S1: From Vision Australia. This is talking vision. And now here's
S1: your host, Sam Colley.
S2: Hello everyone. It's great to be here with you. And
S2: for the next half hour we talk matters of blindness
S2: and low vision.
S3: It is challenging because it takes a lot of creative
S3: energy to sort of do all the different aspects, whereas,
S3: you know, a lot of the times and artists would,
S3: you know, write the song, perform the song, but wouldn't
S3: normally produce the song or mix the song or master
S3: the song. I kind of have to put a quite
S3: a few different hats on within that designated space, which
S3: is a challenge, but I'm very much enjoying it.
S2: Welcome to the program! This week I catch up with Anthony,
S2: a singer with low vision who sings, write his own songs,
S2: produces the music, mixes and does the social media all
S2: on his own. Anthony set himself an ambitious target of
S2: releasing a song every two weeks this year, and to
S2: find out more about that, make sure to tune in
S2: very shortly, as that interview is just around the corner.
S2: And then after I speak with Anthony, I'm joined by
S2: Manager of Audio Description Services at Vision Australia, Michael Ward,
S2: to tell us all about the latest offerings from the
S2: audio description side of things. Then, before we go this week,
S2: Francis calendars back with a reader recommended and we finish
S2: up with a little bit of news and information. I
S2: hope you'll enjoy this week's episode of Talking Vision. Anthony
S2: Rocco is a singer, songwriter, producer, production engineer and social
S2: media guru with low vision, otherwise known by his stage
S2: name Tony Low Key. In 2024, Anthony is setting out
S2: to share his talents with everybody across all streaming platforms
S2: and social media, and it's my great pleasure to welcome
S2: him now to chat all about it. Anthony, welcome to
S2: Talking Vision. Thanks so much for your time.
S3: Thanks for having me on, Sam.
S2: Firstly, as I understand it, Anthony, you're quite passionate about music.
S2: Where did that all start for you?
S3: You know, I was raised in a musical family. My
S3: mother sings and plays guitar and wrote songs, and she
S3: was in country clubs back when I was younger. One
S3: stage in my life, she was singing, busking. It was
S3: financial issues. And, you know, she used to talent to
S3: busk outside of like a Kmart in our local Kmart.
S3: And you know, she would make a, you know, a
S3: good amount of money from doing that. And as a
S3: kid I would be there with her just sort of
S3: looking out for her and should give me some money
S3: to get a get a doughnut or something like that. Yeah.
S3: Music has always been around me. Yeah. It had just
S3: been instilled in me from, you know, ever since I
S3: can remember.
S2: And would you regard yourself as more of a traditional
S2: musician with sort of instruments and that sort of thing,
S2: or more of an electronic side of things?
S3: I think a little bit of both. Um, I sing
S3: and I play the keyboard, and I also do electronic
S3: things like programmed drums and, you know, do the technical
S3: side of things with mixing and use synthesizers and programmed
S3: those sort of sounds as well. So I like to
S3: sort of delve into, you know, all the different aspects
S3: of music I can and experiment with different sounds and
S3: textures and things.
S2: You know, in recent years you, um, you experienced vision
S2: loss over some period of time and that would have
S2: thrown up quite a few obstacles for you. But what
S2: sort of impact has that had on your music and
S2: what are the specifics there if you're comfortable chatting about that?
S3: Yeah, absolutely. So I was born of a hereditary eye
S3: condition called retinitis pigmentosa, which deteriorates over time. When I
S3: left high school, I did a course in audio engineering.
S3: You know, I felt that was sort of the right
S3: path for me to go. And then I sort of
S3: moved on to I actually started producing music for local
S3: independent record label. But from then until now, my eyesight
S3: sort of slowly, increasingly deteriorated. So I was recording people
S3: and sort of a freelance audio engineer. And as my
S3: eyesight deteriorated, it became increasingly more difficult to do what
S3: I could do. In the same amount of time, I
S3: became slower at doing things. Things that normally would take
S3: a few seconds would start to take, you know, a
S3: minute or two minutes. And as a business that became
S3: didn't it wasn't viable to sort of keep doing it
S3: that way.
S2: Did you come up with any sort of life hacks
S2: or work out some adaptations to get around certain things
S2: over a period of time, which helped you get back
S2: into the music that you're doing now? What sort of
S2: been the most helpful thing for you?
S3: Yeah, so I use a screen magnifier on my computer.
S3: I also use Jaws technology, screen reading technology, which has
S3: helped a lot. I use a lot of shortcuts with hotkeys.
S3: For me, know them is just to sort of get
S3: to certain places I need to go faster without using
S3: the mouse. I've also got like hardware controllers where I
S3: can control certain volume knobs and different functions of my
S3: recording software. With a physical hardware mixer and different lighting
S3: puts lighting above my keyboard and, you know, above things.
S3: I want to be able to see a little bit
S3: better LED strips around the place, so I can see
S3: the outline of the room a little bit better and
S3: things like that, and just all sorts of little bits
S3: like that, that kind of, you know, make a big difference.
S2: And, um, we'll go back to a few years ago
S2: when you were experiencing those vision issues and you moved
S2: away from music for a little while and got into
S2: doing a few other things, pursuing other sort of career
S2: options like working in the community services sector. So tell
S2: us a bit about your time there. Yeah.
S3: So my passion has always been within music, but I
S3: also had a passion for community services. You know, I
S3: love supporting people that need support and the community. So
S3: that was a passion I wanted to pursue. So in 2021,
S3: I started a community Services diploma course and completed that
S3: in 2022. And last year I was on the hunt
S3: for employment and was unlucky and didn't manage to secure.
S3: Or anything at that time. So when it came to
S3: 2024 this year, I decided that I wanted to do
S3: something that I've always wanted to do, but had never
S3: gotten around to it, which was to release my own music. Totally.
S3: Everything done by myself, which means, you know, produce the music,
S3: write the songs, mix the songs, mastered the songs, released
S3: the songs. And although I had been in a few
S3: bands previous to that, and we've released music as a band, but,
S3: you know, I've never released anything solo on my own.
S3: So I set a goal for this year to back
S3: myself and re conjure up all the skills and knowledge
S3: that I've gathered over the years and put it in
S3: my own music and get that journey on the road.
S3: I guess.
S2: You know, you've set yourself another really ambitious goal to
S2: release a song every two weeks, so that's pretty incredible.
S2: And as you've said, you're producing, writing, performing, mixing, mastering
S2: the whole thing on your own. That's pretty exciting. Look
S2: forward to sort of seeing how that goes.
S3: Yeah. So it is very challenging and ambitious, but I'm
S3: the type of person that loves a good challenge. Yeah.
S3: So every two weeks a new song will come out,
S3: give or take two weeks. It could be three. But
S3: at the moment it's been averaging two weeks. And yeah,
S3: it is challenging because it takes a lot of creative
S3: energy to sort of do all the different aspects, whereas,
S3: you know, a lot of the times and artists would,
S3: you know, write the song, perform the song, but wouldn't
S3: normally produce the song or mix the song or master
S3: the song. I kind of have to put a quite
S3: a few different hats on within that designated space, which
S3: is a challenge, but I'm very much enjoying it.
S2: And there's a lot of planning and promoting and developing
S2: of various strategies and things that goes into that. So
S2: has all of that been going and what sort of
S2: ideas have you got around that?
S3: Yeah. So, um, a promotional strategy is a lot of
S3: social media campaigns, and there will be to come some
S3: short form content. So, like, you know, the short sort
S3: of TikTok sort of videos or the Instagram Reels of
S3: Facebook real type videos. A lot of research I've been
S3: doing is those are the most effective ways to promote
S3: music sort of nowaday and, you know, to get your
S3: sound out to a wider audience. Also, just putting out videos,
S3: and the big part of what I want to do is,
S3: you know, I want to bring people on the journey
S3: with me because I'm writing the songs as I'm going. Then,
S3: you know, there's an opportunity there for people that are
S3: following me on social media to have an input on
S3: what I'm doing. You know, they might be able to
S3: give me topics of, you know, what the song could
S3: be about, or give me ideas about things and sort
S3: of go back and forth like that. And I think,
S3: you know, that'll be a, you know, nice way to
S3: bring people along the journey with me.
S2: What's the best way for people to follow along with
S2: your journey? And, you know, have a listen to your
S2: music and stream it through their own platforms. What's the
S2: best way for people to do that?
S3: I'm available on all streaming platforms. My artist name is
S3: Tony Loki. T o n y l o w e
S3: y and I'm on Facebook, Instagram, Tik Tok under the
S3: same name, Tony Low Key Music. And yeah, that's where
S3: I post all of my updates and announcements and things
S3: like that. And I'm hoping to put more of my
S3: personal site out there. You know, everything just won't be
S3: about music. It'll be about, you know, sort of getting
S3: to know me. And you know what my thoughts are on,
S3: you know, just everyday topics and things like that as well.
S2: Well, that certainly sounds quite interesting for people out there.
S2: If they wanted to, you know, get to know the
S2: person behind the songs as well as catching up and, uh,
S2: following your music as well. So very keen to see
S2: how that all goes or follow that with great interest.
S2: I've been speaking today with Anthony Walker, otherwise known as
S2: Tony Low Key, all about his new exciting music career
S2: in 2024. Very excited to see how it all goes.
S2: So definitely keep in touch and um, hope it all
S2: goes well.
S3: Thank you so much, Sam. Yeah, um, it's great to
S3: be on and thank.
S2: I'm Sam Colley and you're listening to Talking Vision on
S2: Vision Australia Radio, associated Stations of Reading Radio and the
S2: Community Radio Network. I hope you enjoyed that conversation there
S2: with Anthony. Otherwise known as Tony Low Key. If you
S2: missed any part of that conversation with Anthony or you'd
S2: love to hear from him again. Talking vision is available
S2: on the Vision Australia Radio website on RVA radio.org. That's
S2: RVA radio.org. You can also find the program on the
S2: podcast app of your choice or through the Vision Australia library.
S2: And now back to the show. Audio description offers people
S2: who are blind or have low vision, an understanding of
S2: what is happening visually within a theatre, TV, film, museum,
S2: exhibition or other arts related productions. It's an additional narration
S2: that succinctly paints an image of transitions, movements, gestures, props, settings,
S2: costumes and scenery woven between the dialogues. And to have
S2: a chat with me all about the latest audio description
S2: offerings available to people out there. It's my great pleasure
S2: to welcome back Vision Australia manager of audio Description services,
S2: Michael Ward. Michael, welcome back to Talking Vision. Thanks very
S2: much for your time.
S4: Ah, thanks for having me, Sam.
S2: Now, people may be aware that audio description is quite
S2: prevalent across ABC and SBS on TV. So, um, what
S2: sort of programs can people look forward to getting audio
S2: description over the next month or so? Yeah.
S4: Um, Sam, on TV, there's quite a wide selection of
S4: audio described programs on, as you say, ABC and SBS
S4: these days. Uh, I think each station's doing around 14 hours. Um,
S4: of course we'd always like more, but, um, people are
S4: using the audio description on television and getting a great
S4: deal out of that. It just means that they can
S4: follow the story a lot closer and get all those
S4: visual cues which aren't always there. So everything from kids
S4: shows to, uh, documentaries to, you know, um, I see
S4: Joanna Lumley very popular series where she travels around Britain
S4: has been audio described play school for the kids. Of course,
S4: blowie is a big factor with a lot of people,
S4: and Gardening Australia is always, always popular. People love Gardening Australia.
S4: It is great. There is some great audio description with that.
S4: With that TV show they certainly do.
S2: And also quite an exciting development in recent months is
S2: the audio description has made its way over to various
S2: streaming platforms. Michael. So that's quite a welcome development. And
S2: what sort of things can people expect there.
S4: Yeah. Um, it's certainly um, quite a lot of options.
S4: And just on the back of the free to air
S4: audio described broadcast of the ABC and SBS, both formats
S4: are now moved over to their catch up. So ABC's
S4: iview and SBS On Demand now feature audio described shows
S4: which they hadn't previously done. So. So you had to
S4: tune in that time when the show was playing on television, right?
S4: The one drawback with that is that you can only
S4: access those on the demand, and the eye view on
S4: your phone or your laptop hasn't quite moved on to
S4: the smart TVs yet. And, um, we hope that they
S4: can get that in place fairly soon.
S5: And, um.
S2: Moving over to the live performance aspect of things with
S2: people who like to make their way out to the
S2: theatre and musicals and what have you, what sort of
S2: things can people look forward to there?
S4: Yeah. Thanks, Sam. We, um, we really hit the ground
S4: running this year. Uh, I think a lot of your
S4: listeners would know that we have a fairly extensive live
S4: theatre audio described program of, you know, around 200 shows
S4: across the country each year. And we spent a fair
S4: bit of time last year setting up the 2024. And, um, look,
S4: it's bigger and bolder every year. And this year we
S4: have some fantastic shows coming up, um, as well as
S4: the big musicals, which a lot of people like to do.
S4: And to give you an example of that, we've just done, uh, rent, um,
S4: the musical, we've done Chicago Grease coming up, we're doing
S4: Groundhog Day, which is the Tim Minchin adaptation of that movie. Uh,
S4: a lot of interest in that. We're doing, uh, Wicked
S4: in Melbourne as well. There's so many different musicals at
S4: the moment. It's fantastic. And people can pick a whole
S4: style that they like to go to. There's also a
S4: great deal of drama. So Sydney Theatre Company, Melbourne Theatre Company,
S4: so a lot of gritty, earthy stories that people can follow.
S4: We're also doing a lot of ballet this year, which
S4: is certainly growing an audience. A lot of people are, um,
S4: particularly if they have low vision, are getting a great
S4: deal out of the ballet and getting that storyline as
S4: well as the beautiful movements on stage. The audio description
S4: is describing that with a lot of finesse and detail.
S4: We have some fantastic audio describers who have skill sets
S4: in each of these genres, and they work quite hard.
S4: They're actually like they would go to the show 3
S4: to 4 times to prepare. We work off script, to
S4: work off archive videos, and so dozens and dozens of
S4: hours go into preparing the audio description, which is then
S4: delivered live at the theatre. Okay.
S2: And, Michael, if people are listening to this and they're,
S2: you know, just they might want to know a little
S2: bit more about audio description. Or perhaps they'd love to
S2: get their name onto the mailing list for all future
S2: audio described shows and live performances, what's the best way
S2: for them to do that?
S4: Yeah. Thanks, Sam. There's a few ways people can find
S4: out what's going on. There's an events page on the
S4: Vision Australia website which hosts all the audio described performances
S4: coming up. Um, you can also call Vision Australia on
S4: one 384, 74, 66 and find out what's what's coming up.
S4: But the best way is to join the audio description
S4: email list. And the reason is that when a new
S4: release comes out, we want to get that information out
S4: to people as quickly as possible. And that email goes out.
S4: People can get in, get their tickets, they can, um,
S4: purchase their tickets with a companion card, which is two
S4: for one, which is a fantastic deal. They also receive
S4: pre-show notes before the show, which gives all the visual
S4: details of the set and the costumes and so on,
S4: and also alerts to people to cocktail tours that we
S4: also put on prior to the show. That's audio described.
S4: People get to go in and meet the casket on
S4: the stage and experience the state firsthand. So all this
S4: information happens quite quickly before the show. When you're on
S4: that email list, it's the best way to, uh, to
S4: receive that. And the best way to do that is
S4: to call Vision Australia, ask to be put through to
S4: the audio description department. Or you could email me directly
S4: if you like it. Uh, Michael Ward at Vision Australia.
S2: Org that Vision Australia number again 1300 847 466. Or email Michael
S2: to find out a little bit more. And you can
S2: of course as Michael said head to the events page
S2: on the Vision Australia website which is Vision Australia. Org,
S2: that's Vision Australia or one word.org. I've been speaking today
S2: with Michael Ward, manager of Audio Description Services at Vision Australia,
S2: telling us all about the latest in audio description and
S2: some upcoming events for people to get excited about. Michael,
S2: thanks so much for your time today. It is a
S2: pleasure to catch up with you again and talk all
S2: about audio description.
S4: Thanks, Sam. It's always great to be on his show.
S4: And and thank you for allowing us to spread the
S4: word of audio description.
S2: And now here's Frances Kelland, with a reader recommended for.
S6: Those who like to follow the political machinations that go
S6: on behind the scenes sometimes. So if you're not sick
S6: of politics at this point in time, this is a
S6: book by Nicky Savva. It's called Plots and Prayers. In
S6: an enthralling sequel to her best selling The Road to Ruin.
S6: Niki Savva reveals the inside story of a bungled coup
S6: that overthrew the Liberal Prime minister, Malcolm Turnbull, and installed
S6: a surprise successor, Scott Morrison, who went on to take
S6: the party to a miraculous electoral victory. On the 21st
S6: of August 20, 18, 35 Liberal MPs cast their vote
S6: against Malcolm Turnbull, effectively signalling the end of his leadership.
S6: Three days later, the deed was done and Scott Morrison
S6: was anointed prime minister. Tony Abbott's relentless campaign of destabilisation,
S6: helped along by his acolytes in the Parliament and by
S6: his powerful media mates, the betrayals of colleagues and the
S6: rise of the religious right climaxing and Peter Dutton's challenge
S6: all played a part in Turnbull's downfall. But so did
S6: Turnbull's own poor political judgement. He was a good prime
S6: minister and a terrible politician. The good bits of Malcolm
S6: were not enough to make up for the bad Malcolm. Nevertheless,
S6: the sheer brutality of his removal left many liberals aghast.
S6: MPs were traumatised or humiliated by eight days of madness.
S6: Men and women cried from sheer anguish. They went through
S6: hell and feared when it was over that they would
S6: not make it back and nor would the Liberal Party.
S6: As it turned out, redemption came with Morrison's unexpected single
S6: handed to 2019 election victory. Turnbull's road ended in ruins
S6: as it was always bound to, and as he always
S6: knew it would. As he predicted to Niki Savva less
S6: than three years before it happened. But when his end
S6: was imminent, he could not bear to let it go,
S6: and when it was over he was defiant, fragile, and, yes, vengeful.
S6: This is the inside story of what happened and what
S6: happened next. Let's hear a sample of Plots and Prayers
S6: by Niki Savva. It's narrated by Daniel Wilkes.
S7: Malcolm Turnbull does not believe that Scott Morrison's stunning election
S7: victory vindicated the coup against him. Turnbull remains confident he
S7: could have won in 2019 and besides, the revolt by
S7: the right was designed to install Peter Dutton, not Morrison,
S7: as prime minister. The last person Dutton and his backers
S7: wanted to lead the party was Turnbull. The second lost
S7: was Morrison. Turnbull also firmly believes that by holding out
S7: against the insurgents during coup week by delaying a second ballot,
S7: he gave Morrison precious time to gather the numbers to
S7: triumph over Dutton. If there was any consolation for Turnbull,
S7: this was it, particularly as he and those closest to
S7: him had warned the plotters that if they persisted, the
S7: week would end with Morrison, whom they disliked, being sworn
S7: in as prime minister. It was only a part of
S7: Turnbull's strategy that Morrison should succeed. The other part, the
S7: primary objective, of course, was to save himself. Morrison, the
S7: most astute conservative politician of his generation, did need the
S7: extra time that Turnbull bought him. But the plotting and
S7: planning by his lieutenants was already well advanced. It is
S7: impossible to get to where he got in 24 hours,
S7: which is what he later wanted people to believe. Morrison
S7: had done what he could to save Turnbull from himself.
S7: He knew he would be damaged if people thought he
S7: had ascended to the Liberal leadership by being disloyal, or
S7: if he had blood on his hands. The image of
S7: him as a clean skin was vital to his success.
S7: This did not stop some of his backers from talking
S7: about how it happened, nor his enemies from trying to
S7: sully his reputation. He would not allow any of this
S7: to distract him from his singular objective of winning an
S7: election already deemed lost through the disunity and the despair
S7: that had embedded itself in Liberal ranks after the knifing
S7: of two prime ministers.
S6: That was plots and prayers by Niki Savva. Niki is
S6: spelt Niki, sorry, Niki and Seva is a double. Vassa, W.Va.
S6: the book goes for about 14.5 hours.
S2: Now, before we go this week, we'll wrap up with
S2: a little bit of news and information. The Brimbank Writers
S2: and Readers Festival is taking place across the western suburbs
S2: of Melbourne, from the 14th to the 23rd of March,
S2: and one of the events people can look forward to
S2: is Read My Way. Reading with All Our Senses held
S2: at the Sunshine Library on 301 Hampshire Road, sunshine on
S2: the 22nd of March from 2:00 to 3:30 p.m.. Join
S2: Vision Australia for an immersive exploration of different ways of reading,
S2: with a journey through audio, braille and tactile literacy and
S2: learning here about the creation of accessible formats, the challenges
S2: of finding alternatives in a print saturated world, and the
S2: impact for people who have a print disability. Explore accessible stories, games,
S2: and Braille in a fun and interactive way that's read
S2: more by Reading with All Our Senses taking place at
S2: the Sunshine Library on the 22nd of March between 2
S2: and 3:30 p.m.. For an accessible listing of the event
S2: and to register. Head to the brain Bank library's website
S2: at Brimbank Libraries Victoria that's Brimbank libraries or one word.vic.gov
S2: dot are you? And that's all the time we have
S2: for today. You've been listening to Talking Vision. Talking vision
S2: is a Vision Australia radio production. Thanks to all involved
S2: with putting the show together every week. And remember we
S2: love hearing from you. So please get in touch anytime
S2: on our email at Talking Vision. At Vision australia.org. That's
S2: talking vision or one word at Vision australia.org. But until
S2: next week it's Sam Collison. Bye for now.
S1: You can contact Virgin Australia by phoning us anytime during
S1: business hours on one 308 4746. That's one 384 746
S1: or by visiting Vision australia.org that's Vision Australia call.