11. MANAGING THE AUDIO
11. MANAGING THE AUDIO In the broadcasting language, audio is often reduced to the commentary or the words of the interviewee. These voices are useful to get the information through, but they shouldn’t make you forget how important direct audio, or ambient sound is. It gives life to the images and allows the viewer to truly get into the package. Between loud music and radio silence, there’s a whole rang of sounds that give depth to the news package. LIVE AUDIO Live audio or ambient/wild noise is the “signature” of the field package, which is supposed to capture a snapshot of real life, images and audio alike. If the image shows a smith dipping iron in a bucket, you should hear the noise of white-hot iron getting in contact with water. In many packages, the audio is stand-alone information. It helps the viewer see how “violent the demonstrations were”, to hear “the joy of the winners”, some “noise pollution” people living near a highway are complaining ...