(Justin Via is a second-year student at The Creative Circus in Atlanta. The spot’s copywriter is Steve Nathans, also a student at The Creative Circus.)

Radio’s Tunnel Of Love – Can It Win Awards?
By Justin Via

Echo… echo. Oh the sound of a student produced radio spot. Well, that’s at least what I’ve heard during my 1 year and 6 months at The Creative Circus, a portfolio school for Copywriters, Art Directors, Designers and Photographers in Atlanta, GA. The echo I speak of is the tunnel effect. It occurs when audio is recorded into a sub par microphone, which for students is typically their MacBook’s built-in mic.

So, why am I talking about the echo?

Towards the end of my Writing for Radio class, one of my peers and I decided to enter a spot in the Radio Mercury Awards. But he made a good point: all the past Mercury winners sounded professionally produced. We wondered if we had the resources to compete at that level, because the sad fact is, bad production kills good writing. Radio’s foundation is the theater of the mind, so if your scene isn’t set in the tunnel of love, it shouldn’t sound like it.

Two guys sneak in some studio time.

Not everybody has the luxury of a professional studio, so I’ll give some pointers on how that can be overcome. But first, we did have access, only to still lack professional voice talent. So we winged it. S teve Nathans, the writer of the spot, voiced the male character, while Leslie Smith voiced the female character from her house in Alabama. Keep in mind we’re in Atlanta, so we recorded her right out of the telephone speaker. Nice, right? And for the closing voice over, I gave it the good ‘ole serious/fun guy approach. Then we listened to the spot over and over again, and presto, a finished spot.

Now come the critiques.

A quick lesson about critiques. People will say this, and people will say that. So listen, always listen. If you hear anything of value take it, then go back to what your gut is saying. During our critiques, our peers and professor let us know what they liked, and what they didn’t like. In the end though, we went with our gut and won. Check it out, it’s the 2007 Student Winner titled BMW “Roadside Assistance”.

First, you need killer copy with a big idea. Then once the hard part is over, comes the even harder part. Finding talent to execute the voice over. Not just anybody can sound like Jerry Seinfeld, gargling Listerine in an airplane. So I suggest finding the most outgoing people. That way, you spend less time pulling them out of their shell, and more time getting the lines right.

Overcome your lack of studio, and time.

1st tip: Garage band works great for simple editing. Adobe Edition and Soundtrack Pro are for more in depth editing, and are fairly easy to use.

2nd tip: Buy a USB microphone. It hooks right up to your computer for quick and easy recording. If you can’t afford one, record inside a car or in the middle of a big room to help eliminate echo. When speaking into your built in mic, step back and project your voice. Don’t yell, but act as if you’re trying to talk over a passing train.

3rd tip: My friend and mentor Doug Zanger taught me this one. It’s not perfect, but it’s pretty damn close. :30’s are about 90 words long. :60’s are about 180. This should eliminate novel-length radio scripts. Now when you’re writing, you’ll be in the ballpark without having to time yourself. Of course, this changes if you are using alot of audio “white space” in your spot, but you get the idea.

Well, back to school and I hope aspiring radio creatives and students were able to find something useful in being able to avoid the “tunnel of love” when working on radio.