Labs is for anyone who is serious about mastering narrative podcasting, and is ready to stretch, grow, and help others do the same. Labs involves independent work, a class discussion forum, and live coaching, and commitment and participation in all three is crucial to maximizing the value of the cohort for everyone.

Unlike previous sessions, we will be limiting class size in the fall of 2022 to promote accountability and commitment.

If you are just casually interested in podcasting, or can’t realistically commit 2-5 hours per week, our Course (self-paced, no peer interaction or live commitments) will be a better fit.

We believe this is the most thorough and holistic self-paced course, not just about narrative podcasting, but integrating podcasting, creativity, and life.

There are other audio storytelling courses online, but we would say it takes more than 4-8 weeks to teach narrative podcasting. There are one-off classes, boot camps, or workshops, but they don’t offer a full idea-to-launch curriculum. There are also many good courses that focus on the technical side of podcasting, or launching and marketing your podcast — but those courses don’t teach you about storytelling, or help you figure out what kind of storyteller you are. Finally, there are big-name courses, but they don’t offer personalized coaching.

In terms of skills, you’ll get audio editing, interviewing, scriptwriting, voiceover, sound design, production, collaboration, and other skills — the complete toolkit you’ll need to produce a narrative podcast start to finish. You’ll be qualified to apply for jobs in podcasting, have the confidence to pursue your own work, and overcome impostor syndrome.

But our own journeys have taught us that skills have to function in context of our personalities, needs, and lives, so we’ve included key vocational tools as well. You’ll gain a better understanding of your priorities, needs, and goals, and how to better integrate your creative work and life.

Yes! We are planning to record 3-5 minute teaser episodes summarizing a key lesson from each module. Each teaser episode will focus on a single topic, like audio editing, sound quality, creative motivation, or interviewing, and reflect the same careful approach of scriptwriting, audio editing, and sound design that you’ll learn in the course (and which we used to create our own award-winning podcast.)

You can listen to the first two on the teaser page.

In addition to audio tutorials and reflections, exercises, podcast planning tips, and assigned episodes, we provide further growth recommendations to enable students who have more time to maximize their learning. Like a lot of things in life, you'll get out of this what you put into it!

If you do complete all the elements of each lesson, you'll emerge with both a completed pilot episode, and clarified vocational and life direction.

If you know you’re committed to podcasting, yes. (And as a Labs student, you’ll get an exclusive discount on Shure microphones.)

Laura used the $100 Blue Yeti to record the first 170+ episodes of Shelter in Place, including both episodes that won or were nominated for awards. Now we use the Shure MV7. But you can complete the assignments and learn a lot simply recording voice memos on your phone in a quiet environment.

• 2-5 hours per week.

• Openness to personal growth, listening to feedback, contributing to a group, and writing practice.

• Web access.

• A computer for using your audio editing program.

• Availability for one hour during the week for coaching calls.

• Real headphones, not just your phone’s earbuds. We use the Sony MDR-7506; the Audio-Technica ATH-M50x also fits the “quality, proven, affordable” criteria.

• A reasonably quiet place (bedroom, closet) for recording.

• Fluency in English

The sixteen lessons in the Labs Weekender curriculum originated from three main sources: first, making 200 scripted episodes (in two years!) of our award-winning podcast, Shelter in Place. Second, running our Social Impact Award-winning intensive program. And third, reflecting on key career and life lessons we’ve learned over the past 20 years that we wish we’d known when we were starting out.

We also got insights from other industry experts, which you can see on our guest speakers page!

This depends on your budget, your goals, and how committed you are. Pro Tools is the oldest and gets mentioned the most in audio editor job postings, but is also the most complex and expensive. Laura used Logic Pro X for 100+ episodes, but switched to Hindenburg in the spring of 2022, and hasn’t looked back.

(Note: as a student, you get a complimentary four-month license to Hindenburg and a discount if you want to buy it after!)