Sound School Podcast

Latest Episodes:

It’s Magic Dec 16, 2025

Show notes

If you're just beginning in audio storytelling or have some experience under your belt, you could toil alone making and making and making stories hoping to get better. And that might be the exact right thing for you. But, if you'd like a hand up from experienced producers, sign up for a Transom Traveling Workshop. For inspiration, listen to the story Champika Fernando produced at a Workshop this summer. And be sure to listen for the surprising maneuver they pulled at the end of the piece.

Revisiting: We Need More Words to Describe Audio Stories Dec 02, 2025

Show notes

When you limit language, you limit thinking. When you limit thinking, you limit creativity. When you limit creativity, audio storytellers wind up making the same thing over and over and over again and that's not good. In this archive episode from 2022, producer Jazmine Green says we need new language to describe our work. And we can start by borrowing from art and architecture.

Seeking Small True Things Nov 18, 2025

Show notes

Audio reporter Samantha Broun says young people are "full of life, complicated, passionate, confused, and they want to talk and want to be heard." That's why Sam offers them her curiosity and her caring ear for her project "Small True Things." Rob spoke to Sam in October for Sound School on the mainstage at the annual Audio Festival in Ljubljana, Slovenia.

Revisiting: Hang A Picture In Front of the Microphone Nov 04, 2025

Show notes

Susan Stamberg sang her own song at NPR. Her writing and her voice, you could always tell it was Susan behind the mic. She died at the age of 87 in October. In honor of Susan, we present this archive episode of Sound School where she lays out her best practices for reporting on the visual arts.

When Funny Points to Truth Oct 21, 2025

Show notes

Neena Pathak produced a very touching story about grieving the death of her father. She says the humor in the story wasn't uncouth. It was how she captured the truth.

Revisiting: Fill Your Notebook with Color Notes Oct 07, 2025

Show notes

In this archive episode from 2018, legendary NPR reporter and raconteur John Burnett answers a perplexing question "How to make an immigration story visual when no mics are allowed in the courtroom?" Answer: Fill your note book with color notes.

Host Sits Down With a Reporter Sep 23, 2025

Show notes

"Host sits down with a reporter." That's a good way to describe how Radiolab stories are produced. Same with "two-ways" on NPR. You can hear those approaches everywhere. But, how else can a "host sit down with a reporter?" The Ghost of a Chance podcast from the Minnesota Star Tribune offers a solid example.

Writing Like TV in a Podcast Sep 09, 2025

Show notes

Writing like it's a television drama complete with instructions for a camera operator. That's an unusual maneuver for a podcast. One I'd never heard before. Neither had Susan Burton until she wrote that way herself in the latest season of The Retrievals, a production from Serial and The New York Times.

Fill Your Pockets With Endings Aug 26, 2025

Show notes

NPR's Robert Smith says when he's writing and gets to the end of a story he has empty pockets. He's used all the good stuff and left nothing for the end. To combat that problem, Robert studied endings from some of his favorite reporters and put together a list of categories that broadly describe memorable story endings.

Sound Design - Don't Say Rabbit, See Rabbit Aug 12, 2025

Show notes

"Don't say rabbit, see rabbit." Write it on a sticky note and post it where you can see it at all times. It's a mantra that will save you from cheesy sound design.

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