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.
Episodes
Sound School Podcast
The Backstory to Great Audio Storytelling, hosted by Rob Rosenthal, for Transom and PRX.
Episodes
The Megan Tan Way
Megan Tan produced a story about dating during Covid but she didn't record any of the dates. So, what did she do to create scenes? The answer is an unusual production choice that worked incredibly well.
Sounds Easy, But...
Good producers hide the difficulties. They make it all sound easy. Cariad Harmon's "Record Booth" is an excellent example. She seamlessly weaves together narration, interviews, scene tape, music, and archive tape -- like it’s no big thing. Wellllll, not so fast. Cariad shares the backstory on this HowSound .
Goldstein on Writing, Fonts, and “The Goldstein”
On this episode of HowSound , a wide-ranging chat about writing for audio with one of the masters: Jonathan Goldstein of the Heavyweight podcast from Gimlet. From the importance of feeling what you write to Jonathan's penchant for courier font and a maneuver we jokingly dubbed "The Goldstein," you're bound to pick up a solid tip or three about writing.
Stand-Ups (Rerun)
Narrating a stand-up on location as events unfold in front of your mic is no easy thing but reporter Robert Smith makes it sound like it is. He's a master of the stand-up and he explains how he makes them work oh-so-well on this rerun episode from the HowSound archives.
Fireworks
Rob Rosenthal has stepped away from teaching the Transom Story Workshop on Cape Cod. To mark the occasion, Rob's put together a fireworks show of great stories from Transom students over the years. Wear headphones!
Narrative Justice
Shapearl Wells says the truest form of journalism lets others speak their own truth. And that's just what she did as host and the main character for "Somebody," a podcast that was a Pulitzer Prize finalist. "Somebody" traces Shapearl's search for the truth in the murder of her 22-year old son. On this “HowSound,” she recounts what it took to produce “Somebody” as a distraught mother with a (sometimes hidden) microphone.
The Kids Will Have Their Say
The CBC's Mic Drop is a small but mighty podcast amplifying young people's voices "without any adult interruptions," as the kids put it. On this HowSound , Shari Okeke, the show's founder and producer, tells us how it all works.
When Anthropology Meets Audio Storytelling
Creative audio journalism and storytelling is sometimes influenced by film, avant-garde music, and literature. But what about anthropology? Nanna Hauge Kristensen is a radio producer with an anthropology degree — a background and approach that influences her storytelling in fascinating ways.
Wrangling Stories With A Focus Sentence
One of the most difficult tasks in writing is keeping a story on target. One way to wrangle an unruly story — or any story, really — is with a focus sentence.
Tape-Driven Storytelling
There's an old maxim in radio: the tape rules. "According to Need" by Katie Mingle and 99% Invisible is proof that good tape can drive a story. However, Katie says she wasn’t very practiced in producing tape-driven stories. It took her two years and, as she put it, the work "tested all my skills and then some."
Dissecting a Good Story, Well Told
One of the best ways to learn how to improve at the craft of audio storytelling is to take a deep listen to good work and dissect it. On this HowSound , I point out some of the best parts of a story about vaccinations from “The Experiment” podcast. You'll want to take notes
Who Are Those People in Podcast Credits?
The list of names at the end of some podcasts is mind-boggling. Who are these people? What do they do? Antonia Cereijido, Sophia Paliza-Carre, and Audrey Quinn of the "Norco 80" podcast have an answer and a few surprising observations about their production process.
Thoughts On Trailers
Rob's been puzzling over one particular question about trailers for serialized podcasts: What should the relationship, the handshake, if you will, be between the trailer and the top to the first episode? Rob explores an answer with clips from The Piketon Massacre , The Realness , Nice White Parents , and The Sink .
Schwartz Is A Verb
You should lie down with your eyes closed for this one! That's because the interviewees in the stories I feature were -- lying down, eyes closed, lights off, candle lit, answering questions. They were being interviewed by producers using the Schwartz Technique, Stephen Schwartz’ celebrated method for getting people to talk in pictures.
Audio Playground
A friend once said "What feels like a groove might actually be a rut." So, how do you get out of your rut? Sarah Geis has an answer: Audio Playground.
Gas Mask? Check. Bullet Proof Vest? Check...What to Wear When the Reporting Gets Dangerous
When the reporting gets violent, the reporter suits up. Casey Martin of KUOW tells stories about staying safe on the front lines of reporting during the violence of the BLM and far-right protests of the last year.
Eavesdropping on the Insurrection
There are a lot of photographs and incredible footage from the insurrection at the U.S. Capitol on January 6th. But wait until you hear the startling, unguarded conversations between the rioters that day. Micah Loewinger of On the Media gives the backstory on how he acquired the recordings.
Perk Up Your Ears!
If Dr. Suess was going to write a book about podcasting, he'd probably call it "Oh, The Sounds You'll Hear!" That's what's in store for you on this episode of HowSound . From an Inuit oral history project to prisoners in Darwin, Australia, to the sound of a wife's broken heart and more. It'll perk up your ears!
Bow Glacier Asserting Its Existence
What's the sound of climate change? Walk down 7th Avenue in Calgary and you just might hear it thanks to "Herald/Harbinger," a sound installation from data artist Ben Rubin.
How Do You Know a Story is Worthy of a Podcast Series?
I wish I had a nickel for every time someone says, "I think that story would make a great podcast series." In my head I usually think, "Nope. Wouldn't work." But why? How do you know you have a story worthy of a podcast series? Emily Guerin of Southern California’s KPCC has a few answers. She produced a five-and-a-half-minute feature and turned it into a 9-part series called "California City: The Dark Side of the American Dream."
Show, Don't Tell
It's always good to be reminded of the best writing practices. That's why we dusted off this old episode of HowSound with This American Life's Brian Reed about the writing maxim "show, don't tell."
Nancy Was Here
Raise a mic in the air with Rob in honor of " Nancy ," the now-cancelled podcast from WNYC about the LGBTQ experience.
Things I Like
Cleaning out the "closet" of audio stories and found a few choice cuts to share from podcasts like Resistance , Louder Than A Riot , and Latino USA .
Portraying Character
Chana Joffe-Walt is one of my fav writers. She excels at portraying character. Chana and I listen to some of her ninja moves from "Nice White Parents," the podcast she reported and produced for Serial and The New York Times.
Why So Chatty, Alex Blumberg?
If you were producing a podcast on climate change, what tone would you choose to approach the topic? Serious, right? Well, there's a lot of serious reporting in Gimlet's "How to Save a Planet." And there's also a light, "chatcast" feel woven throughout the show. Gimlet co-founder and co-host of the podcast, Alex Blumberg, explains why in this episode.
A Night of Ear Candy
Step 1: Find a comfortable place to sit. Step 2: Make sure you’re free from interruption. Step 3: Put on headphones. Step 4: Place a mask over your eyes (or just close them). Step 5: Listen to Sam Harnett and Chris Hoff of The World According to Sound take you behind the scenes of the online audio event they produced during the pandemic.
The Intersection of Folklore, Radio Journalism and a Pear
What do you get when you mix folklore, radio journalism, and a pear? An award-winning story from Canadian producer Rebecca Nolan that brings it all together in an unexpected way.
The Squirm Test
From time to time, you might learn something unfavorable about a character when reporting a story. Inevitably you ask yourself: should I include this detail or not? To help answer that question, take the squirm test.
Effective Sound Effects
History podcasts face a serious problem: sound. So much documentation from the past lacks audio. The Last Archive solved the problem in a very unique way: Produce the podcast like it's a radio drama from the 1930s. But, how do you do that? Producers Ben Naddaff-Hafrey and Sophie McKibben have the answer on this episode of HowSound .