A London conference tackles women in music production, Gimlet Media is, like, really serious about that HBO of Audio thing, and your favorite AI assistant and mine, Siri, gets a new feature that will read you the news...Kinda.

• Association of Independent Musicians (AIM) Women in Music conference
• Gimlet hires Jenny Wall, former SVP of Hulu, as CMO
• "Give me the news" for Siri is out of Beta

Today's topic for discussion is all about pod-fade, why it happens, and how to get over it, and I want to hear from you about how you've overcome the doldrums. Because, you know, it's *never* happened to me, hashtag winky face.

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This week's Use Your Voice is a quick note to explain that I am putting the show on hiatus until 17 January 2018. In the meantime, please go and follow me on Twitter @alison_pitt. You can also continue to hear me weekly on Priority One: A Roddenberry Star Trek Podcast.

And don't forget to subscribe to this show so you can pick up right where you left off!

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As you're listening to this show, I'm actually travelling. It's the week after Thanksgiving here in the States, and I've got places to be. You know, important stuff. For grown-ups.

Because of that, I'm skipping the news, and we'll pick up on that again next week, but I do still want to talk to you about the DeBreath plugin, as I promised, and before I get to that, there's one other hot topic I want to address – Net Neutrality.

• FCC Plans to repeal Obama-era Net Neutrality rules
• Net Neutrality guidelines, 2015
• COMMENT NOW: Official FCC comments website for net neutrality

• Waves DeBreath plugin

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It's a podcast-palooza this holiday week: "Super-listeners" are the next big thing, Shortcut is a new open-source web app for sharing clips of podcasts on social media, and SoundCloud introduces a new metric for their platform, that measures algorithmically-driven plays.

• The Rise of the "Super-Listener"
• Shortcut web app lets listeners clip and share audio from podcasts
• Soundcloud Introduces new stats to monitor algorithmic discovery

This week's topic for discussion is all about the difference between loudness, RMS, and peak amplitude, and to what levels you should be mastering your audio.

Further reading:

• ITU-R BS.1770-4
• Loudness Normalization for Radio: Guidelines and Practice
• The Commercial Advertisement Loudness Mitigation Act (CALM)
• "The Walrus and the Carpenter" by Lewis Carroll

Special offer this week: Adobe Creative Suite 20% off, was $49.99/mo, now $39.99/mo

The Recording Academy publishes guidelines for producing hi-res audio, and a mysterious music production course has turned up on the web at a stunning 96% off…but where did it come from? I'm bringing you a few of the highlights from the Society of Voice Arts and Sciences awards last weekend, and sound engineers are experimenting with how object-based audio and personalization can help improve the listener experience, both at home, and at major events like the upcoming Winter Olympics in South Korea.

• The Recording Academy Producers & Engineering Wing issues new high-resolution recommendations for audio recording
• The Ultimate Music Production Bundle…but where does it come from? (via Mashable, The Daily Dot, and Geeky Gadgets)
• Highlights from the Society of Voice Arts & Sciences Awards 2017
• Orpheus project aims to improve lister experience by combining object-based audio and personalization
• How South Korea is gearing up to broadcast using immersive audio for the next Winter Olympics

This week's topic for discussion is why you should prepare to pay for a good editor, and if you're a podcaster, what you can do instead, if you can't afford one.

Special offer this week: Adobe Creative Suite 20% off, was $49.99/mo, now $39.99/mo

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IBM tries – and fails – to put voice actors out of jobs, Google is bringing 3D audio to mobile devices, and Disney announces some powerhouses as the voices behind its upcoming Lion King remake. In podcasting news, Al Jazeera is experimenting with using Facebook Watch as a marketing tool, and as promised, I'm reviewing the latest update to Adobe Audition.

• IBM developing Virtual Voice Creator
• Google developing spatial audio toolkit for apps
• Lion King announces voiceover cast for live/CGI remake
• Al Jazeera's new podcast network launches; pushed Facebook Watch as new medium
• Opinion: update on Adobe Audition

This week's topic is all about how I got started on this crazy train of voice and audio work, and the spotlight is just a bit of fun from me.

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Adobe pushes some great new features for Audition CC, Voices.com upsets unionized voice artists with an expansion to their services, Spotify knows you're listening to podcasts when you should be working, and LeVar Burton is out of legal trouble, but you don't have to take my word for it.

• New updates for Adobe Audition (and more from Adobe CC)
• com introduces platform for producers to access Union voice talent
• Spotify: Podcast listening peaks midday, but not for everyone
• LeVar Burton is legally allowed to use his catchphrase on his podcast, LeVar Burton Reads

This week's topic for discussion is why I think Apple Podcasts should ditch the five-star rating system, and in place of the spotlight this week, I'm challenging you to ramp up your podcasting skills.

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There's good news this week for voice artists who speak languages other than English, as Netflix continues its push for content globalization. Upwork releases a study that claims that 10 years from now, the majority of American workers will be freelancers, and the IBC profiles two visual effects studios using cloud computing and remote collaboration to push the limits of their art.

• Netflix is making shows for international audiences using localization
• Upwork releases Freelancing in America 2017 study
• Creative services are making use of remote working too

In today's topic for discussion, come down the rabbit hole with me. I'm looking at the history of the 440Hz "standard pitch"…and why anyone should care.

Further reading:

• Concert pitch
• Scientific pitch
• A440 (pitch standard)
• "A brief history of the establishment of international standard pitch" by Lynn Cavanagh
• The Proms

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