Sound School Podcast

By Rob Rosenthal/PRX/Transom.org

The Backstory to Great Audio Storytelling, hosted by Rob Rosenthal, for Transom and PRX.

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4.9

283283 ratings

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FAQs about Sound School Podcast:

How many episodes does Sound School Podcast have?

The podcast currently has 595 episodes available.

Sound School Podcast episodes:

January 27, 2015 Revisiting Criminal - HowSound
These days, you can’t swing a microphone without hitting a podcast “Top 10” list. Frequently, you’ll find Criminal named among the best. And rightfully so. Episode after episode, listeners can count on Criminal for good stories, well told and well-produced.
That professional consistency has lead to a meteoric rise in popularity for Criminal since it started just a year ago. In fact, Phoebe Judge, the host of the program, told me during an interview for HowSound that last December, Criminal was number three for a short while on the iTunes charts right below Serial and This American Life.
Phoebe, along with her co-producers Eric Mennel and Lauren Spohrer, has also been diligent about promoting the show. While they haven’t broken new ground or discovered the “magic mix” for getting the word out, they have some solid promotion ideas.
In the beginning, they promoted the show in all the usual ways. They started a Facebook page and a Twitter account where they would announce new episodes. They’d tell their friends, too. “And then we would watch our numbers jump up by two and we would say ‘Oh, they must have of told another friend.’”
Eventually, their promotion tactics evolved, especially on Twitter. Rather than just announcing a new episode, Phoebe says they would pick one particularly good quote from the show and Tweet that. Something funny. Something provocative. An attention-grabbing line, not just bland information.
Additionally, they would couple the intriguing quote with a unique image drawn for each episode by Julienne Alexander.
And now, Criminal has a newsletter – The Accomplice. It comes out every two weeks. It talks about their latest episode and there’s other related content such as info about an upcoming live show, their favorite crime writing from the last two weeks, and funny security cam footage like a nun steeling beer.

Phoebe says their audience has been a big help, especially listeners who associate Criminal with Serial. She says many people would tweet things like “If you miss Serial, try Criminal.” But, Phoebe says the Criminal staff at would never do that themselves, they’d never say something like “If you like Serial, try Criminal.” She says it seems cheap.
You can find Criminal’s Facebook page here.
Follow their Twitter feed.
And, of course, be sure to subscribe to the podcast which you can do here.
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22min
January 27, 2015 Revisiting Criminal
The podcast, “Criminal” has enjoyed a big jump in popularity. Rob Rosenthal talks with “Criminal’s” host Phoebe Judge about growth—how good press and partnership helps, how doing good work helps, and the “Serial” effect.
The post Revisiting Criminal appeared first on Transom.
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0min
January 13, 2015 Burroughs at 100
"Burroughs at 100" with Iggy Pop. What's not to like? A HowSound recorded live at the Third Coast International Audio Festival with award winning producer Colin McNulty.
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34min
January 13, 2015 Burroughs at 100 - HowSound
The long awaited get together – William Burroughs and Iggy Pop. Two icons and iconoclasts in one radio program Burroughs at 100. The documentary won a “Director’s Choice” award at the 2014 Third Coast Festival.
Colin McNulty produced the doc for Whistledown Productions and BBC 4 . On this edition of HowSound, I’m featuring excerpts from the program as well as my interview with Colin recorded live at Third Coast. Colin and I chat about the documentary, working with Iggy, and some of the differences between documentary production in the U.K. and the U.S.
You can find the entire documentary at Third Coast’s website. And, once you’ve finished listening check out two of Colin’s favorite BBC programs: Desert Island Discs and The Reunion. He swears the BBC isn’t as stodgy as we think it is (and, he says, the U.S. is not as navel-gazey as the Brits think we are).
If you enjoy Burrows at 100, you should also add Falling Tree Productions – one of Whistledown’s competitors – to your playlist.
Happy listening.
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34min
January 13, 2015 Burroughs at 100
"Burroughs at 100" with Iggy Pop. What's not to like? A HowSound recorded live at the Third Coast International Audio Festival with award winning producer Colin McNulty.
The post Burroughs at 100 appeared first on Transom.
...more
0min
December 30, 2014 Australia!
An Australian radio sampler with Julie Shapiro, Executive Producer for the Creative Radio Unit at Australian Public Broadcasting.
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41min
December 30, 2014 Australia! - HowSound
“Creative Audio Unit.” I like the sound of that. Just the idea is ear catching. It sounds like a group of radio producers who play and experiment with form, narrative, sound design… just about all aspects of audio production and storytelling. Dreamy, right? I mean, who wouldn’t want to work for or listen to stories from a “Creative Audio Unit?”
Well, that’s exactly where Julie Shapiro goes to work every day. Lucky her. She’s the Executive Producer of the Creative Audio Unit of RN (formerly Radio National), a network of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. Julie and three other staffers produce two, hour-long radio programs a week: Radiotonic and Soundproof. And, just like the name “Creative Audio Unit” (CAU) suggests, Radiotonic and Soundproof feature imaginative, ear-grabbing stories.
Frankly, I’m surprised Radiotonic and Soundproof are on the air. Podcasts, yes. On the radio, no.
Or, put another way, it’s highly unlikely that the production aesthetics of the two programs would be accepted here in the States (Radiolab is an obvious exception). The producers at CAU treat their audience as listeners. True listeners. The expectation is that people are paying close attention with their ears.
On this edition of HowSound, Julie guides us through a sampler of episodes from Radiontonic and Soundproof – clips of sound art, narrative features, and pieces that mix both. (Links to all the stories are below.)
Plus, this HowSound also features “The Real Tom Banks” in its entirety. The piece won a Silver Award at the 2014 Third Coast Festival in Chicago.
And if all that isn’t enough, here are a couple of clips from a very funny radio drama about radio from Radiotonic called “Me, Ricky, and Him.” It’s a satire about an older Australian radio personality struggling to make a big comeback producing a youth oriented radio program – if only Ricky Gervais would work with her.
In the meantime, while Ricky Gervais is not responding, the older host, paired with a more youthful one, produce segments that will supposedly attract a “younger demographic.” They’re awful.
After sampling all of this inspired audio from Australia, I suspect you’ll add Radiotonic and Soundproof to your podcast subscriptions and maybe start your own Creative Audio Unit.
Links to work featured on this HowSound in the order that they appear:
“The Regents Canal, London” by Iain Chambers
“Ray and Ponce” by Edward Primrose
“Hit Parade” by Christof Migone
“To Skin a Rabbit” by Mark Brandi
“Inaudible Me” by Belinda Lopez
“The Real Tom Banks” by Jesse Cox with sound engineer Timothy Nicastri
“Me, Ricky, and Him” by Natalie Kestecher and Steven Tilley
Other links:
Radiotonic
Soundproof
Creative Audio Unit
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41min
December 30, 2014 Australia!
An Australian radio sampler with Julie Shapiro, Executive Producer for the Creative Radio Unit at Australian Public Broadcasting.
The post Australia! appeared first on Transom.
...more
0min
December 16, 2014 Here I Am And Here Be Danger
Producer Annie McEwen talks about her award winning piece, "Here I Am and Here Be Danger."
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28min
December 16, 2014 Here I Am And Here Be Danger - HowSound
The vast majority of stories on public radio are clear, concise, concrete, and linear. And that’s a good thing. Radio practically requires that simplicity and precision for two reasons.
First, radio is a background medium. Listeners are easily distracted. A story needs to cut through the distractions with clarity.
Second, a person hearing a radio story is not in the room with the storyteller. With radio, a listener can’t ask questions and they can’t stop the story and rewind. Of course, if it’s a podcast a listener can stop and rewind, but why would you want them to?
With all that focus on straightforward and uncomplicated storytelling, radio stories can become predictable and start to sound dull.
Fortunately, there are producers like Annie McEwen. She brings a poet’s sensibility and a musician’s ear to her storytelling. You can hear it in her story “Here I Am and Here Be Danger.” She won “Best New Producer” at the Third Coast International Audio Festival this year for the story and rightfully so.
I interviewed Annie at the festival in front of a live audience. This episode of HowSound is the first in a series of shows featuring interviews recorded at Third Coast with several of this year’s award-winning producers. Future programs will include stories from Joe Richman, Colin McNulty, Pat Walters, and Luke Malone.
After you listen to this edition of HowSound, check out Annie’s story “Oh Brother“, a piece she produced while she was a student at the Transom Story Workshop in the fall of 2013.
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28min

FAQs about Sound School Podcast:

How many episodes does Sound School Podcast have?

The podcast currently has 595 episodes available.

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