Post Prod

On the day we did the recording, I stayed back with Zac afterwards as he "bounced out" the audio. I didn't actually ask what that means, but I'm guessing it's a basic, rough edit that basically gives you the basic feel for the timing and pacing of the scenes. Even without all the Ambience, Foley and Music, it still sounds pretty sweet. Again, I really made the right choice in selecting Marcus and Tammy. We all really worked well together and the dialogue meshes together nicely.

Unfortunately, this is where we ran into a few hitches.

Zac, the engineer, was only able to fully complete the first episode (pilot?) before work and moving and slaying Nihilghasts took up so much of is time, he couldn't do the remaining three episodes.

After having little luck contacting Ashley and Nick, I was FINALLY able to go in today, sit down with another young engineer by the name of Jack and plough through the editing of the those other episodes. I say we, but Jack did most of the button pressing while I played foreman and told him what I wanted things to sound. We weren't able to find the same music and sound beds Zac used, so we had to make do with what was at hand, but overall I'm quite pleased with the results.  The music is suitably heroic, the dialogue flows naturally, the ambience is suitably understated and the sound effects are...er...effective.

Going back to the BBC Article, the author (authors?) suggests the following for the use of Foley:

"These should be used sparingly and effectively. They can be used functionally, e.g. door opening, or to create a mood, e.g. dogs barking in the distance on waste-land. If used to excess they become tedious and pointless."
(http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/arts/features/howtowrite/radio_think.shtml)

Basically, what they're saying is that while the use of music and sound effects enhance the production, they   shouldn't take the place of good dialogue and story telling. They're the frosting but not the cake, the auditory equivalent of CGI.

It was for this reason I wanted to keep the music to the intro and outro themes, rather than cluttering the episodes with incidental stings or interludes. The important climaxes are indicated by the end themes, kinda like that sting on Doctor Who.

We included a some ambience for the outside scenes and the scene down in the computer lab, though neither are so loud as to draw attention to themselves, and just add to the atmosphere of the world we've created. Sound effects are few and functional. A splash when a character falls into the pool, the cocking of a gun when Drake is threatened and electronic sounds for when the Computer processes information. (The Computer, is a character exclusive to the audio adventures, another role for Tammy, since I dragged her all the way out to Springfield. Plus, she does a really good computer voice.)

Nick will be posting the episodes on the Official Phoenix Radio Facebook page and will likely air them on the station at some point too! That's TREMENDOUSLY exciting, as it means that people will be listening to my work, whether they want to or not. (muahhahaha)  I'll probably consider setting up a PodBean account and posting those episodes there too for the general public.

Depending on how the existing episodes are received and availability of myself, the actors and the Springfield Studios, there's a good possibility that more episodes can be made in the future. I know I'm keen and it's certainly something to add to the ol' Resume.

Stay Tuned, Ladies and Gents ;)

Nate.


P.S. I was joking about the Nihilghasts. There's no actual way to kill those things. If you see one, avert your eyes right away and just LEG IT!