Maker Sessions

Dive into scores of talks, workshops, and audio manifestos offering wisdom on everything from production skills to journalistic ethics from the best audio producers and makers on the planet.

I Love Language: How to bring the written word to life

So you’ve been researching a project and you’ve got all these text documents: old interview transcripts that predate recording technology. Letters found in a box. Court records. Emails.

  • 2024
  • 01:31:28

Image as Metaphor

Do metaphors inherently deepen a story? Can using metaphors be more effective than revealing direct facts and information about a subject?

  • 2004
  • 01:24:25

Interview

With a little savvy and practice, magic can happen between two people and a microphone. Taki Telonidis and Hal Cannon outline the basic elements of conducting an interview, both in technical and human terms, by playing great examples and bringing in the wisdom of master interviewers on public radio.

  • 2002
  • 01:24:40

In Praise of the Sandbox

What inspires those who inspire us? Seasoned producer Jay Allison shares work that inspired him a long time ago and inspires him today, work that contains a healthy measure of invention and play -- key ingredients of creativity, even in a serious world.

  • 2007
  • 01:21:59

The Inner Sound of the Outer World

Microphones cannot capture situations as they are percieved. A car crash on tape lacks everything that the experience of an accident amounts to: the surprise, the holding of breath, the shock, the sadness.

  • 2008
  • 01:22:06

The Invisible Narrator

This session explores "found narration" - archival tape, interviews, audio diary entries - and sound that can all be used to perform the job of the narrator. What do you gain and what do you give up when you throw away the script?

  • 2006
  • 01:17:32

"In the Moment" Radio

Up a tree. Circling a mountain. Hitchhiking down a dusty road.

  • 2010
  • 01:29:07