This document provides guidance on audio production for journalistic purposes. It discusses the linear nature of traditional audio but notes how social media is shaping more responsive formats like podcasts. It offers tips on recording quality, interview techniques, editing, distribution and ensuring accuracy of content. Key points covered include choosing appropriate audio approaches, following best journalistic practices, and distributing finished audio pieces through podcasts and social media.

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AUDIO

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3. Today
 Think about the
linear narratives of
audio
 Consider different
editorial approaches
 Look at how audio is
being shaped by
social media
 Look at the future of
radio and responsive
devices

4. Origins: Broadcast

Traditionally a linear
process

Dominant media form

Listening to a standard
broadcast is passive

Radio and more
comprehensive
recordings need to
create a ‘texture of
sound’

5. Hindenburg

Herbert Morrison working
for WLS recorded the
events as they happened

Followed crash with a
range of interviews with
survivors and witnesses

Helped to form a stylistic
approach to radio news
broadcasting

6. Ofcom: Radio is still relevant

On average, 90% of the UK adult population tuned in to the radio each week
in the 12 months to March 2013

Listening to the radio on digital devices has increased to 34.3% of total listening,
a 5.1 percentage point increase on last year.

The proportion of radio listeners with a DAB radio set in the home grew to 44%.

Radio listening on a mobile phone has risen from 13% to 20% over the past year.

Total UK radio industry revenues reached £1.19bn in 2012, an increase of 2.8%
year on year.
Ofcom: The Communications Market 2013

7. Audio Production: Stylistic approaches

Clips: Short, sharp bursts of
information that convey essential
information

Vox Pops

Packages: Incorporates script
and interviews on a specific
theme or issue

Long-form documentaries: A
more in-depth, and immersive
experience

Bulletins: Live news flash based
around breaking information

8. Overall media landscape (2010)

9. Proportion of radio consumed (2012)

10. How this might work on a
digital platform…?

11. What’s happening online

Combined with other
media elements rather
than a standalone report
The BBC

Personal storytelling

Immersive Media: Hope

Access on-demand audio
and non-scheduled
format: Podcasts and
social sharing

Offers users an
alternative and ‘ambient’
way of consuming media

12. Journalistic process
 Ask yourself
 Is audio the appropriate
medium?
 Can it be used to add
breadth or depth to your
piece
 Ensure you follow good
journalistic practice
 Do not misrepresent and
be faithful to your
interviewees intention.

13. Kit requirements
 Audio can be recorded by a
number of devices
 Dictaphone
 Telephone
 Conversion between file
types may be required:
 Think about
 compatibility
 compression

14. Quality
 TOP TIP: Always try to acquire recordings at the
highest quality possible
 CD
 Dictaphone
 Telephone
44.1 KHz
22 KHz
8KHz
44.1 KHz means the recording
device will ‘sample’ the sound
44,100 times a second

15. Interview technique

Be nice

Control your environment

Ensure the interviewee gives name, rank and
serial number

Aim to ask open questions

Avoid utterances such as: yeah, a-ha, mmm…

Try not to interrupt

Use silence to your advantage

Repeat if required

Say thanks

16. Broadcast
voice
 Scripting: control your audio
 Aim for around three words a
second (a pace that is too fast
or two slow impacts on overall
effect)
 Control your interviewee to
ensure your content is usable

17. Post production considerations

Editorial




Technical


Sound can be used to illustrate a story, and add texture
Descriptions need to fuel audience’s imagination
WARNING: Working with audio (and video) can be time-consuming
Tidy, remove noise and equalise if required
FX and other additions



Music and other sound effects can be used to move story forward
Look at SoundClound for open source music and audio)
Additional tools of fade outs/ins, silences and voice manipulation can prove useful

18. Pre-publication Final checks
 Does it make sense?
 Does it flow?
 Can you hear
everything and
understand it?
 Is the subject matter
and interviewee
responses accurate
and in line with
original intentions?

19. Distribution:
Podcasts and
social media
 Podcasting
 Social tools
 Blogs

20. Flickr

Ian Hayhurst


Fernando Candeias

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Matt Blaze


tjmwatson


Will Hastings


Joriel "Joz" Jimenez
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The National Guard
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PolandMFA
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formulapuff