AUDIO CREATIVE

SAM PHELPS

Although I started in audio, sound is now just tool to create something bigger. The output is creative, interesting, immersive, story-driven and most importantly, fit for purpose. I’m blessed that my hands have the skills to bring to life anything you can imagine.

“You can’t use up creativity. The more you use, the more you have.” — Maya Angelou

samuelphelps@hotmail.com
0423461036

CURRENT ABC ROLES

I work as an Audio Creative for RN, Classic and News Radio primarily, and branch out into local radio and commercial when called upon.

PRODUCED

PODCASTS

In part, or in full, I have worked on 24 different podcast series and hundreds of episodes since 2008. Always as an audio creative, sometimes as a writer and producer.

FEATURE LENGTH KIDS ANIMATION MUSICAL

I’m no stranger to children’s content. in Australia I’ve co-produced creativity educational series and teaching resources for primary schools. 1 in 10 teachers in NSW use or have used my children’s content in their classroom. Here is the flagship piece of content, a full length animation I directed and produced.

STORYTELLING

If you can’t write an interesting, engaging children’s story, how do you hope to tell a story to an adult?
The guides, principals and rules apply to all storytelling. Here is a ‘hero’s journey’ story arch I wrote for my son for his 6th Birthday. The writing and sound are great, but excuse the animation (it’s a bit wonky because: Fiverr).

STORYTELLING THROUGH AUDIO

A Cinematic Micro Documentary

An audio recount of what happened on September 11th 2001. An historically accurate timeline of all the events that unfolded supported by actual audio with authentic live reactions, the real terrorists voices and flight control tower / emergency services transmissions (no dramatisations).

CREATIVITY IN PODCASTS

Taking a blob of clay and turning it into something special!
My specialty is taking things that seem boring or dull and turn them into engaging and well produced pieces of content.

Example

This particular podcast interview was a quite slow, very all over the place and a lot of information which went off track. We didn’t feel the weight of the situation it felt too casual and dismissive. So I decided to completely re-arrange everything, rebuild themes and add production elements to turn it into something very special.

To hear where it started, start here, then listen to the official release below.

BEFORE

AFTER

SHORT FILM SOUND DESIGNING

What if you started with the sound, then added a film to it later? No it’s not a film clip, it’s a psychological thriller that conjures very strong emotions despite the visuals being pretty ordinary.

CLIENTS

These are some of the big name clients I have worked for. Usually for creative audio, but sometimes for audio repair.

WORLD FIRSTS IN AUDIO

Over the years I’ve pushed to make brand new things which no one has heard or maybe even thought of before. Sometimes it’s subtle, sometimes it’s obvious. Here’s some examples:

Sometimes it’s best to start with the problem, not the idea. This idea came about after months of testing, researching and experimenting. The problem I was looking to solve was “How can I watch TV shows on the go, without having to look at a screen”. This came about because of Foxtel Binge talk that they were after a podcast. I thought all the traditional ideas were weak and had no ‘point of difference’ worthy of such a high profile brand.

If you were try to describe it, it’s like taking an episode of a TV show, but then turning it into an audio book, but keeping all the original Hollywood actors lines from the TV show.
Have a listen and you’ll hear what I mean.

Risqué Ideas, brave execution. A montage of a variety of campaigns and works that at the time pushed what was possible and what was acceptable.

Beat-Shiting in radio production. It was always frowned upon to slow down songs into other songs, but I made it work. This is also an example of adding/removing musical elements that we just weren’t able to do prior to this moment. This is also some of the first radio production that focused in on influencer grabs and reviews of the particular artists.

SONIC BRANDING

It’s not just music, it’s not just sound effects and it’s not just sound design - it’s marrying all three to make something special.
Currently on the ABC there are 3 ABC News Themes. I own one of those. It spans Radio and all audio online content.

TEACHING AUDIO

I Love the puzzle of bridging the gap between what I know and what someone doesn’t know, but wishes to. Sound is very allusive, ghost like so it’s hard to explain to people certain aspects. I’ve done many video tutorials to help people understand many areas. Here’s a video example and a document attempting to tell you everything that I do in a regular job.