Yesterday our classes assignment was to create our first podcast. We had to write a review on a current movie, song, or artist. We learned how to use garageband and edit our reviews.
To me, this was a really exciting project. I think of the great journalists like Edward R. Murrow who brought the news to American homes back in the 1940s through the 1960s and how influential his voice was. Words are a powerful thing but spoken words give emotion and a greater influence. Of course, my little review was very simple but it was great practice. I noticed a few things about myself while working on this assignment.
- I need to speak up
- I need to have a more inviting voice
- I need to believe in my words
- I need to have a more smooth discussion with the listener
All these things take good practice and confidence. Something I will work on over time and to be honest, I don't think I did too bad! I wrote and discussed a review of Stevie Ray Vaughn. One of the greatest blues artists of all time. I discovered his music recently after giving my uncle one of his tribute albums for Christmas.
I heard some of the music and had to buy another copy for myself. I fell in love with the album and with Stevie Ray. His music is amazing. I couldn't think of a better person to review. I narrowed down the songs I heard from him and picked one I felt gave the best of his gift of electric slide guitar, something he trademarked in the Blue's industry.
The song is called Slide Thing. Its about 3 minutes long and he doesn't sing, just plays guitar. It is so great and because it is a live performance it makes the song magical. You almost think for 3 minutes that you are actually there watching him play. Then, when you realize you aren't, you wish you were.
Now if you're a little curious to hear the song, click the video and listen! I definitely think it is worth 3:04 minutes of your time.
CHAPTER 8 DIGITAL AUDIO
Chapter 8 discusses what we did on tuesday but of course, in more depth. Podcasts are the more current forms of digital audio recording but there are many forms. Some key phrases to look for in chapter 8 are...
- Uncompressed audio format
- Compressed audio format
There are different types of what the book calls "bit depth" which determines the quality of your audio files and it differentiates the differences by calling them different terms. Thornburg uses a great analogy to explain the quality he is discussing. He says its like
"dipping a teaspoon and a ladle into a pot of soup at the same amount. The teaspoon will get only a little bit but a ladle, dipped at the same level will carry a larger amount."
(Producing Online News and Digital Skills by Ryan M. Thornburg Pg. 213)
There are different kinds of microphones that are discussed in chapter 8. I wont go into too much detail because although the terminology is broken down, I think we can all agree we know what a microphone does and its purposes. The more expensive, the better quality. And of course it also depends on what kind of sounds you want to pick up. So basically, microphones are a huge asset to the audio world, for obvious reasons.
Its comforting to know my first time on a microphone using podcast I was not the only person to get nervous about speaking into a microphone. Most people get nervous for the first time and if you are interviewing someone its always good to try and ease them into feeling comfortable speaking clearly into it.
Digital Audio recording is a great outlet for Multimedia reporting and it is something I can be interested in. I feel that it all takes practice and reading chapter 8 in our books did help me give a better idea of what exactly I'm doing and how to do it. Although most of this can be self taught, and probably should be. Technology is always changing and always updating itself, so even though this book is quite recent, I'm sure there are even better upgrades to it that were made months, maybe even weeks after its release. So, always update yourself with the newest information and technology to better give yourself the upper hand as a journalist. Getting the news out there is the most important thing and the overall point of the subject. Digital audio is just a great way to do it.
Want the latest news on Digital Audio? Take a look at these great blog sites.
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