The Students' Podcast

This week on The Students' Podcast, Elissa Nadworny, Lauren Migaki and Sequoia Carrillo run through some early entries they love. From interviewing kids about COVID, to high energy sports commentary, to marriage?? There's a lot to talk about!

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In so many ways, music is emotion. Studies of the brain tell us that our minds react in different ways to the sound of music. So it's only natural that you'll want to take all that musical magic and sprinkle it over your podcast.

Well, not so fast. Music — and composing it — can get really complicated, especially if you're going to enter NPR's Student Podcast Challenge.

So, here's our guide to helping you put great music into your podcast, so that when you sit down at the keyboard to create that magic, you'll know the very specific rules that limit what you can and can't do.

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*Car door shuts, ignition revs, wheels turn on the pavement*

Sound effects that transport you to a specific place are bread and butter for podcasts. But when does adding sound effects move a story along, and when do they merely confuse the listener? To explore this, we touched base with one of last year's Student Podcast Challenge finalists, Alex Soto. Her podcast, What Is The Most Beautiful Sound?, utilized over 10 sound effects. In the wrong hands, this could have been a hot mess, but in Alex's podcast, it totally worked.

This week on The Students' Podcast, hear how Alex struck a balance between sound and interviews.

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Banjo or drum? Keyboard or cowbell? Once you've figured out where you want to add music to your podcast, you've got to decide WHAT kind of music fits with your story. Since the Student Podcast Challenge only allows music that is written and performed by students, it's time to learn some basic composing skills!

This week on The Students' Podcast we talked to composer Ramtin Arablouei about how to make music without any fancy equipment.

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Soundproofing and studios and microphones, oh my! When you listen to a professional podcast you can hear the difference. Unfortunately, not everyone has access to that kind of recording set up, but the thing is ... you don't need it.

This week on The Students' Podcast we talked to Aaron and Alex Morgan about how they made their podcast sound so good. Their entry "Why Instagram Is Like A Cocaine-Laced Brownie" was one of our finalists last year and had some of the best production in the competition!

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You don't need a fancy studio to make a podcast. All you need are a few tricks — and a LOT of pillows — and no one will ever guess that you recorded in your bedroom.

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Ever wonder if that local legend has some truth to it? At the Student Podcast Challenge we love to hear a good mystery, so pull out your magnifying glasses and start investigating!

We talk with last year's finalist Daniel Wang about his 4 month investigation into a hometown history. He gives advice all about how he made his entry "How A Small Town Discovered The Universe."

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Once you've finished the interview — there's still a lot of hard work ahead. Some questions work, some don't. Did the interview run too long? You'll have to cut it down. Remember, entries for the student podcast challenge must be eight minutes or less.

So here are some great ideas for how to wade through ALL that audio. Today you'll learn how from Planet Money's Sarah Gonzalez how trim away all the extra stuff, and just leave the good parts in an episode from earlier this year.

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Some people love emotional conversations, some people avoid them. But for journalists and podcasters, they're part of the job.

Sometimes you have to interview people about their saddest moments. It's hard, but if you can tell the story well, it means a lot: to them, and to your audience.

Every year some of our best entries in the Student Podcast Challenge are moving, emotional narratives. For this week's episode of The Students' Podcast, Elissa Nadworny talked with Samuel Meneses—one of last year's finalists— who told the story of a tragic kayaking accident in his podcast Life and Death in the Amazon.

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What makes a good interview? For starters, asking good questions! But there's so much more to it than asking who, what, where, when and why. On this episode, the art of the interview. We'll cover how to prepare for an interview and give tips for asking good questions and telling good stories.

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