I started getting ideas as soon as I started to work through the tutorials of this topic. I needed to ask some friends simple questions. “What is your favorite holiday tradition?” A simple question, or so I thought. That question sparked a text to my friends from soccer that lead into a great night out to get food and then after we ate, we sat outside, and we talked about or favorite holiday traditions for a while. Then, I got my phone out and recorded their answers. It was a great night. I got to editing and like the way we edited the pieces together. I took all of this into my final project. I wanted to stay to soccer, and I felt like learning from my friends on what soccer means to them. So, again, a text was sent out to my group and I asked if they wanted to go eat and if I could ask them questions about soccer. We all got together and eat out that night. We went outside afterwards and started talking. I wish that things would’ve stayed a little more serious, but we were having fun talking and so before I get my final I want to go get better recording from my friends. I used my phones voice memo ability to record for this project. It worked really well to be able to get good audio quality. I ran into a few very manageable problems with this project. One was the fact that my phone didn’t record and keep the audio in a file form that was acceptable by Audition. They come out in M4A files and that doesn’t work in Audition unless you open the preferences tab and turn on a setting that allows that file form to be edited. The only other bump in the road was that my background was bland. I asked Ron about where I could get some royalty free music for the background. He helped me find the website Free Music Archive where I found my background music. I am really excited to get into the final project and get my best product finished.
Background music: https://freemusicarchive.org/music/Uncle_Milk/STR8/1_Conjungation
Drew’s 
Hi, nice project! I like it. You chose a topic you have experience with, and show dedication to wanting to improve your story and make it something worthwhile. I like how you casually interviewed your soccer friends while hanging out and getting food with them, but also took it seriously. I like the overall mood, and one aspect that stood out to me was the ball dribble sound at the very beginning and end of the clip, as well as the music which fits the casual interview style perfectly. One suggestion I have is maybe adding a more in-depth ending to your audio project. It has a clear introduction, and a well-composed story with interviews, but then cuts out after the interview questions. While it cuts out smoothly, it still could be seen as somewhat abrupt, and having an official ending section in your story would complete the project. That is really the only recommendation I have, this audio story is pretty solid as far as i am aware. Although if I were to make one more suggestion, maybe try using more of Audition’s tools that we did not learn about to perfect the story even more, like dampening certain sounds or normalizing the overall volume. This is a great interview all around though, I like the style!
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I really like the overall draft a ton. I think you did a really good job of focusing on your main idea by asking people around you that have had a good experience and a bad experience with soccer. One thing I think you could do better on is making your introduction a little bit more specific about your main idea. I understood it mostly but I was a little confused about what the story is really circling around besides soccer. Another thing you could maybe improve on is making the music just a little bit more quiet when you are talking. It was quiet but it was a little overpowering and I sometimes found myself listening to the music instead of the person who was talking. Something you did really well was the speed you were talking at and the feeling it gave off when you spoke. It was very relaxed and cool to listen to.
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Hey Drew, your audio story draft was overall very good and not difficult to listen to. I enjoyed how you began and ended the story with the sound of the soccer ball dropping on what I am guessing was concrete because it granted a sort of beginning and end to your story, which many other stories may lack, and could afford to do to improve their cohesiveness. Your draft was also well done because of the multiple voices, perspectives, and sides of soccer one may not think bout immediately. The voices helped ground your personal experience as a soccer player, with soccer playing friends. The perspectives they provided showed how many people may like soccer, but for different reasons usually. And the other sides helped show the good in soccer such as potential, as well as the harm which may fall a player. Other than all this, I believe the only thing you could improve upon is the length of the ball drops, perhaps extending them a little bit to not make it so immediate.
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