Highlights

Production

Production work this month was focused on audio:

• Foley Sessions for SF-SoyuzFlight and TR-Train
• Constructed Sound Effect for the Podstaging / High-Altitude Rocket Pass
• Downloaded Additional Ambience and Effects from FreeSound.org
• Collected and Labeled Original Recordings for Ambience and Effects
• Transcribed Subtitles for PC-PressConference and LA-Launch Scenes

Business

Ran a table event at a local “Anarchist Book Fair”, which was mostly a zine event. Sold a copy of my 2009 book, “Achieving Impossible Things with Free Culture and Commons-Based Enterprise”. I had ordered some copies of my “Lunatics – No Children in Space – The Coloring Book” to be printed on Lulu.com, but unfortunately, they arrived too late for the fair, so I’ll be offering those in our online store and at the next tabling opportunity.

We actually do pretty well in person, so tabling events are good for us. I didn’t make a lot of sales at this event (honestly, the intersection between “Lunatics!” and anarchism is pretty slim, so I guess that’s not surprising).

I also tried out some new display gear, including a “wire cube” storage system I purchased on e-Bay, which is good for setting up dealer-room displays (I noticed a lot of them in use in some events we attended recently, and decided it was a good idea).

I also got some more practice using Square to accept credit card payments, so I guess that’s useful.

Server IT

This was a not a good month for me in IT. I made some fairly consequential errors in managing our Digital Ocean “droplet” VPS this month.

Re-Uploads

I got a report earlier that some of our old videos on PeerTube were not playable. When I investigated, I found that, in fact, 140 videos were affected. Essentially every video that had been in object storage. It seems that either this has been going on for a long time, or my most recent PeerTube upgrade broke the connection to the object storage backend for the videos. Of course, I had been intending to move all those videos to local storage, but I guess I missed my chance to do that.

I have been locked out of access to my Amazon AWS account so that I am unable to make any configuration changes. I can’t even access the management interface to shut down the account, so it looks like I will simply have to revoke Amazon’s authorization to my bank account to stop paying them, in order to get them to shut it down. I spent some time trying to figure out how to get around this, and eventually found a FAQ on their site suggesting to do exactly this if all you want is a full shutdown. Seems tacky to me, but then, I’m pretty much sick of Amazon at this point, and this will be just another step away from them.

PeerTube provides methods to migrate from object storage to local storage, but expects to be able to read the object storage to do it. It also supports re-uploading a video for a video record, but expects to put it in the same sort of storage as the original. There is apparently no option to “re-upload a video into local storage to replace an object storage video”. I acknowledge it’s a niche use-case, but I definitely missed this option.

In the end, I decided that the best solution available would be to simply reupload all the affected videos, copying and pasting the original metadata (including descriptions). Of course, this creates new records, new UUIDs, new URLs, and new upload dates for every video, which is less than ideal, but it allows me to restore the videos, and not have to hack the database entries.

Re-Size and Oops…

In doing this, I quickly ran into the problem of insufficient RAM and CPU for all the transcoding jobs. One advantage of cloud-hosting, though, is that you can use the automated interface to upscale your server to a more-expensive service for a brief period, then scale it back down to your budget after you handle the large jobs. It’s a major selling point for services like Digital Ocean: “Only pay for what you need.”

However, there is a built-in limitation on this flexibility: you cannot decrease the size of the filesystem if you include increasing it when you upscale the service. Digital Ocean has warnings and a dialog box to warn you about this, but misread it, and either didn’t check the box, or did check the box, when I wasn’t supposed to (I can’t remember which it was). And so, I scaled the server up — permanently, to a service level that charges $192/mo, which is well above our budget for hosting services!

I originally thought this wasn’t such a big deal, because you can snapshot the server and then create a new droplet from the snapshot. I had assumed that this process included recreating the filesystem, so that as long as there was room for the required data, I could downsize using this mechanism.

Not so. Digital Ocean also disallows creating a smaller droplet from a snapshot made on a larger droplet. I find it somewhat implausible that this is truly a technical limitation. I suspect the real reason is a business decision: to make it easy to ratchet users into larger and larger services, making it very inconvenient for them to back out.

I began to panic after that mistake, which contributed to my bad state of mind towards the end of July.

Drive-By Pan Review

What seemed a less-serious error was that I accidentally uploaded a previously “unlisted” video of an entire-episode draft from 2021 to the site, but that also had consequences.

To add insult to injury, a user who had casually visited our PeerTube before decided to “review” this draft, presenting it with a deceptive headline implying it was completed (though the article itself did mention that it’s a draft, while backhandedly insulting the project for taking so long), and then proceeded to deliver a pan review of the episode. He did this, with about a 2000-word review, after the video had been public for about 4 hours.

Given this timeline and the character of the article, I suspect it was mostly written by an AI chatbot, based on a two-or-three paragraph comment. It missed a great deal of the point of the episode and of the project, and basically read like a troll to me. I seriously think the intent may have been to try to divert attention from our PeerTube to his blog and perhaps pick a fight in our comments to get more attention. This makes no real sense from a marketing point of view (we don’t have enough traffic to make that worthwhile), but I was still pretty stung by this behavior, which I regard as pretty unethical.

Afterwards, I restored the “unlisted” status. I don’t think there’s much point in keeping this video public, since later drafts already exist (including the New Year 2025 draft I released for Patreon supporters). This won’t break the video link the reviewer used, so he and his followers can see it if they like, but he won’t be getting traffic from it. Nor am I going to feed the troll by responding to his comments there. Nor will I identify him. If you really want to find it, you can search the web for it.

Anyway, the server situation was unresolved at the end of July. I did solve it in August, and so I’ll document the solution there. In the end, though, the mistaken resize probably cost us about $200 beyond our usual hosting bills. This hurt, and it left me seriously doubting the future viability of this project.

Personal

I don’t like to go into too much detail about my personal life on this blog, but it is somewhat relevant now. This has been kind of a busy and emotional month for me, as our two youngest offspring have left the nest, settling in a new apartment in the city. That includes Ariel, whom you know as the voice for Georgiana, which she recorded when she was a lot younger! It really has been a long time that I’ve been working on this project. Our eldest moved away some years ago, but it looks like we’re officially “empty nesters” now. Time passes.

After this pilot episode release, I will have a lot of decisions to make about where to go from here. I’ve spent a lot of myself on this, and have passed up other opportunities. The options slowly narrow over time, both because of the longer period since my last other employment, and because I’m simply getting older. I’ll be 60 next year, and age discrimination is certainly a thing in the job market (not that there’s a lot of good employment at any age these days — I see my kids struggling with that).

And while my health is fair for my age, age takes a toll. I have hypertension, which I take medicine for, and some of that makes me more sensitive to heat. Which we are getting a lot of in Texas, in July, with global warming. The weather has been hovering around 100 F (38 C) for most of the month, with humidity in the usual 40-50% for this area. It’s been hot and sticky. And the kids moving out has included me doing a lot of cleaning, moving, and packing. I got overheated and dehydrated, and in the end, had to pay my doctor a visit to address that. Now my meds are a little different and I’m taking some supplements to make up for lost minerals (NaCl and other electrolytes).

I also had a nasty bought of anxiety/depression. In circumstances like this, it can be difficult to decide if I’m having certain physiological reactions as a psychosomatic impact from anxiety, or if I’m experiencing anxiety because of physiological conditions, since my over-heated body is quietly screaming that I’m going to die. Anxiety is not really new for me. I’ve had issues with that, quite possibly as a result of my highly-masked autistic / ADHD issues, for pretty much my whole life. They show up as episodes when I’m under stress, which I certainly am this Summer. So I guess that’s not exactly a surprise. But it’s no fun, either.

And then, right at the end of the month, our clothes washer broke. It’s a front loader, and the door latch snapped off. I had to order parts to fix that, which takes me into August.

So at the end of July, I was feeling pretty awful, mentally and physically. Kind of wanted to cry, but I guess I’m “too manly”, because the tears don’t come. Socialization is powerful. But I watched a sad movie or two, and we re-read “The Hobbit”. I did actually choke up a bit reading Thorin’s last words to Bilbo “if people cared more for food and cheer than hoarded gold, it would be a merrier world, but sad or merry, I must leave it now”. That bit always gets me!

With all this going on, I can’t say my heart has really been fully involved in the sound work, so progress has been less than I had hoped. I think I did only about 10 hours production work this month. Going to have to pick up the pace. But there’s other pressing issues in August, too. So it may still be a bit rocky yet.

July 2026 Production Timelapse

Timelapse of Production Work on Lunatics in July 2026.

This month has included a lot of technical work that is not included, but this timelapse shows the work on audio production, which continues after “picture lock” in June, when I finished the animation work.

00:00 Title Card
00:05 Re-Sync Audio for PC-PressConference Scene
01:27 Check the Sync Sound for PC
01:42 Transcode Subtitles for PC
01:50 Proofread and Edit Subtitles for PC
02:40 Reduced Subtitles to Only the Japanese in PC for Export
02:44 Restored Full Subtitles (i.e. for Deaf/Hard of Hearing)
02:47 Edited Interior/Exterior Ambience to Match Camera Position in PC
03:20 Check that Subtitles Properly Load when Reloading Kdenlive
03:32 Align Audio Stems for LA-Launch Scene
04:19 Check Audio Stems in LA
04:28 Transcribe Subtitles for LA
05:09 Labeling Recording Library
05:18 Align Audio Stems for SF-SoyuzFlight Scene
06:30 Constructing Sound Effect for Podstaging / High-Altitude Rocket Pass
06:52 Checking Updated Effects for SF
07:21 Recording Foley for SF (1st Try at Foley Performance!)
07:52 Checking Foley for SF
08:11 Export Videos for Foley (i.e. just video and countdown beeps for synchronization)
08:35 Editing Foley Recording for SF (More)
09:19 Foley Practice Session (Video of Testing Foley “Instruments” — used in my Video Log)
09:41 End Titlecard

Music, from Dogmazic Archive:
00:00 DishTone “Red” #20948 / CC By-SA 2.0/FR
03:33 meXeL “Timewarp Sushi” #23043 / CC By-SA 2.0/FR
06:21 meXeL “Binaryrulez” #23045 / CC By-SA 2.0/FR

July 2026 Video Logs

Since I moved into doing sound work, I changed the format for my Video Logs, and these were all filmed in our sound booth. It’s a much tighter space, but it also gets much cleaner sound, so it’s easier to separate my voice and let you listen to what I’m working on.

Video Log 2026-07-07 Part 1: Microphones Demo

I’ve changed up the format considerably for this one, since my focus is on sound production. I also had a lot to cover, and so I wound up with a half-hour video this time, which covers a LOT of my sound design considerations for “Lunatics!”

00:00 Intro – New Format in the Sound Booth
00:37 A Terrifying Array of MIcrophones (Demo of our different recording microphones for production)
01:30 Canon Vixia HDR-800 digital camcorder, with Built-In Microphone
01:44 VidPro XM-55 Shotgun Microphone (normal “ON” setting)
01:57 Shotgun Mic with “BASS ROLL-OFF” setting
02:36 Audio Technica AT2020 Microphone (Sound Booth Mic, recording directly to Audacity)
02:58 Zoom H5 Handy Recorder (4-Channel Digital Recorder, with standard L/R stereo attachment)
03:20 Samsung Galaxy Smartphone Built-In Microphone
04:32 Conclusion / See you!
04:45 Cicadas. screaming like mad. It’s Summer!

This is the first of several videos I’m making from a single, very-long video log I made on 7/7.
More will be coming out over the next few days.

Video Log 2026-07-07 Part 2: Audio Workflow & Ambience

In this second part of my 7/7 video log, I discuss my Audacity sound production workflow, “stems”, and then go into my approach for handling ambient sound tracks. Because I wasn’t really planning to publishing these videos separately, they do start and stop a bit abruptly without a proper introduction or sign-off. I tried to get the best cut-off point I could manage without re-shooting.

00:00 Aligning Voices and Effects with Animation Timing
00:26 Audacity Files to Produce “Stems” for Each Scene
01:08 Single “AMBIENCE” Stem (Old Workflow)
01:36 Multiple AMBIENCE Tracks for Intercutting (New Workflow)
01:43 Application to the Press Conference (Outer Press Gallery versus Inner Aquarium Room)
03:00 Adapting for Soyuz Flight Sequence
05:00 Prairie/Steppe Ambience for Train and Soyuz Rollout Scenes
05:40 The Mission Control Room Ambience needs updating
06:39 More Sound Work in the Upcoming Week
06:48 Sunflower, Birds, and Cicadas — It’s Summer!

Video Log 2026-07-07 Part 3:Podstaging Sound Effects

In this segment from my 7/7 log, I went through the components I used to assemble sound effects for the high-altitude (but NOT space) shot of the first staging event during the rocket boost. The rocket passes close to the camera at supersonic speed, while in the upper stratosphere, while the straps pop, and the pods separate. What does that sound like!? Watch for my answer.

Since this was broken up from a longer recording, I didn’t record separate introductions or sign-offs, so I just made do with what I had recorded. It’s a little abrupt.

00:00 Not actually in space, so not actually silent
00:53 Version with no source sound (just music)
01:11 Adding sound effects
01:24 Air/wind sound
02:02 Supersonic jet recordings (air shows) – support FreeSound!
03:07 Rocket crackling sound effect (synthetic, I think)
03:25 Shot, now with sound effects
03:48 Lowered music, rest of Soyuz Flight (which IS in space)
04:18 I found my plasma ball! (We used to use this for tabling at conventions, and we will again, now!)

The music for the podstaging is from “Back to Adventure” by Butterfly Tea, from “Magic and Fantasy Adventure” Jamendo #36315 / CC By-SA 2.0/FR. The FreeSound clips are credited on-screen. All of the ones I used here are CC-0 (i.e. public domain).

Video Log 2026-07-07 Part 4: Foley Sound

In this 4th segment of the 7/7 video log, I discussed the process of creating a Foley sound performance. This week was my first attempt at actually doing this, although I’ve been talking about the need for it for a long time.

00:00 First bit of Foley recorded / Foley is like a performance
00:52 Process of Performing Foley / Soyuz Flight (Chairs jostling)
01:41 My foley “instruments” for this session
02:24 Hard effect used before — an old office chair
02:54 Ideas about another session to add to foley for Soyuz Flight scene
03:17 Philosophy of Foley sound / having fun with it
04:27 Foley needs to be done last, because otherwise it’d have to be retimed
04:55 Conclusion
05:08 Trees reflected in a parking lot puddle

Video Log 2026-07-07 Part 5: New Sound for Train Scene

In this 5th (and final) segment of the 7/7 log, I discuss and preview new sound recordings to use for ambience and effects in the Train sequence at the beginning of the episode.

00:00 Additional recordings for interior and exterior of trains
00:07 Exterior sound without doppler / recording from the gap
01:20 Interior sound
01:44 Talk / walla / language issues
02:51 The perfect match… except maybe copyright hazard..?
04:48 The existing door opening sound effect
05:12 Possible replacements
06:21 Sky and trees through the window

Video Log 2026-07-18: PeerTube Recovery

This week, I finally investigated a report of broken videos on our site, and found a remarkably large number of them. To make a longer story short, I fixed them all by re-uploading them and copying over the metadata. They are therefore dated recently, although the Original Publication Date field is dated appropriately (not times though — when I don’t have the exact time, I usually use “23:55” — I used to use “00:00”, but this has issues).

00:00 Intro
00:08 Older PeerTube Videos Broken (Broken Object Storage)
02:31 Oops. Leaked an old episode draft.
02:53 Drive-By Pan Review with Possible Side of AI and Rage Baiting..? Hmm.
04:07 Restored to Unlisted
04:36 Foley Filming Setup
05:57 Thoughts About 5.1 Surround Sound Mixing
06:55 Conclusion and Sign-Off
07:13 Campus Trees & Birds

I expect to put out another log this week after I film some of the foley sound work.

Video Log 2026-07-22: Foley Recording

Featured in this log is a demonstration of a foley recording session for the “Soyuz Flight” sequence.

00:00 Intro
00:08 Demonstration/Preparation
01:10 Foley pass: monopod extension
03:52 Foley pass: gumbox rattle
06:30 Foley pass: stapler
09:31 Mixing to a single “Foley C” track
10:05 Syn of Foley C with the Scene Video
12:41 Conclusion
12:53 Our cat “Reeses” hanging out in a tree.

I’m honestly not sure how I feel about the results of this session, but of course, I can test it out with the rest of the sound mix and/or do another session. I think I’m going to put my effort into other scenes next, though.

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