Watch this week’s video: GSD-Week-42: Nobody Could Hear Me
This week I uploaded a video to YouTube with no sound. I didn’t catch it. My friends and family did.
I had exported the same video several times and kept clicking mute on the audio without noticing. It looked finished, so I posted it. Then the messages came in: nobody could hear me.
So here’s the new rule. Nothing goes up until I play the export back, start to finish, with sound on. It’s a small habit, but this week it would have saved me the whole problem.
Same four questions as every week: what I posted, what I learned, what’s new, and what’s next.
What I posted
Two longer videos. Don’t Let AI Do All the Work (DaVinci Resolve + Claude) and My weekly video took 7 hours. Now it takes under 3.
Shorts on the channel, including the DJI Mic 3 audio fix.
Last week’s letter, here on Substack.
A new playlist idea that held. My wife and I talked about it about a month ago. This week it became a real playlist, Modern Day Parent, and we recorded the first episode. We found a few kinks, so we’re recording it again with fresh sleep, eyes, and coffee.
The goal I set is 90 minutes from an idea in my head to a finished video. I’m not there yet. Recording takes about an hour. Editing is still the slow part.
What I learned
Trust the check, not the feeling. The silent upload felt done. It wasn’t. Playing it back is the check, and it takes the length of the video. That’s cheaper than taking a video down.
My board was right and I was wrong. I keep my plan on a simple board with due dates. A few things I thought were finished were still open, and one was past due. It was a quick gut check: go back, fix it, update my notes. The board did its job, which was to hold me accountable.
Ideas after the edit cost the most. This week’s video took 18 versions to get right. A few were my mistakes. Most were new ideas that showed up after I watched it. Next week I want the graphics list written before the first cut, and three passes: the cut, the graphics, the final.
What’s new
GSD Media is official. The state approved the name. It’s not just GSD Media Productions LLC on paper anymore. I can use GSD Media.
No more website. Everything lives here on Substack, with its own web address. One place for posts, pages and notes is easier for my wife and me to keep up.
Modern Day Parent. The more parents I talk to, the more I want to share what’s working for us. That’s the playlist we’re building together.
A board I can actually see. My plan lives in five views: a roadmap, what’s past due, what’s happening now, what’s next, and what’s parked for later. Ideas I record as voice notes on my walks and runs with my son land on that list by themselves, so nothing in my head gets lost.
What’s next
The first Modern Day Parent episode, with my wife, this week. You’ll get to meet her. She’s funny, a little quirky, and the reason this playlist exists.
A “who am I” episode. I’ve been talking to you for three weeks without really saying who I am or what I bring to the table. That’s next.
Three versions, not eighteen. Same video quality, fewer rounds.
The coach in the passenger seat
It’s been three weeks of editing in DaVinci Resolve with Claude helping me. Some creators let AI make the whole video. I’d rather learn the craft.
I used to own a six-speed turbocharged Mini Cooper. I loved that car. You had to work it, and that was the fun. Using Claude feels like having Lewis Hamilton in the passenger seat, giving me pointers while I still drive. Every week I learn something, apply it, and get a little better.
Not holding yourself back, and always getting better. That’s the message.
See you next week.