Behind the Microcast:

Starting with an easy question, What is your ykyz username?
Aspie and Proud is my username on ykyz.

What is your name in real life?

Elsa

And where are you from?
France!

Mind sharing what your occupation outside of microcasting is?
I’m a freelance graphic designer.

How did you get into microcasting?
I saw Fred’s post on a subreddit I was following and got curious. I got into podcast two years ago thanks to my wife (a few of my favorites are The Adventure Zone, My Brother, My Brother and Me, The Magnus Archives…) and thought it would be interesting to make something out of my autism.

Can you tell us what your microcast is about?
It’s about autism in general, from my Asperger perspective.

What made you want to do a microcast on that topic?
I was diagnosed when I was 25, so two years ago, and I felt immense relief when I got a name picked out for what was happening to me. Through my microcast, I want to spread a positive vision of what autism can be, as well as our challenges.

What is one of your favorite things about microcasting?
It made me feel more confident to share my story and to talk out loud! It also helps with my spoken English ahaha. Also, I really appreciate how YKYZ allowed me to know new people, new horizons.

Can you share a bit about your creative process making microcasts?
I start out by thinking of a topic to talk about, then do some research and write my episode(s).

Are you a “using scripts” type microcaster, or do you rather freestyle it?
I do! It really helps me to focus my thoughts and to be precise.

Do you use any special recording equipment to make your episodes?
I have a pretty basic setup: I use Audacity on my MacBook Pro and a set of Apple earphones. They do a pretty good job for now! Though I really want to invest in a good microphone.

If you could interview anyone for your microcast, who would it be and why?
I would choose Daniel Tammet, a British author who’s also Asperger. I love his books and my sister had the chance to meet him. I’ve always been fascinated with his writing.

If you could switch lives with another microcasters on ykyz for just one day, who would you pick and why?
I would switch with DoctorIrish! I love his microcast and would love to see what life is through his eyes.

Are there any furry friends in your life?
Two cats, rescued from the streets!

What’s your favorite food?
Pasta and my mom’s lemon chicken!

Do you have a favorite color?
Purple.

Care to share any hidden talents you may have?
I can do two things at the same time! I speak four languages!

What type of music can people find you most likely jamming out to?
Rock and roll.

Any favorite movies or shows that you like to watch in your spare time?

Whiplash by Damien Chazelle.

Lastly, what are some of your plans for the future?
Taking things one day at a time, to be honest, aha!!

Behind the Microcast:


We will start with some easy ones, what is your ykyz username?
My main ykyz username is DoctorIrish. However, I also have a second one that I do reviews on and it’s called ImperfectReviews.

What do people call you in your everyday life?
In my everyday life, my friends and family call me Noah.

Where are you from?
I am originally from Ireland!

What occupation do you have outside of the microcasting world?
Outside of the microcasting world, I am a Doctor.

What got you into microcastings?
While looking up information on “microsatellite” I came across the phrase “microcast”, some further investigation led me to ykyz. I saw the website was pretty new and interesting and the idea of starting a microcast about health topics, stuff a Doctor could answer seemed really appealing to me. Eventually, I got offered a contract and that motivated me to keep on doing it. Now I find it a fun side hobby and a challenge to condense all these complex health information topics into 90 seconds or less.

What is your microcast about?
I always use the phrase “anything a Doctor could answer” because it’s more than just Health and wellness. We’re taught to address every aspect of the patient, including their lives. So, I make my microcast broad and try to talk about lots of different things, not just disease and health, but things like medicine, mental health, medicine and sociology or medicine and anthropology. The possibilities are endless.

What led you to pick the topic you did?
It’s the field in my life I specialize in, that I trained in for so many years. I have a passion for it and I want to keep growing. If I learn to condense information into 90 seconds or less of course that can be helpful also. I think this topic will help me grow as a Doctor and as a person. I’ve also always had a passion for helping people learn. If someone takes information that’s relevant to them from my microcast, then I feel very humbled and happy.

What would you say your favorite thing about microcasting is?
Tough question! There’s a lot to enjoy actually. Challenging myself to fit a topic into 90 seconds is always a satisfying outcome after creating the microcast. Microcasting has taught me a lot, like how to use recording programs, how to be more articulate and speak more confidently. It’s another way to express creativity because I can choose music, the intro, content delivery style and so much more.  However, my absolute favorite thing about microcasting is engaging with my community on ykyz. I’m always happy to hear from people that bleat back regarding a microcast I put up. It’s exciting and so humbling that someone would take the time to listen.

Do you have a creative process you use when making a microcast episode?
I do have a formula I follow. First, I keep in mind questions that people have asked me in real life and of course suggestions I receive on Discord and Twitter and other social media. During my day I write on a bunch of post-it notes, ideas for episodes that occur to me also, and they do come up randomly! I ask myself questions a lot. Then, I write a script with bullet points, stick to them and from experience I know how much writing is going to translate into a 90-second microcast. Next comes choosing how I will deliver the information, what kind of intro is catchy and a title that both stands out and is informative.

Do you write scripts for your microcast episodes?
90% of my microcasts are scripted. I write bullet points that help guide me to the next point and in between points although I often improvise. The script is a kind of a template for the topic.

What type of recording equipment do you use?
I use a Blue Snowball Microphone with a pop filter and Audacity is the program that I use to record my microcasts and edit them.

If you could interview anyone for your microcast, who would it be and why?
Really tough question, there are a lot of people I would love to interview, so many actors and actresses definitely because there is definitely a lot to learn about the way they see health, their role in health as a role model, just the topics are endless… I’ll put a pin in that question for now! For now, realistically I would love to interview anyone else that has a passion for health.

If you could switch loves with another microcaster on ykyz for just one day, who would you pick and why?
I have mulled this question over and there are so many. I really enjoyed switching places with AlbaoftheCultureMix and talking about Ireland. I would love to talk about other cultures as I have lived all around the world. For now, I would have to say NerdyOldGuy because I too have a passion for gaming and the idea of being immersed in the industry of gaming, getting to write about it, microcast and get excited about new projects sounds amazing.

Do you have any pets?
Just the one, pet rabbit!

What’s your favorite food or type of food?
Nothing beats a homemade cheeseburger. Maybe a chicken tikka masala with warm naan comes close though.

How about a favorite color?
Black looks good on everything!

Can you share any hidden talents with us all?
I studied music and art for years before I knew what I wanted to do. I play guitar, bass, and even the double bass! I would love to pick up another stringed instrument. As well as that, I can speak French and Irish (maybe not as fluently as in the past).

What type of music do you like listening to?
When I was younger I would have said Nirvana, Dream Theater or Led Zeppelin. But now, after studying music, my appreciation for music in virtually all its forms has made it really impossible for me to pick any one song or band. Nevermind, I pick Led Zeppelin lol.

What are some of your favorite movies or shows?
I watch the same dumb shows over and over again. I’ve watched The Office at least 15 times. I watch Always Sunny in Philadelphia, Parks and Rec, Scrubs, Father Ted and Better Call Saul on repeat too.

Lastly, what are some future plans you have that you wouldn’t mind sharing?
To keep growing the microcast, work on improving the quality and the number of episodes and topics and of course reach out to more potential listeners. I want to help grow ykyz and become more involved in it and be there to see it when it inevitably succeeds! For my professional career, I want to enter into a subspeciality of medicine and help more people.

Sound Quality – Noise Prints

To start, this will sound more complicated than it is. Sound quality, ironically, is more easily shown than written about. To start, find your favorite audio editing software. The arguably most popular is Audacity. Multiple other options are available, but for the most part share the same features.

Sound exists at all times. If you buy a fancy mic, it will hear everything. Even that pesky air that’s floating around everywhere. This will create one of your biggest struggles while podcasting (if not the biggest). The good news is it can be simply deleted. You will be using this to create what I call a “noise fingerprint”. If using the Audacity program I linked above, the process is simple.

Before every episode be sure to record dead air for a few seconds. No talking, movement or pen tapping. Just record nothing.

Highlight the section of audio that you recorded at the beginning (the dead air).

On the toolbar towards the top of the application, select the dropdown for “Effect”.

Next, select “Noise Reduction…”.

A box will pop up with numerous options. In the top portion is an option for “Get Noise Print”. Select it.

You will be returned to your recording, and your screen should look like the picture below.

Now you will want to select your entire project. You can do this by pressing CTRL+A if on a Windows keyboard. The classic click and drag works as well simply by clicking the start of the audio and dragging until the end.

Once all audio is selected you will need to return to the Noise Print Options. As a reminder, this is done by: selecting “Effect” in the toolbar and selecting “Noise Reduction”. You will see a dialog box appear again. Instead of “Get Noise Print”, this time you will select “OK”. You can also preview the first few seconds to be sure any background noise has been removed.

Once “OK” is selected you are returned to your project. This step by step will help remove almost everything. It will not however remove what I call mechanical noise. This is noise created by vibrations to the mic. It can be caused from your mic being on the same desk as you PC or Mac for example. I will go over simple fixes for those problems at a later time.