For this project, I created an interview about my first band. Amy was kind enough to play the role of the interviewer and asked some great questions, which were very fun to answer. This idea relates to my course topic as the theme of the course topic is music, specifically my music career.
Design influences for me were all the great interviewers’ companies that cover music, particularly bands in the niche genres that I listen to, as well as podcasts like Metal Talks on Spotify. I listened to other interviews in a similar space to this as well as read articles of the same nature to understand the elements that they used to answer similar questions.
The design process started with doing an initial self-interview. I asked for some feedback and when talking through the idea, it became obvious that it was less coherent than I wanted. I wanted to tell a story that had a narrative arc, which is difficult to do in less than two minutes.
a story that. I created the audio tracks using my iPhone 7 and the voice memo app. The process for constructing the recording in Adobe Audition was to place the interview questions, place the answers, they chop them up to fit within the time frame. I mainly used the razor tool in order to edit the track.
I had no issues with the program itself, I’ve been doing audio engineering for 15 years, this is a relatively basic version of the programs that I typically use. I tend to prefer more expansive toolsets, like those found in Pro Tools, but for doing a basic edit job with single tracks, not having to work with racking or layering, it worked well.
The interviewer in this recording is Amy Johnson, who approved of me using her voice in the interview. The rest of the interview are answers provided by me.
Wright Songs 
Hey Taylor,
Enjoyed the interview. I am a lifelong musician myself! Currently in a doom metal band (sleep-esque) myself, I understood everything you said! I have had the same exact experience when it comes to band practice and recording. My mom was nice enough to let my first few bands practice in her house. Of course we had to move all the beds and furniture out of the way….this is not a unique experience I suppose! A few suggestions, it would be nice if you included some sound effects somewhere in the interview. The audio seems to be trimmed nicely, but it also seems that there is no breathing room. It kind of jumps and jolts between questions. A small gap here and there (maybe with some original audio from your band?) would be nice. Starting and ending the interview with some original audio could be cool too. This is what I did with my project, recorded a small little harmonic riff and added a small effect. Either way, great job, sounds like youre on your way to a great final draft.
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Hello Taylor,
Your audio story is nearly perfect. I am also very passionate about music and play some instruments in my free time. As you have mentioned, you have been using the pro-version of such audio software for several years which gives me surety that this basic editing would be a piece of cake for you. And, I guess this is the reason why your audio story draft seems like a final version.
I really do not know what are the two things that I can point out for you to work on your audio story. One simple change that you can make is too give a little pause after your answers. I can totally understand that we have to do this assignment with in 2 minutes and I guess that is the reason for this fast-paced interview.
Overall, wonderful job! Kudos!
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Hey Taylor,
It was nice to listen to your interview. One of the first things I noticed about your interview was that the band that you were interviewing didn’t introduce themselves. It would be nice to know who you are interviewing. For the interview maybe you can do a short introduction describing who you are interviewing and where they are from.
One aspect that I think you really excelled in your First Band Interview was the cleanliness of the breakaways between you and the other person that you were interviewing. The whole interview was really smooth and you did a great job managing the volumes so that it felt as if you were interviewing the band member in person, instead of being edited with Adobe Audition.
Overall you have a great topic and seem to have a great understanding of the program.
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Hi all,
Thank you for the feedback. For the final project, I am going to add some background sounds. I may try and chop out a little more of the interview content and add a little more space so it seems a little less rushed. I agree that having Amy introduce the topic would add to the overall product, so I will do my best to fit that in as well. I really appreciate all the really nice feedback. I loved hearing everyone’s stories about their musical journey as well, it’s always nice to hear that other musicians have had similar experiences, it’s what binds us all together in the music community. I may try and use the old recordings in the background, the only issue with that is the quality of the tracking. I don’t have the masters anymore, so I can’t pull the vocals out so the it may distract from the answers. I may try and do a basic recording of some of the old tracks, so the audience can get a feel of what the styles of songs we were playing, particularly the acoustic tracks. Playing metal behind tracks is great for me but it doesn’t always have mass appeal.
-Taylor C. Wright
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Hello Taylor! I like that you chose music as your topic and had a friend who was willing to be an interviewer for you! Being able to make sure each response is exactly how you want it to be gives you more freedom than those of us who interviewed other people. I can’t tell you how many “umms” I cut out of one of my interviews and that was still the best response! One minor thing I noticed is that the audio volume/quality changes slightly from question to answer and vice versa. I had the same issue because I had to record over a period of time which required stopping and starting. The only real solution to this is to just spend more time listening and adjusting the volume levels, but it isn’t too noticeable. You answer quite a few questions in a short amount of time making the project both concise and full of interesting information for listeners! I do recommend you add some sort of music or backing to the project, perhaps something involving metal? It would make the intro attract more attention as well. I look forward to what you come up with for your final project!
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