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 596 episodes available.

Sound School Podcast episodes:

April 04, 2012 Show, Don’t Tell - HowSound
On this HowSound, we listen to clips from Brian’s work that exemplify solid visual storytelling for radio — walking waste deep in ocean water for Climate Change and Faith Collide in Kiribati; recording a man in a wheel chair in a parking lot that doesn’t comply with the American With Disabilities Act for This American Life; putting bad tape to work to create visuals in an economics story; and some good-ole-fashion “shoe leather reporting” that yielded an excellent example of “show, don’t tell” for a piece on police lay-offs in Newark, New Jersey.
Have a look…. I mean…. Have a listen.
FYI, Brian’s a producer for This American Life. He got his start in radio through fellowships at NPR — The Kroc Fellowship and the Above the Fray Fellowship.
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15min
March 21, 2012 A Square Meal, Regardless - HowSound
Jen Nathan produced “A Square Meal, Regardless” in 2007 and she’s been reeling from the experience ever since. So much so that she didn’t want to be interviewed when I featured this story last year.
“A Square Meal, Regardless” follows the last days of John Gallagher with his caring friend Cedric Chambers. John is dying of cancer and Cedric radically changed his life to take care of him.
Throughout the weeks John and Cedric are together, Jen recorded interviews and documented their daily lives. She says being there — a stranger with a microphone — felt uncomfortable at minimum and morally wrong at worst. She thinks of it as trespassing on an incredibly private moment especially since John and Cedric were uneasy about her visits.
For years, she was haunted by documenting this story. Only recently has she come to terms with it. I’m very thankful she agreed to speak with me for HowSound.
Please have a listen to this remarkable story — one of my favorites from the Salt Institute for Documentary Studies. Then tell us about times you felt uneasy about your work.
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17min
March 07, 2012 Krulwich on Gorilla Cage Drama
Robert Krulwich's stories are always ear-catching and dramatic whether they're on radio, television, or in person at conferences. He practically forces you to want to know what happens next. How the heck does he do that?! I asked him.
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32min
March 07, 2012 Krulwich on Gorilla Cage Drama - HowSound
I just listened to a slew of “Hmmm….”, Robert Krulwich’s science podcast for NPR. I couldn’t stop listening. One, then another, then another. If the phrase for a good book is “page turner,” Robert’s podcasts are a “click-wheel turner.”
The same goes for Radiolab, the science program from WNYC that Robert co-hosts with Jad Abumrad. I’m like a gerbil looking for the next pellet. Wheel-turn, click. Wheel-turn, click.
Robert’s stories are always ear-catching and dramatic whether they’re on radio, television, or in person at conferences. He practically forces you to want to know what happens next. How the heck does he do that?! So, I asked him.
On this edition of HowSound, Robert talks about drama, narrative voice, and the day gorilla cages changed forever. Think of it as a Master Class on storytelling, and Robert’s clearly the master.
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32min
February 22, 2012 A Dual Narrative
Radio stories usually aren't very complicated. Generally, you can place stories into two categories--the argument story and the narrative story. Whitney Jones produced a somewhat different story last fall while he was at the Transom Story Workshop.
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22min
February 22, 2012 A Dual Narrative - HowSound
Radio stories usually aren’t very complicated. Generally speaking, you can probably place stories into two categories. The first is the argument story — these people say this, these other people disagree. The second is the narrative story — the piece is organized chronologically as a sequence of events. (To be sure, I’m painting with a broad brush.)
Whitney Jones produced a somewhat different story last fall while he was at the Transom Story Workshop where I teach. His story “Leaving” falls in the “narrative story” category but instead of one single sequence of events, “Leaving” follows two — a parallel narrative. That’s unusual.
The reason you don’t hear parallel narratives on the radio too often is because they’re complex. They require more attention from a listener who, typically, is doing something else while they listen. So, in recognition of that, producers and editors tend to simplify. That’s smart.
But, if the writer pays close attention to keeping the two separate narratives clear and simple then brings them together in the end in a satisfying manner, I think a parallel narrative can work on the radio and I’d like to hear more of them.
Definitely, Whitney’s parallel narrative works and works well. But you should weigh in. Have listen and post your thoughts.
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22min
February 08, 2012 Chorus of Refuge
Once you've finished producing a story, what are you supposed to do with all the tape? Just let it sit on a shelf? This HowSound will stretch your ears with a sound art piece by Kara Oehler, Jason Cady, and Ann Heppermann.
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16min
February 08, 2012 Chorus of Refuge - HowSound
Once you’ve finished producing a story, what are you supposed to do with all the tape? Just let it sit on a shelf?
Some producers will re-purpose their interviews — turn them into a print piece or maybe fashion a new radio story. Producers Kara Oehler and Ann Heppermann, along with Jason Cady, a composer, created something very different. They re-purposed tape and made sound art. I’m sure someone’s done that before, but, frankly, I can’t think of it.
The piece they produced is “Chorus of Refuge” and it’s a song comprised of interviews collected for Ann and Kara’s series on Weekend America called “One Thing.” Originally, “Chorus of Refuge” was intended for museum installations where six radios played six interviews broadcast from six transmitters all at once. HowSound doesn’t have six-channel surround sound so we’re featuring the stereo mix — just two channels, left and right.
During a recent interview, Ann and Jason cited a handful of creative influences that inspired “Chorus of Refuge” most notably the groundbreaking radio documentary from Glenn Gould, “The Idea of North.” Ann also named sound artist Janet Cardiff while Jason says he had Renaissance music like Palestrina: Missa Papae Marcelli, Gloria in mind as well as the poetry of Jackson Mac Low and Emmett Williams, both of whom wrote poems to be read by two or more people simultaneously.
So, be prepared. This HowSound will stretch your ears. That’s a good thing!
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16min
January 25, 2012 The Pirate
Kelly McEvers is a mic-slinger. Draws from the hip. Records with precision. Not afraid. (Okay, maybe a little afraid.) On this HowSound, she is unabashed about her adrenaline addiction, her critique of the NPR sound, & her approach to radio stories.
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19min
January 25, 2012 The Pirate - HowSound
Kelly McEvers is a mic-slinger. Draws from the hip. Records with precision. Not afraid. (Okay, maybe a little bit afraid.)
Kelly is NPR’s Baghdad correspondent but, lately, she reports from throughout the Middle East — especially the countries where the revolutions aren’t working, as she puts it.
On this HowSound, Kelly is unabashed about her apparent adrenaline addiction, her critique of the NPR sound, and her approach to mic-slinging radio stories. To show you what I mean by “mic-slinger,” I feature a piece she produced for Working, a Marketplace series produced by Homelands Productions. The story is about pirates — dudes with machetes who rob cargo ships in Indonesia. Have a listen and you’ll agree — her nickname should be “Mic-slinger.”
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19min

FAQs about Sound School Podcast:

How many episodes does Sound School Podcast have?

The podcast currently has 596 episodes available.

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