Thread by @deftlyinane, Not sure if many of you know how an episode of Away [...]

Not sure if many of you know how an episode of Away Message comes together, but they take a lot of work and reporting and simmering and this one spans a long period of time (almost 2 years!).

THREAD!

MILD SPOILERS AHEAD!

1/ https://www.ourstate.com/a-trail-town-without-a-trail/

A Trail Town Without a Trail | Our State

In this episode of our podcast, Away Message, we head to an unlikely stop on the Mountains-to-Sea Trail.

https://www.ourstate.com/a-trail-town-without-a-trail/

Back in 2018, I was writing a print story for @ourstatemag about the Mountains-to-Sea Trail ( @ncmst). Back then, I wasn't as much interested in hikers, but VERY interested in the challenges facing people who were trying to build new sections of it. 2/

I went to Elkin (where they’re creating new sections as fast as they can!), and to Roseboro in eastern North Carolina, where, for a number of reasons, building trails is harder. I wrote the story and it came out in March of 2019 3/ https://www.ourstate.com/making-the-mountains-to-sea-trail/

Making The Mountains-To-Sea Trail | Our State

For more than 40 years, the Mountains-to-Sea Trail has stretched nearly 1,200 miles across North Carolina. But for the passionate advocates who work to move the path off of roadways and into woods...

https://www.ourstate.com/making-the-mountains-to-sea-trail/

In Nov. 2018, I was driving back from Wilmington and swung out to Roseboro to interview Alice and Greg Butler for that story. I was podcasting at the time, but didn’t think this was going to be an episode. Hence, I recorded on my iPhone (which explains the meh sound quality) 4/

I usually don’t throw anything out unless I have to (I still have all of the original Away Message raw recordings going back to season 1!), and I still had audio from the November 2018 interview with the Butlers on my phone when I started pitching and outlining Season 4. 5/ (pic)

I wanted the season to move chronologically, to follow hikers as they crossed North Carolina from west to east. I also wanted a mix of personal moments and stories about the trail overall — how it’s made, built, and maintained. 6/

Our hikers zipped through eastern North Carolina, but I wanted to slow down here to show the unique challenges that hikers and the trail face here. I knew I wanted to expand on Roseboro, and I knew I had the audio already. 7/

I’ve had an outline for this season and specific plans for specific moments and pieces of sound, but I’ve been producing these in order. Hence, I didn’t start the actual production process on this episode (number 6) until episode 5 was done. 8/

One interesting challenge: Knowing what to hold back from earlier episodes. Trail angels have been a part of our hikers’ story since the beginning, but I knew I wanted to devote a big chunk of episode 6 to them, so I kept them mostly out of eps. 1-5. 9/

I knew I had some good sound to build around:
- The interview with the Butlers
- Aaron and Lexi encountering a ton of trail angels
- Me meeting a trail angel in Oak Ridge
- Kate Dixon giving a top down look at trail angels and ENC
10/

I started writing August 11th. I have a formula/structure in place for most episodes:
COLD OPEN
(open)
SEGMENT 1
TEASE
(midroll ad)
SEGMENT 2
NEXT EPISODE TEASE
CREDITS
EASTER EGG (sometimes)
11/

I originally started with Aaron and Lexi, mentioned the Oak Ridge trail angel, then focused wholly on Roseboro in segments 1 and 2. But I quickly felt that it was too much to rely solely on a somewhat scratchy interview from 2018. 12/

Right when I felt stuck, I came across this Facebook post about a woman trying to run the entire MST in 30 days. I’d cut a bit out about the MST speed record out of episode 5, and felt like I could add it back in. Plus… 13/ https://twitter.com/deftlyinane/status/1293905316833263616?s=20

https://twitter.com/deftlyinane/status/1293905316833263616?s=20

So on Monday, I did a Zoom call with Tara, who said that she had originally planned a slower, more ordinary MST thru-hike, but that COVID meant she couldn’t rely on trail angels. Hence, the run. 14/

Tara illustrated how vital trail angels are, so I added that part in at the top of segment 2, where I talked about hikers’ dependence on them in eastern NC. But after I talked with my producer James, he thought that Tara’s bit felt out of place there. 15/

James is usually right! So I moved Tara up to the very top, but then I needed something to lead into the second segment. I remembered I had a good story from Erin Brennan about encountering a trail angel at a state park that I just couldn’t find a place for. 16/

With Tara at the top, I now had a hole to fill, so I dropped Erin’s story there at the top of segment 2, and rewrote the script (additions in green here). I’d already voice tracked the episode (in a bedroom closet) on Tuesday. 17/

I’d mixed part of the episode, but then re-tracked big chunks of it, and started over again yesterday morning. I use Blue Dot Sessions to score the show as I go through. I know their library really well by now and know where to find the right music beds quickly, ALTHOUGH… 18/

As I was laying out Erin’s story about a trail angel encounter, I wondered how it might sound with the Hallelujah Chorus mixed in. The answer, AWESOME. So I did it. 19/

I finished the initial mix last night at 9pm and sent it to James, then walked around the house/block and listened through. 20/

I make notes on my phone when I hear little things to fix, and then I go back and fix them. I got one last round of notes from James, and just kept tweaking audio levels up until 11pm. I drank a beer. 21/

I always listen to the final version one last time before posting. Sometimes it’s fine. But I caught one or two little problems with natural sound fade-outs that I fixed as I wrote the title/description/metadata for the episode. 22/

I finally uploaded the FINAL final version at 12:15am and scheduled it for 5 am. This is not even close to my latest podcast night (I’ve finished at 3am before). 23/

Then I got up this morning at 6:30 (my kids are my alarm clock), and listened one more time as I made breakfast. Everything sounded great, so I had my oatmeal, went upstairs, and got dressed. 24/

In all, a single 30-40 minute episode of Away Message takes a minimum of 40-50 hours of work to produce. That includes: reporting, researching, pulling sound from transcripts, writing, re-writing, voice tracking, mixing, re-mixing, and finalizing, plus promotion. 25/

I’m a one-man production team when it comes to the process, although I’m thankful for James to make the tweaks that an episode needs to get to the next level. 26/

Anyhow, that’s how one single episode came together. Podcasting is not my only job at @ourstatemag, and we’ve been extremely busy with other digital products, hence, tweets like this. 27/ https://twitter.com/deftlyinane/status/1263497441791410177?s=20

https://twitter.com/deftlyinane/status/1263497441791410177?s=20

And this. 28/ https://twitter.com/deftlyinane/status/1296106589443809281?s=20

https://twitter.com/deftlyinane/status/1296106589443809281?s=20

I’m lucky to have a supportive company and great listeners. This is part of my job but it’s also a labor of love, and it’s exhausting and thrilling and I’m so grateful for your feedback, and for your effort to spread the word about this show. 29/29 https://www.ourstate.com/away-message-season-4-podcast-episodes/

Away Message Podcast: The Mountains-to-Sea Trail

What’s it like to cross North Carolina on foot? We followed two groups of hikers as they tried to make their way across the state.

https://www.ourstate.com/away-message-season-4-podcast-episodes/

You can follow @deftlyinane.

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