It has never been easier to gather audio. Free editing programs (like Audacity) and recording device applications for many cell phones make it possible for anyone to gather audio without additional financial obligations. For many print writers, the transition to audio storytelling is intuitive: at the very core, it’s your story, narrated by your voice, with added sound to set the scene.

Here are a few tips to get you started:

Know your device because if you don’t, you’re not going to have any audio to edit. Before you start formal recording, it’s important to spend some quality time with your device, getting to know its wants and needs. Will your phone interfere with your recording? How often does your recorder need its batteries changed? Will a light wind ruin an on-the-street interview?

Be familiar with the sounds that your recorder picks up—some are more forgiving than others when it comes to throat clearing, distant traffic and air conditioners. When it comes to unnecessary noise, it’s more effective to prevent it the field rather than editing it out later.

Travel Light and Arrive Early. Resist the urge to overpack and keep your gear to a minimum; it makes you much more accessible to the people you’re interviewing. I can get by with my recorder, a pair of headphones for checking levels and a spare set of batteries.

If you’re covering an event, arrive early to collect ambient noise of guests arriving—in a pinch, ambient sound makes for a great way to set the scene or transition from one idea to the next.

Talk to Everyone in the Room. If you’re at an event, like a rally, town hall meeting, etc.—it’s just as important to gather interviews from the event-goers as it is to record the speeches from the event. Talk to attendees before and after the event, and catch up with the speakers for their impressions. When you’re in the field, you’re not entirely sure what your story is yet, so it’s best to gather as much information as you might need for your story to take form back at your desk.

Organize Your Audio Files ASAP. As soon you’re back in the office, download your audio and label your files. Believe me, you’ll forget. Give everything a listen through to discover all the details you missed while navigating through the field, get a feel for your content and start putting a story together!

Happy recording,
—Wendy Joan

This entry was posted on Thursday, October 1st, 2009 at 5:10 pm and is filed under Content. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.