Good Day Everybody!
This is my draft audio story that features an interview with the creator of Green Frog Juice Bar and Superfoods.
When I was creating this I was thinking of radio shows that I have listened to in the past such as NPR or other talk radio shows. One thing that stands out in my memory of these shows was they almost always started with a clip of catchy music before they jump into the topic that they wanted to discuss. I chose to follow that format with this audio story.
I song that I chose is called “These Days’ by Robin Grey and is a creative commons song that I found on freemusicarchive.org.
I chose this song because I felt like it was upbeat and catchy but at the same time captures the sound of authentic string music which is actually very popular in Colorado right now. Since the show is focused on being a local Colorado show, I felt using this song would give it more of a Colorado feel.
With the topic itself I wanted to give the impression that the topic was more than just a feature of a local business but that it also reflected a current popular trend that was newsworthy. To do this I introduced the topic by mentioning two well-known magazines that have ran articles about green juice in the last 30 days.
The two magazines are Forbes and Men’s Journal. Here are links to those articles.
http://www.mensjournal.com/expert-advice/the-best-green-juice-you-can-buy-in-a-bottle-20150929
http://www.forbes.com/sites/gracebanks/2015/10/01/meet-londons-green-juice-dynamos/
I then wrote a script for the introduction of the interview and recorded it. I then took the music, my script, and an earlier recorded interview and put them all together for this story.
Enjoy!
Green Frog Juice Bar and Superfoods 
Hi Ryan
I love the way your audio story starts. I think your speaking parts are clear, crisp and sound very natural. I can definitely see it as a new episode in a weekly/daily newscast or a podcast. The music is a great introduction to the piece, it’s upbeat and lively and matches your welcome as you roll into the story. The use of facts from magazines really adds that punch to highlight the importance of the subject matter you’re speaking about.
The audio for your interviewee is a little lower, almost like the microphone was a bit too far away during recording (or she just speaks much lower). It’s not as crisp and hearty as your audio. There might be some opportunity to tighten up the interview as well. She speaks at a slower pace than you which is not a bad thing, it’s just that some of the longer pauses in between thoughts and in between you speaking and her speaking could be edited down. One other thing you might want to think about in the final, is that when Melinda first speaks she does explain where she gets some of her ingredients and then the second question specifically asks where she gets the ingredients. Maybe you want to switch the order of those questions and have that one first and then she can move into the explanation of the juice making process.
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I love the introduction to your story! It is very upbeat and sets the tone for your story well. I also really like your tone and infliction, it is very engaging. Good thinking in adding the citations, and doing research to support your story. This sounds very much like something you would hear in NRP (with better sound quality!). Very good job at speaking to your audience and calling out to them several times to pull them in. I like that your story kept coming back to the what’s in it for me?
My only piece of feedback would be to increase the volume for your interviewee’s voice so it matches yours. The sounds goes down a bit when switching from one speaker to the other. Also there’s a long pause around minute 2:09 you may want to consider cutting. It confused me a little, as I wasn’t sure if it was a moment where you taste the juice or just a pause. If it’s an effect then maybe make it more pronounced.
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The music is absolutely catchy! I loved your intro as well and thought your energy was very engaging. One area in which I feel you could improve upon is if you chose to highlight the catchy music right after you initially explain the trending green juice movement and at the end of the interview before you explain where you can find green frog juices. You could surround the beginning and the end of the interview with the use of the string music as well to encapsulate the audio segment of your story. This should help differentiate your own intro and the intro of your guest as well as the conclusion of the interview and closing statement. Another suggestion I would make is to crop out some of the long pauses your interview makes. As mentioned by another classmate, she does speak a tad bit slower than you which isn’t a bad thing, but it does make it difficult to stay equally as engaged when she’s speaking due to her speaking pace. I hope my suggestions help you in your final creation! Good luck!
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Hi Ryan,
I really enjoyed your introduction it is upbeat and engaging. It sounds like you are conducting a podcast or a radio advertisement clip about your juice bar. The topic of your story defiantly relates to your blog page. I also like the music in your story; somehow it seems to add to the theme of your product.
I would recommend either lowering the volume of your voice or increasing the volume of Melinda Weeks voice so they are more equal in sound. The difference in volume between the two voices could be more minimal. I would also try to cut out some of Melinda’s “and’s,” “um’s” and pauses. I think eliminating some of the dead sound would bring your story into more of a cohesive flow for the listener. Overall you did a great job and I really like the facts that you added to your story. It sounds like a great start to a commercial for your juice company.
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Thank you for the feedback. The overwhelming improvement that all of you mentioned was that I needed to adjust the volume of either my part or the part of my interviewee. They were definitely recorded at different time and in different settings so I will look into see how that can be adjusted to make the overall segment sound better.
The other major bit of feedback was that I should edit the filler words and dead space in the interview to help it flow better. I had actually edited most of that out for my tutorial but I found that it was a little bit choppy so I will need to work on getting the filler words out but still allowing the interview to flow smoothly.
There was also some feedback about rearranging the music and putting more of it throughout the segment instead of just at each end. I will experiment with that and I if ends up sounding alright I will change that in my final.
Overall I think my draft was a good first run. I am grateful for the feedback and will try to incorporate as much of it as possible.
Thanks!
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