#takisinthesockdrawer

[radiosandrecordings]

re: kiss noises, gotta say that having a kiss in a podcast can be very hit or miss. creators have to be extremely comfortable and 110% behind it for it to work imo. it's why it works for me, say, in the penumbra podcast, but I would feel super weird about one in TMA. (also genre I think is also a factor but that's a whole other thing.)

Genre is exactly the thing I was going to write a follow up post about actually, I’ve been discussing it along with direction style and tone with my friends and I think the comparisons to Penumbra is specifically where a lot of people are finding issue?

Because TMA and TPP are both audio dramas. But they’re nothing alike! Not in story line, not in direction style, not in sound design, not in tone or genre. It’s like trying to compare Deadpool and Dunkirk because ‘... They’re both movies I guess?’. It doesn’t work because they’re nothing alike, TMA and TPP are just popular audio dramas and it’s such a niche market they get lumped together. 

TPP is very big. It’s a fast paced cheesy noir sci-fi thriller about a detective on mars and it has the directing, writing, tone and soundscaping to match. It makes you laugh, cry and completes an entire story arc in like an hour and a half. It’s also a romance in one of it’s largest capacities and Sophie Kaner has personally talked about the kisses in TPP and why they’re so much. It’s because they wanted to give representation, because TPP is an inherently queer narrative (ONE straight character! ON THE PLANET!) and they wanted to utilise kissing for that. It fits with a soundscape that’s as loud and encompassing as the rest of the show, and also: the kissing is plot relevant, it’s not just thrown in to gross your ears. 

TMA is a very different show! It’s a lot more grounded and serious, I’d say realist if not for the horror. When it uses gross soundscapes, they’re supposed to be gross, like I said in the original post. It’s a lot more subtle in it’s soundscapes, keeping it quiet and definitely telegraphing movement a lot less than Penumbra, because that’s its style. It’s not a show with constant movement like Penumbra where they drive cars and run about cities, the majority of episodes are just. Jon. Reading. 

Something I would actually liken to TMA in terms of tone and direction is The Bright Sessions, something that has been often forgotten by the new wave of audio fans, since in two weeks it’ll have been two years since it ended. It was a show that contained supernatural elements, but was largely grounded in reality. Mischa Stanton did a great job on it’s soundscaping in that was basic in the way that if they were doing their job right, you wouldn’t even remark on it at all. It was Normal. Not big and brash like Penumbra. And it had a kiss scene. And it was gross. Far too long, just mouth sounds of two teens making out in a car (a m/m couple if you’re trying to draw comparisons between Sophie’s representation philosophy), and as far as I can remember, it’s not even particularly plot relevant. It just didn’t work since it was a show that hadn’t really set a precedent for that kind of invasive, loud sound in my opinion. The directing style had been too different so far to allow for a full on make out to flow with it. 

You’ve got to know what show you’re making and go with how it’s flowing. Sounds are the only tool audio dramas have at their disposal, and if something sounds different from your normal tone, people will notice, and it will sound weird.