My ideal podcast would be a hybrid of an audiobook and a podcast.
2020 has been a great year for podcasts. There are more shows than ever to listen to, and every day, more and more people are starting to tune into this sonic (some sometimes audiovisual) medium. If I were to start a podcast, it would be one with a focus on narrative storytelling.
Personally, I don’t like to read books. No offense to books but I feel that the medium just might be outdated at this point. Visual learners and slow readers like myself tend to stay away from books simply because it’s just text. Isn’t it ironic that I am claiming this as I write text which will be read in a similar fashion as any other book? Okay, back to books: I feel like just text doesn’t cut it for today’s generation. The author has to make it more appealing or attractive. You can do that with either pretty visuals (such as in the case of comic books) or using sounds.
Audiobooks have gained popularity over the years but my biggest issue with that medium is: it’s just not appealing enough. Most audiobooks are just a narrator reading the book, cover to cover. While there’s nothing wrong with that, I feel that authors and storytellers can spice up their audiobooks with a little bit of sound design. Radio shows, complete with a narrator and sound effects, have been around for pretty much as long as cinema. In present times, radio itself has evolved into podcasts and within the medium, there are shows of all genres and categories.
Fictional shows with sound design already exist as podcasts but I would like to see more audiobooks in the same arena. As someone who always preferred movies and videogames over books, I would like to see or hear what I am reading. So in the case of an audiobook, subtle sound design can completely change a listener’s experience. Authors can supervise the process of sound design to ensure that it strikes the right balance and does not overpower the narration. Any sort of sound design and music can also set the tone for the book itself, just like musical scores in films.
I came up with this idea a few months ago when I finally decided to experience a novel in years in the form of an audiobook. The book happened to be Ready Player One. I’d seen the movie already and I’d heard a lot of praise about the book so I finally decided to read it – I mean, hear it. And in the opening chapter, the author references the song Dead Man’s Party. I get that part of the experience is to imagine what the author is trying to convey but I’m sorry, I can’t imagine what a 80s song by a band called Oingo Boingo would sound like. Eventually, I ended up googling the song but it took me out of the experience. Now I know that getting a license for songs could be a hassle, especially considering that this is just one of the many pop-cultural references in the book, just imagine: wouldn’t it be more engaging if I could hear the song in the background while listening to the narrator?
In conclusion, my dream podcast would basically be an audiobook sprinkled with the right amount of sound design and/or music.
