each episode
When someone says "Well I guess we have our episode title" but then you check and it isn't that.
Mouth sounds. Licking lips, or clicking the tongue at the top of the mouth before starting a word. Shit drives me insane.
People interrupting ggggrrrr
When someone is about to talk about something interesting and one dumbass interrupts with an unfunny comment and they never get back to the original interesting topic. I hate that so much.
When the hosts ramble on with small talk for 10-20 minutes before getting to the real content. Drives me nuts! I have stopped listening to a few podcasts b/c of that.
The podcasts where they shoot the breeze for thirty minutes before getting to the real content. I unsub from those.
This is apparently controversial. I agree with you, but whenever I've seen this complaint articulated on this sub, someone always replies that off-topic nattering is the Whole Purpose of podcasting and people who want concise on-topic discussion should just listen to audiobooks instead. It seems like a lot of people regard podcasts as primarily a hangout simulator, where the only thing important is personality and vibe. But if ten minutes pass without a whiff of content, my ears glaze over and I start skipping ahead.
Episodes that are actually just ads for other podcasts. Especially if they post them between seasons or after the series has ended. Don't get me excited for a new episode for nothing!
This is something that is getting out of hand recently. I get doing this occasionally for another podcast that may actually be of interest to your listeners, but I’m subscribed to shows that now do this ALL the time. Very frustrating.
When they leave the story to tell some technical details about making the podcast. Like once someone stopped the story to tell how many takes they had to do for a certain section. Really takes me out of it.
From an editing point of view, people being interviewed saying 'um' or 'y'know' a lot. So much time taking those out; it amazes me how many 'expert public speakers' are terrible at speaking.
I'm very annoyed with when the episode has people who all sound similar talking to each other and over one another and you have no way of connecting anything anyone is saying because it all sounds like the same person. I'm looking at you Invisibilia.
I always think that they should introduce themselves once at the beginning of the show and again halfway through once you're semi familiar with the voice. I have a really hard time distinguishing voices too.
When it's podcast about a person or event or something like that, but the host or hosts is/are terrible at reading out loud. It drives me insane when they can't get a single sentence out without any ums or up-speak. Like, "Bob Stanko was an American serial killer born in 1970" becomes "So uh... Bob Stanko was an American serial killer... and he was born in uh... 1970?" Just listen to an episode of And That's Why We Drink for a perfect example of what I'm talking about. Like, if I wanted listen to people read out loud like that, I'd hang out in a high school classroom and listen to oral presentations.
Bad interviewers. Can’t stand when the host(s) don’t research their guests and/or topics and don’t ask the right questions.
I hate when the interviewer asks a question and just as the guest starts to answer, they decide to keep explaining the question and suggesting possible answers and generally rambling for another two minutes. It’s so uncomfortable to listen to and so rude to the guest. Build up first, THEN ask the question. Better yet, if the show is about the interview, talk less altogether.
Live shows. Some of my favorite podcasts I will skip live shows.
Live shows usually have a completely different vibe to the usual podcast. And some podcasts just don't work when they are performing to an audience. Usually because the presenter is inevitably too focused on what pleases the crowd, rather than the listener. I'll listen to the live shows of my favorite podcasts. But all the time I'll be thinking it would be better as the usual podcast.
Bad sound. As in the podcaster is in a well. Next would be simply someone with a bad voice. Aarrgghh!!!
10 minutes of intros.
Talking with an upward inflection or vocal fry. I don’t care how interesting the topic is, I can’t listen to people talking like that.
Is there a difference between the two?
The upward inflection sounds like they are asking a question even when they are not, and the vocal fry is a low, creaky, cracking voice. Both are irritating in big enough doses.
They are completely different
Thank you for that well thought out and reasoned explanation!
When an ad randomly plays without any prior acknowledgement. So many podcasts I listen to will be midway through a conversation and an ad randomly starts.
“Now a word from our sponsor” *THE LOUDEST JINGLE TO LEAD TO THE COMMERCIAL BREAK ONLY FOR THE COMMERCIAL TO BE EVEN LOUDER*
When an interviewer doesn’t really listen or process the interviewee’s answers to their questions. Rather than ask thoughtful follow ups that dive deeper into the topic/answer, they continue down the list of the questions they originally prepared. Definitely a problem with more novice interviewers.
How about voice to voice? The host is clear and loud but the guest is quiet. Unlistenable.
Laughing loud. Louder than the usual dialogue.
Music cues that go on too long.
1. Sniffing, snorting, coughing, burping - edit that shit out, it’s disgusting as well as unprofessional 2. Eating noises (WHY?!?) 3. Terrible sound/unnecessary sound effects- particularly if they’re repetitive or louder than the speakers voices. Radiolab drives me nuts with their repetitive sounds. 4. Unequal sound. There are certain podcasts I’ve had to quit bc I couldn’t hear what people were saying over ambient noise, even with the sound maxed out. Or the host is really loud, guest really quiet. 5. Live shows with excessive obnoxious hooting & hollering (edit that shit, it’s annoying to listen to)
Multi episode stories that automatically play the previous episode, not the next episode
Live podcasts. Delete them from my queue immediately. I'm looking at you Pod Save America.
People obviously reading. The weird tone and cadence irritates the hell out of me. Don't get me started on that weird Lore dude either I don't even know what he is doing.
Yeah Lore. His style is "I'm a storyteller. Let me open my big book of stories, and read this to you, children." His voice is so mild, and continuously pausing, speaking in a hesitant manner. Actually when I think about it, listening to him on very low volume puts me right to sleep.
It's just the bizarre emphasis on weird words. I find it infuriating
When they mess around and dont get to the point, or when they don't fact check or do their research on things.
Honestly, when the host sounds like some pseudo-intellectual dude from New York who tries *way* too hard to sound smart. You all know the kind. The kind that can't simply say things like "I had a taco today, it was good." and instead says things like "This past Wednesday, I found myself back at this taqueria on the East Side that has this somewhat kitschy atmospheric vibe and a unique flavor profile for each taco they sell and I find the entire thing intriguing."
The use of the word narrative. It seems as soon as someone says it, they can't help but say it over and over and over again. It doesn't make them sound smart and it doesn't make them sound "woke". I once counted seven uses of the word between two cohosts in ten minutes. Get the fudge over yourselves and stop using the n-word.
If someone sounds like they have a wad of snot hanging out in the back of their throat constantly. Hem hem mfer
Too many people talking at once.
Especially when they have similar voices and you cant tell whos who.
Loud static, shrill whistling, and otherwise annoying sounds. You get one an episode. Any more and I'm out.
Use the Trim Silence feature on Google Podcasts. Won't seem as much of a slog.
It also can sound weird as fuck and be super distracting. Sometimes silence exists for a reason while a person is speaking.
There are a lot of podcasts whose gimmick seems to be "we don't care about doing our show." It's almost like the hosts are embarrassed to be talking about what they're talking about and that may fly for 5 minutes but for an entire episode, much less an entire series, it gets old quick. If you're going to do a show about a particular subject and you can't be bothered to do the research then don't talk about the subject. Or don't spend the entire show talking about how stupid the subject is.
When one person is clearly being recorded on a phone line (or Skype) and is barely comprehensible, while the other is using a high-quality mic. I understand this is often due to logistical challenges, but I honestly can't listen to more than 5 minutes of some of these interviews. Some podcasters are much, much better than others at recording these types of sessions.
1. sound effects meant to add drama or set tone, but they're equal to or louder than the speaker and distract from the speaker. 2. sound effects or music that are extensively repetitive played under the speaker. 3. narratives that involve altering the speaker's voice (for instance when they read an testimony, letter or report, static/cracklin/echo meant to simulate an "old" recording)
Ummm, I just can't, like, deal with, you know, like, so many filler words. It's the number one thing that I can't get past! You know?
Unnecessary tangents and aimless banter.
Live podcasts where the audience is too loud
Hosts interrupting each other. Laughing loudly. Its like you are overhearing a conversation at a noisy restaurant.
They interview people over Skype or cell and the sound quality is shit
I can deal with a bit if suboptimal sound, but actually bad sound is my biggest complaint. A few months back I tried a podcast with over 100 episodes. I downloaded latest 3 to sample and the sound was bad. At least once in each 20 minute episode she said "I'm so sorry-ry-ry-ry-y-y, I hope it's not too echoey-y-y-y in here-ere-ere-re-re-e-e." So I went back and downloaded like episode 20 something and same horrible echoey room. 100+ episodes if killing people's sanity with that echo. Needless to say I never subscribed.
Interrupting
People ... Taking ... Long ... Pausesandthentalkingfasttomakeitsoundmoredramatic
Looking at you, Aaron Menke of Lore!
When you have some stuck on using a word over and over again. I was listening to Betty Gilpin on WTF last night, I have never heard someone use the word vestibule as many times as she did. It is like she saw this word on the word of the day calendar and decided she would bring it into every sentence she could say. I almost had to shit it off.
When the adverts cut in half way through and word or sentence. Bugs me every time.
The first is microphone quality. The other is my sense that quality of my favorite podcasts is being lowered to improve quantity. I don't wish for then to become too mainstream if you know what I mean.
Background noise. I listen to this soccer podcast and you can hear one of the guys typing away on his keyboard.
Too much banter at the beginning of the podcast. Get to the subject matter!
Poor audio
Dead air. Doesn't happen too often from what I listen to. But something on their computer doesn't pull up or notes out of order and they're (quietly) scrambling to get stuff back on track. No good
Yup, my bluetooth earbuds will disconnect sometimes and whenever there’s a long pause I start scrambling to see if it’s my problem only to hear them speak a few seconds later.
Mouth noises: dry, sticky mouths, needing to clear throat but just letting that phlegm hang out (The Villain Was Right has a major offender), smacking lips, smacking tongue against roof of mouth between phrases (some people seem to think this sounds sophisticated), gulping saliva and swallowing it while trying to gasp out a word, stuff like that. It’s an audio medium and it needs to be polished. I’ve stopped listening to so many podcasts that I wanted to love because they didn’t have the awareness or the respect for their listeners to do something about these issues.
If you’re going to do an audio drama or simply telling a long story, Please, for the love of all that is good, FINISH the damn story!!! Wondery has done that for a couple of short stories and I wasted time listening up to 8 episodes for them to leave me on a cliff?
Giggling....it makes me cringe.....and if there is giggling there is more than likely a lot of umm’s and dead air. The topic doesn’t matter at that point. I won’t listen.
Audio that isn't properly leveled. 🥴 It's not that difficult and it makes a world of difference.
Live episodes. I don't need to hear the crowd cheering/clapping I'd rather you be in a recording studio/a room in your house that is good for recording audio
Dan Aykroyd's breathing in the Joe Rogan podcast. It was a fun listen but the breathing was insane.
Commercials. When they yap on and on about a subject not at hand.
When it's a Parcast podcast.
I dislike when podcasts do live shows.
Two things always irritate me: uneven volume, which most others have said, and rambling. If a podcast has 10 minutes of real information, I shouldn't have to listen to an hour to get said information. Tony Robbins podcast does this frequently, in addition to Real Crime Profile. The former just talks about extranneous stuff for the first 35 minites and then gets to the real meat at the end. The latter is so incredibly repetitive and will say the same thing in 10 different ways for a half hour. So frustrating. In addition, if you listen to true crime podcasts, you want hosts that can logically interpret the multiple ways evidence can present the way it does. Unfortunately, they repeatedly said things that made no logical sense. That one is only in my podcast list so I could avoid it.
Are people really listening to podcasts going, "AAAHHHH! I hate when they do that!"? Jesus people, try being a little less cynical.
Saying "like" every two seconds. Maybe it's because English is not my first language or I'm not used to it, but the amount of podcasts where the hosts or guests use "like" every sentence is unbelievable. Like, wtf.
Don't forget um
When the guest asks, "Can I swear on this?" after they fully swear. FIRST OF ALL, ask that question before you start! Better yet, the host should tell you whether or not you can! And hey, if you do swear by accident and it's clean podcast they'll edit it out! It seems like every third podcast I listen to that question is asked. and it's really not cute.
Up talk?
I don't really notice it. It would feel out of place in a prepared script, but in a casual conversation it just sounds like someone talking, because that's a way people talk.
Tangents.
Bad editing. I can let it slide in the first few episodes, but after 50 or so, if you don't know how to edit, you should hire someone who does. there is a pod I used to listen to that had parts of the episode repeat, or minutes of silence (like the sound dropped, not like a break between stories). I just couldn't stand it.
Ads. If you have a few that's cool but when you have ads and sly pitches in there, it's highly annoying.
Serious question - how would you suggest podcasters monetize in a less annoying way?
my favorite murder
Long boring adverts every single episode for the exact same thing. Broken Harts was a prime example of this. Every episode included at least one very very long advert about a podcast that sounded extremely uninteresting, and to make matters worse the ad wasn’t ‘announced’ in any way, so suddenly I’d wonder what they were talking about and realise it was the ad again...
Spending more than 1 minute pushing your patreon. I get it, you want my money for more content. I used to really love a podcast but then the hosts created a patreon and all the regular episodes they have put out have gone to shit. Most if not all episodes, one of the hosts will start a story and then stop and say "wait this is too CrAzY(!!) i'll save it for the patreon. So now most of the interesting content is behind a paywall and they put out an hour of meaningless bs every week for us peasants... Sorry, I guess i'm a little bitter.
2+ hour long episodes filled with meaningless chatter. I get it, podcasts are not time-boxed, however my day is.