Student Posts

Booking for Truth

“Booking for Truth Cover” by Emily Bowlin is licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0 International.

Photo Credits:

Audio Credits:

Booking for Truth would feature full episodes devoted to examining books across all spectrums of literature, from genre, to time period, even fanfiction! The emphasis would be on creating a place for discussing different themes, ideas, and messages in these works as well as getting to share personal feelings on the stories as well. Ideally, it would function as a more approachable way to use more academic lenses over texts that get overlooked as only being a part of pop culture or ‘low’ culture. In discussing books, it isn’t always about what’s ‘right’, it’s about being able to back up your idea with something from the text. This stemmed from the fact that when I read a book I am often taking notes and pulling everyone I know into a discussion about the novel, willing or not! Since the new Hunger Games book is coming out in March, I’ve been working through a reread of the series. This series shows the impacts of war, trauma, and authoritarian rule on children while still being Young Adult. Therefore, The Hunger Games presented a good subject for this idea of looking at novels and really getting in the weeds of what the author was saying and what we walked away with.

When listening to other podcasts to compare how they started, many of them include a one-line zinger from later on in the episode early on to hook the listener; but they also often have the music fade in with their intro and then fade out. I looked for music with a more somber feeling since talking about books can be fun, but the subject matter of Hunger Games is more serious, so I wanted that investigatory, mysterious feeling behind the music. Since this was short, I jumped straight to the intro, and had the music fade in and out behind me. I wanted to use a crisp page turn to match the tag line, “leave no page unturned.” I also used the page turn to indicate the next “chapter” of the podcast was starting, as it reminded me of listening to audiobooks on tape when I was a kid, and when it would play a sound to let you know to turn the page. That way sections of the podcast could be broken up more distinctly. The last sound effect I added was the TV static in the background when talking about Suzanne Collins’ inspiration for writing The Hunger Games. I like it when podcasts add some sounds to help draw my attention to the circumstances of what they are saying, and I thought it might be a good way to put the image of a TV in the minds of listeners as they consider what competing images of reality TV and war might look like in their own minds. I ended up leaving a lot of space between phrases when I recorded to make it easier to edit later (or so I thought). I actually ended up having to cut a lot of dead air so that it moved a little more quickly along; pacing myself when talking is something I’ve had to work on in real life, and this assignment proved I’ve still got some work to do!

Magic in the Middle

“Magic in the Middle Podcast Poster” by Caitlin Woodington is a derivative of “brown stick on book page” by Tuyen Vo originally licensed under the Unsplash License (Some Rights Reserved). The derivative is licensed under Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International CC BY-NC-SA 4.0.
The podcast “Magic in the Middle” by Caitlin Woodington is licensed under Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International CC BY-NC-SA 4.0.

Whether it be an epic quest, fairies, or dragons, Magic in the Middle is a podcast dedicated to all things related to fantasy books. Episodes release weekly, providing listeners with book reviews of new releases and backlist titles as well as interesting discussions on topics such as tropes of the genre. Each episode concludes with a recommendation for a listener, and recommendations includes middle grade, YA, and adult fantasy books. The podcast’s goal is to provide high quality content that celebrates the genre in a way that both those who are new to fantasy books as well as long time readers can enjoy. This particular episode focuses on new releases publishing in 2025.

The podcast episode incorporates sound effects, music, and a voice over. The opening is a mix of magical sounds related to the fantasy genre, striving to create a feeling that the listener is opening a book and being whisked away by the magic. The podcast opens with the turning of pages, and then a mix of magical sound effects and music follow. Sounds effects of a magic wand, a magic spell, and a fairy flying are all used. A spoken word sound effect of a female voice saying “Once upon a time” is also included in the introduction, and the audio effect of an am radio filter curve has been added to the particular sound effect. The sounds have been overlaid to create a magical, mystical feel. The selected music is reminiscent of music often found within fantasy movies. The music plays at varying volumes throughout the podcast, and if the audio was longer it would fade out entirely after the introduction. The podcast includes a voice over, which is me introducing the podcast and today’s episode based on a script I wrote. Along with using the audio effects of fading in and out, noise reduction has been used to clean up the recordings. Additionally, volumes of the individual audio recordings have been adjusted to mix together better.

I edited the “Magic in the Middle” podcast using Audacity. I edited the “Magic in the Middle podcast poster” using Canva.

Audio Credits:

“Book Page Turn” by Kodack (CC0 1.0 Universal (CC0 1.0)Public Domain Dedication)

“Aquarium” by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com). Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License CC by 4.0

“Magic spell (small positive)” by Nakhas (CC0 1.0 Universal (CC0 1.0)Public Domain Dedication)

Fairy FlyBy 2.aif” by timgormly (CC0 1.0 Universal (CC0 1.0)Public Domain Dedication)

“Female Voice: Once Upon a Time” by LadyImperatrix (CC0 1.0 Universal (CC0 1.0)Public Domain Dedication)

3D Magic Wand tinkle_16bit.wav” by Timbre (Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0))

“Magic in the Middle audio” by Caitlin Woodington (Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0))

Photo Credit:

“brown stick on book page” by Tuyen Vo licensed under the Unsplash License (Some Rights Reserved)

Food Coma

“Food Coma” by Kaleah Gonzalez licensed under CC BY-NC 4.0.
“Food Coma Audio” by Kaleah Gonzalez licensed under CC BY-NC-SA.

Description:

Food Coma is a podcast about reviewing foods at the latest restaurants. The episode begins with a small snippet of a song that sings, “It’s the last time I talk about food.” I found this little snippet on Free Music Archive and just thought it was the perfect intro to the pod. After the little intro music, I introduce myself and the restaurant I’ll be reviewing and continue with the taste of the food. This portion would be the voice element of the podcast. During my reiteration of the restaurant, I added a low background noise of a restaurant just to give it the feel that I am giving the review live. Throughout the whole thing, there is very, very low jazz music. The intro song was just the singing, and I felt it needed instruments in the back, and that’s where the jazz came in. As well as, my voice needed a low track to be played over. Overall, I included voice, ambient sounds, and music.

Audio Credits:

food by Gablé downloaded from Free Music Archive licensed under CC BY-NC-SA.

Pay To Play by Gagmesharkoff downloaded from Free Music Archive licensed under CC BY 4.0.

Restaurant Ambiance by Stephan downloaded from SoundBible license CC BY 4.0.

Image Credits:

Photo by Anthony LE licensed under Unsplash License.

The Fail Forward Podcast

“Fail Forward Podcast” by Connor Skaryd, licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 4.0. Includes derivatives “Dice Rolling Sounds” by stricktj, “High Octane” by Benjamin Tissot

Image Credits:

Image generated using Midjourney, developed by XYZ Labs.

Edited in Canva 2/17/2025 (adding in the title Banner and text for the title.)

Audio Credits:

DiceRollingSounds_Tile.wav by stricktj — https://freesound.org/s/218090/ — License: Attribution 3.0

High Octaine” Music I use: https://www.bensound.com
License code: BPPH9Z2QPWJ481CP

Recorded and Edited Using Audacity

When designing my podcast I decided on leaning into my interest in tabletop gaming and the vast fictional setting of Warhammer 40,000 universe. Considering the often intense feeling of the 40,000 universe I decide to use a heavy guitar riff for the introductory music that feeds into a dice roll sound effect for the transition to my introduction to the podcast itself. I took advantage of the Midjourney AI image generation to create a cover for the podcast with a fairly simple image of a cartoony table with dice falling over onto the table. “Failing Forward” as a title for the podcast refers to a table top gaming term where one fails a specific check but is still able to advance the plot forward, and that would play into the themes of the podcast. Moving the plot forward even though I might be mucking it up!

Money Matters

“Money Matters” by Alex Bowman, licensed under CC0 1.0 Universal

Description

The Money Matters podcast breaks down personal finance into simple, bite sized steps to help you take control of your Money – This episode will cover the power of compound interest, and why it’s often called the ‘eighth wonder of the world’ and how you can take advantage of it today.

“Money Matters Intro” by Alex Bowman, licensed under CC BY-NC 4.0

Image Credits:
“Money Matters” by Alex Bowman, licensed under CC0 1.0 Universal

Lined Doodle Banknotes by Mich Cervantes is Licensed under PixaBay Content License

Photo of Alex was taken by Tabitha Weinstein.

“Money Matters” was created using Canva

Audio Credits:

Money Matters Intro by Alex Bowman, licensed under CC BY-NC 4.0

Handling money (Bills) by contadordehistoriascast was Licensed under CC0 1.0

cha ching.wav by creek23 was Licensed under CC BY-NC 4.0

Fit Science

Rationale Behind the Designs

I wanted to explore the idea of a fitness and science podcast, bridging popular exercise trends with the research behind them. My goal is to create a podcast that inspires listeners to live healthier while explaining how fitness impacts our bodies.

The sound design captures the lively energy of fitness with sounds like heartbeats and pouring water, while upbeat background music keeps the vibe positive and engaging.

For the album art, I chose a vibrant image of someone enjoying a fitness activity. The bright colors and dynamic lines reflect strength and vitality, and the bold, modern text aligns with the podcast’s fresh approach. I hope it gets everyone excited about this journey!

Credits:

Image Attributions:

Original Image: Strong men doing Crossfit by Alonso Reyes on Unsplash. licensed under CC BY 4.0

Derivative Image: “‘The Fit Science Podcast’” by Sinbad Adjuik, licensed under CC BY 4.0

Audio Attributions:

Voice:
“Narration by Sinbad Adjuik.”

Sound Effects:

Music:
Positive Rock Holiday – bpm 120 loop” by DenKyschuk on freesound.org, licensed under CC BY 4.0

Ambient Sound:
Little Interlude” by Seelengold on freesound.org , licensed under CC BY 4.0

Naples Fantasy Football

Audio License: Naples Fantasy Intro by Kris DeMarco, licensed under CC BY-NC 4.0

Image License: Naples Podcast by Kris DeMarco, derivative of Photo by David Adamson, licensed under CC BY-NC 4.0

My podcast is for my fantasy football league. In this podcast, I discuss, usually with other members of the league, how the league is going and our opinions on players and other teams. I started this podcast with another member in my league last year but never recorded an intro. I am glad I was able to do this now, and hopefully, I will use it in my future podcast episodes! My podcast intro included my voice welcoming listeners and introducing what the podcast would cover. It also has background music and some sound effects from a football practice.

Image Credits:

Photo by David Adamson, downloaded from Unsplash 2.17.25, licensed under Unsplash License

NFL logo by John D., downloaded from freepnglogos 2.17.25, licensed by their terms of use

Carolina Panthers Christian McCaffrey – Cincinnati Bengals Hardy Nickerson by Jack Kurzenknabe, downloaded from Flickr 2.17.25, licensed under PDM 1.0

New Orleans Saints Alvin Kamara by Jack Kurzenknabe, downloaded from Flickr 2.17.25, licensed under PDM 1.0

Los Angeles Chargers Austin Ekeler by Jack Kurzenknabe, downloaded from Flickr 2.17.25, licensed under PDM 1.0

Detroit Lions Tra Carson by Jack Kurzenknabe, downloaded from Flickr 2.17.25, licensed under PDM 1.0

Photo edited using befunky

Audio Credits:

Here’s Your Chance (ReWorked) by J.Lang featuring Zenboy1955, downloaded from dig.ccmixer 2.17.25, licensed under CC BY-NC 4.0

Football Practice Huddle, Pad Hits & Sack.wav by phillyfan972, downloaded from freesound 2.17.25, licensed by CC0 1.0

Audio edited using Audacity

Back Porch Sightings

“Back Porch Sightings Podcast Art” by Jenn White, licensed under CC0 1.0 Universal
“Back Porch Sightings Podcast Intro” by Jenn White, licensed under CC0 1.0 Universal

One of my favorite things about living with my best friend is the time we spend together on our back porch. At night, we grab a drink and talk about our days. I talk about politics. Hanna talks about celebrity gossip. We always see something unusual in the sky: crazy fog, strobe lights, drones…and I swear that was a UFO. This podcast is a reflection of our time spent together– a little spooky but mostly playful. I think this comes across in the script, our tone of voice, the sound effects, and music. I incorporated the sound of our screen door slamming shut (quick, what is that?!). This was my first time using GarageBand. In this audio, sound clips are layered and I learned how to fade in and out and control the background volume.

Image Credits:

“The Open Cluster Messier 41” by the 2MASS 2 Micron All Sky Survey, licensed under Public Domain Mark 1.0 Universal. This image was found using Wikimedia Commons. “Atlas Image [or Atlas Image mosaic] obtained as part of the Two Micron All Sky Survey (2MASS), a joint project of the University of Massachusetts and the Infrared Processing and Analysis Center/California Institute of Technology, funded by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration and the National Science Foundation.”

Polaroid of Hanna and Jenn was taken by Caitlin Mellette, friend of the pod.

“Back Porch Sightings Podcast Art” was created using Canva Pro.

Sound Credits: All sounds not recorded by me were found using freesound.org

“Dark_Texture_1.wav” by Dneproman, licensed under CC0 1.0 Universal

“Free Weird Dark Spooky Music” by Seth_Makes_Sounds, licensed under CC0 1.0 Universal

All other recorded sounds and audio were recorded by me using the VoiceRecorder app on my iPhone.

Podcast audio was arranged and created using GarageBand.

Echoes of the Universe

“Echoes of the Universe” by Jaleen Bedminster is licensed under CC BY-NC 4.0.

“Echoes of the Universe” (intro) by Jaleen Bedminster is licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0

Podcast Description

Echoes of the Universe is a podcast that explores and discusses the hidden connections that unites us all. We will take a journey on the realms of love, energy, and multidimensional existence, revealing how every vibration and emotion resonates with the cosmic frequency of our lives. Join our community on this journey through science and spirituality to uncover the mysteries of our interconnected relationship with the universe—one echo at a time.

Sound Credits

Audio for this project was edited using Adobe Audition and audio cropped by Audio Trimmer. Background music, futuristic sound effect and ambient chime sound were obtained from Freesound. The spoken voice is my own.

Credits:

Background MusicGentle Calming Music for Tranquil Spaces by LolaMoore— Licensed under CC BY 4.0.

Futuristic sound effect ident 2  by ImATaco— Licensed under CC0 1.0.

Ambient chime sound Blustery Chimes by itsgabbo — Licensed under CC0 1.0.

Podcast photo image: Original photo “Photo of a Womans Head in a Ball-Shaped Glass against a Galaxy Background” is licensed CC0 and obtained from Pexels. “Echoes of the Universe” cover photo by Jaleen Bedminster is licensed under CC BY-NC 4.0. Photo image edited in Canva Pro. 

Split/Screen Podcast

Split/Screen Podcast Logo by Craig Moore is licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0
Split/Screen Podcast: Psychic Detectives (excerpt) by Craig Moore is licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0

For this exercise, I drafted a sample excerpt for a podcast stemming from the Substack blog my partner, Sarah, and I are putting together. The podcast and blog, called Split/Screen, revolves around discussion of media, usually video games and film, within the context of friendship and cooperative play. For this sample episode, I imagined a discussion of psychic detective-fiction focusing on discussion of Alan Wake II and Longlegs. The podcast opens with some lighthearted banter between my co-host and I. Soon after, theme music plays, consisting of film-sync beeps, the sound of a projector, a vibraphone jingle, and some glitchy 8-bit percussion. Being a podcast about both games and film, there are sound effects pointing to both throughout the theme music. The vibraphone jingle, composed and recorded by my friend and collaborator Michael Mortilla, creates a classy through-line to unite the sound effects. The theme music fades out, giving way to some introductory discourse on the scope of the imagined podcast and the topic of the episode.

Image Credits:

Mountain Lake in Camera Lens (Unsplash) by Paul Skorupskas, downloaded from Wikimedia Commons, is licensed in the public domain under CC0 1.0

Amazon Echo Dot (RS03QR) – Motherboard by Raimond Spekking, downloaded from Wikimedia Commons, is licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0

Image Edited in Pixlr Editor (cropping, rotating, adding shapes, adding text)

Sound Credits:

Old Main St. by Michael Mortilla is used with permission from the artist

Film Projector Eumig 614 d by Franq, downloaded from Freesound, is licensed under CC BY 4.0

Beep 1000 hz, length of 1 frame to 24-frame/sec code (Film) by Oneiroid State, downloaded from Freesound, is licensed under CC0 1.0

Glitchy Percussion Loop by LeSystemPerv, downloaded from Freesound, is licensed under CC0 1.0