ABSTRACT
Music is certainly a common element found in many radio documentary productions, but in this chapter aims to explore the use of music as the central focus of the story. It explores the ability of music to generate strong emotional responses in listeners. The selection of music is informed by the need to enhance meaning within a documentary while, at the same time, reflecting the station's overall programming ethos. The ability to “beat mix” or “beat match” a track, to shorten or extend certain sections of music, is a particularly useful skill in the production of music documentaries. There are certainly good arguments in favour of the manipulation of music within a radio documentary. A music “bed” refers to the use of music underneath the spoken word content of a presenter or contributor and is one of the most common editorial techniques used in music documentary production.
