Audio Story

Alecia Warren's audio feature about a Farmington, Missouri organic farm that uses legal immigrant labor does a wonderful job highlighting the importance and uniqueness of the story without cluttering up the audio with unnecessary or distracting background noises. Audio features about amusement parks or music festivals should overflow with ambient sound, but I have a tendency to perceive "sound effects" as lending to a sense of light heartedness. Of course this is not a hardened rule; NPR stories with cannon fire and gun battles in the background don't evoke giddy laughter. I suppose my point is that ambient noise should not sound forced, but it often it does. I applaud her for resisting the urge to throw in the sound of a tractor starting or a sprinkler or perhaps the sound of dumbbells hitting the ground when the makeshift weight room is mentioned. I know they have their place and hold the potential to enhance some features, but I think too much noise hinders others.

After rereading this blog I am beginning to understand its impact on my life - this is therapy. I tend to write about the thinks that I appreciate but am unable to do at this time. My last blog was about the complexity of a website and the quality of its photos. I aspire to create both. In this blog I ramble on about the use, or misuse, of background sound in audio stories. The truth is that I am addicted to the background noise. I can appreciate when others resist temptation but I am unable to follow their example. If I were doing a feature about a car mechanic and didn't incorporate a loud, obnoxious horn - I would think it a failure. -- Alex