Creativity Works: Audio Production Week #2 round-up

4 July 2023

Written by Demi

Monday

Mondays are designated self-study days, so I started the week off by going back to our last sessions and noting anything down that could help me piece my audio project together. I looked back at my notes and realised I had so many ideas written down; I knew I needed to consolidate them all as a starting point to flesh out my final idea.

I ended up writing an outline script based on this idea, which included the title and meaning behind it and the topics and themes that my project would cover. I also hashed out what I’d like the 90-second intro to cover, and the contents of the first half, second half, and the outro.

Writing my idea out into a Word document really helped me flesh out and structure my project, which is something I wanted to improve on whilst doing this course...I was definitely feeling accomplished after that aha! By doing this, I could see the format coming together nicely and I knew that would help me follow the flow of the script to tell my story in a unique way.

Tuesday

Tuesday was an online session on ‘Broadcasting with Sensitivity’ – with Vanessa Maria, Raymond Tannor and Jesse Lawson on the panel leading the discussion. I learnt how to tackle important issues within audio and how best to navigate them to make sure the best interests of the interviewee are always kept in mind. I also learnt how incorporating instruments as a baseline for a voiceover can help carry a story along and is also a good transition tool to keep the listener engaged, especially on a sensitive topic.

We learnt best practices that could help ease an interviewee too, such as a briefing call to make sure they’re completely aware of what they’ll be involved in. Building comfortability and rapport with them could essentially make them feel more at ease when telling their story, especially if audio is a new environment for them.

Something else I learnt that was helpful was, you can always go back to the drawing board with your idea if one idea doesn’t work out, having more than one way of doing something is key.

We ended the day with an amazing session led by Axel Kacoutié. They took us through how they brought Skepta’s ‘Konichiwa’ album review script to life and how they told the story of the album through their editing skills which was really cool.

Wednesday

Wednesday was another interesting session. We learnt about ‘Editorial Practices’ with Arlie and Nicole. What I took away from the session were examples of the key decisions you must make when making audio, and the importance of sieving out the most essential parts of a story you want to tell without feeling the need to include all your ideas. This was critical for me as I’m learning to be more diligent with my ideas. Cutting back on ideas and sticking to developing one story is more efficient than trying to tell multiple stories in one.

I also learnt that not every story you tell has to be resolved and can actually end on a question, which you revisit later down the line. We also learnt about power dynamics and mindfulness, I.e. making sure to provide people with release forms which enable consent on both ends.

Arlie and Nicole really helped condense my brief and gave me some great tips and ideas on how to make it smoother and more concise. For example, I wanted to include freestyles in my piece, and they suggested a good idea would be to have one of the producers I’m interviewing listen to the freestyle which can then lead into the interview. They also told me adding humour to a topic can be effective, for example shining a light on the personality of the producer to make the interview feel more authentic and less rigid.

We ended the day with an amazing panel discussion called ‘Producing It’ which I really enjoyed. The panellists were Jaja Muhammad, Rachel Byrne and Antonia Odunlami. I loved hearing their stories and it was interesting to hear about the industry, how they navigate it and the projects they’ve worked/are working on. They told us a lot about how it works behind the scenes when it comes to audio and how when you are a producer you can bring your own ideas or interests to life which was cool.

Thursday

On Thursday we learnt how to use a Zoom Recorder properly, as well as the technicalities of using Adobe Audition (the audio editing software) and how to upload recordings on it. It was good to know that wearing headphones while recording, and labelling your recordings after is super important! I also learned a few tricks when recording others, such as positioning it at an angle to get a clearer sound and I could tell the difference it made!

Mae-Li was great at showing us different examples of good and bad recordings and setting us tasks. I really enjoyed the ‘Took A Walk’ recording task as I discovered I like the sound of my own voice and it’s not as cringe as thought aha! She made us write out that story and then edit it down to bullet points which I found hard at first. We later had to record ourselves reading our story and I realised I didn’t need the whole script when recording and ended up speaking more freely once I got into it.

We also had to record the person next to us, doing short fun tasks. I really enjoyed doing this as that helped me get into presenter mode.

Friday

Friday was another self-study day. I put the skills I learnt this week to the test and started recording Vox-Pops for my audio piece at an event. At first, I was nervous to approach people but after the first person, I felt comfortable going up to people and had a lot of fun capturing different voices and stories. I’m glad I pushed myself to do that and I’m looking forward to editing and splicing those together in next week’s sessions!