Welcome back to the Podcast Academy blog, where we'll be narrating the journey of our six projects. Each week, our seven participants will engage with industry professionals, Production Lab mentors, and one another to produce their own narrative, episodic podcasts. The ultimate goal of these workshops is a trailer and first episode presented during Podcast Academy’s Live Pitch Event (September 26th), where our participants will pitch their podcasts to a live audience and industry professionals in hopes of getting picked up for further development. Let’s start our recap to round out Week 2!
Make Stuff to Make the Things You Love
Katie started off the session with a discussion on the Kismet podcast. Katie stressed how Kismet served as a passion project, allowing Bart, the creator and our guest for the day, branch out and take on other projects that he truly wanted to make. In essence, you make content to move on to the next project.
Following our discussion of Kismet, Katie brought up Gregor, an episode of Gimlet Media’s Heavyweight. The discussion underscored how sound can complement, and sometimes supplement, the need for narration. In Gregor, phone conversations revealed more about the characters and their idiosyncrasies instead of narrational description.
An Intro to Sound Engineering and Equipment
To end our second week at Podcast Academy, we met with Bart Warshaw, a sound engineer guru, who took us through what types of equipment work best for different projects, areas, and situations. By starting off with a “Who, What, Where” framework, Bart described all the possible considerations needed to maximize audio recording efforts. Bart then took us on a journey through different types of equipment and techniques used to record audio, like omnidirectional microphones, shock mounts, dead cats (a filter tool to eliminate wind sound), and even batteries. Never forget batteries!
Learning From Bart
Bart also offered us tips on how best to record audio and interview subjects. As always, the point of knowing your equipment well is to forget that it’s even present with you. All your focus should be on the subject you are conversing with.
Major Takeaways from the Exercise:
I) Record everything, gathering room tone and get “on location” sounds.
II) Ease into the interview. It’s a conversation and it will help your subject feel more comfortable.
III) Always wear headphones when recording, as they can help you adjust levels accordingly.
IV) When sharing or converting audio, always use WAV files for best quality.
V) Don’t forget to press record!
That about does it for Podcast Academy’s second week! We’re really starting to rev up now. Please continue to follow our blog for a glimpse into how to produce your own independent podcast. Remember to pay close attention to our blog because there may be a special prize given out during our Live Pitch Event for those of you who followed our journey and learned with us along the way! Special thanks to our sponsor Wix.com for all of their help and support along the way so far! We hope to see you again here at NYU’s Podcast Academy!