Fake news, sophistry, lying, and the spread of false information on the internet A client and I thought it would be neat to make a podcast about such shade. Thus, the Sophist Podcast was born.

Although I've done some audio engineering in the past — as well as work in the music industry — this is my first attempt at being an on-air personality.

I've borrowed some ideas from a few of my favorites podcasts, and I wrote about 80% of the script. I figured this was fine, since I don't plan on releasing Sophist on iTunes, Stitcher, or any other podcast service. Besides, I gave credit at the end of the episode.

The point wasn't to make the most original content; rather, I wanted to engineer the sound from scratch. The script was in service to the techne.

I don't have a recording studio in my small apartment, but I do have a decent RODE NT-USB condenser microphone and a closet filled with fluffy sweaters. I recorded multiple tracks while sitting in the closet with the door closed, reading the script from my phone. Then I cleaned up the audio in Adobe Audition, added royalty-free music, and sprinkled in some non-diegetic sound effects after receiving feedback from a filmmaker friend.

The first episode is about Phineas Taylor Barnum, who has been in the news lately, since the release of The Greatest Showman.