This week we look at chapter 2 of Mr Rasovsky’s book “The Well Tempered Audio Dramatist” and he gives us an insight into the production process for audio drama, beginning with studio design, equipment, process, and personnel.
The Studio
Most of this is well outside the capablities of amateur audio drama enthusiasts. He notes that European studios are purpose built for the production of audio drama with space and sound effect equipment built in while most American studios are designed for talk radio and are often little more than a box with a mirophone inside.
In terms of available sounds in the studio he lists such items as different outdoor scene sounds (dirt, gravel, and rock); surfaces to simulate kitchen,living room, bedroom, car, carriage, garage, office, etc.; wood, concrete, and metal stairs; footfall surfaces such as hardwood, squeaky wood, marble, concrete, tile, etc.; Shuttered and draped window to open and close; a variety of doors of various surfaces and wieghts; a 3 foot deep tub of water for creating water noises. In an ideal world there would be the capacity to use partitions and removable walls and flooring to approximate the sonic overtones of various interiors.
Mr Rasovsky points out the following as the typical gear required in a recording studio; microphone, patch bay (to minimise the amount of plugging and unplugging that occurs, console or mixing board, computer for storage, playback for pre-recorded musicand sound, sound processors (noise reduction systems, preamplifiers, outboard equalizer, compresor for automatically regulating volume, reverb unit, de-esser, etc). As a non-technical person with no sound engineering training or knowledge I find this list fairly intimidating.The Process
The process of audio production is fairly stable and well understood and proceeds as follows…
- Writing, preproduction – planning and preparation, final script editing, casting, production meetings, scheduling, preliminary paperwork, preparation of sound effects, renting or buying special equipment, scoring or sourcing music, readthroughs and rehearsals.
- Capturing or Mastering – recording the performance (and in some cases rehearsing with the equipment).
- Post-production – layering in of further sound,editing, and massaging the master-tracks into their final form, adding in context specific announcements, and preparing final paper work (in fact anything that occurs after mastering is included in post-production).
Personnel
We then look at the personnel required for the production of audio-drama.
We begin with the executive producer (or boss) who hires the team, finds the money, is responsible for general administration, marketing, and distribution. This is someone with administrative/managerial expertise who takes care of the admnistrative load.
The Production team includes the producer (who tracks time and money expenditure, supervises the staff, troubleshoots, takes responsibility for production design, and supervises post-production and packaging), the director (often the same person, responsible for the development of the script, casting, guiding actors through taping, selection of takes etc.), floor director (in the room with the actors providing silent instructions during performance and verbal instructions between takes), the writer (for re-writes and consultation about the script), casting director (who knows the local talent and their agents and can find the right actor for each role), musical director (often the composer, responsible for conducting, contracting musicians, and arranging the music required), music producer (responsible for recording the music), talent (actors, narrators, sound fx people, walla (extras), announcers etc.), Studio manager or chief engineer (the technical person responsible for the sound mixing, and sound engineering of the work from production through post-production), the Production Assistant (the indispensible right hand person assisting producer and director – to whom many jobs can be delegated), and finally the dramaturg (the individual or committee tasked with sorting through the reams of potential material available in order to identify good plays to produce).Theatre Types
When dealing with audio theatre types, Mr Rasovsky has a preference, unsurprisingly, for dealing with the most professional people available. Community and recreational theatre is his least favourite, while little theatre (amateur theatre with a professional work ethic), and professional theatre are his preferences.
Looking over these explanations it is clear that serious production of audio drama is a singularly complex and difficult endeavour requiring a good deal of cooperation and professional competencies. As a fan of old time radio (produced live and broadcast directly into the ether) I wonder how much this is essential and what sacrifices one must make to streamline the requirements?
Don’t forget to check out our dinner party script products in the products section of our site. You can check out samples of each title and our full scripts are always available for purchase. Next time: more reflections on what I am learning from Mr Rasovsky’s book.
