John August

Geek Alert

How we record Scriptnotes

Follow Up, Geek Alert, Tools

scripnotes coverMany listeners have asked how Craig and I record our weekly podcast, so here’s a quick rundown of our standard operating procedure.

### When and what
By email, Craig and I figure out when we’re going to record. It’s usually a Thursday or Friday, late in the afternoon. In that email thread, we also decide what topics to cover. If it’s a [Three Page Challenge][3pc], I’ll ask Stuart to send each of us PDFs of the entries he’s picked.

About 10 minutes before we start recording, I make a sketchy outline in [Highland][highland] with reminders for myself: the episode number, today’s topics, housekeeping bits, and my [One Cool Thing][onecoolthing]. If there’s anything I need to read aloud — for example, a quote from an article — I usually copy-paste it into this document.

Since Craig works in Pasadena and I work in Hollywood, it’s not practical for us to be in the room together, so we record the podcast on Skype. This is the part many people can’t fathom — *we’re almost never in the same room together.*

It takes practice to keep up a conversation when you don’t have the normal physical cues. The first few episodes were rough. But I think the podcast is actually much better for Craig and I being apart. Like the audience, we’re only hearing each other’s voice, so everything we’re communicating needs to happen in speech.

### Editing
While Craig and I are talking on Skype, each of us has GarageBand running on our own computers to record only our side of the conversation. When we finish recording, we each copy our GarageBand project into the same shared Dropbox folder. From there, my assistant Stuart yanks out the audio and marries the two tracks in a vintage copy of Soundtrack Pro, which is where he does most of the real editing.

Many podcasts simply record the Skype call, saving the step of marrying the two tracks. But with all the fire trucks and street noise at Craig’s office, it’s very handy to be able to manage the two sides of the conversation separately.

One problem with recording two tracks separately is sync. We begin with a “1…2…3…go” so that we both hit record at the same time. We clap-sync as well. Despite all this, our tracks eventually fall out of sync, so Stuart has to nudge them a bit. I’m hoping Marco Arment will release his fabled [track-nudging utility][utility] to the world. We’d pay good money for it.

Once Stuart has finished editing a track, he’ll put it back in Dropbox. I’ll listen to it and write up the text for the post, along with links and outro. All that gets added into a new GarageBand project, where Stuart also makes chapter markers. He exports m4a and mp3 formats, then uploads them to Libsyn, which hosts the files.

Every Tuesday morning, Stuart throws the virtual switch to make the episode live.

###Nuts and bolts

For hardware, we started with Dan Benjamin’s really useful guide to [podcasting gear](http://hivelogic.com/articles/podcasting-equipment-software-guide-2011/), but ultimately made different choices.

Craig and I are each using Audio-Technica [AT2020 USB microphones][at2020] mounted on [Heil PL-2T booms][boom]. (When I’m traveling, I pack the [Blue Yeti USB microphone][yeti] instead. It’s really good, but really heavy.)

For listening, there’s nothing better than the Sony [MDR-7506 headphones][headphones], which not only sound great but seal well, keeping Craig’s audio from being recorded on my track. I like them so much that I’ll bring them with me on a trip.

For live shows, I record on the [Zoom 4N digital recorder][zoom]. Even if we’re using audio from a sound board, I’ll still aim the Zoom at the audience to gather crowd noise.

### Podcasting versus blogging

Several longtime readers have pointed out that I used to blog more. Now two or three weeks may pass where I won’t have posted anything but Scriptnotes.

But I really don’t think the podcast has taken my attention away from blogging; life has.

I’ve gotten much, much busier over the last two years, and it’s been hard to stop everything and blog about whatever screenwriting topic arises. The standing commitment of a podcast each week is easier to keep up. It’s like working out with a partner — you show up because of the social obligation.

And as much as I enjoy writing, a blog is essentially a monologue. It’s been rewarding to have a dialogue each week.

[3pc]: http://johnaugust.com/threepage “three page challenge”
[onecoolthing]: http://johnaugust.com/onecoolthings “one cool thing”
[highland]: http://apps.quoteunquoteapps.com/get_highland “highland”
[utility]: http://atp.fm/episodes/25-thrustmaster-joystick “slip sync”
[at2020]: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001AS6OYC/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B001AS6OYC&linkCode=as2&tag=johnaugustcom-20 “at2020”
[boom]: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000SZVZ74/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B000SZVZ74&linkCode=as2&tag=johnaugustcom-20 “boom”
[headphones]: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000AJIF4E/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B000AJIF4E&linkCode=as2&tag=johnaugustcom-20 “headphones”
[yeti]: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B002VA464S/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B002VA464S&linkCode=as2&tag=johnaugustcom-20 “yeti”
[zoom]: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001QWBM62/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B001QWBM62&linkCode=as2&tag=johnaugustcom-20

Save to Dropbox

Apps, Geek Alert, Software

On the topic of storing data, an upcoming project at [Quote-Unquote Apps](http://quoteunquoteapps.com) involves heavy use of Dropbox, so we’ve been experimenting with their developer API.

Today, we added “Save to Dropbox” for all the scripts here in the [Library](http://johnaugust.com/library).

Dropbox is one way of addressing the intractable problem of handling files on mobile. I’m not sure if we’ll keep using it in the library — those buttons are a bit much — but at least on iOS, the integration is pretty slick.

I’m curious to hear how it’s working for readers on various devices. Let me know what you think on Twitter: [@johnaugust](http://twitter.com/johnaugust).

Storing stuff in other people’s houses

Follow Up, Geek Alert

Last week, Stuart and I were talking about strategies for backing up the early episodes of Scriptnotes in case of fire or other calamity.

And then I remembered we effectively had. We shipped several hundred of the Scriptnotes USB drives, each loaded with the first 100 episodes of the show in both mp3 and m4a format.

scriptnotes drive

Even if LA got nuked, listeners in Prague and Peoria would be able to share these files. Craig and I actually talked about it in [Episode 103](http://johnaugust.com/2013/scriptnotes-ep-103-disaster-porn-and-spelling-things-out-transcript):

**John:** So, again, if a nuclear apocalypse happens and we’re all wiped out — or maybe zombies, it could be anything that actually wipes out all of humanity and our ability to access the internet — if you had one of these little drives and some sort of computer that was capable of reading them, like a laptop that you’re powering through some sort of pedal bicycle in a kind of Gilligan’s Island scenario, you would still be able to listen to [Scriptnotes]. And be able to follow along on the Three Page Challenge, which is I think really important as you’re rebuilding civilization. You have access to not just our words of advice but the words on the page that you can see why we were giving the notes we were giving about these Three Page Challenges.

**Craig:** I don’t know where it would fall on the hierarchy of goals, but it would probably be between procuring food and medicine.

We’re making another batch of the Scriptnotes USB drives if [you’d like to buy one](http://store.johnaugust.com/product/scriptnotes-100-episode-usb-flash-drive).

I truly believe in storing important things at other people’s houses. A good example is photos. We had all of my dad’s old photos scanned, then bought a bunch of [cheap hard drives](http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00834SJSK/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B00834SJSK&linkCode=as2&tag=johnaugustcom-20) so we could give the whole set to relatives. It’s a kind of legacy insurance.

Google isn’t helping me find the exact quote, but in the age before refrigeration they used to say the best place to store food is in your neighbor’s stomach. If you have more than you need, throw a feast.

Podcasts aren’t parties and photos aren’t food, but sharing these assets is similarly communal — and mutually-beneficial. Often, the best backup strategy is giving it away.

Escaping the activation server loop

Geek Alert

Last night, my iPhone suddenly insisted that it needed to be activated, even though it was currently playing a song. I dutifully typed in my password, but it replied that the activation server could not be reached.

So I tried again. And again. And again.

I restarted my phone. No luck. Still got the same screen.

A quick search on Twitter revealed I was [not the only one](http://www.product-reviews.net/2013/10/06/apple-activation-server-down-on-ios-7/) with this problem. Like others, I was using the GM of the iOS 7 beta. While the error message was about the activation server, it seemed unlikely the server itself was down — if it were, it wouldn’t be an isolated issue affecting only a tiny portion of users.

Most likely the beta software had simply expired, and it was giving me a very unhelpful message.

I downloaded the new, official iOS 7.02 from the developer portal and attempted to install it. But iTunes wouldn’t let me, because Find My iPhone prevented it. I was told to turn Find My iPhone off in the Settings on my iPhone — which of course I couldn’t, because I was locked out of my iPhone. Catch-22.

I finally got my phone back working. Here’s the solution in case someone else encounters this problem. **This assumes you have your phone backed up, either to a computer or via iCloud.** If not, yikes.

This also assumes you’re an actual developer and can download iOS from the portal.

1. From the developer portal, download the appropriate iOS 7.02 for your iPhone. You’ll end up with an .ipsw file.
2. On your computer, log into iCloud.com. In the Find My iPhone section, look in All Devices. Find your iPhone. Click on it. In the panel that comes up, click Erase iPhone. Seriously. You’re going to erase it. I know it’s scary. But your phone is effectively useless right now, so you gotta do something.
3. Once your phone is erased, put your phone in DFU mode. Here’s a (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=15qaTA4lQPc) that explains it.
4. When your phone shows up in iTunes, you’ll be able to do a restore. Hold down the Option key while you click Restore, and choose the .ipsw file you downloaded. It’s basically the same process as when you installed the beta in the first place.
5. Wait and hope. Pray if that’s your thing.
6. When your phone boots up again, you should be able to restore everything either from iTunes or iCloud. All of my stuff showed up just fine.

Of course, just because this worked for me is no guarantee it will work for you. But I suspect many people caught in this loop can escape it the way I did, so I wanted to offer one solution.