Class #10 AUDIO: INTRO TO RADIO/PODCASTING
Conducting, Recording, and Editing a simple Audio Interview - Podcast Style!
LECTURE: Discuss the unique qualities of radio and the
power of sound in story-telling.
Why radio can sometimes have more impact than video (TV). Listen to some examples of good,
compelling radio, and discuss why they work. Learn the different between short-form, long form, and
podcast reporting. Introduction
to digital audio recorders, and using you iPhone is the best digital audio recorder you already have. Review of microphone and recording techniques. Demonstration of the use of an iPhone
as digital recorder. Introduction to single-track audio editing software, and
instructions for posting audio to the blog.
-- You will need to open a Soundcloud account for this class. http://soundcloud.com/
-- You should be using Adobe Audition to edit your audio projects, but if you want to try an open source program, may also want to download the latest version of Audacity Audio Editing software This
-- You will need to open a Soundcloud account for this class. http://soundcloud.com/-- You should be using Adobe Audition to edit your audio projects, but if you want to try an open source program, may also want to download the latest version of Audacity Audio Editing software This
IN
CLASS EXERCISE:
Practice editing an actual on-air interview. Then interview each other, then edit and the interview into a concise 2:00 to 3:00
minute segment, with an intro and an ending.
HOMEWORK: Audio Assignment #1:
A Interview a real person about a real subject. You can interview your subject in person, or you can interview them remotely getting then to use the voice memo app on THEIR iPhone to record themselves. Save the unedited audio file. Edited a edit a 1-to-2 minute interview on the blog, in the
form of a podcast, with an intro and an ending. Edit out stumbles, awkward pauses, and rambling answers. If you had your subject record themselves on their iPhone, have them email you the file and edit your questions and their answers together using Adobe Audition. Upload to Soundcloud. Post both the raw and edited interviews to the class blog, including a short textual description of the
interview, including the subjects name and title. Use the "widget code" on Soundcloud to embed the audio on the class blog.
Make sure your audio is "public" and enable the "download" feature, so I can download and reedit it if I need to show you something.
Make sure your audio is "public" and enable the "download" feature, so I can download and reedit it if I need to show you something.
GRADING CRITERIA:
1. Did you post BOTH your raw (unedited) and edited video to the blog, by using the "widget" code on Soundcloud?2. Is your audio clear, with your subject "on mic"?
3. Is the interview recorded in a quiet place, free of inordinate echo or background noise?
4. Is the audio edited into a concise interview, with no "dead air," or stumbles or repetition?
5. Extra Credit point if you successfully got your subject to record themselves on their phone and combined the answers with your questions.
This is a very SIMPLE assignment
5 yeses = A+
4 yeses = A
3 yeses = B
2 yeses = C
1 yes = D
0 yeses = F
SAMPLE HOMEWORK ASSIGNMENT:
T
IPS - TECHNICAL
1. Find a quiet location. Remember one advantage of audio is that you don't have to work about what the setting looks like, or whether it's well lit. No one is going to see it, so even if its a closet or workroom, it's the acoustics on the room you care about. Avoid big rooms with hard surfaces or tile floors. Look for small rooms with carpets and drapes. A trick radio reporters use sometimes when they don't have a quiet studio to record in, is to throw a blanket of coat over their head. It's hot, but only for a few minutes.
2. Work the mic. Know where the microphone is on your recording device. On the iPhone it's often the pinhole right next to the camera lens. It can vary depending which app you are using. Keep the mic close enough to get good sound and overcome any background noise, but not so close that the recording is overmodulated or distorted. About 8 inches from the mouth is usually right.
3. If possible monitor your recording with a good set of headphones while recording. This was you can hear if the microphone placement is right and move it gently to the place where the sound quality is optimum. You can also hear if wind noise or other noise is affecting the quality.
4. To get a good quality interview in a noisy environment, use an app or digital audio recorder that allows you to set the record level manually. Record at a very low level, and keep the mic very close to the subject's mouth, just an inch or two away. This will result in only sounds that are very close to the mic being recorded, effectively cutting out the background noise. Again, monitoring with headphones can help you know if it is working.
5. Remember the two biggest factors in determining the quality of your audio are 1) the distance between your microphone and the sound source, and the amount of background noise. The closer the mic, and the quieter the place, the better the audio will be
TIPS - EDITORIAL
1. Get you subject to give their name and title on your recording. One easy way to do this is to simply say, "can you introduce yourself?" This usually result in someone answering in a complete sentence. You may or may not want to use this introduction, but that way you have it. And in the future if you come across the interview, you will know who it is.
2. Decide what kind of interview you are conducting. There are basically three types.
THE "NOTES OR QUOTES" INTERVIEW -- This is an interview in which you do not plan to use your questions or published it in an interview form. You are just looking for information "NOTES" (information) or "QUOTES" (short sound bites or actualities). For this kind of interview your questions don't have to be polished or even grammatical, because you are only going to using your subjects answers in your story. When conducting an interview for "note and quotes," you are listen to see if you hear the kinds of pithy quotes that will make your story interesting, and making sure you get all the information you may need from the subject
THE BROADCAST/PODCAST LIVE INTERVIEW -- In the live (or recorded as live ) interview the pressure's on. You have to have thought out, and maybe even written down the questions you think you will want to ask, in the order you think you want to ask them. As the interview subject is wrapping up you need to think about what you are going to ask next. But you also have to listen, to make sure you don't miss an obviously follow-up question that begs to be asked.
THE BROADCAST/PODCAST EDITED INTERVIEW -- This is like the LIVE interview except some of the pressure is off. You know you will have a chance to go back and edit it, so you can afford to ask some questions that may or may not produce interesting answers. You can also start again if you get tongue-tied, again know you will be able to fix any stumbles, pauses, or repetition in the post-production editing.
3. Ask the right kind of questions. "Yes" or "no" questions tend to elicit "Yes" or "no" answers. THE most important question you can ask in an interview (Really, if you think about it, its the most important question a journalist can ask and answer about any story) is WHY? "Why" is often the perfect follow up question, but it can be a good ice-breaker, too. As in: "Why do you enjoy teaching multi-media journalism?"
But here are some other useful ways to form questions, to get your subjects to do the work, and keep you from having to drag the story out of them.
"TALK ABOUT..." As in, "Talk about your time at your job..." "Or TALK ABOUT what it was like to be so
"HELP ME/US UNDERSTAND.." "Help us understand way scientists think about this.
"LET ME ASK YOU AGAIN..." This is a good way to go get a second shot when you didn't think the first answer was so hot
"HOLD ON, ARE YOU SAYING..." Listen to what the person is saying, and if they say something surprising or unexpected, ask them about it again. Interrupt if you have to.
"I WANT TO GO BACK TO SOMETHING YOU SAID..." Sometimes the follow up question doesn't dawn on you until you are a few questions down the road. Stop and backtrack, and ask the follow up then.
4. Remember a good interview is a conversation. Not every sentence out of you month has to be a question. You're not on Jeopardy. Sometime a statement from you will keep the conversation flowing.
LISTENING/READINGS
READ: Podcasts are back — and making money - Washington Post, September 25, 2014
READ AHEAD: Mervin Block, Chapter one
BOOKS/MANUALS:
Manual for Tascam DR-07 Audio Recorder
Writing Broadcast News Shorter, Sharper, Stronger: A Professional Handbook, 3rd Edition
published November 2010, Block, ISBN 978-1-60871-417-9, Print Cloth, $44.95
Advice from WTOP's Neal Augenstein: Record your remote interview on THEIR iPhone!
More Advice from Aspen Public Radio: Your iPhone Makes Interviews Crystal Clear
How to record clear audio on a mobile phone
IN CLASS EXERCISE: Download this file to work on in class:
