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Transcript: Audio Producer
Trading Skills: Audio Producer
Descriptive Transcript
[Bright music plays]
A child says, WHEE!
[Logo] “t.v.o kids original.” The animated multicoloured logo bounces onto a white background. The word "kids" has an eye in the orange letter "d" and a smile in the lime green letter "s".
[Child giggling]
[Upbeat music plays]
DESCRIPTION: Gears turn on a blueprint.
[Opening credits] T.V.O. kids presents.
DESCRIPTION: Akeylah, a girl with long black hair in tight braids, is wearing a pink plaid button-down shirt. Akeylah stands beside Brody, a boy with short, curly brown hair wearing a brown long-sleeved shirt.
BRODY AND AKEYLAH: Welcome to Trading Skills!
DESCRIPTION: Akeylah and Brody cross their arms and stand back to back.
AKEYLAH: The show where we take turns…
BRODY: …trying a skilled trade.
AKEYLAH: I'm Akeylah.
BRODY: I’m Brody.
AKEYLAH: A skilled trade is a job that requires a special skill.
DESCRIPTION: Videos show Akeylah and Brody trying different skilled trades. Brody examines a dog and controls an underwater remotely operated vehicle. Akeylah works in a recording studio and a salon and examines a car engine.
BRODY AND AKEYLAH: There are lots of skill trades.
BRODY: And you might find the perfect trade for you!
AKEYLAH: Maybe there's a trade that could change your life.
BRODY: So come with us into the trades.
BRODY AND AKEYLAH: On Trading Skills!
[Title] Trading Skills.
[Gentle upbeat music plays]
DESCRIPTION: In the Skills Space, a circular saw rests on a wooden beam. Brody stands at the work table wearing safety glasses and a mustard-coloured long-sleeved shirt. He hammers a thin piece of wood as he works on a birdhouse. Various tools hang on the back wall. An L.E.D. sign featuring a screwdriver and a wrench shines brightly among the tools. Hard hats hang above, beneath the loft.
BRODY: Yeah. There was so much snow outside today, like it was crazy.
DESCRIPTION: Akeylah sits at the far end of the table with her phone. She wears headphones and a white-and-blue plaid button-down shirt over a blue T-shirt.
PODCAST HOST ONE: So, what did the scientists observe from these primate studies?
BRODY: Did you also get that much snow?
PODCAST HOST TWO: Well, the youngest chimpanzee, Jojo, responded to the music by swaying his arms and banging…
BRODY: Can you even hear me? Hello?
DESCRIPTION: Brody glances at Akeylah, who gazes into the distance. Brody waves his hands at Akeylah.
BRODY: Hello!
DESCRIPTION: Akeylah spots Brody and takes off her headphones.
AKEYLAH: Oh, Brody! Sorry, I was just listening to a new podcast. I love hearing about all these different stories and ideas.
BRODY: Podcasts, eh? Well, I mean, Akeylah, you and I, we have stories, we have adventures, we have great ideas. What if we make our own podcast? Here.
DESCRIPTION: Brody leans against Akeylah’s shoulder and holds up his hand to an imaginary title.
BRODY: Trades Talk with Brody and Akeylah.
AKEYLAH: You mean with Akeylah and Brody. And plus, how do we even make a podcast?
BRODY: If only there was a skilled tradesperson that could help us record our podcast about the trades.
[Podcast over headphones]
PODCAST HOST TWO: And that concludes another episode. Thanks to our talented audio producer, Joseph, at Barton Building Studio for recording us.
DESCRIPTION: In a recording studio, audio producer Joseph Shabason turns away from an audio board and smiles. Joseph wears a brown baseball hat over his short dark hair, glasses, and a brown T-shirt.
BRODY: Bingo! Winner gets to go.
DESCRIPTION: Brody holds out his fist. Akeylah holds out hers.
AKEYLAH AND BRODY: Rock, paper, scissors, shoot!
[Akeylah gasping]
AKEYLAH: Rock beats scissors!
[Brody groaning]
AKEYLAH: See ya!
DESCRIPTION: Akeylah waves as she leaves.
BRODY: Seriously?
[Upbeat music plays]
[Title] Trading Skills.
[Gentle upbeat music plays]
DESCRIPTION: Akeylah walks down a city sidewalk wearing a teal T-shirt and brown pants.
AKEYLAH: I rocked and rolled on over to Barton Building Studio in Hamilton, Ontario, to track down Joseph.
DESCRIPTION: Akeylah walks into the building. In the studio, Joseph wraps up a cable.
AKEYLAH: Joseph?
DESCRIPTION: Joseph turns as Akeylah walks into the studio.
JOSEPH: Hey, Akeylah, great to meet you.
AKEYLAH: Thanks for meeting with me.
DESCRIPTION: Joseph and Akeylah fist-bump.
JOSEPH: My pleasure. Welcome to the studio.
AKEYLAH: Brody and I have decided to make a podcast, and I have a lot of questions on how to record it, which you can probably answer because you're an audio producer, right?
JOSEPH: I am. I'm a producer and an engineer, and I work with a lot of musicians, podcasters and voice actors, and it's my job to record them and make them sound as good as possible. So we will usually start with the general concept that they want, and from there, we'll choose the equipment, the microphones, to make them sound as good as possible. So then we record, and then I edit and mix all of that audio and make their project sound amazing.
AKEYLAH: Wow. Okay, that sounds like a lot.
JOSEPH: It is, but it's a lot of fun, too.
AKEYLAH: Well, let the fun begin.
JOSEPH: Sweet.
[Upbeat music plays]
[Title] Trading Skills.
[Gentle upbeat music plays]
AKEYLAH NARRATING: First up, Joseph showed me the control room.
DESCRIPTION: Akeylah walks into the studio control room and looks around.
AKEYLAH: Whoa, this room is awesome!
JOSEPH: Thanks, it also sounds awesome.
DESCRIPTION: Joseph claps his hands.
[Claps hands quietly]
DESCRIPTION: Joseph and Akelah stand in front of a large audio mixing board connected to a computer and two large speakers. Black felt wooden panels cover the walls. Audio equipment sits in open cupboards on their right, and synthesizer keyboards lie on shelving to their left.
AKEYLAH: How does a room sound awesome?
JOSEPH: So these panels are here to make the room sound acoustically perfect. So you can do things like mix a record in here and just have it sound great. We've insulated the walls and the floor so that things like fire trucks and police sirens won't come in here when we're working, and the sounds that we make in here won't get out and bug our neighbours.
AKEYLAH: Aw, that's so considerate. Can I test it out?
JOSEPH: Absolutely. Go wild.
DESCRIPTION: Akeylah grins and leaves the control room. In the hallway, she closes the door and grabs a tambourine off a piano.
[Akeylah shaking the tambourine]
[Akeylay imitating a siren]
DESCRIPTION: Akeylah swaps the tambourine for bongos.
[Akeylah playing the bongos]
[Akeylay imitating a siren]
DESCRIPTION: Akeylah sets down the bongos and returns to the studio control room.
AKEYLAH: Did you hear me?
JOSEPH: Not a peep.
[Gentle upbeat music continues[
JOSEPH: Why don't you sit right here in the hot seat, and I can show you another part of the studio.
DESCRIPTION: Akeylah takes a seat behind the large mixing board and speakers.
JOSEPH: So the way this works is that these speakers are triangulated to your ears. So this is the perfect listening position, and the sound waves are coming right like this at you.
DESCRIPTION: Joseph points from the angle of the speakers to Akeylah.
JOSEPH: But when you're listening to music loudly, it can bounce around all over the place and cause reverb. So that's one of the reasons that we also have these panels, is to eliminate that.
AKEYLAH: Reverb is kind of like an echo, right? Like when you're in a cave or singing in the bathroom?
JOSEPH: Yeah, so anything that has really hard surfaces or sharp angles can have reverb.
AKEYLAH: So these soft rugs on the floor, they also help to prevent the sound waves from bouncing around?
JOSEPH: Absolutely. So if you want to record at home –
AKEYLAH: Or in the Skills Space.
JOSEPH: Or in the Skills Space, you can use those things to help deaden the sound. So some of my friends who record podcasts professionally, they'll record in closets filled with clothes or under a blanket fort to make the sound as dead as possible.
AKEYLAH: That sounds cozy. Okay. Now I know where to record. My next question is, how do I record the audio?
JOSEPH: Let me introduce you to my friend Mic.
[Akeylah giggling]
[Upbeat music plays]
[Title] Trading Skills.
[Gentle upbeat music plays]
DESCRIPTION: In the studio, Akeylah stands behind a cylindrical metal microphone with a rounded mesh grille.
JOSEPH: Okay, so part of being an audio producer is getting super nerdy with the gear and choosing the exact right microphone for the job.
AKEYLAH: Okay, let's get nerdy. Tell me about these mics.
JOSEPH: Let's put on our headphones, and once those are on, we can get signal and adjust the levels.
DESCRIPTION: Akeylah and Joseph put on over-ear headphones. Joseph points to Akeylah’s microphone.
JOSEPH: So this is a dynamic microphone, and this microphone is really good for capturing loud and dynamic input sources, like drums and percussion. It's often used for podcasts, too.
DESCRIPTION: Akeylah leans forward and speaks directly into the microphone.
AKEYLAH: Welcome to Trades Talk. I'm your host, Akeylah.
[Akeylah’s voice scratching]
JOSEPH: Okay, but if you can see right here, your gain is going into the red.
DESCRIPTION: Joseph plays Akeylah’s podcast introduction on a small audio mixing board computer, and the gain level bounces from green to yellow to red.
JOSEPH: So what we want to do is bring that down a bit.
DESCRIPTION: Joseph adjusts a knob on the audio board.
AKEYLAH: Is gain the same thing as volume?
JOSEPH: Actually, gain is the signal that goes from your microphone into the computer, and volume is what's going from the computer into your headphones.
AKEYLAH: Ah, I just gained some good info.
[Akeylah giggling]
DESCRIPTION: Joseph smiles. Akeylah speaks a few inches away into the microphone.
AKEYLAH: Welcome to Trades Talk. I'm your host, Akeylah. The gain stays in the yellow and green.
JOSEPH: Amazing. So the best way to get a good sound from your microphone is to be about six inches in front of it. So what you want to do is sort of hang ten with your fingers right in front of it.
DESCRIPTION: Akeylah extends her thumb and pink finger and folds down her three middle fingers. She holds her hand between herself and the microphone, then speaks into the microphone.
AKEYLAH: Totally tubular, talking about the trades.
DESCRIPTION: Joseph points to a slightly larger microphone, similar to the dynamic microphone, on a stand, with the stand pointing downward.
JOSEPH: And this is a condenser microphone. It's much louder, and it's good for capturing lower-gain sources, but it's also really sparkly and beautiful, so you use that a lot for singing. Do you want to give it a try?
AKEYLAH SINGING: Trades!
JOSEPH: Perfect.
[Upbeat music]
[Title] Trading Skills.
[Gentle upbeat music plays]
AKEYLAH NARRATING: We pressed pause for a snack break and to hear about Joseph's sonic journey.
DESCRIPTION: In the studio, Joseph accepts a slice of pepper from Akeylah.
AKEYLAH: So, how did you get into audio production?
JOSEPH: I think I got into audio production just because I really wanted to make my own music, and I wanted a way of being able to capture the things that I was hearing in my head. So I went out, and I got a really cheap microphone and a really cheap sound card, and a synthesizer, and I just started recording myself. And from there, it kind of grew out into a whole career.
AKEYLAH: What do you enjoy about audio production?
JOSEPH: Being an audio producer is really cool because it can be as varied as you want it to be. So for me, I get to record podcasts and bands. I get to mix albums. I get to record horn sections. I get to record voice actors. I get to do so many different things. And it just never feels dull. Like, every day is a new challenge. Every day is like a new interesting person I get to meet, and I just love that part of it so much.
AKEYLAH: What advice would you give to someone who's interested in becoming an audio producer?
JOSEPH: The first piece of advice I would give is to just do stuff that you love. Work on stuff that you love and kind of get into it that way. And then I think it's also really important to get a good education. So you could go to a program like the one at Humber or Seneca. Once you have that sort of broader education and that firm base, I would say just go out into the world and work on projects that you love and that make you feel really excited.
AKEYLAH: That sounds like music to my ears.
[Upbeat music]
[Title] Trading Skills.
[Gentle upbeat music plays]
AKEYLAH NARRATING: There was one more element Brody and I needed to really make our podcast pop.
DESCRIPTION: Akeylah plays one of the synthesizer keyboards. At the audio mixing board, a man with short brown hair works on the computer. Akeylay turns around.
AKEYLAH: Hey, Joseph.
JOSEPH: Yeah?
AKEYLAH: Can you help me create a banging theme song for the top of every episode?
JOSEPH: It would be an honour. My friend Jeremy here can help us engineer it.
DESCRIPTION: Jeremy, the brown-haired man, turns around and waves. He has a neatly trimmed beard and wears a dark green T-shirt.
JOSEPH: Okay, what do you guys think? Should we start with an amazing drum beat?
AKEYLAH: Yes!
JOSEPH: Okay, perfect.
DESCRIPTION: Joseph takes Akeylah’s place behind the keyboards.
JOSEPH: All right, let's go. One, two, a one, two, three, four.
DESCRIPTION: Joseph presses the start button on a drum machine.
[Steady drumbeat plays]
DESCRIPTION: Joseph steps back. Akeylah nods to the beat. She walks up to the keyboard and starts to play.
[Drum and piano music plays]
JOSEPH: Nice.
DESCRIPTION: Joseph glances at Jeremy, and Jeremy gives a thumbs-up.
[Drum and piano music plays]
DESCRIPTION: Joseph shakes a tambourine.
[Drums, piano, and tambourine music plays]
AKEYLAH NARRATING: Next up, we added a few more fun-flavoured tracks.
DESCRIPTION: Joseph puts a hard hat on over his baseball hat. He crouches under the condenser microphone and points to the hat.
AKEYLAH NARRATING: I learned that music can be made with just about anything.
DESCRIPTION: Akeylah taps the drum beat onto the hard hat.
[Tapping on the hard hat]
DESCRIPTION: Later, Akeylah holds up a hammer and a wrench.
JOSEPH: Ah!
DESCRIPTION: Akeylah taps a slow beat onto the wrench with the hammer.
[Hammer and wrench clanking]
DESCRIPTION: Joseph and Akeylah hold a wooden board under the microphone. Joseph scratches the drumbeat onto the board with sandpaper.
[Wood tapping rhythmically]
AKEYLAH NARRATING: Then, finally, it was time for my vocals.
DESCRIPTION: Akeylay stands in front of the microphone wearing headphones and nodding to the beat.
AKEYLAH SINGING: Trades, trades, trades. Trades, trades, trades.
DESCRIPTION: Jeremy adjusts a setting on the computer. Joseph gives Akeylah a thumbs-up.
AKEYLAH SINGING: Build it, fix it, earn while you learn. Trades, trades, trades. Trades, trades, trades. Build it, fix it, earn while you learn!
DESCRIPTION: Akeylah takes off her headphones.
AKYELAH: Whoo! That was an absolute blast. While I catch my breath, let's amplify the history of audio production.
DESCRIPTION: In black and white, Brody wears a moustache and turns on a sound recording machine.
AKEYLAH NARRATING: The oldest known sound recording was made in 1860 with the invention of the phonautograph. It used vibrations to scratch black carbon waves on a rotating glass plate, enabling us to see sound.
DESCRIPTION: During another point in time, Brody holds up a record.
AKEYLAH NARRATING: Soon after, Thomas Edison discovered that by etching the sound waves instead onto plates of soft metals or wax, that the sound could be played back using a stylus. This has become what we now know as a record player.
DESCRIPTION: Brody places the record on a record player. In a studio, Brody walks up to an audio mixing board, wearing glasses and suspenders and taps on a microphone.
AKEYLAH NARRATING: The popularity of recorded music rose in 1925 when electrical microphones were invented. Sound can now be amplified, filtered, and balanced. This created the need for a new trade, the audio engineer.
DESCRIPTION: In a modern-day music studio, Brody wears a blue toque and a blue pullover hooded sweater.
AKEYLAH NARRATING: Audio engineers have gone from recording on wax and vinyl, then onto magnetic tape in the 1950s. Digital sound recordings became common with compact discs. Now, sound files can easily be created and heard on our many devices, making audio production more accessible to everyone.
DESCRIPTION: Brody puts on headphones and picks up a smartphone. At Barton Building Studio, Joseph and Akeylah work in the studio control room.
JOSEPH: Okay, so now we're ready to mix our track in the DAW, or Digital Audio Workspace.
DESCRIPTION: On the computer, the DAW lists individual recordings, including recordings labelled Tambo, Helmet, Sandpaper and Wrench.
AKEYLAH: So, each of these different lines are the sounds we recorded earlier for our theme song?
JOSEPH: Yeah, they're all right here. Let's push play and start bringing up some of the levels to see where things are sitting and getting everything balanced. Okay, so I think the first thing we should bring up is the... drums.
DESCRIPTION: Joseph pushes a slider knob on the large audio mixing board.
[Steady drumbeat music plays]
JOSEPH: Okay, I think after that, do you want to do the honours and bring up the keyboard? So why don't we just, over here, where it says "Jupiter," just pull it up slowly and get it nice and balanced.
AKEYLAH: Okay.
DESCRIPTION: Akeylah pushes the Jupiter knob on the mixing board.
[Piano and drumbeat music plays]
JOSEPH: Nice. Maybe a little bit louder.
AKEYLAH: Okay.
DESCRIPTION: Akeylah pushes the Jupiter knob higher.
AKEYLAH: Is that good?
JOSEPH: Yeah. Perfect. That sounds amazing. Okay, so I think let's do the tambourine.
DESCRIPTION: Joseph raises a knob labelled Tamb.
[Tambourine, piano and drumbeat music plays]
JOSEPH: We'll bring that up. It's feeling great. And let's solo it.
DESCRIPTION: Joseph presses a button.
[Tambourine music plays]
JOSEPH: Oh, yeah, it's over there, which I like.
DESCRIPTION: Joseph presses the button again.
[Tambourine, piano and drumbeat music plays]
JOSEPH: Okay, feeling good. And then do you want to do the honours and bring up your vocals?
AKEYLAH: Sure! These two?
JOSEPH: Yeah, perfect.
DESCRIPTION: Akeylah pushes two slider knobs labelled Vocals.
AKEYLAH VOCALS: Trades, trades, trades.
JOSEPH: So good.
AKEYLAH VOCALS: Trades, trades, trades.
AKEYLAH NARRATING: And let's not forget the fun-flavoured tracks.
AKEYLAH VOCALS: Build it, Fix it, Earn while you learn.
JOSEPH: Yeah, that's feeling great.
DESCRIPTION: Joseph and Akelah nod to the beat.
AKEYLAH VOCALS: Trades, trades, trades. Trades, trades, trades.
[Title] Trading Skills.
AKEYLAH VOCALS: Trades, trades, trades.
DESCRIPTION: Back in the Skills Space, under a blanket fort, Akeylah and Brody wear headphones and sit at the work table with microphones. They nod to the beat.
AKEYLAH VOCALS: Build it, Fix it, Earn while you learn.
[Podcast intro music fades]
[Gentle upbeat music plays]
BRODY: With that banging theme song, this concludes the first episode of Trades Talk with...
AKEYLAH: Akeylah and Brody. If you like what you heard, maybe being an audio producer is in the mix for your future.
BRODY: Tune in next time when we explore another trade that could take you to the top.
AKEYLAH AND BRODY: Bye!
DESCRIPTION: Akeylah and Brody wave and take off their headphones.
BRODY: I think that was pretty good.
DESCRIPTION: Akeylah nods and turns to her laptop.
[Cheerful music plays]
[End credits] Hosts: Akeylah James, Brody Agmon. Tradesperson: Joseph Shabason. Written and directed by Maria Bui. Produced by Francis Mitchell, Johnny Mitchell, David Mitchell. Executive Producer Thomas Kritsch. Casting director Carly Granovsky. Education consultant Sara Fewson. Produced in association with t.v.o. kids. Logo: Riverbank Pictures. Copyright 2026 Riverbank Pictures.
Descriptive Transcript
[Bright music plays]
A child says, WHEE!
[Logo] “t.v.o kids original.” The animated multicoloured logo bounces onto a white background. The word "kids" has an eye in the orange letter "d" and a smile in the lime green letter "s".
[Child giggling]
[Upbeat music plays]
DESCRIPTION: Gears turn on a blueprint.
[Opening credits] T.V.O. kids presents.
DESCRIPTION: Akeylah, a girl with long black hair in tight braids, is wearing a pink plaid button-down shirt. Akeylah stands beside Brody, a boy with short, curly brown hair wearing a brown long-sleeved shirt.
BRODY AND AKEYLAH: Welcome to Trading Skills!
DESCRIPTION: Akeylah and Brody cross their arms and stand back to back.
AKEYLAH: The show where we take turns…
BRODY: …trying a skilled trade.
AKEYLAH: I'm Akeylah.
BRODY: I’m Brody.
AKEYLAH: A skilled trade is a job that requires a special skill.
DESCRIPTION: Videos show Akeylah and Brody trying different skilled trades. Brody examines a dog and controls an underwater remotely operated vehicle. Akeylah works in a recording studio and a salon and examines a car engine.
BRODY AND AKEYLAH: There are lots of skill trades.
BRODY: And you might find the perfect trade for you!
AKEYLAH: Maybe there's a trade that could change your life.
BRODY: So come with us into the trades.
BRODY AND AKEYLAH: On Trading Skills!
[Title] Trading Skills.
[Gentle upbeat music plays]
DESCRIPTION: In the Skills Space, a circular saw rests on a wooden beam. Brody stands at the work table wearing safety glasses and a mustard-coloured long-sleeved shirt. He hammers a thin piece of wood as he works on a birdhouse. Various tools hang on the back wall. An L.E.D. sign featuring a screwdriver and a wrench shines brightly among the tools. Hard hats hang above, beneath the loft.
BRODY: Yeah. There was so much snow outside today, like it was crazy.
DESCRIPTION: Akeylah sits at the far end of the table with her phone. She wears headphones and a white-and-blue plaid button-down shirt over a blue T-shirt.
PODCAST HOST ONE: So, what did the scientists observe from these primate studies?
BRODY: Did you also get that much snow?
PODCAST HOST TWO: Well, the youngest chimpanzee, Jojo, responded to the music by swaying his arms and banging…
BRODY: Can you even hear me? Hello?
DESCRIPTION: Brody glances at Akeylah, who gazes into the distance. Brody waves his hands at Akeylah.
BRODY: Hello!
DESCRIPTION: Akeylah spots Brody and takes off her headphones.
AKEYLAH: Oh, Brody! Sorry, I was just listening to a new podcast. I love hearing about all these different stories and ideas.
BRODY: Podcasts, eh? Well, I mean, Akeylah, you and I, we have stories, we have adventures, we have great ideas. What if we make our own podcast? Here.
DESCRIPTION: Brody leans against Akeylah’s shoulder and holds up his hand to an imaginary title.
BRODY: Trades Talk with Brody and Akeylah.
AKEYLAH: You mean with Akeylah and Brody. And plus, how do we even make a podcast?
BRODY: If only there was a skilled tradesperson that could help us record our podcast about the trades.
[Podcast over headphones]
PODCAST HOST TWO: And that concludes another episode. Thanks to our talented audio producer, Joseph, at Barton Building Studio for recording us.
DESCRIPTION: In a recording studio, audio producer Joseph Shabason turns away from an audio board and smiles. Joseph wears a brown baseball hat over his short dark hair, glasses, and a brown T-shirt.
BRODY: Bingo! Winner gets to go.
DESCRIPTION: Brody holds out his fist. Akeylah holds out hers.
AKEYLAH AND BRODY: Rock, paper, scissors, shoot!
[Akeylah gasping]
AKEYLAH: Rock beats scissors!
[Brody groaning]
AKEYLAH: See ya!
DESCRIPTION: Akeylah waves as she leaves.
BRODY: Seriously?
[Upbeat music plays]
[Title] Trading Skills.
[Gentle upbeat music plays]
DESCRIPTION: Akeylah walks down a city sidewalk wearing a teal T-shirt and brown pants.
AKEYLAH: I rocked and rolled on over to Barton Building Studio in Hamilton, Ontario, to track down Joseph.
DESCRIPTION: Akeylah walks into the building. In the studio, Joseph wraps up a cable.
AKEYLAH: Joseph?
DESCRIPTION: Joseph turns as Akeylah walks into the studio.
JOSEPH: Hey, Akeylah, great to meet you.
AKEYLAH: Thanks for meeting with me.
DESCRIPTION: Joseph and Akeylah fist-bump.
JOSEPH: My pleasure. Welcome to the studio.
AKEYLAH: Brody and I have decided to make a podcast, and I have a lot of questions on how to record it, which you can probably answer because you're an audio producer, right?
JOSEPH: I am. I'm a producer and an engineer, and I work with a lot of musicians, podcasters and voice actors, and it's my job to record them and make them sound as good as possible. So we will usually start with the general concept that they want, and from there, we'll choose the equipment, the microphones, to make them sound as good as possible. So then we record, and then I edit and mix all of that audio and make their project sound amazing.
AKEYLAH: Wow. Okay, that sounds like a lot.
JOSEPH: It is, but it's a lot of fun, too.
AKEYLAH: Well, let the fun begin.
JOSEPH: Sweet.
[Upbeat music plays]
[Title] Trading Skills.
[Gentle upbeat music plays]
AKEYLAH NARRATING: First up, Joseph showed me the control room.
DESCRIPTION: Akeylah walks into the studio control room and looks around.
AKEYLAH: Whoa, this room is awesome!
JOSEPH: Thanks, it also sounds awesome.
DESCRIPTION: Joseph claps his hands.
[Claps hands quietly]
DESCRIPTION: Joseph and Akelah stand in front of a large audio mixing board connected to a computer and two large speakers. Black felt wooden panels cover the walls. Audio equipment sits in open cupboards on their right, and synthesizer keyboards lie on shelving to their left.
AKEYLAH: How does a room sound awesome?
JOSEPH: So these panels are here to make the room sound acoustically perfect. So you can do things like mix a record in here and just have it sound great. We've insulated the walls and the floor so that things like fire trucks and police sirens won't come in here when we're working, and the sounds that we make in here won't get out and bug our neighbours.
AKEYLAH: Aw, that's so considerate. Can I test it out?
JOSEPH: Absolutely. Go wild.
DESCRIPTION: Akeylah grins and leaves the control room. In the hallway, she closes the door and grabs a tambourine off a piano.
[Akeylah shaking the tambourine]
[Akeylay imitating a siren]
DESCRIPTION: Akeylah swaps the tambourine for bongos.
[Akeylah playing the bongos]
[Akeylay imitating a siren]
DESCRIPTION: Akeylah sets down the bongos and returns to the studio control room.
AKEYLAH: Did you hear me?
JOSEPH: Not a peep.
[Gentle upbeat music continues[
JOSEPH: Why don't you sit right here in the hot seat, and I can show you another part of the studio.
DESCRIPTION: Akeylah takes a seat behind the large mixing board and speakers.
JOSEPH: So the way this works is that these speakers are triangulated to your ears. So this is the perfect listening position, and the sound waves are coming right like this at you.
DESCRIPTION: Joseph points from the angle of the speakers to Akeylah.
JOSEPH: But when you're listening to music loudly, it can bounce around all over the place and cause reverb. So that's one of the reasons that we also have these panels, is to eliminate that.
AKEYLAH: Reverb is kind of like an echo, right? Like when you're in a cave or singing in the bathroom?
JOSEPH: Yeah, so anything that has really hard surfaces or sharp angles can have reverb.
AKEYLAH: So these soft rugs on the floor, they also help to prevent the sound waves from bouncing around?
JOSEPH: Absolutely. So if you want to record at home –
AKEYLAH: Or in the Skills Space.
JOSEPH: Or in the Skills Space, you can use those things to help deaden the sound. So some of my friends who record podcasts professionally, they'll record in closets filled with clothes or under a blanket fort to make the sound as dead as possible.
AKEYLAH: That sounds cozy. Okay. Now I know where to record. My next question is, how do I record the audio?
JOSEPH: Let me introduce you to my friend Mic.
[Akeylah giggling]
[Upbeat music plays]
[Title] Trading Skills.
[Gentle upbeat music plays]
DESCRIPTION: In the studio, Akeylah stands behind a cylindrical metal microphone with a rounded mesh grille.
JOSEPH: Okay, so part of being an audio producer is getting super nerdy with the gear and choosing the exact right microphone for the job.
AKEYLAH: Okay, let's get nerdy. Tell me about these mics.
JOSEPH: Let's put on our headphones, and once those are on, we can get signal and adjust the levels.
DESCRIPTION: Akeylah and Joseph put on over-ear headphones. Joseph points to Akeylah’s microphone.
JOSEPH: So this is a dynamic microphone, and this microphone is really good for capturing loud and dynamic input sources, like drums and percussion. It's often used for podcasts, too.
DESCRIPTION: Akeylah leans forward and speaks directly into the microphone.
AKEYLAH: Welcome to Trades Talk. I'm your host, Akeylah.
[Akeylah’s voice scratching]
JOSEPH: Okay, but if you can see right here, your gain is going into the red.
DESCRIPTION: Joseph plays Akeylah’s podcast introduction on a small audio mixing board computer, and the gain level bounces from green to yellow to red.
JOSEPH: So what we want to do is bring that down a bit.
DESCRIPTION: Joseph adjusts a knob on the audio board.
AKEYLAH: Is gain the same thing as volume?
JOSEPH: Actually, gain is the signal that goes from your microphone into the computer, and volume is what's going from the computer into your headphones.
AKEYLAH: Ah, I just gained some good info.
[Akeylah giggling]
DESCRIPTION: Joseph smiles. Akeylah speaks a few inches away into the microphone.
AKEYLAH: Welcome to Trades Talk. I'm your host, Akeylah. The gain stays in the yellow and green.
JOSEPH: Amazing. So the best way to get a good sound from your microphone is to be about six inches in front of it. So what you want to do is sort of hang ten with your fingers right in front of it.
DESCRIPTION: Akeylah extends her thumb and pink finger and folds down her three middle fingers. She holds her hand between herself and the microphone, then speaks into the microphone.
AKEYLAH: Totally tubular, talking about the trades.
DESCRIPTION: Joseph points to a slightly larger microphone, similar to the dynamic microphone, on a stand, with the stand pointing downward.
JOSEPH: And this is a condenser microphone. It's much louder, and it's good for capturing lower-gain sources, but it's also really sparkly and beautiful, so you use that a lot for singing. Do you want to give it a try?
AKEYLAH SINGING: Trades!
JOSEPH: Perfect.
[Upbeat music]
[Title] Trading Skills.
[Gentle upbeat music plays]
AKEYLAH NARRATING: We pressed pause for a snack break and to hear about Joseph's sonic journey.
DESCRIPTION: In the studio, Joseph accepts a slice of pepper from Akeylah.
AKEYLAH: So, how did you get into audio production?
JOSEPH: I think I got into audio production just because I really wanted to make my own music, and I wanted a way of being able to capture the things that I was hearing in my head. So I went out, and I got a really cheap microphone and a really cheap sound card, and a synthesizer, and I just started recording myself. And from there, it kind of grew out into a whole career.
AKEYLAH: What do you enjoy about audio production?
JOSEPH: Being an audio producer is really cool because it can be as varied as you want it to be. So for me, I get to record podcasts and bands. I get to mix albums. I get to record horn sections. I get to record voice actors. I get to do so many different things. And it just never feels dull. Like, every day is a new challenge. Every day is like a new interesting person I get to meet, and I just love that part of it so much.
AKEYLAH: What advice would you give to someone who's interested in becoming an audio producer?
JOSEPH: The first piece of advice I would give is to just do stuff that you love. Work on stuff that you love and kind of get into it that way. And then I think it's also really important to get a good education. So you could go to a program like the one at Humber or Seneca. Once you have that sort of broader education and that firm base, I would say just go out into the world and work on projects that you love and that make you feel really excited.
AKEYLAH: That sounds like music to my ears.
[Upbeat music]
[Title] Trading Skills.
[Gentle upbeat music plays]
AKEYLAH NARRATING: There was one more element Brody and I needed to really make our podcast pop.
DESCRIPTION: Akeylah plays one of the synthesizer keyboards. At the audio mixing board, a man with short brown hair works on the computer. Akeylay turns around.
AKEYLAH: Hey, Joseph.
JOSEPH: Yeah?
AKEYLAH: Can you help me create a banging theme song for the top of every episode?
JOSEPH: It would be an honour. My friend Jeremy here can help us engineer it.
DESCRIPTION: Jeremy, the brown-haired man, turns around and waves. He has a neatly trimmed beard and wears a dark green T-shirt.
JOSEPH: Okay, what do you guys think? Should we start with an amazing drum beat?
AKEYLAH: Yes!
JOSEPH: Okay, perfect.
DESCRIPTION: Joseph takes Akeylah’s place behind the keyboards.
JOSEPH: All right, let's go. One, two, a one, two, three, four.
DESCRIPTION: Joseph presses the start button on a drum machine.
[Steady drumbeat plays]
DESCRIPTION: Joseph steps back. Akeylah nods to the beat. She walks up to the keyboard and starts to play.
[Drum and piano music plays]
JOSEPH: Nice.
DESCRIPTION: Joseph glances at Jeremy, and Jeremy gives a thumbs-up.
[Drum and piano music plays]
DESCRIPTION: Joseph shakes a tambourine.
[Drums, piano, and tambourine music plays]
AKEYLAH NARRATING: Next up, we added a few more fun-flavoured tracks.
DESCRIPTION: Joseph puts a hard hat on over his baseball hat. He crouches under the condenser microphone and points to the hat.
AKEYLAH NARRATING: I learned that music can be made with just about anything.
DESCRIPTION: Akeylah taps the drum beat onto the hard hat.
[Tapping on the hard hat]
DESCRIPTION: Later, Akeylah holds up a hammer and a wrench.
JOSEPH: Ah!
DESCRIPTION: Akeylah taps a slow beat onto the wrench with the hammer.
[Hammer and wrench clanking]
DESCRIPTION: Joseph and Akeylah hold a wooden board under the microphone. Joseph scratches the drumbeat onto the board with sandpaper.
[Wood tapping rhythmically]
AKEYLAH NARRATING: Then, finally, it was time for my vocals.
DESCRIPTION: Akeylay stands in front of the microphone wearing headphones and nodding to the beat.
AKEYLAH SINGING: Trades, trades, trades. Trades, trades, trades.
DESCRIPTION: Jeremy adjusts a setting on the computer. Joseph gives Akeylah a thumbs-up.
AKEYLAH SINGING: Build it, fix it, earn while you learn. Trades, trades, trades. Trades, trades, trades. Build it, fix it, earn while you learn!
DESCRIPTION: Akeylah takes off her headphones.
AKYELAH: Whoo! That was an absolute blast. While I catch my breath, let's amplify the history of audio production.
DESCRIPTION: In black and white, Brody wears a moustache and turns on a sound recording machine.
AKEYLAH NARRATING: The oldest known sound recording was made in 1860 with the invention of the phonautograph. It used vibrations to scratch black carbon waves on a rotating glass plate, enabling us to see sound.
DESCRIPTION: During another point in time, Brody holds up a record.
AKEYLAH NARRATING: Soon after, Thomas Edison discovered that by etching the sound waves instead onto plates of soft metals or wax, that the sound could be played back using a stylus. This has become what we now know as a record player.
DESCRIPTION: Brody places the record on a record player. In a studio, Brody walks up to an audio mixing board, wearing glasses and suspenders and taps on a microphone.
AKEYLAH NARRATING: The popularity of recorded music rose in 1925 when electrical microphones were invented. Sound can now be amplified, filtered, and balanced. This created the need for a new trade, the audio engineer.
DESCRIPTION: In a modern-day music studio, Brody wears a blue toque and a blue pullover hooded sweater.
AKEYLAH NARRATING: Audio engineers have gone from recording on wax and vinyl, then onto magnetic tape in the 1950s. Digital sound recordings became common with compact discs. Now, sound files can easily be created and heard on our many devices, making audio production more accessible to everyone.
DESCRIPTION: Brody puts on headphones and picks up a smartphone. At Barton Building Studio, Joseph and Akeylah work in the studio control room.
JOSEPH: Okay, so now we're ready to mix our track in the DAW, or Digital Audio Workspace.
DESCRIPTION: On the computer, the DAW lists individual recordings, including recordings labelled Tambo, Helmet, Sandpaper and Wrench.
AKEYLAH: So, each of these different lines are the sounds we recorded earlier for our theme song?
JOSEPH: Yeah, they're all right here. Let's push play and start bringing up some of the levels to see where things are sitting and getting everything balanced. Okay, so I think the first thing we should bring up is the... drums.
DESCRIPTION: Joseph pushes a slider knob on the large audio mixing board.
[Steady drumbeat music plays]
JOSEPH: Okay, I think after that, do you want to do the honours and bring up the keyboard? So why don't we just, over here, where it says "Jupiter," just pull it up slowly and get it nice and balanced.
AKEYLAH: Okay.
DESCRIPTION: Akeylah pushes the Jupiter knob on the mixing board.
[Piano and drumbeat music plays]
JOSEPH: Nice. Maybe a little bit louder.
AKEYLAH: Okay.
DESCRIPTION: Akeylah pushes the Jupiter knob higher.
AKEYLAH: Is that good?
JOSEPH: Yeah. Perfect. That sounds amazing. Okay, so I think let's do the tambourine.
DESCRIPTION: Joseph raises a knob labelled Tamb.
[Tambourine, piano and drumbeat music plays]
JOSEPH: We'll bring that up. It's feeling great. And let's solo it.
DESCRIPTION: Joseph presses a button.
[Tambourine music plays]
JOSEPH: Oh, yeah, it's over there, which I like.
DESCRIPTION: Joseph presses the button again.
[Tambourine, piano and drumbeat music plays]
JOSEPH: Okay, feeling good. And then do you want to do the honours and bring up your vocals?
AKEYLAH: Sure! These two?
JOSEPH: Yeah, perfect.
DESCRIPTION: Akeylah pushes two slider knobs labelled Vocals.
AKEYLAH VOCALS: Trades, trades, trades.
JOSEPH: So good.
AKEYLAH VOCALS: Trades, trades, trades.
AKEYLAH NARRATING: And let's not forget the fun-flavoured tracks.
AKEYLAH VOCALS: Build it, Fix it, Earn while you learn.
JOSEPH: Yeah, that's feeling great.
DESCRIPTION: Joseph and Akelah nod to the beat.
AKEYLAH VOCALS: Trades, trades, trades. Trades, trades, trades.
[Title] Trading Skills.
AKEYLAH VOCALS: Trades, trades, trades.
DESCRIPTION: Back in the Skills Space, under a blanket fort, Akeylah and Brody wear headphones and sit at the work table with microphones. They nod to the beat.
AKEYLAH VOCALS: Build it, Fix it, Earn while you learn.
[Podcast intro music fades]
[Gentle upbeat music plays]
BRODY: With that banging theme song, this concludes the first episode of Trades Talk with...
AKEYLAH: Akeylah and Brody. If you like what you heard, maybe being an audio producer is in the mix for your future.
BRODY: Tune in next time when we explore another trade that could take you to the top.
AKEYLAH AND BRODY: Bye!
DESCRIPTION: Akeylah and Brody wave and take off their headphones.
BRODY: I think that was pretty good.
DESCRIPTION: Akeylah nods and turns to her laptop.
[Cheerful music plays]
[End credits] Hosts: Akeylah James, Brody Agmon. Tradesperson: Joseph Shabason. Written and directed by Maria Bui. Produced by Francis Mitchell, Johnny Mitchell, David Mitchell. Executive Producer Thomas Kritsch. Casting director Carly Granovsky. Education consultant Sara Fewson. Produced in association with t.v.o. kids. Logo: Riverbank Pictures. Copyright 2026 Riverbank Pictures.
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