Full Circle

https://soundcloud.com/donandsherri/full-circle

Acting as an exposé of the importance of active role models in the lives of underprivileged children housed in Commission Estates in the Northern Suburbs; ‘Full Circle’ address the responsibility that coach Omar Coles has on the trajectory of his young kids lives.

Full circle draws on the recommendations that Kyla gave me in regards to repetition and variation, and the integral part that they play in the structure of a narrative and the engagement of an audience. To achieve a greater level of engagement, I cut a piece of Omar’s dialogue and insert it at the beginning of the piece, then immediately cut back to the feature itself. By doing this I hoped to shock the listener and take them from what they were expecting to happen next and make them listen more intently.

I treated the structure of ‘Full Circle’ as a piece comprised of 2 halves and 3 movements as a further attempt to employ the repetition and variation technique of audience engagement. The two halves act in a highly succinct manner, however they change from a observational piece, where Omar is the only subject of the narrative; into an interactive piece, where myself as a producer interrupts the observational nature. This change in focus from the subject to both Omar and myself further aims to aid in the flow of the narrative and draws the attention away from the thin texture of the background sounds.

Using only sounds derived from the field recordings proved to be a lot more difficult than I had imagined, as I thoroughly enjoy painting vast soundscapes comprised of sounds derived from a mixture of places. This difficulty may be due to the fact that I was only able to record a limited amount of audio over the course of the project. Having only about 50 different sounds and approximately 10 interviews to work with definitely made it a more challenging effort than I had first imagined. However, acting in complete contradiction to this, I found that having a scarcity of material to work with made me listen more intently to the stories being told and the kind of narrative that I aimed to portray.

The concept of the piece is designed to emulate the whole process of the Basketball program and the journey I went through to get there and record the sounds. By having the music I was listening to on the way there playing, in order to emulate the experience of listening to music through headphones and then dropping it out; the listener is drawn into the world. The dialogue of Omar furthers this immersing nature of the piece, as the basketball program itself often pulls out of the fun nature of training to offer poignant pieces of information to act as motivation to keep going (or keep listening).

C.R.E.A.M

https://soundcloud.com/donandsherri/cream-clouds-rule-everything-around-me

C.R.E.A.M (Clouds Rule Everything Around Me) acts to encapsulate the multifaceted approach that studio sounds have on an audio piece and their ability to augment an environment while still staying true to the story.

The literal locale of the piece acted as both inspiration and detriment for myself as the producer, for I found that the unwelcoming and downtrodden environment of the Atherton Gardens Commission Homes both scared me and intrigued me. Having the already well founded frameworks of the Helping Hoops Basketball program to work under, I felt comforted in the knowledge that I would not be hassled too much; however, when I went out to record all the background sounds, I felt highly vulnerable and out of my comfort zone.

The experience surrounding the act of recording the sounds for the ’24 Hour Folio’ was a wash of excitement and anticipation that unfortunately often culminated into a lackluster affair, where sounds blurred into one and became somewhat indistinguishable. However, this muddiness and non distinct nature that the sounds took, also acted to generate new and unique sounds that employed their blurred aspects.

By centering the conceptual piece around ‘the life of a Helping Hoops coach’, I aimed to take the listener on a journey through their weekly routine of arriving to work; and play on the idea that through this repetition, the coaches could almost find a beat and melody in the mundane banal sides of their session. The washed out children’s voices and the coupling of the Cello to the beat of their footsteps acts as testament to this beat in repetition. By adding a reverb emulator to the children’s voices, the piece was able to effectively create a sense of distance; however I feel that the distance felt by the listener was a literal one, rather than the mental one I had hoped to create.

After receiving feedback from my last pieces, I headed into the production of C.R.E.A.M with a more genuine approach to narrative and the cause & effect relationship that generates listener engagement and interaction. C.R.E.A.M as a conceptual piece, employs three different scenes or movements, and aims to transition through each scene with bridging Cello sounds. By softening the transition between scenes with the Cello, I attempted to draw less attention to the changes in locale, and further this sense of noises culminating inside the coach’s head to reach a washed out feeling.

Double Dribble

https://soundcloud.com/donandsherri/double-dribble

Double Dribble is a 3-minute audio piece centered around the producer and acts as a pseudo exposé into the internal battle that the producer is faced with when recording their material. I decided to structure the piece in its narrative nonfiction state, so that I could further explore the internal struggles that can sometimes plague a producer. Drawing on audio works from ‘Radiolab’ and ‘This American Life’, and employing the type of narrative structure that they utilize, I aimed to deliver a piece that explored the concepts of mental instability and mental insecurity.

After visiting the Atherton Gardens Commission Homes and obtaining all the audio that I could, I discovered that the recordings were plagued by repetition. Be it the constant bounce of the basketball on the court, the infrequent bursts of rain or the children’s screams of excitement and frustration. This constant repetition inspired me to develop the ideas of the unstable mind. Once I had a concept in mind, I then needed to develop a script for the narrative structure of the piece.

After listening to Kyla’s recommended audio feature by Jad Abumrad and hearing how he employs the use of differing voices to build scenes, I decided to script the narrative with a my voice as the external dialogue and having a different persons voice acting as the thoughts of the producer. By having two opposing voices acting as the interior and exterior dialogues, I feel that I was better able to convey the idea of the unstable mind. However, to ensure the listener knew what was happening, I made sure to use similar turns of phrase for the two voices.

By looping the background sounds of the kids and their conversations, I was able to (I feel) further this idea of an unstable presenter. Hearing the same audio on repeat in the immediate background would prompt the listener to reconsider what exactly it is they are listening to and hopefully allow them to see the ‘picture’ that I was painting.

The choice to use the rain as a final scene and to then hard cut the whole piece after the producers inner dialogue eludes to it, was done to leave the audience in a state of bewilderment and an attempt to get them to listen to the piece again. By prompting the listener to hear the piece a further time, I feel that the dual narrative structure of the composition could be better understood and the ideas behind it to be absorbed.

I feel that the piece as a whole is quite strong and delivers the ideas that I wanted to convey to the audience. However, I think if I were to do it again, I would have the concept in mind earlier and try to gain recordings that would help the narrative evolve further.

Bounce

https://soundcloud.com/donandsherri/bounce

The audio piece bounce is a 3-minute audio expose that comprises of both recorded sounds and minor Foley effects, to deliver the listener into the chaotic and childish space that is the Atherton Gardens Housing Commissions.

The recording process: getting the kids to be quiet, battling the weather and getting release forms signed and returned, turned out exactly as difficult as it sounds. Working with children under the age of 12 meant that there was a lot of audio spill, with other children screaming and making sounds in the background. By using a shotgun mic and a H4 audio recorder, I was able to minimalize (as best I could) the amount of foreign sounds spilling into the microphone and gain a slightly cleaner recording. This minor achievement was only to be outdone by the natural elements, having the basketball session interrupted by a severe downpour of rain. The rain initially proved a major inconvenience, as the equipment could not be exposed to the wet conditions; however, I was able to use the sounds to gain a greater effect in the mixing and narrative process. Having now overcome two problems and recorded enough material to produce coherent audio pieces, I faced my greatest challenge yet: getting the release forms signed by the children’s parents. Although not all the kids returned their forms, I was lucky enough to have recorded enough material to only use the audio from the children that did return their forms.

When I first chose the Helping Hoops basketball programs at Atherton Gardens as the space in which I would like to record and display to the listening audience, I immediately conceived the idea of portraying the chaotic and childlike place that it can become. I aimed to achieve this childlike feeling by using a combination of editing techniques and appropriate dialogue. Drawing from the ‘cascading voice’ that I heard in set class listening’s, I aimed to have the childrens voices cascade under the next child voice and further the sense of chaos. Aiding to the cascading voice, I also added filters, pan and volume changes to the voices heard saying “bounce”. This was done in an attempt to have the words of the kids swirling around and gradually getting louder to give the listener a sense of how intense that space can be. After achieving this chaotic sound, I decided to then introduce the listener to the coach that keeps the chaos to a minimum, and to do this, I felt his voice needed to be heard.

Coupling Omar’s (the coach) words with a royalty free piece of music, I felt that the calming positive message he was hoping to achieve gained greater poignancy.

On The Record

recording
rɪˈkɔːdɪŋ/
noun
  • the action or process of recording sound or a performance for subsequent reproduction or broadcast.

After deciding on the location in which I would centre my ’24 Hour Folio’ around, it came time to head down to the “tech office” and rent out the required equipment to capture the sounds I wanted.

 

The list of hired equipment read as follows:

 

  1. H4N Zoom Recorder
  2. 3 Meter XLR Cord
  3. Shotgun Microphone
  4. Wind Muff

 

After obtaining all the equipment, I set out to the Atherton Gardens Commission Homes with a somewhat structured idea of what I wanted to capture. Upon reaching the basketball courts, I commenced the process of setting up the gear and began recording. I was immediately able to capture a multitude of various different textured sounds, however I was confronted with an unforeseen problem that I had no ability to resolve, having the immense amount of background noise from the children seep into every recording. It was at this point that I had wished that I had hoped out an additional lapel microphone ⋋_⋌ . Having only secured the permission to record on the Commission Homes for that evening, I had to role with it and make the most of every opportunity; and, defying every production bone in my body, I would have to ‘fix it in the mix’.

 

Hopefully I am able to separate the sounds enough to create a coherent and balanced piece.

it’s the place to be (don’t believe the hyperbole)

PLACE.

 

After listening to ‘A Sense Of Place’ ‘Poetry Texas’ I was struck with the importance of place and the ability of a presenter immersing themselves in the environment they are wishing to encapsulate and display to the world.

 

Having listened to the two pieces that employ two differing styles of presenting the importance of place, enabled me to gain a more holistic perspective on why PLACE plays such a pivotal role in a story.

 

Poetry Texas’ immersed the listener in the place and displayed the story in a dualistic fashion, juxtaposing the literal place of Poetry, Texas against the word Poetry; enabling a clever lexical interplay of locale to unfold. By having the presenter (Pejk Malinowski) take control of the piece and making himself an equal part of the narrative as the subjects, and interjecting the literal place he is in with the figurative space of Poetry as a concept (imposing his views and memories onto the piece) the listener is compelled to engage with the concepts he is highlighting.

 

IN CONTRAST

 

A Sense Of Place’ acts as a highly expository piece that highlights the importance of a journalists ability to emerge themselves into the place they are aiming to investigate and the differing ways to do so. This piece acts as a sort of direct address to the listener, that places the producer at the front and centre of it. Highlighting the importance of being confident and understanding, the piece further addresses the necessity of the producer to fully engage with the subjects they are aiming to portray while also displaying the tendencies and procedure that will enable you (as a producer) to gain the poignant stories. Encapsulating this notion is the Hurricane Catrina story. A first hand piece that shows the listener the necessity of following your gut and documenting all facets of the story and not being afraid of approaching subjects and connecting with them.

 

Both these pieces have both inspired and frightened me about choosing a place to document for the ’24 Hours Folio’ as I, as a somewhat introverted person, will have to fully immerse myself in whatever location I choose.

 

– donandsherri

you’re the voice (try and understand it)

Having taken somewhat of a lax attitude towards all classes at the start of semester, I have found myself in the unfortunate predicament of being behind. This far too familiar place has resulted in my ears not receiving the full onslaught of audio documentaries and features that they were awaiting. Having only recently listened to ‘Just Another Fish Story’ and ‘Dear Birth Mother’ it is only now that I can begin to understand the different ways to portray voice and utilise the voice in a narrative.

 

Exploring the ideas behind the ‘cascading voice’ and the type of emotions/reactions that it connotes, I am left feeling silly that I did not get to utilise its full potential in Project Brief 1; as I feel the portrait of Sasha could have been reinforced with the use of such techniques. I feel that the final third of Sasha’s portrait would’ve served as an even stronger emotive turn point if his words cascaded and fell underneath the next piece of dialogue to reach a climactic point at the final reflection.

 

This has served as a stark reminder to keep on top of future work loads and class discussions, as I feel I had not only let myself down, but also Sasha and the Studio itself.

 

– donandsherri

.:introspection:.

 

Sasha Geyer.

 

Male.

 

Melbournian.

 

In the first assessment piece for Radio’s New Wave, I was fortunate to get the opportunity to paint an audio picture on Sasha Geyer.

 

The image of Sasha that I aimed to deliver to the listener was one of a young male who is confident in himself and his place in the world (more specifically Melbourne), but also one who is highly self reflective and one that internalises his very being.

 

My inspiration came from both the hour long recording session I participated in with Sasha himself, but also from the multitude of audio pieces that the class had been listening to in the weeks prior. ‘Poetry Texas’ was a highly influential piece, as it really emphasised the importance of ‘the voice’ that is contained within a narrative, however I felt that, unlike ‘Poetry Texas’, my voice (as the interviewer) did not need to be in the finished product. Sasha’s passive tone and poignant subject matter spoke truer words of himself than I could have ever articulated.

 

Underpinning his narrative, I employed the use of numerous different sound effects and royalty free backing tracks to aid in the flow of the whole piece, as well as to add further emphasis to the mood that I was trying to achieve with Sasha’s words. The musical aspects that are apparent in the piece are (in order): Slavic Theme, Georgio By Moroder, and Movement 3.

 

I edited and mixed the whole piece using protools 10. The vocals of Sasha I left relatively unaffected, employing only the use of minor EQing on the highs and lows & adding a little bit of reverb to give some distance and emotion to the whole piece. I found it hard, having engaged in conversation for well over 45 minutes, to edit out a lot of the material that Sahsa and I touched on… however the image of him that I wished to project, required using the vocals that I ended up choosing.

 

Overall I hope that both Sasha and the rest of the listening audience is able to take with them an image of a strong, confident young man who is in touch with himself and his surrounds, however is still venerable and self reflexive.

 

– donandsherri

New World Radio

New World Radio

 

 

Encapsulated in this photograph are a lot of different objects, each with there own different texts and subtexts…but the image taking prominence is the ‘flow-chart’ that Jack, Jack, Daniel and Myself created. It aims to depict where we (Jack, Jack, Daniel and Myself) think radio is currently positioned within the social systems of entertainment, and the shackles that bind the medium to an outdated past.

 

I am hoping that throughout the rest of the semester that we can break these shackles constraining audio documentaries as well as exploring some of the concepts depicted.

 

– donandsherri

New Wave Fashion

22-07-15

 

Semester 2 has hit the ground running & an all too familiar feeling has begun to unfold. I find myself feeling inadequately prepared to handle the full force of the inevitable shit-storm that is about to unfold. However, throughout this unnerving epiphany there has been a glimmer of hope…

 

Radios New Wave.

 

A studio class that operates around the ideas of documentary based radio pieces.

 

The maiden class for this semester comprised of the usual housekeeping affairs of meeting and greeting, semester deadlines and course overviews. Upon the completion of this necessary exercise, the true nature of the Studio began to reveal itself as we broke into pairs and commenced a short exercise in recording and interviewing. With the use of a H4 field recorder, my ‘buddy’ and I commenced a short series of interviews to familiarise ourselves with the technology and process of bouncing the audio.

 

The exercise both excited me and offered a new thought process when interviewing a subject, as I found out that it is great to be seen and not hear, for trying to edit out your voice becomes a futile exercise when mixing.

 

Until our next encounter.

 

– donandsherri