The 2 Best Sound School Podcast Episodes
1) Avoiding Cheesy Sound Design
Jad Abumrad of Radiolab delivers the goods on sound design in radio stories. A must listen if you're thinking of sound designing your next radio story.
2) Interviewing for Story
Don't just interview to grab a bunch of information, interview for story and make your work a whole lot stronger. Alix Spiegel of Invisibilia and This American Life explains how.
3) Host Sits Down With a Reporter
"Host sits down with a reporter." That's a good way to describe how Radiolab stories are produced. Same with "two-ways" on NPR. You can hear those approaches everywhere. But, how else can a "host sit ...Show More
4) Writing Like TV in a Podcast
Writing like it's a television drama complete with instructions for a camera operator. That's an unusual maneuver for a podcast. One I'd never heard before. Neither had Susan Burton until she wrote th...Show More
5) Fill Your Pockets With Endings
NPR's Robert Smith says when he's writing and gets to the end of a story he has empty pockets. He's used all the good stuff and left nothing for the end. To combat that problem, Robert studied endings...Show More
6) Sound Design - Don't Say Rabbit, See Rabbit
"Don't say rabbit, see rabbit." Write it on a sticky note and post it where you can see it at all times. It's a mantra that will save you from cheesy sound design.
7) Revisiting: Interviewing Shy People
A constant piece of advice for producers is "Find a good talker." But what about shy people? Given their reticence, they may not be great talkers but they may have a good story to tell. The question i...Show More
8) Asking Dad Dicey Questions
Zach Mack really put it to his father. For "Alternate Realities," a series from NPR's "Embedded" podcast, Zach asked his dad pointed questions about the conspiracy theories he believes in that are dri...Show More
9) Revisiting - Think of a Radio Station (or Podcast) as a Musical Instrument
"I think of radio stations as musical instruments." That's what Steve Junker, the managing editor at WCAI said to Rob over a couple of drinks one night. Soon after, Rob put Steve in front of a mic and...Show More
10) Writing Makes All the Difference - Beautifully Braiding Scenes, Stand-Ups, and Narration
It's time for Leila Fadel at NPR to receive another award for her reporting. Last December, her stories from Syria after the fall of Assad were essential listening. And, as Rob notes in this episode o...Show More