Overall Review

Admittedly my podcast Hasn't quite turned out how I thought it would. The have been a few changes due to circumstance and access difficulties which I mentioned earlier in my blog. However After tweaking a few things and making the final adjustments so that the transitions run smoothly, the podcast gives a short snapshot into the life of and countryman working with the Hunt. It educates the audience about what the responsibilities are of the huntsman and how the ban has affected them.  

Paper Edit

1. Spring day sound
2. Fox Howling
3. Hunting horn
4. Hounds
5. Horses galloping
6. Tally-ho call
7. My Introduction and Introducing Mark
8. Mark command
9. Mark Talking about training the hounds
10. Mark talking about the hunts
11. Hunting Horn
12. My narration of the Point to Point and introduction of Andrew
13. Atmosphere of the Drinking Tent
14. Commentator of the Race
15. Andrew talking about the Point to Point
16. Horses Clearing a hurdle
17. Mark Importance of the Point to Point and the community 
18. Point to point finish line of a race
19. Hunting Horn
20. My experience with working with the hounds
21. Gate opening
22. The hounds
23. Horses walking and women chatting
24. Mark talking about women's roles
25. Andrew Talking about women's roles
26. Hunting horn
27. Mark talking about ignorance
28. Hunting horn
29. My perception of the ban
30. Protesters at a meet
31. News headline - 8 years on...
32. News headline - the ban
33. News headline - Money Spent
34. David Cameron Statement 
35. Protesters shouting
36. Marks experience with Anti's 
37. Protesters Shouting abuse
38. My ending statement

Narration

After listening to Lee's feedback, I went back into the audio booth to record more of my own narration, I decided to talk about my experiences with the different aspects of Hunting life, for example what it was like when I worked at the kennels when I went to interview Mark as well as the point to point.
Also after reviewing my ending I decided it may be more powerful if I ended the podcast myself with a defining statement.
This also help me address the other concerns that Lee raised, by adding more narration I was able to give further insight into women's roles with in hunting and why it is like that.

Review with Lee

List of aspects to think about and improve

• Introduce the Characters and Location - The audience don't know who the characters are or where they are. By introducing them it makes the Podcast easier to follow.
• Marks Comment about a 'Strong girl' may seem sexist
• When talking about women's roles Andrews comments about the 'petticoats' seem dismissive, there needs to to be more on women's roles. 
• There needs to be more of my own voice with in it to give it more direction. Will help with splitting up the male voices.  

Music, or the lack of.

Something that I have been up in the air about with my podcast is the the use of music. When music is used in a podcast, it is there to provoke emotion. My aim for my podcast is not to pull on heart strings it is to reveal realities, so I decided that the use of music within it would take away from what I am attempting to do. After creating soundscapes and sound art, it would sound cluttered with music as well.

Editing - Sound Art

After Attempting sound art as a test at the start of the term, although I was not confident enough to choose it as my topic it was something that I wanted to incorporate within my podcast. A theme that is approached in my podcast is the idea that society have made their choices about fox hunting through the media and the popular choice. I wanted to represent this through sound art by having a short blur of news headlines and protests that have previously been published and seen by the public. By doing this my podcast is making an example of the activists and exposing their hatred.

Editing- Soundscapes

As radio is a blind medium, and my Podcast is made up of interviews, it is important that I create what is happening with sounds. For my hook, I am creating a what seems like a peaceful spring day which is then interrupted with the calling cry of a fox, which is followed by the sounds associated with hunting, to create the picture of a hunting field. This will draw the listener in to the podcast wanting to hear more.

The majority of my interviews with Mark have the background noise of the kennels with the dogs backing, and working machinery in the background. However the interviews with Andrew and my narration are done in a quite office and the audio booths, therefore I need to use the sound that I have sourced to illustrate what is being said.

Editing- High Frequency

When editing the interview I did with mark in his office, there was a high frequency in the background the whole way through the interview, I had to fiddle around a lot with the Graphic Equalizer and the Parametric Equalizer to find a compromise with the noise and alienating his voice. Although the technicality of the sound isn't perfect, by locating it in the kennels the listeners relate the echoing with the sound of the kennels.

Complications

One of my ideas for the podcast was to have a sound-walk in it. I have attended two different hunts now which because of the season, it is not possible to foot follow as the hunts in the spring season are too fast. However I managed to get enough recordings to create my own hunts that tailor to my podcast.

Another aspect of my podcast that I have found difficult was when listening back to my interviews, the answers that I received from my subjects were practiced. As the topic of my podcast is a sensitive one, for farmers and huntsman, I had to approach it gently, considering they are talking about their livelihood. Mark in-particular was very enthusiastic to talk about his work, however it was as if he was on television and he was covering his tracks with everything he said, which made it difficult to find original statements that didn't sound like they had been rehearsed.

Hopefully I can use my own voice to guide the narrative and keep the pace of the podcast interesting.  

20th April Following The hunt

Location: Crockstead Equestrian Centre

Weather: Sunny, no wind

Equipment

·      Marantz

·      K6

Aim

·      To get recording of the hunt

·      Recording of the horses

·      Recording of the atmosphere

·      Follow the hunt and gain experience

Outcome

I went to follow the hunt at Crockstead, There was a big turn out and I recorded the huntsman and masters with the hounds as well as the subscribers on their horses. When the hunt set off I followed in my car so I could record them passing me in the field. I also got the recording of a quiet countryside field for atmosphere in my podcast. The recordings went well and I was able to get clear sound of the hunt in action.

Role of women

After putting together the interviews I have currently got, the role of women is a theme that is something I would like to look further into. Ideally I would like to get the perspective of a woman within one of the hunts, and what her view is on women's roles and equality. I have contacted Sarah Siggs, Andrews wife, who one of the masters with the Old Surrey and Burstow. Unfortunately I have had an unofficial reply through her daughter Harriet that she does not want to be part of the podcast.
I haven't of yet got any other contacts for women in hunting, however I will email mark to see if he can pass me on to someone else.

3rd April Interview with Mark Bycroft

Location: Old Surrey and Burstow Kennels, Felbridge

Weather: Sunny, no wind

Equipment

·      Marantz

·      K6

·      Clip mic

Interview questions

·      How would describe Fox Hunting?

·      What is your role as huntsman?

·      Describe the importance of the Hunting community.

·      How has the Ban affected your business?

·      What is your experience of Anti’s

·      Do you think ignorance has a part to play in the violence?

·      Why do you wear the uniform

·      How do you train the hounds?

·      Is hunting a patriarchal society?

·      How has the women’s role changed within hunting?

·      How would describe country life?

Outcome

My interview with Mark has been the most interesting so far, When I first arrived, he handed me a broom and we scrubbed the kennels, he then took me to feed the hounds, this meant going into the slaughter house, something that I was not overly keen on.  After feeding the hounds horse meet, he allowed me to work the hounds, teaching them commands and giving them exercise. Eventually We went to his office for the interview in which he very passionately talked about his life and beliefs about hunting. After the office I recorded him working with the hounds and he talked me through what he did with them. Mark will definitely be the core of my podcast as well as my own experiences with him. The recording technically needs a bit of cleaning while in the office as there is an echo, but the recording in the kennel is great with the back ground noise of the farm and the dogs.

Andrew Siggs Interview 27th March

Location: NFU Office

Weather: None

Equipment

·      Marantz

·      K416

Podcast Hypothesis

What is Country life? It seems that only the people within the close nit communities know. Like everything, country life has a particular stigma surrounding it, isolation, tweed jackets and blood sports. This is what I want to subvert. I want to make the unknown, known. Invite my listeners to understand more about what happens in the countryside. To give an insight into a live that is opposite to their own, but to which they can relate.

Topics that I would like to cover

-       What growing up in the country is like and the community that comes with it.

-       The role of women within the farming community and how it has changed over time?

-       What affect the Ban has had on country life, if any?

-       An outline about ‘The Hunt’ as a community and its role in country life.

Outline Questions

-       Please could you briefly outline your background in relation to hunting and the countryside community? i.e. Childhood, previous jobs/positions

-       How long have you been hunting for?

-       What is your current role within the community (if not already covered)?

-       Can you describe the relation between the Hunt with the Farming community, how they are connected and support one another?

-       To what is seen as a patriarchal society, how has women’s roles changed within it and would you say that women now have an equal role to men?

Outcome

The interview with Andrew went really well, I gained a lot of material that will very useful for my podcast, especially the insight he gave me about the role of women in the farming society. His outlook was on the situation was diplomatic but he also gave his own opinion on the subject as well as the NFU’s opinion. Technically the recording went perfectly.

Chasing Love by M Macias

I really enjoyed the start of this podcast, with the use of the different levels of voices and and sounds. As well as the truth behind what there were saying, the sound lulled you into wanting to listen to the rest of the podcast. It made the listener interested in what was going to be said next. Also by using a few different voices copying each other, it gave a sense of 'wholeness', and willed you to believe what was being said was real.

This podcast has made me thing about the hook of my own podcasts and how I will use sounds to draw in my listeners. Unlike 'Chasing Love' my podcast will use the contrast of light and harsh sounds to bring pace to it. I think that this will help me entrance the listener, and help them hear from my perspective.

For the Blood is Life

Produced by Julia DeBruicker

"In June, as you’ll hear, everyone in rural Appalachia is out — the birds, the
hounds, the children from school — and the mountains are at their most luxurious.
Summer’s alchemy has a way of disguising how lean the coalfields of eastern Kentucky
can feel when what you’re trying to do is make a living. Summer emphasizes fullness,
possibility, a resurrection of sorts.
This piece chronicles one family doing their part for that resurrection. In a place centered hungrily and for too long on the harvest of timber and coal, the Fraziers are carving out a new way of making a living that doesn’t destroy the homeplace, and even chimes into its imaginative renewal. Their small-scale meat goat operation aligns the Fraziers with a whole movement of rural families cobbling visionary livelihoods into new economies by marrying local knowledge with the global tide. Their work is sustainable and rooted. What they mine is ingenuity"

The family slaughter the goats the way that Jesus was crucified, They have a very extreme view on the way they kill the goats, as well as this the  podcast informs the listen about goat farming and meat. Although I don't believe that Fox hunting is extreme, others do. This Podcasts manages to humanise the the way the family kill the goats even though visually it may seem inhumane. This is what I aim to do. I am to make, something that many people who know little about it think is inhumane, the way of the countryside and something that is necessary. 

http://transom.org/2004/blood-is-life-julia-debruicker/

Podcast Progress

Unfortunately I am having a bit of difficulty managing to get hold of people within the hunt who I can interview. However I have called in a few favours with some of my local Hunting friends who have passed on a few numbers which I will attempt.

The first Is Mark Bycroft, Mark is the Huntsman of the Old Surrey and Burstow Hunt, and runs the kennels in Felbridge. Unfortunately Mark has had quite a bit of Trouble with Activists and has recently been caught on camera lashing out at a masked saboteur, but there are two sides to every story.

The second is Andrew Siggs, Andrew is a senior agent of the NFU, he has been hunting since he was six, and his mother ran a riding school, where my Mum learnt to ride.

Hildegard Westerkamp

“Imagine radio that, instead of numbing us to sounds, strengthens our imagination and creativity; instead of manipulating us into faster work and more purchasing, it inspires us to invent; instead of overloading us with irrelevant information and fatiguing us, it refreshes our acoustic sensitivity; instead of moving us to ignore thoughts and surroundings, it stimulates listening” (Westerkamp; 2002:89)

"The majority of her compositional output deals with aspects of the acoustic environment: with urban, rural or wilderness soundscapes, with the voices of children, men and women, with noise or silence, music and media sounds, or with the sounds of different cultures, and so on. She has composed film soundtracks, sound documents for radio and has produced and hosted radio programs such as Soundwalking, and Musica Nova on Vancouver Co-operative Radio."

'From the Indian Sound Journal' is one of Westerkamps recording in which she recorded snapshots of places she had visited in India. It takes the listener to locations they have never been or seen and creates the atmosphere and makes an unfamiliar place, familiar through sound. This is something that I want to capture within my podcast; Fox hunting is something very little people know about or have truly experienced, I want my podcast to inform my listeners and create sounds and atmosphere that they can link to the topic.