It Might Not Be That Important
As an OLD, I get sorta annoyed when people are all, "Hot take..." and then they say something that a lot of people already agree with, it's just not super popular. But, I think I might have a Take this maybe sorta Hot.
I feel like the audio quality of Audio Dramas is just not that important.
Before you jump all over me, I'm a studio musician, producer and director and have been since we started with Studers and 2" tape back in the late '80s. And I'm gonna talk about mics and equipment and stuff later.
But when I think of the shows that are either somewhat or VERY beloved, I have to admit that they aren't necessarily obsessed with audio design. I'm thinking about three of my favorite shows. And this is NOT throwing shade to them, all three of them are really well produced.
The Bright Sessions (@brightsessions) is simply an amazing show, and it is so beloved that everyone who worked on it has gone on to write/produce/act in *other* incredible shows. But Lauren recorded the thing in her room! She did all the production on it. Do we love it because there are super-hero special effects? Absolutely not, we love it because of the characters. And that comes almost entirely from the writing and acting.
One of my favorite shows comes from Nightvale Presents (@nightvaleofficial), their show Within The Wires. Listening to the first season of this show changed what I thought was possible in Audio Drama. But the sound design, while different for each season, is largely static. Nobody spent six months panning left-to-right to simulate the movement of a person in conversation - the whole show literally sounds like it's on a cassette. Because it is.
And most recently, Modes Of Thought In Anterran Literature (@wolfatthedoor). They have dozens of shows they're working on and I got the chance to hang out (virtually) with Alex, who writes the show and plays the professor, and they produce it the same way we used to do Indie Theater here in New York. He writes it and then records it at a lecturn in one of their offices. Boom, that's it. I think he edits together two total performances.
The part of this that I'm sure nobody would disagree with is that the writing, acting and directing are *more* important. But I would go so far as to say, complaining about imperfect audio production is the only barrier to entry for people who are really good at the important things, but don't know anything about audio production. People should just make the show and don't sweat the design. If you've got the characters in the show following a tight fascinating plot, that's really all you need.
