Learn to Love the Process

By Ella Harrison

As an avid podcast listener, this project was one I was excited for when I first

looked at the syllabus. Little did I know the amount of time that goes into producing a podcast. As a listener, it is easy to hop onto Spotify and listen to “Morbid: A True Crime Podcast” or the MacDonald sisters’ “Love Ya, Bye.” It is so convenient that I often find myself getting frustrated when the podcasts are not posted at their regularly scheduled times. I will be more understanding in the future after having produced just one episode of the “Dins Dash Podcast.” (Listen here!)

I knew that my podcast needed to include an aspect of sports. While throwing around ideas with my mom, she suggested that I contact Ty Youngblood. I did not know for sure what my topic was going to be at that point, but she knew that he was well-spoken, and I knew that was necessary for a podcast. I reached out to him that day, and I am so glad I did because I underestimated how long it would take for us to find a time we both were free to record. This taught me the importance of contacting guests well in advance.

After I decided to focus on sports and music, I realized I needed to find academic research to confirm what I have found to be true in my personal life. I went onto Google Scholar and found Susan Hallman’s article “The power of music: Its impact on the intellectual, social and personal development of children and young people.” It was fascinating to me because I know how music affects my own life, but it compiled actual data from years of research that showed multiple ways music has positive impacts.

Ty and I recording the podcast.

When we got there to record, I found it easy to set up the mics and audio in Audition because of the Lab we had done in class. Because I had a solid storyboard of my questions, Ty and I had no trouble discussing all the topics. However, I wish I had gone into the recording with fewer questions because I found it so difficult to cut content in post-production.

Post-production in itself was a beast. Even though the podcast was just 10 minutes, I spent hours editing. I first started editing, I tried to cut out every single “um” or weird pause, and I quickly realized how tedious that is. I learned that content is the most important thing. I should first focus on getting everything in the right order to create a good story arc. Once that is done, I can go back and finish up the little details such as music and cover art. Looking back, I can see things I would have done differently in post-production, but I am proud of the way I tackled learning a new program like Adobe Audition.

Throughout this experience, I learned that podcasting is a process, and some of the elements are more enjoyable than others. In the future, I think it would be cool to produce a weekly sports podcast where athletes discuss what interests identify them apart from sports. The most valuable knowledge I learned from this experience is not learning how to set up mics or edit in Adobe Audition, but rather the importance of good preparation and time management. These are skills that can be used in every aspect of Digital Storytelling and in every future job.