Podcast is a new medium for me as I never listened to any podcasts until lockdown earlier this year. From the reading in Linares, Dario and Fox, Neil. (2018) Podcasting : New Aural Cultures and Digital Media. Chapter one highlights how podcast is generally oral communication however it has effects on its listeners. It’s engaging through sound aesthetics, language and content. For this assignment, we mainly focus on the content and language rather than sound aesthetics as it is an interview. I decided to interview my cousin Mandy with a zoom call as we already have a relationship, this allows my subject to speak comfortably and relaxed.
Referring McHugh (2011) The Power of Voice, McHugh gives a comparison between written and verbal communication about Jan Graham. Comparing to the excerpt and a section of the book, it does not do justice as the interview with Jan Graham was powerful and overwhelming to hear than a written version, giving a minimal effect on myself and other readers/listeners. Even though it includes words like “traumatized” or “distraught”, it was written by McHugh where she wrote it but not from experience but an interview, which lacks some empathy because it was from her point of view. The audio gives a sense of realism, allowing you to be there as you can hear some silence and grief. Especially when you listen in earphones, it gives a more intimate and close connection to the subject, like a conversation.
I learnt a lot, about how to approach my subject with questions that can potentially be a story that surprises not only the listeners but myself.
During recording, there were some difficulties where my subject and I have experience internet connection problem. I was not able to listen fully on what she said as it cuts off but luckily I asked her before hand to use her microphone on her phone. This was problematic as I could be more of an active listener if the connection was stable and asked different questions. However, I am happy with the outcome as we record remotely and safely due to COVID-19 but also glad I had an engaging subject (based on my feedback). However, I had some constructive feedback from our tutorial and used it as it seems more smoother. For example, a student said that I should refine my volume level as some parts from my draft was louder than the other. To resolve this, I edited the draft in Adobe Audition where I used Waveform to adjust my dBs at the peaks and level it down till it is the same as my subject. This is to make it sound like I am in the same room with her and gives it more an intimate space.
Here’s the Soundcloud link:
Here’s the release form: