How We Recorded an Audio Tour for Shiftworks
Aurora, 2024, Joshua Challen Ice, photo by John Altdorfer courtesy the Pittsburgh Parks Conservancy. Aurora is the first stop on a new self-guided audio tour Bright Archives recorded for Shiftworks Community + Public Arts in collaboration with the Pittsburgh Parks Conservancy and the Pittsburgh Cultural Trust.
Introduction
Client
Shiftworks Community + Public Arts
Industry
Nonprofits and Arts
Services
Audio tours and audio engineering, mixing, and mastering
Shiftworks Community + Public Arts is a Pittsburgh-based 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization working across southwestern Pennsylvania to collaboratively shape the public realm and catalyze community-led change.
Through community-engaged artist projects, Shiftworks supports the growth of social, cultural, and neighborhood assets. Shiftworks achieves this by delivering civically engaged public art, artist services, public programming, and client services. To learn more about Shiftworks and their work, visit https://shiftworkspgh.org.
Shiftworks contacted Bright Archives to produce recordings for an audio walking tour called Beautifully Lit: A Self-Guided Tour of the City and Season's Artful Light Installations, created in collaboration with Pittsburgh Parks Conservancy and Pittsburgh Cultural Trust. In celebration of the 2024/2025 holiday season, the tour features seven light installations on display across downtown Pittsburgh—from Mellon Square to the Three Sisters Bridges—and a diverse group of artists sharing insights into their work in their own words.
Working with a tight two-week turnaround, Shiftworks asked Bright Archives to coordinate and record the speakers, as well as produce the audio tour recordings, which included a total of seven speakers and nine recordings.
Primary Goal
Shiftworks wanted clear, professionally produced recordings for the Beautifully Lit self-guided audio tour.
Our Solution
Tapping into years of experience and expertise in oral history and documentaries, we brought a deep, authentic storytelling approach to the project, creating an audio tour that sounds genuine and engaging.
With the tight deadline in mind, we kicked off the project by scheduling studio appointments for the speakers. Most required in-person sessions, though a two were done remotely. For the remote interviews, we agreed on the recording requirements in advance so all of the speakers sounded as uniform as possible, given their available recording equipment.
We recorded the in-person sessions at our project studio in Pittsburgh. We know that for many people, stepping into a studio and hearing their own voice can feel intimidating, so we make it a priority to create a comfortable environment. Using the patient listening skills we've developed as oral historians, we approach each session with respect for both the speaker and the scripted material. We took the time to address any concerns, explain the recording process, and discuss the goals to ensure we're aligned with both the speaker's and the client’s expectations.
We aimed to preserve the authenticity of each speaker's cadence and tone while ensuring a consistent set of recordings. For this project, we provided coaching to many of the speakers, offering feedback on word choice and pronunciation, and allowing them to do as many takes as needed. We avoided over-editing in real-time, giving each speaker the space to find their natural rhythm. Throughout the process, we focused on making the audio engineering as seamless and non-intrusive as possible.
After the recording sessions, we edited, mixed, and mastered the recordings.
For this project, we focused on editing the recordings for a smooth, natural flow, making small adjustments to certain words or sentences so it sounded effortless. If a speaker rushed through a sentence, we added a bit of space to ensure each word was clear. We also removed any distracting breath sounds or mouth clicks, keeping the focus on the content of the tour.
When mixing the recordings, we made volume adjustments—especially if speakers lowered their voice at the end of a sentence—and we balanced low, mid, and high frequencies (a process called equalization or EQ), reducing the piercing noises common in “s” and “ch” sounds.
During the mastering stage, we fine-tuned the volume levels and made final adjustments to equalization, compression, and limiting. Compression reduces the difference in volume between the loudest and quietest parts of an audio signal, while limiting prevents a signal's amplitude from exceeding a set value, allowing us to increase the output volume to an optimal level.
For this project, the mixing and mastering stages were essential, as each speaker had a unique vocal quality, and two speakers provided recordings made remotely. We sought to make all the recordings sound as consistent as possible while also respecting the vision of both our client and the speakers.
The Results
As a result of this project, Shiftworks and its partners were able to launch the audio tour, featuring speakers from diverse backgrounds sharing insights into artworks and landmarks in downtown Pittsburgh, just in time for the holiday season.
Despite the tight two-week turnaround, we recorded seven speakers and delivered nine recordings on time. By carefully coordinating schedules and streamlining the process, we were able to maximize efficiency without compromising quality, all while bringing an authentic, storytelling approach to the project.
Learn more about the project on the Shiftworks website.
Listen to a selection of the speakers and explore a virtual version of the tour below.
Conclusion
A key takeaway from this project was how effective careful planning and a storytelling approach can be, even under a tight deadline. With just two weeks to coordinate, record, and produce nine recordings, we were able to maintain a focus on authenticity and narrative quality. By streamlining the process and working closely with each speaker, we made sure that their unique voices and perspectives were preserved while delivering a polished final product on time. This experience reinforced the importance of balancing efficiency with a commitment to authenticity and ethics of care in the recording studio, no matter how challenging the timeline may be.
We’re grateful for the opportunity to work with Shiftworks Community + Public Arts and its partners, Pittsburgh Parks Conservancy and Pittsburgh Cultural Trust on this project. It was a pleasure collaborating with them, and we truly enjoyed producing the audio tour.
We excited to create more audio tours in the future, blending rich storytelling with expert audio production.
Do you want to produce your own audio tour or audioguide?
Whether you're looking to create a self-guided tour for your museum, historic site, or landmark, we can help bring it to life. From scripting and recording to final production, we'll guide you every step of the way.
