In the Booth: Chris Anderson, Jacob Haller, & Joshua Van Ness
In the Booth is a new blog series where we go behind the scenes and chat with the folks that make How it Ends. We asked our team a series of questions and let them choose which resonated most, so expect to see some variance in these features. Join us as the creators, cast, and crew members share their experience working on the show. Get ready to meet our talented team and maybe even hear a few secrets behind its gripping conclusion!
Please note that some answers may contain spoilers for How it Ends Season 3, so read at your own risk.
We're back In the Booth, this time featuring some of our crew! Chris Anderson and Jacob Haller are our studio’s Sound Designers/Audio Engineers. When we began work on How it Ends, we took some classes to learn about the recording and editing process and well... The phrase "know thyself" comes to mind. Our strengths lie in storytelling and writing, so we sought out folks who know their way around a recording studio. We firmly believe a podcast, audio fiction or otherwise, is only as good as its editor. How it Ends is/was a learning experience for us all and we're happy to have learned so much as a team.
Also featured is Joshua Van Ness who, in addition to his role of How it Ends Studio's Music Director, voices Nolan and his daughter, Ciara, has appeared as young Micah. Joshua is the composer of How it Ends' theme, "Thunderstorms," along with additional tracks that appeared in our first season, including Song for Kit - Micah’s Lullaby. All our Patreon subscribers receive this song when they sign up, as it is part of a pivotal moment in Season 1. Additionally, he's been hard at work on a full-length How it Ends soundtrack and score that we hope to release later this year or in early 2024.
How did you hear about How it Ends and what made you want to join the team?
Chris: Micah and I were coworkers at AS220, and had known each other for several years. In early 2018, after taking my ‘Intro to Audio Engineering’ workshop at AS220 Industries, Micah and Stephanie asked me to meet about a top secret project. I was so impressed at their goals and attention to everything about it. I was looking to work on an audio project at the time and I knew right away this was it.
Jacob: In 2017, I taught some 'Intro to Podcasting' classes at a local maker space, AS220, and Stephanie and Micah were two of the people who took the class. (Several members of the cast also took some iteration of the class, which is a fun coincidence!) I remember Stephanie and Micah being very focused and organized, with a notebook full of outlines of what they wanted to do with How It Ends; hearing them talk about it, I thought, "This is more organized than I have ever been about any of my podcasts, and more organized than I am ever likely to be!" At the end of the class, I asked everyone to let me know if and when they launched their podcast, which is how I heard about the podcast's launch. Listening to it, I became an immediate fan. It really felt like the kind of podcast that those characters would make. When Micah and Stephanie started planning season 3, they wrote to see if I'd be interested in splitting recording and editing duties with their existing editor, Chris. I jumped at the chance! In addition to having the opportunity to work on a podcast I loved, I'd never worked on an audio drama before. It's been every bit of the fun and educational experience I anticipated.
Joshua: Micah and I grew up together in Somerville, and we've been making music and performing together since high school. So when Micah introduced me to Stephanie and pitched this project, I signed up, no question. While I'm a lifelong musician, scoring an audio drama is brand new to me. Not only am I venturing into something new, but I get the opportunity to experiment and record a lot of fun, moody music to accent this complex story we're telling.
Chris Anderson, Sound Designer/Audio Engineer
Jacob Haller, Sound Designer/Audio Engineer
Joshua Van Ness, Music Director & voice of Nolan Jones
Tell us about your podcast(ing) experiences.
Jacob: I have worked on podcasts before, but none were audio dramas. The closest I've come to something like this was little recordings I would put together for a D&D campaign I used to run. It's a different kind of editing -- wrangling foley, figuring out how to convey subtle action through audio (with lots of help and feedback from Stephanie and Micah) etc. But also, in universe, the podcast is being edited by Devon, not me, and it's something I think about a lot. I don't know if it has any practical effect in the choices I make, but I try to keep it in mind.
Chris: This is my first audio drama! I mostly work on music or video projects but was looking for something new to try out and How it Ends became it. I've never recorded or edited scripted material with a cast. The more episodes and cast members grew, the more I learned to get better at the workflow and more efficient at my editing.
How it Ends is scripted fiction so a lot of focus is on the story and the cast, but as an Audio Engineer you get to see it performed. How is it different from being a listener and what aspect of your role is most fun?
Jacob: Being in the room when everything's being recorded is a lot of fun. I get to see the performances get shaped in real time. Even when a scene is recorded in one take, there are always at least a few lines that the actors take a second run at, and it's interesting seeing what direction Micah and Stephanie give, and how the actors shape a performance or a line to get exactly the desired effect. Most importantly, all of that means I'm the first non-cast member to hear what's happening next! And as a bonus, every once in a while I get to do a little creative foley work, which is very satisfying when it works out!
Chris: I get to work with genuinely good and amazing people. The talent, ambition, and attention given to the project is a bonus because it makes the work that much more enjoyable.
Follow up for you, Jacob. You joined the editing team ahead of How it Ends’ third season. Is there anything you found challenging about the process? If so, what was it? How did you overcome the challenge?
It probably took me three or four episodes to organize and edit the episodes in a way that worked for me. I'm sure I'll never stop making tweaks to the system, but breaking things down scene by scene, and (for instance) organizing the foley sounds in the order I'll need them before I start editing, has made everything run much more smoothly.
Do you have a favorite episode? If it’s one you’ve worked on, can you give us a little insight on what made it memorable?
Jacob: I’ve got one! The D&D mini episode, From the Time Away, Part 3 - She'll Have Room to Grow, was super fun! In recording it, the vibe was so natural and reminiscent of many a D&D session I've played in that I kept having to remind myself not to laugh along with everyone else, since that would spoil the take. Listening to it again later, and figuring out how many dice rolls I needed to add, and things like that, was fun too. So, that is probably my favorite.
I also want to mention the first episode I ever worked on: Season 3, Episode 5, Hell's Kitchen. As befits an episode with that title, this episode was kind of hell to work on! It was the first time I'd worked on the podcast and I didn't entirely know what I was doing, and it had some extremely complicated sound effects. Plus I was trying out new software that I wasn't very familiar with. I made a number of mistakes while working on it that meant I had to do a lot of things over and over and over again. When I did the final edit and Stephanie and Micah gave it their sign-off, and it was later released, I got to see what a strong effect that episode had on people in the How it Ends Community Discord. I knew all that work had paid off.
A note from Micah & Stephanie: In retrospect, we really did throw Jacob into the fire with that episode. Oops! ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ It came from a deep trust in his work. It only took him three drafts to get to a final cut of such a foley-heavy episode. He’s awesome, and we think it’s clear we love his work.
We asked everyone if they had any favorite memories from working on the show. What’s yours?
Joshua: I got to record some bonus material with my daughter, Ciara, who appears as young Micah. We had a great time coming up with dialogue and a lot of it was improvised. We even used a real, old school tape recorder.
(Is this sounding a little unfamiliar? Because it is. You'll just have to wait ‘til summer to see where this comes into play.)
Jacob: I mentioned this earlier, but trying not to laugh during the D&D mini-episode really stands out. As a veteran of a few D&D groups, that scene was very relatable.
Chris: A funny memory that comes to mind was during our first recording block of Season 3. There was this mystery sound in the studio and we could not figure out what it was. Was this someone nervously snapping their fingers under the table? Who is clicking a pen? It was driving everyone nuts, like, WHAT IS THAT?! It turned out to be Alozie’s (voice of Devon) seltzer sitting right next to one of the mics. A carbonated beverage was the culprit all along.
Okay, on to some character stuff. Do you have a favorite character or is there a character that stands out in your mind?
Jacob: It's hard to choose. Luke is a returning character this time around and the way he develops throughout the season, especially in the last few episodes, really makes him shine.
Chris: The Doorman. Season 3, E10: Stories from Before Pt. 1
(For anyone wondering... Chris was often our go to for quick one-liners in the background of scenes. Not only has he voiced Aimee's doorman, but he's been a bartender for John and a server at What Cheer? Tavern during Elia and Aimee's somewhat delayed meet-cute.)
Joshua, this question is a little different for you because you work behind the scenes and voice a character. Is there anything you found challenging when taking on the role?
This is the first acting I've ever done, but I’ve loved the challenge of becoming a character. It's interesting playing Nolan who, while very important to the story, has been dead for many years. Everything you do and say, and the way in which you do and say it, has to be appropriate to that era. In Nolan's case, he's a young father in the early 1990s. I always try to make sure that I get into that headspace.
While Micah is the central voice of How it Ends, we’ve always thought of Nolan Jones as the main character. What do you make of him?
Is there anything about Nolan’s story that you relate to or like about him as a character?
I think what I have most in common with Nolan is a heavy dad vibe. I love being a father. Like Nolan, I have a need to maintain my individuality and passions, and, also like him, our daughters are the most important aspects of our lives.
What I can say is that I love all the questions and mystery that surround Nolan’s life!
Finally, How it Ends has a reputation for having naturalistic dialogue. Does anything come to mind when thinking about certain scenes or performances?
Joshua: It's not so much a line or dialogue as it is written words that appear in the show, so I'll say this: As a listener, I loved the scene where Micah receives an ominous warning in her apartment. I won't go into detail just in case you haven't gotten to that part yet!
Chris: Season 1, Episode 4: The Avery. Luke is telling Micah about something that happened to him and he says, “Yo Tim!” Brian really nailed that line.
Jacob: The dialogue in Episode 17 really moved me while we were recording it. I can't talk about it too much for spoiler reasons, but I will say that there is a scene which is just about one character being really nice and thoughtful to the others in a way that just got me right in the feels.