just some random thoughts:
- first, SUPER glad you guys decided to do this. i think a couple of months ago i expressed a desire to see or make a chip show that features a panel consisting of mostly chiptune artists (as opposed to people who merely enjoy chip music). you guys are making it happen!!
- video quality was really great and gives off a "prosumer" quality to the show. The fact that you're committed enough about the show as a learning resource that you're willing to get a decent camera setup and do some basic editing to make it go down easier (and to move away from the archetype of the Amateurish Artefact-ridden Webcam Sh0w) is a big, big plus. How long did it take to edit the episode btw?
- audio quality in the room could use some improvement. i found your speaking volumes to be really quiet and room-echoey compared to the output of whatever your gameboy setup was. i recommend hobbling together a more dedicated mic solution, like setting up some makeshift boom mics just out of the camera frame, or even by getting/renting for the day some lapel mics to clip on your shirtz. ( i don't imagine this is too hard to do, nick, since you and BC play in a live band.) i think that a good room recording coupled with the good video will really give your show a polish appropriate for the respectability it deserves.
- i think it's good to have the panel be made up of people from different backgrounds, and it was nice to have meaningful discussion between noobier types and more experienced chiptune artists. at the same time, i also found myself wondering who, ultimately, this show is geared towards. is it for those who have no idea about chiptune? is it for the veterans who have a fairly complete understanding of the software? cast too wide a net for noobs and veterans and that can have an adverse effect on appropriate pacing / exposition. if the intended audience is to change from episode to episode, will there be an easy way to gauge who the episode will be intended for (even something as simple as a literal rating system denoting "casual listener", "beginner songwriter" and "veteran")?
- personally, i consider myself to be an "advanced" LSDJ user and although i wasn't nearly as invested in the explanation of technical details, i really liked the parts of the discussion that connected the technical know-how with the artist's writing process. i'm more interested in questions like "why did you decide to write this part in this way instead of in another way?" or "how did your vision/goals for this song inform the musical techniques that you used?" those are the kinds of questions that really give you an insight into what the artist is about, and can even give the show a broad universal appeal.
- hey, see if you guys can record a skype video conversation for panels featuring out-of-town artists! i assume it'd be relatively easy to edit into the show as an inset or another screen to just cut to. better yet, if you can find a way for the out-of-towner to control a session of LSDJ remotely (would BGB be able to support that via whatever netplay features it has?), that would be amazing.
8/10 would bang
