![]() But she believes the singing is “very motivating for the listener” - who can be found in 48 countries. ![]() “As good as we ever sound,” McNaught: says. “I don’t know - did it sound good to you? “I think that last ‘Nooo’ may be way too high,” Ulus says. McNaught listens to the results of one sound adjustment: “Oh yeah, that’s the zone.” The podcast helps its listeners think about it. Ulus turns the sound up and the pair can be heard singing “No no no, noooo” from the Beatles’ “Can’t Buy Me Love” - which is some really weird English phrasing, if you think about it. That last operation is particularly important when the two hosts are talking over one another, which happens occasionally, as in their sign-off phrase: “And just keep singing.” Or when they are actually singing together. Today, Ulus is editing to delete a false start in their recording, removing a little background noise, adding the theme music (“Optimistic Happy Guitar,” she believes the name is - one of the stock tunes that comes with Audition) and matching the two hosts’ loudness levels. They’ve covered everyone from BTS and Hailee Steinfeld to Suzanne Vega and the Temptations. “We’re always sending each other songs: ‘This one has so many past-tense verbs!’ ” McNaught says. Each episode they pick a pop song, show listeners how it uses grammar, pronunciation or unique English phrases, and even sing a bit. Their podcast is called English as a Singing Language, aimed at English language learners and teachers. Now, at the end of their first podcast season she is doing all the editing - often at home, where many podcasters use Zencaster when they are not simply continuing with Audition. Several more demonstrations and she was ready to try it on her own. “The first session he edited our whole podcast.” “Max has been really wonderful,” Ulus says. And she doesn’t need to know, thanks to the hands-on training that Max Glider and his lab staff gave to Ulus and her podcasting partner, Heather McNaught, both instructors in the English Language Institute. “I don’t know what any of the technical terms mean, I just know what to do where,” Ulus says when asked about the fineries of decibels and amplitude. All she needs to do is watch the wave forms on the computer screen, using Adobe Audition, to make sure the voices are clear but not loud or distorted. In the basement of Alumni Hall, in the quiet of the Media Creation Lab, linguistics faculty member Ece Ulus is adjusting the sound of a podcast recording - silently. If you have an idea for someplace we should look "inside," please email it to MARTY LEVINE Editor’s note: “Inside …” is a new series that will offer glimpses into Pitt places that are new, revamped or rarely visited by most people in the University community.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |