Building a web presence for radio projects
February 9, 2010 9:22 PM Subscribe
How do I make a website for my radio documentaries + other audio experiments that is a little more stylish and sound-friendly than the average blog? Oh, and maybe encourages me to keep at my hobby.
A couple of summers ago, I discovered all of the spontaneity and tiny problem solving of radio production and was hooked. Well, I made a short piece and am only just finishing my second. But I spent a lot of hours listening to old This American Life episodes and recording scraps of whatever I was up to in the interim. I may not always have time right now (finishing undergrad) to flesh out an entire documentary, and my scraps don't always add up to much, but I think a website will be a great way to collect material and motivate myself to think of this as a burgeoning freelance career.
I am getting ready to study abroad for a semester, and think this would be a great time to set a site up -- I'd rather update friends&fam with two or three whimsical audio essays than overlong "Greetings From" e-mails or blogpost miscellany. The trouble is, any web knowledge I have is way out of date. And though free blogging services are ubiquitous out there, I would like something a little smaller/tidier and more stylistically cohesive (though, hopefully, with the capacity to link new pieces to social networking stuff).
Are there any lightweight web services (tumblr or whatnot) that match this sort of project? Any ideas for building a cohesive style with images, fonts, etc? I'd be willing to figure out web coding things myself (and don't have the money for a $500 developer) if it isn't unreasonably complicated. (oh, and the capacity to handle written stories/pieces too would be great, though I assume that's one of the easier things to implement).
Thanks in advance for any help. And, bonus question: if you have experience making radio docs/pieces, or artist/freelance experience in general, what has helped you be successful in transforming vague "creative projects" into something focused and distinct?
A couple of summers ago, I discovered all of the spontaneity and tiny problem solving of radio production and was hooked. Well, I made a short piece and am only just finishing my second. But I spent a lot of hours listening to old This American Life episodes and recording scraps of whatever I was up to in the interim. I may not always have time right now (finishing undergrad) to flesh out an entire documentary, and my scraps don't always add up to much, but I think a website will be a great way to collect material and motivate myself to think of this as a burgeoning freelance career.
I am getting ready to study abroad for a semester, and think this would be a great time to set a site up -- I'd rather update friends&fam with two or three whimsical audio essays than overlong "Greetings From" e-mails or blogpost miscellany. The trouble is, any web knowledge I have is way out of date. And though free blogging services are ubiquitous out there, I would like something a little smaller/tidier and more stylistically cohesive (though, hopefully, with the capacity to link new pieces to social networking stuff).
Are there any lightweight web services (tumblr or whatnot) that match this sort of project? Any ideas for building a cohesive style with images, fonts, etc? I'd be willing to figure out web coding things myself (and don't have the money for a $500 developer) if it isn't unreasonably complicated. (oh, and the capacity to handle written stories/pieces too would be great, though I assume that's one of the easier things to implement).
Thanks in advance for any help. And, bonus question: if you have experience making radio docs/pieces, or artist/freelance experience in general, what has helped you be successful in transforming vague "creative projects" into something focused and distinct?
I asked a similar question that had a lot of great answers.
Since, I've been working with an awesome community radio station in Portland, producing radio docs as well as hosting some live stuff. There's lots to talk about. The most important thing is to just produce a lot of work, listen to your own material over and over, and listen to a lot of good radio (and just because it gets aired doesn't necessarily mean it's good). There are stories everywhere. Record everything.
Please feel free to memail me. I love talking about radio.
posted by Lutoslawski at 9:34 PM on February 9, 2010 [3 favorites]
Since, I've been working with an awesome community radio station in Portland, producing radio docs as well as hosting some live stuff. There's lots to talk about. The most important thing is to just produce a lot of work, listen to your own material over and over, and listen to a lot of good radio (and just because it gets aired doesn't necessarily mean it's good). There are stories everywhere. Record everything.
Please feel free to memail me. I love talking about radio.
posted by Lutoslawski at 9:34 PM on February 9, 2010 [3 favorites]
My experience re: learning HTML for coding your own site: don't. I mean, don't, unless you are really interested in building websites for a long time.
I say this as a photographer, and photography tends to favor really nice looking sites. I spent so much times futzing around trying to make a workable site and it looked like total crud. Totally wasted time.
Now obviously if you do all the legwork and learn everything you need to know, you can do a really good job, but I wish I'd saved the money I spent on classes and books and paid someone to do it for me. Also I wouldn't look down your nose at prepacked solutions. Cheap stuff is getting better and better.
posted by sully75 at 6:32 AM on February 10, 2010
I say this as a photographer, and photography tends to favor really nice looking sites. I spent so much times futzing around trying to make a workable site and it looked like total crud. Totally wasted time.
Now obviously if you do all the legwork and learn everything you need to know, you can do a really good job, but I wish I'd saved the money I spent on classes and books and paid someone to do it for me. Also I wouldn't look down your nose at prepacked solutions. Cheap stuff is getting better and better.
posted by sully75 at 6:32 AM on February 10, 2010
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It's really useful and simple. You can post by email.
AND...you can post audio and video and pictures. By email! That's what made me become a customer.
posted by lhude sing cuccu at 9:32 PM on February 9, 2010