Sound & Spirit FAQ
Sound & Spirit Team
Top Row: Jon Solins, Ellen Kushner, Helen Barrington
Bottom Row: Gary Mott, Joellen Easton, Jeff Nelson
Ever wonder how a program on Sound & Spirit is produced? The Sound & Spirit team takes you behind the scenes and answers some of your most frequently asked questions.
Introduction
Where do you get the ideas for your shows?
How do you do research?
How do you make the show 59 minutes every time?
How long does it take to make a show?
What does the producer do?
At the end of the show, you always credit the engineers. What do they do?
What's your favorite part of working on Sound & Spirit?
Introduction
Helen Barrington (Producer):
I've been producing Sound
& Spirit since autumn of 1998 and I feel so privileged to be working
on a program of this caliber. Each show has a unique life of its own,
created out of ideas from people on the staff and based on material from
numerous sources. It's stimulating, engaging, educational and most of
all, fun!
We wanted to give you a glimpse into how the show is made and answer some questions we hear frequently about what we do in the "Spirit Lodge."
Where do you get the ideas for your shows?
Jon Solins (Executive Producer):
There's little that happens in our lives that couldn't become a
Sound & Spirit program ... it's precisely looking at how we live
everyday and the big questions our daily living calls forth that makes
thinking about the program so intriguing.
The decisions we make, the causes we care about, the traditions we uphold or discard -- pretty much everything we do, grand or petty -- relates to some larger question of human belief, heritage, moral or spiritual or ethical choice. It's not all life or death issues -- even how you have fun has its roots somewhere in your past, or your culture's past. So the ideas are everywhere. Finding the right combination of words and music, focusing on a specific point of view, and sifting through mountains of material -- often deciding what not to include -- is always the challenge.
Ellen Kushner (Host):
Sometimes it's the music that drives
us, and other times it's an idea: an article we've read, a conversation
we've had with a friend, a knotty question or an aesthetic delight. The
trick is finding just the right balance of music and ideas to make a
good 59-minute broadcast! Sometimes we'll start a file on something,
adding pieces of music or information as they turn up. It can take
months, even years, but eventually that file reaches a certain thickness
... we take it out, and voila! A show is ready to be born.
Jeff Nelson (Research Associate):
They come out of the
human religious imagination: We look at all of the ways humans have
answered Life's Big Questions and eventually ideas for interesting shows
start popping up.
Joellen Easton (Production Secretary):
We also do our best
to keep abreast of the new CDs that come in, and when a song or album
fits into show ideas that have been simmering, a program emerges. If a
lot of recordings on a particular theme start showing up, then we figure
that a program might be due. And then there are shows like
Flowers, which actually grew out of an earlier show on
Gardens. In writing the Gardens show, Ellen found more
great music about individual flowers than we could fit in the program.
Flowers was a natural choice.
How do you do research?
Joellen:
Jeff and I explore libraries and the Web, and we
all look through our own music collections. Then we have a brainstorm
meeting, where we bring as much to the table as we can, tossing music
and ideas around for about two hours. Sometimes we get so excited about
all the available options that we stray from the core of the idea. Jon
(the executive producer) is always there to bring us back in line!
Jeff:
Take Flowers, for instance: We found books
like Sacred Flowers and A Medieval Flower Garden. We
looked up "flowers" in The Encyclopedia of Religion, The
Dictionary of Folklore, Mythology and Legend, and A
Dictionary of Biblical Tradition in English Literature (some of our
favorite reference books on the Sound & Spirit shelves). For specific flowers,
such as roses, lilies and the lotus, we knew there would be lots of
material -- so I went to the Harvard University Libraries to do
research.
Ellen:
It's hard to imagine even starting a show unless
someone already has a pretty good idea of several strong themes and
pieces of music to explore. I'd also like to give credit to various
friends and relations whom I call or write at the last minute to ask for
one last fact or pronunciation! Sometimes I'll send out an APB well in
advance to a long list of pals around the country, asking them to
suggest their favorite song on a given topic.
Jon:
I love to browse ... Internet searches, library
shelves, my old LPs, poetry anthologies. I hope to find something
interesting and unusual to add to the mix.
How do you make the show 59 minutes every time?
Helen:
It's not quite magic, but an intricately timed
interweaving of Ellen's recorded voice and the music. Here's what
happens ...
Gary Mott (Associate Producer):
It's a multi-step process:
Ellen and Helen edit the script, and preliminary aesthetic suggestions are discussed (where the featured music should fade in/out, which pieces should be featured in their entirety, etc.).
Ellen records the script.
I edit the recorded script and determine the precise time it takes for Ellen to present each section.
Helen:
I then work with a template that counts down from 59:00. It's actually "borrowed" from a soap opera producer who used it for television. This way I can enter the timings of Ellen's spoken segments, to get a rough feel for how long she talks. At this point, I add the music, knowing that there will be featured music, which will be longer, and other music, which will be shorter. I devote several hours to this, and sometimes I realize we have to cut a section.
Once I have a rough idea of how long I want things to be, Gary and I "prep" the program I'll mix in studio, listening to how I propose the music to come and go and how this sounds with Ellen's voice. This process helps us judge the decisions I've made, what I might need to change or re-work and gives me some idea of what the program (including the pacing -- how much talk to how much music) will sound like.
Then I spend 3 to 4 hours in a studio with an engineer and we mix the talk and music elements together onto digital tape.
Gary:
I take what's been recorded, load it into a computer
with sound editing software, and "cut" the program down to 59 minutes.
This requires making music and text edits. The audio editing process
can take from three to ten hours: some programs require very little
post-production, and come together easily, but others can require
time-consuming music edits, or other complex edits. Sound & Spirit is a
"59-minute show": Due to the complexity of the production, programs can
range from 58:30 - 59:00.
How long does it take to make a show?
Jon:
When Sound & Spirit first went on the air, we
were producing like crazy, turning out a new program about every other
week! On any given week, we would have one show in the brainstorm stage,
one in research, one in writing, one in production, etc. The total cycle
took about 6 weeks. We now operate at a slightly saner pace, but that's
still about how long it takes once we formally get going on a particular
topic. Many ideas will take much longer to mature; however, we'll
discuss them, open a file, and begin accumulating material that some
months later will finally reach critical mass, at which point we'll
decide to go ahead and put the formal production process in motion.
Ellen:
I once sat down and counted on my fingers that it
took a staff of 6 people well over 80 hours of labor to create the hour
you hear on the air!
What does the producer do?
Helen:
"Producer" is a term that means something different
for every radio program. In my case, I'm kind of a sound designer and
stage manager rolled into one. My primary duties are working with Ellen
on scripts, preparing and mixing the show and doing promotional
activities to get the show increased national visibility.
At the end of the show, you always credit the engineers. What do they do?
Helen:
In my opinion, engineers are artists. They help me
to accomplish sonically what I imagine in my head. I look to them for
opinions on how things sound even though sometimes we disagree!
Occasionally I want to do something complex, like mix several different
musical compositions, or look for a certain effect. I couldn't
accomplish this without their training and knowledge -- and let's face
it, I couldn't make the program without them, since they run the
equipment. But it's more than that. They're part of the team.
What's your favorite part of working on Sound & Spirit?
Ellen:
I really relish the chance to learn something new
with each show. Over the past few years, I've absorbed a lot more than I
realized about the variety of cultures and music in the world; I find
myself spouting weird facts in restaurants, and recognizing obscure
tunes. Being exposed to so much cultural wealth, I think it's given me a
new perspective on the respect we genuinely owe to all human beings.
The other thing I love about the show is the listeners! We get the most amazing mail from people -- not just saying "I love your show" (though that, of course, is nice), but actually picking up the dialogue where each show leaves off. It makes me feel like I'm in a long conversation with a larger slice of America.
When I'm visiting communities, people treat me like an old friend. I really feel that Sound & Spirit fans have so much in common, they should form supper clubs or something; I know they would really like each other as much as I do!
Jeff:
One of the things I really enjoy about working on a
Sound & Spirit program is becoming totally immersed in a subject. I
find it a challenge to find out everything I can about a topic we've
chosen -- music, poetry, stories and myths from around the world and
through the ages, rituals, artwork, dances and even recipes. There is an
actual feeling I have about most subjects, a point when I feel that we
have enough information -- not just ideas, but feelings, emotions and
experiences. When the material we've gathered rings true, then we're
ready to make the program. Becoming engrossed with all of this, to the
point where I'm ready to burst, I feel alive and I know that we're doing
something truly significant. I can't wait to hear back from listeners
who receive our final product.
Helen:
Working in radio has always been about
communicating. With Sound & Spirit, I feel I'm part of making
something that has meaning for me and the people who hear the show. What
a great opportunity! I always try to keep the listener's perspective in
mind when I'm working on the pacing of a show, because in radio you only
get to hear something once and if you miss it, it's gone.
Gary:
What I like about Sound & Spirit is the fact
that each program is a work of art, and like any great art, needs to be
experienced again and again to absorb the full meaning the artist
intended. So, as a technician, I enjoy listening to old programs, and
recalling the hours it took to assemble the program, marrying the voice
and music, and the editing decisions of the audio that were made. As an
artist, I find the most enjoyment in hearing a complex hour of radio
that is the culmination of many months of hard work.
Joellen:
Working on this program is always an
education! I love exploring different cultures and discovering links
between peoples, and sharing these links with our audience. Whenever it
comes to understanding and embracing spiritual traditions on an
emotional, non-intellectual level, it takes a while to wrap myself
around it, but when I get it, it's always an "aha!" moment. I seem to be
able to relate it to whatever is going on in my life.
Jon:
All of the above! I always hope for (and usually
experience) two kinds of reactions when I listen to our shows. First,
the learning part -- the "I didn't know that!" response. It's a thrill
to discover new thoughts and ideas, to make the connections and broaden
my horizons. Second, the emotional kick -- I believe in the power of
radio to make a direct frontal impact on the listener, and when Sound & Spirit
is doing its best, that belief is confirmed again and again. Suddenly, I
find myself compelled by what I'm hearing to stop being just a
listener and start being a participant. I'm feeling as well as thinking
-- my heartbeat or my memory bank will react and those delicious
involuntary surges of emotion will take over. Listeners tell us it's
like that for them, too. That's how we know we're doing our job.
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