The Room Where It Happens: More Interviews, Editing, And My setup

Nick a -

Hello everyone! Welcome to another blog post.

I hope everyone appreciates the Hamilton reference—the song mentioned in the title is one of my favorites from the entire soundtrack.

This past week, I conducted three interviews, all within just two days. I had the opportunity to speak with a copyright lawyer, a nurse, and an endodontist. It was fascinating to learn about their careers and how they found their way into their respective fields. Reflecting on all my interviews so far, I’ve noticed that none of my guests initially envisioned themselves in their current jobs. Each of them took a unique journey to discover what was right for them. So, to all high schoolers out there: if you’re unsure about your future, don’t worry—you’ll eventually find the path that’s right for you.

The career I knew the least about beforehand was that of the copyright lawyer. I had no idea how many specializations existed within copyright law. One specialization is copyright litigation, where professionals handle legal disputes related to copyright infringement.

After conducting multiple interviews, I’ve settled on a general episode length of around 25–35 minutes. This was my original goal, as I wanted my episodes to be detailed yet engaging without becoming dry.

Testing out a microphone to record an interview.

One thing I noticed about this week’s interviews compared to my previous ones was how much more free-flowing my conversations felt. While I still followed my script, I paid closer attention to what my guests were saying and asked more follow-up questions to improve the natural flow of the discussion.

As for my setup, I recorded my interviews primarily in my bedroom. My computer was my best friend—it always remembered what I said. Get it? Because I can play back my recordings and hear myself. Okay, never mind.

 I also started editing my second episode using GarageBand. I was searching for free software to edit my podcast, and although GarageBand wasn’t widely recommended, it had the tools I needed, so I decided to give it a try. I was happy about this because I already have experience using GarageBand for music production, so I hoped my existing skills would help shorten the learning curve.

Turns out, editing podcasts is pretty challenging. I had to look up a lot of shortcuts to streamline the process. While working on my second episode, I found that I could only edit in short bursts before needing a break. The tools in GarageBand are quite different from the platform my mentor used when showing me how to edit podcasts. This week, I’ll be researching and watching YouTube tutorials to improve my editing skills. Hopefully, those will guide me through the process more efficiently. You know, I guess you can say I’m like a surgeon, since I cut up and rearrange audio. It may be a stretch though.

Editing my second podcast episode on GarageBand.

I’m excited to see how much progress I’ll make this week, and hopefully, we can all listen to my first episode soon!

To end things off, here’s a career-related quote from one of my favorite shows, Phineas and Ferb:
“I’m not saying it’s going to be easy, but it’s definitely going to be fun.”

See you soon!

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Comments:

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    allison_h
    Hi Nick! I absolutely love your blog post title for this week. I get excited about anything Hamilton related and The Room Where It Happens is definitely one of the top songs. It's also great to see you getting more comfortable with your interviews and I'm looking forward to your first episode! Have all of your interviews so far lasted around 25-35 minutes? If the interview was shorter than 25 minutes will it just be a shorter episode or will you create some filler sounds while editing to make it 25 minutes long?
    meggiles
    Hey, Nick! Great update. I adore your comment about now being able to LISTEN to the people you are interviewing. What a major step. What's your timeline for releasing your first episode? Looking forward to hearing the public reaction! MG. P.S. I love that song in Hamilton, too, esp when Leslie Odom Jr. did that jump and then they pulled out the tablecloth, then the giant jump at the end.
    katherine_v
    Hello, Nick! I love the Hamilton reference; the musical is amazing, and that song is also one of my favorites. I am impressed that you did three whole interviews in the span of only two days. I cannot wait until all the episodes of your podcast are out! Are there any big differences between using GarageBand for making your music versus editing your podcast? Could you explain them (if they exist)?
    danielle_l
    Hiya, Nick! "The Room Where It Happens" is probably my second favorite Hamilton track after "Wait For It" (maybe I just really love Aaron Burr/Leslie Odom Jr.). It is reassuring that you pointed out that your interviewees hadn't envisioned themselves in their career as someone who is feeling a bit unsteady themselves. I am amazed at the variety of careers that you have gotten to interview so far, especially someone like a copyright lawyer! Do you have a certain career that you really want to interview for your podcast? Hope the editing goes smoothly!
    cason_t
    Hey Nick! I'm always amazed by the number of interviews you manage to conduct each week—impressive work! It's great that you have software to edit your podcasts at home, especially since you're already somewhat familiar with it. I've always associated GarageBand with music production, so I'm intrigued to see how it works for podcast editing. During your time recording, have you or your guests experienced any connection or audio issues that disrupted the sessions? I'm really excited for the debut episode—can't wait to check it out!
    nick_a
    Hi Allison! Not all of my interviews have lasted around 25-35 minutes. One of the ones I recorded was around 10 minutes. I don't think I will add any filler sounds for now because I think it dilutes the main goal of each episode, which is to talk about different people's careers.
    nick_a
    Hi Ms. Giles, I am planning on finishing editing at least 5 or so episodes before I start uploading them. I want to make sure that I don't upload one if I don't have anything else to upload in a timely manner. I should have a better idea of a schedule by my next blog post.
    nick_a
    Hello Kathy! There were not as many big differences as I thought there would be. The differences I encountered were mainly in the tools I had to use. One tool that I used a lot more was the fader. In order to have smoother transitions between people speaking or just when using the intro/outro music for my podcast, I had to use the fader. This helps prevent sharp transitions. So, for my music, the audio level of the music track decreases from the start until it completely fades out. This prevents the music from just abruptly stopping.
    nick_a
    Hey Danielle! I don't think there's any career that I specifically want to interview. However, I would like to interview careers that are under-represented. While I don't know about popular careers in high detail, I think it's interesting to find a career where I can say "I had no idea that existed."
    nick_a
    Hi Cason! While there weren't any audio/connection issues that disrupted sessions, there were some glitches or just simple vocal slips I had to edit out. I could resolve some issues, but for others, I would just have to accept the error in the recording. These errors were not major, but fixing them could take the audio to the next level.

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