January 2003 RAP
January 2003 Highlights
Feature: You Can Do Creative Like the Big Shots
By John Pellegrini
As a production person in radio for many years, I always wondered what
the exact difference was between what I did versus what the creatives at an
advertising agency did. How is it that I could write successful advertising
campaigns, yet get paid so little compared to the creatives who write
successful advertising campaigns at the big agencies
Interview: Dave Arnold, Focus on the Family Radio
Theatre, Colorado Springs, CO
By Jerry Vigil
Focus on the Family is a non-profit organization that produces
internationally syndicated radio programs heard daily on more than 3000
radio stations in twelve languages in more than 95 countries. One of those
programs is Radio Theatre, a -hour radio drama that takes "theatre of the
mind" production to the ultimate level. Senior Producer Dave Arnold gives us
a peek at what its like to take 22 hours of voice tracks and spend 5 years
putting them all together to make a radio drama. Its "radio production" at
the other end of the spectrum, where quality comes first, where tweaking is
the norm, and where people understand it takes time to "create."
Radio Hed: Let's Twist Again
By Jeffrey Hedquist
You give your stories power when you tap into the familiar in the lives
of your listeners. Much of our shared experience in the twenty-first century
is in the form of audio. Creating a radio commercial based on these sound
experiences can establish resonance with your audience and give you some
great opportunities for humor -- if you deliver a twist on the familiar.
Test Drive: WaveLab 4.0 from Steinberg
By Steve Cunningham
Choosing an audio editor is a bit like buying a new car its a combination
of both practical and emotional considerations, and its intensely personal.
And once we've made a choice, we tend to defend it using facts from our
practical list, but with a religious fervor that borders on irrational. So
if I'm being rigorously honest here, I have to say I was underwhelmed to
review another audio editor with CD-burning capabilities. After all, just
last month we looked at CD Architect (11/02), and shortly before that we
checked out the new version of Sound Forge (7/02), a program I've used every
day for several years.
So when Steinberg's WaveLab 4.0 showed up on my doorstep in a box that
weighed several pounds, I began to question my audio editing belief system.
And when the weight turned out to be a "real" printed manual, all I could do
was grab my beads and mutter my mantra. I think I may have had a religious
experience here.
Q It Up: The RAP Network Speaks - Who Were Your Mentors
- Part 2
Q It Up: What people had the most influence on
developing your skills, and what are a couple of the important things they
taught you?
Book Review: Voiceover Etiquette written by Bill
Filipiak
Reviewed by Tom Richards
Pursuing success as a voiceover talent requires skill, good old hard
work, and, according to Bill Filipiak's new book, "Voice Over Etiquette -
The Definitive Guide to Working in the Voice Over Industry," a healthy dose
of common sense. With refreshing directness and honesty, "VOE" empowers you
with real-world information culled from Filipiaks multi-textured career, to
help you make your way in the world of voiceovers
Feature: Excuse Me, That's My Emotional Baggage
by Albert Berkshire
Emotions for me never get in the way of anything. My Creative Director
tells me I have a big heart and that I wear it on my sleeve. I make no
apologies for being passionate about what I do, and never do I hold back how
I feel about something. I feel this way because its a part of me. I work
this way because its an expression of who I am. There is emotion in what I
write because we, as humans, are all emotional.
Feature: Why We Do What We Do
by Craig Jackman
Sometimes on those rare occasions when there is nothing else to do, my
mind wanders and thinks about any number of things. Ill bounce from thought
to thought at a dizzying pace until something jarring wakes me out of that
spiral and leaves me stopped like Bambi caught in a cars headlights. Why do
we do what we do? I mean really, why? Its a question my wife asks me about
twice a year. There has to be a reason why we put up with all the negatives.
...And Make It Real Creative:
By Trent Rentsch
The voice should've been the first tip-off. When someone is overly perky
in the midst of disaster, something is not right. The ice had covered
hundreds of miles of power lines, and in turn the power lines were doing
their own version of snap, crackle and pop. By morning Mother Nature was
serving up a heaping mess of power outages for breakfast, and nearly 2
million people were huddled in the cold, ears turned to the only source of
information possible. Of course the morning team knew that this is what
radio is really all about, answering the needs of their audience by
providing vital information. That is why they contacted the Power Company.
That's why spokesperson Ms. Perky was on the air, lying.
Monday Morning Memo: The Idea of North
By Roy H. Williams
A gifted concert pianist and per haps the most fascinating figure in
modern classical music, 31 year-old Glenn Gould stopped giving public
performances in 1964, at the very pinnacle of his career. No advance
warning, no fanfare, just, "thank you and goodbye." And with that he walked
away from a sold-out concert hall in Los Angeles to begin writing and
directing "The Idea of North," a 1967 spoken-word radio documentary for the
Canadian Broadcasting Corporation.
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