Nerd Noise Radio

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Nerd Noise Radio SHORT VERSION: Des Moines-based Video Game Music network with both a mixtape-style journey in sound Good for simple background noise or for a deep dive.

LONG VERSION: Nerd Noise Radio - as heard on NPR -, a celebration of video game music (and closely associated non-VGM) spanning all styles, systems, and generations. Based out of Des Moines, with listeners and collaborators the world over, we have two programs for you to enjoy, which are meant to be “the yang to each other’s yin”, deep where the other is shallow, shallow where the other is deep, c

ompletely different feels, vibes, and energies...but both celebrating video game music and the VGM community:

“Nerd Noise Radio - Channel 1: ‘Noise from the Hearts of Nerds’”:

A mixtape-style musical journey through the winding, twisting, sloping waves of Delicious VGM. Brief, semi-standard intro, long, uninterrupted musical journey, standard “housekeeping” outro....and that’s it! If you’re familiar with programs like NPR’s “Hearts of Space”, then you’ve got the basic idea of what to expect from Channel 1. As of this writing in Dec 2020, we will be finishing our fourth year of Ch 1 this month with Episode 55 - part 2 (or “C1E55b” for short). Typically release 10 episodes a year, with reruns when we don’t have a new show. Typically curated, produced, and hosted by St. John (of Des Moines).

“Nerd Noise Radio - Channel 2: [Subtitle TBD]”:

A conversational VGM typically hosted by St. John and Hugues Johnson (out of Chicago), this program is just getting started. Episode 2 (or “C2E2” for short) will release this Christmas Eve. Hugues and I take turns sharing tracks and discussing them. This is much more of a “standard format” within the VGM podcast scene / community at large than the much rarer mixtape-style of Ch 1. The plan for now is to make Ch 2 a “quarterly”, releasing, most likely, every March, June, September, and December. We also have a small group of “relief panelists” who will occasionally sit in for either Hugues or St. John which should only broaden the spectrum of music, personalities, and perspectives we will have on offer. We had spoken earlier about “deep vs shallow”. Ch 2 is “deep” where Ch 1 is “shallow” in that you get to learn more about the music, the composers, and get to know the hosts so much better through all the conversation which happens, whereas Ch 1 is a more standoffish experience of “pretty much just music”. But Ch 2 is “shallow” where Ch 1 is “deep” in terms of how much music you’re exposed to, and just what kind of journey that music can take you on. Ch 2 will usually be 10-20 pieces of music and is frequently interrupted by talking, breaking the “flow”, or the “musical narrative”, where Ch 1 is typically 30-40 pieces, occasionally 50, and once a year....75.....(in fact, the aforementioned C1E55b will be one of these giant-sized monsters) and that music is uninterrupted, and designed to carry you along on a journey of vast scale and breadth and depth. Producer’s note: more time and thought and care goes into figuring out the firing order of the tracks for optimal journey than is spent in figuring out what tracks to include in the first place. The two programs are meant to complement each other, and compensate for each other. It is our hope that you’ll love both. But if one or the other is not your cup of tea, it is the design that the other one might be. In addition to our two “official Channels”, we have an outlet for betas, bonuses, and extras, and that’s called “Nerd Noise Radio - Channel F” (no subtitle). These “F-isodes” don’t follow any release pattern, but can come out just whenever. Maybe several in a short time, or maybe a year will pass without one. You just never know. Even your producer often only vaguely knows. But they are usually interesting and unique experiences. For instance: a Dec 2019 “F-isode“ called “Nerd Noise Game Club”, though not billed as such at the time essentially became the beta, or “episode zero” for Channel 2. All Channels can be found here:

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/nerd-noise-radio/id1191401173

We also have a blog, which occasionally will feature unique blog posts but is primarily just a repeater for the podcast feed.....however, with a blog-specific twist: we often will include additional details in the show notes on the blog with additional production notes and backstories and sometimes even inside information. It can be found here:

http://nerdnoiseradio.blogspot.com/

Lastly, we can be found on Archive.org, where we sometimes release remixes of existing episodes, or additional content such as outtakes only available on Archive that are too extra even for Ch F (“Super Bonuses” in the nomenclature of NNR.) In addition to Super Bonuses, sometimes standard episodes leak a little early here.....such as C1E55b - available NOW! So there is definitely plenty of incentive to keep a close eye on our activities over on Archive. You can find us here:

https://archive.org/search.php?query=creator%3A%22Nerd+Noise+Radio%22

Anyway, I hope that you will give us a listen, and that you will like what you hear! Make sure to drop us a line if you do! Cheers!

-St. John - Nerd Noise Radio

RIP Geoff Follin - the late, great, fabulous video game music composer. Known mostly for his work with his even more fam...
03/06/2024

RIP Geoff Follin - the late, great, fabulous video game music composer. Known mostly for his work with his even more famous, more iconic brother, Tim, Geoff had some pretty great solo works of his own, though. Taken collectively, the Follin brothers were among my favorite VGM composers of all time! So this one hurts!

Attached is a screenshot of Tim's FB post breaking the news, and a link to one of my all-time favorite Geoff Follin pieces - Bonus Room, from Wolverine on the NES. This was Christmas 1991 for [then] 11yr old me! The piece hit me like a bomb then, and has stuck with me since! Rest well, Geoff! And thanks for everything!!

https://youtu.be/ok0TUHNCgN8?si=4j_g_CzkqbSFiqtD

The "Run and Gun" genre can be almost as difficult to define as it is easy to enjoy. But as this immense vista in noise ...
21/03/2024

The "Run and Gun" genre can be almost as difficult to define as it is easy to enjoy. But as this immense vista in noise is so important to the tapestry of video games and VGM, and with as hard as it is NOT to admire and adore, we had to take the stab at it anyway!

Here with our best approach at the subject, Nerd Noise Radio proudly presents, the very hedgingly titled "Run and/or Gun"!

Today’s broadcast is C1E82 for Theme Thursday, March 21st, 2024. Today’s theme is music from Run and Gun games (as best as I can define them), on a program we're quite hedgingly calling "Run and/or Gun"! Tracklist! Track # - Track Name – Game – System(s) - Composer(s) - Timestamp A1) Intro .....

08/01/2024

I created accounts on today! If you're over there and want to gimme a follow, they are:

Personal acct: @ stjohndsm.bsky.social

VGM Podcast acct: @ nerdnoiseradio.bsky.social

Neurodivergence vlog acct: @ oddie-hd.bsky.social

Hope to see you there!!!

It's really, REALLY hard to narrow 466 great tracks down to just 50 - to summarize a year that has been one of the most ...
03/01/2024

It's really, REALLY hard to narrow 466 great tracks down to just 50 - to summarize a year that has been one of the most profound and transformative of my adult life.....but as usual, at the 11th hour, I somehow managed!

Come hear St. John's top 50 from 2023 on C1R6A (Channel 1 - Retrospective 6A): "The Best of 2023 - part 1: St John's Pics!" - featuring 2.5hrs of completely uninterrupted music!

JUMP STRAIGHT TO THE MUSIC TIMESTAMP: 00:08:52 Today’s broadcast is C1R6a for Wayback Wednesday, January 3rd, 2024. Today’s episode is our first of two Channel 1 retrospectives of Calendar 2023. Taking a page from Channel 2's retrospective scheme, today's episode is numbered "C1R6a" (Channel 1 ....

[SUPPLEMENTAL] Apparently this was a year ago today - back when I still thought I was a 100% white neurotypical gentile....
21/12/2023

[SUPPLEMENTAL] Apparently this was a year ago today - back when I still thought I was a 100% white neurotypical gentile......wrong on all counts!...2023 has been SOOOOOO illuminating for me, lemme tell ya!!!......
....how's about that beard, tho?! 😂🍻

Just finished recording the year's final Ch 2 [around noon today]!  Also, I think super wacky, dorky ugly sweaters may j...
11/12/2023

Just finished recording the year's final Ch 2 [around noon today]! Also, I think super wacky, dorky ugly sweaters may just be one of my next hyper-fixations. Also also, god I'm going gray!!! 😂🎅

It was three months ago TODAY! The day that I received my Autism diagnosis! Coincidentally, it was the same day that Sta...
06/12/2023

It was three months ago TODAY! The day that I received my Autism diagnosis!

Coincidentally, it was the same day that Starfield launched. But unlike Starfield, which at least thus far has more or less bounced right off me, my diagnosis and subsequent ADHD clarification (I am indeed AuDHD) have sunk into me like gamma waves and have changed so much - overwhelmingly for the better! Or perhaps better said: I've sunk into them! Well, either way, we've wholeheartedly embraced one another!

Happy anniversary to me!🥳

Apologies for the double post! Turns out I can just share the whole damned thing (at least with Spotify users)!--------S...
30/11/2023

Apologies for the double post! Turns out I can just share the whole damned thing (at least with Spotify users)!

--------

Spotify 2023!!!

Tell me my "repeat-one compulsions" are not just on absolute full blast in this presentation! They even have a badge for people like us now! I feel so represented!!! ⚡🧠⚡♥️♥️♥️🍾🍻🥂

This is what my 2023 sounded like on . Get your now!

I typically don't share a lot of "St. John personal stuff" here on the NNR page....but since this one does involve NNR, ...
29/11/2023

I typically don't share a lot of "St. John personal stuff" here on the NNR page....but since this one does involve NNR, I pray you'll indulge me this once! See the copy/paste below (and the pics!) And if you're one of the people who made me "top 6% rather than top 0.001%"........THANK YOU VERY VERY VERRRRRY MUCH!!!! People like you are who make doing this worth it! 🍻♥️🥂 - St. John

---------------------------------------------------------

PHOTO DUMP!!! My 2023 Spotify Wrapped (year in review!) Take special note of just how VERY on-display my "Autistic repeat-one-loop tendencies" are on display here! Oh my god....it's NEON!!!!! 😂🔁🔁🔁🔁🔁🔁🔁🔁🔁🔁🔁🔁🔁🔁🔁🔁🔁🔁🍻💯🍾

Also, if I've listened to that much Nerd Noise Radio, and am only in the top 6%, then that means we must have some pretty dedicated listeners out there which absolutely makes my day! A humongous thank you to those of you out there that i don't know / know about, and an even bigger thank you to those I do! ♥️🍻

Now here comes the onslaught of pictures! 😂🍾

(3 of 3) A very timely special announcement concerning recent turns of events over at Spotify, and their impacts on NNR ...
17/10/2023

(3 of 3) A very timely special announcement concerning recent turns of events over at Spotify, and their impacts on NNR in particular, as well as VGM podcasts in general, and all music podcasts more broadly. A short, but IMPORTANT listen!

In light of the recent turn of events involving Spotify, and its impact to Nerd Noise Radio in particular, the VGM podcast scene more broadly, and even music podcasts of all types, I wanted to get a special announcement up right away about what's going on, and how Nerd Noise Radio is responding. Thi...

2 of 3) Our final non-"year in review" outing of Channel 1 for 2023, a focus on covers and remixes, primarily, but not e...
17/10/2023

2 of 3) Our final non-"year in review" outing of Channel 1 for 2023, a focus on covers and remixes, primarily, but not exclusively hailing from the magnificent OC Remix community! This episode is extra special for also being curated, hosted, and even produced ENTIRELY by Hugues!! A very rare treat to have the other half of Ch 2 take the helm for Ch 1 - and frankly, a REALLY, REALLY GOOD episode!

Nerd Noise Radio VERY PROUDLY presents: C1E80: "The Remix Episode" (feat. Hugues):

Today’s Broadcast is C1E80, for Scene Sunday, October 15th, 2023. Today’s episode (our final non-retrospective Ch 1 episode of calendar 2023’s “Season 6”) is a focus on remixes of VGM from various sources, with an emphasis on the OC Remix community, on a program we’re quite simply callin...

1 of 3) Sorry, I got behind on promoting a handful of recent NNR releases. Sometimes I just skip the social media promot...
17/10/2023

1 of 3) Sorry, I got behind on promoting a handful of recent NNR releases. Sometimes I just skip the social media promotion altogether, but all three of these are very important for various reasons. So I'm rapid fire promoting them all back, to back....to, um....back.

First up: from Oct 12th - the flip side of the C1E79 coin. Where C1E79 will go down in history as the last ever episode of NNR to be recorded and produced by a non-confirmed autistic person, and had to take place from the vantage point of "we think, but we're not sure", C2E14 will go down as the first ever episode of NNR to be recorded and produced by a confirmed autistic and could finally take place from the perspective of certainty and finality.

Nerd Noise Radio Proudly Presents: C2E14: "Escape Artists"!

[SEE IMPORTANT EDITOR’S NOTE BELOW THE TRACKLIST!] Today’s Broadcast is C2E14 for Theme Thursday, October 12th, 2023. Today’s Theme is escape themed music, on a program called “Escape Artists” - theme and title (and track run order by Hugues)! Also, a bit of big news and a bit of small new...

So, the coolest thing that had ever happened to me as a podcaster......has happened again!!!Back in 2019, I was given th...
06/05/2023

So, the coolest thing that had ever happened to me as a podcaster......has happened again!!!

Back in 2019, I was given the honor of a lifetime to collaborate with NPR's decades-running new age, space, world, ambient radio program, Hearts of Space on an episode featuring the ambience of video game music, a program that released in October of that year and was called "Game Scores" (program # 1228).

Late last year, they invited me back to do it again. Today, I'm pleased to present the fruits of round 2, Hearts of Space program # 1344: "Game Scores 2".

“This week on Hearts of Space: 'GAMES SCORES 2'—music from the fantastic immersive worlds of video games, guest-produced by JOHN WEDGEWORTH and HUGUES of the Nerd Noise Radio podcast. Music from FINAL FANTASY X / MYST 3 / SUBNAUTICA 2 / NO MAN’S SKY & more. https://t.co/3r3kwlgtQR”

While I still have yet to do any actual production work for the show on the Steam Deck (the Jan 2023 episode or one of t...
02/10/2022

While I still have yet to do any actual production work for the show on the Steam Deck (the Jan 2023 episode or one of the Dec 2022 episodes is what I expect will be the first actual Deck-produced episode), I did spend a bunch of time today working on a spreadsheet from the Deck showing the list of all pieces of VGM (and closely-related non-VGM) that Nerd Noise Radio shared over calendar 2022. That will help Hugues and I with our track selection for our "Best of 2022" episodes in December (one of which could possibly end up being our first ever "Deck-isode"). :-) - and will also be shared publicly in January for any of you who want to contribute to a potential "Listener Best Of".

Also, unrelated to NNR, I was listening to a little Spotify in the background while I worked! :-)

I'm just happy that I'm actually starting to get REAL use out of desktop mode. It was a full third of what had me so jazzed for this thing coming into it, but I'd barely touched it until only very recently! :-)

Cheers!

2020 / 2021, among a great many other things were....weird, and blended together in such a way that they were less like ...
15/07/2022

2020 / 2021, among a great many other things were....weird, and blended together in such a way that they were less like 2 12mo years, and more like 1 24mo monster year. Well, though hopefully more pleasant and less chaotic / distressing, the same can otherwise be said of Nerd Noise Radio as well!

Hear pt 1 of 2 of our retrospective....of our weirdest season to date - an episode which intentionally leans full-on into that weirdness, and to [I think] magnificent effect! Intro / outro are longer than usual. Of course, that's because they're also recapping two full years in which a great many things happened! Also see the show notes for two additional 2020 / 2021 headlines that didn't make the intro.

Cheers!

C1E65A: "The Best of 2020 / 2021 - Part 1: St. John's picks!" Links. Available on all popular platforms.

Over the month of June (and as it turns out, extending into July now as well), a number of various outlets in the greate...
30/06/2022

Over the month of June (and as it turns out, extending into July now as well), a number of various outlets in the greater VGM [video game music] podcast scene all came together to collaborate on a massive focus over a common theme: our favorite VGM composers. Something to the effect of 20 unique programs have all contributed (or are preparing to contribute) to what we are collectively calling the "Masters of VGM" series! I'll include a link to the website in a reply-to-self in the comments so that it's clickable. You can also follow the project on Twitter at .

And as for our involvement in this great and glorious project?......Nerd Noise Radio proudly presents: Nerd Noise Game Club C2E8: "Our Four Favorites"! (Masters of VGM series)

li.sten.to/c2e8

Enjoy! Drop me a line if this is your first time listening in a while (or ever!) If you're a fan of NNR already, please check out some of these other great shows!

p.s. I'm using a launchpad service so that you can listen on whichever service you prefer. Or, if you're already subscribed to the podcast feed, it should already be there waiting for you! :-)

C2E8: "Our Four Favorites" Links. Available on all popular platforms.

New Channel 2 is out! Super cute, dancy, heartwarming, life-affirming, toe-tapping music on "Nerd Noise Game Club" C2E7:...
30/04/2022

New Channel 2 is out! Super cute, dancy, heartwarming, life-affirming, toe-tapping music on "Nerd Noise Game Club" C2E7: "All Night Super Kawaii Dance Party"! (also, I can't believe I screwed up the "new mic, who dis" line!) 😂🎙️

https://t.co/D5sVH1rtJ1

C2E7 - "All Night Super Kawaii Dance Party" Links. Available on all popular platforms.

[INCLUDES QUESTION / FEEDBACK REQUEST]Okay, so this should [SHOULD] be the last time I make a post specifically about mi...
30/03/2022

[INCLUDES QUESTION / FEEDBACK REQUEST]

Okay, so this should [SHOULD] be the last time I make a post specifically about mics....at least until the next time I buy a new one. Maybe I'll buy me an someday, who knows? A guy can dream, right? :-)

I also basically never make social media blasts about my Internet Archive dot org-exclusive Nerd Noise Radio SUPER BONUSES, because those are meant to be "secret treasure for those who want to go looking for it" (or, as close as one can get on an open, non-gated website to an "exclusive club", where in a rare twist, the really low click counts are actually maybe even a good thing). But this time I am. The original plan was to make this a Channel F "F-isode" instead, but I felt it was too technical for general audiences on the main podcast feed, and so it got demoted to a SUPER BONUS at the last second and won't hit the feed. In fact, the change happened so late that during production, I was still referring to it as an F-isode.

But I wanted to blast this one; in part, because it's something of a culmination / compilation of all the mic journey stuff related to the show since getting my RØDE Microphones , and my Focusrite , with all the comparisons against the old M-Audio and the Audio-Technica USA - done via Audacity 2.42 in Ubuntu Studio ( ) 21.10. But also in part (and MUCH more importantly because the jury is STILL OUT on which mic I'll be using for Channel 2 episodes going forward. Which mic I'll use is a settled matter for Channel 1, and pretty much everything else I do that's not Channel 2. But for Channel 2, I'm still not sure.

So, this production is waaaaaay less "news" than it is "polling the audience for advice / guidance"! In other words, I'm stumped and need YOUR help! Here's your chance to shape the future sound of Nerd Noise Radio on Ch 2! Have a listen and let me know what you think!....and THANK YOU!! 🥰 See the show notes for timestamps in case you wanted to jump to certain segments. Most of this production is sans background music, but the show notes provide full credits for what music is included. Which, by the way, also contains spoilers for the next upcoming Channel 2! ;-)

Cheers!

https://archive.org/details/super-bonus-new-mic-who-dis-session

p.s. Since I wanted the AT2020 and Podmic samples to stand out, and not get lost in the sea of narration / explanation, those parts were recorded on neither mic, but instead, on a MUCH lower quality Jabra headset that I just had lying around. So, please forgive me for the much lower-fidelity recording on the narration portions. I did that on purpose in the service of contrast. I did the best I could to help it out with post processing. But with such a low quality source recording, and with my still being pretty new with robust post, I could only do so much. The first time you hear my voice in this recording will be on this Jabra....so, brace yourself! 😅🤢🍻

Today's Archive SUPER BONUS (which ends in a dilemma seeking listener input to resolve) is a tech talk concerning the most significant change in Nerd Noise...

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