Do you have Da Voice?

I have found that podcasting is much like radio. To have any kind of success, you need Da Voice.

If you don’t have it, I won’t listen.

Many who have podcasts have some experience in the world of broadcast radio, and they tend to be the ones worth listening to. That’s not to say you ‘need’ radio experience.

Just that it helps.

A lot.

They have Da Voice. The ‘Dr. Johnny Fever’ or, EZ Rock voice. You know what I mean: Smooth, confident, deep: "Hey, it’s a beautiful morning in the big city, be careful on your drive to work and thank you for listening to WKRP." That kind of voice.

Again, it’s not essential, but it helps.

This is probably the main reason I won’t do a podcast. That, and the fact I have nothing to add to the podosphere. If I had a larger body of work, I might give it some serious thought, but right now, I just don’t have Da Voice.

Or Da Cash.

Joking. Sort of.

Anyway, an interesting way of getting around Da Voice is to change the format of your podcast.

That’s what C Mack has done with his, Children of the Gods, choosing to create a serial play in the world created by the movie, Independence Day." Though the aliens are the same, the world is far into the future.

Humankind has learned its lessons from the original attacks on the earth, but over the years have become complacent. Naturally, this is when the aliens choose to attack again, virtually destroying the human fleet.

But not quite.

The Vengeance, a Battlestar Galactica type ship, is still kicking, and its compliment of space fighters, still packs a punch.

Children of the Gods is, as I’ve said, a serial in the vein of the old radio plays. It is also an amateur production. If you’re anal about voice acting, don’t come here. C Mack and his crew are not professionals. They are, however, passionate about the project and that more than makes up for any flat voice acting.

C Mack, like the show, is evolving. Taking on the bulk of the work, he’s is constantly setting a new bar with his production and sound effects, and his writing is getting crisper and finally changing from past tense to present so that the narration stays with the action.

Most importantly, the story is very good. Each chapter ends on a bit of cliffhanger and so far, he is taking the plot in directions I wasn’t expecting.

What I don’t like about Children of the Gods is the release schedule. No doubt, the real world has gotten in the way of the show's production, but I think the bigger problem is simpler. C Mack has bitten off way more than he can chew. Writing, (I assume as he progresses the show), sound effects, organizing the various characters’ dialogues, plus the day job slows everything down. Children of the Gods has been on for almost a year, and the show has only produced seven shows. I almost gave up on it, but one day I was bored and surfed some old sites I had bookmarked and say a new show posted.

(yeah, yeah, I should subscribe, and have since, but back then I couldn't find the feed address to paste so I downloaded from the website)

This, as you can imagine, isn’t good.

Either C Mack delegates the workload, or he comes out with a doable schedule. If it takes a month to do one show, then put it down in writing and stick to it. I’ll come back every month. I just want to know if the show is still on.

Why?

Because I like it. I want more and I want it now. For me this is a bit BSG and a little bit of Wing Commander (the game, not the movie). Give it a listen. You’ll like it, too.


Mike
AKA MetaMan