|
A Note from the Producer
Sound-based storytelling, like radio, promotes unique opportunities for storytellers to create worlds and ways to be in them. These worlds are created and experienced with sound and are every bit as believable as the world we experience around us.
We normally think there is but one world. This one. Right. Here. The one we can touch. See. Smell. Taste.
With this episode of Re-Imagined Radio we explore the idea of The Multiverse. Multiple worlds each connected to the others. And we do it all through sound.
Our episode is titled Nirvana & Gehenna. It’s an interdimensional multiverse documentary written by Jerrel McQuen and produced by three-time Emmy winner for sound design Marc Rose. Both McQuen and Rose live in Portland, Oregon.
The Multiverse. Multiple worlds. Parallel universes. They’ve been argued about and conceptualized since Ancient Greece. McQuen and Rose offer us their unique and interesting concept.
For them, The Multiverse is a helix. Five spirals above Earth is the universe that contains the dimension of Dry Smoke, and nine spirals up is the universe that contains Farwan. Professor Thedgar Rhedlington, an eccentric scientist from the Dry Smoke continuum, stumbles upon a way to bridge all three worlds / universes, and thus the birth of Nirvana & Gehenna. Like a ripple in the water, any major event can move up and down the helix. Nothing is isolated or walled off from anything and parallel events are born. The entire collection of universes is malleable. Sounds mad — but is it? You decide.
As I noted at the beginning of this note, meaning is made by listening. Listen to the cinematic sound McQuen and Rose employ for Nirvana & Gehenna. "See" the "movie" in your mind’s eye. By listening carefully you become part of the story. The story becomes part of you. The experience has meaning.
Re-Imagined Radio is pleased to offer this fine, fine example of radio storytelling.
Enjoy!
John Barber, Re-Imagined Radio Producer and Host
|
|
|
|
Graphic Design by Holly Slocum Design
|
|
|
|
When Re-Imagined Radio unearthed this previously archived photo of Marc Rose and Jerrel McQuen we asked what they remember from that moment in time. Rose reflects, “We were most fortunate back in those days to get a fair amount of press for our various artistic efforts.” Rose is referring to the late 1970s when the two were poised to publish a book about their imaginary world, Tales of Farwan. "That was our first book venture," says Rose. But it wasn’t their first collaboration.
Their creative partnership began in 1974 when they met in high school in the St. Petersburg/Tampa area of Florida. At that time, Rose and McQuen bonded over the strange, but interesting worlds in their imaginations. Each was trying to depict these imaginary worlds, ways to be in them. McQuen through graphic design. Rose through music.
Rose says of Nirvana & Gehenna, the pair’s most recent collaboration, ”encapsulates many of the concepts Jerrel and I have been working on into one pseudo-documentary.”
Compiling fifty years worth of stories and sounds into one program was no easy feat but Rose, a three time Emmy award winning sound designer, demonstrates his mastery in storytelling through cinematic sound design. But what exactly does that mean? Rose defines it as crafting or editing an entire sound production. That could include fine tuning organically captured direct and ambient sounds as well as utilizing special audio effects during post production.
Audio texture is another aspect of cinematic sound design, according to Rose. For example, the worlds featured in Nirvana & Gehenna sound like they have existed forever, and those sounds layered together add what feels like texture. But do sounds have texture? Rose says yes and describes audio texture as a tool to provide definition or a seam to one’s story. He credits that technique with successfully creating transitions that connect the worlds, dimensions and stories in this episode. “There are several things going on there that make that seam deliberately obvious and fluid at the same time.” He uses an example from Nirvana & Gehenna to illustrate his point.
Click this link for a Nirvana & Gehenna audio texture example.
Decades of individual and collaborative successes have led Jerrel McQuen and Marc Rose from Tampa, Florida in the 1970s to present day Portland, Oregon. Currently McQuen works as a graphic designer for DHX Advertising and produces material for Ensérné Media, a media entertainment company started with Rose. Rose created his own company, Fuse Audio Design.
We'll leave you with this quote from the website Rose and McQuen share:
“Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.” – Arthur C. Clarke
|
|
|
"The very first thing Jerrel and I worked on, right out of the gate was a 'story' about a place called Farwan. You can see pictures of it at the Ensérné website, a repository for various things we have developed or are in the process of developing. Farwan is also represented in Nirvana & Gehenna. —Marc Rose
|
|
|
"There was an opportunity to produce something for a local radio station. I (Rose) was mostly a muscian at the time, so the switch to music and sound made sense to me. Jerrel and I produced what we thought was a pilot for a show called Dry Smoke & Whispers Radio Theatre, which, like Farwan, was based on drawings and some musical compositions." —Marc Rose
Dry Smoke & Whispers Radio Theatre—the tag line calls it "A Mystery SF Cinema in Sound Adventure"—launched on January 18, 1980. It ran for five years on public radio stations in sixty markets and three countries and received grants from The National Endowment For The Arts and the Florida Fine Arts Council. The series also won a few Communicator Awards and a Mark Time Award for The Shadow Man, an episode of Dry Smoke & Whispers, in 2003.
|
|
|
The Cast of Nirvana & Gehenna
Jodi Lorimor as Katara Collins
Mark Loring as Title Announcer
David Maier as Vassenbinder Newscaster
Sam A. Mowry as Grendon Thanes
Eric Newsome as QBS Title Announcer
Jan Powell as Mahoudine Anna Narova
Marc Rose as Professor Thedgar Rhedlington and the "Keycard," the QBS Archivist
Special thanks to Mr. Fernandinande Le Mur, for the open archiving of the brilliant PR Gnus of the World
|
|
|
Behind-the-Scenes Crew
Nirvana & Gehenna was produced by Marc Rose and written by Jerrel T. McQuen, for Ensérné Media
Sound Design and Production by Marc Rose of Fuse Audio Design
Social Media by Regina Carol Social Media and Photography
Promotional Graphics by Holly Slocum
Producer and Hosted by John Barber
|
|
Broadcast
KXRW FM, Vancouver, WA, tune radio to 99.9 FM,
KXRY FM, Portland, OR, (aka XRAY), tune radio to 91.1 FM or 107.1 FM
KUIK AM, Portland, OR, tune radio to 1360 AM
KMWV FM, Salem, OR, tune radio to 98.3 FM
CKXU FM, Lethbridge, Alberta, Canada, tune radio to 88.3 FM
|
|
|
Internet Stream
KXRW FM, Vancouver, WA
Point your browser to KXRW.FM, press either the "Listen" or "Live Stream-Listen" buttons at top of page
KXRY FM, (aka XRAY), Portland, OR
Point your browser to KXRY.FM, press the large "Play" button at the top of the page. Or, use the XRAY App, available through the Apple and Android stores.
Or, program Amazon's Alexa to play KXRY.
KUIK AM, Portland, OR
Point your browser to KUIK Internet radio
KMWV FM, Salem, OR
Point your browser to KMWV Internet radio
CKXU FM, Lethbridge, Alberta, Canada
Point your browser to CKXU FM, press the "Play" button at the top of the page.
|
|
|
Can't listen live? Visit Re-Imagined Radio website to stream past episodes and be up-to-date and in the know whether you are relaxing at home or on the go!
|
|
|
September
Monday, 20 September
"Dracula"
Re-Imagined Radio presents "Dracula," the original man in black, based on the legendary novel by Bram Stoker.
|
|
|
October
Monday, 18 October
"The War of the Worlds"
Re-Imagined Radio presents "The War of the Worlds" to celebrate the anniversary of this most (in)famous radio broadcast ever, and International Audio Drama Day.
|
|
|
November
Monday, 15 November
Something exciting is in the works . . . stay tuned.
|
|
|
December
Monday, 20 December
Re-Imagined Radio presents a community holiday celebration.
|
|
SPONSORSHIP OPPORTUNITIES
|
|
RADIO REACH
Reach listeners locally in the Vancouver-Portland metroplex, regionally from Longview to Salem, internationally all across Canada with broadcast episodes of Re-Imagined Radio, and globally with on demand Internet streaming.
|
|
|
PERFORMANCE AND PROMOTIONAL INCLUSION
Have your company name included in a broadcast and/or placed on promotional posters and social media posts for an episode of Re-Imagined Radio.
|
|
|
SUPPORTING LIVE ARTS
We believe in the transformative power of live arts in a community. Your sponsorship invests directly into our community by making Re-Imagined Radio possible not only for listeners but also the actors, musicians, engineers, writers and students involved.
|
|
|
|
To learn more about sponsoring Re-Imagined Radio, contact our Producer, John Barber.
|
|
|
What is Re-Imagined Radio?
Re-Imagined Radio experiments with radio art and drama as community performance and 21st century storytelling. Close your eyes and listen. Let the scripted dialogue and sound effects engage your imagination. Share your thoughts and photos via social media.
|
|
|
|
|
