*No dinos were harmed in the making of this radio show*

I wasn’t always happy to be a part of the radio show group “Digital Dynamite” but I’m mostly proud of the result: a funny, engaging, 5-star show.

Amber May did an incredible job editing. I’m SO glad that I landed in a group with an aspiring audio artist. We each did our 2 segments individually, and sent them to her to graft together, with her best judgement. I like the choice she made in reversing the order of the second segments. The only beef I have with the final project is the strummy guitar music over my section mostly eclipses the scritchy pen noises I laboriously recorded and balanced with the speech. I wanted them to be subtle background noise with the occasional suggestion that it was writing, instead only the very distinct ones came through.

From a listening standpoint, the addition of music to all of our sections made the entire show more cohesive and seductive. Even while objecting to the volume of music in my section, I found myself drawn in by its rhythm.

The bumpers and advertisements are non-invasive, and their addition adds a pause that somehow increases the drama of the show.

In some areas of ChaChaChelsea’s and Nancy’s segments the sound effects are uncomfortably loud at a volume level that allows for the speech to be easily discerned (especially with the volume of background music). However, this was not a continual flaw, and does not detract from the overall impression of the show much.

As most of us were intimidated by audio, the structure of the project was decided upon early as something that was well within our comfort zone – talking about something in a friendly, personal manner, and adding appropriate sound effects. By Amber’s recommendation, several of us learned the use of GarageBand. Though we aimed low toward the comfort zone, the actual effort necessary to achieve the necessary result took more than expected. The quality result seems more than the sum of the individual parts. As we didn’t aim high and fall short, the result seems professional.

Due to the way we structured our collaboration, I did not hear the finished product until it was uploaded to SoundCloud on Saturday. We had delays, but we’d planned for them, so it wasn’t too last minute. For all but my segment, I was a fresh listener, excited and engaged.