Week 1 : Audio Drama

During the first week of pre-production as studio manager I wanted us to all read over the script to snore we all had an understanding of the script. But ultimately, for me to know what sounds and microphone techniques we would need for the piece. After we read the script together, we came to the conclusion that the script was fairly straight forward. There we’re many ‘complicated’ sounds that we needed. I decided that to make this piece sound stronger we would need to record the sounds of the ice cream van ourselves. I wanted to make sure we had as much natural sound as possible as it would make the final audio sound a lot more real and would make it easier fo me to manipulate. I asked Josie (producer) to go away and contact some Ice Cream van companies to see if we could spend half an hour with someone. She came back a few days latter and said she spoke to one and they wouldn’t be willing. Therefore, I have taken it upon myself to try and find an ice cream van owner to get some sounds. I am yet successful but am determined to get those sounds.

I have put together a list of sounds I need for the production:

SOUNDS:

DOOR OF A VAN

CLOSING OF THE VAN DOOR

STARTING OF VAN

ATMOMOSE INSIDE THE VAN

BIRDS TWEET

WIND

GENERAL ATMOS

ICE CREAM JINGLE

SOUND OF AN OFFICE

MUMBERLIUNG OF TALKING

TEA

POORUNING OF KETTLE

KETTLE

PULLS OUT A CHAIR

FLICKING OF A KETTLE

KETTLE BOILING

SLAMMING OF DOOR IN OFFICE

PILE OF PAPER

FLICKING THROUGH PAPERR

FICKS A PAGE

VAN DRIVING

JUDDERING OF VAN COMING TO A STOP

BUTTON SOUND – PRESSING

SMACK TO TURN OF JINGLE

SLIDING OF A WINDOW

TAPPING ON ICE CREAM

CLOTHES BEING ADJUSTED

CAR DOOR OPENING

OUTSIDE ATMO

INSIDE A CAR

THUMP OF TWO TUBS ON A COUNTER

POPS OPEN THE TUB

SIRENS

OUTSIDE NOISE

PEOPLE QUEUEING

I will now begin to source ones I can get online and ones that I can do myself over the next week in preparation for our recording and editing.

Week 2: Audio Drama – Demo Week

This week was our demo run with other class members on practicing one of our scenes. This was a great opportunity to work out how mic positioning should work, how the flats can be used and if we wanted to use the audio booth room.

During the recording, we tried different positions and rehearsed scene 5, which is quite a complex scene as there is some distance to the voices. So, we needed to work out how we would achieve this. We decided to cut the scene up into 2 parts in order to make it sound how we wanted. We also worked out how we can position the actors in order to create a balanced sound that created an illusion of position in the audience’s mind.

I was very pleased with the pilot run. Over the next week, I will work through the script to mark the key parts of microphone positions, what sounds we need to do in studio and where the flats will need to be.

Week 3 : Audio Drama – Recording

This week was the week of recording! I wanted to make sure that we had a defined list and structure to how we were going to record the drama to ensure we were able to get all the sounds we needed. I also wanted to make sure we had a list of what sounds we were going to record in the studio and what we were going to do outside of the studio.

I complied this list to ensure I knew what we were going to do with our recording.

It came down to the day of our recording, and we were well prepared as myself and Minnie had spent most of the eek working through the script to make sure we knew what scenes we were going to record first and also what audio we needed to record in the studio. We also spent time in the week, working out how we would replicate some of the sounds including opening the ice cream van window.

I also briefed Minnie in the scripting to how the microphone positions should be in order for us to get the effects we wanted.

The general recording went very well, however there was the annoyance of the air conditioning and a slight buzzing on the line of the microphones which could not be rectified.

After the studio recording, I spent some time over the weekend recording some of the other sounds that were needed to do the mix. Therefore, I recorded all the car sounds, window sounds, general road atmosphere and some of the ice cream sounds myself.Other sounds have been sourced by myself from the BBC Audio Archive. I was really eager to get the sound of an ice cream van myself, I have spent time tirelessly over the last two weeks contacting Ice Cream Van owners to see If I can spend some time with them, sadly they have all declined. I have therefore created the sound myself, by using car engine sounds and the sound of the inside of a fridge, which oddly sounds really good!

I then over this week have began to mix the whole edit down, I have currently sent my second draft to Jeremy for his feedback and to the group. I am very pleased with how it is sounding. Jeremy suggested adding music in, so I have now added music which has helped to bring the scenes together.

Week 4: Editing Continued…

During the last week, I have spent time editing the whole piece based on Jeremy’s feedback. I have structured it together now with the added music, changed some of the sound effects (e.g. ice cream box opening) and added in the credits.

The use of now adding music in the piece has really helped to give it an identity and a theme. I wanted the piece to sound quite ‘pink panther’ style with a criminal pantomime sound. And I think this sound is now replicated in the scene changes in the piece. It also promotes the comedy element to the audio drama. I have located the music from BMG audio.

I have completed the second version and sent it to the team to listen to in order to see if they would like any further changes and had any feedback. The feedback was completely positive, so am therefore very happy with the final submission.