1. Tell us a bit about yourself and your career.
“I’m a podcast audio engineer, composer, and sound designer! Currently, I mix The Journal, which is a daily news podcast and a Wall Street Journal / Spotify co-production. I’m also a professor at the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism, teaching investigative podcasting and audio storytelling production techniques.”
2. Can you tell us about your journey to U-M and how the Duderstadt Center played a role in you choosing Michigan?
“I applied to the PAT program in 2011 and was able to see the Audio Studio and Video Studio when I visited to conduct my interview during the application process. Seeing the sophistication of both rooms and imagining what I might make in them was key to why I chose Michigan. The Duderstadt Center’s facilities were a major differentiator when I compared the other schools that could offer me the skills for the career in production that I wanted.”
3. What impact did the Duderstadt Center have on your time at U-M, or in your life now?
“The Duderstadt Center had a huge impact on my time at U-M! I created pieces in the Audio Studio that I would go on to use in job applications. Moreover, I was able to use all of the studios and the edit suites to help other student musicians and performers record their pieces too. Learning to make all of this media on equipment that was so on pace with industry standard ended up being the difference maker in my career afterwards. I could always show potential employers that I’d fit into their production and understand their systems easily. I knew my way around, even early in my career, because of what the Duderstadt Center offered to me as an undergraduate.
As a junior and a senior, I worked in the Digital Media Commons teaching the certification courses for the studios and renovating them over the summer, which equipped me with some really specific skills that I still use today in my job at Spotify Studios.”
4. What do you think is important for others to know about the work the Duderstadt Center does?
“As a student employee in the Digital Media Commons, I saw how much money, time, and care needed to go into maintaining everything that the Duderstadt Center had to offer in its spaces. Learning new skills on equipment that was at pace with or ahead of the industry was such a key part of me getting a foothold in my career. So, whatever it took to keep the technology up to date has felt worth it for what it’s given me in the 10 years since being there.”
5. Would you be willing to connect with students?
“Yes!”