Evaluation

Brief
Our brief that we received from our tutors was to create two radio advertisements
and a radio show. For our radio show that we created we needed to record two of
our advertisements about a particular enrichment that we found interesting with a
music bed and sound effects involved and they had to be at least 30 seconds long.
We also had to add a feature which would represent a certain person and their role
in the college. For our feature, we used Sandra Evans and discussed her role in the
college and what she likes the most. In order to create our radio show I worked with
Oliver Conolly and Ashley Hill.

How Have I Recorded Sounds?

Radio Advertisements: To record my radio advertisements i had to use a zoom
recorder. To begin with I had to decide which enrichments I wanted to use for
advertisements, in which I chose Priestley Pride and College Radio. Once I had
decided on my script for both of the separate advertisements, I booked out and
collected a zoom recorder. In order for the zoom recorder to be turned on there is a
switch on the side for power on and power off, once the zoom recorder is powered
on there onwards you go on to select a folder in order to save all the recording to the
device. I decided to use folder 8 to save all my recordings that I created for my
advertisements, these were saved onto the folder for me to transfer to a computer
later by selecting a folder. There is a roller on the side for you to choose which folder
you would like. Once a folder is chosen to start recording there is a button on the
zoom recorder which says record this then allows you to start recording for the radio
adverts. After I had finished recording my advertisements, there is a button on the
zoom recorder which is positioned on the left, you can pause and finish the recording
and this would then automatically save to the zoom device. Once I was sure that the
recording was completely finished, I listened to it by connecting a cable which came
with the zoom recorder in a box. I then plugged this into the computer at college and
transferred it to my drive and saved it to my computer.

Radio Show: In order to record our radio show and make it final, we had to be
placed in the radio room and make sure we had all our final edits of our feature and
advertisements downloaded as mp3s and transferred to google drive. Once we were
sure that we had transferred them to mp3s and google drive, we had to sign in on
the radio room computers to add them to the radio stations desk so we could just pull
them straight to the line up when we needed them. Ashley Hill therefore went on to
open an app called Myriad to import everything onto the radio room screens. Once
we had all the materials that we required and needed, we were ready to begin our
radio show however in order to actually start to record we needed to control all the
dials on the radio station board, there we two dials for the mic and the rest for music
audio and sound effects, and any transferred files such as the feature and all
advertisements from me, Oliver and Ashley. Once we had everything in place it was
time to start the recording of the radio show.

How easy was it to use sound?

Radio advertisements: For the radio advertisements i used a zoom recorder which
was quite simple and easy to use and understand. This was easy to understand also
because on the inside of the box it came in it had a list of instructions and how to use
it. In order to edit the advertisements we had to use an app on the computers call
Premiere Pro, this was harder to understand and use because there were different
tools and settings for different things that had to be done. This was harder for me to
get the hang of as we had to add music bedding, change the vocals with sound
adjusters in certain parts of the recordings and add sound effects to the previous
recording of the adverts.

Radio Show: There are different levels of challenging and basic during using the
radio show. The most difficult part was transferring all the advertisements and
features to mp3 and transferring them onto the radio computer and adding them to
Myriad. However once all the files were imported on the computer in the radio room,
it was pretty basic to understand as each of them had different colours, music, music
bed for the entire show, jingle and the feature. These different colours helped as they
were parallel to each of the dials on the radio board making it easier to understand
which of the dials to use. The black dials on the board are for the mics, these are
only put up when we were talking and discussing different topics in the radio show.

What problems did I encounter?

Radio Advertisements: The problems were minimal for the radio advertisements as
there were no major problems. The problems I encountered whilst recording my
advertisements on the zoom recorder was that me and my partner being the male
voiceover, Joe, we kept mumbling and stuttering, saying the wrong lines and
sometimes even forgetting our lines that we had to say. We came up with a solution
of reading the script line by line without the zoom recorder to begin with and once we
became more confident in what we were saying throughout we began recording the
advertisements. Once we practised a few more times and read through the script,
there were no more problems or issues throughout our advertisements recording.

Radio Show: We come across many problems that we encountered during our time
doing the radio show, these problems included: scheduling the right timing for when
the radio room was free, transferring files and we had to practise our lines and what
we were to say as we messed up quite a few times and some people forgot lines,
said lines that were either later in the show or repeating what they had already said.
Me, Oliver and Ashley started to get a little frustrated as things were not turning out
the way all of us had planned, however we came up with a conclusion to all these
problems. We scheduled time in our free time where we were all able to record and
practise our radio show, we took mini breaks in between our attempts and read
through the running order and points for discussion a bit more. We all got frustrated
with each other a bit as we had to restart our radio show 3 times before we finally got
through the whole 30 minutes of the radio show. We overcame these problems by
reassuring each other that we would all get through it together and we took our time
with what we were saying so no mistakes were made.

How did I used the radio desk?

The radio desk/ board was quite simple to use as on the radios computer screens
everything was colour coordinated as the same colour as the dials and sliders on the
radio desk. This helped us as a group to easily understand what colours were meant
for what material. The black sliders adjust the mics, so the higher you go the louder
the voices are, however it cant go too loud as the mics will buffer and distort the
voices. The coloured sliders revolve around the music media and the material that
has been previously recorded such as the jingle, feature and the advertisements,
with these sliders it can adjust the volumes of each of the content.

Yellow Media Slider

Green Media Slider Blue Media Slider
Microphone 1 Microphone 2
Red Media Slider
Radio advertisements: The radio desk was not used to record the advertisements.
To record the advertisements, I used a zoom recorder and transferred them to a
computer. However, the radio desk was used in order to add the radio
advertisements to our radio show collectively. When using them in our radio show
we used the radio desk to adjust the volume to the right setting so there was a
perfect balance between being able for the audience to hear it clearly but not to the
point where the sounds are unrecognisable and too loud for anyone to understand or
hear.

Radio Show: The radio desk was used for the majority of the radio show as we
needed it for us to be able to record everything and add in our features, songs,
music bed and advertisements. Before recording anything we had to make sure that
everything was up to a perfect level to begin with however these did get changed
throughout the show. However, Ashley kept on top of the sliders on the radio desk
so our radio show was the same volume throughout. Whilst Ashley kept on top of
the sliders for each of our materials, I focused on adding the needed materials into
each of the slots and once I had pressed play, Ashley turned up the volume of each
using the radio desk.

What do I use the desk for?

Radio advertisements: For my radio advertisements, the only way I would use the
desk is when it was scheduled time for my two advertisements to be played on our
radio station. The radio desk was used to change and alter the volume of each of the
advertisements, otherwise the radio desk was not used for anything else.

Radio Show: The radio desk was used for the majority of our radio show as it is
used to control the volume/sound levels, the material that was to be added such as
the feature, music, music bed, jingle, and the advertisements.

How did I change the sound level?

Radio advertisements: The radio advertisements sound was changed on an editing

software called Premiere Pro. In order for the radio advertisements to be put into the
radio show beforehand they had to be edited. I edited the radio advertisements by
listening thoroughly to them both multiple times and cutting out parts of it which if
there was silence, stuttering or any mistakes, once I cut them from the recording
then they disappeared. Once this was completed, I added a fitting music bed
underneath with a low volume so the advertisement could be heard, I also added
some sound effects in to give a bit of suspense in the advertisements. So that i could
adjust the sound volume of the advertisement i had to click on the bar which included
the sound, and pull the line in the middle to adjust the volume. When the radio
advertisements were fully edited and approved, they were then able to go onto our
radio show meaning, we could adjust them with the sliders on the radio desk.

Radio Show: The radio show included different media content which had to be
changed constantly throughout the 30 minute radio show. In order for us to speak in
our own radio show we needed to use the two left black sliders which control the
volume of our voices, we had to keep onto of this as when we were speaking we
needed to make sure that they were on the same level every time. If we were not
speaking we needed to make sure the black sliders were all the way down, a red
light would appear at the bottom to indicate the mics were all the way down and we
could not be heard. When it was time for me, Ashley and Oliver to speak, these
black sliders slid up so we were able to speak on our radio show.

Timings Of The Advertisements

Advert 1: In my advertisement 1, this advertisement revolves around Priestley Pride.
In this advertisement for Priestley pride we had to make sure that the enrichment felt
like a welcoming place for all students to feel comfortable in. In this advertisement,
we spoke about what things you can do in the Priestley Pride enrichment and how
anyone is welcome. The aim of this advertisement was to encourage people to go
talk about how they are feeling and possibly create new friendships. Towards the
end of the advertisement details are given about who runs the enrichment, what
room it is based in and what you can do in the enrichment.

Advert 2: In my advertisement 2, this advertisement is about College Radio. In this

advertisement the talking is at a perfect speed so that people can capture all the
details which are involved in this enrichment. The pure reason for this advertisement
can encourage other students in the college to go and learn new skills, new
techniques of different equipment and also meet new people. Towards the end of the
advertisement details are given about who runs the enrichment, what room it is
based in, and what you do in the enrichment.

Assessing my products and evaluating how successful they were

Radio Advertisements: My radio advertisements that were created were simple
and easy as they got all necessary points to the audience listening. I chose specific
music beds for each of the advertisements as they were upbeat and similar to what
the advertisement was based on for each of the enrichments. However, even though
the advertisements were effective and got the point across to the audience, I believe
they could have been more enthusiastic to encourage the people listening even
more.
Radio Show: For my evaluation of the radio show, it had the same characteristics
and style as a professional radio show had all the same qualities. The whole radio
show was made upbeat in order to engage listeners. However as well as the radio
show being upbeat and having a variety of different songs and sound effects
involved in it, it also had casual conversations between myself, Ashley and Oliver.
Throughout our radio show we did casual conversations so the audience would feel
included and get to know me, Ashley and Oliver. We easily added our jingle,
advertisements, music bed, feature and songs smoothly when they were needed in
our show. The transitions between each of these and us talking went smoothly and
there were no mess ups throughout this section. However once the radio show had
been fully recorded and approved, we had realised that the music bed was
sometimes a bit louder then anything else which would cause a little interruption
throughout the show.

Pros and Cons of the Radio advertisements and Radio show

Pros-
Radio advertisements:
● understandable
● clear
● simple
● get the point across to the audience

Radio show:
● professional
● clear
● relaxing
● relatable
● enjoyable

Cons-
Radio advertisements:
● be more enthusiastic
● be more loud as they are mid volume
● pick more suitable sound effects

Radio Show:
● music bed was loud in some parts of the show
● talk more enthusiastic so people are more intrigued in the show
● sections of the show were disfigured and distorted.

What would I do differently next time?

Radio advertisements: Whilst recording my radio advertisements i would add more
enthusiasm in our voices so people are more encouraged to listen and to go to the
enrichment. I also would've also added different sound effects which relate more to
the enrichment therefore it would all be able to blend together as one.

Radio show:If I were to do something different next time, it would be to make sure
all volumes are the same throughout the entirety of the show and also to add less
jingles. This is because we added too many jingles throughout the show and I think
we could have cut some of them out and used the time for a different conversation.

How are my products like professional products?

Radio advertisements: The radio advertisements that i created are like professional
products as they follow the same type of style as professional advertisements. They
follow a script which I previously created to follow during the advertisements.

Radio show: The radio show that I created with Ashley and Oliver sounds like a
professional product as we followed a running order which has the necessities of a
radio show. We aimed to follow a professional radio show like Radio X as it had the
perfect ratio of music to conversations. However once we had finished recording and
listened over to our radio show, we realised that we added more songs and jingles
then radio X. Many topics were discussed throughout our radio show because it
made our show more professional yet casual.

Skill development:
Whilst working on this radio topic, I learnt how to feel more confident working with a
group of people and working together. This helped me improve my social skills as it
made me feel like I could share my ideas and views on different things without
getting judged as we were all working together. This also improved teamwork skills.
This also improved my technical skills as I learnt how to use editing software,
Premiere Pro. This is usual as in the future I may need skills which involve editing. It
also helped me feel more confident with me being in front of a mic and speaking, this
is because i hate the sound of my voice however this activity helped me get over the
fear of it.

What skills will I continue to develop?

The skills that I will continue to develop are working in a team with other people. I
never usually work in a group of people as I feel like I'm more dependent on myself.
However this task has shown me that working in a group can get things done faster,
quicker and you have other people in the group to look over the work as well. In the
future, I will be more open to working in a group as it will take stress away and you
have other people to confide in.