{"id":11792,"date":"2018-11-27T06:10:56","date_gmt":"2018-11-27T06:10:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mediamakersmeet.com\/?p=11792"},"modified":"2018-11-29T07:33:43","modified_gmt":"2018-11-29T07:33:43","slug":"a-beginners-guide-to-audio-storytelling-what-you-need-to-know","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mediamakersmeet.com\/a-beginners-guide-to-audio-storytelling-what-you-need-to-know\/","title":{"rendered":"A beginner\u2019s guide to audio storytelling: what you need to know"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Anna Lieberman<\/a> is a recent graduate from the University of Oregon’s School of Journalism and Communication, studying under the tutelage of Professor Damian Radcliffe<\/a>, one of WNIP’s foremost commentators. In this article, Lieberman gives an overview of what she learned about audio storytelling during her time at Oregon.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Everything is a story or everything has a story<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The cashier behind the counter at the store. The brick building\nyou sit in class in every day. The events you hear about happening around you.\nWith all of those stories comes audio: a voice, footsteps of passersby, far\naway conversations between groups of people. Always be listening for your next\nstory with a sense of genuine curiosity, because you could find it anywhere.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

How to get clean audio<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

When recording audio, listen to the recording through headphones\nand make sure all the sounds are even, whether that\u2019s talk between people or\nthe sound of footsteps near the recorder. Although sound quality can be edited\nto some extent, it\u2019s ultimately best to record clean, crisp, understandable\naudio that listeners can swallow and you can edit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Good recording levels are between -6 and -12. Also keep the\nspace around the microphone away from anything that will scratch or rub against\nit and disrupt the audio content.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Do your research<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you pitch an idea for an audio story, make sure you research the tangibility of the idea at least a little and make sure you have a decent grasp of the subject and story. It helps to have that in the back of your mind while collecting audio clips and helps with the natural flow of things when you\u2019re in the field reporting.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Marcus Larson\/News-Register<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Get plenty of natural sound<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s frustrating when you\u2019re listening to a recording and everything sounds natural and good, then two seconds in you start talking and disrupting the natural sound. Get at a least a full minute of natural sound (or even more) so you can avoid this issue and having to loop the same three seconds over and over again. Also hold the recorder close to the noise of different sounds that might add to your story\u2019s scene.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Deal with the recorder before you get to where you\u2019re going<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Make sure the recorder works, has battery, has a memory card in\nit, and is working with adequate levels so you don\u2019t have to deal with it when\nyou meet your sources.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Outline your stories<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Develop a general mood, outline or story flow for an audio\npiece, but still be open-minded. Remember to go in to an audio story with a\ngeneral idea of how the end piece will sound, but don\u2019t attach yourself to the\nidea since something better might naturally come up. It\u2019s good to have that\ninitial guidance, though.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Listen to podcasts<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The more advanced novels I read in high school, the more\nintelligent and articulate my writing became. The same works with an audio\nstory. You can hear for certain styles and make them your own by listening to\nall kinds of different podcasts. Get a feel for the pacing and techniques of\nplenty of audio stories and let them inspire you.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Produce for yourself<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I love creating audio stories because it\u2019s just plain fun. I enjoy how the way in which I craft a piece conveys a sense of space and emotion to an audience, and the process of creating that story is like a puzzle I keep working on until all the pieces fit. Try to embrace whatever you enjoy about audio storytelling – the editing, the pitching, the interviews with sources,etc. That\u2019s the easiest way to be successful: to make it not feel like work<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Produce for others and know your audience<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Although you should utilize the freedom in this class to be\ncreative and explore your audio and storytelling talents, keep in mind your\naudience. Who will listen to this piece? Is it interesting? Is it\nunderstandable? Is it valuable?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Get comfortable using good editing software<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

My go-to software is Adobe Premiere but Adobe Audition is also good.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Learn the basics of editing, primarily:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

  1. how to use crossfades (Effects>audio>crossfades>either constant gain (fade in), constant fade (fade out), or constant power (blend end of one clip with beginning<\/g> of another)<\/li>
  2. how to overlay clips (place one clip in one audio timeline and the other in another)<\/li>
  3. how to adjust volume (right click a clip>audio gain>type in 1, 2, etc. depending on how much louder you want a clip or use negative numbers to make it softer). I\u2019ve used numbers anywhere from -25 to 25, but that\u2019s in extreme situations. Often audio gains between -5 and -5 are helpful enough. You also don\u2019t want to hear static in the background.<\/li><\/ol>\n\n\n\n

    Work on your voice<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Practice recording yourself talking about different things \u2013\nscripted and unscripted. Record yourself and play it back. Just keep doing this\nand getting comfortable speaking into a recorder and recognizing what sounds\nnatural.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Use scripts<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Aside from a chumcast (which even then should have an outline),develop scripts for your podcasts after you\u2019ve retrieved all your audio andcreated an official outline. This will promote confidence in your voice andallow you to say what you need to say with good pacing and efficiency.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Two final tips<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    1. Always keep headphones, a memory card and extra batteries to hand (don\u2019t forget to check what kind the recorder takes) <\/strong><\/li>
    2. Use websites like Epidemic Sound<\/a> to get royalty free, quality music<\/strong><\/li><\/ol>\n\n\n\n


      <\/p>\n\n\n\n

      <\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

      Anna Lieberman is a recent graduate from the University of Oregon’s School of Journalism and Communication, studying under the tutelage of Professor Damian Radcliffe, one of WNIP’s foremost commentators. In this article, Lieberman gives an overview of what she learned about audio storytelling during her time at Oregon.\u00a0 Everything is a story or everything has […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":7241,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[17612,879],"tags":[13643,13644],"yst_prominent_words":[2973,13440,13438,13437,5393,8750,6030,13439,4036,13436,5819,4907,13441,13442,5180,13443,1235,1810,2165,3462],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mediamakersmeet.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11792"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mediamakersmeet.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mediamakersmeet.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mediamakersmeet.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mediamakersmeet.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11792"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mediamakersmeet.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11792\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mediamakersmeet.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7241"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mediamakersmeet.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11792"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mediamakersmeet.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11792"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mediamakersmeet.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11792"},{"taxonomy":"yst_prominent_words","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mediamakersmeet.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/yst_prominent_words?post=11792"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}