So, what kinds of stories are good for audio? There is a common misconception that an audio story needs to be about something “audio rich” – like the story of a Rock band or a noisy factory. It’s not true. As long as your story has character, emotion, or an element of surprise – its already audio rich!
Take some time and secret yourself away – put on a good set of headphones and explore these links. Think about the story YOU want to tell, an idea that YOU may have always wanted to investigate.
What are the voices, scenes, environments or spaces where your story unfolds?
Podcast Collectives, production houses and curated collections:
Radiotopia - A curated network of extraordinary, cutting-edge podcasts including 99% Invisible, Criminal, Song Exploder, West Wing Weekly, and more.
https://www.radiotopia.fm/podcasts/
NPR - National public Radio
WNYC - Snap Judgement, Selected Shorts, Serial
Gimlet - Crimetown, The Cut, Story Pirates
https://www.gimletmedia.com/shows
Transom - Transom channels new work, voices, and ideas into public media through the Internet and workshops.
https://transom.org/topics/shows/
Some of my favorite shows:
99% Invisible - A podcast about all the thought that goes into the things we don’t think about.
https://99percentinvisible.org/about/the-show/
Hostile Design
https://99percentinvisible.org/episode/unpleasant-design-hostile-urban-architecture/
RadioLab - Using radio to make science accessible to broad audiences.
Smarty Pants
https://www.wnycstudios.org/story/smarty-plants
War of the Worlds
https://www.wnycstudios.org/shows/radiolab/podcasts/1
Ear Hustle - stories of life inside prison shared by those living it.
Episode 1
https://www.earhustlesq.com/?offset=1519829502589
Serial
A hugely successful investigative journalism podcast hosted by Sarah Koenig, narrating a nonfiction story over multiple episodes.
Dustwun
https://serialpodcast.org/season-two/1/dustwun
Memory Palace
http://thememorypalace.us/where-do-i-start/
Scroll down and play Dreamland
Crimetown
Episode 1, Devine Providence
https://www.gimletmedia.com/crimetown/chapter-1-divine-providence#episode-player
This American Life
https://www.thisamericanlife.org/
Rom Com - https://www.thisamericanlife.org/638/rom-com
20 Acts in 60 Minutes - http://www.thisamericanlife.org/radio-archives/episode/241/20-acts-in-60-minutes
Transom
How to be a girl - http://transom.org/2014/how-to-be-a-girl/
Lets get a little more experimental...
Everything is alive
Play Louie, the can of soda - https://www.everythingisalive.com/
Storytime at the apes nest
Sci-gasm Podcast
Eisode 2 http://sci-gasm.com/podcast-2/
Surrealist storyteller - Joe Frank - Play "No more my lord."
https://www.joefrank.com/listen/
Just for fun - The Golden Age of radio!! – Before television superseded radio as the medium of choice.
https://archive.org/details/oldtimeradio
Using found sound and creating a soundscape around it
Japanese ceremonial Tea - https://soundcloud.com/theelectricsons/japanese-ceremonial-tea
Radio Drivetime for your Soul - A full blast snapshot of the entire spectrum of broadcast radio (and beyond). Made by my English friend, David Piper. https://www.mixcloud.com/thepipermachine/a-hypocausticklish-feast-for-your-feets-not-really/?fbclid=IwAR39GAMzNZRbuLF2OWe2qO6XNMXZDtsowT6DOlbdJXL5ND4UqrG3inPmT7E
Here are 2 examples of student projects that don’t quite make the cut. There’s nothing “wrong” with this work – But you should aspire for to do MORE with your project.
Example 1 - This piece relies an awful lot on one element – a song – which is very strong – but the audio program itself is not evocative … at least to me. It relies too much on work that someone else created.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nx8tLuopgaw
While this piece is reasonably successful – consider the way the music works, or doesn’t work with the piece. How would you reedit this piece? What would you add, change, omit.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pcIMNDBfHO0
Finally - Here are some examples of GREAT student work.