Category: Research

This blog post will analyse how to make a professional piece of audio that is suitable to be used in a demo, or in a portfolio, this is my third learning objective,  despite using this learning objective from my last project I feel it is relevant because of me not fulfilling it last time.

 

Firstly I looked at a BBC academy page which had 8 tips for producing good radio demos.

1. Focus. Work out what type of presenter/producer you want to be – always tailor your demo accordingly. Take inspiration from your heroes, but don’t imitate. Remember you can always have more than one demo, like a tailored CV.

2. Don’t start the demo with the opening menu of a show and finish with goodbye. Don’t welcome the audience to the show – you’re joining them. There’s no need for more than three-four seconds of music when introing and outroing tracks.

3. If you’re in a partnership, make sure you stand out. You’re only promoting yourself, so make sure you’re the dominant voice.  A great way to make sure of this is to start the links and get the punch line.

If you’re a producer then you can still make a demo. Focus on the sound quality and the content – the more effort and production the better. Good quality audio and good editing goes without saying, but we’re saying it!

4. Ask yourself have I shown: music passion; stationality (say the station’s name – you need to prove you can move yourself around this furniture); commercial awareness (selling competitions and sponsorship in your own style); cross promotion; interactivity and interviews (no need for famous voices, it’s more about technique). Do you have a variety of textures in there?

Think about making a demo in the style of the station you want to work for. It demonstrates passion, effort and that you understand what the programmer is doing. Plus nicking jingles is impressive. However, be realistic about your entry – for a big station it will be for overnight or weekend slots, so don’t mock up a station demo for breakfast.

6. Don’t send CDs or mp3s. Those days are gone – create a SoundCloud/Mixcloud/Audioboo link and email it. The key is to make it easy to listen to. Keep the email short – include station flattery, a short bit of experience, but no CVs for presenters. If you don’t get a reply leave it three weeks – follow it up, checking they got the email, not if they listened.

Here I will dissect each of these points with what I have taken from them:  Whilst i don’t necessarily want to be a presenter I understand that its important to tailor a demo, meaning that this project would be unsuitable for a presenting job on Kiss, however, it would be applicable to say production at Radio 1 etc.  Furthermore, you shouldn’t imitate people who have done similar as this leads to the listener believing that you are just copying that person’s style.  Second is that when you are producing a demo it should be the best bits, meaning that for this project I would highlight bits that I believe are the strongest and then use these rather say the opening or ending of the programme or a completely random link. Luckily I am the only presenter for this programme meaning that the third point isn’t as important, however, it is in a sense, as my voice must be suitable to the narration of the episode and fit, as otherwise, those ‘hiring’ would be unlikely to want to listen to me again.  Furthermore, in production, the tip is that good quality audio is important, but reading through the lines implies that this means anything from the scripting to the sound effects, meaning that everything should be perfect for someone to listen.

Tip 4 is an interesting one as it implies that you need to be able to show true passion for the music or programme that you are presenting or working on, alongside being able to interlink your programme with others. This is not really possible with senses as it is based on a podcast format, thus meaning cross promotion is less important. However, I would say that we have matched the Radio 1 Newsbeat style, meaning that i could pitch this as a ‘young persons educational podcast series’. For the final tip, this is mostly common sense in the current environment, making sure that is as easy to listen to as physically possible to not risk loosing the listener .

http://www.bbc.co.uk/academy/production/article/art20131016110045469

 

Media.Info

The next site was more of a conversation with a former programme director who suggests the following tips:

Put the best bits at the start, make it relate to the station rather than be random.  The first point is not entirely applicable to this piece, however, it could be if i was to clip it into 30 seconds of audio, the reason the best bits need to be at the front is fairly obvious as the person listening is likely to swithc off it is boring. Furthermore, it should relate to the station rather than be random, meaning that this programme wouldn’t be suitable for a commercial station, or radio 4, instead it suits the likes of BBC Radio 1/1Xtra or BBC Three online.

https://media.info/radio/how-to/how-to-make-a-great-demo-tape

 

Kowchmedia

Next, this blog post was useful as it made suggestions over what I should do in terms of marketing myself through using social media sites, or having a website which everything I have done is attached to, which is what we have done with our project ourselves. Furthermore, it also stresses the importance of creating content rather than just audio, as you need to be able to show that you can do everything rather than just one thing.  Despite being short this shows that to make me piece professional is it important to have a variety of content with it.

#4 Five things that create killer radio demos

 

Following on from this a wesbite called the pips which  helps people get into radio.  They suggested the following:

Make sure the demo is of YOU. Edit as much music as possible & remove other peoples voices where you can. This is all about you showing off your potential, don’t put anybody else in the shop window.

A good demo should be around 2-3 minutes long. Send as a link to a Soundcloud page or any other audio sites online. Avoid sending big mp3 files that will clog up an email inbox. It will be deleted.

Decide what your strength is and what makes you stand out. If you are good with callers on the air, then demonstrate that. If you are good at telling an engaging story, then show that. Showcase your strengths AS WELL as showing you can do the basics.

 

The first tip on this list isn’t entirely applicable as without the interviewees it would be impossible for me to convey a sense of the programme over to the person listening to a demo of it.  Whereas this a lot more suitable for a chat or music based presenter where things are based on links.  Furthermore having a demo at the right length is crucial, this is because otherwise people will turn of, however, if directly applied to this project it would be easier for me to create a 3o second trailer rather than cut up bits of the programme to put in a demo, as if this is done right it would wet the listeners appetite and get them to listen too more of the programme. Thus meaning that the programme sounds better and gets listened to be an industry professional.

http://www.thepips.co.uk/hints-tips/demo-tips/

 

Finally is another BBC article, however, this is based more on news and documentary, it gives the following tips:

Stay in character
After you have discovered your on air personality be it presenting a music radio show or perhaps a more serious phone-in programme, Gabriella emphasises the need to be consistent with the type of ‘character’ you want to portray on-air.

Paint a picture
Practise your storytelling skills – demonstrate these by talking to the audience as much as possible about whatever you are describing.

Keep your links tight

Being able to convey what you say in a succinct way is important. Links, especially music links, they need to be tight,

 

The first point about staying in character is relevant, as for this project my voice must set the right tone for the whole programme as that is the goal of the narrator. Furthermore, both this and the second point rely on the wording used, whereas for most radio programmes this would be done live for us this was scripted and we had the chance to continuously make changes to allow us to develop a story and make the audience relate. Furthermore keeping links tight also revolves around scripting in our case to make sure that sentences aren’t overly wordy.

http://www.bbcsomali.com/academy/production/article/art20131218121904571

Overall all these points will help my the project more professional and sound better.

My last learning objective is centred around being able to ask good questions and knowing how to do so. This blog post is the research in response to this.

 

The first video was from the BBC Academy on how to be a good journalist, by getting tips from  Sarah Montague & Stephen Sackur.

 

Interview tips:

 

 

Quick introduction- introduce people to the subject and the person,  this also focuses yourself

 

Think through where the interview should end up before you start.

 

Be disciplined and don’t go off topic with people so that you get the best content,

 

Listen to peoples responses so that you can ask intelligent questions

 

 

 

 

These points are useful as they suggest ideas as to how you should plan interviews, by having a scripted introduction before you arrive for the interview you instantly focus yourself and it also means that context is given. Furthermore, knowing how you want to tell the story is also important as it means you can ask the right questions and set the right tone. Whilst not directly applicable the point about staying on topic is valid and may mean that you need to rewrite questions to stop people from deviating.  Listening to people is vital in an interview as you must be able to think on the fly and follow answers up with questions that are a natural continuation.

 

Next was a small article about Jeremy Paxman, there is a discussion around simple questions which is what Paxman asks, these are relevant to the audience as they make no assumptions, and are even more important in explaining complicated subjects. While I am not interviewing politicians, it is important to ask simple questions so that those who are being interviewed can follow along with what is being said.  We are also not talking about hugely complicated subjects, but the interviewee is most likely going to be more personally connected than they otherwise would be due to the nature of the programme being about disability. Thus meaning direct questions may not always be suitable.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/academy/en/articles/art20130702112133421

 

Another article discussed five tips on how to get the best interview possible.

 

1. Establish trust- Make the interviewee feel comfortable with you, at ease with the questions and perhaps make yourself a bit vulnerable so you’re less of a threat.
2. Dare to be different- Give them something different. Be brave, ask the unexpected, even the unspeakable. Get them to engage with you and get something new.
3. Listen, and follow the flow of conversation- If the interviewee says something you want to explore then go for it. Don’t be a slave to the order of your prepared questions. It’ll feel more honest and compelling.
4. If you don’t understand an answer, neither will your listeners- Get clarification – one lost thread can derail an interview. There’s nothing wrong with getting your interviewee to explain themselves further.
5. Don’t rush on after each answer – pause- Your interviewee might say more (these are often the best bits.) And don’t switch off until you’ve left the room!

 

The first point that is raised is vital as you must make the interviewee comfortable with you in the room to make them talk openly and get the best out of it, I should also make sure to come across nicely to help settle the interviewee and if needed talk about personal experiences that may relate to the contributor to make myself come across as vulnerable.

While the second is more suitable for professional journalists, the point that can be taken from this is that it is important for the interviewee to expect the unexpected, this can also be expanded to potentially asking a more light-hearted question to make sure the contributor is enjoying themselves.

 

The third point is more interesting as it reinforces that you must be able to think on your feet if you want to create a more natural conversation lead interview, rather than simply relying on the questions that are written down in front of you, as this may not lead to a good interview. It also allows the interviewee to feel more comfortable as you are then looking at them rather than simply reading questions that were pre-prepared.

 

Fourthly it is important to get clarification if an answer is vague or doesn’t make sense as this is likely the case for the listener, for example a technical term.  As a result, I shouldn’t be afraid to ask more questions or ask for clarity.

Finally allow contributors to pause after a question, as this allows to think and as a result they may tell you the most interesting part of the story.

 

 

BBC Journalism skills: interviewing techniques

 

This video runs through some of the best ways to conduct an interview, most importantly in regards to a political interview is keeping them on topic and directly answering the question. Thus explaining why journalists are continuously interrupting people. Furthermore, it is important to try and put yourself in the interviewees shoes, and experience what they have experienced so that the questions you ask have the most impact. Related to this is that planning questions may not always be right for that approach or interview as it may just be best to try and conduct a conversation rather than a serious interview.

 

 

 

Ted X

 

This video was interesting as he raised points that haven’t otherwise been talked about for example learning how to blag an interview if you don’t know much about them e.g watching an interview that someone else has done and then picking up points from that could be talked about later and as a result save time and have research done.  Use icebreakers, that aren’t icebreakers this is because a simple question that sets the tone which is disguised as a meaningful question will work wonders as it relaxes the contributor. Furthermore listening is integral to being a good interviewer as you must be able to think on your feet and be relevant to create a conversation.  Alongside this making sure that it is causal and the contributor is relevant, most important though is to remember that everyone being spoken to is a human.

 

Finally, is this article which explains the importance of asking open questions

It’s a technique that journalists use regularly to interview eyewitnesses – for instance: ‘Tell me what happened; tell me what you saw; how frightened were you; what help are you getting…?’

And it can be useful in getting high-profile figures, including politicians, to open up – revealing more of the person, less of the policies.

In an interview with a man who’d been charged with rape but later cleared, Victoria Derbyshire asks simple questions to invite her guest to give his side of the story: “What do you say happened?”

Her opener, though – “How would you describe yourself?” – gives listeners the chance to hear something of the person before he tells his story.

This article explains the importance of asking open-ended questions and the benefits that can come from it, with people being required to be open up and tell their own stories rather than simply replying with yes and no answers.  It also means that the content that is gained much more interesting for the listener as they get to be in the head of the person.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/academy/journalism/skills/interviewing/article/art20130702112133427

With my second learning objective being around social media is it key to find where their social media is outputted and how similar brands do so, such as Radio 1, or Newsbeat (BBC Radio 1’s news service).

In regards to Newsbeat’s’ social media output, this spans Facebook, Twitter and Instagram with each of them having a different way of being approached and different content on each platform. For example with Newsbeat’s Facebook page, it heavily utilises video content which has varying places it has come from, for example, some clips are from other BBC Local radio stations or BBC Radio 5 live, or things from Radio 1/1xtra.

This shows that in terms of Newsbeat’s’ Facebook output it utilises a heavy amount of video content rather than static pictures to keep the viewer engaged. It is also worth noting that the video clips do not normally exceed 3 minutes in length so that that viewer stays engaged to the content rather than switching off halfway through due to it becoming boring.

https://www.facebook.com/pg/bbcnewsbeat/videos/

The next social media site is Twitter again this is used very differently to that of the others. Twitter does use video to an extent but this is not to the same level that the Facebook page uses however the length is still under a minute and there is often cross-promotion of videos as some videos that appear on Facebook may also be on Twitter.  The differences are though that Twitter uses more links to other content such as Newsbeat articles. Finally, the advantage of the Twitter is that is that it is a lot easier to cross-promote content as Radio 1 can subsequently retweet things such as one of their presenters tweeting about the show or an artists tweet about them being on a show.

 

 

 

The next site that is worth mentioning is Instagram. Instagram is utilised mostly for short-form video content that goes in tandem with Newsbeats programming, or short form videos similar to that of Facebook.

 

. Alongside this are the photos that are put up on Instagram, these are not just photos of everyday things in the studio but more focused around articles or current affairs that are relevant to the audience they are targeting, such as Mark Zuckerberg.

 

 

 

 

https://www.instagram.com/bbcnewsbeat/

 

Ultimately what I need to grasp is that all the social media platforms have different roles but all of them should be utilised. This means that for our programme we would potentially create a 40-second video of the funniest bits to try and encourage the listener to tune in which would go on all 3 social media sites, to support this we could then take some photos of the recording session to place on Instagram to build a social media presence for our programme and get people to listen to the programme which is ultimately what you want to happen. Gaining an understanding of how social media is used in Newsbeat’s’ current output also allows me to fulfil my learning objective which is based on social media and learning how it is used in its current context to produce a multi-media presence for radio which is now more important than ever as has been demonstrated above and the frequency of the content that is outputted.