We use Pro Tools LE for recording and editing all audio tracks.

After creating a new track, we adjust the gain to the appropriate level and begin recording.

We use a small, Whisper Room soundproof booth with a Neumann microphone and music stand.

A microphone outside the booth allows us to direct the reader during a recording.

Now, we edit. The cut, trim and mover tools are highlighted in blue in the upper left corner.

Finally, we transfer the file to iTunes to create an .mp3. That file is then uploaded to the digital issue for everyone to hear.

But you don’t need a professional studio to create your own work and submit. You can use software like Audacity or even iMovie and create great tracks, maybe even prize-winning tracks. Good luck and don’t forget to get your submissions in the mail by tomorrow. I can’t wait to hear all your great work.

Trent Reznor fully grunged out.

No, not that Trent Reznor.

Reznor and Atticus Ross accept the Oscar for Best Original Score. Personally, I think he's more intimidating in a tuxedo.

That Trent Reznor. Reznor was a surprise winner to some, even with the success he had at the Golden Globes. Truthfully, the surprise is that someone so famous for transforming American industrial rock gained access to the clean-cut, elitist Oscar stage. You don’t need to be a film or music expert to find the differences between Reznor and, say, Randy Newman – winner of Best Original Song this year. You also don’t need to be an expert to see that Reznor absolutely deserved his Oscar. And the Ross-Reznor musical pairing isn’t finished making their mark on the film world. The duo is working with David Fincher on the score for The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo.

So, here’s the question: did James Franco get stoned and host the Oscars? Just kidding – but I’m not the only one asking that question.

Seriously, let’s take a closer look at Reznor’s career. We all already know Nine Inch Nails and, whether industrial rock is your thing or not, I think we can admit that what he did was groundbreaking and took a lot of talent. So, how did he do it? The answer, at least for the band’s fifth album, Year Zero: with a laptop in hotel rooms after rocking out on tour. No, not everyone loved Year Zero, but then again it seems like it’s always hard to please Pitchfork. The larger point here, is that Reznor built this album on the go, on a laptop, mixing sounds and beats outside of a multi-million dollar studio.

When you’re sitting at home, mixing your audio for this year’s competition, just think, I am Trent Reznor. I mean, it gets me through my day.

Listen to the podcast here.

You can also watch a different part of “Women at Troy,” with photography, below (via Vimeo):

In Verse: Women of Troy from InVerse on Vimeo.

Listen here: .

You can find complete submission guidelines for both of our contests at http://www.missourireview.com/contest/

Thanks to everyone who has submitted already, and we look forward to hearing and watching submissions from the rest of you!

You can also listen to Lisa’s winning entry in our audio competition on our podcast.

Full guidelines and the entry form are available here.

And check out last year’s winners in our archived podcasts.

Narrative Essay

First place, $1,000: Judith Sloan, “Sweeping Statements” [Listen]

First runner-up: Kris Saknussemm, “Cahoots” [Listen]

Second runner-up: Richard Paul, “Fighting With My Dad” [Listen]

Documentary

First place, $1,000: Lu Olkowski, “Grandpa” [Listen]

First runner-up and Editors’ Choice Award, $100: Richard Paul, “Shakespeare in Black and White” [Listen]

Second runner-up: Ken Cormier, “The Secret Pianos of Manhattan” [Listen]

Third runner-up: Dan Collison, “Lord God Bird” [Listen]

10-minute play

First place, $500: Kris Saknusemm: “Memory Wound” [Listen]

First runner-up: George Zarr: “Old Dog/Newer Tricks” [Listen]

Second runner-up: Sue Zizza, National Audio Theatre Festivals, “Avian Invasion” [Listen]

Voice-only Literature

Creative Nonfiction

• First place in Voice-only Literature category and Creative Nonfiction subcategory, $500: Albert Haley, “The Cough” [Listen] 

First runner-up and Editors’ Choice Award, $100: Lisa K. Buchanan, “All That I Missed” [Listen]

• Second runner-up: Randolph Jordan, “A Death in the Family” [Listen]
• Third runner-up: Angela Cervantes, “A House of Women” [Listen]

Flash fiction

First place in subcategory and Editors’ Choice Award, $100: Josh McDonald, “Lost” [Listen]

 First runner-up and Editors’ Choice Award, $100: Jithendria Kumar Aravamudhan, “Memoirs of a Mad Man” [Listen]

Poetry

First place in subcategory and Editors’ Choice Award, $100: Todd Boss, “To Wind a Mechanical Toy” [Listen]

First runner up: Todd Boss, “Yellow Rocket” [Listen]

Second runner-up: Runner up: Susan B.A. Somers-Willett, “The Golden Lesson” [Listen]

Third runner-up: Eric Torgersen, “Taking Tickets” [Listen]

Fourth runner-up: Josh McDonald, “Women in Strange Trousers” [Listen]

You can listen to this podcast directly here.

Ken Cormier is editor and producer of The Lumberyard, a radio magazine of poetry, prose, and music broadcast on WHUS in Connecticut, and also available online. His first book, Balance Act, a collection of poems and short stories, was published by Insomniac Press in 2000.

You can listen to this podcast directly here.