A Blogs@Baruch site
Export your finished, edited audio file to an mp3.
Upload your finished mp3 or wav file to Soundcloud.
Create a blog post on the class site. Give your post a headline. Copy and paste the host intro into the blog, and embed the Soundcloud player underneath it along with the photo.
With anti-semitism being at perhaps an all-time high in my lifetime, I would like to interview a newly immigrated Israeli citizen. I would love to hear about their experiences in the US so far, the differences in culture, people, etc., the highs and lows of immigration in today’s America, and their overall sentiment towards the nation we call home.
In-class production day! That means working on whatever part of your project needs your attention today, whether that means audio mixing, recording narration in the sound booth, going over scripts. Wednesday will also be a production day. But first…
Recording Narration: A Tutorial
Studio
For a good quality audio recording, I highly recommend taking advantage of the new studio we have in room 174 off the Dollars and Sense suite. If for some reason it is unavailable to you, you can improvise a recording studio by covering the walls of your closet with blankets or towels, or simply pulling a blanket over your head. It sounds silly, but it works in a pinch.
The important thing is to be in an environment that absorbs sound. The absolute worst place you could go to record your narration would be something like an empty stairwell, full of echoes and hard surfaces.
Microphone
Use a Zoom!
Remember that generally, you’re going to want to hold the mic 1-2 feet from your mouth while you’re recording. Too close and your breath will create a popping sound; too far and we won’t be able to hear you.
Script
Here’s where we get into the art of it all. You may be reading from a script, but you don’t want to sound like you’re reading. Good audio is conversational. Pretend you’re telling a friend about this really interesting thing that just happened to you. Speak clearly but don’t over-enunciate, either.
Trends in narration: A lot of people on the radio these days seem to be doing a straight-up imitation of Ira Glass.
It helps to print out your script or read it from your phone; this serves two purposes. First, you can hold it up in front of you so you don’t have to hunch over a screen, which will make your voice sound weaker. Second, sometimes having serious electronics too close to your mic can create feedback and ruin your recording.
Voice
Stand up straight and speak from your stomach, not your throat. Bear in mind that your voice will sound better if you’re hydrated, and phlegmy if you’ve just had dairy products. Professional radio reporters and hosts will sometimes do tongue twisters and literally stretch their jaws before recording. Again, it sounds silly and looks silly, but it makes a difference.
Headphones
Use them! Without them, you can’t monitor your levels. You don’t want to spend twenty minutes creating the perfect narration only to realize the mic was unplugged the whole time.
Audio Editing Workshop
Audio download here.
AMBI2: Hammering at full volume for several seconds, then fade under track, then fade into AMBI1 to loop under the scene.
TRACK: I’m with safety coordinator Brian Reavis on the Vaughan-Bassett factory floor, where workers are constructing nightstands on a long assembly line.
ACT: BRIAN REAVIS: “When we put chairs together… the proof is in the product itself.”
TRACK: Those forces of globalization have a lot to do with the fact that Vaughan-Bassett is the last wooden furniture factory standing here in Galax, which used to be home to five more of them.
ACT: “Oh yeah we had… unfortunately they’re gone, and they’ll probably not be back.”
TRACK: The loss of those factories devastated many people in the town. When John Bassett III waged his fight against illegal Chinese imports rather than shut down his factories and outsource the jobs, it was because of families like Reavis’s.
ACT: BRIAN REAVIS: “We have a lot of family members… it’s a vital part of our mainstay, our life.”
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Reminder: Due date for audio project is Monday, Oct. 30.
Workshop
Script-writing exercises
Reminder
Your script drafts are due this Wednesday, Oct. 18. Rather than having a regularly scheduled class, I will instead be holding individual meetings to do script edits with you one-on-one. Please sign up for a time slot here. If you’re unable to meet during any of the available times, let me know and we can schedule a time to do it over the phone.
https://imgur.com/user/ybenz6647
As a reminder, your scripts for the 4-5 minute radio feature are due on Wednesday, October 18. This means you will need to have already conducted your interviews by then.
IMPORTANT: When you go out and record your interviews, DON’T FORGET to record 90 seconds to two minutes of ambient sound/room tone in the location where you conducted your interview. It should become a deeply ingrained habit to wrap up the interview and say “Now if you don’t mind, I’m just going to stay here and record a few minutes of nothing!”
In-class exercise: Script Writing
I’m going to give you a link to an interview recorded recently, and you’re going to script a radio story out of it. It’s up to you to determine what angle you want to take.
You can and should also use excerpts from other sources (public speeches and statements found on YouTube etc.—this is considered fair use) to fill out the story. Give the interview a listen, decide on four or five sound bites of no more than about 20 seconds each (with maximum three of those coming from the main interview), and write them into a short script that provides full context and background on the situation.
Interview (and full transcript) here.
For future reference, if you intend to use any audio from these extra sources (if recent public statements by the mayor are relevant to your story, for instance), a good resource for ripping the audio is Audio Hijack. There is a free version.
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Remember that the template for writing a script looks like this:
HOST INTRO:
AMBI: (natural sounds and room tone go here)
TRACK: (your narration goes here)
ACT: [NAME]: (transcription of soundbites goes here)
TRACK: …and so on. I included one of my complete scripts in this post if that’s helpful to refer back to.
Remember that you’re writing for the ear, which means simple sentences, conversational style, and lots of description. Be careful to write into and out of the sound bites in a way that clearly introduces the speaker and sets up what they’re going to say.
When deciding what to put into the narration vs. what sound bites to include, think about it this way: Exposition/Description vs. Color/Emotion/Opinion.
The role of the host intro is to tell the listeners what they’re about to hear and why it matters, before throwing it to you, the reporter.
Exposition/Description. Your narration is there to give all the who/what/where/when/why info and to guide the listener through the story so they’re never confused as to who is speaking, where you are, and what’s happening—and to do all this as efficiently, clearly, and engagingly as possible.
Color/Emotion/Opinion. In most cases, if there’s a sound bite that’s full of dry facts and figures, it is best to include that information by paraphrasing it and writing it into the narration. The quotes we want to hear from people are ALIVE, full of humor, sass, sadness, insight, and opinion.
If you’re not finished writing the script by the end of class, that’s okay: just make sure you email it to me by Monday so we can look at them together in class.
1.) My first idea is to interview a DACA recipient, and get their story while including news of the Trump Administration’s newest legislation.
2.) Second idea is to interview a survivor of the Las Vegas terrorist attack last week, also do a history of the NRA, interview someone that represents the association. Maybe a gun shop owner.
3.) Third idea is to interview workers at the biggest urban outfitters in the world, profile what it’s like to work in that environment and the company itself.
I was thinking of interviewing the owner of the restaurant The Arepa Lady. The restaurant is very popular in Jackson Heights for it’s colombian food but is unfortunately being closed down. Friends that I have in the area have told me the restaurant is being forced out to make way for a new company that purchased their property so I’d like to get the story straight from the restaurant owner or manager. I was hoping to initially pick up the sounds of people eating and talking, maybe the sound of workers in the back talking or orders being called out.
Another idea would be to interview my cousin who commutes to Baruch everyday from Long Island. I’d conduct the interview on the LIRR and capture the sound of the train arriving and sounds inside the train. This could enlighten some on the commuter life but I’m unsure if this qualifies as a “story”.
The third annual New York Coffee Fest will be running from October 13-15th. The festival features over 85 coffee and food vendors and hosts interactive events, from latte art competitions to coffee tastings. The official charity partner for NYCF, Project Waterfall, will host a “water challenge” to support clean water projects in the Rulindo district of Rwanda. I’d like to speak to vendors and participants about the growth of the speciality coffee industry, as well as visit Project Waterfall and inquire about sustainability practices in coffee farms.
Fat Cats
fat cat offers uniquely fun interdisciplinary educational programming, tailored to suit all ages.
class trips and groups are welcome for daytime and evening visits, where they can design a focused or diverse range of activities for participants, such as introductory and master music classes, group clinics for chess, table tennis, arts, crafts they use games as media to introduce and explore elements of math, geometry, science and technology, with a growing body of interactive curricula and exhibitions.