A Brief History of Barnaby Druthers Part IV

In order to appreciate the ability of remote recording due to COVID-19, one must understand the amazing opportunity we enjoyed of rehearsing and recording at the community radio station studio.

Imagine if you will, you’re an actor who has received a script and a role. You arrive at the station and are let in where your fellow actors are waiting for you at the long meeting table. After warm meet and greet conversation, the table read of the script begins. At this stage, the director may make a suggestion on delivery or change a line, but there is a familiarity with the story and the rapport among the team is evident. Often a line is understood more fully within the context of the delivery at the table read as opposed to the page.

Then, when all is ready, you enter studio B with the rest of the cast where there are three microphones set up. Depending on the script, two actors are at each microphone.

The microphones are checked, the levels are checked and then we record the program. On more than one occasion, the recording ends with applause for a job well done amongst the team. The audio is saved and stored immediately and we return to the large table for wrap up and for further discussion about future events. The camaraderie and fun of this method of recording is extraordinary.

I miss it greatly.

But as you can see and well imagine, the small area of studio b is not suitable for teams of individuals to remote at shared microphones. Even before the studio was officially closed to visitors, the decision was clear that we could not record in this method until it was safe to do so.

I know we recorded the Priceless Manuscript in February 2020 but it aired later than other classic Barnaby stories. We recorded the Chuzzleby Carbuncle as the last show in the studio and had a fun photo shoot.

We recorded many Nutmeg Junction episodes remotely that were not Barnaby Druthers related. We found the program ZOOM helpful and participants began to order and then use stand-alone microphones instead of the ones embedded into their laptop, phone or tablet.

Our first Barnaby story done remotely was also another change. We brought the characters into the modern day, and had our first modern Druthers adventure called “All We Bring To Bear” which we brought to KCIW in Brookings, Oregon. But that is for the next part of the story.