Third Place Audio: Recent Episodes
Dave Engen
Hi All, John asked if I would say a few words about building the audio portion of a Soundslides production–from recording interviews, to logging tape, to finding free music online. The resources below will help structure the talk. Voices from the Valley–For a few Samples… Sample Interview Schedule (shown in class) Creating Interview Questions Using [...]
Hi All, Below I offer a list of things that should be done and/or explored as you work on your final audio projects. 1) Think hard about the goal of your final story–what are you trying to accomplish, what story are you telling, etc. The story might change as you begin conducting interviews and collecting [...]
Hi All, Once you’ve recorded a lot of sounds, your next task is to effectively “log” your tape. Here’s a sample recording log and a few tips. A log is not a transcript, but you should write down as much as possible. My general rule is that I listen to the entire recording and type as [...]
Hi All, The sounds you collect for your piece will make it special. Try to record “action” in your environments. You want sounds of “life happening” within the location you’re recording. Tips for getting good sound… 1) Record a lot of sound. Most say you will use about 2% of what you record. Keep the recorder [...]
Hello All, Good interviews don’t happen just by chance. They require both a great deal of planning and spontaneity. The resources and tips below should help you conduct the best interviews possible for your projects. Interviewing handout–distributed in class General interviewing tips from Radio Diaries General handout on writing good questions (notice the different kinds [...]
Hi All, This week I’d like you to listen to a story from a documentary series called Travels With Mike. Please give the overview of the project a quick read and then write a journal entry on one of the audio stories found on the website. You’ll find the stories listed in the “listen to the [...]
Hi All, This week I’d like you to listen to a story from Minnesota Public Radio’s Youth Radio Series. Please do not listen to a story you’ve already heard (either in class or somewhere else). Please remember that each week you are to write about two audio pieces. I assign one (as I’ve done above) and [...]
Hello All, This week I ask that you listen to an episode of public radio’s This American Life. Episodes are typically one hour long and contain several stories within an episode (please listen to the entire episode). As you may know, This American Life is quite popular and entertaining–select any episode you find of interest. Just [...]
Hello All, This week I ask you to visit the Radio Dairies website. Spend a little time surfing around looking at the unique work they do. Then select one story from the portraits section of the website for your listening journal (that is, listen to one story from the portraits section and write a review [...]
Hello All, The listening journal assignment was passed out in class and is available on D2L. This week I ask you to listen to the award-winning audio documentary, Ghetto Life 101. As the assignment sheet makes clear, the second piece you listen to each week can come from any audio documentary source highlighted on this blog or [...]