How to work with audio

The GenderIT.org guide to producing audio

Introduction

The aim of this guide is to provide information and resources that will provide a road-map for those new to the medium of audio, while also providing quick links and reference for those with some experience who want a refresher on particular topics or questions.

Voice can be an immensely warm media, bringing stories into your office, living room or car. It's also a great medium for feminists.

Overview

Unesco publishes a guide on how to do community radio. While the first section deals with setting up a station, the second section is on how to make programmes. It is available online.

The first thing is to make great sound recordings. You can fix audio that has some mistakes, but it's much easier to make sure that the recording is as 'clean' as possible. A simple guide that covers most of the important points can be found here but keep in mind the points below about power and respect.

Technical tools

If you plan on doing a lot of audio, download an audio editor – Audacity is one of the most popular, free, open-source sound editors out there, and it can do most of what can be done by far more costly software packages. A fairly simple to follow tutorial is available here – but there are loads of videos to help guide you through any issues you may have. The Audacity community is also quite active, so post any problems you face and you're bound to get some help.

With Audacity, you can record sound from Skype, but the quality can be too poor for broadcast, if you're hoping that stations will pick up the story. It is fine for the website. You can also use it to record conversations using any mic plugged into your computer, including the internal mic.

Methods

One of the reasons GenderIT encourages contributors to make audio is because the airwaves, including both mainstream and community radio, are still dominated by male voices, issues and concerns. Feminist audio is different from malestream audio in that:

1) It privileges female voices, to address existing power imbalances.

2) It is always conscious of the power involved in any interview or discussion. Generally, if you are interviewing somebody, you hold more power than they do. It is your responsibility to ensure that their voice is heard in a way that is empowering for them. This means you allow them time to feel comfortable, to review what they have said, to restart or redo what they have said. Obviously there are exceptions – politicians and other prominent personalities may have more power than the interviewer. But, as a general rule, check whether these are voices that need to be heard on GenderIT. Do they have other ways of reaching a wide audience? If so, maybe we need to be looking for someone else.

Follow these guidelines, bearing in mind what is written in the code of ethics and the manifesto, and you'll be producing radio-worthy audio in no time.

Other resources

Some useful resources:

1. Transom.org – a radio specialists' guide to tools and tips for using sound editing software, including Audacity.

2. The Audacity user community

3. The AMARC Gender Policy is a useful document that looks at the issue of power and women's voices.

Checklist

1. Listen back to the audio recording. Sometimes strange things creep in without you noticing!

2. Are all sound effects and/ or music licensed under an appropriate copy-free license?

3. Make sure you can spell all names that are mentioned, for tagging online, and to make sure that any transcript is accurate.