Behind the Iceberg: Sets and the CD Edition

Why do they take so long? Why is the censorship so annoying? Are you actually secretly obsessed with Whitehouse?

This and more… on today’s post.

I thought I’d address this process, as the channel is getting bigger and people are beginning to wonder why it takes me 2–3 weeks to put out a signature trippy iceberg video of the highest quality, so in today’s post I will literally dissect every single step of the process. I have also recently opened up a Patreon, which, moving forward will be where the uncensored versions of the videos will be at, and I thought I’d take the opportunity to also explain why.

LEVEL ONE : R A N K I N G

Most Youtubers who make these videos usually find a graphics on reddit, record themselves playing Minecraft, and throw in a couple of photos here and there as they attempt to explain what the Google SERP page gave them. I could never do this for many reasons, but the very first one is that I feel like there is something a little wrong about blatantly taking someone’s infographic and explaining it. So, while my starting place does begin from Reddit entries, I try to then research other avenues to enrich the uniqueness of my own list. I have said this once, and I will say it again: the point of these lists isn’t depth, it’s breadth. I try to offer as many entry-level mentions to different music and artists as I possibly can. Jazz, country and hip hop — while I’m getting better at the latter — as well as more extreme music genres, they’re really not my strong suit so I can’t pretend to know every single detail about these songs/albums/artists.

Anyways, once I have collected a fair share of potential entries I have to come up with a tier system. I stick to six levels for the sake of sanity. It makes it easy to continue the rest of the steps “two at a time” for three times in order not to go insane, and also to keep the experience flowing nicely visually for my audience. Usually, these tiers have distinct requirements, but the “bottom” for me is a balance between obscure and unsettling. The more popular, the closer to the surface is my given rule. Once we go below level four is when I stop personally enjoying most of the things I discuss. I’m open-minded but very opinionated, so I consider myself a good barometer as to how the average person would react.

Elapsed time: 2–3 days.

LEVEL 2: W R I T I N G

So, once the songs or entries have been divided and ranked is where the real fun, aka the Notion database begins. Yes, I’m a Notion person. I love it. It makes my life 89564586 times easier. I organize my entries on a notion table database which includes basic things like songs, albums, titles, years and RYM genres because I am a nerd and I love charts and I would love to someday sit down and make a little spreadsheet with all the weird shit to see which year or genre appears more frequently. This is where I’m researching and attempting to summarize the information related to the entries. As you can see by my essays, my videos, and even this blog in general: I am wordy. I am loquacious. I am long-winded. This means that, as much as I attempt to trim my speeches, I usually fail to do so. I am also a professional writer and editor (it’s part of my full time job to have writing that is publishing-ready), so I am very adamant on scripts being perfect. This is then followed by something I refer to as “clip association.” It’s when I review my script, break it up into blocks (which Notion allows me to do) and think of what visual I’d need for each sentence. Yes, this is all planned in advance.

So, for the latest project, I’d begin an entry with some sort of connecting sentence (turns out you guys enjoy the entries being linked), and I’d then indicate “X band performing live.” This happens for every single thing on the script way before I ever begin editing. I am not an editor and I don’t even think I’m particularly visually talented, so the more I can plan, the better.

Elapsed time: 1 week.

LEVEL THREE: R E C O R D I N G

Now, for the truly excruciating part. I live in a very noisy place. I’d argue I live in one of the noisiest places in the world. I also live in a studio apartment, which is basically a large, echo-y room in a noisy island. Recording the iceberg videos has to be done all at once because setting up is complicated and finding the perfect moment of the day for me to climb into my closet and talk for three hours is basically something I need to schedule. This takes four to five hours because from my location you can hear people, cars, pipes, elevators, adjacent TVs and… even the freaking sound of my neighbors’ toilets being flushed.

Yep.

As many of you have also noticed, I’m foreign. I learned English when I was 10 years old and it is my third language. It’s the language I think, dream, read, count and exist in, but I have a slight accent because it’s not my first language and I never spoke it at home growing up, so getting the right take involves trying to pronounce things as naturally as possible.

I like to think this is endearing.

Elapsed time: 8 days.

LEVEL FOUR: C L I P — C O L L E C T I O N

Ah. So, this is something no one who makes video essays ever talks about. Finding the source material. It takes days. Having the list next to me is great because I know exactly what I’m looking for, but I end up with hundreds and hundreds of minutes of video I need to trim, edit and curate. It’s a humongous library. The best part is when there isn’t any HD footage available. Thankfully, I have chosen a format and branding style that accommodates rougher looking VHS visuals, but still. This takes anywhere from 3–5 days depending on how much I need.

Elapsed time: 10–11 days.

LEVEL FIVE: E D I T I N G

This is suffering. This is excruciating. Especially editing the five hour audio because a lot of it is just dead air and me waiting for cars to pass. I have a short attention span, so I can only take so much of the raw audio editing a day.

The video editing is usually very, very fast in comparison, because I already know what I’ll say and what imagery needs to go with it. While the audio might take me 3 days to do (2 tiers every day) because I go through physical pain while doing it, the video editing actually takes me only 1 day per project. Shock Artists took one day. The Songs one took about a couple of days because it’s very long, but Both Parts of the albums one took one day. The First one took me 4–5 days because I was figuring out how to make the style work and post-production was a little more painful. It was also the very first video I recorded with my microphone in my new setup.

Elapsed time: 12–14 days.

LEVEL SIX: P O S T — P R O D U C T I O N

So, this is actually multiple steps that I happen to be fairly good at, unexpectedly enough. This involves editing the audio levels on the video, selecting songs, annotating time stamps, making a thumbnail, writing a description and the iceberg graphic itself. Let’s take a look.

Audio mixing: I have an EQ I configured myself to combat certain noises but I’m no audio engineer so I have to play with volumes sparingly, especially if I’m working with clips. This is just a pass and becomes part of my editing process.

Music: Depending on the project, this becomes a different step. Most of you who have seen my documentaries know I am obsessed with Adam Curtis, who has a reputation for having excellent music on his pieces, and I hold myself to the same standard. Selecting music for documentaries is a whole extra day, but because in the ice bergs I already know which songs to use (or artist, or album) it becomes easier. I usually do this on the last day of editing. As far as avoiding copyright, that’s another topic for another day, but suffice to say I now know how to do it with 99% accuracy. Getting the songs is easier than clips because you don’t need to hear them, so if I have a list, I just channel my 11-year-old self on Limewire and download MP3s like there is no tomorrow.

Time stamps: Lol this is a joke but it happens when I do the description. In my documentaries, the time stamps refer to the bits with the titles, which are actually chapters. For ice bergs, this is just levels.

Thumbnails: I’m thankfully pretty good at making vibrant thumbnails relatively easily. I don’t know what it is. I use Photoshop and Canva in combination. Usually takes me about a couple of hours.

Description: I love doing this. I use SEO to my advantage. I try to include links to interesting videos, so I compile them when I’m collecting clips. My descriptions are usually three paragraphs of actual writing, time stamps, links to SETS AND THE CD socials, links to videos I like, a ghost bin or paste bin document with a list of all songs used, a link to a Spotify playlist (which I make when I download the songs), links to previous videos and in the case of the documentaries, I like to include every single source I’ve used in case people are curious, or need to verify where I’ve taken certain info from.

So, all in all, post is 1 extra day of work. The iceberg graphic I also need to make on Photoshop which takes at least 1 more hour.

Time elapsed: 15 days.

BONUS LEVEL: C E N S O R S H I P

I deal with disturbing content. Because I like to have the option to monetize it, it is my responsibility to have content that is suitable for advertisers. Full disclosure: I’ve worked in this field. On the evil side of Google Ads, I mean. I am always extra careful to censor any writing or words or even images that come even just a tiny bit close to getting me demonetized. It’s not because I’m greedy, but because I know the limitations imposed by the algorithm on videos deemed “unsuitable” and they’re very discouraging after spending so much time on my work.

Originally, I’d post the uncensored videos as unlisted links on Youtube, but I’ve been following the community closely and am noticing Youtube flagging users for violent content, even when it’s already been deleted. I’d simply rather not risk having all of this wiped out because someone was unhappy with the fact I decided to say “AX” instead of “Anal.” It’s just not worth it.

So, if you’re interested in the original version of my videos, the links are reserved to Patreons moving forward, which helps me offset the cost of wasting one extra day on censoring.

Censoring for me involves cutting every bit of the audio in which I say a questionable word or term, and distorting it while offering euphemisms or descriptions via text on screen. This is basically light editing for one more day. I also blur some questionable images, occasionally. The problematic part is testing it on Youtube because these videos are in 4k files — horrendously larg — and if I’ve missed just one small detail, I’ve basically lost three hours (1 hour to send my video to the compressor and export, 1–2 hours to upload to Youtube and then usually at least 1 more hour for copyright and ad suitability checks).

Elapsed time is now 16 days. Welcome to the bottom of the iceberg, AKA the front of your screen!

I hope this post was helpful in clearing up what my process is like. I know I call the channel a “we” but it’s really a “me.” It’s an insane amount of time for someone who lives abroad alone, has a very demanding 8 hour daily office job and is attempting not to wipe out any semblance of a social life, so getting something out of my work on Youtube has become important.

ADDRESSING DISCORD & THE FUTURE OF THE CHANNEL

The discord I had announced last week is closed for the foreseeable future. Given the above, I am incapable of also moderating discord. I would like to thank everyone who wanted to be a part of the community, but I think its intent was misunderstood. I don’t plan on making videos that focus on extreme music. I’ve always loved experimental, niche music, but I’d hardly call myself an extreme music fan (again, most of the things I find myself comfortable speaking about in long form outside of the ice bergs are done by Level 4). The reason why I abandoned the Discord channel is that the “disturbing” music is currently a big part of the channel and while I am happy to look into that rabbit hole, it’s not going to be forever. My hope it to continue making documentaries about artists and musical scenes I find fascinating. I do not have the passion to make a whole iceberg on things like black metal, because I am not invested in it. A lot of the Discord audience seemed to want to create exclusive channels to discuss every single music genre under the sun, and that will never be the scope of the channel.

The channel is a reflection of my personality. You’ll never find me discussing the Red Hot Chili Peppers, but I am also not going to be making a documentary on Nurse with Wound any time soon. It felt silly to cultivate a community dedicated to harsh noise because it won’t be the focus of the channel.

Also, there seemed to be some racism going on and I have zero tolerance when it comes to that stuff. Zero.

So, if Discord returns in the future, it will be heavily modded by trusted users who are very familiar with the platform, and it will be a place dedicated to interacting with me and the content that is discussed on the channel, rather than a music community. Maybe it will be a Patreon thing also since it will be devoted to those who wish to have more input on the projects I’m working on.

I am so thankful for how far I”ve been able to grow Sets and the CD with you guys. I am humbled by the positive response to the videos and the connections I’ve been able to make so far in this community and I cannot wait to see what the future will bring us. I hope to get to work on merch eventually, get better streaming equipment and do more live shows, and hopefully, maybe one day, become a full-time documentarian.

But, for now, this long ass Medium post will do.

PS: If you’re interested in helping with the channel, be it research or editing, you’d speed up the pace at which I am able to release videos, so any help is welcome for anything at all! Reaching out to me on Twitter is the easiest place to find me.

PPS: I’ve set myself these horrendously embarrassing inspiring sub milestones.

At 10k: I will wear a Tutu, let my curly hair run free and sit down in front of a camera to emphatically discuss my hatred for the Sex and the City theme, because I have to figure out why it’s my least favorite thing on TV and yet I’ve named my channel after it.

At 100k (if ever): I am making a feature-length (yes, feature length, this means 90+ minutes) video essay on Robin Thicke’s Blurred Lines, and why it’s the most harmful and deplorable piece of music in recent history. I’m 100% certain I can confidently argue why it’s worse than any Whitehouse song off of Mummy and Daddy.