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.

Teens With Mics

Youth producers are creating some of the most revealing and moving work on the radio these days, and we've curated a collection of gems for you.

  • 2006
  • 01:24:23

Telling Stories Far From Home

How can a producer prepare to make radio stories about distant lands and the people who live there, and why tell those stories anyway?

  • 2006
  • 01:25:48

Voice With a Capital "V"

Most of us use our voices in our work, but finding our "Voice" is an often overlooked part of our creative development. Hear what professionals from a variety of different fields have to say about this elusive aspect of our craft.

  • 2005
  • 01:16:48

Radio Across Time Zones

Radio transmissions are heard all over the world, from the largest urban centers to the smallest mountain villages. But what defines radio from a particular place, and what makes it different than radio from elsewhere?

  • 2005
  • 01:24:42

Anatomy of a Radio Piece

Imagine three producers from two continents working on one radio piece.

  • 2005
  • 01:15:54

Secrets, Whispers, and Lies: Crafting a Personal Documentary

Everyone's telling their story these days –- in blogs, podcasts, on YouTube. But what makes one story a yawn or self-indulgent and another one compelling? How do you tell a personal story as a radio documentary?

  • 2007
  • 01:32:25

Options and Futures: Teenagers on the Radio -- Part One

Listen in as teen producers from around the country present a survey of their work, with bonus features: the sounds they love to listen to, with commentary on why, and tape that didn't make the final cut in production, with commentary on why not.

  • 2007
  • 01:23:31

Sounds Loved and Sounds Lost

This session is: 1) A brief survey of field recording by that and other names, with an emphasis on non-pragmatic applications of recording technology such as musique concrete (last century) and phonography (this one);

  • 2005
  • 01:29:47

Mastering the Grill: Why Some Interviews Go Up in Smoke

Some respond to praise, others to badgering, some the frontal assault, others when you sneak up from behind. Brooke Gladstone offers a few interrogation tips (and some audio examples) on how to get your guests to crack and make them like it.

  • 2008
  • 01:20:33

Presenting the 2008 TCF ShortDocs: Radio Ephemera

For the 2008 TCF ShortDocs Challenge, the TCF joined forces with the Prelinger Library, a one-of-a-kind collection of books, periodicals, and more, running the gamut from the concrete and tangible to the abstract and etherized.

  • 2008
  • 01:22:48

These Are a Few of the Kitchen Sisters' Favorite Things

Ever wonder what inspires, obsesses and ignites the Kitchen Sisters? Find out during this hour-plus showcase of audio (and other less-evolved art forms) culled from their accidental archive and the stirring work of others.

  • 2008
  • 01:17:45

Approaching Approaches

Alessandro Bosetti talks of the tremors felt while approaching somebody else's life with a microphone in-hand, when fears of exploitation combine with implacable curiosity and the possibility that neither you nor your interviewee will understand each other's intentions.

  • 2008
  • 01:25:40

College: A Hotbed of Emerging Producers -- Part One

All around the country college students are asking for and receiving new courses that teach audio production. They're intent on finishing college with multi-media skills, and, lucky for us, they want to help shape the future of documentary audio.

  • 2008
  • 01:20:55

College: A Hotbed of Emerging Producers -- Part Two

All around the country college students are asking for and receiving new courses that teach audio production. They're intent on finishing college with multi-media skills, and, lucky for us, they want to help shape the future of documentary audio.

  • 2008
  • 01:22:35

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

Just Listen to Yourself

A bad editor is a curse. Having a good editor is a blessing but can often be a luxury. Deborah George explains how to work effectively with the editor you've been dealt and how to be your own editor if you don't have one.

  • 2008
  • 01:16:31

Listening Critically

Art forms such as film, literature and even TV, generate rich bodies of critcal writing that push the boundaries of what creators do and why, and gives audiences new ways to appreciate the work.

  • 2008
  • 01:29:40

Neo-Futurism: The Joys (and Rewards) of Forced Creativity

Greg Allen, the creator of Too Much Light Makes the Baby Go Blind -- the show which has spawned nearly 10,000 short plays -- conducts a workshop on generating new material, exploring new forms, and beating writer's block.

  • 2008
  • 01:19:44

Making a Scene: The Use of Verite to Show, Not Tell, Your Story

A well-crafted scene, heard on the radio, opens a window onto a new world and allows the listener to fly right in. Claire Schoen explores the process of creating scenes -- showing real people living their lives -- for an audio documentary.

  • 2007
  • 01:34:06

Noah's "The Classics"

From CF and SD memory cards back to 24-track - with stops for MD, DAT, and cassette - Noah Adams rambles through 30 years of radio production, playing the stories that inspired his own work and that of countless others.

  • 2008
  • 01:29:41

2008 Perfect Pitch (Day 1)

Perfect your pitching skills and present your ideas to program producers and editors - or just listen in - as AIR (Association for Independents in Radio) pulls back the curtain to let us in on how stories make it to the airwaves.

  • 2008
  • 01:35:19