Category Archives: spring25bond

“My mind is exploding with sound”

On Monday and Tuesday nights we listened to the BBC adaptation of Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep on ds106radio. We had great participation on Monday, and only one person showed up on Tuesday, but there were still many valuable insights and observations about how sound was used to drive the storytelling.

It was noted how simple sounds, like paper shuffling on a desk, let the listener visualize the scene. An echo on a voice indicates the size of a room. The sound of rain on a car roof shows us the scene. We can even hear the type of shoes:

an image of a Discord chat saying: "There are also two different footstep sounds" "She’s wearing pumps" "those details help us see the story" "Yes! I hear the 2 different foot steps in the background"There were also background sounds, hums and metallic drones, that had interesting effects. In some cases they gave a futuristic impression, like in the corporate headquarters. Other times, they subtly raised the tension in scenes. The presence of background sound throughout simultaneously kept our minds attuned to sound but also made it almost subliminal. Moon Graffiti excelled at this as well, exemplified by the point where the astronauts put on their helmets. You could visualize what was happening by the way their voices changed with the helmets on.

One of the challenges of audio storytelling is exposition. How do you show what’s going on, using dialogue, without it seeming forced? The BBC production, along with some versions of Blade Runner, used voice-over narration to do some of the work. There was a conversation between JR Isadore and Pris where JR casually mentioned “It’s my apartment after all,” which told a lot about what was going on in the situation.

I got a time-warp feeling from the production. The detective style dialogue and narration sounded like 40s noir. The music interludes were late 60s classic rock. The post-apocalyptic setting and the android technology were futuristic, but some clues in the script put the setting between 1988 and 1993. The novel was published in 1968, and one listener connected that to the music.

Another listener said this was a great activity. The idea actually came from a ds106 student, back when we did Wire106. It was suggested that we live-tweet an episode. We did, and everyone saw a benefit to having that synchronous conversation. So we’ve continued it ever since. The point here is we welcome your ideas. The best parts of ds106 come from student input.

Missed Information

MsMapex: “#tdc4408 Message in the sky! …” – ds106 Social

The Daily Create 4408

Message in the sky!
I was trying to think of something funny or clever. Then I thought of miss communication. In the story the brave little tailor is excited about killing flies and the towns people think he is bragging about giants. I think the tailor would definitely pay for this sign.

dr oblivion is part cyborg now

Radio Show Ideas

I would like to have a radio show with Dr Ravioli, Marie E. Pearl, and Lady Alice Smythe. They can discuss mopeds, world domination, and why a cat would marry a lobster. Marie can be trying to pet Ravioli constantly and being neutral on all topics. Alice and Ravioli can argue about mopeds. Alice insisting, they are terrible and Ravioli singing their praises. Marie can just keep agreeing with both points of view. Alice can try to constantly to one up the cat while Dr Ravioli ignores her because he is a cat. Marie can lecture about being nice and then sort of fade into the background. Ravioli can throw his life experiences into the mix to prove what point he is making since he is the oldest. We could throw in a conversation about AI and weather that would improve mopeds or not.

Another Idea for a radio show would be Dr. Ravioli talking to any of the robot characters trying to convince them to be turned into a moped.

All the AI enthusiasts do a radio show to raise money for the cause. I noticed there are several AI developers on the characters list and a televangelist. They could do a recruitment show.

Radio 106

by Andrew Johnson

ds106 Radio: The broadcast I listened to was called Norah Jones Border Lord. I found this story very amusing with the android (Rachel) and the human (Rick) having a interment relationship. It was kinda a weird story and I didn’t enjoy it much.

dr oblivion is part cyborg now

Week 4 in the Books

There were only audio assignments to do this week! This week, I began by downloading Audacity, an audio-editing application I had never used previously, and getting acquainted with it. I then created a free Soundcloud account, albeit it turns out that I didn’t actually have one (I thought I did). After seeing “Moon Graffiti” and the two brief videos by Radio Lab’s Jad Abumrad, I published a blog post that may be found at Audio Reflection. Basically, these videos let me realize that storytelling is about more than just words and pictures. People’s creativity is often sparked by a lack of images. After that, I made my radio bumper, which I heard at around eight pm on Monday on the ds106 radio station. Making this and experimenting with Audacity, Freesounds, and my own script was enjoyable. My bumper’s soundcloud and blog are both available at Radio Bumper. After that, I finished the sound effect story, which was actually rather difficult, in my opinion. Who could imagine telling a story without any words or images? Though you can view mine at Sound Effect Story, I really liked how mine came out. After that, I worked on a breaking report for my course character that was based on a bank assignment. I created the AI-generated film using Colossyan, which was a lot of fun and added a nice little twist to the live of my course character. The blog that can be seen at Breaking News Report. Making a spooky and relaxing audio sound was the goal for the next two audio assignments I selected from the bank. I was able to locate a wide variety of noises using freesounds for both tasks; the blogs for those assignments are located at Spooky Season Audio and at Relax and Listen. I only used Audacity to import sounds that I already knew were calming or spooky. I completed the three audio assignments from the assignment bank that were asked of us, utilizing both the AI theme and my course character.  Next, on Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday, I finished the Daily Creates at these links:  Sunday: Daily Create #1, Monday: Daily Create #2, and Tuesday:Daily Create #3. As I’ve said before, the daily creates always get my mind working, even though they can be difficult to come up with ideas for at times. I continued by leaving comments on around four of my classmates’ blogs. I usually love this part of the week because I get to see how other people interpret the assignments and how they’re coming along with their own work. Many of my students have excellent ideas, which motivates me to strive for excellence in my own work as well. Following this, I jotted down any ideas I had for a brainstorm radio show. Right now, I’m going to collaborate with Rishi Shankar, and we want to incorporate our course characters. You can read my post at Brainstorming Radio Ideas. This week came to an end with me listening to the ds106 radio. My thoughts are available at DS106 Radio Thoughts. Since I wouldn’t be able to see what was happening, I basically learned to focus on the noises and little elements of the live story we were told through only sounds. I had to be attentive and take note of whatever I could. 

This week, I had no trouble finishing the assignments. This week’s work that I enjoyed the most was coming up with ideas for radio shows for both Rishi and my course character. I’ve mentioned it before, but working with the course character is a lot of fun because I get to decide everything that occurs to him. I believed that the concepts I came up with for the radio show would be excellent topics for Rishi and me to discuss. I hope to work on the assignment in the future; it should be enjoyable. 

Honestly, there is nothing that I would change. I think I completed each task as effectively and uniquely as possible. I don’t have any other questions. As of now, everything was finished correctly, therefore there aren’t any major issues with my work.

dr oblivion is part cyborg now

DS106 Radio Thoughts

Attending the Monday live listening session with ds106 radio station was my final task for the week. I regretfully can’t make it to the live listening sessions on Tuesday and Wednesday, but I still learned a lot and will share it below.  It was also really great to hear my bumper at the start of the radio show. 

I was definitely drawn in by the live listening experience of the Blade Runner-inspired tale “Do Androids Dream of Electric Sleep.” The story seems to take place in San Francisco after a nuclear war, specifically in a post-apocalyptic world. The time range is established by allusions to “back in 88” and “before 1993,” as Professor Bond pointed out in our discord chat. The story was both incredibly old and futuristic at the same time, which I thought was interesting. We can visualize each scenario and what’s happening in our minds because to the abundance of noises in this first section. Along with that, sounds used during transitions indicate that the scene is probably changing. Footstep noises indicate what’s happening because there are two distinct footstep sounds, and we can determine what kind of shoes someone might be wearing. Small details like this enable us to visualize the scene in our minds. The size of a room can also be determined by the echoing footsteps.

I believe I’ve come to understand the significance of sound in setting the mood for our creative thinking after hearing this narrative and listening to the ds106 radio station. There are countless ways to communicate a story, one of which is by audio. I became more aware of how sound affects how we understand a tale after listening to this one. 

If you ever get a chance listen to DS106 radio, here: https://listen.ds106rad.io.