Had a supremely disappointing experience recently and I'm furious. So I've listened for some time to a podcast about sound design (no shoutout you'll see why in a sec) produced by a sound designer that delves into a lot of really cool stories from art and culture, like why the Xbox startup noise sounded like that and how it evolved. Halfway through each ep they have a segment called Mystery Sound where they play a very esoteric clip or recording and listeners have the fortnight until the next episode to write in with the sound and on a lottery get a shoutout and a free Tshirt. Neat, but I'm almost never listening to the latest episode and even then I usually don't know the sound (or I know it and it's like... three months old).
But a couple weeks ago it HAPPENED. I happened to be listening to a new ep on my way home from work, I heard the sound, and it was a noise from an airplane! I know those! I know that sound!!! I wrote in, describing the part that makes the noise, the type of plane its heard on, and why it does that. Additionally, the input came with a very lengthy questionnaire, which I filled in dutifully, adding recommendations like "You should do an episode about Bernadette Wagenblast, tenured voice artist for NYC transit who came out as trans at the age of 67! I'm a size L btw," then waited two weeks with bated breath. I really wanted that Tshirt.
I'm a reasonable person. I knew I probably wouldn't win the drawing, especially since I know LOTS of people of a certain type would recognize it too. But I figured well, even if I don't hear my name during the ad break, at least I get a cool new episode to listen to!
The morning finally comes. I open my feed. The episode? All about the sound design behind none other than... the new Harry Potter series!
I wanted to puke. "There's an entirely new cast and crew! That's neat, huh?" Spare me. Spare my breakfast. So now I have to scrub through this trashheap, hoping if I listen to too short a segment it won't count in analytics, to find the ad break and hear that no, I didn't win, and the new Mystery Sound is a maybe a drone or a desk fan or some bullshit I couldn't identify if I was hanging off a cliff. Who even cares?
Somehow, I don't think my episode suggestion will lead to anything. My disappointment is immeasurable and my day is ruined, and now I have to fight the urge to throw Dallas Taylor through a plate glass window.
