Microcast – John's World Wide Wall Display: Recent Episodes
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Although I’ve mostly managed to keep noting things, I’d stopped microcasting them. Though I might start again, just to please myself.
noticed-jan-2026 transcriptDownload
https://johnjohnston.info/blog/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/july.mp3July Noted, One thing a day noticed and noted. Rather late on recording again.
https://johnjohnston.info/blog/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/June.mp3June Noted, from this idea, started here. One thing a day noticed and noted. Rather late on recording.
https://johnjohnston.info/blog/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/noted-may-2024.mp3May Noted, from this idea, started here. One thing a day noticed and noted. Rather late on recording.
https://johnjohnston.info/blog/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/April.mp3April Noted, from this idea, started here. One thing a day noticed and noted.
Blue sky, bees & birds. Felt like the first decent blue sky we have had in ages. I could hear the bees at the top of the willow trees.
https://johnjohnston.info/blog/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/2024-04-20-1132 AM.mp3
https://johnjohnston.info/blog/wp-content/uploads/2024-03.mp3March Noted, from this idea, started here.
February Noted, from this idea, started here.
https://johnjohnston.info/blog/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/2024-02.mp3
Last year I enjoyed taking note of one thing I noticed every day. I thought I’d keep it going & thought I might record it as part of my almost defunct microcast. I’d have liked to add a soundbed to hid the traffic outside my living room, but time & talent held me back.
https://johnjohnston.info/blog/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/2024-01.mp3
https://johnjohnston.info/blog/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/20240116-220215-64.mp3I found my old iPod last night, took a while to get it to boot, but I recorded a microcast just for nostalgia. I use this quite a lot around 2005-9 to record podcasts with my primary classes. There seem to be some interesting crackles added this time.
Suprisingly it mounted on my mac, I could drag the wav file to the desktop and convert to mp3, no other editing.
https://johnjohnston.info/blog/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/Victoria-park-2023-05-07-4-20-39-am-selection.mp3The above is a short selection of a few moments of the stream I broadcast this morning, 10 minutes in total. The segments are each separated by 1 seconds of generated silence. The Whole thing is on the Stream Page. There is a fox barking near the start and a pigeon claps its wings over head near the end.
First, an apology it seems I should have streamed on Saturday. I somehow got mixed up and though it was Sunday. So 4am saw me leave the house and head for the park. Set up and started streaming at about 4:20am.
The birds were singing and there was not much traffic. As well as my phone I’d brought along my wife’s, to listen to the main stream and watch the chat. The Shure MV88 mic I use does not have a place to monitor the audio or listen to other audio on the phone. The borrowed phone worked ok, until listening for over an hour burned through my wife’s data 🙁
Not having noticed my scheduling error, I wondered if I was an hour out and asked in the chat about that. Hannah graciously didn’t mention I was out by a day and asked if I could hold on till 5:45. That I could. I’d could see I was live, but had trouble listening, but read in the chat it sounded ok.
ListeningI had listened now and again the day before and to some of the long running streams. I listened a lot more during the hour or so I was in the park. It was quite strange listening to the local sounds in one ear and England, the Netherlands, France & Barcelona in the other. Next time (and I’d love to do this again) I’d listen more during the whole 24 hours and pay more attention to the chat.
There is a well developed community around soundcamp.
StreamingI suppose I’ve done a fair amount of very casual field recordings over the years. Starting with audioboo, through SLFTalk, #ds106radio and Edutalk. Some of this has been from a computer at conferences & TeachMeets mostly from a computer. The mobile has been pretty casual andI’ve not worried about monitoring anything. Taking my wife’s phone was a lost minute idea, it might be an idea to join more dots.
I’ve used a variety of iOS app for streaming in the past but soundcamp have their own, locuscast. They had some last minute problems with a server which meant a switch to iziCast. Icecast clients for phones come and go and are of variable quality. iziCast seems more professional than many others, not free, I hope it stays around for a while. It can be used as a recorder as well as a icecast streamer.
Some of the other options look inviting, a raspberry pi perhaps. I’ve also got a zoom H4 N mic somewhere which would hook up to my phone and allow monitoring. I should wait till my old lightning port iPhone is replaced in case USB C comes to iPhones before I buy a connector.
Out Early
One of the most interesting things about this was being out so early. We enjoyed walking the park before 8 during lockdown. I usually like to get out early on hillwalks, but this was much earlier. I saw a couple around 5:30 walking their dog and someone was feeding herons about 6 but other than that things were very quiet.
I also spent about an hour and a half in a couple of square metres. Usually if I am outside I am walking. I need to think about sitting still more often. Also worth going further afield. Also worth working a bit on learning some more bird calls. I only recognise a few.
EducationI mostly forget that this blog is supposed to be about teaching & technology. There might be a few clues and ideas that could be imported into the classroom. I’ve alway liked online collaboration between classes. Could do something similar. Bird sounds or even playground sounds across a range of schools might be an interesting broadcast.
BonusAs soon as I stopped streaming a few more birds appeared. A couple of coal tits and a goldcrest were flitting around the bushes behind me. To early for a clear photos but nice to see.
Had a walk round The Glen Douglas Trio today. Photos and notes on the I also tried recording audio along the way to take some notes & record some thoughts.
Listening to & loving the starlings chatting & chattering in the playground this morning when some geese flew over. Not a good recording, spoilt by an aircraft but it still amazes me I can just grab this.
Recorded this in Victoria Park on Monday. I only recognise the crows and wood pigeon. This is near a busy road, very few cars now.
I took a short walk round the moor behind Old Kilpatrick this afternoon. Using the shure mic with dead cat on my phone. A test in fairly breezy conditions. Gain right down and mic beside mouth.
The other day I took the opportunity to test out my new Shure MV88 mic (Christmas present) with it’s dead cat. It was not a particularly windy day but there was a stiff breeze higher up the hill where I recorded this. I think the mic worked very well I would have expected it to […]
http://johnjohnston.info/blog/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/Canal.mp3 Recorded along the Forth and Clyde canal.
http://johnjohnston.info/blog/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/Parakeets-1.mp3 A bunch of parakeets were settling down for the night in Victoria Park this evening. A quick recording with a bit is speach at the end. 🎙
http://johnjohnston.info/blog/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/Glen-Douglas-8-8-2018.mp3 It has taken me a while to get this one together. I am still experimenting with recording on the hoof. This time I decided to record a series of short clips in Voice Memos. the intention was to string them together quickly with Ferrite. I found that a bit footery on the phone and […]
Another experimental microcast. I recorded this on a walk last week using the iPhone audio memos app. Just kept a memo open and recorded fragments on the go. Unfortunately at some point I hit done and when I added more, without looking, I recorded over the start. On editing in ferrite the app crashed everytime. […]
kilpatrick-hills-2-2.mp3 https://johnjohnston.info/blog/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/kilpatrick-hills-2-2.mp3http://johnjohnston.info/blog/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/kilpatrick-hills-2-2.mp3