Karen Albertsen, Munck Studios in conversation with Tim Hinman, Third Ear Podcast.
Looking at narritave and sound, Tim Hinman said that he often finds stories if the team is talking about them or if they are quick to take off and start to be a talking point. “The story has to be a story which if you sit around a table at lunchtime and tell that story everyone goes, what!!!”. This simple test is a good way to choose a story.
Tim said they only go for true stories but the stories are subjective. He talks about characterisation and having the basis of all good narratives - fairy stories. Sound is important especially when interviewing people, who can be expressive and a good character.
Rarely does Tim do studio interviews but uses space to give life, movement and activity to his podcasts. Building on existing stories is also part of the success of Tim’s podcasts, so not looking for the ‘new’ story but expanding on a story.
“There are never two stories the same… you have to have a 'go to' set of methods you can apply”, Tim
There is a lot of trial and error in this method of developing content. Podcasts are not like other media as often stories being told don’t always have a clear outcome which wouldn’t be possible on other platforms.
Great stories also come from recorded audio, Tim looks first for the stories but they then discover audio around the story if possible to bring the story to life for example he sound of audio recorded at a time and place gives colour to the storytelling.
Karen and Tim discussed good vs. authentic sound. Tim said that different textures and layers are often added to create a better experience “You need a mixture of qualities, a mixture of textures, a mixture of interesting, moving audio to create an exciting and interesting scene that has life in it”.
Finally, Tim said that in the future he’d like to listen to things that sound good and that there will be developments in the high-end area of podcasting. “Podcasts that sound as good as movies…switch on and immerse yourself”. We couldn’t have said it better.