8 Clicks from Nowhere Productions

A
BLOG
FROM
NOWHERE

  • Developing Vocal Technique

    I want to get better at recorded voice work. Maybe for the purposes of making a podcast. Maybe because recording an audiobook from my stories is on my dream list. Maybe just improving my microphone presence seems kinda important if ever I need to do another video job interview.

    I consulted the wisdom of the internets and not counting the long list of technical adjustments and microphone setups and rules for fine tuning the recording equipment, it gave me three points to focus on to hone some of my own voice skills:

    Warming Up, which is to say doing vocal exercises for three or so minutes prior to attempting to record anything, which includes exercises like humming, trilling or reciting tongue twisters.

    Speaking for the Microphone, or as it suggested, exaggerating consonants, enunciating, and speaking more slowly than one would speak to a crowd or when having a conversation.

    Listening Back, by stopping after thirty seconds or a minute of trial recording and examining the effort like a critic, not critically, but with an aim to notice vocal tics, breathing, pacing, and other flubs.

    Practice, as they say, makes perfect.

    And if not perfect … well, then at least my microphone will get some extra use this month.

  • Wet Sounds

    Recent forays into musical experimentation with various electronic devices has taught me a new concept: wet and dry sounds.

    As I understand it, and simply, dry sounds are raw, clean and unprocessed audio coming directly from an instrument while wet sounds are sounds that have been enhanced with reverbs, echos, delays and other effects. The latter is usually achieved by the use of pedals or pass-through devices that are controlled by a musician for deliberately altering, distorting and otherwise enhancing the source audio.

    I bought a little low-budget synthesizer about a year ago and have had some enormous creative fun learning to first play it and more recently how to make music with the device.  But dipping into a world of music that I had little previous experience—at least as a creator—meant that I often found I was edging up against creative barriers that I didn’t know how to understand or articulate.

    Case in point: wet versus dry sounds.

    My synth is dry. And I have since ordered a pass-through device, a pedal, that allows me to add some of those wet features that I have been missing.

    My point: sometimes creating with what we know and what we have until such time as we reach a point when we notice the gaps is the best way to discover new concepts.

  • Weightless Words

    Who knows what this site will look like by the time you are reading this post, but as I am writing it I have just launched this blog and, bluntly, it’s using a pretty boring template.

    In deciding on a design with which to start I weighed a single consideration: I wanted the words to be the central focus of what I was making. I was not planning on posting photos or art. I was not linking to videos. I was not trying to wow visitors with a unique and clever design.

    I wanted the words to be the point.

    Me of ten years ago would have clutched his metaphorical pearls—or whatever guys who don’t wear pearls might clutch in such a situation. Use your imagination. As it was back then, perhaps lacking confidence in my ideas or writing, I would merrily post but fill the screen with visual clutter and links and metadata.

    Today, I am boldly posting these words without the flourish of fancy headers and kooky fonts and in doing so perhaps suggesting through their simple form and format that the words are sturdy enough on their own merit.

  • Two Hundred

    Any project should have both goals and parameters.

    I wrote about the goals in my first post.

    The parameters are a little less interesting, but equally important.

    For example, the parameters of the blog are me writing on topics of creativity, skill development, writing, music, art, and code while avoiding anything more than the vaguest of superficial mentions of politics, business or this human emotion that you call… love.

    Also, my key logistical parameter is to keep my posts within sight of two hundred words. Two hundred is a digestible bit of content for anyone to read… and for me to write. It is enough words to convey a simple idea or thought while not being exceptionally onerous for a daily blog post. 

    (Especially true since I am already working on a daily five hundred word goal for my fiction.) 

    Finally, I am leaving the comments open for the moment. If you convey yourself as a real person who wants to make a serious on-topic point I may even approve your comment and reply.

    But that makes for about a hundred and seventy-five words so I’d better sign off alas I break my own rules before I even really begin.

    January 6, 2026 – Audio version

  • HelloWorld

    My new year’s resolution for 2026 was to evict myself from corporate social media.

    But stepping away from public platforms does not need to mean taking a vow of electronic silence. The professional blog may seem old school and a bit retro, but there’s something classic and suave about owning your own platform and creating your own space on the internet.

    My goals here are simple: Write something every weekday. Be provocative about creativity. Spark feats of imagination. And lead a charge back towards making interesting things for their own sake, not merely for clicks or likes or influence.

    Hello world.

    January 5, 2026 – Audio version