Category: HV/Archives

Hearing Voices- Audio, Web, Video, News

Remote Recording

Louis and Bebe Barron in their Greenwich Village NYC recording studio, 1956 (photo: Walter Daran)

Louis and Bebe Barron in their Greenwich Village NYC recording studio, 1956 (photo: Walter Daran)

How to record long-distance audio interviews in a time of social distance and studio shutdowns.

Prepared for the podcasters at Teaching Tolerance (Southern Poverty Law Center)

In times like these, entering a professional recording studio isn’t smart or, often, possible. Rather than stop our recording schedules, let’s adapt. Let’s find options for recording guests remotely – to get us through current and future emergencies.

The solution must be easy to use and hard to mess up, for hosts and for guests. Audio won’t be studio quality but it must be good. (Each part of the production process — edit, EQ, mix, encode — loses a little more audio fidelity. So the better the quality of the original recording the better the audio left in the end product.)

My best cost/sound recommendations:

For host tracks, set up a simple home studio for each host.

For guest interviews, use a remote-recording service audio service.

Details follow (loaded with Transom and other links). Please comment and correct…

Simple Home Studio

Yes: For host.
No: For guests (but maybe mic).

Hosts: A simple set-up makes sense for the host, with an external USB mic (and pop filter), good headphones, basic but foolproof recording software, and portable/storable acoustic baffles.

Guests: It’s prohibitively complicated and error-prone to walk guests through all the software-install, record, and upload procedures. But it is feasible to mail guests a USB mic (or headset), with a prepaid return label. [Update coming: this is impractical in viral times. (Thx, Shea)] (If no external mic, ask if they have the wired Apple headphones: Its lavalier mic is better than using a computer’s, mainly due to mouth proximity.)

Video Conferencing Services

No: Except when unavoidable.

We moderns are all video-chat savvy. And video-conferencing services record (instructions for: Skype, Google Hangouts, GoToMeeting, Zoom). But their audio recordings are all low fidelity.

Zoom seems best for sound:

  • Records at 32kHz sample rate (AAC, mono, ~52 kbps bitrate). The others have a much lower 16KHz sample rate (AAC, mono, 64 kbps), so less frequency range and more chance of distortion and audio artifacts (weird noises).
  • Can make separate audiofiles for each user. The others mix all the voices into one file.
  • Gives you an audio and video file. Most others are video-only, so you need to strip the audio out.

Zoom settings: record multiple files

While down this rabbit hole I discovered:

150 milliseconds [is] the maximum latency before conversations feel unnatural. Zoom works really hard to stay under 150 milliseconds, Chief Product Officer Oded Gal said. Or maybe this: Rather than optimize the connection for all devices — which means optimizing for the worst, slowest one — Zoom tends to each individually.
Protocol

And I know people have, use, and like Skype, but: Skype requires extensive credits during the podcast (beginning, end, and every 15 minutes). While there are ways to improve the fidelity of Skype’s audio recordings, like Call Recorder (Mac) and Evaer (Win), those third-party apps still don’t match the ease, features, and quality of…

Remote Interview Audio Recorders

Yes: Whenever possible.

A recent crop of made-for-podcasters, remote-audio services record hosts and guests in different places. Two of the best are Zencastr and SquadCast (which I’m leaning toward). Both have inexpensive monthly subscriptions. Both work like this:

Starting the recording:

  1. The host logs into the recording service and starts the session.
  2. The guest goes to to a custom URL (sent by the host).
  3. The interview and recording take place via the browser (i.e., no software installs needed).

During the recording:

  1. Local recording: Full-fidelity uncompressed audio records onto host and guest computers (WAV, 44.1kHz, 16 bit).
  2. Progressive upload: Hi-fi MP3s uploads to the cloud (so nothing lost if connection breaks).
  3. Auto-backup: As the host/guest cloud MP3s upload, those files are simultaneously copied.
  4. Auto-upload (local file): As soon as the host stops the recording, the WAVs (recorded locally onto host/guest computers) upload to the cloud.

SquadCast dashboard

Just like video-conferencing, the conversation happens over the internet (VoIP), which is bandwidth limited so loses audio fidelity. The recording, however, doesn’t use internet audio: It captures each participant’s computer input (the mic plugged- or built-in) then writes the recording directly onto their harddrives — no audio lost.

The browser controls it all, using WebRTC, which I won’t explain because Adam Ragusea of Current already did a stellar job: “How three services for recording remote audio interviews stack up: ipDTL, Zencastr and Ringr”. (I’ll just mention it works on Chrome, Firefox, and Edge, but not yet Safari.)

We’ll be testing the following two remote-interview recording services (and updating this post) soon. Both are well-liked by reviewers and work similarly, with a few differences:

SquadCast

SquadCast‘s advantage is their option to open a video screen (not recorded). Seeing each other speak improves the rhythm of a conversation.

They have a nonprofit discount, a free trial, but no free plan for subscriptions. Recordings upload to their cloud service. (They don’t specify where: Amazon, Azure, their mom’s basement?)

Their support docs have plenty of videos but lack screenshots: a faster way to convey computer info. But their FAQ, How to Be a Guest page, and how-to intro video are good.

Zencastr

Zencastr deserves cred for their COVID response, removing recording-hour limits on their free Hobbyist plan. Recordings upload to the user’s own Dropbox account.

They have no video screen option. (I’m a big fan of f2f interviewee interaction.) Of course, neither do tape syncs or two-way studio interviews.

Their support site is screenshot-less but has a slew of how-to videos and explainers.

Smartphone Syncs

No: Except when unavoidable.

Finally, lots of folk have posted lots of ways to record iPhone interviews (like Transom, StoryCorps, and Hearing Voices / Marketplace). But remote recording means transforming all our guests into capable recordists: color me skeptical.


Top image: Louis and Bebe Barron, electronic music pioneers, inventors, and composers of the Forbidden Planet film soundtrack (photo: Walter Daran).

Dorothy Eck, political person

Dorothy Eck and the Montana Constitution (photo: Adrian Sanchez-Gonzalez, Bozeman Daily Chronicle )

Dorothy Eck, Montana State Senator and co-author of the 1972 Montana Constitution, passed away this month.

She was one of the “Political People” who talked politics with us for this 1992 NPR All Things Considered story. Hear her @1:55 (“I don’t look at party platforms, they’re mostly baloney.”) and at @4:55 (“Who said democracy is easy?”):

The world needs more like her — Dorothy Eck (January 23, 1924 – September 23, 2017):

Photo: by Adrian Sanchez-Gonzalez, Bozeman Daily Chronicle

NPR reran the piece in 2008:

HV on Haitus

Our weekly hour series, Hearing Voices from NPR, has come to its end of days.

Many of the 150 outstanding HV hours will live on in the PRX archives.

Many thanks:

We’ve had a blast assembling the work of indies and NPR into these “sixty-minute streams of driveway moments.” We’re proud of our Peabody and other awards. We’ve loved the thousands of emails and site comments listeners have sent us. But all good things…

So, to you, our site visitors: Thanks for helping propagate outrageous radio.

HV142- Solidod

Hearing Voices from NPR®
142 Solidod: An Apache Original
Host: Larry Massett of Hearing Voices
Airs week of: 2012-09-26

“Solidod” (52:00 mp3):

“Solidod: An Apache Original” (2012 / 52:00) Larry Massett

The Life and Times of Solidod, the last remaining member of her village of Mescalero Apache who lived on the edge of Death Valley. HV editor Larry Massett helped our friend Solidad publish her new e-book, An Apache Original: The Life and Times of Solidod.

Larry composed and performed the piano music in this radio hour.

Solidod is in her 80s and tells about 300 years of her life stories in the book. Here’s an excerpt from Larry’s…

Book cover: An Apache Original: The Life And Times Of Solidod

Introduction

When I first met Solidod she was living alone in a tiny room in a rather depressing subsidized-income apartment complex in Florida. She herself was anything but depressing, though. A few minutes after we met she showed me the little knife she carries with her in her buckskin purse. “But Solidod,” I said, “that’s kind of a dangerous knife, isn’t it?” I said- meaning, dangerous for an 80-year woman. “Yeah, it’s sharp,” she laughed, “but it would be better if it was rusty. So the cut would get infected in case I stab somebody.”

Wow, tough lady. Tough, but also funny, curious, brimming with energy, and a world-class storyteller. As she told me about the adventures of her life I realized she’s been everywhere and done just about everything: horse-trainer, bodyguard, trans-Atlantic sailor, carpenter, gardener, artist, you name it. And she’s busy. She spends her days zipping around town selling the t-shirts she paints and the jewelry she makes, checking on old friends and chatting up new ones. Most people her age seem to be winding down; Solidod’s just getting started…

Me and my Indian, my husband; painting by Solidod

Me and my Indian, my husband

Several of Solidod’s paintings grace the book’s pages. The e-book is in Kindle format: Amazon make a free Kindle Reader for nearly every computer, tablet, smartphone, and web browser. More…

HV141- Ayahuasqueros

An ayahuasca shaman from PeruHearing Voices from NPR®
141 Ayahuasquereos: Amazon Shamans
Host: Jeremy Narby of Soundwalk Collective
Airs week of: 2012-09-05

“Ayahuasqueros” (52:00 mp3):

An anthropologist’s sound-portrait of the ayahuasca plant and the people of Peru:

“Ayahuasqueros” (52:00) Soundwalk Collective

In May of 2012, Soundwalk Collective traveled into the heart of the Peruvian Amazon to document the ancient chanting rituals of the Ayahuasquero, the Master Shaman and practitioner of plant medicine. In this ritual, the shaman consumes a potent brew made from the Ayahuasca, a sacred vine of the Amazonian jungle, the “vine of the souls”. The brew induces a powerful psychedelic experience that causes visual and auditory hallucinations.

It is in this state that the Ayahuasquero conjures the “icaro” or magic song.

The icaro is more than song, it is a language through which the shaman communicates with the spirits of plants and animals of the jungle — he speaks through them and they sing through him. There are more than a thousand icaros, through which Ayahuasceros call on the spirits for healing, protection, or attack. Icaros can stun a snake, cure a bite, call the soul back to the body, make a sorcerer fall asleep. Icaros are “pure sound,” melodies abstracted so as to become intangible, to become air. In this intangible and most powerful form icaros allow shamans to swallow darts, visit distant planets, call the rainbow, and kill.

Blowing, rattling leaves and singing are synergistic modes of sound that are, at once verbal, unintelligible and abstract — elevating the song to something transcending language. This piece by Soundwalk Collective documents the ancient practice by inhabiting the Ayahuasquero’s soundscape where the icaros become a visceral, haunting, and consuming listening experience.

“Ayahuasqueros” is a radio essay by anthropologist Jeremy Narby, in collaboration with Francisco Lopez, featuring Victor Nieto and Ushamano Walter Martinez. It was ommissioned by Radio France Culture, mixed by Dug Winningham, and produced by Soundwalk Collective: an international sound-art collective, winner of several Audies for their soundwalks and a Dalton Pen award for the Ground Zero w/ Paul Auster. Since 2000 they “have been sonic nomads, embarking on journeys from the desolate land of Bessarabia to the desert of Rub al Khali. By exploring and documenting the world around them through its sounds, the Collective abstracts and re-composes narrative sound pieces through fragments of reality to form distinct audible journeys.”

AYAHUASQUEROS (Preview) from Soundwalk Collective on Vimeo.

Film by Stephan Crasneanscki

HV140- John Cage

John Cage composing at pianoHearing Voices from NPR®
140 John Cage: September 5 1912 – August 12 1992
Host: Barrett Golding of Hearing Voices
Airs week of: 2012-08-29

“John Cage” (52:00 mp3):

A tribute to the composer on his 100th birthday:

“The City Wears A Slouch Hat” (1942 / 2:04 & 1:42 excerpts) John CageKenneth Patchen

From a half-hour radio play, commissioned by CBS, written by poet Kenneth Patchen and scored by Cage. Broadcast May 31, 1942 on WBBM radio station (Columbia Broadcasting System in Chicago), as part of their Columbia Workshop series. Performance by Xenia Cage, Cilia Amidon, Stuart Lloyd, Ruth Hartman, Claire Oppenheim and John Cage conducting.

“Who’s John Cage (Silence)?” (1992 / 2:25) Barrett Golding

A voxpop variety of folk answer the musical question: “Who’s John Cage?”

Sheet music cover to Jahn Cage's composition 4:33

“Imaginary Landscapes” (2008 / 5:07) Echoes

Few contemporary composers had the influence of John Cage. From experimental music to minimalism, Brian Eno to George Winston, echoes of John Cage continue to resound to this day, more than 6 decades after his “Sonatas and Interludes for Prepared Piano” were first published. John Cage was a conceptualist of sound who turned even silence into music as he did with his famous piece, 4 minutes and 33 seconds. John cage died from a stroke in August of 1992. But we hear his thoughts in sound from a 1987 interview. From the series Echoes with John Diliberto, part of their Thoughts in Sound specials.

“In A Landscape” (1994 / 2:07 excerpt) Stephen Drury

Pianist Stephen Drury performs a 1948 Cage composition; the title track of the album In a Landscape

“Cunningham Stories (At the Age of Twelve…)” (1993 / 1:44) Laurie Anderson

From the collection A Chance Operation: The John Cage Tribute (this UbuWeb link has free downloads of the entire CD set).

“Cage, Cunningham: Collaboration” (1983 / 5:27) Jay Allison

An impressionistic illustration of synchronistic artistic cooperation, in the words of Cage and choreographer Merce Cunningham. Interviews by Katie Davis, from Jay Allison’s series Living in the Arts.

More…

HV139- Sports Report

Hearing Voices from NPR®
139 Sports Report: Athletic Endeavor
Host: Barrett Golding of Hearing Voices
Airs week of: 2012-08-22

“Sports Report” (52:00 mp3):

“Swimming Lessons” (1996 / 8:01) Scott Carrier

The producer’s wife likes to swim at night, far out into the lake. She was taught long ago how to effortlessly, and beautifully, skim across the water. Aired originally on This American LifeLessons“.

“Rock in Black” (2004 / 2:00 excerpt) Go Home Productions

Mashup master GHP, aka, Mark Vidler, mixes Queen’s sports stadium classic, “We Will Rock You,” with AC/DC, Led Zeppelin, Crowded House and a bit of Beatles, Outkast, and Snoop Dogg. Download off GHP’s This Was Pop 2002-2007.

“We Believe We Are Invincible” (9:20) Ben Rubin

The U.S.A Track and Field Hall of Fame commissioned sound-artist Ben Rubin, of EAR Studio, to make audio art from interviews with athletes.

“First Football Fever” (2008 / 2:05) Mark Allen

A gay man gets to know the game. Edited from Mark’s essay, Football & the Homosexual Brain.

“Basketball Diary” (1999 / 13:26) Katie Davis

The producer spent the winter coaching a boys basketball team in her Washington, DC neighborhood. The boys’ grades aren’t good enough to play for the school, so they join a local church league. And Katie Davis starts more as counselor than coach. Originally aired on NPR. Part of the producers Neighborhood Stories series.

“He Got Game” (1998 / 2:00 excerpt)

From the soundtrack to Spike Lee’s film, off the album Power To The People And The Beats – Public Enemy’s Greatest Hits [Explicit] (also: clean version). Features Voices Of Shabach Community Choir Of Long Island, Stephan Stills and samples from his Buffalo Springfield song, “For What it’s Worth.”

“Everybody SCREAM!!!” (2012 / 10:32) Jonathan Mitchell

Spin class gets personal, with Chet Siegel as Sam, Emily Tarver as Lisa, Ed Herbstman as Kirk. Written collaboratively by The Truth, from a story by Chet Siegel. Special thanks: Peter Clowney, Kerrie Hillman, and Chris Bannon. Recorded at WNYC and on location in New York City. The Truth podcast is produced by Jonathan Mitchell (also on PRX.

HV Contributors

Been retrospecting of late about the pool of production talent who’ve made radio waves for Hearing Voices and the Hearing Voices from NPR series — a damn impressive list of audio luminaries:
Hearing Voices radio face

2007-2012 by Producer:

Ben Adair
Noah Adams
Owen Agnew
Hammad Ahmed
Mark Allen
Terry Allen
Adam Allington
Ginna Allison
Jay Allison
American Radio Works
Claes Andreasson
Antenna Theater
Jeff Arntsen
Jenny Asarnow
Jess Atkins
damali ayo
Mark Baldwin
Lynda Barry
Jill Battson
Bauersfeld-Erik
Ayala Ben-Yehuda
Michael Bernstein
Phillip Kent Bimstein
Alix Blair
Alex Blumberg
Bob & Ray
Peter Bochan
Jesse Boggs
Tim Bonham
Christopher Booker
Emily Botein
Charles Bowden
Samantha Broun
William S Burroughs
Meryn Cadell
Jason Cady
Alex Caldiero
Julián Cardona
Scott Carrier
Alex Chadwick
Carolyn Jensen Chadwick
Jack Chance
Chicago Matters
Clothesline Revival
Andrei Codrescu
Samuel Cohon
Todd Colby
Sean Cole
Lizzy Cooper Davis
Crossing the BLVD
Curie Youth Radio
Max Darham
Josh Darsa
Kate Davidson
Katie Davis
Carmen Delzell
Amy Dickinson
Beverly Donofrio
Jesse Dukes
EarSay
Earwax
Natelie Edwards
Dave Eggers
Neenah Ellis
Lawrence Ferlinghetti
Firesign Theatre
Steve Fisk
Rebecca Flowers
Hillary Frank
Joe Frank
Grant Fuller
Lou Giansante
Ira Glass
Go Home Productions
Barrett Golding
Douglas Grant
David Greenberger
Guillermo Gómez-Peña
Rich Halten
Trent Harris
Erica Heilman
Ann Heppermann
Homelands
Paul Ingles
Jelani
Chana Joffe-Walt
Calvin Johnson
Joyride Media
Nina Katchadourian
Wednesday Kennedy
Jack Kerouac
Paul Kiernan
Queena Kim
Kitchen Sisters
Kevin Kling
Charles Lane
Lazyboy
Lemon Jelly
Sydney Lewis
Matt Lieber
Long Haul Productions
Tom Lopez
Alan Lorber
Baz Luhrman
Ise Lyfe
Gwen Macsai
Marcos Martinez
Larry Massett
Gregg McVicar
Todd Melby
Jonathan Menjivar
Viki Merrick
Jeff Metcalf
Lisa Miller
Vige Millington
Erin Mishkin
Jonathan Mitchell
Rick Moody
Tracie Morris
Ceil Muller
Musicians Own Words
Jennifer Nathan
Neary Lynn
Mark Neumann
Qui Duc Nguyen
Ken Nordine
Kara Oehler
Curt Olson
David Ossman
Outer Voices
Richard Paul
Pogo
quiet american
Radio Diaries
Radio Rookies
Radiolab
Rathe. Steve
Jason Rayles
Sarah Reynolds
Jeff Rice
Jonathan Richman
John Ridley
John Rieger
Dmae Roberts
Jesikah Maria Ross
Ben Rubin
Brent Runyan
rx
SALT
Sonia Sanchez
Chase Sbicca
Robert Schaefer
Claire Schoen
David Schulman
Tony Schwartz
Shea Shackelford
Harry Shearer
Jean Shepherd
Art Silverman
Joe Skyward
Judith Sloan
Sound Portraits
Susan Stamberg
Susan Stone
StoryCorps
Ian Svenonius
Matthew Swenson
Catie Talarski
Rocky Tayeh
Taylor Mali
The Professor
This American Life
This I Believe
Sandy Tolan
Transom
Andrew Turpening
UbuWeb
Nancy Updike
Luis Alberto Urrea
Nick van der Kolk
Marjorie Van Halteren
Willie Vlautin
Sarah Vowell
Benjamen Walker
Jake Warga
Chris Watson
David Weinberg
Myke Weiskopf
Western Folklife Ctr
John Widoff
Flawn Williams
Eric Winick
Youth Radio
M’lou Zahner
ZBS

HV138- Out of the Blocks

Aaron Henkin and Wendel Patrick on Greenmount AvenueHearing Voices from NPR®
138 Out of the Blocks: One City Block, Everybody’s Story
Host: Aaron Henkin of WYPR-Baltimore
Airs week of: 2012-07-04

“Out of the Blocks” (52:00 mp3):

One hour of radio, one Baltimore city block, everybody’s story:

“Out of the Blocks” (2011 / 52:00) Aaron Henkin & Wendel Patrick

What does a city block sound like? Aaron Henkin of WYPR-Baltimore and electronic/hip hop musician Wendel Patrick hit the sidewalk, spending several months documenting the stories, voices, and people who populate the 3300 block of Greenmount Avenue, in Baltimore. We go inside the hair salon, the tattoo parlor, and the check cashing business. We talk to a street preacher and homeless street people. This is a community of different nationalities, ethnicities, and religions; in other words: an All American block.

Both producers are Baltimore-based. Aaron Henkin produced the program for the WYPR series he works on, The Signal. This HV hour also features music from co-producer Wendel Patrick’s 2011 album Forthcoming. His 2007 collection is called Sound:.

More…

HV137- In the Mountains

Hearing Voices from NPR®
137 In the Mountains: Towards the Summit
Host: Barrett Golding of Hearing Voices
Airs week of: 2012-06-20

“In the Mountains” (52:00 mp3):

Heading towards the summit:

“Field recordings: Nepal” (2001 / 7:00 excerpts) quiet american

Field recordings in the Annapurna region of Nepal near Tibet, including a ceremony for the Buddha’s birthday, a few donkey trains passing in a cacophony of melodious bells; and a five-foot prayer wheel in a Buddhist gompa in Marpha.

“Chinese Gardens” (15:58) Alex Chadwick

From NPR Radio Expeditions, hidden deep in the woods of the Payette National Forest are the terraced remnants of the “Ah Toy Garden” (near the town of Warren, Idaho), now on the National Register of Historic Places. Produced by Carolyn Jensen Chadwick with sound desgin by Michael Scweppe.

“Spring Skiing” (2006 / 3:58) Scott Carrier

When most people are headed to the beach, our producer heads for the ski slopes near his home in Utah. The goal is to find a combination of freezing and thawing in the late spring that gives the mountain snow pack the singular spring skiing experience(on PRX | on NPR).

“Ascent to K2” (1996 / 19:14) Joe Frank

Attempting to climb the world’s most deadly and second highest demands extreme gear, training, timing, preparation, and a carefully selected team. Joe Frank eschews every bit of that: why make so easy? Excepted from Joe’s hour, Mountain Rain, available on CD and as an MP3. Music: “Buried At Sea” MC 900 Ft Jesus, One Step Ahead of the Spider.

K2 photo courtesy: Kevin Mayea

HV136- Where Wild Things Are

Illustration from Where the Wild Things AreHearing Voices from NPR®
136 Where Wild Things Are: Maurice Sendak Memorial
Host: Barrett Golding of Hearing Voices
Airs week of: 2012-05-30

“Where Wild Things Are” (52:00 mp3):

“Where Wild Things Are” (52:00) Peter Bochan

A memorial to recently departed cultural innovators: Beastie Boys bassist and rapper Adam Yauch — aka, “MCA,” British hairdresser and business person Vidal Sassoon, pioneer FM rock n’ roll disc jockey (WOR-FM, WNEW, WFUV, XM satellite radio) Pete Fornatale, and mostly we hear mostly we hear children’s literature author/illustrator Maurice Sendak, along with all the music and movies inspired by his 1963 classic, “Where the Wild Things Are.”

The Wild Mix (playlist below) was produced by Peter Bochan, General Manager of WPKN-Bridgeport CT, announcer WBAI-NYC NY, and mixmaster at All Mixed Up Productions. His Shortcuts and other mixes are at PRX.

We also hear music from the ballet, “Where the Wild Things Are,” by composer Randall Woolf, created with Maurice Sendak and Septime Webre for the American Repertory Ballet.

More…

HV135- Shades of Gray

A diagram of a vacuum aspiration abortion procedure at 8 weeks gestation, from WikipediaHearing Voices from NPR®
135 Shades of Gray: Life & Choice
Host: Ahri Golden of Thin Air Media
Airs week of: 2012-04-11

“Shades of Gray” (52:00 mp3):

An audio mosaic about abortion in America:

“Shades of Gray” (52:00) Jonathan Mitchell & Ahri Golden

Pro-choice. Pro-life. Most people have already chosen sides in the ongoing debate, so why revisit the issue? Shades of Gray shares a range of stories told by people young and old who have been directly affected by abortion, instead of the polemics of irreconcilable extremes. It’s a carefully crafted audio mosaic and a stark portrayal of the intensely personal nature of our relationship with abortion. This is the fair and frank discussion America rarely has but desperately needs.

Winner of the 2004 Golden Reel for National Documentary. A longer version is at PRX. Produced and original music score by Jonathan Mitchell of The Truth. Co-produced and narrated by Ahri Golden of Thin Air Media.

HV134- Close to Death

Ralph Golding's Grave, Massachusetts National CemeteryHearing Voices from NPR®
134 Close to Death: At Life’s End
Host: Barrett Golding of Hearing Voices
Airs week of: 2012-03-21

“Close to Death” (52:00 mp3):

People near the process of death and dying:

“Four Seconds” (2005 / 9:28) Jake Warga

It takes four seconds to hit the water from the Golden Gate Bridge. A year ago the producer’s friend Phil took that fatal jump. They met several years before that when Phil’s brother committed suicide (transcript).

“The Man with the White Cane” (1980 / 9:36) Josh Darsa

Herman Porter, a blind man, slipped unseen beneath a moving subway train: 90 tons of steel and electricity. (Hear Alex Chadwick’s eulogize for NPR’s pioneering producer: “Josh Darsa Obituary“.)

“”Grandmother’s Hip”” (1985 / 2:42) Carmen Delzell

Writer Carmen Delzell visit her grandmother, who broke her hip — not uncommon, says the doctor, for an 89-year-old.

“The Death of Ruth Tuck” (1986 / 24:19) Scott Carrier

Scott Carrier talks to the family, the ex-husband, the mortuary, the doctors, even the grave digger, in piecing together the memory of a life. Prodcued for New American Radio. (Scott’s most recent book is Prisoner of Zion.)

“Kaddish” (1994 / 3:26)

Messages on my the producer’s mother’s tape machine, found after his father’s death; original music by Skyward. This Kaddish is a mourner’s prayer.

HV133- Destination Unknown

Road sign reading: Changed Priorities AheadHearing Voices from NPR®
133 Destination Unknown: Getting Nowhere, Slow
Host: Barrett Golding of Hearing Voices
Airs week of: 2012-03-07

“Destination Unknown” (52:00 mp3):

Are We There Yet?:

“Zeno’s Evil” (1969 / 4:34) Firesign Theatre

Zeno’s paradox hits the highway, asking How Can You Be In Two Places At Once When You’re Not Anywhere At All?.

Too Much Information, on WFMU- logo“Remedial Theory” (2004 /13:30) Benjamen Walker

Great novels induce empathy for others’ experiences. So how is it a man now on trial for crimes against humanity is an avid fiction reader of fiction? Might he simply be reading the wrong books? We take a trip to The Hague to hand-deliver the ‘right’ books to Slobodan Milosevic. Produced with Michael Kavanagh of The Next Big Thing and HV’s Larry Massett. Ben Walker hosts WFMU’s Too Much Information, where “the sober hangover after the digital party has run out of memes, apps and schemes” (TMI playlists / archives). He also produces The Big Ideas podcast for The Guardian.

“Keep going (feat. Tony Joe White)” (2005 / 5:03) Boozoo Bajou

“Where you boys going? The swamp… you’re not from around here, are you?” Off Dust My Broom.

“Hitchhiking USA” (1983 / 22:25) Scott Carrier

Scott’s first radio piece: he and his microphone hitch from his home in Salt Lake City to the doorstep of NPR, recording the people he meets along the way (mixed by NPR’s Dawn Warneke). Scott’s most recent book is Prisoner of Zion.)

“Donna In Rio” (1989 / 2:56) ZBS Foundation

Donna, a supermarket checkout clerk, dreams of faraway places, in the ZBS radio soap, Saratoga Springs.

“Arkansas Explorer” (2003 / 2:43 excerpt) People Like Us / Matmos / Wobbly

Form the collaboration called Wide Open Spaces . Internet Archive has the entire performance: “People Like Us, Matmos and Wobbly Live at San Francisco Art Institute on 2002-10-05.”

Wobbly, People Like Us and Matmos circled their wagons in the lecture hall of the San Francisco Art Institute. Having mutually agreed upon a country-and-western theme, Vicki Bennett (PLU), Jon Leidecker (Wobbly), and Drew Daniel and M. C. Schmidt (Matmos) pored over their archives of honky-tonk classics, chopping and dicing Nashville’s finest almost beyond recognition, and collectively re-stitched the mangled shreds in crazed digital quilting bee.

“Changed Priorities” sign photo (cc) courtesy Christine.

HV132- Musicality of Speech

Musical notation of spoken word, by Diana DeutschHearing Voices from NPR®
132 Musicality of Speech: Spoken Melody
Host: Barrett Golding of Hearing Voices
Airs week of: 2012-02-15

This program contains copyrighted material not licensed for web-streaming, so we cannot offer an mp3 of this week’s episode.

A history of what composer Steve Reich calls speech-melodies:

“It’s Gonna Rain” (1966 / 1:00 excerpt)
“Come Out” (1966 / 3:00 excerpt) Steve Reich

“It’s Gonna Rain” was composed in San Francisco in January 1965. The voice belongs to a young black Pentecostal preacher who called himself Brother Walter. I recorded him along with the pigeons and traffic one Sunday afternoon in Union Square in downtown San Francisco. Later at home I started playing with tape loops of his voice and, by accident, discovered the process of letting two identical loops go gradually out of phase with each other.

In the first part of the piece the two loops are lined up in unison, gradually move completely out of phase with each other, and then slowly move back to unison. In the second part two much longer loops gradually begin to go out of phase with each other. This two-voice relationship is then doubled to four with two voices going out of phase with the other two. Finally the process moves to eight voices and the effect is a kind of controlled chaos, which may be appropriate to the subject matter – the end of the world.

“It’s Gonna Rain” is the first piece ever to use the process of gradually shifting phase relations between two or more identical repeating patterns. The second was “Come Out.” Composed in 1966, it was originally part of a benefit presented at Town Hall in New York City for the retrial, with lawyers of their own choosing, of the six boys arrested for murder during the Harlem riots of 1964. The voice is that of Daniel Hamm, now acquitted and then 19, describing a beating he took in Harlem’s 28th precinct station. The police were about to take the boys out to be “cleaned up” and were only taking those that were visibly bleeding. Since Hamm had no actual open bleeding he proceeded to squeeze open a bruise on his leg so that he would be taken to the hospital.

“I had to like open the bruise up and let some of the bruise blood come out to show them.” More…

HV131- Voices from Tahrir

On April 1, 2011, Egyptians returned to Tahrir Square in Cairo for a rally to save the revolution, photo: Platon for Human Rights Watch Hearing Voices from NPR®
131 Voices from Tahrir: Portrait of a Revolution
Host: Heba Morayef of Human Rights Watch
Airs week of: 2012-01-25

“Voices from Tahrir” (52:00 mp3):

Bread, Freedom, and Human Dignity:

“Voice from Tahrir” (52:00) Human Rights Watch

January 25, 2011. One year ago, a revolution began in Cairo’s Tahrir Square. For the next eighteen days, millions of Egyptians across the country would demonstrate in the streets, demanding the end of their 30-year dictatorship. They were inspired by Tunisians, whose protests, that same month, had forced out the authoritarian regime of President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali. Now it was time for Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak to go.

A few weeks after the protests, the advocacy group Human Rights Watch interviewed some of the organizers of the January uprising: union leaders, civil rights workers, young social media activists, family members of of murdered protestors, and mothers who brought their kids to Tahrir to clean after the protests.. These Human Rights Watch interviews provide a rare, eyewitness account of a revolution, told by the Egyptian people, the activists, human rights defenders, and bloggers who persevered during those eighteen days.

The hour features recordings made in the square by reporters and citizen jounalists from around the world, including Daniel Finnan of Radio France Internationale, Al Jazeera, Egypt Daily News, Ramy Roof, and Matthew Cassel of Just Image.org.

Music: “Erhal (Leave)” and “Laugh, Revolution” by Ramy Essam; “Ezzay? (Why?)” by Mohamed Mounir and “Gomaa Hayran (Uncertain Friday)” by Joseph & James Tawadros
from the collection Our Dreams Are Our Weapons – Soundtracks of the Revolutions in Tunisia and Egypt. Mix: Robin Wise of Sound Imagery.

More…

HV130- Shortcuts 2011

2011 graphic textHearing Voices from NPR®
130 Shortcuts 2011: A Year in An Hour
Host: Peter Bochan of WPKN-FM
Airs week of: 2012-01-11

“Shortcuts 2011” (52:00 mp3):

“Shortcuts 2011” (52:00) Peter Bochan

A retrospective of the past twelve months featuring Queen Elizabeth, Occupy Wall Street, The Arab Spring, the death of Osama Bin-Laden, the extreme weather conditions that caused nuclear accidents in Japan, flooding in the North East and fires across Texas, politicians like Rick Perry, Michelle Bachman, Ron Paul and Herman Cain making us proud, Michael Moore, Guido Sarducci, Charlie Sheen, Ali G, Newt Gingrich with music from PJ Harvey, Ry Cooder, Fleet Foxes, Bright Eyes, The Coasters, Bruce Springsteen, Gil Scott-Heron, Ashford & Simpson, John Barry, Tosca, Maceo Plex, Mickie & Sylvia, The Drifters, Amy Winehouse, Marvin Gaye & Tammi Terrell and many others.

Tributes to Steve Jobs, Jerry Leiber, Nick Ashford, Andy Rooney, Joe Frasier, Gil Scott Heron, Hubert Sumlin, Wild Man Fischer, Amy Winehouse, Clarence Clemons, Harry Morgan, Sylvia Robinson, Carl Gardner, Wildman Fischer, Phoebe Snow, Jack Lalane, and others

Produced by Peter Bochan, General Manager of WPKN-Bridgeport CT, announcer WBAI-NYC NY, and mixmaster at All Mixed Up Productions. His Shortcuts and other mixes are at PRX.

Some of the music in the hour:
“The Glorious Land” PJ Harvey – Let England Shake
“No Banker Left Behind” Ry Cooder – Pull Up Some dust and Sit Down
“Firewall” Bright Eyes – Firewall
“My First” Tosca – No Hassle
“Helplessness Blues” Fleet Foxes – Helplessness Blues
“Poetry Man” Phoebe Snow (Phoebe Ann Laub, July 17, 1950 – April 26, 2011) – Phoebe Snow
“Jungleland (live)” Bruce Springsteen- Born to Run
(Clarence Anicholas Clemons, Jr., January 11, 1942 – June 18, 2011)
“You Know I’m No Good (live)” Amy Winehouse (14 September 1983 – 23 July 2011)
“Love is Strange” Mickey & Sylvia (Sylvia Robinson, March 6, 1936 – September 29, 2011)
“I’m New Here” Gil Scott-Heron (April 1, 1949 – May 27, 2011) – I’m New Here

Songs by Jerry Leiber (April 25, 1933 – August 22, 2011) and Mike Stoller:
“Three Cool Cats” The Coasters
“Kansas City” Wilbert Harrison
“Smokey Joe’s Cafe” – The Robins (Coasters)
“Spanish Harlem” Ben E. King (Jerry Leiber and Phil Spector)

Songs by Nickolas Ashford (May 4, 1941 – August 22, 2011) & Valerie Simpson:
“Ain’t No Mountain High Enough” Marvin Gaye & Tammi Terrell
“Solid” Ashford & Simpson – Solid

2011 graphic from Tennessee State Parks.

HV129- HanukkahChristmashup

Jesus and Mary with red paint, sculptural relief on a Jerusalem building, photo by Jake WargaHearing Voices from NPR®
129 HanukkahChristmashup: Season’s Greets and Beats
Host: Barrett Golding of Hearing Voices
Airs week of: 2011-12-21

“HanukkahChristmashup” (52:00 mp3):

Mixes and mashes and seasonal samples, and song stories:

“Christmas Eve In Afghanistan, Again” (2010 / 3:30) Quil Lawrence

NPR talks to troops in a U.S. military hospital at Bagram Air Base, outside of Kabul. Quil Lawrence interviewed Sergeant Wallace Trahan, Sergeant Aaron Kelly, Sergeant Zachary Scoskie, and Colonel Diane Huey. Mix: Jim Wildman. Music: W.G. Snuffy Walden “The First Noel” Windham Hill Holiday Guitar Collection.

“Please Be Patient” (2009 / 2:23) Feist
The Colbert Report Mon – Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c
A Colbert Christmas: Feist Sings
www.colbertnation.com
Colbert Report Full Episodes Political Humor & Satire Blog Video Archive
“Christmas Greeting From Space” (1968 ) Astronaut Frank Borman

From the Apollo 8 capsule, December 24, 1968.

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HV128- Prisoners of War

1942 photos of US Army soldiers Cliff Austin, Harrison Burney, Bill Busier, and Robert NortonHearing Voices from NPR®
128 Prisoners of War: Battle of the Bulge
Host: Erica Heilman of Vermont Folklife Center
Airs week of: 2011-12-14

“Prisoners of War” (52:00 mp3):

Four American soldiers share their WWII experiences, before, during, and after their time in a German POW camp:

“Prisoners of War” (2004 / 52:00) Gregory Sharrow & Erica Heilman

Produced for the Vermont Folklife Center: In December 1944 the Allies were closing in on Germany. Hitler had a desperate plan to save the Third Reich, a massive assault he believed would so demoralize that the Allies, they would seek a separate peace, leaving only the Russian army on the eastern front. On December 16 the Germans unleashed an offensive that would become the most brutal battle of the European war: the Battle of the Bulge. Nineteen thousand Americans were killed, about the same number were taken prisoner. We hear from four Americans soldiers about their time in — before, during and after — a German POW camp: Cliff Austin, Harrison Burney, Bill Busier, and Robert Norton.

VFC Radio published a transcript and a CD of “Prisoners of War.” Harrison Burney wrote “From The Bowels of Hell, a soldier’s memoir of World War II, 1944-1945 (143k PDF). Music: “Reitba” and “Concerto No. 3 for Double-Bass and Piano,” composed and performed by cellist Francois Rabbath; “String Quartet in C Major”, the second movement in the “Emperor” by Franz Joseph Haydn, performed by the Concord String Quartet; and “St James Infirmary” from pianist Allen Toussaint’s The Bright Mississippi.

More…