A SuttaCentral Podcast

Today I listened to a lot of podcasts, which gave me some thoughts on the SuttaCentral Podcast (SCP). I’ll first share my ideas here to get some feedback, Monday the 28th i’ll get to the tickets. :slightly_smiling_face:

  1. The best podcasts feel energetic and strike a balance between arousing curiosity and satisfying it. The listener feels like they are around friends, who have interesting stories to tell. I’d like to soak the SuttaCentral Podcast in these qualities as well. That’s why I’d recommend waiting until we have human-narrated audios. Even though Amy, Raveena, and Russell are amazing—I love listening to them—I believe a podcast needs human voices. @Viveka, is this something you’re working on?

  2. With regard to structuring the actual podcast episodes, I also have a few thoughts. I’d like to keep the music to a minimum so that people who keep eight or more precepts won’t have to feel uncomfortable to tune in. Optionally we could use a gong sound, like SuttaCentral Voice (SCV). Then a short introduction to the sutta/suttas/vagga at hand, followed by a live or prerecorded narration of the sutta/suttas/vagga. Perhaps we might address sutta parallels afterward; giving some more depth for those interested–while keeping commentary on the sutta to a minimum. And then finish with a simple ‘thank you for listening’ message. Maybe 18-25 min total/episode.

  3. With regard to sutta/vagga selection: I envision loosely following the structure of the Pali canon, without dogmatic adherence. Episodes could also be grouped in larger wholes, for example, episodes on the Middle Discourses, perhaps in three “seasons.” I like the idea of publishing one episode per day, like the BSWA podcast. But maybe just start out with one episode/week.

  4. It would be amazing to use Ven @yodha’s artwork for the icons of sutta episodes. I’m thinking of using one doodle for each larger whole of episodes, analogous to how @Gus used one drawing for the first volume of the Middle Discourses, and another for the second volume.

  5. I’m leaving the question of podcast client and audio software selection open. Just for illustration purposes, I have created one sample episode with Podbean. Unfortunately, Podbean is not free (I think the BSWA uses the premium version). However, the free version is pretty good. This test episode consists only of an mp3 downloaded from SCV. In a way, i like the rawness of it, but i don’t think it would work well with a broader audience… Don’t worry about the web address; the SuttaCentral Podcast will get its own.

Some concluding remarks…

  1. Everything I have proposed here is up for debate. Please share your ideas and suggestions!

  2. I’m not a native English speaker myself, so for the introductions and thank you message I’d need some help.

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