Students

MMCC8090 – Radio and Podcast Production

2023 – Session 2, In person-scheduled-weekday, North Ryde

General Information

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Unit convenor and teaching staff Unit convenor and teaching staff Convenor Lecturer
Dr Virginia Madsen
Contact via Email or use iLearn to contact
10 Hadenfeld Ave, 10HA 191J
TBA. Also by appointment
Credit points Credit points
10
Prerequisites Prerequisites
Admission to MCrInd or MMediaComm
Corequisites Corequisites
Co-badged status Co-badged status
Unit description Unit description

This unit provides students with knowledge of principles and practices of audio production and broadcast radio production. The unit covers radio programming, production and podcasting using local, national and international examples. Practical workshops will incorporate skills and techniques of devising and presenting radio program material including: making location recordings, conducting pre-recorded location and studio interviews, exploring techniques and practices of radio journalism, programming, scripted voice segments, promotion, entertainment, and feature package production using state of the art digital recording/editing/mixing software.

Important Academic Dates

Information about important academic dates including deadlines for withdrawing from units are available at https://www.mq.edu.au/study/calendar-of-dates

Learning Outcomes

On successful completion of this unit, you will be able to:

  • ULO1: demonstrate advanced knowledge of conceptual skills in radio and audio content production for diverse media applications.
  • ULO2: demonstrate advanced communication and expression skills.
  • ULO3: evaluate and implement a range of operational, technical and media industry skills related in particular to audio production and program making.
  • ULO4: collaborate professionally to produce a range of creative and journalistic outputs.
  • ULO5: analyse and evaluate creative and professional media practice, with an emphasis on radio industry audio content.

General Assessment Information

Late assessment Submission Penalty

Unless a Special Consideration request has been submitted and approved, a 5% penalty (of the total possible mark) will be applied each day a written assessment is not submitted, up until the 7th day (including weekends). After the 7th day, a mark of ‘0’ (zero) will be awarded even if the assessment is submitted. Submission time for all written assessments is set at 11.55pm. A 1-hour grace period is provided to students who experience a technical issue. This late penalty will apply to written reports and recordings only. Late submission of time sensitive tasks (such as tests/exams, performance assessments/presentations, scheduled practical assessments/labs will be addressed by the unit convenor in a Special consideration application.

These are serious penalties that will substantially alter your final grade and even determine whether you pass or fail this unit. Please make every effort to submit your assignment by the due date. If you find you cannot submit your assignment on time, please apply for Special Consideration through AskMQ. Make sure you read Macquarie University's policy regarding Special Consideration requests before you apply: https://students.mq.edu.au/study/assessment-exams/special-consideration

Assessment Tasks

Name Weighting Hurdle Due
Audio Program 40% No 23.55 10/11/23
Audio Feature 35% No 23.55 06/10/23
Interview 25% No 23.55; 29/08/23

Audio Program

Assessment Type 1: Media presentation
Indicative Time on Task 2: 42 hours
Due: 23.55 10/11/23
Weighting: 40%

 

Students will collaborate to create an audio program. This will also include a written reflection component.

Refer to iLearn for further information.

 


On successful completion you will be able to:
  • demonstrate advanced knowledge of conceptual skills in radio and audio content production for diverse media applications.
  • demonstrate advanced communication and expression skills.
  • evaluate and implement a range of operational, technical and media industry skills related in particular to audio production and program making.
  • collaborate professionally to produce a range of creative and journalistic outputs.
  • analyse and evaluate creative and professional media practice, with an emphasis on radio industry audio content.

Audio Feature

Assessment Type 1: Media presentation
Indicative Time on Task 2: 35 hours
Due: 23.55 06/10/23
Weighting: 35%

 

Students will research, record, write and construct a feature story or other creative audio piece in sound.

Refer to iLearn for further information.

 


On successful completion you will be able to:
  • demonstrate advanced knowledge of conceptual skills in radio and audio content production for diverse media applications.
  • demonstrate advanced communication and expression skills.
  • evaluate and implement a range of operational, technical and media industry skills related in particular to audio production and program making.
  • analyse and evaluate creative and professional media practice, with an emphasis on radio industry audio content.

Interview

Assessment Type 1: Media presentation
Indicative Time on Task 2: 25 hours
Due: 23.55; 29/08/23
Weighting: 25%

 

Students will plan, record and edit an interview.

Refer to iLearn for further information.

 


On successful completion you will be able to:
  • demonstrate advanced knowledge of conceptual skills in radio and audio content production for diverse media applications.
  • demonstrate advanced communication and expression skills.
  • evaluate and implement a range of operational, technical and media industry skills related in particular to audio production and program making.
  • analyse and evaluate creative and professional media practice, with an emphasis on radio industry audio content.

1 If you need help with your assignment, please contact:

  • the academic teaching staff in your unit for guidance in understanding or completing this type of assessment
  • the Writing Centre for academic skills support.

2 Indicative time-on-task is an estimate of the time required for completion of the assessment task and is subject to individual variation

Delivery and Resources

DELIVERY METHODS

This Unit uses Lectures and Workshop/Tutorials. This Unit uses a range of technolgies/tools, digital audio software, and will provide instruction in this software and in the craft of making audio material and work designed for radio (traditional broadcast and online), other audio media dominant forms for download or accessed online, and/or professional or crafted podcasting.

Lectures and Tutorials/Workshops commence in Week 2. It is essential to attend all classes (online or in person) and participate using iLearn each week.

Technical Assistance and support is provided in usually the first hour of the Tutorial/Workshops (whether in person on campus or via Zoom link) and students need to be able to attend these throughout the semester. A member of the technical support team will assist and there is a Help line for all technical issues, provided on iLearn. We have a dedicated technical team that support the department. Other tutors may assist with technical demonstrations and give guest lectures or take tutoral classes.

CORE REQUIRED EQUIPMENT

  • One set of good quality closed or semi-closed headphones (compulsory for each student for hygiene and safety reasons). Advice in class and iLearn.
  • Memory device to store and transfer audio data or other method.

OTHER EQUIPMENT and relevant software used for this unit is available with/at our facilities, and some for loan: egs microphones and kits, including the Zoom H5 or H6 Portable Audio Recorder or similar. For online enrollment other software options may be suggested at no or minimal cost. We may also suggest additional low cost options for useful software and/or recording, but this is not necessary to create work in this unit. Students will be able to borrow equipment if they can pick up at 10HA, Macquarie University. See iLearn and lectures in Week 1 and 2 for further and most up to date details.

Programs to audition, or other suggested training reading materials will be communicated via iLearn and via Leganto or library links. Generally these will be all free. See iLearn for full details, and consult the following list.

USEFUL AND RELEVANT READINGS (in library) helpful for assessment reflections, building knowledge of the field and craft skills

  • Abel, Jessica. Out on the wire: the storytelling secrets of the new masters of radio. Broadway Books, New York, 2015
  • Ahern, Steve. (Ed) Making radio and podcasts : a practical guide to working in today's radio and audio industries. 4th edition. Abingdon, Oxon ; New York, NY : Routledge, 2022
  • Alburger, James R.The art of Voice acting. Milton: Routledge, 2019
  • Alten, Stanley. Audio in Media, Tenth Edition, Wadsworth, Boston: 2014 (or most recent edition: the bible of audio production)
  • Biewen, John & Dilworth, Alexa. Reality Radio - Telling True Stories in Sound, Duke University Press: 2017
  • Bottomley, Andrew J. Sound Streams: A Cultural History of Radio-Internet Convergence, University of Michigan Press, 2020
  • Brown, Ross. Sound Effect: the theatre we hear, London: Methuen Drama, 2020
  • Michael, Bull. The Routledge Companion to Sound Studies. Milton: Routledge, 2019
  • Chignell H; MacDonald K (Eds). The Bloomsbury Handbook of Radio, Bloomsbury, 2023
  • Chion, Michel. Sound : An Acoulogical Treatise, Duke Uni Press, 2016
  • Chion, Michel. Audio-Vision: Sound on Screen, Columbia Uni Press, 2019
  • Collins, Karen. Studying Sound: a theory and practice of sound design. MIT Press, 2020
  • Cook, Frank. Audio Production Basics with Pro Tools First. Hal Leonard, 2017
  • Crook, Tim. The Sound Handbook, Routledge/Taylor & Francis, 2012
  • Crook, Tim. Audio Drama Modernism, Palgrave Studies in Sound, 2020
  • Dorritie, Frank. The Handbook of Field Recording. Artistpro.Com Llc; Pap/Com, 2003
  • Euritt, A. Podcasting as an intimate medium, London/NewYork, Routledge 2023
  • Emm, Adele. Researching for Media: Researching for Television and Radio, London: Routledge 2014
  • Farnell, Andy. Designing Sound. The MIT Press, 2008
  • Green, CM. The Podcaster's Audio Handbook, Berkeley, CA: Apress L. P 2021
  • Grimshaw, A et al. The Oxford handbook of sound and imagination, New York, NY : Oxford University Press, 2019
  • Hicks, Wynford. English for Journalists. Routledge, 2013
  • Kern, Jonathon. Sound reporting: the NPR guide to audio journalism and production Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2008
  • Lane, Cathy. In the field: The art of field recording. Uniform books, 2013
  • Llinares, Dario; Neil Fox & Richard Berry. Podcasting: New Aural Cultures and Digital Media, Cham: Springer, 2018
  • Lindgren, Mia; Loviglio, Jason (Eds). Companion to Radio and Podcast Studies., Abington, Routledge, 2022
  • Madsen, V., & Potts, J. Voice-cast: The Distribution of the Voice via Podcasting. In N. Neumark, R. Gibson, & T. V. Leeuwen (Eds.), The Grain of the Voice in Digital Media and Media Art (pp. 33-60). Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press, 2010
  • Madsen, Virginia. 'Your Ears are a Portal to Another World’: The New Radio Documentary Imagination and the Digital Domain In J. Loviglio & M. Hilmes (Eds.), Radio's New Wave: Global Sound in the Digital Era (pp. 126-144). London; New York: Routledge, 2013
  • Madsen, Virginia. Transnational Encounters and Peregrinations of the Radio Documentary Imagination. In G. Föllmer & A. Badenoch (Eds.), Transnationalizing Radio Research: New Approaches to an Old Medium (pp. 83-100). Bielefeld, Germany: Transcript Verlag, 2018
  • McHugh, Siobhan. The Power of Podcasting, Sydney: UNSW Press, 2022
  • McLeish, Robert.; Link, Jeff. Radio Production. Abingdon: Routledge 2016
  • McMurtry, Leslie Grace. Revolution in the echo chamber: audio drama's past, present and future: Intellect, 2019
  • Miles, Dean. Location Audio Simplified, Oxford: Routledge 2014
  • Nuzum, Eric. Make Noise: A Creator's Guide to Podcasting and Great Audio Storytelling. Workman Publishing Company, 2020
  • Ouellette, Laurie ; Gray, Jonathan. Keywords for Media Studies. New York: NYU Press, 2017
  • Roginska, Agnieszka; Geluso, Paul. Immersive sound: The art and science of binaural and multichannel audio. Routledge, 2018
  • Savage, Steve. The Art of Digital Audio Recording: A Practical Guide for Home and Studio. Oxford University Press, 2011
  • Spinelli, Martin. Lance Dann. Podcasting: The Audio Media Revolution. Bloomsbury, 2019
  • Sauls, Samuel; Stark, Craig. Audio Production Worktext, Oxford: Routledge 2016
  • Verma, Neil. Theater of the Mind: Imagination, Aesthetics, and American Radio Drama. Chicago, 2012
  • Winer, Ethan. Audio Expert: Everything you need to know about audio. Taylor and Francis, 2012
  • RadioDoc Review: https://ro.uow.edu.au/rdr/ (Australian journal with a range of online peer reviewed and industry producer articles on radio/podcast documentary and audio nonfiction storytelling
  • Transom radio online site, (Showcase and Workshop for New Public Radio, USA) Atlantic Public Media: https://transom.org/

Unit Schedule

See iLearn for full schedule. This unit will cover audio production and craft skills to make programs individually and in teams, and of varying types and genres and most highly applicable to podcast, broadcast or web radio, audio fiction (eg in audio books) and other forms of audio-only or audio-dominant productions, publication and dissemination. Craft skills covered include: recording speech, actuality in the field and interviewing; editing speech and sound production or design for programs and podcasts and related media; voice presentation, performance/direction, and communication with voice/s; program content/topic research and audio journalism, reportage and broadcast forms training; production/direction/creative composition, structuring and compiling of programs and works intended for mass or niche audiences; contextual and historical understanding of audio, broadcast radio and podcast/download or streaming audio media in Australia and internationally - with foci on current and emergent forms across platforms; also the craft, industry and art, plus trends, issues; and an introduction to radio, podcast, creative sound and sound studies.

Policies and Procedures

Macquarie University policies and procedures are accessible from Policy Central (https://policies.mq.edu.au). Students should be aware of the following policies in particular with regard to Learning and Teaching:

Students seeking more policy resources can visit Student Policies (https://students.mq.edu.au/support/study/policies). It is your one-stop-shop for the key policies you need to know about throughout your undergraduate student journey.

To find other policies relating to Teaching and Learning, visit Policy Central (https://policies.mq.edu.au) and use the search tool.

Student Code of Conduct

Macquarie University students have a responsibility to be familiar with the Student Code of Conduct: https://students.mq.edu.au/admin/other-resources/student-conduct

Results

Results published on platform other than eStudent, (eg. iLearn, Coursera etc.) or released directly by your Unit Convenor, are not confirmed as they are subject to final approval by the University. Once approved, final results will be sent to your student email address and will be made available in eStudent. For more information visit ask.mq.edu.au or if you are a Global MBA student contact globalmba.support@mq.edu.au

Academic Integrity

At Macquarie, we believe academic integrity – honesty, respect, trust, responsibility, fairness and courage – is at the core of learning, teaching and research. We recognise that meeting the expectations required to complete your assessments can be challenging. So, we offer you a range of resources and services to help you reach your potential, including free online writing and maths support, academic skills development and wellbeing consultations.

Student Support

Macquarie University provides a range of support services for students. For details, visit http://students.mq.edu.au/support/

The Writing Centre

The Writing Centre provides resources to develop your English language proficiency, academic writing, and communication skills.

The Library provides online and face to face support to help you find and use relevant information resources. 

Student Services and Support

Macquarie University offers a range of Student Support Services including:

Student Enquiries

Got a question? Ask us via AskMQ, or contact Service Connect.

IT Help

For help with University computer systems and technology, visit http://www.mq.edu.au/about_us/offices_and_units/information_technology/help/

When using the University's IT, you must adhere to the Acceptable Use of IT Resources Policy. The policy applies to all who connect to the MQ network including students.

Changes from Previous Offering

This unit is offered externally online mode in 2023 but face to face mode is preferable if you are able to come to campus. We introduced the online approach in 2020/2021 and it was very successful even in the unusual circumstances, with students producing high quality work remotely, and thus this option will be continued for those students choosing or requiring this mode. Access to studios and equipment for assessments is still an option for online externally enrolled students if they can visit the campus, otherwise various options will be discussed, and online software licenses to be available. Always consult updates and guidance in iLearn, or in early Lectures.


Unit information based on version 2023.01R of the Handbook