splitshotpod

[splitshotpod]

Heavy Tape

Last week, I held my second interview for Splitshot. The energy sort of reminded me of a second date. I was nervous, but not the same type of clueless and exhilarated nervous I was the first time around. 

It was more like, “is it going to keep being as rewarding and inspiring each time I do this?”  

I had spent enough time overanalyzing everything I did wrong for the first interview, that in this one I was sort of like a dancer who had memorized all the steps from a textbook, and was clumsily attempting adequacy in bringing the steps to life. 

This is the same kind of thing that powers Sophomore Slumps, I bet. When you know enough to know you’re not quite there, but you’re not sure what to do to get better, beside slogging through hours and hours of practice. 

And no matter how many experts I hear tell that this is the process everyone has to go though, of course the jerk kicking back in my brain asks me: What if I put in the work, and it never goes anywhere? Or even scarier, what if listeners aren’t game to listen through all this learning, and be a part of the journey?

The tape from the interview still sits on the memory card in my recorder, in theory weightless data, in my mind burdensomely heavy raw potential. 

[splitshotpod]

Learning to create.

Before I became a coffee professional, I was a writer. I worked with two or three local publications in Indiana after college, and eventually got asked to do editing work. 

RIP Cultureweek, my first writing and editing gig out of college.

Editing was a place where I really found my slipstream, helping writers develop their initial ideas for stories, strategizing with them pre-subject interview and reviewing their submitted drafts, to make sure their stories "breathed." I'll admit, my favorite part came at the end, copyediting, in which I figuratively knelt in front of the story, which was all ready to leave for the big wide world of publication, making sure it was bundled up properly and had everything it needed, before sending it off.

I unexpectedly got really into podcasts during a hard bout of anxiety a few years ago. Suddenly, I just didn't want to process the world around me, or anything within me. Downloading and listening to podcasts like Stuff You Should Know, I could suddenly muster getting in bed, getting into a shower, or driving to work, without panic and malaise. 

You should know: these guys I never met really helped me stay sane.

Months passed, and so did the anxiety, but suddenly I felt invested in these people, or these voices, really, and wanted to keep listening, and seeking out more great storytellers at NPR, Gimlet, WNYC, Radiotopia, Headgum and Panoply.

 I'm still listening and learning and laughing with the voices that walked with me through a really hard time, and I can enjoy them all the more now.

When I decided to start a podcast of my own, I came into it knowing what I liked to listen to, but I was unsure of why I liked a certain type of sound so much. In brainstorming a side project with Cait Lowry for 2 Caffeinated Chicks, we came up with concepts and recorded our first episode, and after that, a clear comparison jumped into my mind. If we just published the discussion, back and forth, it would be like a news or talk show segment, maybe with an interview of another coffee person. 

I think that can be done really well, and is done well by many of my peers in coffee,  but that wasn't how I'd describe my favorite audio. My favorite audio had a narrator, and then audio of the person or thing they were talking about. My favorite audio...

Was just like the articles I had written and edited, way back in my life before coffee.

Suddenly, I felt so much more motivated to create a podcast. The format I most gravitated toward was what I later found out is called Narrative Podcasting, and just my luck, is one of the hardest types of podcasts to edit so it sounds great. 

Maybe the Grand Masters of narrative podcasting; incredibly inspiring and intimidating.

I approached raw audio for Splitshot episode 1 just like I would for an article: sketched out the skeleton of the story I wanted to tell, marking down key quotes from the interview I wanted to include, leaving out the rest. Revising the skeleton, which now had some muscle through soundbites from the interview. Contextualizing quotes from the source with my writing, which would become narration. In effect, one part of editing this episode looked a LOT like an article that I could publish!

I had an episode that looked good on paper. Now I just had to put my money where my mouth was, and translate the words into sound.

Help. Help. 

Maybe it's because of the term sound ENGINEERING, but staring down a blank Audacity project was one of the most daunting things I've done in recent memory. There was definitely a point where I sort of cringed, and admitted to myself, I'll never get it sounding as good as I want to, there's a reason why people make full-time jobs out of this, and spend years in the industry making these stories; what makes me think...

At this  point, a little referee in my head blew the whistle  (thanks 5+ years of therapy!) and shut that negging down. Then, that imaginary ref pointed to the subject of the podcast I was trying to mix. Cait Lowry. My partner in 2CC, who, you know, started a coffee shop by herself. As you'll hear in episode 1 of splitshot, Cait is amazingly hands-on and handy, and took on a lot of building her own shops herself.In the face of that kind of grit, was I was going to give up?

Nope. It was time to grab a stack of scrap paper, a pencil and settle in for about 40 youtube videos explaining the ins and outs of Audacity. God bless the makers with generous spirits. This became all of my spare time.

The totally photogenic, ladylike sisters.

Speaking of makers: I really admire makers in my life like Cait, and Jeri, my little sister. Jeri lives in Richmond and isn't in the coffee industry, but is amazing at crafts...I'm not talking homespun/gluegun-looking crafts, but the stuff you drool over on Etsy's front page. One time I went with her to a crafting expo in Richmond, and watched her pace through booths, networking with sellers and asking them technical questions that went way over my head, like, about different models of embroidery machines. She could pick up almost anything in that huge warehouse room and explain how the crafter had put it together, and how she could recreate it. I'm continually stunned by her.

I was laying in bed one recent morning, scrolling through the newly uploaded podcasts in my feed (a daily ritual). I started listening to one- I don't remember which one, but probably something like Freakanomics or Planet Money or one of the excellent Gimlet podcasts. And suddenly, I wasn't just listening to the story.

 I was seeing it. 

In tracks, like it was all laid out on the Audacity software I had been using my first episode. I remembered my sister at the craft expo and thought to myself, okay. I must be on my way to becoming a maker.

[splitshotpod]

hello, coffee world

There’s a chance you’re reading this before the podcast splitshot has technically been released. In that case, welcome to my super exclusive pre-launch fan club. 

In all seriousness, I was a writer, and then an editor before making a career in coffee. You’ll see pieces from me occasionally at sprudge.com, but most of the time, you’ll see me at Peregrine Espresso in Washington DC, usually at our Eastern Market location. 

I’ll share notes and pictures that go with each podcast episode here, but also write entries on my journey to improving as a podcasting storyteller, whether it be learning the technical stuff, listening to people who know  a whole lot more than I do, and (I hope) taking your feedback to heart to make the podcast better.

I’m writing this after officially finishing the edits on what will eventually be episode 1. I’m grateful to fellow Caffeinated Chick Cait Lowry for sharing her story with me for it. We’ve partnered for a future podcasting idea called 2 Caffeinated Chicks, and once that’s up for consumption, I’ll announce that here. 

Thanks for reading, and I look forward to you listening. 

Dawn