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