- Third Coast Festival
- Navy Pier
- 848 East Grand
- Chicago, Illinois
- 60611-3509
- 312-948-4682
- info@thirdcoastfestival.org
2012 Conference sessions will be posted mid-summer.
Audio in Space
Producing great audio experiences becomes challenging in entirely new ways, when you go beyond the stereo field, and add the dimension of actual physical space (say, a person with an iPod in Central Park.) The “audio tour” is usually assumed to be a dull, didactic program heard in a museum. Tim Halbur shares a few well-honed guidelines to help you produce experiences that instruct and entertain - like producing for the inner ear and delivering facts without forcing the listener to share your opinion...tips that will serve you well in any case.
Listen to Audio in Space.
Beyond the Frontlines
News correspondent Jamie Tarabay spent much of the past decade reporting from some of the world's most high-profile conflict zones, including two years as NPR's Baghdad bureau chief. Over time, she shifted her focus away from the military conflict to report on how people manage life amid bombs and chaos. In this session, Tarabay shares lessons learned while reporting from war zones, and offers insights that are applicable where ever there are fiercely differing views, touchy subjects and hard-to-reach interviewees.
Listen to Beyond the Frontlines.
Found in Translation
Someday they'll figure out how to make radio with subtitles. Until then, producers working in foreign countries resort to voiceover, an uncongenial tool that can suck all the rhythm and humanity out of your best tape. In this workshop for anyone traveling overseas or considering a trip, Gregory Warner offers tips (and audio examples) on how to make intimate radio in a country you don't know and a language you don't speak. Also, how to choose a fixer, prep a translator, and keep everybody safe, on a freelance budget.
Listen to Found in Translation.
The Mysterious Production
To mark 10 amazing years of celebrating sound and story, we’re closing out this year’s Conference with something a little different - a special conversation about inspiration, collaboration, creativity and storytelling that will leave your ears ringing...in a good way.
In 2005 songwriter/performer Andrew Bird and print artist Jay Ryan collaborated on the artwork for Bird's highly-acclaimed record, "The Mysterious Production of Eggs." For this session they'll take the stage to describe - through conversation and performance - the creative efforts that informed that project. They'll explore the narrative depth of Ryan's illustrations in relation to Bird's songs, and will talk about why, despite working in distinct mediums, they're drawn to collaborate with each other. And they'll do this all while employing the tools of their trades - microphone, paper, guitar, and pencil.
Listen to The Mysterious Production.
“In the Moment” Radio
Up a tree. Circling a mountain. Hitchhiking down a dusty road. One aim of documentary radio is to put listeners in the moment of events that have already happened, so they can feel a sense of presence and immediacy, and even come to believe they were actually there. Scott Carrier explores the basic steps for constructing this illusion, from recording the actual document, through editing, writing, and finally production.
Listen to "In the Moment" Radio.
Oscar, Shmoscar!
Who needs the Academy Awards when you have the Third Coasties? Re:sound Host Gwen Macsai sits down with winners of the 2010 Third Coast / Richard H. Driehaus Foundation Competition awards to hear choice bits of their prize-winning work, mine the stories behind their stories, inquire about their inspirations and ask about, of course, what mics they used!
Listen to Friday's Oscar, Shmoscar! session.
Listen to Saturday's Oscar, Shmoscar! session.
Out of Thin Air: Sound Design for Radio
At its most exciting, radio is a completely immersive listening experience. Sometimes it’s the subtlest of sounds that stir emotions and memories: the ticking of a grandfather clock, rain on a windy night or the soft waves of exotic static from shortwave radio. Sound effects, music, and atmospheres can be used to shift mood, memory, and scene, but they can also be bent and manipulated to give programs an original and distinctive feel. Australian-based Steven Tilley talks about the tools and techniques for employing sound design to produce evocative, powerful radio.
Listen to Out of Thin Air.
Presenting the 2010 Third Coast ShortDocs: Book Odds
Earlier this year, the Third Coast teamed up with the incomparable pop/indie/experiemental band The Books, and issued an open invitation to make radio - three-minute audio stories inspired by song titles and including samples from The Books’ vast library of sonic goodies. Third Coast Artistic Director, Julie Shapiro, (with help The Books), introduces this year’s ShortDocs and the producers behind these works - Niall Farrell, Matt Purdy, Andrea Silenzi and Frances Willick. Then The Books discuss their creative process behind telling stories without narratives, and finding accidental gestalt in the space between music and words.
Listen to Presenting the 2010 Third Coast ShortDocs: Book Odds.
The Script Disappears
You’ve pitched your story; you’ve collected tape; you’ve gone through your edits; you’re ready to track. But how? How should you sound when you lay down your narration? What words to emphasize? What tone to take? Watch and listen while Emily Botein leads the way, as producers get “tracked” in real time by coaches Jane Feltes, Dean Olsher, Julie Snyder, and Celeste Wesson.
Listen to The Script Disappears.
The Seven Habits of Highly Effective Local Radio
Strong local radio doesn’t emerge from a moment of inspiration; it’s the product of repetition, experimentation, even failure. It’s about habit. Dan Grech explores strategies for producing consistent, high-impact local radio, culled from his own experiences with WLRN's Under the Sun series. Does success mean getting stories heard nationally? Is local simply about geography? And how can you fit the habit of creativity into a too-busy day? Producers Sylvia Gross, Kenny Malone, Natalie Moore, and Alicia Zuckerman will be on-hand to share tips from the trenches.
Listen to The Seven Habits of Highly Effective Local Radio.
Small + Big = Dynamite
Back in 2009, one German documentary won both of Europe’s most coveted radio prizes – the Prix Italia and the Prix Europa. Lost in Music, by Patric Banush, tells the personal story of dissident Romanian DJ Cornel Chiriac, while also offering a larger window into life under Ceausescu’s dictatorship in the late 60’s/early 70’s. Norwegian producer Berit Hedemann presents the program in its entirety, and explores why a focused personal story combined with broader historical narrative (and a classic rock and roll soundtrack) makes for such potent radio.
Listen to Small + Big = Dynamite (and download a transcript for Lost in Music.)
The Sound and the Blurry
Is it true? Are photographers secretly laughing at the multimedia efforts of audio producers? In this example-rich session with Amy O’Leary, you’ll look at how to marry a strong audio narrative to an equally strong visual narrative for the best possible storytelling. By examining stunning audio-visual collaborations and some cringe-inducing disasters, this session will deliver a set of ready tips, tricks and best practices for making multimedia projects both sing and shine.
Listen to The Sound and the Blurry.
Tales of the Tools: New Devices and Techniques for Audio Production
New developments in hardware and software are making audio production more and more affordable, flexible and convenient. In this session Jeff Towne discuss devices, programs and techniques that have proved themselves to be especially useful. See, and hear, the latest flash recorders that actually sound good, and which mics work best with them, as well as new affordable and easy-to-learn editing programs for desktop computers and yes, even cell phones. Some time will be reserved for individual questions.
Listen to Tales of the Tools.
Win/Win: AIR's Pitch Panel
Moderated by Laura Starecheski, these sessions will pull back the curtain on one of the most difficult and important skills every producer needs to master: pitching a story. Editors and producers from a wide variety of programs including All Things Considered, This American Life and Vox Tablet, have agreed to hear pitches in front of a live audience: you! Come for the drama, stay for the invaluable insight.
Listen to Friday's Win/Win session.
Questions?
Send us an email, or call 312-948-4682.
Hear all 2010 conference sessions.
HEAR SESSIONS FROM PREVIOUS YEARS!
