Audio With Action

By Scott Murray

Whew!  Last night I finished an action sequence that I worked on for days.  Yes, ONE action sequence.  Now, when I say DAYS, I don't mean to say I've worked on it for 10 hours a day.  It's more like several days at 2-5 hour intervals.

The sequence involved a city, a building, police, choppers, bad guys and good guys (5 characters + extras).  Not to mention, there was explosions, guns and fight sequences.

If I told you this was a film (and you like action stuff), you'd probably be very interested.  However, I bet you're wondering how is this going to translate to audio and how to follow it all.  The good news is that I am way ahead of you.  Here's a breakdown of my answer:

Part of this is somewhat experimental
Have you ever read a book with action sequences and you have trouble following what the author is trying to describe in the scene?  I have.  It sucks.  Listening to the same sequence on audio probably doesn't make it any clearer, but it might help if there were some sound effects involved.  However, it's still not a visual representation.

In a fiction podcast, I don't think it would necessarily sound great to have a narrator telling you EVERYTHING that is going on while you hear dialogue, sound effects and music in the same scene.  Maybe with the right team, voices and coordination it could work...but I'm doing something unique.

In a lot of ways, the audience lives through Wyatt and Reggie."

While The Crimson Crane is the superhero in this story, the audience spends more time with Wyatt and Reggie.  They run The Crimson Files website (in the show), which covers the hero's actions for their audience.

Wyatt and Reggie are there for some of her biggest showdowns, and they record it as it all happens.  In the process, they do a play-by-play for the audience.  In doing this, the podcast audience gets two voices that help them easily understand what's happening.  Wyatt and Reggie love their job, so it's fun listening to them.

In a lot of ways, the audience lives through Wyatt and Reggie.  So, instead of overlaying a different voice to explain what is happening - the characters in the story can do it.

​Not everything requires perfect visuals
​A fiction podcast is a "theater of the mind" form of media.  So, many listeners will automatically be trying to visualize what is happening.  I spend hours in post-production adding as many sound elements as possible in order to make that easy.  However, there will be times where your imagination jumps to its own conclusion, and that's okay.

If you hear a fight with punches and things breaking, you could imagine any number of things:
Someone fell into a table, furniture, another person
Someone was punched in the face or chest or kicked in the face or leg
Someone had a bottle, plate, glass broken over their head

Any version you choose can be right, and it doesn't hurt the story.  

Sounds are helpful
Please know I spend a lot of time infusing as much sound as possible into the show to make it easy to understand what happens.  If the Crane is blocking bullets with her wings, you'll hear:

• The wing open
• The guns fire
• The bullets hitting the wing
• The bullets falling to the ground
• And probably some angry villains

​If I need to add steps, debris, breathing, something breaking, reactions, ambiance or any other detail...I do it.  I want you to spend more time indulging and less time trying to figure something out.

Experience counts
I've been producing audio content ever since I was hired to create radio fundraising content for the Dallas/Fort Worth NPR affiliate in 2007.  I've produced mini-stories for radio and podcasts ever since then.  This is the first time I've attempted to do this in an episodic audio series featuring episodes that average 25 minutes.  However, all of that experience has helped me.

As I wrote every script, I was totally aware of my limitations when it came to producing action sequences for audio.  If I didn't think I could present a scene in an effective way, I wouldn't write it out.  I only did it if I felt comfortable in how I could present it to the audience.

​I'm very anxious for you to hear it all starting August 24th.