If you listen closely, you can hear music all around you. Sound artists Francisco Lopez and Barbara Ellison place this idea at the center of their crafts through sound installations, workshops, and performances. They each create compositions th

Sonic Voyages with Kara Oehler

May 29th, 2020 11m 48s

Where would you go to hear a unique sound? It turns out, fascinating sounds are all around us and all around the world. Listen as documentary artist and radio producer Kara Oehler revisits some of the sonic destinations featured in the “Sonic

Behind "The Truth" with Jonathan Mitchell

Jan 17th, 2020 14m 8s

Jonathan Mitchell is the creator and producer of "The Truth," a fiction podcast of original stories set in richly detailed, often strange and darkly comedic, audio worlds. Listen as Jonathan talks about the early days of "The Truth", the evol

Voice-First Games with Audacious Machine Creative

Dec 20th, 2019 7m 55s

Encyclopedia Britannica’s "Guardians of History" is an educational adventure game that guides the narrative through voice commands with an Alexa or Google Home device. It provided a unique creative process for sound designer and Sound Arts and

The Joys of Audio Storytelling with Ele Matelan

Sep 20th, 2019 9m 59s

Ele Matelan is a sonic storyteller working in Chicago as a Foley artist for both live theater and films. She has years of experience devising the perfect sound effects to propel a story forward.Listen as Sound Arts and Industries student Jeff

The Voices of Dragons with Paula Fairfield

Aug 9th, 2019 15m 17s

Over a career including TV's "LOST" and "Game of Thrones", Emmy award-winning sound designer Paula Fairfield has created rich soundscapes that expertly blend reality with the fantastic. On a campus visit she inspired our students to fully expre

Sound-Only Storytelling with Gary Rydstrom

Jul 19th, 2019 12m 28s

Seven-time Academy Award winner Gary Rydstrom has created some of the most memorable sound designs in modern cinema (Jurassic Park, Toy Story, and Saving Private Ryan, to name a few). He has also brought his audio storytelling outside tradition

Sculpting Sounds with Trimpin

May 24th, 2019 13m 34s

Trimpin loves natural and acoustic sound. He moved to America decades ago partly to have greater access to discarded technological and mechanical materials to create his inventive installations, which combine music composition with visually ima

Making Podcasts with Karina Longworth

Apr 19th, 2019 9m 17s

Karina Longworth loves film history. Nowhere is this more apparent than in the way she thoroughly investigates the stories in her very popular podcast on Hollywood's first century, "You Must Remember This".Listen as Karina talks about the ori

Sound at Play

Mar 15th, 2019 17m 6s

Brendan Baker likes to play with sound. Music composition, documentary, audio fiction - Baker can do it all, always maintaining that sense of play with the audio craft. After a successful stint as a producer on the podcast "Love + Radio," he br

Improv and Audio Theatre with Matt Young

Feb 1st, 2019 14m 16s

Listen to Chicago improviser Matt Young about performing improv in podcasts like "Hello from the Magic Tavern," from an interview by Sound Arts and Industries student Jeffrey Nils Gardner.

Song Flippers

1 Aug 2nd, 2018 8m 56s

Listen as student Pavan Vasdev analyzes the history and ethics behind “flipping” songs, the long-standing practice of finding old songs, renovating them, and re-releasing them as new songs.

The Art of the Podcast

Jun 28th, 2018 7m 27s

In this episode we conclude our series on radio producer Sarah Geis' course, The Art of the Podcast. Listen as Sound Arts and Industries student Julia Ferguson guides us on the quarter-long journey through the course that led her and her classm

R Take

May 30th, 2018 14m 43s

Listen as students Jason Foley, Lauren Kriel, and Erin Watt explore the question of cultural identity in this Radiolab-inspired piece that examines the popularity of DNA ancestry testing kits.

Moombahton

Apr 30th, 2018 8m 58s

In this episode, we continue showcasing student work from the class The Art of the Podcast, taught by radio producer Sarah Geis. Students Jonathan Chambers, Julia Ferguson, Brendan Monte, and Pavan Vasdev interviewed Gabriel Gomes, also known a

Sniffer, Hunter, Master, Fox

Apr 6th, 2018 15m 50s

This past fall, radio producer Sarah Geis taught “The Art of the Podcast” for our program. This course guided students through the medium’s past, present, and future through listening, critique, and creation. Listen as students Sam Clapp, Dan T

Coffee and Waves

Mar 7th, 2018 21m 16s

Sound Arts and Industries student Brad Robin created the electroacoustic composition “Steam” after gaining inspiration from one of our core courses in sound studies. “Steam” was accepted into the New York City Electroacoustic Music Festival, wh

Sonic Activism

Aug 9th, 2017 9m 33s

Ali Aftab Saeed (@aliaftabsaeed) is one of the most influential sound artists working in Pakistan today, becoming an international viral sensation with his band Beygairat Brigade’s biting satirical pop song “Aalu Anday” in 2011. Listen as he an

Exploring Sound Science with Sound

Jul 15th, 2016 15m 53s

Listen to projects from the new course Communicating Sound Science with Sound Media, where students use sound design to present topics in sound science so that they are accessible to a wide audience. The course is a microcosm of the unique inte

Catching Up with Footsteps Foley

May 11th, 2016 13m 34s

Hear about the fascinating world of Foley art from Sandra Fox of the world-renowned Footsteps Post-Production Sound. Fox describes some tricks of the trade in an interview, and you can hear her in action at a recent workshop with Northwestern s

The Place for Sound, Part 1

Mar 4th, 2016 14m 36s

Northwestern University is the place for sound. Hear about how new facilities and initiatives are multiplying opportunities for sound-minded arts and research. Join us on a tour of the new sound spaces at Northwestern, which include the center

Gary Rydstrom: Secrets of "Star Wars" Sound Design

Jan 29th, 2016 17m 11s

Seven-time Academy Award winning sound designer Gary Rydstrom discusses his career, his recent work on Star Wars: The Force Awakens and Strange Magic, and his enthusiasm for the master’s program in sound at Northwestern.

A Sonic Boom

Jan 8th, 2016 13m

Northwestern University held a conference called Sonic Boom: Sustaining Sound Studies, which brought together artists, scientists, storytellers, and scholars who share a focus on sound. Hear how the conference led to the creation of the unique

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