A podcast prototype featuring a recording of a Hermit Thrush singing in light rain. Recording made 5:10am, 7 June 2016, Shindagin Hollow near Brooktondale, New York. © Lang Elliott.
Click Here for direct link to MP3.
This podcast prototype, “Hermit Thrush and Light Rain,” is an exploration of the “Audio Postcard” format, which includes about 1.5 minutes of talking (perhaps too much said?) followed by the same length of the pure-nature soundscape. This format is perhaps suitable for both a radio and podcast listening audience.
My main concern is that there’s too much talking for such a brief presentation. Perhaps I should restrict talking to no more than 45 seconds or at least no more than a minute? But would that be enough time to set the scene and share other essential information? And maybe I should include more of the soundscape itself, extending the length of the production to 3.5 or 4 minutes?
Another concern: How many of the background birds should I be identifying? I mention only the Blackburnian and Magnolia Warblers, both of which are fairly prominent. But what about the distant American Robin, or the songs of the distant Wood Thrush? It seems that only a small percentage of listeners want everything identified, so I’ve opted to include only a teaser by bringing attention to the two warblers.
Let me know what you think about all this!
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Being used to your sound-only recordings, my first thought was that I’d like less commentary, but once you go to different landscapes that are not as familiar to me, then I would likely appreciate the descriptive words about the environment (resting my feet on a spongy bed of hemlock needles, etc.). I think your call on how much to identify is right. You can leave a teaser for birders, but not an extensive list. If there would be text accompanying the podcast, you could list details there.
Thanks Pat. Right now, I’m preparing for my big recording expedition during which I will produce “on location” podcasts that are basically bunscripted … just me chatting about “place”, followed by sharing a nice recording or two. It’ll be an evolving experiment, but right now I’m tending toward adhering to an off-the-cuff approach, at least for the duration of my trip (= 5 months or so).
Hello Lang, I hope this finds you well. Perhaps comments have been disabled for this post but I’ll try anyway. I would especially enjoy hearing this as a broadcast and while driving would be very nice. Not sure I’d return to the podcast format very often once I’ve experienced it, but in this case it has had the fortuitous effect of leading me (finally!) to purchase the thrush motherload, your thrush_flutesongs MP3, and since that seems to have arrived and installed, and play seamlessly, I shall return to buy rain_thrush as well. I mean really, how could I not, since… Read more »
Thank you Sharon. There aren’t comments because I never sent a newsletter featuring this post. Not sure why … maybe I was worried about how it would be received. I’m still in the process of figuring out how to approach creating podcasts. I believe I’ll officially launch right before my 2017 western journey begins, which will be in late February. Then I’ll produce “off the cuff” un-scripted podcasts during my trip, so that I can share my experience directly, on-location while actually in the field. I’ll experiment until I figure out why I’m doing.