Journalism 285Journalism 285

Course Info:

patrickhowej285.wordpress.com

Patrick HoweLecturer

Course Info:

patrickhowej285.wordpress.com

Patrick HoweLecturer

Audio Journalism

• Paints a picture with sound• Captures emotion• Draws listeners in to a story• More than just interviews and

narration• We’re all plugged in these days• Example (Beep Baseball)

• Another

Using Audio in MMJ

• Podcasts• Audio slideshows• Breaking news. All you need is a cell

phone. • Radio-type news or feature story• While you’re doing something else

Writing for the Ear• Conversational: write like you talk• One idea per sentence. Break long

sentences into multiple short ones.• Don’t use jargon or assume listener

knows what you know.• Identify who you interview.• Beginning and end of story are most

important.• Build up to a good ending.

Write like you talk

• NOT GOOD: Authorities apprehended the suspect as he was attempting to scale the fence.

• BETTER: Police grabbed the man while he was climbing over the fence.

ExerciseMake this conversational:

Pope Benedict XVI joined U.S. President Barack Obama and Queen Elizabeth II on Friday by launching his much-anticipated YouTube channel, a sign the Vatican is increasingly reaching out to the digital generation.

Exercise

President Obama has a YouTube channel. So does Queen Elizabeth. Now Pope Benedict has one too. The pope wants to use the new channel to reach out to young people.

What’s a Better Way to Say:

• Youth• Officials• At large• Citizens• Physician

5 Steps to an Audio StoryAn audio story is your narrated script with sound bites mixed in

1. Interview your source(s)2. Log your sound bites3. Write a script, incorporating the bite(s)4. Record your script5. Edit it together with the bite(s)

Getting Good Sound• Gathering Sound (video) • Get the microphone close!• Watch out for background noise like

wind, airplanes and traffic• Wear earphones• Record your own questions• Record natural sound• Examples: Kids’ Digital Day,

Jennifer Sirchuk

Recording Yourself

• Speak clearly• Confirm pronunciation (especially

of names)• Slow down• Keep it conversational• Play it back• Do multiple takes

Editing Audio Options

• Audacity (free, can use in Mac and Windows, widely used)

• Garageband (powerful and fairly easy; lots of help online)

Audio Hosting withSoundCloud

There’s an App for ThatFree Voice Recorder Apps

iPhone • QuickVoice (.caf files)• VR+ (MP3 with watermark)

Android• Hi-Q MP3 Rec (Lite)

LAB: Practice Audio Story• Use tutorial to set up Garageband.• Interview peer about their beat for

at least 3 minutes (record your questions too)

• Import the audio and edit it down to a one minute piece.

• Add in some natural sound: Record your own OR download from pacdv.com/sounds

• Include fade-ins and fade-outs.• Let me hear it when you’re done