During this session with Dawn & Ed, we explored the elements and ingredients that go into the making/creation of a live piece of work for radio, dividing these into clearly differentiated elements, including:
- (the grain of) the human voice;
- music as bed/foundation;
- the use of song and/or poetry as colour and illustration;
- speech;
- SFX;
- environmental/atmospheric sounds;
- noise;
- jump/fast cuts, editing, repetition, emphasis/meaning;
- comprehending radio itself as an environment
- and critically, the nature of listening in radio.
As well as this, we discussed what the listener expects from this sort of work, and analysed how audio elements stand and work in contrast to each other whilst also thinking about the particular mode of listening which applies in radio.
We discussed how to create sound effects, using live ‘Foley’ techniques/methods as well as certain software. Working individually, each of us created and shared a re-working of a script, adding sound effects and atmosphere of our own choice/preference e.g. an explosion; dramatic weather; a prison or forest environment; a hammer blow to the head. Once shared with the class, we each explained in detail, how we achieved the finished product, and the steps taken to create the atmosphere of our choice. We, as a class, wanted to practice inserting live SFX (analogue and digital) into the re-work so we can use them in our final broadcast work.