Podcasting CTAs Clare Boyle (right) and Sierra Fang-Horvath (left) made this primer about what makes good audio storytelling. It addresses lots of the elements present throughout the site, but in the format of an audio story about making an audio story.
The drama! The intrigue! The sound effects!
Scene 1: The Set Up
[Phone rings. Rings again. A click.]
Clare: Hey, Sierra, it’s Clare. Listen. I need your help. Can you meet me at Starbucks in five minutes?
[Chatter. Footsteps. Chair scraping.]
Sierra: Hey, what’s up?
Clare: Thank god you came. I need to make a podcast explaining some key elements of a good audio story by the end of the day. Some students need it to finish their final projects. The stakes are high.
Sierra: I’m on board.
Clare: You just heard some tape from the process of creating this audio story. Tape is just another way of saying an audio recording.
Sierra: That’s Clare Boyle. Clare uses they/them pronouns. I’m Sierra Fang-Horvath, and I use she/her. We help with podcasting at Brown University’s Multimedia Lab.
Clare: We’re making this story as a resource, so whenever we have a tip to share, you’ll hear this noise:
[bell]
Sierra: What we’re doing now is called narration. Most audio stories combine narration with tape of action or interviews.
Clare: Let’s talk about structure. Lots of people come in with a huge topic, like “I want to explore the meaning of home.” That was my first one. But there’s a difference between a topic and a specific story.
[bell]
Sierra: A story needs a beginning, middle, and end; strong characters; and conflict — something the characters need to work on or solve. You’ve already met me and Clare, and you know we need to make a story about stories--stat!
Clare: Here we are in Starbucks, discussing what to do next.
Sierra: Can we start recording it here?
Clare: [barely audible over the chatter] No, too noisy. We need somewhere quieter.
[Footsteps. Quiet.]
Clare: Ah, that’s better. I didn’t realize your closet was so sound-proof!
[bell]
Sierra: Yeah! Fabric is good at absorbing unwanted sound. So are cushions. Cars make really good spaces, too.
Clare: If Sierra and I were making a story about a specific place--say, the beach--we might want some of that background noise.
[Gulls. Waves crashing.]
Clare: Creating scenes with sound is one thing that makes the audio medium special.
Sierra: But our story isn’t that. And in general, you want control over what sounds enter your story and when.
[bell]
You want to avoid background noise, because it distracts your listeners.
Silence.
Silence.
Silence.
Sierra: Clare? Are you there?
Clare: [whispered] Shhh.
Sierra: What?
Clare: I was getting thirty seconds of room noise.
[bell]
Clare: Okay, let’s get started with the interviews.
Tell me about the moment you decided you wanted to make audio stories.
Sierra: I think I was seven. My mom made me wait in the car and This American Life was on. That’s it.
Clare: Whoa, whoa, whoa. I want to know more! What did it feel like? What did you see/smell/hear/taste?
Sierra: What did I taste? Um, nothing. I didn’t taste anything.
Clare: Right, sorry. I just wanted to set up some tips about interviewing.
[bell]
Questions about sensory details make good tape. You want to get people to describe moments and tell smaller stories inside the larger piece.
Sierra: Gotcha. I’ll start again.
I decided I wanted to make audio stories when I was about seven.
My mom had to run into the grocery store for “just a minute.”
She left the radio on so I wouldn’t get bored.
I wasn’t paying attention at first.
Until this woman started talking about how she believed in unicorns…
Until the age of 20!
When she got to college, she asked her friends, “When do you think the unicorns went extinct?”
She described the blank stares that her friends gave her.
And how she turned bright red.
She said she’ll never live down that moment.
It was crazy to me.
And I could visualize it so clearly.
I was laughing when my mom got back to the car.
Clare: And you made your first piece right away.
Sierra: Of course.
A beat.
Wait, no, of course not.
I didn’t realize that was something I could do.
Clare: I used to think radio and audio stories were magic.
Sierra: Me too. For a long time, I’d only ever heard audio stories on the radio, and they were all about the news and politics. On top of that, it kinda seemed like podcasting was just for nerdy white people.
Clare: I totally get that. Traditionally — and still sometimes today — the people who have made podcasts and radio stories have had huge travel and equipment budgets, like the producers of This American Life. It’s understandable that some people could feel like audio storytelling isn’t an accessible medium to them.
Sierra: But wait… what are we using to record this conversation?
[bell]
Clare: Our phones! Our voices, our stories, and our expertise.
[alarm sounds]
Sierra: What’s that sound?
Clare: My alarm! We’ve only got two hours left to finish the story.
Sierra: Oh no! Making transcripts takes an hour by itself!
[bell]
I ’ll help you organize the structure.
Clare: Don’t worry, I know a transcription software we can use. It’s called OTranscribe.com.
[bell]
OTranscribe.com, for all your transcribing needs. You still have to upload the audio file and type it out manually, but it’s easier to pause and rewind, so you don’t have to switch back and forth between audio and typing.
Can you make the transcript? I’ll look for background noises on FreeSound.org.
[bell]
Again, that’s FreeSound.org, for all your free sound needs!
Meet at the library in twenty?
Sierra: Sounds good!
[frenzied sounds of brainstorming, typing, clicking, printing. Running. Panting]
Clare: You made it! Should we work on the script?
Sierra: Yes. There’s one quote I really want to use, the one about the grocery store. But the lead-in is odd because it’s you
telling me
to tell it.
I wrote a draft of how to introduce it:
“It was a bitter winter’s day. My mother had left me to wait in the car, alone save for the dulcet tones of Ira Glass.”
Clare: Hm. Remember how you told me that story earlier?
[bell]
You want your narration to sound like you’re talking to a friend.
Sierra: Ohh, right. People tend to take seriously the “NPR voice,” but so much of that is based on social conditioning around factors like race, class, gender, sexuality, and ability.
Clare: But there are some strategies for writing narration that can be helpful to most people.
[bell]
Use simple sentences. And you can also try writing into the quote.
That’s when you borrow details from the beginning of the quote for the narration.
Like this:
Clare: Sierra Fang-Horvath first realized she wanted to make audio stories at seven years old.
Sierra: My mom had to run into the grocery store for “just a minute.”
She left the radio on so I wouldn’t get bored.
I wasn’t paying attention...
Until this woman started talking about how she believed in unicorns…
Until the age of 20!
Clare: Great!
Sierra: How much time is left on the clock?
Clare: One hour.
Sierra: Perfect! What’s next?
Sierra: We could record ourselves mixing the sound, you know, putting all the audio clips together in Audition?
Clare: But that usually happens alone with headphones — pretty boring to observe. And you’ll learn all about audio editing a little later.
Sierra: So… how do you end a podcast?
[bell]
Clare: It’s entirely up to you! Lots of people like to end by reflecting on what’s happened. So for the end of this podcast, let’s summarize what we’ve learned so far.
Sierra: We identified the different parts of an audio story, including interviews, narration, and how to use sound.
Clare: Don’t forget about those interview tips! Asking questions that elicit description can make for interesting tape.
Sierra: Record in quiet spaces and be sure to get room tone. But don’t stress about fancy mics and recording equipment… you can just use your phone!
Clare: And maybe most importantly, we talked about the accessibility of podcasting.
Sierra: You might think it’s really hard to make an audio story, but SO many people can do it.
Clare: All you need is an idea, your phone, time, and a story to tell.
Sierra: Thanks for listening to this episode from the Brown Multimedia Labs. If you ever need more podcasting help, don’t be afraid to come by and meet with me or Clare.