Sound School Podcast

Boo! Here's your Halloween edition of HowSound featuring "The Seance" by Bob Carlson.

Avoiding the pitfalls of "parachute journalism" with Marketplace reporter Krissy Clark.

You'll probably get dizzy listening to "A Trip to the Dentist," a legendary, psychedelic story from Larry Massett.

Criminal justice reporter Ailsa Chang on her duPont-Columbia award winning story for WNYC.

Pejk Malinovksy on producing audio tours including Passing Stranger: The East Village Poetry Walk

Finally. A LONG overdue HowSound on scoring --- using music in a story. I dissect Jonathan Mitchell's use of scoring in his provocative story "She Sees Your Every Move."

I hope you're not squeamish. On this HowSound, I take a scalpel to a profile on papermaker Joanne Rosser. Let's peel back the surface of the story to reveal its narrative and production innards.

Imagine spending 5 years working on your PhD studying killer whale vocalization. Then imagine deciding you don’t want to be an ocean biologist. That's how Ari Daniel got into radio. Hear his secret to clear and understandable science reporting.

Initially, "The Secret" by Carma Jolly seems like it might be a story about Carma's brother and his near-death experience. Then, suddenly, story takes a sharp turn. In that moment, I was hooked by the story and Carma as a producer.

If NPR reporter Robert Smith isn't the king of the stand-up, he surely is the prince. Robert lays out his methodology for solid stand-ups.

A few years ago, right around the time newspaper readership plummeted and papers shut-down one after another, Reporter Sean Corcoran left newspaper reporting for radio. He talks about how reporting differs in the two media.

There's a compelling story to be found in every day life, even a ukulele orchestra.

Studs Terkel, America's interviewer, would be 100 today! Happy Birthday Studs!! Syd Lewis worked with Studs for a 25 years. I chat with Syd about Studs and her documentary Working With Studs, produced by Atlantic Public Media.

Seek the truth and report it. That's the core of journalism. But the truth needs to be checked -- fact checked. And when you don't.....well, just ask the folks at This American Life. Columbia University's John Dinges talks about fact checking.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Radio storytelling is an excellent teaching tool for young people in practically any classroom. Here's a quick primer on youth radio and a commentary about Aspbergers syndrome by seventeen year old Ian Kathen.

99% Invisible is my new favorite podcast. A little bit RadioLab, a touch of This American Life, and a lot of Roman Mars, the producer. Roman talks about a bit about the design of the podcast and podcasting writ large.

Hillary Frank launched a decade-long career in radio with an answering machine as a tape recorder. Hillary talks about microcassettes, boomboxes, podcasting, and motherhood.

Imagine this: You've met a total character. She's kind of eccentric. She has forty-one animals in her backyard and it's not a farm. And, just about every time she talks, she says something amazing. But, there's no story. What do you do?

Listen to the audio in this video. It's perfect for radio. With some editing, narration, & other content, you could easily turn this into a radio story. Joe Richman on the power and pleasure of storytelling with archive tape.

There seems to be a trend afoot in documentary radio -- working directly with musicians to compose music for a story. Andy Mills won "Best New Artist" at the 2011 Third Coast Filmless Festival. Well deserved. Have a listen.

Keys to good storytelling: strong, simple writing; solid voicing; professional recording & mixing; compelling characters; a seductive narrative; visuals.....What else? John Biewen describes "sure-handedness" in radio storytelling.

The Third Coast International Audio Festival is 3 days of ear candy. On this HowSound, I present one of the stories featured at this year's Filmless Festival, "Seizure's Lament" by producer Carma Jolly. You might want headphones for this one.

It's good to hear constructive (and, sometimes, not-so-constructive) feedback. However, a LOT of criticism, especially if it's pointed, well....is hard to take. Dan Collison & Elizabeth Meister talk about how to handle tough reviews from listeners.

Katie Davis doesn't look very far for the stories she produces. In fact, they often come to her.... on her front porch. We feature Katie's essay produced in the aftermath of 9/11 -- An Inner-City Reality Check.

The amount of effort Sally Herships put into her first investigative journalism piece….. well, it’s enough to drive you to smoke! “The Five Percent Rule” is Sally’s 10-month-long foray into investigative reporting, a story on the under-pricing of tobacco on military bases. The piece aired on Marketplace in June of 2011 as part of a series on tobacco. On this edition of HowSound, Sally talks about some of her behind-the-scenes work on the project. It’s a bit startling, actually. Huge spreadsheets, hundreds of phone calls…. even a new pair of special glasses to prevent the headaches she was getting from looking at a computer screen too long. Sally says she received assistance from I.R.E. — Investigative Reporters and Editors. They were a tremendous help for this kind of deep reporting and exacting work. Have a listen then let us know about your investigative work. Here’s Sally’s blog for “The Five Percent Rule.” And, no, Sally doesn’t smoke. This edition of HowSound was produced on Hindenburg software rather than ProTools, my usual audio editor of choice for a good dozen years. I haven’t switched to Hindenburg, but I sure like it a lot.

"I can’t think of anything more fraught than doing a story that explores intimate things about your relationship with your parents." On this HowSound, Richard Paul talks about interviewing his dad and the epiphany that lead to breaking all ties.

Here it is, the first HowSound, the backstory to great radio storytelling. We kick things off in a graveyard -- hopefully, that's not foreshadowing! Producer Clay Bolton digs deep for the universal in a story about gravediggers. (Pun intended.)