Sexiest Geeks Alive

It is time for now to start celebrating another class of geek: Those who work behind-the-scenes. We all know them. We are them. They are the geeks among geeks, the ones who make it all run.

I start this effort with someone who caught my ear with his laugh: Jason Howell.

Jason is a podcast producer at CNET, working mainly on the daily “Buzz Out Loud” and the weekly “Gadgettes.” When I first wanted to meet him, I couldn’t even find a photo of him that clearly showed his face — a true backstage geek, huh? As for why I got hooked on his laugh, if you listen to the shows, you’ll know. Particularly on Gadgettes. He jokes verbally with Molly and Kelly, but he also likes to create sound effects and segment intros that will crack them up. And when he starts laughing, I’m a sucker for it.

“Oh, I’m definitely an audio geek,” he admitted at the start of our interview. He obsesses on audio technology, and uses the free, open source program Audacity to record the CNET podcasts. But he looked almost sheepish when he said that it’s really low tech compared to what he plays with in his home studio. He prefers to play with music creation software, regularly using Pro Tools (loaded with plug-ins of course) and Logic Pro to build his electronic music and for general sound editing. He’s particularly fond of the delays by the OhmBoyz, and has a great time just bending notes. Then he enthusiastically told me about a new plug in, Direct Note Access, for the pitch shifting software Melodyne by Celemony. It will allow him to separate out notes from, say, a chord, and do things he never thought would be possible. Clearly the technology behind it made him just dumbfounded and very eager to try it out.

While he used to listen to music “one hundred percent of the time,” Jason’s world changed with the advent of podcasting. He says that if he’s seen walking around with headphones on these days, he’s probably listening to a podcast. Jason takes note that we are retraining an entire generation of people to think of free, available-anytime, topic specific shows as “normal.” The idea that podcasts can come from anywhere and be on the most specialized topic and still find their audience excites Jason.

He calls podcasting “the fanzine of today.” He let slip during the interview that in high school he once did a fanzine of his own, “Twisted Realities.” He wants everyone to know the art was by his friend Ben Minter, who did “pretty macabre style artwork,” and Jason is still crazy for his work

When not at CNET, he creates “a kind of deep house music” under the name Raygun, and “indie-style guitar oriented music” under “Yellowgold.” As a special treat for SGA readers, Jason hooked us up with a couple of tracks that no one has heard yet: And It Tried and Eons.

And It Tried:

Eons:

As far as other technology, the CNET team uses de.licio.us to tag and share stories for consideration. I keep track of him through twitter where he’s highlighted a few very cool tunes and musicians.

What does Jason find sexy? He did not hesitate to answer, “What I find really sexy is a certain air of confidence in how a woman presents herself. Smart enough to put me in my place when necessary. (What can I say? I’m a glutton for punishment.) Not afraid at all to speak her mind. The ability to open up to me entirely on an emotional level. And being tall and slender certainly doesn’t hurt the equation either.” Why tall? Because he’s 6′8″!

I had a great time chatting with him. He thanks the Gadgettes fans and the Buzz Army. He says his job would be “oh so much harder without them.” But he won’t be just backstage for much longer. CNET’s started to stream Buzz Out Loud live once a week, and the Buzz Army now knows what he looks like. Not that you can miss him. He’ll be the super-tall one who’s listening for a new sound.