First Project: Audio Recording

Keeley, Brittney and I had a lot of fun working on this project. While we experienced some technical difficulties (my digital voice recorder only worked on a PC and we could only download the audio recordings with the installation disc, which I had priority mailed to me from home by my parents), we really liked how the project came out and John Steere, the student bus driver we interviewed, was a great subject.

It was difficult to fit all that we wanted to fit into a 3-minute segment since we had about 20 minutes of audio, but the transitions between B-roll and Steere talking came out well. He had some great stuff to show why bus drivers "make this campus work" as the assignment dictated, but he also had some hilarious stories to tell us about the job. We could only fit one of those stories in, but we feel it was the best part of our audio project.

Our teamwork was good; Brittney volunteered to ride around on the bus and take audio for our B-roll, and then all three of us sat down to interview Steere and ask whatever questions came to mind. Everyone had different perspectives and ideas to ask him about the job so we came out with a ton of choices for the final project. I was the only one in our group who had ever used Audacity as an audio editor, but Brittney and Keeley both watched over my shoulder as I worked and taught them the basics of cutting and using effects to come out with a good finished product.

I definitely enjoyed this project because radio is a thing of the past and there are so many stories, like those that we listened to on NPR and This American Life, that can be eye-opening even without a visual. I'm very happy with the finished version of our audio file and I think it tells the story of a student bus driver pretty well.