Evaluation

Brief- I needed to create two radio advertisements and a radio show.

How have I recorded sounds?

Radio Advertisements- To record both of my radio advertisements i used a zoom recorder,
the reason why i decided to use a zoom recorder to record both my adverts is the sound
quality is good and makes the adverts sound professional. Using a zoom recorder to record
my adverts made it easy and clear for other people to hear exactly what I am talking about. I
also used a zoom recorder to record my jingle and a feature (interview) for my radio show.
Whilst recording my jingle i had to walk across college to get to the teacher i was
interviewing and the zoom was easy to carry and it also came in a case which made it easier
to carry. I used the zoom by selecting a folder where my interview and adverts will be saved
and writing the number of the folder so I wouldn't forget it. Once I selected the folder and
was ready to record, I placed the zoom in front of me so it wasn’t too close to my mouth
where the speech would be clear and pressed the record button twice.

Radio Show- To record my radio show I went into the radio room. In the radio room the
walls are soundproof which made the talking throughout the show clear and easy to hear
and understand. I used the studio microphones in the radio room which made my voice clear
to the listeners. When i was either talking or playing a song i used the desk in the radio room
which has multiple faders on which controls what the listeners can hear. For example the
coloured faders are to be used when a song, advert, jingle or feature is being played but the
plain faders are used when you are talking if you don’t have the fader up whilst talking into
the microphone your voice won’t be heard. To use the radio room correctly I sat in front of
the microphone not too close because my speech wouldn’t be as clear, after i was sat in the
right position to speak I pressed the recording button on the computer screen to record, I
knew it was recording because a red button came up and it also said recording in the same
square. To play the music, adverts and jingle I had to put them in the correct colour carts and
in order of when they were going to play on my radio show. Once they were all in the colour
carts when I wanted to play the certain one I had to move the black fader down which is
used for talking and move the right colour fader up and press start that was underneath the
fader.

How easy was it to use sound?

Radio Advertisement- At first when I used the zoom recorder it was quite difficult to use, I
didn't understand how to correctly record something and if it was even recording at all. I kept
practising and just getting the knowledge of what all the buttons on the zoom recorder ment
and what they did by speaking into the recorder and playing it back. After I got the hang of it
and knew how to correctly use the recorder, I used the zoom to record my 2 adverts, jingle
and feature. So once I got my head around using the zoom recorder it became easy to use
for my other things I needed to record for. I solved this problem by going over what the
buttons meant and making sure I 100% knew how to use them before starting to record.
When it came to saving the recordings onto my computer I also made sure I knew how to
save them by practising. I practised saving something on my computer just by recording
myself talking, then saving it, then listening to it on the computer.
Radio Show- When recording the radio show it was very difficult to use, it took me a while to
be able to understand what all the buttons meant and how to use the computer correctly.
Lindsey went through what the faders meant and how to use the computer correctly. To use
the computer correctly and the best and easiest way to use it whilst recording your show,
you should have your songs, adverts, jingle or feature already set up into the colour carts
(green, red, blue, yellow or white) if you have this already set up it becomes easier to just
play. I had a 30 minute rehearsal the day before I decided to record my radio show. In my
rehearsal I rehearsed what I had planned on what to say and spoke for a while and also
played a song just so I know for definite how to correctly play the song. Once I rehearsed
and understood how to use the faders and the colour carts I felt confident to actually record
my radio show. I solved this problem by continuing to practise before recording for real, I
also had some help from another student who knew what they were doing and they helped
me by talking me through everything making sure I knew what all the buttons/faders.

What problems did I encounter?

Radio Advertisement- When i recorded my advertisements the first problem i encountered
was i held the zoom too close to my mouth, because i did this my speech was not clear
enough and was distorted. The second problem I encountered was actually recording my
advert and being able to save it, when I was practising and recording myself talking I couldn't
figure out how to properly save it onto my computer as well as on the zoom itself. It took me
a few attempts to save the parts where I was talking but I eventually did it. I saved it by
turning off the zoom and plugging it into my computer then the zoom turned back on and I
selected the folder I saved my clips of me talking in and then saved it into the folder I wanted
to on my computer.

Radio Show- When i was recording my radio show the first problem i encountered was
remembering to pull one fader down and push another one up to play a song or talk again,
because i forgot to pull the fader down that i used to talk the music i played didn't sound right
due to two faders being up at the same time. Another problem that happened was when i
was practising in the radio room my mind went blank and i didn’t know what to say about the
topic that was on my running order, so i wrote down on a piece of paper everything i was
going to say about the topic before recording my actual show.

How I used the radio desk.

Radio Advertisement- I was controlling the radio desk so when i wanted to play my radio
advertisements i had them ready in one of the coloured carts. By putting them into the carts I
had to have my adverts saved onto the computer in the radio room. Once I had both adverts
saved onto the computer I listened to them in the radio room just to make sure they was the
correct adverts and they sounded right. To play the adverts I put them both into the colour
carts but only when I needed to play them during the show. When it came to playing the
advert I had to put the same colour fader up.

Radio Show- I was controlling the radio desk whilst we recorded our Radio Show. Before
recording for real we had a few test runs to make sure the sounding was correct and you
could hear us talking and the music wasn't louder than the talking. Once we knew where the
faders were best to go we wrote it down (the numbers on the side of the faders) so the
sound levels were the same all the way through. The reason why we had a few test runs is
so when we were recording our show we wouldn’t know if the sound levels were correct or
not. By knowing if the sound levels were correct or not once we recorded ourselves talking
for a few minutes and playing a song, I saved it onto my college computer and listened to it
through the speakers to know if it was correct or not.

What do I use the desk for?

Radio Advertisement- When using the radio desk for my adverts i had to import my adverts
(because i recorded the adverts on a zoom) from my computer onto the computer in the
radio room. Once they were imported onto the radio room computer I added them into the
colour carts. Once the radio adverts were in the correct colour cart i used the radio desk to
play the adverts. Whichever colour my advert was in, I would slide the same colour fader up
at the correct time my advert needed to be played making sure the fader wasn't too high
where it would be too loud for the listeners but not too quiet where you can’t hear it.

Radio Show- When recording my radio show I used the desk the whole time. I used the
black faders for when i was talking, i had them at the correct level so we weren't talking too
quiet or too loud. The coloured faders were used for:songs, adverts, feature, jingle. I used
the running order and points of discussion to control the colour carts, by using this it made
using the radio desk easier as what i needed to play was going to play at the correct time as
soon as i slide the faders up. The microphone wasn’t really close to me which made it better
when i was talking as my speech isn't muffled.

Timing of advertisements
Advert One- Apprenticeship Enrichment- The advertisement had to be 30 seconds long
and include all the information that was needed. When i recorded my advert one on a zoom i
had my script in front of me and read it out quite fast due to me only having 30 seconds to
record and wanting to get all the information in. Throughout my advert I used sound effects
that related to the advert. I used a drum roll to create excitement at the beginning of the
advert, then I went into talking about the enrichment. I also used a money sound because I
thought it would be appropriate for the enrichment as it is to do with money. I used a song
that relates to enrichment even-though the song is an old song and my target audience
might not know the song is still related to it. At the end of the advertisements I added my
slogan so it would be the last thing the audience would hear. The timing was important for
both adverts as an advert isn’t usually long as it is, these two adverts needed to be catchy
and something for the audience to remember.

Advert Two- MissFit Enrichment- The advertisement had to be 30 seconds long and
include all the information that was needed. In my advert two I started by asking a question
to my other speaker. In my question some information I needed to include was in the
question which is a way to entice the audience to listen if this enrichment is something they
want to do. In my advert I used a catchy song but also a song that relates to the advert, an
up-beat song which would be played at the enrichment itself. In my script I used the second
speaker's own opinion. This advert came across as natural and just a normal conversation
between two people. For both of these advertisements the timing was important as the radio
show had a timing of 30 minutes so if the adverts were longer they would take up time in the
radio show that doesn’t need to be took up.

Assessing my products and evaluating how successful they were.

Radio Advertisements- Both my adverts came out good, they both had all the information
that was needed to advertise the enrichments to the students of Priestley College. They
were both 30 seconds long. The product I used to record both my adverts was a zoom
recorder which ade recording both adverts easy and successful as I knew how to use a
zoom recorder. After I recorded the adverts I edited them to make them sound more
professional and put together.

Radio Show- My radio show was hard to record, i ended up re-recording my radio show 3
times. The reason why I had to record was because the sound level was not right. It was my
first time using the radio room and I should've taken longer on practising the sound level
making sure they were correct. Once I got the right sound levels, so the music wasn’t loud
and my speech wasn’t quiet, I was ready to record my radio show. I made sure to have the
levels of the sounds written down so I knew exactly where to put the faders when recording
the whole time. Once I recorded my show it turned out good, the sound was fine and
throughout the show it sounded like a normal, flowing conversation between me and mo.
The radio show sounded like any other radio show would with a good conversation, music,
adverts and jingles.

Pros- One pro of the radio show was that through the whole time of recording it didn’t sound
like you are reading it off a script, the conversation between me and my partner sounded like
normal conversations anyone would have. Another pro was the adverts, my two adverts
came out good with the music added to my advert. It made them both sound professional
and put together, both of my adverts followed the instructions that were given to me (30
seconds long, music and slogan) . Because it was a college rado show my adverts were
about 2 enrichments that the college has to offer, I advertised them great with all the
information that the college students will need to know if they were interested in joining the
enrichment.

Cons- However, a lot of cons also happened throughout the recording of the radio show and
the adverts. First con of recording my adverts was understanding how to use the zoom and
transferring the adverts from the zoom onto my computer, once I figured out how to work the
zoom and recorded both my adverts and saved them onto my computer. After I saved them I
had to edit out the parts that had a noise in the background or I went quiet whilst reading the
script. The part that I found most difficult was editing the adverts and adding in the songs I
chose. When recording my radio show a lot of cons happened throughout, the main con was
figuring out the sound levels to make sure you could hear both me and the music and one
wasn’t louder than the other.

What would I do differently next time?

Radio Advertisements- Next time I make 2 advertisements, I would add more of the
conversations into it and make them more interesting or catchy. Another thing I would do is
make sure I understand how to use the zoom recorder so it wouldn’t take me as long to
record the 30 second long adverts. Also after I wrote a script for the two adverts I would
have read them out-loud to myself with a timer making sure they aren’t longer than 30
seconds and also reading the scripts out would have made it easier for me to remember so I
wouldn’t be stuttering when recording the advertisements.

Radio Show- First thing I would do differently next time would be spending more time on the
sound levels, making sure they were perfect and correct for the listeners to hear. I would
have spent enough time on working on the sound levels, speaking into the microphone and
playing songs at the right time. Another thing I would have done differently is when a song
was playing on the show I would have read over my running order, points of discussion and
my notes so I knew exactly what I would be talking about next after the song had finished
playing.

How are my products like professional products?

Radio Advertisements- When recording my radio adverts i used a zoom recorder which
made my adverts sound professional after i recorded the adverts I edited both adverts to
create a better advert which also made it sound more professional especially with added
music and sound effects. Even when I was recording my adverts it felt professional because
I had two scripts, one for me and the other for the second speaker, reading them out into a
zoom recorder. My adverts compared to professional adverts sound familiar. The
professional adverts are short and catchy and so were mine with a catchy slogan on the end.
Also, I used music in my adverts which went with the information that was given.

Radio Show- I have listened to multiple radio shows on big, known radio stations. Listening
to these radio shows helped me in improving my radio show and knowing what to talk about
and how to set a radio show out. The radio show itself felt professional due to being able to
use a small radio room in the college, with the radio desk and radio computer. My radio show
felt professional as I was talking through a microphone and through the recording of the
radio show the conversation flowed and all the music and jingles fitted in perfectly. The
professional radio show compared to my radio show is also quite similar; they both included
the same content (other than the talking part). The reason they were both similar was
because I had listened to previous shows and understood how to record a radio show
myself. I took inspiration from the professional shows to use in my own one.

Skill Development
My skill development became stronger throughout this unit. At first I didn't know anything
about radio shows and I never even listened to a full radio show. Once I listened to a radio
show and created a running order for it my knowledge became better about radio shows and
exactly what to talk about in one. When I first used a zoom I had no idea how to use one but
once again my knowledge about one became easier as we spoke about it as a class and all
used one together the first time we had to use one. Group work helped my skill development
as to create the radio show group work had to be involved, creating scripts, recording
adverts and recording the radio show itself.

What skills will I continue to develop

I will continue to develop my skills in using a zoom recorder and using the radio room if I
ever need to again I will know what to do. Another skill I will continue to develop is editing,
when I had to edit my adverts and add music it was difficult at the start but once I got the
hang of it, it became easier. This is one skill I would like to develop and continue. Another
skill I would like to continue developing is radio work. When I recorded my radio show I felt
professional due to the radio room and having all the equipment that I needed to do so.