Workshop 8: Elements of Sound in Podcasts
In this week’s workshop, we listened to an episode of radio lab that explored the basic question: why do we sleep? I personally had a hard time maintaining focus while listening to this episode. I found it slow in pace, drab in narration, and the topic simply wasn’t interesting to me. After we finished listening we discussed the sound techniques used within this episode and other podcasts we listen to. Some of the techniques we discussed were:
- sync sounds – sounds recorded at the time of recording
- archival recordings
- sound effects
- interviews
- narration
- atmospheric sound // Sound-scape
As someone who listens to heaps of podcasts and has dabbled in the medium before this got me thinking a lot about what draws me to a specific podcast? What are the elements and techniques that keep me interested?
I previously recommended the podcast Presidential. Presidential is produced by The Washington Post and is one of two podcasts I eagerly wait for each week. Other than the fact that Presidential examines a topic that I am very interested in (US history & politics) each episode is made up of many different techniques in order to keep people listening and interested. In Presidential’s most recent episode Abraham Lincoln: His hand and his pen one can hear the uses of archival recording of classic American song to not only set a tone but also as a soundscape to some of the situations described. Multiple interviews with experts on Abraham Lincoln are also used. The narrator, Lillian Cunningham also maintains a steady pace that matches that of her interviewees. It is important to note that when she speaks over music she is never fighting to speak over the music – the volume remains balanced and the listener is not distracted by the additional sound.
