Compass, Glass, & Stone:
Audio Storytelling as Reflective Practice
An 8-Week Virtual Workshop
With Ariana Martinez
Course Description:
Compass, Glass, & Stone: Audio Storytelling as Reflective Practice is a course designed to introduce students to the technical basics and meditative benefits of audio storytelling. Over the course of eight weeks, Ariana Martinez, an established audio producer and multimedia artist, will guide students through the process of producing their own 3-7 minute audio work using REAPER (a free audio production software), leaving them with both the technical and emotional skills necessary to continue growing as audio storytellers. No prior experience with audio producing will be necessary and the only tools students will be a computer, a device with voice memo capabilities, and headphones.
A great audio story may hold within it many different sonic elements: layers of sound captured from the environment, voices laden with emotion, archival tape bearing the texture and weight of its past, music to mirror and elevate feeling, and more. The power of these elements, however, is dependent on the storyteller's ability to perceive the full complexity of the world around them and interpret it effectively– without that guiding insight, the many components of an audio story can become a jumble rather than cohesive expression. It’s this profound level of interconnected awareness that makes Martinez prize audio storytelling so highly as a tool of personal reflection. Compass, Glass, & Stone is designed to hone this capacity by sharpening students’ skill at sensitive observation, thoughtful interaction, and grounded processing of their own experiences.
Over six weeks, students will explore three modes or stages of audio storytelling:
Intro (Week 1) will focus on getting your bearings, technically and narratively.
Compass (Weeks 2 & 3) will focus on attuning one's senses to the external world and mining the depths of one's inner world.
Glass (Weeks 4 & 5) will focus on ways to translate external experiences and inner thoughts, feelings, memories, and dreams into sound.
Stone (Weeks 6 & 7) will focus on how to weave disparate ideas into cohesive structured narratives, sonic landscapes, or other artful expressions that can firmly hold the depth of one's experiences.
Wrap-up (Week 8) will focus on internalizing narrative processes and audio skills as part of life-long reflective practice.
Each unit will use a combination of observational and field-based exercises, writing and visual prompts, as well as sonic experiments to guide students through the processes of creative research and expression. The 3-7 minute audio work students produce can take whatever form the individual feels called to– it can be narratively focused, sound-driven, and/or experimental.
In addition, for students interested in additional technical instruction beyond the basic skills taught in the main workshop, Martinez will be offering REAPER Beyond the Basics, an additional week of class to learn strategies for creatively manipulating audio and engineering for optimal sound quality.
Faculty bioS:
Ariana Martinez - Instructor (they/them)
Ariana Martinez is a multimedia artist, radio maker, and educator. As a professional sound designer and audio engineer, Ariana has worked on Prism: Tales of Your City for Pineapple Street Studios, Say You're Sorry for Bucket of Eels and Audible Originals, Immaterial for Magnificent Noise and the Metropolitan Museum of Art, among others. Ariana has also created original audio features for BBC Radio 4's Short Cuts. Ariana's audio and video work has appeared at HearSay Festival (Ireland), Open City Documentary Festival (UK), LUCIA Festival (Italy), BANGOUJA Festival (Lithuania), OORZAKEN Festival (Netherlands), and the Third Coast International Audio Festival (US). Ariana is a dedicated media arts educator and has taught for UnionDocs, the Salt Institute for Documentary Study, the Association for Independents in Media (AIR Media), the City University of New York, New York University, and others. In their personal creative practice, Ariana investigates processes of sensory perception and the simultaneously social and spatial process of navigation. Across all of their creative mediums, Ariana works to hone their own capacities for observation, attention, and non-linear and non-prescriptive storytelling.
The Details:
Tuition: Sliding scale, $295-$450
Possible add ons which will be available to purchase after the first class:
REAPER beyond the basics: $150 (capped at 20 participants) - 8-10pm on Tuesday, October 3.
Office hour with Ariana for one-to-one feedback: $105 (only 15 slots available - the timing of these will be coordinated with Ariana once the course has begun).
Dates: Tuesdays from 8-10 pm (EST) starting August 8th and ending September 26th.
Recording: Classes WILL be recorded and sent out the day after each class. Therefore it is possible to take the class entirely asynchronously if need be!
Cost: Full price is $395. If you can’t quite afford that, we have a price option of $295. If you would like to pay $450, all money above $395 will go toward scholarships that we will offer and help subsidize.
Materials needed:
computer that can handle audio software - REAPER (free to download)
a phone or tablet with voice memo capabilities is sufficient (or a mic if you have one but not necessary!
Over ear headphones are strongly recommended but not mandatory.
Prep work or pre-reqs: None! We will have assignments ready for you when you arrive.
Have questions? Email Nathalie (Teaching Assistant): Nathalie@notsorryproductions.com