Audio Scene-Making: a Two-Day Bootcamp at the Center for Documentary Studies
Now through 11/2, use code FALL26 for 35% off!
In this hands-on intensive, we’ll break down scenes from award-winning audio storytellers such as Jonathan Goldstein (Heavyweight), Sam Mullins (Wild Boys), Stephanie Wittels Wachs (Last Day), Pulitzer finalist Lauren Chooljian (The 13th Step), and others. Then, using prompts and creative constraints, we’ll gather interviews and sound in Durham or on campus. We’ll learn the basics of audio editing software (Adobe Audition) and produce first drafts of our own scenes. We’ll end with a constructive group listening session. You may come with a story idea or use provided story prompts.
This class is open to beginners and to those who have made other forms of audio, such as interview podcasts or news stories, but who are new to narrative audio storytelling. Recording equipment is available to borrow if needed. We’ll use Adobe Audition on classroom computers to edit our stories.
Speakers
Elaine Appleton Grant
Elaine Appleton Grant is an award-winning audio and print journalist. Her work has been heard or read on This American Life, NPR, and numerous podcasts and publications such as The Guardian, the Associated Press, and Inc. Magazine. She founded the podcast and newsletterSound Judgmentabout the craft of narrative storytelling across platforms. She is a Carter Center Mental Health Journalism Fellow (2026-27) and a fellow of the National Institute for Health Care Management. She lives in Maine, loves teaching immersive storytelling, and runs on coffee.
FAQ
I'm an experienced interview or chat show podcaster. Will I learn anything new?
Yes, you will! The skills required to make interview and chat shows are important, but they're unique to those formats. The skills you need to create compelling narrative audio scenes are both broader and deeper, including immersive reporting, close observation, sound vision, sensory details in sound and language, dialogue, structure, surprise and more.
I'm new to audio; mostly, I'm a writer or reporter. Is this class good for me?
Many of the skills we use in narrative audio storytelling also make other kinds of storytelling richer, more evocative and more meaningful. In addition to giving you new options for producing podcasts and radio stories, you'll use these skills in your memoir, feature writing, public speaking, live storytelling, filmmaking and more.
I don't have a mic or a digital recorder. Do I need one?
There is equipment available to borrow at the Center for Documentary Studies.