Articles by Doug

We make noise. Some of it is in the form of audio drama, some in the form of podcasts, and some in the guise of music. A bunch of lads and lasses with microphones and recording equipment…what we do with them is up to us.

I started out making audio plays way back in my youth using an old two track reel-to-reel tape recorded that my grandfather gave to me. These plays were mostly of the “mocumentary” type. I would take some not-so-newsworthy story (mostly stuff about my home town) and do these fake newscasts complete with on-the-spot interviews of the people involved. I did all the voices and used a record I had which was full of mostly useless sound effects. Often, I would base the stories on the sound effects that I had at my disposal. Do you have any idea how difficult it is to make use out of “Track 7 – Man Dropping Wood on Floor”? Why the hell did they even put that on a sound effects record to begin with?

…in other news, scientists have discovered a rare disease which compels men to drop random pieces of wood upon the floor. One man, Sam Cedar, comments on this disorder.

“I just can’t help myself…every time I pick up a piece of wood I feel as though I need to drop it on the floor. And if I don’t drop it, I break out in shingles!”

Yup…that’s about how it would go. So anyway, a hobby like this had to lead somewhere, right? Yes indeed. I fianally convinced some friends who write, act, or just like to hang out on my couch to join me in this endeavor called audio drama (or audio theater, radio drama…whatever you want to call it). We formed Preying Mantis Productions and have been creating ever since.

Look for more about the history of Preying Mantis Productions in future postings. And maybe, I’ll break out the old reel-to-reel and upload one of those old plays I made as a kid…no promises though.