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Lesson Info

Get to a Finished Piece: Music

There's a lot of reasons that we use music. Um and, um, like I said, some of sometimes it is to sort of like, get this like sense of sort of like something new is happening, you know, sort of like moving things along. Sometimes it's just to make a transition where, like, you need, there's a mood shift and you don't really have anything to say. You don't have a script to write, but you need to sort of transition from one thing to another. So you just throw some music in there and it moves you. It moves you from section to section, and then sometimes it's to enhance the mood. And that's the. And whenever I was teaching a course at Columbia, I would people would always want to use music, and I and I would always let not let them, because it's like it's really like it can be such a crutch. We use it as a crutch all the time of this American life. I think often that happens. It's so and, uh, it's also sort of dangerous, and you also sort of rely on it. It's sort of like, you know, you can t...

hrow it feels right powerful. It's like when you like, get this like you learn you first learned magic and you want to earn everything. You know, like in those, like fantasy novels, you know, it feels like Oh, my God, I made that sound so profound. Uh, if you're making something sound profound with music, it's probably not that profound. So, uh, so it's a very dangerous thing, but I'm gonna talk about, like, how do you use it? Well, and I don't want to show you sort of how it can be sort of used and misused. So I'm gonna go back to that mailman clip, and I might have to play a couple of different. So there was music under that when when we first added on this mega life. But I'm just gonna play you through and sort of show you what it looks like. So So, again, here's the mailman clip right here. And this is a music track down here. And these things are volume controls that just sort of like, uh, you know, just sort of like keeps. And then and then the clip ends, and then the volume controls go up. So when they're going up. That means the music's getting louder when they go down. That means the music's getting softer. And if you see a drop, this volume control down right here because the music got louder in this section that it was in this section. Right. Um, so I put this in here. I did. I did this yesterday, there two days ago. I just put slaps a music under this clip so that just to show you what it sounds like, So let's play. I mean, And so I'm gonna play the clip with a couple different pieces of music under it, and so you can just sort of see how it feels different. All right, so here is the first one. So he was, like, the first time. And I'm not gonna play the whole Klippel started. I think it started around here. He had the impression that still had to check what we'll hear. He's telling me you're going to give him my check. You go get my check. Keep Tom. Where is before? Did to your new address. Told him to be there tomorrow or the day after, and he says, Well, you can't wait and uh, look like he was gonna put me on something because he was taking a jacket. And when he came to me, the boy then hits around until that's my mailman. You don't mess with him, you know? So he went on about his business. No problem. Oh, I just thank him. How are you doing here? I just thank them for what they did. They told me when. No problem. Because you've been around too long for anybody to be messing with you. It's weird, right? Like I'm feeling all these things. Should I be feeling them? Uh, I don't know what you think about that piece of music. Let's talk about that. So this is what we are. What? What I'm constantly wrestling with Is the music feeling right? Is it feeling wrong? What feels right and what feels wrong about it? Um, what do you think about that one? What you think? Yeah, honestly, I think it took away from the audio. I'm sorry. You No, no, no. That's fine with this is just one we're gonna We're gonna go through a couple O and I want my questions. You may discuss this later is like where Did you get the music? Yeah, so? So we have. This was actually a friend of a guy named Tyler Strickland composed this for another thing that we did. Um, but we have so and we're in a little bit of like when I was using music of this American life, we were in a sort of like we had this, like, public radio, has some sort of, like arrangement with ASCAP in B m I so that we don't have to get licensed. But now that I'm in a for profit world, it's all different. So I'm not exactly sure what what I'm doing with all that. So now I've been just trying to use music, but eventually we're gonna I think it's gotten to the point where you can where if we're generating a little bit of money, we can pay for the music that we're gonna use. Um What? What? What else other people like agree, disagree? Thought it was right. Did it add anything? Take away, Estella. I kind of wondered why it came in at that moment. Like, I don't know if it was just because I could visually see it or if or if It was really like I thought it came and maybe a little bit too early. Like I wasn't ready to leave this story yet. Like, to me, the music kind of signals This is gonna be the end in its the end tonight. And he was still kind of taking his jacket off when the music didn't. You came in after Really ready? Yeah. Yeah. Came after. Yeah, tailing right here. So this is where? Like, I believe me a little bit someone, This is where he's like, uh uh, wasn't It's around until that's my mailman. You can mess with them. Sound of like the mail cart rolling. And that's where the music is coming in, right there in the sound. And I remember when I did this story actually put in, ah, put in extra male court sound just to create a space from that's into the next. Yeah, but yeah, the music seemed to be something that it's like that you would play after someone comes that they really come to a realization like, where's he was where is it was everywhere is like it was what he was like, blithely unaware of like, yeah, like this just kind of happening like, Yeah, Like they've said, Yeah, you know, miss with a male. And I'm, like, right along doing it wasn't it? Sounded more like there would be It would be something that's worth someone. Like where things really slow down. Yeah, and then something, you know, someone comes to realization, and then it kind of trails. Yeah. It was like, Yeah, it was, like, a little bit too dramatic. A little bit too big. Yeah, I agree. No, I think I have a couple of people from Actually Did not like the music. By and large, most people prefer to the story with music. Paul says he prefers it with without the music. Raphael's is not this music. It should be something different. And Kelly says the music was pensive, but the story was heartwarming, and it just wasn't a fit together. All right, let's try the next one. Okay. So good. I have another piece of music in here. Let's see if this one works better. What do you think about this one? Looked like he was gonna put me on something. Carly was taking a jacket on. And when he came to me, devore then hits around until that's my mailman. You don't mess with him. So he went on about his business. No problem. Oh, I just thank him. How you doing here? I just thank them for what they did. He said they told me were no problem. Because you've been around too long for anybody to be What you think about that. I like that one. Yeah. Yeah. Why do you think it, um it was a little bit too upbeat and made everyone laugh. At that moment, you weren't supposed to laugh. Yeah, exactly. Right. And it felt like a little bit false, right? Yeah. I think both of them felt a little bit false, right? Like the one felt two grand to sort of revel it or the other one felt like to two. Comic, You know, I'm gonna play now that, like, I don't have the actual session file from when we did the story back in the mid nineties. But, uh uh, in the late nineties, um, but I'm a play. I did. I do have the clip that I used to play the clip of the music that was actually in the peace. Um, and then let's talk about that. Is that this is this is the sound that we actually ended up using. Looked like he was gonna put me on something. Carly was taking a jacket, and when he came to me, the boy then hits around until that's my mail. Me? You don't mess with him, you know? So he went on about his business. No problem. What did you say? Those guys? Oh, I just think somehow you No idea. I just thank them for what they did. They told me where. No crime Because you've been around too long for anybody to be messing with you. Really? About that. That the right choice, the wrong choice? I don't know. I honestly don't know. Speech. Know what you guys think? Yeah. I felt it was like the end of the Waltons up, so I really I didn't like it. Uh, yeah. Other people. I didn't match the mood. Yeah, what would I want more? I like that. It was a little slower when it came in because there's a line that you say when you're off Mike a little bit, that I think is important to hear. Um, So you consort of still hear it, but, uh but yeah, yeah, yeah. Of the three that we heard, I thought that was it resonated better with me. But what I liked about that was that it it seemed to be a musical manifestation of the character of the mailman. That's how I thought about it. Yeah. What? Christie? Yeah. I felt like there was a little pathos to the music, and there was kind of pathos in the story of the the mailman and the hoodlums and was kind of mirrored that a little to me. And maybe if we didn't know all that other backstory that we went through earlier this afternoon, it may have seemed more off. I don't authentic to understand. Right? Right, Right. Yeah. Really, Uh, I didn't like it. Uh, and I think I didn't like it because I was waiting for you to Teoh pair with, like, a clip that felt how it feels like to walk down your neighborhood like a little bit more upbeat, but but not like, not as comical is the other one. Because in the middle, like he there's a car that drives by and he says hi as he's talking to you, but he says hi to that person. He really is a part of the neighborhood. None of the music felt like that, right? Right, right. Yeah. I mean, I remember I played this for, like, a class of high school students at one point and, uh and like like one of them asked me, like, Why? Why did you Why did you put that piece of music and and I'm and like the The answer I gave at the time was that, But it still think it's sort of true Is that like every like, often, like there's not always just one emotion right, and there's a dominant emotion, and then they're sort of like overtone emotions, you know, or something else that's going on and like and that's what I felt like I tried, you know, there was a lot of like I needed to move, remember mixing this piece, and I remember there was like, a lot of that I had You know what? We're moving into a new section, so we needed music there, and I tried a bunch of different pieces of music and all of them felt like weird. And when I finally hit on this one. This was a weird one, but it's sort of like what it did. Is it sort of pulled out like this like there was something There wasn't pathos in this, like in the in this in this idea of these of these two, sort of like disparate groups of people coming together for a second and then sort of dispersing again. Uh, and so it wasn't the dominant emotion, But sometimes when you play to the dominant, emotion is overwhelming. And so sometimes and we would often end up doing that where would be like a very, very sad something very sad. But I don't want to play the saddest music you confined. You want to play something that's sort of like pulls at some other emotion That's underneath it, Um, so So that I think that's what I think. That's why I ended up picking that music. Uh, but yeah, but I think it's like that's what's tricky about it, you know, they all have. They feel different, you know, it's like, but it really like the remain thing I want to do with this exercise is just sort of like get across just like how radically. It can sort of at least attempt to alter the feeling of something I don't know. Did you feel that? Did you feel like when you were listening to the fat? Did it feel different when you're hearing like it felt very different with the different music country, right? And that's the thing that's like, so dangerous about it, I think is sort of like That's why I feel like you know you can So it feels very dangerous. But then also it feels like different. But then sometimes you as a listener, you feel like you're trying to be manipulated, you know, with the music. And so that's like a new sort of like it. You can feel it, you know? So it's still yeah. Is there anyone who you think uses music really well, like like, you know, some people are better interviewers. Somebody's there someone who like is good. Yeah, I mean, generally, if it's like if you don't notice it, I think is when that's done really well, like and I think different. I mean, I don't think like there's like uh, you know, there's a bunch of there's a bunch of and I think It's also what you're what you're comfortable with. Like some people. Like I happen to like this show called Radiolab that I that I happen to like, I happen to like, the way they use music. Other people feel like it's like too much too produced, too claustrophobic. And I feel like I can totally get that you know what I mean? Um, but the best I mean, and I think there's also an evolution of sort of shows like when, in the beginning of this American life, we used a ton of music and like then we sort of looked like gradually were, like, okay between us too much, like back off a little bit. Now we've gotten a lot more spare. Andi, I try to do that now with, like, start up. That was my goal. I was like, I want I'll use music a couple places, but I'm not ever gonna like what I'm not gonna try to do is use music to, like, cover for, like, something not being that interesting, basically, you know? Yeah. Yeah. So, along the lines of using music, I think another effective auditory tool is the is the ambient sound around And when you're doing an interview of ah, of, um, Aleman in the city, do you also kind of hang around and capture additional city sounds are absolutely, can go out and you go like with that. So this piece right here is like, That's the That's the That's the mail cart sound That was the result of me walking around with him and putting my microphone at the mail credits was going around and I got like, 30 seconds of that sound. And then when I needed it, I put it right here to separate what he said here. From what he said here, because I knew I wanted music to come in right there. We actually had a similar question from the chat that I thought it phrase here in the user says that when I put it together the radio stories I struggle with including natural sounds can you talk a little about creating and they use the term and ethical audio escape and your ethical Hadi escaping. I've never heard that I said that, Yeah, I mean, I guess I guess there's I mean, I think we do have rules, like, so I don't know. We used to have a mythical fight with the CBC and this American life because they would allow, like a foghorn from some other place. Even if you're foghorn, you know, like if you have a story where you need a foghorn, you know, we always like, Yeah, whatever it's this is ridiculous. But like some people would like talk, you know? So can you just take some popcorn from somewhere else and pretend that it actually came from the place where you need your father going to be? And we would never do that. We would like always if it was a foghorn in the story. It was a foghorn that was recorded at the at the location of our story. Um, and honestly, it's a little excessive. Nobody will ever know, you know, But if it's like, But if it's a bird, you know, and you've got some ornithologist listening, they might know, you know, that that's not the parents don't live there, you know, they're like, Well, yeah, And then everybody's like, Well, wait, if you're lying about that, what else you lying about? So I think it makes sense, you know? So I think, um, so yeah, we got. I mean, like, I think, you know, our ethics were sort of If we use natural sound, it had to be actual natural sound that was actually happening at the place. That where we were recording. Um, so, yeah, I think that's a good policy. That's how I do it now.