The other day, I was invited to tell a story on Clubhouse. Clubhouse is new trending social media, an auditory communication app. “Hosts” act as moderators of live conversations and people hop from room to room…like in a clubhouse. Thousands
of different rooms from all over the world are available to be tuned in 24/7.
Education, storytelling, stand-up comedies, meditation, marketing…you name it, you find it.
It wasn’t my first time to participate in audio storytelling, but maybe because Clubhouse is all live, it made me think twice. Books give us different feelings and mental imagery from movies, don’t they? Then, audio storytelling should be different from visual storytelling. Without sight, audio gives more interpretation and creative freedom to the audience. Narratives may be even more critical to create the imaginary world in listener’s mind.
What about the sound? I analyzed my tools and surroundings even more seriously this time. I tested 5 different microphones. Each device rendered sound a little differently. In addition, having different objects around me created different sound effects. I picked the one that sounded the best, but when I jumped on the call, my winning microphone didn’t work for the app. Because I didn’t have time to figure out how to adjust the setting, I used an alternative, putting the objectives around me (I was glad I have alternatives just in case!). After the show, my friend told me I sounded like radio, so I guess my effort paid off.
Why don’t we all try a different type of storytelling from time to time? It doesn’t have to be audio storytelling. Whatever it is, I’m sure it will give you different perspectives.