It finally happened!

For whatever reason, I’ve always been interested in sound effects. I listen intently at the “foley effects” in motion pictures, always wondering how they create the footsteps on gravel, or horse hooves on cobblestone and a fly buzzing in a room.

I used to listen to the radio theatre mystery shows that would typically air late at night, usually while I was driving a long distance in the dark. The spooky and often schmaltzy sound effects and spooky music would often scare me out of my wits, but I loved them.

So, I have always wanted to produce some kind of show that would include actors, sound effects and music.

In 2005, I helped write and produce a few episodes of a “Big Yellow Radio” show at the Valley Unitarian Universalist Congregation with Igor Glenn and many others. It was a live show, and we did about four or five productions as “ an old-fashioned radio variety show, with music, comedy sketches, and entertainment from VUU members and local performers.”

Then, when I first wrote “Equalizer,” my prequel novella to “Fade Out,” my debut crime fiction novel, along with the crime stories and a cold case, it included a “podcast” called “Haunted Hallows” written by my radio reporter sleuth, “Lisa Powers.” It was a way for Lisa to unwind and write something fun and campy after a day of covering the often-gritty crime beat for her radio station.

One of my goals, in addition to publishing a fiction mystery novel, was to also narrate my own audiobook recording. In the back of my mind, I always thought it would be great fun to get some actor friends together to actually record the podcasts for the audiobook – and that daydream just came true!

I gathered a number of my many talented friends – Sherri Hildebrand Whitney, Brian Whitney, Bob Diepenbrock, Cathy Beard, Andrea Beaulieu, Ann Videan and Mary Jo West – and we finally found a date we could all meet in a decent little audio recording studio in Chandler called SER, just off Arizona Avenue. I brought in a bunch of sound effects I had been gathering: bells, canned air, chains, wood, hammers, and many more, and recorded the audio with one main condenser microphone, and two other dynamic mics, one for lower toned sound effects, and one for higher toned ones.

Bob and Cat, of BobCat Studios, also brought a video camera so we could tape it for my website and other promotional purposes – and what fun we had! We completed the “Fade Out” podcast, called “Frightful Fun House,” about a man and woman who get stuck in a carnival fun house – but it’s not so humorous when they stumble upon a dead body. I need to record some additional sound effects, and will add music composed by my musician brother, Loren Fagen in Norway, for the openings and closings. Hopefully with the help of my talented son, Devon, we can put this all together for release in 2017.

I will be including clips, outtakes and other sections of the podcast recording over the next few months, both here and on my Laurie Fagen Facebook page. So stay tuned and enjoy!