Sound School Podcast

Rob Rosenthal/PRX/Transom.org

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

read less

Our Editor's Take

The Sound School Podcast, hosted by Rob Rosenthal, is a trove of helpful information. Rob explores the intricacies of story-centered sound. His unmistakable expertise, kind honesty, and focus will entertain and inspire listeners. Anyone with burning questions about audio storytelling might find an invaluable listen here.

The Sound School Podcast provides listeners with serious craft talk and constructive criticism. They can listen to Rob speak to sound design experts about their fieldwork methods. Listeners also learn from people like former blogger Munira Kaoneka. She discusses the workshop that inspired her to explore podcasting full-time. Listeners hear his thoughts on needing co-narrators when one could suffice.

NPR's Steve Junker also joins the podcast to discuss how he views radio stations as an audio format. He examines how it's a tool often underused in public radio and how he set out to explore a few more of its nuances. Listeners hear about topics like the non-narrated obituary and new podcasts worth exploring.

Rob Rosenthal focuses on more than the technical side of audio storytelling. He is generous in the laurels he doles out for work he deems excellent and kindly critical of the work he doesn't. No matter his opinions, stories are always at the center of these episodes. Listeners will hear about things like documentary studies. In one episode of the Sound School Podcast, listeners hear a story dissection of the documentary "Dear Birth Mother." In this episode, Rob also examines the first time meeting his biological mother. In episodes like "Stories from Slovenia." Rob discusses his 10-day-long Transom Story Workshop with reporters in Slovenia.

Listeners searching for advice for their projects will likely learn a thing or two here. These episodes are a great resource with a great mixture of storytelling and tips. New episodes come out twice a month.

read less

EducationEducation

Start Here

Introducing Sound Judgment

Introducing Sound Judgment

Deadlines, production meetings, staff management, show scheduling... in any given day, there's rarely time to pause and consider the craft of audio storytelling. Of course, PRX and Transom hope Sound School provides an easy opportunity to do that. On this episode, we'd like to introduce you to another podcast with the same mission: Sound Judgment hosted by Elaine Appleton Grant and featuring an interview with Jonathan Menjivar about his podcast Classy.

Episodes

Introducing Sound Judgment

Introducing Sound Judgment

Deadlines, production meetings, staff management, show scheduling... in any given day, there's rarely time to pause and consider the craft of audio storytelling. Of course, PRX and Transom hope Sound School provides an easy opportunity to do that. On this episode, we'd like to introduce you to another podcast with the same mission: Sound Judgment hosted by Elaine Appleton Grant and featuring an interview with Jonathan Menjivar about his podcast Classy.

Thanks, NPR. That Was Satisfying.

Thanks, NPR. That Was Satisfying.

Have NPR's news magazines occasionally been sounding more radiophonic lately? Rob thinks so. He's collected a handful of satisfying moments of writing, production, and reporting from several reporters: Daniel Estrin, Avery Keatley, Andrew Limbong, Barbara Moran, Ari Shapiro, and Andrea Shea.

The Um, A Deep Dive

The Um, A Deep Dive

"Ums." You're supposed to cut them out, right? But what if the "um" means something? Talia Augustidis noticed her boyfriend "ummed" when he was lying and she thought "radio story." Talia takes a deep dive into the importance of not cutting out all the "ums" as well as the backstory to her piece for the BBC's Short Cuts called "What's In An Um?"

Revisiting: Should I or Shouldn’t I — Recording in Stereo

Revisiting: Should I or Shouldn’t I — Recording in Stereo

One of the top three questions Rob often hears when he's teaching is, "Should I record in stereo?" Rob says mono is usually the way to go. But on this archive episode of Sound School, former NPR engineer Flawn Williams evangelizes about the value of stereo recordings, and he brought along several sound-rich examples.

Small, Random, and Meaningful

Small, Random, and Meaningful

In the tsunami of serialized documentary making over the last decade, what happened to the short story? Where are the one-off curious and creative sound portraits or essays or found sound or audio postcards or.... ? Last year Transom commissioned a dozen short stories as part of "Small, Random, and Meaningful." Rob features his three favorites.

For the Love of Radio, Get Out of the Studio!

For the Love of Radio, Get Out of the Studio!

In honor of World Radio Day this week, The Sound School Podcast is celebrating with a story that exemplifies the power of radio to evoke striking images — a story reported from a remote hillside in Slovenia.

A Triple Whammy

A Triple Whammy

Katz Laszlo says writing and tracking for herself is complicated enough. But it's an even greater challenge writing for and tracking with the two co-hosts of The Europeans podcast. Katz lays out how she and the hosts wrangle it all on the latest Sound School.

Tracking Partners

Tracking Partners

It's a brave thing to share the outtakes from a tracking session. All the blemishes are right there. But, Martine Powers and Rennie Svirnovsky from audio team at The Washington Post have graciously done just that. Hearing how they work as tracking partners is a real gift for anyone who wants to perform better in the mic booth.

Revisiting: Goldstein on Writing, Fonts, and The Goldstein

Revisiting: Goldstein on Writing, Fonts, and The Goldstein

While there were many great podcasts released in 2023, no one will remember the year as a good one for the people who make podcasts. There were far too many layoffs and cancellations including a show dear to our radio hearts at Transom, Heavyweight, hosted by Jonathan Goldstein. In honor of the show and Jonathan's remarkable writing, Rob revisits his chat with Jonathan where they talked about process, fonts, and a writing maneuver they jokingly dubbed "The Goldstein."

Which Is the Better Open?

Which Is the Better Open?

Rob takes himself to task on this episode. He felt the beginning of the last episode of Sound School was so boring, he rewrote it. Compare the old version with the new version be sure to tell us at Transom which is the better open.

Reporting Out at the Edge

Reporting Out at the Edge

Theo Greenly reports for a public radio station in the far-flung Aleutian Islands in Alaska. When he started, about two and a half years ago, he thought he'd hit the ground running reporting in-depth, documentary-style pieces. Instead, he learned he really needed to get his bearings first and just report the news. His stories about how to report -- and navigate all the transportation challenges -- in such a remote location are fun and insightful.

Mixing Fiction with Non-Fiction

Mixing Fiction with Non-Fiction

Fiction should stay in its corner, non-fiction in its corner. Or so Rob thought until he heard producer Pippa Johnstone seamlessly and effectively mix the two in her memorable podcast "Expectant," where Pippa explores a remarkably uncomfortable question: In a time of climate change, is it okay to have children?

Interview Strangers on the Street, Make a Podcast

Interview Strangers on the Street, Make a Podcast

Catherine Carr has turned vox into artful conversation with a deceptively simple question: Where are you going? That's also the name of the podcast she makes (a recent British Podcast Award winner) where she interviews strangers about where they're going and so much more.

Revisiting: Remembering Studs

Revisiting: Remembering Studs

Studs Terkel is considered by many to be a patron saint of documentary radio journalism. It's been 15 years since his death. On this archive episode of Sound School from 2012, Rob talks to Syd Lewis who worked with Studs for 25 years. The show also includes a lengthy excerpt from "Working With Studs," a Transom Radio Special produced by Syd, Jay Allison, and Viki Merrick.

Pleasing to the Ear

Pleasing to the Ear

Rob acts as a story DJ on this episode, featuring excerpts from stories he’s recently found pleasing to the ear. His "playlist" includes work from "More Perfect," the BBC Radio 4 podcast "Seriously," "The Shortwave Radio Archive," and "That Intimate Feeling." Drop a needle on the episode and press play.

What do radio producers Phoebe Judge (Criminal), Zoe Chase (This American Life), Greg Warner (Rough Translation), Matt Kielty (Radiolab), Emily Kwong (NPR) and dozens if not hundreds of others you've heard on your favorite podcasts and radio shows have in common? Salt. They're all graduates of the Salt Institute for Documentary Studies in Portland, Maine. Salt turns fifty this year! Isaac Kestenbaum, the director of the program, joins Rob to celebrate the occasion and talk about what makes the Salt experience so unique.

Revisiting: Dead Mom Talking

Revisiting: Dead Mom Talking

This year's Third Coast Festival winners and finalists produced incredible work. It got us thinking about winners from previous years. So, we dug up this fantastic interview with Rachel Matlow who won a "Best New Producer" award in 2016 for their thoughtful and creative story "Dead Mom Talking."

So You STILL Want to Start a Podcast, Eh?

So You STILL Want to Start a Podcast, Eh?

It's unusual for a producer to share a work in progress. It's rarer still to do it twice. Nina Porzucki updates Rob on the progress of Bird Talk, her comedy podcast in-the-making and the steps it took to make her second pilot funnier and more engaging.

Going Behind the Mic On Climate Change Reporting

Going Behind the Mic On Climate Change Reporting

Rebecca Hersher, a climate science reporter at NPR, offers excellent tips on reporting on climate change. But, at the heart of Rob's interview with her is something more philosophical: the role of hope in climate change reporting.

Revisiting: Sound Art Meets Poetry Meets Cicadas

Revisiting: Sound Art Meets Poetry Meets Cicadas

Summer means cicadas. Those crackly, buzzy bugs that drone and drone in the heat like a live electrical wire spewing sparks. Mair Bosworth and Fiona Benson took that sound and crafted "Magicicada," a stunning "sound poem," as they called it, marrying Mair's stellar recordings and sound design and Fiona's nuanced poetry.