Unit 5 - Final Radio Play + Editing Process

The Widow Diaries - Preaya Skerritt

Voice of News Reporter : Sherene Blackwood

Voice of Councillor : Carol

Voice of Loretta Jones : Preaya Skerritt

Above is the completed version of my radio play the ''Widow diaries''

Making this radio play was overall a great experience that has allowed me to adjust and use different softwares that I was not familiar with, such as Audition and the mixing desk in the private room.

Editing Process :

The editing process was a learning experience to me, as I was introduced to a new software called Audition which I had to use when it came to sorting out my audio for my radio play. At first I found it very difficult to use Audition, it was a software that took me time to adjust to, but after watching numerous tutorials I got the understanding of it and how it worked and the beneficial effects it could do towards my audio. Before using Audition I had to first sort out and put my audio in place using Premier Pro and then transfer all of those files on Auditon.

In this process

I had decided to add some effects to Loretta's voice on the software Premier Pro. I felt like me, playing Loretta was quite obvious that I sounded like a young lady rather than a 60 year old woman, which is why I decided to alter and play around with effects that could have lowered Loretta's voice. After experimenting and browsing effects on Premier Pro, I finally found an effect that made my voice lower which was the ''PITCH SHIFTER''

Using the ''PITCH SHIFTER'' allowed me to either make my voice as Loretta sound high or low, through the use of sound levers and by adjusting the numbers of semi-tones and cents . When I saw this effect I started playing around with the numbers until I found a suitable vocal range that could ressembled one of a elderly lady. This effect really helped make my character sound her age and made the acting more life-like.

Creating beats on Garage Band

↓(a video of me experimenting on Garage band and creating my own beats)

Originally I was not going to create my own beats, but in the end I decided that it would be really good to do so, as I remember in a part of my research (the focus group) one person who was apart of my target audience, stated that foley's and music would be appealing to her if she was listening to a radio play, So I thought it was necessary to do so, as that is what some of the people in my target audience would want to see.

The software Garage band was very easy to use, without a doubt. All the functions were pretty basic and self explanatory. At first I was so hesitant to use it but as soon as I clicked on it and saw the options, I immediately began to use this software to my advantage. There was many buttons and choices for you to click on if you was looking for rock sounds, choir Vocals or even jazz Instrumentals. Anything that you wanted was basically there for you to select and add, You had the choice to add any sounds you wanted and mix them up according to your taste!

When it came to creating the intro of my Radio Play I was very much inspired by Joann the life coaches intro music, I just really loved how her intro music sounded so mellow, calming and relaxing. I wanted to contribute those sounds to my radio play whilst making it dramatic to set the opening of my scene which would be the news reporter reporting the death of Norman Jones.

Overall using Garage band was such a fun and enjoyable experience, I will most definitely be using Garage band for some of my future projects if I ever want to produce music.

Evaluation :

When listening to my radio play I did see some faults and some good features that really helped bring the concept together. The things that I believed went really well in my radio play was the foley sounds that I had collected

The features that enhanced the radio play :

The ambience sounds really added to the piece and made the radio play sound realistic.

The sounds of the sirens also helped to set the scene for listeners to imagine the night that Loretta's husband had died- I also believe that the voice used for the news reporter (Sherene) did a good job at her role, in sounding like a person who is presenting this daunting news.

Another thing that I felt went well with my radio play was the beats that I made. The beats that I had made on Garage band (the intro & sounds of when Loretta met her husband) got a lot of postive feedback from my target audience who stated that they really liked the music especially when Loretta is describing the time she met Norman, as it allowed them to imagine what that day was like through the use of foley's and music.

The faults within my piece :

In my radio play I did see some bits where I felt like it could have been altered to make the radio play sound better. I felt like some of the audio was bad as you could hear everything, their is some bits in my play where you can hear noises from other people who were in the room next to where me and actresses were recording. You could hear sounds such as chairs moving and it just did not sound pleasant. Beforehand I had told the people who were next door to be quiet but still they did not listen. - In order to prevent this from occurring next time ill make sure that the area I am recording in is closed off only for me and my team members.

Another fault that I found was that I was too loud and to close to the microphone when recording, In some parts of the radio play you can hear pressure in the microphone due to the microphone being to close to my mouth, therefore creating a hard harsh sound when I sighed as my character and sometimes spoke. - I wish I could have fixed this but I did not have enough time to shoot again, plus I had to make sure all my actresses were free - ( as they were some parts where the actresses sounded the same) and that is something that I could not guarantee.

Last but not least one thing that I think I could have made better was Loretta's voice, even though I had said altering it made it sound realistic, I wish I could have hired someone who had a mature voice already, maybe doing this could have made the voice sound even more realistic as it would sound more natural and not something that was altered through effects.