The Sounds of Serial

I remember hearing about this podcast back in high school, when Serial was at the height of its popularity, but I had never actually listened to it. So, I took this opportunity to listen to the very first episode of Serial.

Episode 01: The Alibi

There were many sounds in this episode that influenced the way the listener reacted to what was being said

1. Background music — much of the background music felt choppy, and underscored some of the transitions in the episode, as well as the beginning and ends. This music set the tone for the whole podcast, particularly a suspenseful and slightly ominous one.
2. Automated message of the collect call from the correctional facility — this recording was played at the very beginning of the episode, setting the tone while also introducing an unsuspecting listener to the gravity of the situation being discussed.
3. Background noises during the interviews — whenever the host would conduct interviews with students in the field or individuals over the phone, there would be some form of background static, or even overlapping voices. All of these sounds created a picture of how she was conducting the interviews, and showed how thorough she really was in order to get the whole picture.