RWAV: Week 6 – The Live Show

Nerves and excitement were buzzing as my group arrived around 10am in the morning on Monday the 10th of April as we began to prepare for our live RWAV show. Tweets were being sent, photos were being taken and interviewees were greeted. Dusty and I practiced our presenting with the script and Rose had a go at getting the panel operating all down-pat so that once we walked into the live show, we would already all be in the zone.

Below is a list of things that went well and not so well, as well as the link to the live show (with annotations).

Enjoy!

  • Intro: This intro worked a lot better than the one we did in the demo. It went for a little longer and we seemed more comfortable on air. We introduced the show well including giving a timeframe for things the audience were going to hear later on if they were to tune out at any point. I think this was super important as one needs to have an understanding of the fact that people don’t necessarily hear the whole show. Perhaps if people don’t like on section of the show, they can tune in later.
  • Front/Back Announcing: Overall these were great. We constantly heard track names and station and show ID’s as well as a bit of background information every so often about the bands/artists and songs we were playing which gave it just that little bit extra to show we had done our research (and of course we care!). Also a back announce in the intro from the pervious show… this was to ensure listeners knew that this was a new show but still the same station as to not confuse the listener.
  • Music: Choice of music I think worked well for the type of show that it was. We had an eclectic mix of sounds and it definitely had a true Triple R sound.
  • Panelling: At times there were moments of silence between when the presenters had finished talking and when Rose played a song/promo etc. And there is one particular moment where I had started speaking before Rose turned my mic on. I think that was a bit of miscommunication as I was listening to the music and trying to make it sound professional by talking as the song ended. However, Rose I think was waiting for the song to end before allowing me to speak… which is fair! Again, I think at this moment I was feeling a bit flustered and USUALLY in my own experience, I actually panel operate the shows I am on, meaning that sometimes I forget that others are directing me.
  • Interview 1 – Less Meat Less Heat: This is probably my favourite interview of the day. Dusty and I both had a fair share of taking part in the speaking. At times we were probably TOO casual and spoke over each other (including the interviewee) however I think this works well as it meant we were all pretty comfortable with speaking together. It was unfortunate that we ran out of time because Dusty and I had some many pre-planned questions/questions we had thought of then and there that we wanted to ask. I think in future it’s probably best if we work out what NEEDS to be told before asking what we want to ask in order to leave the interview feeling we had asked what people want to hear first + any extra fluff. The interviewee spoke well, I believe he was media trained as well which helps. He seemed keen on the cause and I felt that Dusty and I had done some good research before the show. We both downloaded the app he was advertising ‘The Climatarian Challenge’ so that we could talk to him about that. I think this showed that we cared what he was talking about and made it seem even more natural and well-researched.
  • Interview 2: Swordcraft Melbourne. I wasn’t so keen on this interview. Dusty took more control of this one and there was a long period of time where I was heard speaking. I remember during the interview feeling a little out of it in the sense that I just couldn’t get into the interview because at times the interviewee waffled and I lost track. This was probably my own fault and perhaps I could have payed more attention or done a bit more research beforehand. I think it was important that Dusty lead this one as I was about to have my own pre-recorded interview played. It worked well in this sense as I wanted to share the talking around a little more. We probably could have planned this interview better if Dusty was to talk more having me ask one every 2-3 questions rather than a few at once and then nothing. Overall, I think the interview was insightful and it would have been nice to talk to him for a longer period of time (again another time constraint issue).
  • Placing of content: The segments ran for a varying length of time which I think makes it seem natural. It probably would have been good to have had something to break up the two long-winded interviews, perhaps even splitting one of the interviews in half to stretch out the time. We had a good amount of content to fill the one hour show and I think we did really well on this aspect.
  • The incident during my pre-recorded interview: As you will hear in the live recording, the interview cut out at about 3 minutes in with around 4 minutes to go. Unlike the rest of the audio that was playing off CD’s, this audio was played off Computer 2. In future, we will burn every piece of audio (including interviews) onto a few CD’s so that we do not run into this issue. Rose had double and triple-checked the CD’s to ensure that they worked, so this was fantastic and I applaud her for such hard work. I think we did really well to recover from this mishap, especially considering it was so unexpected. I had begun to read the script from earlier but recovered quick enough so that listeners could find out what the interview was about (a back announce). I also reiterated that they could hear the ‘FULL’ interview on the Triple R website under the RWAV page, which made it almost seem like a planned cutout and it sounded super professional. Dusty also picked up after me quite well, introducing a song. I remember feeling so flustered at this point thinking all this time had passed and we had said nothing, but listening back, I think it was just nerves kicking it. We actually did really well to fill the space and it’s definitely something to add to my portfolio of ways I’ve picked up from tech errors! The cause of the technical error is still unknown, however we believe that the internet may have cut out as it was loading and playing, resulting in corrupt playback.
  • Social Media: Social media throughout the session was great, promoting the interviews and what we were talking about. We ensured to take heaps of photos before and throughout the show to allow us to have as much content to post as possible. It was also good that I continuously plugged the Triple R twitter page so if people were keen to check us out elsewhere, they could do this.
  • Choice of Interviews/Interviewees: Overall the interviews that took place covered three varying worlds which made the show interesting for a whole range of people with different interests. I think the producer Liv did a great job with the diversity targeted during the show.
  • Outro: This also worked just as well as our intro. I made sure to restate what the audience had heard on the show and where to find more information. I plugged the Twitter page and the RWAV website here to ensure that people knew where to go after the show. We front announced the next show which the next show were grateful for! Dusty mentioned the April Subscriber Amnesty as well as why listeners should subscribe. The Talks Producer was shocked but grateful for this as she couldn’t believe that we had done that much research as was really happy that we cared so much for the station. We also thanked each other (this was cute) as well as the rest of our team, to ensure they were recognised as well 🙂
  • Vocal Quality: Dusty and I both have very different vocal qualities but this worked well as we sounded really natural. We went up and down at different points which made the show as a whole flow well and not jarring at all.

Overall a really great show and I’m so proud of both myself and the rest of the team for being able to pull off being the first group with less time to prepare!

RWAV Blog: Week 5 – The Individual Interview

For our Week 6 show on 3RRR, I thought it would a nice idea to include a pre-recorded interview into our RWAV show so that we ended up with enough material to fill the 1 hour time slot. This interview would also be used towards my individual interview after being accepted by the Talks Manager at Triple R and Bruce/Sam.

So, I went off and contacted a man named Simon Starr, my best friend’s dad who owns his own bird company named Birding Victoria, which provides resources on different birds and where to find them as well as his own tour company called Firetail Birdwatching Tours. I pitched him an idea to discuss not only his love for birdwatching, but also a discussion of the duck shooting problem, something that I was only slightly aware of. Before the interview took place, I had a brief chat to him about the sorts of questions I would ask him without giving too much away, so that he could have a think about what he might like to say in the short time provided.

It’s usually recommended that you chat with your interviewee before the interview in order to make them feel more relaxed and comfortable both when recording and directly with the interviewer. However, this wasn’t as important for Simon and I because we already knew each other and we both felt pretty comfortable talking to one another. Once he arrived at the studio, it was a matter of testing microphone levels and ensuring that audacity was recording and we were away!

Overall, I think the interview went quite well. Below is a list of dot points and more of a breakdown as to things that went well and not so well.

  • Timing: When recording, I noticed that it was getting closer to the 10-11 minute mark. Without thinking about the time after the editing would be complete, I cut it off at this point. However, after doing some thorough editing of the ‘um’s or any pauses’ it was cut down to 7 minutes and 22 seconds, only just scraping the length of the Individual Interview assignment. I think in future, I need to remember that less is more and having had Simon answer more questions would have meant more content and time to play with!
  • Leading questions from previous answers: Something I’ve always said to myself that I want to get better at is commenting beyond an answer without it seems jarring or out of place and awkward. For an interview of this kind, I didn’t want to say too much considering it was mainly focussed on Simon’s work as well as his views on the duck-shooting. During the interview, Simon told me of a story that was recently aired on the 7:30 Report on ABC which I then questioned him about. I think this worked well and actually seemed quite natural as it appeared as though I was interested and had done research and allowed Simon to talk beyond what I already ‘knew’.
  • Amount of questions: I think again relating back to the timing of the piece, I could have asked a few more questions. However I was pretty happy with the amount of research I had done and the fact that I tried to make it seem quite natural, especially at the beginning when we were laughing about his comments regarding birdwatching and that it isn’t just about watching birds.
  • Editing Phase: Regarding the post-production and editing of the interview, I think it was a nice addition to add the bird chirps at the beginning and the end, to give the piece a bit of ambience which may otherwise not exist. It would have been fantastic to record this interview on location but this is something that may be considered for my feature interview later on in the semester. I think overall I did a pretty good job with the tone and the way I spoke, varying levels depending on the types of questions I was asking and I was really happy with the fact that the interview was done in ONE take with barely any pauses. This made it relatively easy to edit and it probably saved me from still keeping within the required time frame of the assignment. At the end of the take, all I had to edit were a few um’s from Simon which made the audio seem a little too jarring at times. Again, this is something super minor and Simon did a fantastic job at speaking with me, especially for someone who hasn’t had a lot of media training. He was succinct with his answers and knew what he wanted to say which was fantastic.

Below is an embed link to the interview that you can listen to. The file also contains some more annotations regarding certain parts of the interview!

 

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RWAV Blog: Week 1 & 2 – A New Beginning

This semester I have taken the ‘Room with a View’ media studio. The course enables students to gain some practical radio experience at 3RRR every Monday from 12-1PM. Students rotate between on and off air roles (producing, social media, panel operating, presenting etc.) but I am hopeful that I will score a presenting role at some point within the Semester, to enable myself to work on a different radio station with a different audience and show style.

Coming into the course, I currently do a breakfast and news show on SYN 90.7, so I am hopeful that the skills gained from these shows will enable me to succeed within the course + I am looking forward to doing something a little different to what I’m used to.

Before getting really into the assessment tasks, we were taken to the 3RRR studios and given a run down of the history and what to expect from the station as well as our specific show. The studios are really well set up and spaced out. The panel looks a little intense, however it feels just as easy to operate with a few minor changes from the SYN panels after having a quick go.

Stay tuned for more blogs about my RWAV journey!

To Voice Overs and beyond!

So as some of you may not know, I undertook this Bachelor of Media in an attempt to explore the world of media, before I attempted to become a media presenter. I’ve already learnt so much from the course and I know that there is still so much more to learn.

There are some things I’ve learnt that I didn’t think I would ever need to know about, but it’s an amazing feeling knowing that I now have skills that other media presenters may not necessarily have. I think as well, these skills open up so many other doors and career paths for me, so I will always feel I have a place in the industry.

Before Easter and my stomach full of Haigh’s Chocolate, I went into the studio with a guy named Peter. He heads up a company named Audio and Image Solutions PTY LTD, who in short, is an “Australian company that provides all forms of multimedia production and services” (Audio and Image Solutions website, ‘About Us’ page). We recorded a voice over demo that showcased some of my best and different style reads. I then went away over the Easter break and showed it to my friends and family, who gave me feedback on what they liked, didn’t like and what I should keep or change. I think being able to seek feedback from those close to you is really a hard thing, because sometimes they’ll be more honest, which can in turn be a little too harsh. But I loved every single piece of feedback I was given. The more constructive it is, the better it is.

I went into the studio yesterday (5th of April, 2016) and took all this constructive feedback into the studio. My demo went from a 5 to an 9. I got rid of a few reads that I didn’t feel showcased my work very well, and added in some new reads that I definitely think reflected particular styles that I have. I’m really happy with where it’s at, at the moment, and am really looking forward to seeing where it takes me.

So without further ado, attached below is the demo. Have a listen and let me know what you think in the comments below! Here’s to *hopefully* a future in Voice Over.