Equipment & Software Test

I’ve had a wild-haired idea to beef up my artist profiles with in-person interviews and photographs of artists working in their studios. I’m testing out Soundslides, a software platform that allows users to couple photographs with audio tracks to create web-based slideshows. The software has been used by BBC, NYTimes and Washington Post journalists as well as documentarians at governmental organizations such as the World Health Organization and World Bank.

I’m also testing Audacity, an open-source software that allows users to combine and edit audio recordings – and export the result into a file that can be ingested into Soundslides. And, in order to create the original audio recordings (e.g., narration and interview tracks), I have some test microphones and hardware from Rode and Seinnheiser, which I’m pumping into Rode Recorder (an iPhone app).

If this all sounds complicated, well, it is. I’ll spare you the details but suffice it to say that there are lots of parts to screw up and getting proficient (let alone good) at this will take practice.

Ultimately I want to have a very portable recording kit (2 lavalier mics, one mini-shotgun mic plus my iPhone), and with that kit I hope to record interesting conversations with ceramic artists.

Below is a first attempt to combine some images and audio tracks (narration plus some recordings of ambient sound) into a test slide show. I would be very grateful if readers provide feedback or comments on this test slideshow. I’m most interested in knowing if the slideshow loads correctly and if the audio is clear and loud enough.

Thank you for your help.