Audio theatre

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Audio theatre is a generic term for a modern art form which is disseminated in various media. It had its greatest flowering on radio (see radio drama), before television was introduced, during the period known as the Golden Age of Radio, and as a result has often been called "Radio Theatre" although as a form, it is independent of its medium.

Contents

1 Characteristics
2 History
3 Audio Theatre Today
4 Production
5 Distribution
6 External links
7 See also

Characteristics

Some points to remember are:

#Audio theatre is the best name for a distinct art form, as valid as novels, paintings, or movies.

#Audio theatre is an entire entertainment industry, like magazines or television.

#Audio theatre is older than radio, but is just being discovered by many people.

#Audio theatre is a valid and current creative medium for creators, producers, performers, publishers, broadcasters, retailers, and especially, for listeners.

#Audio theatre is the most cost-effective performance art in the world, in terms of the resources needed to create a world-class production and reach a mass audience.

Audio theatre is a linear form, spinning a yarn of time for the listener from four elements:

#Speech - which gives information, and presents human characterizations

#Music - which has a direct impact on the emotions, and is often knowingly so used. Music can also function as “stage curtains,” signalling beginnings, endings, and transitions in time, space, or mood..

#Sound Effects - which help the imagination to paint pictures in one’s head. These include “spot” effects like telephones ringing or guns firing; “background” or “ambiance” effects such as a city street or a forest full of birds; or acoustic cues involving the apparent size of a space, or apparent distance and (in stereo) position from the listener’s point of view.

#Silence - in the sense of timing.

Audio theatre is not audiobooks, or “talking books.” because those are not theatrical presentations. Merely reading a story aloud does not make it a piece of theatre; it still remains a piece which was created for the printed page.

History

Audio theatre has deep roots, building on very old traditions of storytelling and stage presentation. In the 1880s, theatre performances were heard over the telephone. By the 1890s, sales of phonograph recordings were booming. For hot products, recording companies turned to well-known performers from Variety, Vaudeville, Chautauqua, Minstrel Shows, etc. Musical acts were obvious first choices, but the non-musical “sketch” acts weren’t far behind. Words were added to describe scenes, and set up sight-, now sound-gags. Sound effects and music were adapted from stage technique, and audio theatre was born – years before sound was first broadcast over the radio! Called (and thought of) as “Radio Theatre,” it became the hottest mass-entertainment art form of the ‘20s, ‘30s, and ‘40s, now called the Golden Age of Radio.

In 1962, CBS suspended its last regular weekly series of network radio drama (until the advent of the CBS Radio Mystery Theater), but today this Old-Time Radio (OTR) is popular again on recordings. In other countries, radio networks such as the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation and the BBC's Radio 7 continue to commission and broadcast radio plays. In the US, new productions are gaining popularity via XM Radio's "Sonic Theater" and on a growing number of community radio stations.

New technical developments in audio, including “hi-fi” and stereo, have opened huge new possibilities. Creators like Stan Freberg, Cheech and Chong and especially The Firesign Theatre, made two major contributions to the development of the form:

#They began to use the newly available tools of multitrack recording, overdubbing, and mixdown for convenience, efficiency, and precision control far beyond what is possible “live.”

#They accepted from the outset that this new material was intended to be heard primarily from recordings. Therefore, the listener had the opportunity to listen to part or all of the piece more than once. Significantly, the producer need not take pains to make certain the listener has followed every aspect and nuance before moving on: it’s OK if the listener has something new to discover in repeated listenings.

The Midwest Radio Theatre Workshop, now the [National Audio Theatre Festival] has trained and inspired hundreds of new young talents since 1980. By 2001, sales of audiobooks, OTR programs, and the popularity of talk radio made it clear that there is a very large audience for spoken-word entertainment.

Audio Theatre Today

As the 21st Century begins, audio theatre appears to be growing and changing. Computer technology has made the audio engineering and production aspects easier and less expensive.

One result of this is the growth of fan-based audio dramas. An audio version of fanfic, these are original productions based on existing characters from literature, television, or movies. These are usually created without permission from creators or copyright holders of the works on which they are based. Such productions are often made available via podcasting.

Another result of new technology is the ability for experienced producers to do more with the medium than ever before. Advancements in microphones, mic techniques, and recorded media, allow subtlety in performance which could not be attempted during the "golden age of radio", and advancements in computer-based audio production software allow for easier editing and post-production than previously available, allowing for a wider variety of sound design options.

Production

Three basic production methods are in use, singly or in combination, today:

Live Performance: where actors, sound effects performers, engineers and musicians gather and perform the script in real time, either in a sound studio or in a theatre with an audience.

Multitrack Studio: where voices are recorded separately, edited, and assembled in a multitrack environment in a sound studio or using computer-software. Music and other sounds are added on separate tracks, and all these elements are mixed and edited together to achieve the final result.

Location Production: where a single microphone is used as a movie camera, and the actors perform many of their own sound effects (footsteps, doors, telephones, etc.) as they read the lines. Scenes are “shot” in various locations outside the studio, capturing the characteristic acoustic responses and background ambience of different places.

Computer-based Production: This is a version of multitrack production. Computer technology has allowed performanced to be recorded and edited entirely within the computer. This ranges from productions recorded with professional equipment (microphones, mic-pres or boards, and pro sound cards) to productions with performances recorded with computer microphones, or over the phone, and assembled in the computer.

Distribution

Mostly, these days, the works are distributed as recordings, which allow the production to be enjoyed at a time and place of the listener’s choosing. The Internet is creating new channels of distribution, and there is also a resurgence of broadcast audio theatre.

Starting on the telephone and the wax cylinder, but achieving its biggest audience over radio broadcast, Audio Theatre returns to popularity on its original media: recordings, and telephone wires. Having come full circle, Audio Theatre is here to stay.

External links

General:

[National Audio Theater Festivals]
[Audio Theater dot com]
[Lodestone Audio Theater Catalog]
[Dramapod.com] Audio Drama Podcast Directory
[Genesis and Renaissance: A Brief History of Audio Theatre]
[Audio Theatre: The Next Step in Audio Publishing]

Individual Productions/Producers:

[Darker Projects]: Audio Theater in a Darker Shade
[Perdition City web audio drama. DaveFilms dot US]
[The One Act Players]
[ZBS Media]
[Radio Onslaught]