This is our official Sofa King Podcast blog. Welcome aboard.
California Water Crisis and Bio Hackers. This week on Sofa King Podcast, we first explore the California Drought. We have a heated discussion about what citizens can do to conserve and whether or not they should since the corporations (such as Nestle and Big Ag) use most of the state’s water without being fined or pressured. Later, we look at Biohackers, a group of DIY cyborgs enhancing themselves from home. You’ll be surprised at how and why they do it! Finally, we talk favorite phone Apps. Adult content.
So, our first podcast is officially in the books! I plan to keep an ongoing blog about our weekly shindig, and I hope you enjoy my account of the show. My goal here is twofold. First, I want to give a behind- the-scenes look at what it is we do and what goes into the production of the podcast. That may be helpful for some of you who want to start a podcast yourself or are just curious about what it takes and what we did. Second, I want to sum up the major ideas we float around in each show. This is primarily an entertainment show, a place for debate and lively conversation, but we like to bring real facts to the table. So, I’ll spend some time talking about those facts and how the different hosts responded. We also have a few deaf and hard of hearing friends who can’t listen to the cast, so this is a cheap replacement (literally cheap since we can’t afford any sort of caption/transcript service until we get some sponsors…).
Sofa King Haunted
First, let me talk location. We record the show in the basement of a building that was constructed at the turn of the century in downtown Bakersfield, Ca. The basement is thought by many to be creepy, and it is a whole lotta Fight Club. In fact, one of the reasons it was so clean when we started recording down there was due to my efforts last summer shoveling out trash cans worth of dust and concrete debris (and yes, probably asbestos), so we could have a place to spar and not talk about Fight Club.
It is dingy and dark (but has these really cool vintage light bulbs now thanks to Brad). It is full of musical instruments where bands come to practice and at least one heavy bag and a speed bag for our random martial artistry. It has robot parts, dozens of dead computers that are salvaged for their components, and a strange manufacturing booth for, I dunno, nanobots or some other crazy shit Brent is into. Upstairs is S.W.A.T. PC, Brent’s fully functioning computer shop. The basement is, though I hate the term, the ultimate man cave.
I joked as we wrapped up our recording that in six months, we’d start to discover EVP in the recordings (it’s a thing, look it up…) and see photos of ghosts. By the end of the day today, we already had strange ghosting on our photograph. As I’m merely a reporter of facts here, dear reader, I must tell you there was a strange distortion in front of Brent’s face. And, I must report that Brad thought it was a ghost penis). So that’s a good sign.
Oddly, even though it is an open, concrete bunker, there are no echoes. A friend worried on Facebook that it would sound like were recording in a public restroom, but the basement sounds legit for some reason. I think ghost penises and ancient coal dust must absorb ambient sound waves. Great location and a great vibe—dingy, multi-purpose, old school, full of bits and pieces—just like the Sofa Kings themselves.
Sofa King Technical:
Brad runs our whole rig and is the designer, producer, and mixer of the show. The splitter and amps and rigs and cameras and mics are all run through his central hub. I expected to be there for an hour and a half just getting wires uncrossed before we could even get a chance to say “test, test” a couple times, but it took like five minutes. Brad was on point. Me? Not so much.
