Auditory Lessons
As someone who has little experience working with audio and audio recording, this past term was a whirlwind of new and challenging experiences for me. I learned many new things about this form of communication, and how it is growing in popularity.
Audio journalism and audio communication is a prevalent channel of communication in today’s high tech world. This came as a surprise to me because, whenever I think about journalism I always think about print or video content. However, audio makes a up a sizeable portion of the consumed media content. According to the Pew Research Center’s State of the Media 2016 report, the number of people listening to radio content online is increasing every year.
Podcasts are one of the fields in audio journalism that is growing in popularity. The people who listen to them do so on very consistent basis.
Gathering good quality audio is the most important thing in audio journalism. Unlike video, where an image can somewhat substitute for lackluster audio, there is no hiding behind pictures in audio storytelling. The audio is what communicates the story, and without quality sound it can be difficult for listeners to understand what is being said. There were a few occasions during the term where I had trouble with collecting good audio. The first one was in a large room with high ceilings. The audio recorded in that room had a hollow, echoic sound. I was lucky that I fixed the problem in post. The type of recording device can also have an impact on the quality of the collected sound. When I recorded on my phone, I ran into issues with sound quality. I’m not sure if I held the microphone too far from my mouth or if my case somehow obstructed the microphone from picking up my voice, but the audio I recorded was not high quality. To make matters worse, I had to combine the bytes I recorded on my phone with others that I had recorded with a different type of recorder, so the difference in sound quality was evident. I couldn’t resolve the issue in post, and the quality of piece suffered. These two incidents taught me that having good sound is everything when it comes to audio storytelling. The recording environment, the type of recording device, and the distance microphone is held from the mouth are small technicalities that can all have an impact on the quality of the recorded sound.
While sound quality maybe the most important thing in audio story telling, having a good interview subject comes in a close second. It can make a piece much easier to understand and edit. I was fortunate with the projects I did that my subjects were all well-spoken. It was not difficult to edit their sound-bytes. Having a good interview also meant that I could stay out of my pieces for the most part. I primarily wanted my interviewees to do the bulk of the speaking. I just wanted to fill in gaps of background information, and provide a smooth transition to a new subject. My interviewees all had interesting stories to share, so that ensured that my content would not bore listeners. It is important to find people with interesting stories because that is the only thing that can grab and hold your listener’s attention. There is no picture or no print to keep a listener hooked, only the voice of your interview subject. Therefore, it is important to choose someone with a story that people will find interesting and relevant.
Audio journalism is a growing field. There are many different outlets like AM/FM radio, online radio, or podcasting. It is clear that more and more people consume this type of content every year. Telling stories through audio is far different from telling stories through video or print. There is only one channel of communication, and that is the audio you gather. There is no way to hide poor quality audio, so it is important to be cognizant of surroundings, microphone recording levels, voice fluctuations, and microphone distance. Finding good interview subjects is also key to keep listeners hooked, as there is nothing else to hold their attention. Hearing the voice of someone telling their story has a much greater impact than reading it through words, or seeing it visually because it is more personal and gives a sense of identity to the person speaking.
