By Flora Fair



We're wrapping up the final class for The Medium Formerly Known as Radio -- Fall '09 edition. It's been fun, stressful, often enlightening and occasionally gut-wrenching. Over the course of the semester, Dean has not only taught us the technical aspects of my new nemesis, Pro Tools, but he's also pushed us to understand what makes a compelling narrative. As with writing a good story, telling one in sound also combines the technical and the creative. You have to have a good ear, keen rhythm, and a natural sense of storytelling. And have fun doing it, or it won't be a success! In a lot of ways, it's like snowboarding for the first time: People tell you to remember your stance, keep your center of gravity low, lean into the turns, and not panic -- but really you just have to hurl yourself down the mountain until all the rules become instinct.

So in the spirit of Dean, who tells us to follow the rules second and our ears first, here is a semester's worth of wisdom in a Biblically-sized list. Enjoy!

1. Always record with headphones.
2. Always record 30 seconds to 2 minutes of room tone.
3. Edit with headphones and mix with speakers.
4. Always write your intro first (it should be a modified version of your pitch).
5. Story pitches must consist of one sentence made up of a subject and a predicate.
6. Never relinquish control of the mic.
7. Give a unique name to each audio file immediately upon importing to the computer.
8. Never group regions (make a single group over edits).
9. Always remove breaths from beginnings and ends of actualities; leave inside actualities for naturalness.
10. Refer to these story and narrative guides:  Aristotle / empathy with characters / witness action unfolding / narrative arc / MacGuffin.

PS - That frustrated blur in the photo is Dean himself -- ever our educational MacGuffin.