For this weeks lecture Kyla Brettle came in to talk to us about audio drama’s documentaries & features. She talked about how we will be learning to listen to audio more specifically than we might normally.

We heard the program intro to Radiolab Time (season 1. Episode 1). It stretched a Beethoven piece from the usual 60 minutes to 24 hours. This was a really cool effect because it confirmed Kyla’s belief that music can have a secret to tell, and the tempo of the music can connect to our understanding of characters, points in the narrative or simply the emotions we are meant to feel.

I learned that we craft audio stories in minutes and seconds and there is often a tapestry in said story. It is also very important to take great care with each moment in the piece. You don’t want the listener to move out of it too quickly. Tell them what they need to know and when they need to know it. Not too soon, not too late. Hearing these examples, it hits me that this medium is very powerful when it captures an unravelling. Tv and Film are naturally very reliant on visuals and to a certain extent it is easier to disconnect and maintain the feeling of being an audience. However with audio, it can constantly be around you and it is easier to connect with as it feels more incorporated into our everyday lives.

Another example we listened to was Nancy Schwartz from birth to age twelve on Radiolab’s first episode of the first season. The piece captures little recordings of dialogue highlighting the changes in her voice as she ages. Listening to it the first time was incredible because it was the only piece of audio that sparked an emotional reaction within me without my realising that it would. I am someone who is an avid radio and music listener, and I think the novelty of those types of audio have been so incorporated into my everyday life that I take them for granted. However hearing a podcast with such a unique yet achievable concept, made my concerns about the upcoming Project brief begin to disappear.

In sound you get to create space. As I mentioned before, often in video you can feel slightly more disconnected. But in radio, you are able to feel as though you are there. It is slightly more unnerving as a listener and it almost feels as though you are the centre of the piece.

We also looked at “Affairs of the mind intro” a piece of Kyla’s. A narrative following the private detective a woman hires to investigate her husband on possible infidelity. As a whole the spoken was quite effective and different than something you might find on screen. You can hear the characteristics of the person. Their age, background, level of education. Another advantage of this media form is that you are also able to edit audio much easier within your project. Getting rid of the um’s and ah’s, the repetitions of the voice can be faster as you do not have to be concerned with continuity of a visual medium.

A common thread in each audio piece we looked at was the incorporation of music, which seemed really appropriate as a feature of storytelling. Music can lift or establish a mood. It can be diagetic or non diabetic- meaning sound that can only be heard by the audience. Music is a great structuring device, as it can enable breaks between content. It also has many cultural connections and can enable the audience to recall a memory of achieve a greater understanding of context.

Kyla mentioned that when she is out in the world recording for a project she makes sure to record close ups, tracking shots and different sides of the object or person she is working with. Recording things from different distances enables you to have more layers. Something to aim for is the sounds to do as much work as they can and trying to use non verbal sounds and musical sounds are very worthwhile.

To conclude, Kyla left us with some pieces of advice when working on our PB4’s:

-When recording things, make sure to be recording two textures within it. Its like running with on leg. You have more to play with this way.

-When editing, forget about what you thought the piece would be and work with what you have.

-Once you get a whole bunch of sounds lay them vertically on editing then find the parts you like and put them below the first sequence.

-With short pieces, identify the best and 2nd best bit. Always put the 2nd best bit first and then the best bit in the middle.

-Go with all the best bits. You don’t need as much exposition as you think you do.

-Don’t be too obvious with yours sounds, give the listener a chance. Use sound and time as punctuation to the voice.

This weeks reading on “Perspective” by Theo Van Leeuwen looked at just that. Perspective. Relating this back to our projects the reading talks about the examples of how one can replicate the senses within media to portray perspective. Be it a wide shot to convey context, or for an audio piece, recording sounds within the proximity that you believe appropriate for conveying the message you wish to convey. Thinking about this in regard to attention, an idea that I feel could be explored is how we prioritise certain things over others as represented through sound effects and audio. e.g Hearing a parent lecturing you about chores be the most quiet in a soundscape followed by a slightly louder recording of the television turned on and the loudest of all sounds being a Facebook notification.

Although it is still in the early stages of PB4, I’m slowly starting to feel as though there can be some pretty cool possibilities for the assessment.