FORUM 4: Song Exploder

Musical arrangement is one of the most technical and artistic aspects of producing podcasts. The use of music in podcasts ranges from little to none all the way up to professionally scored shows that involve as much work as a major label album or a feature film.

One unique example of the use of music in podcasts is Song Exploder. http://songexploder.net/episodes As the name suggests, in each episode the host interviews a songwriter about how they wrote and recorded a specific song, "exploding" it by listening to individual tracks as they are layered upon each other using modern, digital recording techniques. For this week's forum, choose any episode of Song Exploder that appeals to you (if you scroll through the history long enough you will likely find an artist you have heard of before). Listen to the episode and then craft a post that:

States the title of the episode and posts a link to it
Summarizes the main points that you took away from the episode
Describes how the episode uses music to tell a story

To receive full credit you should make a meaningful comment on at least two (2) of your classmates' posts. A meaningful comment is defined as 2-3 sentences that demonstrate clearly you have 1) read their original post in its entirety, and 2) you are responding to their thoughts and ideas in a clear and respectful way.


SHORT PODCAST

Watch the Short Podcast Instructions and follow the steps to mix and edit your interview and add other sound elements to produce a Short Podcast. This assignment requires you to:

Mix your interview tracks so they play at similar volume
Create an intro bumper to introduce your show that uses at least one musical element and records a scripted introduction
Create audio "breaks" in between the interview questions
Trim dead air space in between the speaking parts of your tracks
Create an outro bumper that uses at least one musical element and records a scripted introduction

The total time for the podcast should not run longer five (5) minutes. To submit your work, click "File" > "Export" > and choose "Export Project to MP3 File." Soundtrap may direct you to click "Save" or to wait until the project is mixed on its servers before it will allow you to export it. Once you have the exported MP3 submit that file to D2L. To submit your MP3 to D2L, click on the "Short Interview" thread in MODULE 3 and then click "Upload." If you have any comments to add you may do so and then click "Submit." After submitting, you should go back and verify that your submission has posted correctly to ensure you receive full credit for your work.