From Intern to Audio Pro: Evan’s Story
Evan is an avid hiker, enjoys having new experiences, and loves music- all sorts of music, “even new country music.” This is fitting, seeing as he is AINC’s audio production technician. At 21 years old, he is trying to live his life differently from other people his age. Initially, he was going to college to get a degree and work with computers, when he was offered an internship at AINC to work with audio which had always been a hobby for him.
“I’ve been teaching myself how to use things like Audacity and how to work with audio since middle school. A lot of what I know now is just a result of messing around and figuring things out.”
The internship was a huge success for him. After working as an intern for a year and a half, he was hired as an audio production technician in 2021.
Evan’s role is to monitor AINC’s podcasts and live broadcasts to ensure there are no issues in the audio. He also listens to volunteer auditions for audio quality and narration skills. In addition to being a staff member, Evan is also a listener to AINC; this is a bonus because it means when he is not working, he still listens to AINC’s content and can catch issues that might have otherwise been overlooked.
On top of all that, Evan helps produce a couple of AINC’s original podcasts, including the Volunteer Spotlight, where he interviews a chosen volunteer of the month. Furthermore, he works on PSAs, adding appropriate music and making sure the audio quality is good enough for the broadcast.
“When it comes to daily programs, I do the same stuff but there’s always something new to look forward to. I’m always learning new audio skills and skills working with people.”
Evan’s skill set is quite niche and takes a while to build up. He is one of the two people at AINC who knows how to manage broadcasts. Just creating a new show usually takes him around two hours, because of the sheer amount that goes into it: making sure everything is working properly and all the protocols are followed. Even just getting a good ear for audio quality takes quite a bit of time.
As a staff member, Evan hopes to produce even more content and get even further involved with media production.
“I can do this now, but I want to be able to do it all the time: where I’m producing the content, adding music, putting it all together, you know, equalizing the audio, making it sound clean.”
Evan plans to interview more blind people to break stereotypes and show that blindness isn’t as scary as it seems.
By Kaatje Vanderberg
