Reminders and Upcoming Dates
Radio scripts will be due Friday, October 30. Instead of having class as usual that day, I will be holding one-on-one script editing meetings with everyone; you will sign up for time slots when it gets a bit closer.
Final due date on the radio story is Friday, November 6.
Script Writing
Here’s my example script based on a very short interview I did with another professor back in the spring. Note some of the different elements of script writing:
- Visual/descriptive, paints a picture to add context to the natural sounds
- Sets up sound bites by introducing the person by their full name and often by paraphrasing or hinting at what they’re about to say.
- No long, rambly, complicated sentences.
- Ends with a final line of narration that looks to the future in some way.
Host intro: With CUNY schools transitioning to online learning this week amid the coronavirus outbreak, professors across New York City are getting creative. Emily Johnson spoke to one CUNY adjunct about what it’s like trying to teach during a pandemic.
AMBI: Nat sounds of tea kettle boiling (FADE DOWN AS TRACK BEGINS)
TRACK: I’m here with Anna Ficek in her Brooklyn apartment, watching her make tea while she works from home. She’s a PhD student at the CUNY Grad Center and when she’s not working on her dissertation she teaches art history at Baruch College and Borough of Manhattan Community College, or BMCC.
ACT: ANNA: When I found out that everything was getting shut down and especially CUNY I felt extremely sad. Because CUNY is such a big part of my life, such a great community that it was hard to feel that kind of dissipating.
TRACK: She says teaching from home has been a real challenge because of the way she runs her classes.
ACT: ANNA: It’s been very difficult to adapt to teaching remotely just because I really value the discussion I have with my students.
TRACK: Still, she’s trying to see this as an opportunity.
ACT: ANNA: What I’m hoping to get out of this is more time to really focus on what’s important both in terms of teaching and my own dissertation and my own research and trying to figure out creative problem solving ways to deal with these new issues that are going to come around like libraries being closed and inaccessibility to archives and how myself as an academic and as a researcher can get around that. So challenges, but also good challenges!
TRACK: CUNY schools will continue with distance learning for at least the remainder of the spring semester. For Baruch College, I’m Emily Johnson.
Recording Narration
You’ll need to record your narration in a quiet place with sound-absorbing surfaces. Some people use their closet as a makeshift studio; others just throw a blanket over their head. If your room is carpeted, has curtains and lots of plush surfaces, the sound quality should be decent.
It’s best not to drink or eat dairy products right before recording narration; it makes your voice sound thick.
Try not to speak from high up in your throat. Speak from lower in your belly.
Good posture is important.
Some people in the radio world warm up their voices by singing, stretching, and/or doing tongue twisters.
Audio Editing Workshop
Audacity shortcuts to know:
Play/pause: Space bar
Split track: Command I
Zoom in: Command 1
Zoom out: Command 3
In the tool bar, this is the selection tool that allows you to click and highlight and delete sections of track or select a spot where you want to split it:
And this is the tool that allows you to move sections of track:
And this is the one that lets you adjust the volume, basically the same way the pen tool works in Premiere for anyone who may be familiar with that program:
You’ll need to export the finished sound file before you can upload it anywhere.
In Audacity, it’s File –> Export Audio –> select “WAV” from dropdown menu and give the file a name and location, then hit “Save” and “OK.”
I recommend uploading to Soundcloud rather than hosting it on the blog. It’s free to create an account. Please post the link on the class blog by the end of the day.
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