Glossary

ambient sound: background or surrounding noise; often helps communicate about the setting in an audio drama; for example: wind, birds chirping, rain, a train rumbling, a crowd, traffic

audio drama: a dramatized, purely acoustic performance. With no visual component, radio drama depends on dialogue, music and sound effects to help the listener imagine the characters and story

character: a person in a play, novel, or movie 

dialogue: a conversation between two or more characters; often conveys important information or reveals something about the characters

foley artist: the person who adds sound effects to an audio drama or film in post-production; the sounds added by a foley artist can often help add excitement or interest to a scene and create a more realistic experience for the listener

illustrator: one who uses visual images to tell a story

music cue: the insertion of music in an audio drama to transition from one scene to another, introduce a character to the scene, indicate a change in action, or to convey a particular mood

narrator: one who helps tell the story, convey action, and share background information; they may or may not be a character in the story

setting: the time and place within a narrative story

sound effect: an artificially created sound that is used to evoke an image or represent a moment of action; for example: a phone ringing, footsteps, a door shutting, a siren, an explosion

soundtrack: the final sound mix for a media production; this layered mix of tracks include the dialogue, sound effects, ambient sound, and music

voice actor: the person who voices a character (or characters) in an audio drama; they must use only their voice to communicate the dialogue and the character’s emotions