Continue working in your groups or on your own to produce your radio shows. By now, you’ve might have picked your show theme and format, and you should each have scoped out what your contribution to the show will be. In this unit, you need to produce this show into a single audio file. The total length of your show should be about 5 minutes times the number of people in your group. (i.e. 5 people try for a show no more than 25 minutes.) Be merciless in doing tight editing. It is easy to create a long rambling show, but usually shorter is better.

See more info on the radio show specs.

Like the ones we listened to in unit four, all radio shows ought to include:

• An introduction that announces/overviews the show.
• 1-2 bumpers (10-30 seconds long) in the middle of your show.
• 1-2 commercials within the show.

The shows are expected to make use of music, ambient sounds, and sound effects. For some guidance, you may want to review some of the radio shows previous student groups have done – and decide for yourself what works about them? What does not? Is it good radio? Is the story compelling?

For an official ds106 class, we usually create an event where we broadcast the group projects on ds106 radio, which is something we cannot organize your open course students. However, if you are ambitious, you can plan your own event and broadcast it yourself, ds106 radio is an open platform.

We have a document full of information and tutorials to help you learn how to broadcast. Plan a date, and announce it in twitter via the #ds106radio hash tag and/or the Google+ Community— people will show up and listen!

See examples of past radio show premieres:

• Headless13 Radio Shows (Fall 2013)
• Spring 2013 UMW Radio Shows
• Fall 2012 UMW Radio Shows

AT least if you produce a radio show, let us know in the comments below. If you upload a copy of your show to our dropbox, we will put it in the scheduled rotation of radio archives. Upload files to the ds106 radio DropBox (the password is “wejamecono”) as an mp3 file that is under 75Mb. Please name your file so we can know what it is about.

In your summary post for this unit, you might want to write a reflection on your blog about the entire radio show production process, particularly delineating your role in the production. Some have found it useful to keep an on-going blog post in draft mode for documenting your process and add to it as you go along instead of waiting till the end and trying to do it all at once.

For this unit, we suggest three specific audio assignments plus 10 stars worth of additional ones of your choice from the assignment bank. Your audio work should be using multiple tracks in your audio software to create a full sound, mixing in music / audio effects, and using sound editing effects where appropriate.

When you write up your assignments, make sure to include a listing and links to any sounds you used from other sources. You should provide some narrative of the editing process, and we are looking to see a screen shot of your editing screen to get an idea of how you are using your audio tools.

Each team member should create a bumper for their show, it should be within the theme/style of your show, and include the name of the show and a ds106 radio station announcement, like

“You’re listening to the Doggie Doo Show on ds106 radio, where it’s always a romp in the park”

A bumper is merely a mid-show reminder to the audience what they are listening to.

Upload your audio as an mp3 file to SoundCloud (make sure the option is set to download) and embed it in your blog post about this assignment. Tweet it so we know to grab a copy to put on the radio station.

Your group should pick the best 2 bumpers to include in the final show.

Each team member should also create a commercial for their show. Again it should be within the theme/style of your show, and about 30-45 seconds long. A commercial should include something to draw the interest of a listener to the show, you are trying to convince them to tune in.

Upload your audio as an mp3 file to SoundCloud (make sure the option is set to download) and embed it in your blog post about this assignment.

Your group should pick the best 2 commercials to include in the final show.

Foley is a technique used in both radio and film to create impactful audio effects. Learn more about what a Foley Artist is and review some of these video clips that show how it is done:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BdZQ0fjhTlA

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4wgG3T-YlwE

See also “Ask a Foley Artist” – Interview with Dean Minnerly (hat tip to ds106 student Jennifer).

Your task will be to generate foley sounds using objects you assemble or ones you can create with your own body for a 30 second segment from this clip for a scene in the 1928 silent Charlie Chaplin film The Circus where The Tramp gets trapped in the lion cage. These are to be sounds you generate live, not ones from sound clips found elsewhere!

Here is how you know which segment is yours to work on:

• If you were born in January or July, you are responsible for all sounds from 00:00 to 00:30 (tag chaplin-lion-01)
• If you were born in February or August, you are responsible for all sounds from 00:31 to 01:00 (tag chaplin-lion-02)
• If you were born in March or October, you are responsible for all sounds from 01:01 to 01:30 (tag chaplin-lion-03)
• If you were born in April or September, you are responsible for all sounds from 01:31 to 02:00 (tag chaplin-lion-04)
• If you were born in May or November, you are responsible for all sounds from 02:01 to 02:30 (tag chaplin-lion-05)
• If you were born in June or December, you are responsible for all sounds from 02:31 to 02:55 (tag chaplin-lion-06)

The first thing you should do is watch your clip and make a list of every action in that 30 seconds that could require a sound (in a few places there could be dialogue, make up a line for what the actors might say). Think of the subtle parts, like the sound of the wood latch falling, the rustling of the lion’s tale. Or be inventive as to what sounds would be effective (or funny).

Next, find objects or things you can use to generate the sounds. You should not use downloaded or recorded sound clips- all sounds are to be ones you create physically. Practice a few times generating the sounds in sync with the video.

When you are ready, record your segment. It should be done in a single take. Make sure it is exactly 30 seconds long! Upload it to Soundcloud, and include the tags “ds106”, “chaplin-foley” and the tag listed for your segment. There is a reason for all of this tagging, you will see!

Over the span of this assignment stretch, we encourage you to challenge yourself to complete 10 points from from the audio category in the Assignment Bank.

Remember to share your work with the rest of us by writing up each assignment in its own post, properly tagging it, and including a narration of your creative process. All external source materials used in your projects should be referenced by URL. Audio should be embedded from your SoundCloud account into your blog.

Over the time on this unit, you should try to do at least 3 Daily Create challenges per week you complete this unit, and look especially for ones that you can practice using audio. Or just decided to interpret any daily create and complete it via audio. Be creative how you interpret assignments.

A summary for this unit might include:

• Links to your audio assignments- one for the radio show bumper, one for the radio show commercial, one for the Foley challenge, and one each for the ones you did for 10 stars from the Assignment Bank. Your assignments ought to include a screen shot of your audio editor to show your workspace. What did you learn? What new things did you try? How might you do this assignments differently
• Daily Create summary for the ones you did for this unit.
• A reflection upon your contribution to the radio show and to your assessment of the group process (if appropriate; modify as needed for solo projects):
  • How did your group go about choosing a theme and organizing itself?
  • What was the easiest/hardest part of working as a group?
  • How did you decide upon your own contribution to the show — did you pick something in your comfort zone or did you decide to push yourself in a new direction?
  • How do you feel your show holds together as a whole? Do you feel like you achieved your goals in terms of the story your group set out to tell? What do you think people will say about it?
• You’ve worked pretty intensively with audio now for ds106 — describe what that process has been like. Have you changed your feeling towards audio? When you started with this section of the class, what did you think it would be like and how did the experience measure up?