I’ve set myself a handy system to develop audio skills
When my time at the Global Cycling Network came to an end on the 21st June, I had grand ambitions about the lofty projects I’d take on this summer. Maybe I still will tackle the ideas I’ve got squirrelled away in the notes app on my phone, but for now, simply getting to grips with the skills required to produce audio has tied up a surprising amount of time. In this post, I’m going to share how I’m using my time to prepare for a Masters in Broadcast Journalism — I’m starting my MA at City, University of London in September.
But why am I writing this? Simple: so that Google sees that this site is live and updating so it puts me higher in the search results. I’m going to write here regularly over the next few weeks.
Focussing on Audio Skills
I decided I wanted to focus on audio. In part, that’s because of current trends in the media. Today (31st July), there was news from Ofcom that linear TV is rapidly declining. 25% of Brits don’t watch TV, and I count myself among them.
Radio, meanwhile, is experiencing a boon, with growing listener figures. Plus new, digital radio stations are popping up. The Times have one. LBC is thriving. Then there’s NTS. People are listening to more and more radio. Maybe it’s because we’re all more car-dependent these days.
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I’d say that the thriving podcast industry is fostering a generation of audiophiles — you start with podcasts, you run out of podcasts, you turn to radio. Or podcast voices stray onto the radio a la Rory Stewart. Whatever route people take, it seems to me that the audio-sphere (radio and podcasts) is the place to be. I listened to an interview with the owner of Goalhanger podcasts recently, and he said he expects more funding to enter the industry when advertisers realise that there are good deals to be had on podcasts. That’s what happened a decade ago when large corporations realised social media was the place to advertise.
Step 1: Learn the Tech
The first step to learning how to make radio shows or podcasts was the easy bit: learning how to use the tech. The industry standard Digital Audio Workspace (DAW) is from Adobe, but since I don’t want to spend and money, I’ve opted for Reaper, a cheap programme with a reputation for being powerful but tough to learn. For someone like me, with plenty of time, that’s fine. Plus, you can try it for two months before paying. Perfect.
I set out to learn the software, following a number of tutorials, most of them terrible. Then I found this one, which shows you how to use the software for podcasting. It’s long but really good.
Tutorial done, I began chopping up existing interviews I’d done from GCN. The quality was terrible, since they were either Google Meet recordings or dictaphone recordings. Even so, it gave me a sense of how to use the software. I spent a week or so mashing up files and adding in my own snippets of voice over to create little 10 minute episodes with jingles and heavily edited interview recordings.
This was a good, low pressure way to get comfortable with the software. And it gave me time to set keyboard shortcuts to speed up the editing process.
But after making a handful of these podcasts, I knew I needed to up my game and start with some original content.
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Step 2: Improve my reading voice
My weakpoint, I realised, was my voice. I’d never spoken into a mic before, and it was painfully obvious.
I wanted a way to practice this, but again, without putting pressure on myself to develop original content. So I had an idea: I’d record an audiobook of Rory Stewart’s Politics on the Edge, a book I’d been putting off reading for a few weeks.
Each day I did an hour or so of reading, then listened to parts back to check my tone. I was making so many mistakes, and my mic discipline was terrible.
Day by day, my reading accuracy improved. My intonation and emphasis became better. And I got better and keeping myself in the right spot, relative to the microphone.
I think I’ll always have a monotone voice, but I realised there are plenty of levers you can pull besides pitch. I’m never going to speak like Robert Peston, let’s be honest.
But it’s just like playing the piano. You can add expression with volume, speed, legato, staccato: you don’t have to sing what you’re saying to make it sound interesting.
After recording about 10 hours of reading, I decided I was ready for a new challenge.
Step 3: Speak like a broadcaster
It’s all very well speaking smoothly when the words are right there in front of you, but I needed to be able to form my own sentences on the fly. I decided I’d record a Newsagents-style news bulletin each day. The plan was to improve my verbal communication and remove my fear of the microphone.
This turned out to be a fantastic exercise, and a lot more challenging than I’d expected. It meant I had to stay across the news at all times, collecting quotes and extracts to use in my show. In fact, it’s what I’m doing at the moment. Each morning I listen to the Today programme, notepad in hand, and jot down the timing of any interviews I want to pipe in. I scan the Times, the Telegraph, sometimes ITV News and Sky News, and put together a handful of stories.
Then, from bullet points in a notebook, I do my best to present the show without pauses, errors or hesitation. Initially, it was a complete disaster. I did so many takes, was reading really closely from my notes and sounded like I was bored out of my mind.
But day by day, my audio skills improved, and I got better at finding the right stories, structuring the episodes under a central ‘question’, and presenting the episode without needed to make too many edits. Yesterday I made my twelfth bulletin podcast, and I’m really pleased with how much improved the whole system is. They’re still a long way from being worth sharing, but it’s a start.
A classic blog entry from 2022: Exciting developments in my research
Step 4: The next steps for audio skills
For now, I’ll continue with my bulletins. I’m currently trying to improve in the following audio skills:
- Removing the words ‘um’ and ‘ur’ from my vocabulary
- Breaking my annoying habit of pausing mid sentence or before the final word of a sentence
- Moving from one item or sentence to the next without pausing for a second or two
- Recalling facts and information without relying quite so much on notes.
Once I’ve nailed them, who knows? You might even see a bulletin podcast hitting the feeds.
And once I feel I’ve improved my skills, I’m going to take on more ambitious projects. I have ideas for original journalism (which I’m not going to give away) that I’d like to explore before September.
