Why narrative audio quality matters: Danny O’Grady’s new bingeworthy adventure

Death Ditties creator Danny O'Grady. Image supplied

As someone who spent a sizeable chunk of his career as a sound engineer with SCA, Danny O’Grady doesn’t like it when good stories are ruined by low bitrates.

Danny says a large proportion of narrative audio is delivered in AAQ (that’s Arse Audio Quality for those playing at home).

And so Danny created Death Ditties, an immersive, binge-ready audio experience laced with death, horror and dark humour.

Unlike standard narrative podcasts, Death Ditties is delivered via a dedicated website in 24-bit/48kHz lossless FLAC audio.

Danny wrote the series, voiced the male parts, engineered, mixed and mastered it, then built the website and sorted the distribution himself.

As Danny tells Radio Today: “That end-to-end control was key to telling the stories the way I wanted them heard.”

Death Ditties is an audio passion project for Danny, who started his radio career at Nova Adelaide as a panel op and production assistant, before going on to become a senior audio producer at Melbourne’s Fox FM and Triple M.

Low bitrates are one of his pet peeves.

For those not familiar with the lingo, a low bitrate is a file that’s been sized down to save space.

“With regards to audio, what gets lost first is the subtle stuff like the air around a voice and where a sound sits in space,” Danny explains.

In other words, it’s all the nuance that makes a detailed soundscape feel real.

“It’s a valid means of distribution for spoken word podcasts because a high or low bitrate matters little if all you are working with is the human voice.”

“SFX/ambient sound is where the damage is done.”

As we know, when it comes to narrative audio or audio fiction, it’s the sound that creates the picture.

“Higher quality audio means a richer experience for the listener and a stronger emotional connection to the story,” says Danny.

“Horror relies on subtlety – which direction footsteps come from or high frequency eerie atmos sounds. If a sound gets placed by the creators, they want the audience to hear it.”

Danny says he’s had several conversations with people in the industry who’ve told him that audiences don’t care about bitrates.

“But I do. So I made Death Ditties available the way I want people to hear it.”

“Death Ditties also relies on binaural mixing, which places sound around and behind your head. If you crush the file, the 3D image collapses and there’s less depth to each scene.”

“Most listeners won’t consciously know the difference, but they will feel it. High fidelity is the difference between hearing a story and being inside one.”

“I know the distribution of podcasts won’t change anytime soon but I believe streaming your show off a dedicated website in the highest quality possible should be a premium offering for audio fiction creators.”

“All this posturing and I have actually made Death Ditties available on all major podcast platforms – so go figure,” laughs Danny.

A fan of ‘Monster of the Week’ or self-contained TV shows, Danny chose the niche of horror and got to work researching radio plays and scriptwriting.

“Actual episode inspiration is random but I usually run every idea past my wife and if she thinks it’s shite – I bin it, otherwise it’s a greenlight.”

The episode titled Office Gossip is an ode to Danny’s time working in the corporate sector.

Danny says it’s the lossless delivery which sets these podcasts apart.

“The way it was recorded in studio and the original quality of the SFX is what hits your ears.”

Each episode is subtitled with full character attribution in seven languages via a ‘read-along’ function of the website’s audio players.

Danny departed SCA in 2022 and for the past four years has worked as a freelance producer and voice actor, represented by RMK.

“What I miss most is working alongside fellow loose units with impossibly high standards,” he says.

“That combination is rare these days and as far as I’m concerned, it needs to come back – tenfold.”

Over the course of his audio career, Danny says he’d had the pleasure of working with some of the best audio producers on the planet.

“Australian radio and podcast production punches well above its weight and few people outside the industry realise it.”

“But I see you, fellow audio kings and queens – I see you.”

Death Ditties can be found on Instagram, YouTube, TikTok and X – @deathditties

Images supplied.