Subscribe
Share
Share
Embed
Trisha and Craig speak with Rachel Pulliam of Sole Twin Audios, a production company that focuses on re-producing Old Time Radio programs.
Interviews and conversations with the most prolific and talented audio drama creators.
(00:00):
Welcome to audio drama, insiders the podcast, giving you the low down on the most prolific and talented creators in the industry. And now here are your hosts, Craig Hart and Trisha rose.
(00:18):
Hello everyone. Welcome to audio drama insiders. My name is Craig Hart and I'm here with my Trustco host, Trisha rose. Everything's going in your world, Trisha
(00:27):
In this moment, everything is going very well.
(00:31):
Yeah, I would be a lot better if spring could actually finally arrive and stay. It's sort of been teas us. We had a really nice day is last week and got to sit out on the back porch, all that good stuff. And I thought that we were all good and then Monday rolled around and it was coats and hats all over again. So
(00:49):
Yeah, got to school. I think in Michigan it's been raining for the past four weeks. So we were moving a piano yesterday and guess what? It had to rain, so,
(01:00):
Oh no.
(01:01):
Yeah, go figure
(01:03):
Did everything survive? Okay.
(01:06):
I think so we brought a tarp, so
(01:08):
I was gonna say, I guess water and pianos tend to not mix well.
(01:12):
Yeah,
(01:13):
Well today we have Rachel Pullum who's the founder of soul twin audios. Who's tagline is stories created solely with a vintage soul. In mind. Rachel's been voice acting for audio dramas off and on for a number of years and played many different parts, including her favorite kind of role. The villain mine too. In addition to voice acting, she has produced a number of audio plays for studios, such as dream real enterprises, the Sonic society, the mutual audio network and the Niana radio company. Welcome Rachel, how are you today?
(01:45):
I'm doing really well. Thank you for having me today.
(01:47):
Absolutely. Now the tagline for soul twin audios is stories created solely with vintage soul in mind. What do you mean by the vintage soul?
(01:57):
Well, I selected the phrase vintage soul in order to pay homage to the old time radio you theater. Uh, that's one of my main focuses for soul twin audios. I like to recreate all time radio episodes, such as suspense escape. I'm also a bit of an old soul and most of my listeners are from the old demographic. I mean that isn't to say that I don't have know younger audiences in their twenties and thirties listen, but at least according to my algorithms, uh, Mo most of my demographic is, uh, 50 and older.
(02:34):
What do you think is the attraction to vintage audio dramas or, you know, the vintage stories, especially for a modern era? What, what, what do you think keeps bringing people back to that?
(02:47):
I think that people just really love to reminisce about the past and, you know, it's, I mean, it's kind of the same reason why people like to watch old classic TV shows or films like, uh, film noir and that kind of thing. They just, they get drawn into a specific time period or the whole romance of it, all of living in the past and listening to these episodes just kind of help you to, um, live it again for a little while, especially, I guess if you've potentially never lived in that time period to begin with. But I mean, some people have an attraction to it also because they may have listened to it with a grandparent and listening to, it reminds them of the good times they had with a loved one.
(03:37):
Yeah. I think those are good points to, and there almost for me when I there's a sense of both for audio dramas and the old time radio and then old movies, as you mentioned, there's an innocence to those. I find that seems to be missing from some of the newer things. Do you think that's, um, a valid point with that or is that just something I've made up in my my old,
(03:59):
No, I, I, that, that's, uh, a very good point too. I would agree with you. I mean, today with the, with modern cinema and things, I mean, there's just so much violence and, uh, crasness and using U usage of, uh, foul language and whatnot and stories, depict topics that can graphic that, you know, I, I agree with you about the, uh, you know, holding on to the innocence and, you know, hopefully, uh, incorporating, you know, old traditional values at times and these old stories.
(04:37):
Yeah. There's a simplicity in the productions as well. How do you and your productions is, are there specific techniques you use to try to mimic the sound of an old radio show? Cuz it's different than just, I would imagine just grabbing a script and performing that I would, I would imagine there's something of an art to recreating that old sound as well.
(04:58):
Usually I try and sound effects from, um, oh gosh, I'm trying to think. Uh, when I, uh, when I did ghost hunt, for instance, there was the sound of the old car from the forties and finding that I think I might have even just grabbed the effect from the original episode because I couldn't find it anywhere else, but yeah. I mean just like getting the right sound effects now I don't usually add like static or anything to it because I, um, I had someone reach out to me and said, and, and this person told me that they loved my stuff because you know, they, they can listen to these old shows now and it's, it's it clean and they can, they can hear it now because he is like having some hearing loss or something. So yeah, I definitely try to use the sound effects with the music. Um, I, uh, I work with Ross Bernhardt who often works with, uh, Pete lots over at Nora radio company and he, uh, he'll score things that often mimic Bernard Bernard Herman, and some of the old, um, 20th century cinema composers. And that's also how I try to incorporate, uh, the old time timey vibe of the, the, with the music.
(06:20):
It sounds great. I, I was wondering if, um, there was even a way that you direct your actors, um, cuz even they have an old timey sounds themselves.
(06:31):
Yeah. I mean I often, uh, if, if the original episode exists, I I'll often have them listen to it, not to mimic the voices, but just to get a, get a sense of the, um, the inflections of the lines and so forth. And we do a lot of trans Atlantic accents, uh, to really try and, uh, mimic the, uh, the 1930s and forties and even fifth,
(06:58):
You're involved in a lot of different aspects of audio acting, editing, producing. Which of those do you say would your, it would be your favorite?
(07:07):
Oh my gosh. Um, well I really love the opportunity to sit down and write scripts, um, and not necessarily not necess necessarily, uh, old timey scripts, but I, I like, I just like writing the scripts and, well, I guess, I guess you could say voice acting as a close second, but I often take the other roles with the producing and the editing and so forth because what I do is typically passion projects and I just don't have the budget to go out and find somebody that can produce it for me. But it's, it's hard to really like say one or the other, but sorry if I'm rambling here.
(07:51):
No, not at all. Uh, when you, you mentioned passion projects, I guess when you're doing all of these different things, how do you maintain a passion for the, I can imagine that would get very overwhelming.
(08:01):
It can. Um, I think what helps me a lot is that the wonderful group of actors that I, that I have worked with consistently, like Pete Lotz and John Bell and all of those people, sometimes I have had a tendency to feel overwhelmed door, feel like, you know, kinda like the world is closing in on itself, but these people are always there to just keep encouraging me. And, uh, Dean T moody, for instance, he's gone pro and he, he is like, you know, I, I can't pay him, but he just loves working with me and loves working on my stuff. So, you know, I, I know that I can always reach out to him and he'll, uh, he'll have the lines for me.
(08:46):
Do you record, uh, have your actors record separately or do they play off of each other
(08:51):
At this point? It's, it's so hard to get everybody in the same room. So to speak, like through a zoom, a live, a live zoom or discord chat, I'm in the process of producing, uh, a lost script from suspense rope from, you know, like the Hitchcock movie and it, it only has a cast of four and I really, really wanted to get people, you know, the, the whole cast to get together. But unfortunately with real life circumstances and stuff, it, it just, it wasn't able to happen. So what I did, what I ended up doing in that case was I worked with them individually. You know, we kind of rehearsed together. And then, uh, now I'm just waiting for them to get back with me and send me their lines separately. One of these days, I'm gonna be able to get everybody in the same room. Like I, I'm a little envious of people like Larry Roby from project ion and even Pete Lutz, who can just, I don't know, he just sends out an email and can you guys get together at these times? And, you know, and he just makes it happen. And I don't know how he does it, but he does. And it's like, that's one of those things I wish that, um, that I could do
(10:06):
When you get lines that are SEP, that are recorded separately. Have you ever had to reach back out and say, this doesn't work? Can you please record this line again?
(10:16):
Oh yeah, yeah, that does. That does happen from time to time. And usually it's, you know, it's, it's not really a big deal, uh, to try and circumvent that issue from happening. I, uh, I get them to give me multiple takes of a line so that hopefully at some, you know, hopefully one of the lines will work with everybody. Else's uh, another thing that I've done in the past is if someone's really struggling with finding their voice for the role, I'll send them the other actors part so that they can at least listen to it, to work off of. So I, I have done that in the past.
(10:53):
Now you have a, obviously a passion for, for audio drama. You've been in for a, why played a lot of different roles. Where do you think audio drama? I is going as an industry.
(11:04):
A lot of people seem to think that we're just such a small niche group of people that some people think that it's, it's a dying industry, but I have to disagree with that because you have companies like finish and, uh, even audible that are, you know, taking these forecast productions and making it, making it work now with like a company like big finish, for instance, they're kind of surveying, I guess you could say what the audience, what the listening audience wants. Uh, like for instance, they're Dr. Who line they'll take that. And, you know, they've, they've been gosh, producing Dr who for years and, you know, people, people just seem to like it and I'm, I'm totally guilty of not having the, the chance of being able to listen to everybody's stuff. But like, for instance, there's a podcast called, I don't know if this is their actual podcast name, but I think it's called archive 81.
(12:05):
And the popularity of that is just so strong that they took it and pitched it to Netflix and then Netflix to took it and turned it into an entirely different, you know, medium, a visual, a, a whole series. And because of that, it's, it's almost like if you can get in the door that way, then you'll get these people that really like to love to watch the TV show or the, the, the, um, the mini series or what have you. And they'll be like, oh my gosh, that's so cool. Now I have to go back and listen to the podcast.
(12:38):
Yeah, it's funny. We were talking with, uh, JD Sutter on the last podcast, and we were mentioning how some of the big companies, um, studios for example, were starting to get into the audio drama space somewhat. And they were calling at all various types of things as if they had discovered something new mm-hmm, , it's like, hate to tell you this it's been around for a while. Oh,
(13:01):
Exactly. , uh, one of the things that, uh, that I wanna do at salt when audios, even though it's with the vintage soul and mind is try to come up with things that maybe more P people would like more mainstream stuff. I've got this horror cereal that I'm working on that is completely original, that I've been working on for a little while. And I'm also bringing in, um, a friend of mine named, uh, his, his name is Alexander wounded side, and he's got a, what he calls an audio drama anime. So basically he's got an audio drama serial, which I, I guess if you like, had an anime on and you, you had the picture turned off, you know, that's, that's what you would, that's what you would hear. That's, that's what he's trying to, I guess, accomplish. And, uh, his is called CISM black. And, um, I've agreed to basically let him host that over at, uh, at my, at my company because people, especially the, the younger generation loves anime. So I wanted to give him that opportunity. And, you know, I thought maybe it'd be kinda like a win-win, you know, I'd try to get him a little, a bit more exposure, and maybe he could give me some more listeners that might come in and listen to his stuff. And then like some of my stuff, and even maybe old time radio theater,
(14:26):
It seems like most people that I introduced to audio drama end up liking it to one degree or another. And so it seems to me that one of the biggest problems we face in the industry is just education of the public about what it is. How do you go about marketing your work?
(14:42):
That's something that I admit I struggle with because it's, um, it, it really isn't easy and my audience is quite small at the moment, but, you know, I, I do know people like Larry Roby from project ion and, um, mostly I'm trying to submit episodes for, you know, from cell tone audios to companies like mutual audio network and the Nora radio company and that kind of thing. And we just kind of network that way with people. I already knew that maybe have a stronger following. I've also tried to send my promos and trailers to other people that tend to have a, more of a, an act of following. Like, there's a, I think his Ms. James, I think it's James Taylor, I think, uh, he's got a serious called my amazing woman. And it's about a superhero of some kind. I don't, I don't quite know all about it.
(15:43):
I need to actually sit down and listen to it, but yeah, he's got a, a good following and he's kind of offered to, um, to help me, you know, with, with some, you know, some exposure anyway, but like in regards to other things, you know, I, I try to promote the, the new episodes in various Facebook groups, like, um, audio drama auditions, or, you know, old time radio theater, I've even I've I started a, uh, Facebook group specifically for all time radio companies, or, I mean, companies that create all time radio episodes, like I do, we don't have a huge following yet, but, you know, we, we do have quite a few people that have joined and, uh, so, so that's good that we can, you know, try to help each other that way. I'm interested in checking that out. I'll have to, I'll have to send you the link. Yeah. Did,
(16:37):
Oh, thank you. did I join that? I think I did.
(16:40):
You may have, I'll have to send you the link if each
(16:42):
Check though, but no, I, you know, you know, as a community, I think one of the keys to getting our work out there is to help each other mm-hmm um, and I have found that to be, you know, mostly true too, that if you reach out to somebody they're usually more than willing to, to help you out in whatever way that they can. And that's important as a community, especially one that, again, suffers from a lack of, I think, public education in term, you know, in terms of what we're trying to do in, in what we offer. But once people know about it, they tend to tend to enjoy it. Like, oh, that's, that's really neat. Like a movie for my mind. Yay.
(17:18):
Exactly. Yeah.
(17:20):
Well, Rachel, how can people find out more about you online?
(17:24):
Okay. So, um, they can go to anchor.fm/soul twin audios. That's soul spelled S O L E. I think it also is on Spotify.
(17:37):
Yeah. Check it out. When I think I've told you before where my favorite episode so far is the short order that you've done. I really enjoyed that one. Cause I heard the original, not when it was originally broadcast mind you right.
(17:49):
you. Right.
(17:51):
I had to hear that. And then I heard yours and it's like, that's real. That's a really good reproduction of what, what they did that was originally a suspense, right? Yes.
(17:59):
I'd. Um, most of my episodes I tend to recreate are from suspense because I it's probably my favorite that, and I, um, had the luck of, of getting another composer, David Crouse. He did a re-imagining of the, of the music that I use for the opening and the closing of the, of each episode. So apart from Ross Bernhardt's, anytime I do a, a suspense episode, I include David Crouse's intro and closing theme in there.
(18:32):
Well, stay tuned at the end here. Folks. We're gonna have to play. We're gonna play some trailers from, from Rachel's work. Rachel, thank you so much for joining us on audio drama, insiders.
(18:41):
Thank you so much. Nice
(18:43):
To meet you. All
(18:44):
Right. Bye.
(18:45):
Bye.
(18:52):
Coming soon to soul twin audios,
(18:55):
You seem to get the business. Of course, you got a terrific location.
(18:58):
People come here to eat and I see that they get to
(19:03):
Hamburger and coffee.
(19:05):
Did you see that man's face it's enough to haunt your dreams
(19:10):
Kind of made you nervous. Didn't Mr. Bailey,
(19:12):
Short order, starring Joe Staco sky man, and Robin Robbins, a remarkable tale of suspense.
(19:22):
Rachel Pullum brings you old time. Radio theater for soul twin audios stories created solely with the, the soul in mind. Look for us at anchor.fm/soul twin audios that's S O L E twin audios
(19:51):
Audios stories created solely with the vintage soul. In mind.
(20:01):
You have to tell him about the way you've it all drop. You have to tell 'em a tremendous lot.
(20:06):
It's far worse than I dreamed. They're lost
(20:09):
My own children. Believe that I am murderer.
(20:12):
My father was afraid of this spell. I shall make
(20:17):
It wrong. You can see her very thoroughly. She believes in life and in living, I was just thinking what a horrible thing it would be for that belief of hers to be smashed the start of
(20:32):
The script ring once for death
(20:35):
F in C minor
(20:37):
Rope Coming soon to soul twin audios,
(20:59):
Greetings loyal listeners. This is Vincent the with a special announcement. Jerry tales of terror will once again, hold our writing competition for spine tingling, tales written by you to be featured on my program for a second time, I am opening my cry to allow outside horrors to enter and give me nightmares of my very home. right, an original spooky, but family friendly story involving the supernatural, not to exceed 30 minutes in link. Join us. Won't you. If you dare,
(21:56):
Look for us at anchor.fm/soul twin audios that's S O L E twin audios.