The Sound to go with the Picture

Bear with me, folks. I am learning how to embed a sound link in WordPress (there’s another way to do this .. which is to buy an upgrade which will allow sound and video files. I will likely do this too, but I’ll start with the cheap way ..)

This is a piece that I composed while in India — it’s called “Millions of Gods and Goddesses”. It was inspired by Lake Nagin .. the picture in the previous post. Kashmir, the most northerly state in India, has been a disputed zone ever since the British left in 1947. The conflict is centred upon religious differences .. because Kashmir is mostly Muslim, Pakistan believes it should have been given to them. India disagrees.

The region is divided by the LOC (Line of Control) between India and Pakistan but the conflicts cross the line on a regular basis (though not as much as it used to).

The piece doesn’t just have the sounds of Kashmir .. or of Muslims. But the sounds from Lake Nagin were its inspiration. Every morning I sat on the veranda of my exquisite private houseboat listening to the calls to prayer from at least 25 different prayer places and mosques. All out of synch with each other.

I’ll post the URL in a minute, but first a big thank you to the Dandoo family for hosting me on the HB Silver Bell. The Dandoos are a Muslim family who truly embody the spirit of peace …

Here is where you can hear “Millions of Gods and Goddesses”

Hearing the Picture

Those of you who have been reading my blog have been reading about my transition from being an Ear person to being an Eye person too.  I am now starting to add pictures to my sounds.

Which is the reverse way most journalists are doing it, so it seems.   Most of the AV journalism being done (especially on newspaper websites) happens when photographers are adding sound to their pictures, not the other way around like I am doing.

I found a really great article on the basics of adding sound.  It’s by Ron Galbraith on his website called Digital Photography Insights (DPI — cute .. ).  The article has some very good advice for those of you who are venturing into this for the first time.  Historical background, a connection with Kentucky where I lived for a while, very solid technical advice .. check it out.

And when you’re ready for some really sophisticated examples of combining evocative audio with equally evocative pictures, be sure to go to Media Storm .. a New York based group of people who are true artists of digital storytelling.

I think I need to pick up my camera so I can write a companion article to Ron Galbraith’s … this time from the other perspective –  sound gathering, field recording and composition is something I know well .. now how do I start adding pictures to it?

Audio Slideshows

I’ve had a lot of conversations with video documentary producers who teach. A couple of them have told me that their students don’t even get to touch a video camera until second year. During the first year, they are given still cameras and audio recorders and the assignment is to do a high-quality slideshow.

This isn’t just a good teaching technique … it can also create some really great products that stand on their own.

An example of a media organization that is doing this very well is the San Francisco Chronicle. They have a whole collection of Audio Slideshows.

What I really like about the audio slideshows is that it both a high quality listening and viewing experience. There is something really engaging about sound which is only loosely tied to the pictures. What it creates is an experience that flows out of one element and into another without the sound and pictures needing to be tightly anchored to each other.

And because the pictures don’t move, I can concentrate on the image more than I do when the image is constantly moving somewhere else. It also creates many possibilities for evocative audio … the soundtrack of the slideshow on the San Franscisco site stands alone as a great listening experience. Some of the soundtracks are every bit as good as some standalone radio pieces I’ve seen.

There are a lot of good reasons for organizations to do audio slideshows.

From a practical perspective, it provides another opportunity to use the excellent still photography produced by an organization’s photographers. Why use them just once?

It’s a widely accepted principle that one of the strengths of radio and sound is that the listening experience creates an intimacy with the listener that visuals alone can’t. But it’s also widely accepted that people want to see pictures on the web. So you can entice them with the pictures and then you can talk to them, creating a bond between your audience and your people that will be memorable.

Audio slideshows are easier to produce than full motion video. It’s a great entry point for the people in your organization who want to start to do multimedia for the internet. (I agree with my colleagues who teach documentary … move them into full motion video gradually .. there’s already enough bad video on the internet). And you can get going without any special software .. both Windows Moviemaker and IMovies will do the job well enough to start.

Slideshows take less bandwidth. Many of us still have clients out there either on dialup or in countries where high speed isn’t very speedy.

I like it. I’ve started doing some audio slideshows myself .. stay tuned.