The Art of the Audio Essay
PWR 2 Fall Quarter 2007
Jonah G. Willihnganz
Stanford University

"Radio programmers speak colloquially of 'going for a distinctive sound,' intuitively realizing that it is this acoustic profile, more than the semantic content of the program, which draws the attention of listeners."
                                                                        —Tony Wilson, "Acoustic Architecture" 1993

Course Materials

On this page you will find a number of materials related to the course, including research guides, links to author interviews, handouts on writing and producing your pieces, and links to software and information on the audio technology you will use. The page will be updated and grow throughout the term. Students are welcome to suggest links that can be placed in this page, so if you know of writing or resources related to Modernism that might interest the rest of us, email me at willihnganz@stanford.edu.

Past Student Essays and Class Documents

• Listen to the Audio Essays produced in the past by students class in this KZSU On-Line Archive.
• Access documents you have created in class in the Class Documents section.

Research Guides, Library Resources and

• Choosing Your Research Topic
  Guidelines for identifying your research topic
• Library Resources for PWR Students Page at Stanford Library
  Anchor page for your research. Bookmark it. After you have a provisional inquiry or a hypothesis, get acquainted with the "conversation" around your inquiry by identifying relevant sources with the tools here.
• SKIL Tutorial Page Stanford Library (Stanford's Key to Information Literacy)
  Refrech your memory about how to use Socrates, popular and scholarly databases, and the like. Especially useful for your Annotated Bibliography is the 6th module of this tutorial on Evaluating Sources.
• Audio Sources for Students in PWR Courses
  A page set up expressly for you at Stanford's Green Library.
  

Writing Guides and Resources

• Sample Research Proposals
  (Successful Research Proposals drafted by two students)
• Structured Brainstorming
  A description of how to generate an initial, logically coherent script outline, especially for a commentary audio essay.
• Introductions and Conclusions
  A handout on approaching ways to open and conclude research-based essays
• Integrating and Citing Sources
  A terrific guide developed by Gordon Harvey that outlines when and how to use sources in your writing. Especially useful for writing the Research Essay. The first two sections will be indespensible for us. Note it's a .zip file.
• Clarity and Cohesion Handout
  A quick review of four principles that can bring clarity to your sentences and cohesion to your paragraphs.
  

Writing for the Ear and Rhetorical Strategies for the Audio Essays

• Writing for the Ear Strategies: Geoffrey Nunberg's observations about the langauge and structure of audio essays.
• A Compilation of Rhetorical Strategies for Audio Essays (culled from students' lists of "Strategies" in week 7)

Evaluation and Guides to Notations on Your Essays

• Criteria and Strategies for the for the Audio Essay
  (These are the lists you developed in class in week 7. )
• Evaluation Criteria for the Audio Essay
  (This criteria was developed out of our class discussions and culled from students' list or "Criteria" in week 7.)
• Evaluation Criteria for Print Research Essays
  (This is the criteria developed in PWR1 courses for written essays.)
• Table of Basic Editorial Notations
  (a key to those wavy lines, brackets, and abbreviations like "awk", "ww", etc.)
• Table of My Editorial Shorthand Symbols
  (a key to the circled letters like "RS" "CH" or "PRC" that may appear on your essays or scripts)
  

Audio Sources

• Stanford's Archive of Recorded Sound (ARS)
  There are a few on-line collections here, and a good web page of links to other on-line sound collections (under "Research Help" in the middle of the page click "Online Resources and Databases")
  
• Absolute Sound Effects Archive
  Bills itself as the largest, free sound effects archive on the net. 
  
• Library of Congress Recorded Sound Reference Center
  Begun in 2000, this project of the LOC collects rare and culturally sound. Check out especially the recordings available on line. Also check out the 2002 National Recording Registry, a list of what the LOC has decided are the most important sound monuents to preserve. The list includes recordings of artists, politicians and performers such as T.S. Eliot, Bessie Smith, Franklin Roosevelt, and Elvis Presley.
  
• Library of Congress American Memory Historical Collection for the National Digital Library
  A tremendous collection of text, photographs, and recordings. Especially useful if you are interested in researching and documenting the arts (drama, music, dance, etc.). To see what is available begin with "Collection Finder."
  

Audio Equipment and Software Tools

• Instructions for Reserving and Using Audio Equipment
  This includes important policy details about borrowing and returning mic and digital recorder kits
  
• Leland Folder Set Up
  Instructions for setting up your Leland Folder
  
• GarageBand Guide (Apple)
  Also check out Apple's basic video tutorials, manuals, and support section. These all refer to Garage Band 4.
  
• GarageBand Guide (Wikipedia)
  Also see the quick into guide at wikibooks and a more detailed guide at wikiversity. These all refer to Garage Band 3.
  
• Audacity, the Audacity Tutorial and a few Audacity Manuals
  Audacity is anotheraudio editing tool you can use and it is available for Windows and Linux. It does more than Garage Band, and is fairly intuitive, but the learning curve is steeper and there are still some bugs in the program. If you use it, please consult the Audacity Protocol below.
  
• Audacity Protocol
  If you use Audacity, please refer to these guidelines. They will save you heartbreak down the road.
  
• Digidesign Pro Tools
  The home of Pro Tools, the standard sound editing and mixing editing software, but much more complex than Garage Band or Audacity. Not supported by Stanford. If you use it, check out its documentation and the articles at Transom.org and radio College.
  
• Cool Edit Pro is now Adobe Audition
  This is the software KZSU uses. Cool Edit has been a very popular audio mixing program, especially for PCs. It was bought and rebranded by Adobe last year and is now called Adobe Audition. You can download a demo edition from Adobe and some older demo versions of Cool Edit are still around.
  
• Radio College's Resources on Craft and Production
  These articles are collected in the "Reading Room " part of the site and contain good advice on everything from how to hold a microphone, mix tracks, and record over the telephone to how to use sound effectively in a story.
  
• Transom's Tools Page
  An excellent resource for advice on recording, interviewing and editing. We'll read a number of pieces from here. See the column archive for a categorized list of "how to" pieces on editing and mixing using software like Pro Tools.
  

Rhetoric and Style

• The Forest of Rhetoric (Silva Rhetoricae) at Brigham Young University
  An excellent, extensive hyperlinked history of rhetoric and glossary of major rhetorical figures. Constructed and maintained by Gideon Burton.
  
• A Handbook of Rhetorical Devices at Virtual Salt
  An excellent, detailed description of major rhetorical figures and tropes, with lots of explanation and examples. See also Virtual Salt's Glossary of Literary Terms. Maintained by Robert A. Harris.
  
• An Illustrated Glossary of Rhetorical Terms at Armstrong Atlantic State University
  Another very good glossary of rhetorical terms, with good examples. Maintained by Richard Nordquist.
  
• A Glossary of Rhetorical Terms at the University of Kentucky
  A briefer but useful glossary of major rhetorical figures, with examples in English and Latin. Maintained by Ross Scaife.
  
• American Rhetoric
  A large, searchable archive of famous rhetoric, including audio files of the "Top 100 American Speeches" and the "The Rhetoric of 9-11." Many entertaining features.
  
• Rhetoric Resources: Terms at Georgia Tech
  Click on "Terms"in the bottom menu bar to go to helpful pages that describe Aristotle's topoi, ethos (ethical proofs), major rhetorical tropes, a history of style, and so forth.
  
• Figures of Speech at Nipissing University
  A list of major rhetorical tropes and figures, with helpful examples. Maintained by Grant Williams.
  
• The Rhetoric Page at Kettering University   
  An up-to-date, extensive list of resources. See the section "Rhetoric, Composition, and Communication Links" for resources on rhetoric. See "Resources for Students" for style, grammar, and research guides. Maintained by Professor Mark Gellis.

Publishing Your Work

• Submission Guidelines
  A summary of and links to submission guidelines for major producers and distributors of audio essays like the ones you are creating in this course. Send yours in!
  
• The Public Radio Exchange (aka PRX) is a new on-line clearing house for audio. Producers (like you—you are now a producer) post and editors, station managers, and other producers listen. To get started, click "How to Use PRX" and then "Producer Quick Start."
  
• Transom. Remember that Transom also accepts submissions. Start at the Submission Agreement.
  
• The Third Coast International Audio Festival awards prizes every year for the best documentary, best new artist and radio impact . Check out guidelines at the Competition Page.