Monday Meanderings - 11.6.2017

Yes! You all know I have been opposed to Daylight Savings Time for many, many years, and now there's proof that it's a bad idea. And I quote:

"The Monday after Daylight Saving Time ends in the fall is more dangerous than other Monday, according to a recent study published in Journal of Experimental Criminology. Aggregated police records from across the country show a slight uptick in assaults the Monday after we gain an hour in the fall, followed by a mirror decrease when we lose an hour in the spring."

Change the time - do the crime.

I introduced you to the term Boyborygmus a post or two back - a fancy term for stomach noise and growling. Here's another highfalutin word for a common problem: Xerostoma. You don't have to have much Latin to figure out this refers to dry mouth, and more.

Both these terms are important to me in the context of the audio book I am recording. The recommended mic really picks up the rumblings and gurglings of your stomach - and the pops, clicks, snaps and other associated noises caused by dry mouth. I thought it was just me, but a bit of research in the voice over community shows that it is a Really. Big. Problem!

There are countless posts on the voice forums asking for advice on what to do with mouth noises and an abundance of suggestions on how to ameliorate the problem. Suggestions on hydrating while recording (no coffee or tea, room temperature water only, no-sugar-added apple juice, sips only, swish and spit, at least 64 ounces 2 hours prior to recording [allow time for bathroom breaks], etc.). Eat Granny Smith Apple slices/don't eat anything before recording.

Brush/don't brush your teeth. Use XYZ mouthwash, exercise your lips and tongue, practice while holding a pencil in your mouth, lubricate with olive oil, talk off-mic/move away from the mic/move close to the mic. Did I mention Granny Smith apples? That advice is given so often you think it must absolutely be the answer. It's not.

Use/don't use software plug-ins for your recording program to de-click, or de-ess, or de-pop, or reduce noise, or... or...

Guess what? None of/all of the above works on a case-by-case basis. "Find what works for you" is the most often-given advice. And then do what everyone else eventually does: laboriously hand-edit the track and clip out the unwanted noise.

And thanks to my loyal readers, I was reminded what the mystery note "fajita bandit" meant. It concerned a news item about a man arrested for stealing $1.2 million dollars worth of fajitas. Of course, one has to ask just how someone can possibly steal $1.2M worth of fajitas? Walk out without paying? The restaurants will catch on pretty quickly. For that matter, who can possibly eat $1.2M in fajitas in a lifetime - even if you ate daily at the High Dollar Hyatt.

Turns out he was in charge of ordering food items for a school district, and for many, many years, he added fajita meat to the school's order and then diverted the goods to other restaurants, who thought they were buying from a legitimate purveyor. And that's the story behind both mysteries. Thanks.