On Tuesday night I listened to an episode of Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? on ds106 radio. I joined a little late, so missed some of the setup, but was able to catch up pretty easily. This is a story about a post-apocalyptic world where it is almost impossible to tell androids from humans. It follows a bounty hunter who is supposed to hunt down androids. I was mostly enthralled by the story so did not focus on the sound details as much as I was supposed to, but I do remember some interesting aspects.
First, the way the editors altered the voice actors was wonderful. Even when I wasn’t sure who was a robot, I had suspicions based on the slight edits on their voices. Some characters sounded a little odd and had weird intonations and tones. It’s possible that this was the voice actor’s work but I think it was the editors.
The background noise was very detailed and layered. Static and humming in the background helped add tension. Every footstep, gun click, and movement was audible. I knew exactly what the characters were doing without any descriptions. I could not believe how clear it all was.
Overall I was really impressed. A while ago my dad and I listened to some old mystery radio shows. I hadn’t thought about that in a while but now I want to go back and listen to them. I was much more invested in this story than I expected to be.
