Music in Retail Settings

Though I am prompted to “gently criticize” my fellow youth, I don’t believe this piece is able to be aired at this point. I feel the piece’s topic is an interesting one but will need to be revised in order catch the audience’s attention. It honestly sounds like a rough draft. All the ideas are there, but they just need to be worked on.
There are quite a few technical problems that need to be fixed, like the addition of a few pauses and the cutting of the stuttering the narrator performs. At 3:16, there is a very long, dead pause that shouldn’t be there. The narrator should also use a slower tempo. His fast pace seems to throw me off, making me feel that this story is not one of importance, especially when put together with those of the interviewees. Also, I feel that the performance is a bit sketchy, sounding like the narrator is reading off a script.
A second trip to the recording studio with some of the tips given above should go a long way for this piece.

Gosh. What to say here. Youth Pieces are always tough to review. You want to be honest with the PDs who might spend time listening to a piece based on your review, so you want to be honest. On the other hand, you want to inspire the producer and let them know they are working at a great level.

Well, the story is great, the producer has a plan in his head and a wonderful sense of story telling. The topic is one that music folks are always amused by. Shopping music and how it gets on the tape. The interviews and questions are just great and well done. The questions thoughtful and the piece has a beginning, a middle and and end.

Unfortunately, the piece is so poorly recorded and edited that it makes it unairable on any professional radio station. The narration is over modulated, the phone line the interviews are full of buzzes and there are gaps in the editing that at first I thought were dead air. Gosh I hate writing this, but that's what going on here.

I encourage the producer to re record this piece. It's a worthy topic for public radio stations!