The Craft of Audio Theater

The Craft of Audio Theater
	Links to some resources with information about various aspects of the crafts and techniques used to make modern audio and radio drama.

| Training | Writing | Sound Effects | Listening |

"The thing that you were able to achieve in radio was involvement. Participation. Because you didn't have all the pieces to the puzzle. The person coming to the radio set had to bring some of the pieces and fill in. Even if there were forty people working in the studio, they were all concentrating on one ear."
-- Robert E. Lee (The Great American Broadcast, Leonard Maltin, P. 27-28)

Training for Radio Drama

The Best of MRTW Educational Tape Series
Produced by Brian Price. Taken from workshop sessions at ten Midwest Radio Theater Workshops. Topics include Writing for Radio, Director as Producer: Getting Organized, Directing - Working With Actors, Acting for Radio, Voices and Accents, and Musical Integration. An excellent resource for anyone wanting to learn more about the crafts of audio drama. Available from The LodesTone Catalog (http://www.lodestone-media.com/).
Radio College: Radio Theater - http://www.westernpublicradio.org/rc/theater.html
A web site about the production of public radio of all kinds. From Western Public Radio, in San Francisco. This is their links to on-line resources for production of audio theater.
Radio Plays: An Overview, by Yuri Rasovsky - http://www.westernpublicradio.org/rc/overview.html
A lengthy article about the production of Audio Drama. This article was written as part of an unpublished book of instructional essays and includes an overview of the recording and mixing process, dealing with the various personnel involved, and being professional. Yuri Rasovsky calls himself "the nation's most distinguished unknown audio dramatist."
Rado Drama - The Production Process, by Independent Radio Drama Productions, UK - http://www.irdp.co.uk/production.htm
A very brief overview of what takes place in producing a radio drama, and in what order. At least, this is the way it is done in the United Kingdom.
Audio Dramatists' Lexicon by Yuri Rasovsky - http://www.westerpublicradio.org/rc/lexicon.html
A glossary of terms used in the production of audio theater. Compiled by one of most decorated producers in the field, Yuri Rasovsky.
Radio Theater Info/Training links - http://www.audiotheater.com/Atedlink.htm
Links to other on-line resources for learning about the production of radio/audio theater. Some of it leads back to the page you are reading, and some of it goes to the same places that are links on this page. But there are also other useful and informative links.
Radio Drama Resources - http://home.sprynet.com/~palermo/mtr_radi.htm
Tony Palermo's very thorough page with links to articles about radio theater writing, sound effects, music scoring, directing and all sorts of other useful info. Also other places to get information about educational opportunities and books. Includes a short list of stations in Los Angeles area where you can hear radio drama.
Twin Cities Radio Theatre Workshop - http://www.mtn.org/~jstearns/tc-rtw/tc-rtw.html
We held the first one back in June, 1997. We are planning another workshop, and hope it can be soon. An opportunity for actors, writers and artists of many fields to participate in the making of stories for the ears.

Writing Radio Theater

"There was another pitfall good writers tried to avoid, which George Wells called the 'look-see' system,' a form of allegedly dramatic conversation in which a character carefully describes all visual incidents to a companion, or stooge. This treatment is supposed to make everything clear to the radio audience and usually does, including a vivid impression that the character regards his companion as four years old or totally blind. 'Look!' says the character. 'That car at the curb! A blue sedan with white sidewalls!'"
--The Great American Broadcast, Leonard Maltin, P. 31.

Hints on writing radio drama - http://www.irdp.co.uk/page7.htm
by Tim Crook of Independent Radio Drama Productions, in the United Kingdom.
A brief tongue-in-cheek introduction to playwriting for the radio, it has some good ideas of what to think about while writing for this medium.
Principles of writing radio drama - http://www.irdp.co.uk/scripts.htm
by Tim Crook of IRDP.
A longer version of the "Hints" article above. Some excellent advice and concerns about writing for radio, from people (Britons) who have been doing it ever since there was drama on the air.
Writing Radio Plays, by Yuri Rasovsky - http://www.westernpublicradio.org/rc/scripting.html
An article in the Radio College web site.
Radio Drama Writers Kit - http://home.sprynet.com/~palermo/radiokit.htm
Tony Palermo, of the Museum of Television and Radio in L.A., CA, presents an edited version of a lesson in writing for radio, including script formatting. He also links to three other very useful related articles:
- Adapting Shakespeare for Radio Drama - http://www.sprynet.com/~palermo/mtr_rad2.htm
  An essay about adapting for radio, but the info relates to radio writing in general.
Formula Plotting - http://www.pe.net/~rnovak/formplot.htm
Basic elements for a formula plot for radio, apply just as well to modern TV series. Notes from a class taught by Fran Striker, writer for the Lone Ranger radio series.
Old Time Radio Script Collection - http://web2.airmail.net/lgroebe/
Produceable scripts available on-line. Some wonderful stuff here. No copyright promises, though.
Jack Mann's OTR Script Page - http://users.aol.com/jhaendiges/scriptpage.html
Several Old Time Radio scripts in HTML format, so you can read them right off the screen. Good information about format and writing for radio.
Radio Script Format - http://www.mtn.org/~jstearns/format.txt
One of several similar layouts for a Radio Theater script, including how to handle dialogue, music and sound effects. Others may use variations.
Radio script format - http://www.teleport.com/~cdeemer/radio-format.html
Another version of the script format, from Bert Coules, who writes regularly for the BBC.

Some places to submit scripts that you have written.

NATF Script Contest
National Audio Theater Festivals
Deadline is likely to be November 1, 2001.
Prize is $800 split between winners.
For more see http://www.natf.org/.

SOUNDSTORIES:
KFAI, Box 150
1808 Riverside Ave.t
Minneapolis, MN 55454
Contact: Jerry at (612) 722-2907,
or jstearns@mtn.org.

Triangle Radio Theatre (for the Blind)
P.O. Box 26843
Raleigh, NC 27611

Blue Ridge Radio Players, a division of the
National Audio Theater. Guidelines for submission
of scripts for plays to be distributed to libraries and
organizations helping the disabled.

Moondance International Film Festival
Now accepting radio play scripts as part of
the festival. Plenty of categories for other
writers, as well. $50 entry fee.
Deadlines: July 1 or October 1, 2001.
Check the website for details, rules, and
submission forms.

Sound Effects & Sound Design

"There's no set designer like your own self; you furnish the mise-en-scéne, the wardrobe, the physical proportions of the actor, and the setting. Then radio is doing something that television very rarely achieves."
--Norman Corwin (The Great American Broadcast, Leonard Maltin, P. 17)

Sound Effects for Radio - http://www.mtn.org/~jstearns/Sound_Effects.html
An outline of vocabulary and philosophy of sound effects and designing events and settings for audio drama. Gleaned from many places, particularly the Midwest Radio Theater Workshop (see above). Reprinted in the MRTW Journal, spring 1998, and in the June 1998 issue of Radio World.
A version of this article in Western Public Radio's Radio College at http://www.westernpublicradio.org/rc/rt5.html.
Radio Sound Effects - Theory, Catalog and "How To" Guide - http://home.sprynet.com/~palermo/mtr_rad4.htm
An extremely useful guide to sound effects, including theory and how to make some sounds and build devices that make sounds. By the ubiquitous Tony Palermo.
Radio Sound Effects - http://www.old-time.com/sfx.html
Jack French wrote this history of radio sound effects, which includes some tips on making them, too.
FindSounds.com - http://www.FindSounds.com/
A search engine that will help you find sound effects on the web. "More than searching text labels, FindSounds.com allows you to search for audio files based on how they sound. You can even create your own sounds and use them to find similar sounds on the Web." A very cool idea.
Sound Effects Libraries - http://www.audiotheater.com/Atedlink.htm#sfx2
The Audio Theater web site lists several web sites featuring sound effects libraries, usually on CD. (see one of them below)
Sound Dogs(^TM) - SFX Library OnLine - http://www.sounddogs.com/index.htm
A subscriber sound effects library. A very useful concept, and an innovative internet idea. Digital quality effects available immediately to producers.
Film Sound Theory - http://filmsound.studienet.org/
A very thorough web site, includes theories of sound, philosophy of sound design for film, numerous links to other sites dealing with sound and film. Some articles helpful in sound design for radio, too. Created by Sven Carlsson. (from here I found... )
The Art of Foley - http://www.marblehead.net/foley/
A tutorial on the craft of movie sound effects. Foley is the same in radio drama. It is the incidental sounds of movement, action and event that give the scene depth, realism and character. Very nice. Prints out to about 4 pages.
Sound Effects Door - http://www.audiotheater.com/foley.html
Pictures of several small sound effects doors, to show you how to build your own.
CBC Studio Sound Devices - http://www.radio.cbc.ca/facilities/drama.html
A number of photographs of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation's sound studios, including plenty of sound effects devices.
There are also a couple of fairly recent books available that talk about sound effects theory and practice. Check your library.
- Radio Sound Effects - Robert L. Mott. McFarland, 1993. ISBN 0 89950 747 6
- Sound Effects Radio, TV, and Film - Robert L. Mott. Focal Press, 1989. ISBN 0 240 80029 X

Listening to Radio Drama

"A good radio play must have two things–an elemental dramatic situation and structural simplicity."
--C.L. Meuser, interviewed in Radio Digest

Listening to radio plays: fictional soundscapes - http://interact.uoregon.edu/MediaLit/FC/WFAEResearch/Listentoradio
by Alan Beck, Lecturer in Drama, University of Kent, United Kingdom.
An article on the process of listening to radio drama, and the collaboration between the radio and the listener in creating the story.
Audiobooks or Aural Art, by Yuri Rasovsky - http://www.westernpublicradio.org/rc/audioart.html
An article written for AudioFile magazine on listeners and the current state of audio drama in the U.S.
The Psychological Power of Radio - http://www.irdp.co.uk/hoax.htm
by Tim Crook, of IRDP. (See above.)
A Short History of Contemporary American Audio Drama, by Sarah Montague - http://www.westernpublicradio.org/rc/inebriate.html
Keynote speech at the 1999 Midwest Radio Theater Workshop.
Radio Drama on the Air in the Twin Cities. - http://www.mtn.org/~jstearns/TCdrama.html
A list of stations that air Old Time Radio or contemporary radio theater in Minneapolis and St. Paul, MN.
NPR Playhouse - http://www.mtn.org/~jstearns/nprPH.html
Current programs airing on NPR Playhouse many places in the country.
Note: MN Public Radio has removed it from their schedule. Please call them and complain about this.

Radio is "at once both public and private. ... Radio is much more direct [than television]; it's one to one, whereas [with] television you're talking not to an ear, you're talking to an eye - a mechanical eye. Also, the eye is a very literal organ, and the ear is a part of the senses. The ear is the organ through which we receive, after all, the music of Beethoven, Brahms, and all the great composers, who don't speak a word to us. It's all said in symbolism, in symbolic harmonies and symbolic melody; even symbolic cacophony does something which enlists our collaboration, to the extent that we are required to collaborate as we are when we read a book. Then we are giving something. We are not just taking. Television, too often, puts the reader in the position of a passive receptor, of a spectator. This is less likely to happen in radio.
--Norman Corwin (The Great American Broadcast, Leonard Maltin, P. 17)