Sunday, February 9, 2014

Week Three- Podcast Progression

     Audacity is an interesting tool to work with an auditory medium. The first time I interacted with the program, I created a podcast in response to the movie Requiem for a Dream. My skills in Audacity were limited, thereby limiting the quality of my podcast as an artistic piece. I manually recorded the song I wanted to intro my podcast with and recorded the entirety of the podcast in a several single takes. The quality of the audio alone was not something to be proud of; however, I enjoyed creating the piece in the simplicity that it was new, and I was learning.
     I tried podcasting once again in the summer for a Leadership Development course. The chapter we were studying concerned challenging the process. In the leadership realm, this often means improving processes such as transitioning invoices from a paper system to an automated online system. For the assignment, I applied the challenge of the process directly to the assignment, leading me to respond via a podcast. This podcast was different in that I changed the format as there wasn’t a script, only an idea of critiquing the current system of education with two friends disenfranchised with the system. Seventeen minutes of audio recording later, I felt invigorated- filled with an energy to defy a system that sees my as a permanent identification number and a flat cost. Not only that, but my two friends wanted to begin an informal podcast.
     The podcast on Lucid Dreaming I produced for Writing 105M serves as a combination of the two processes I've experienced in podcasting thus far. I strayed from the script and added in some passion. The result, combined with improved Audacity skills, has been rewarding. I feel more “authentic” as a creator of a podcast, but I've also gained the insight that I’d like to work with sound as a writer now and in the future.
     I pursue Economics & Accounting as a major for practicality, but I pursue writing out of passion. As a medium, sound is the most appealing to me as it ties directly into emotion. This brings up a question I’d very much like to find the answer to- do pieces created through sound carry the same benefits of a written piece? For example, will I gain as much, if not more, from the process of creating an auditory piece? Furthermore, following Scott McCloud’s comic, does leaving less to the imagination (adding sound) make the actual message less meaningful? Also, the most basic of questions, does listening to an audiobook benefit someone as much as reading it themselves in regards to improving vocabulary and expanding one’s world view?

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