The second episode of The Princess and the Goblin aired this past Sunday, and listeners got to enjoy the addition of some new characters. In fact, both of the voice actors, Tyler Michael Jonsson and Amanda Jonsson were live in the chatroom. I’m not promising anything about future appearances, but you never know who might join the chat! Episode Three will play on Sunday, December 4 at the usual times, 1:00PM and 7:00PM EST.
The addition of new voices and characters means more work behind the scenes, so I asked Michael Kaiser, the sound designer for The Princess and the Goblin and Middle-earth Network Radio Station Director, about his involvement.
*How did you first get involved in the project?
Michael: Well, I’m a recording engineer, producer, and audio editor by trade – so it was inevitable, I suppose, that the task of putting the various elements (vocal performance, music, sound effects, etc) of The Princess and the Goblin together came to me. Since I spend the lion’s share of my time maintaining Middle-earth Network Radio, I believe Mark [Ostley] didn’t want to offer my services on his own, so he jumped on it with both feet when I cautiously offered my services. This is a huge, time consuming project! Haha!
*How long does it take for you to create an episode?
Michael: It depends on the number of characters and back-and-forth dialogue in each chapter — but generally speaking: one week. I spend the most time on editing the vocals. This includes manually removing any unwanted sounds and noise. I am not a fan of Gate on vocals (or anything other than drums, for that matter), so I do it “by hand.” Also, a good amount of time is used on the pacing of the performance by our amazing voice actors, Tyler Michael & Amanda Jonsson. Then I add music by the wonderful Arjan Kiel and sound effects. Once everything is in place I create track volume envelopes to precisely manage the volume ratio of music and effects to vocal. Specifically, it is called “ducking,” but I do it manually as opposed to using a plug-in.Â
*Do you get to make all of the creative decisions about how to use Arjan Kiel’s music?
 Michael: We have pre-determined themes for characters — such as “Irene’s Theme”, etc. — as well as particular music clips for specific moods and the like, plus variants thereof. See, the Founders of MeNET don’t really like the idea of making “all of the creative decisions” about anything. Rather, we consult with each other on nearly everything that we collectively regard as important. We’re a council…a fellowship…a kinship
Make sure to tune in on Sunday to listen to the next installment of The Princess and the Goblin on Middle-earth Radio, presented by My Little-earth. For my previous Q & A with actor Tyler Michael Jonsson and Middle-earth Network Director of Operations Mark Ostley, click here.
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