Julianna Bradley

Here is a non-exhaustive list of things that helped me get started in audio/radio! I am still learning from all of these resources today and I wanted to put them in a place for other's to access. Let me know if you have something you think I should add to the list. 

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[ Read these first ]

• 7 Q's to narrative audio people who want (need) to do better by Bethel Habte

• A thread from Gimlet Union

• A thread by Brittany Luse

• A Thread by Eric Eddings

• A thread by Kelsey Padgett

• A criticism by C.C. Paschal

• A piece by James Green

• *** so many more -- read comments and re-tweets

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[ Great places to get started! ]​​

• ​This American Life - Make Radio​

• Transom

• Audioplayground

• WYNC Radio Rookies

• Third Coast Festival Talks

• NPR Training​

• Favorites:

  • Want to start a podcast

  • How to edit with your ears

  • Writing through sound

  • How to Mix

  • Audio production 101​

• ​Association of Independents in Radio (AIR)

• Podcast Garage (Boston, DC, and vitrual --> classes and events)

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[ Podcasts about making podcasts ]

• HowSound - Transom

• Re:sound

• Telling Stories

• Out on the wire (the pod)

• PRX Audio School

• This article: I haven’t listened to any of these but they may be useful!

[ Sound/Sound Design ]

• Third Coast Talk with Kaitlyn Prest and Brendan Baker

• Constellations: platform for sound design-rich audio with a lot of resources and amazing pieces to listen to

• Let’s Learn About Waveforms: very basic, easy to understand basics of sound

• Sound Basics: basics of EQ, compression, reverb, delay (short but pretty useful)

• In the mix: Youtube channel with a ton of videos about mixing and sound design

• I also love watching music producers work through mixes!! I learn alot about plug-ins and building a session

[ Sounds and music ]

• Archival Tape: A list of all the places to find archival tape

• youtube --> mp3: strip sounds/news clips off of youtube

• Storyblocks (or other licensing service)

• Copyright free music 

• Free sounds: database for free and downloadable sounds

• Create your own sound library! Record your own sounds the way you want to record them they may come in handy

• My Youtube Playlist

[ Recording and Editing ]​

Digital Audio Workstations (DAW) aka editing softwares: 

• Reaper: less expensive, open source, very malleable (I use this and really love it and have a millions reasons why )

• Pro Tools: expensive, but has a student discount, industry standard (bleh)

• Hindenburg: used in a lot of journalism, cool shapes

• Audition: Adobe’s editing software, a lot of student's get it for free

• Audacity: Free and pretty simple

• Garage band: free, simple, built into Macs

*The basic editing functions are pretty similar in each software! It’s more a matter of capacity and the extent of sound design you want to include ( you can make something just as good on garage band as on protools )

Editing videos/resources

• Videos:

  • Reaper for Radio

  • Brendan Baker on Reaper

  • In the Mix

• A ton of the resources I listed above from NPR, Transom, and my youtube playlist

*There are plenty of others online. There are also a ton of music specific editing resources that can translate to podcasting

Recording equipment

• Your phone is great! Expensive equipment is not a necessity for excellent audio storytelling! But, if you are interested I've listed equipment below.

• Standard field equipment: (Mic, recording device, headphone, windscreen, cables)

  • My equipment (in case you want to ask questions about)

  • Microphone 1

  • Microphone 2 (from my school)

  • Windscreen

  • Pistol Grip

  • Mic cable

  • Headphones

  • Recording device

• Standard studio (at home) recording: (Mic, mic stand, pre-amp, headphones, soundproofing)

• Resources:

  • Transom gear guide (pretty outdated, but good resource to learn about mics etc.)

Recording with your phone

• Recording during Covid: Scroll down to remote recording

• Apps:

  • iPhone voice memos: built-in Iphone app, sounds pretty good! easy to use, mp3 files

    • This is how we recording most of the first and fourth episodes of Inherited!​

  • Google voice: people use it, I haven’t! I think it records phone calls and its free

  • AVR Pro: app for purchase, pretty good quality, can record mp3, wav, or m4A

  • TapeACall: yearly subscription, I use this to record phone calls, not great quality, but I have used clips from calls in final pieces, mp3 files

• Video remote recording​

  • Squadcast: Have heard good things and does local (each person talking recording)​

  • Zoom: can use to get face to face but wouldn't recommend using the audio

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*non-exhaustive list, I will continue to add to it!

Email me at if you have something for me to add to the list!

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