Podcast-making and Sound-editing Starter Course

An increasing number of PGRs wish to submit some or all of their thesis in the form of a podcast. This series of 4x2hr workshops on consecutive Fridays will guide you through practical and analytical tasks focusing on the details of how to present your research clearly in a short podcast. It will teach basic audio recording and editing techniques, how to record interviews, mix music and/or sound effects with voice, apply creative processing such as reverberation and compression, and heighten listening awareness. This Starter Course is for students with no previous audio-editing and recording experience. It gives an introduction and basic techniques required for recording and editing a podcast. (See the Developer Course for researchers seriously engaged in podcasting their research and with a pocketful of techniques and experience already.) As well as critical listening to examples of other podcasts, participants will be invited to work creatively on their own podcast, with a view to submitting a contribution to Technecast (the Techne podcast) following the workshops.

Week 1: Tuning the ear: critical listening and recording. Tuning the voice: how to deliver a natural-sounding and engaging scripted performance of a research topic.

Week 2: Basic sound analysis terms: understanding the basic principles of the physics of sound and its use in sound recording and editing software. Developing the ear: editing and mixing. Learn how to focus listening to achieve the best possible edits.

Week 3: Using basic sound effects and audio processing: adding reverberation and field recordings to extend the perceived environment of the narrative.

Week 4: Summary: students' playback of practical task and discussion of individual podcasts.