Victoria loves producing podcasts, and also loves teaching people how to do it themselves. She can work one on one with clients to teach them how to produce a podcast from beginning to end. Her packaged training courses cover: Coming up with a focus and title for your podcast, voice practice, scripting, choosing themes, editing and recording techniques, and distribution and building your audience.

She also teaches workshops to community groups, business people, artists, students (all levels from elementary to university), church congregations and video makers who want to improve their sound technique and imagination.

Workshops include:

Field Recording:
Victoria treats her microphone like a camera, recording sound snapshots which are used in podcasts, slideshows, videos, websites and live stage productions. Her Field Recording workshop teaches how to listen to the environment; record sounds using inexpensive recording devices; select and mix sounds to be used in audio visual productions.

Interview Skills:
The interview is the basis of any good documentary, podcast or oral history project. This hands-on/microphones on workshop is an interactive experience to demonstrate how to get focussed soundbites and conversations that communicate clearly and eloquently to the listener.

Creative Vacation Slideshows:
Just about everybody takes a camera with them on vacation to bring back the images of the landscapes they visit and the people they meet. Bringing back the sounds of your vacation is just as easy. Learn how to choose an inexpensive sound recorder, basic recording techniques and how to combine your photos and sounds in a ways that captures your total vacation experience.

The Soundtrack:
The built in microphone isn’t the only way to gather sound for your video. You can bring an inexpensive digital sound recorder to capture voices and sounds of the environment to be added later. The advantage is that you can often get better sound when you don’t have to be concerned about what’s coming in through the lens. Learn creative sound gathering techniques and hear how your soundtracks can be works of art in themselves.

Fun with Sound Effects:
Why buy sound effects for your podcasts and video productions when you can have fun creating them yourself. This workshop combines field recording with good old fashioned foley techniques to create sound effects you can use in your own podcasts and videos. (Wear old clothes … we’ll be mucking about with cornstarch, corn meal and water among other things). Like being a kid again …

Microphone Shoot Out:
A microphone is as individual as a violin. Different kinds produce different sounds and have different tonalities. Some are great for music, some are great for voice. Some get bird sounds better than others, some are perfect for drums. We’ll try out a bunch of different kinds of microphones. Use your ears to figure out which of the microphones we’re trying out get the kind of sound you want for your productions.

Sound Art in the Digital Realm:
New technologies are creating new possibilities for sound artists to explore. Many sound artists are moving over to digital platforms such as the internet, smart phones, Ipads and tablets. And even the old fashioned radio transmitter is being used in new ways. This workshop is an exploration of some of these new possibilities, and the specific compositional challenges of creating for this new environment.