Recording impulse responses in a parking garage. Seattle, Washington, 2021.
Here Be Monsters is a podcast about fear and the unknown that I started in 2012. Initially funded by a SoundCloud Community Fellowship, HBM received its millionth download in 2014.
After a five-year distribution contract with KCRW (thank you, Bethany Denton and Nick White), I continue making this unusual, independent podcast.
In 2019, Martin Zaltz Austwick and I started Neutrinowatch—a procedurally-generated podcast. The podcast's fiction is loosely based on an Antarctican research station, which we use as a conceit to showcase a very non-conventional audio production technique.
We write a bespoke computer program for each episode. These programs run daily and output a new version of each episode. Episodes are instructed to update based on the position of the planets, to change based on the day's news headlines, or to grow imaginary plants in an imaginary garden.
What's in the Neutrinowatch podcast feed today will not be there tomorrow. We call this approach "Procedural Podcasting".
I work with podcast production companies, individuals, and organizations who want their stories to sound rich and engaging.
I teach at universities, lecture at festivals, train companies, tutor privately, and contribute to free learning resources available online. Students describe my teaching approach as challenging and supportive.
Reaper for Radio — A free video tutorial series teaching beginning to advanced topics related to editing podcasts and radio programs in the audio editing software Reaper. I also maintain Reaper Tips for Podcasters, a free doc with lots of advice related to the Reaper DAW.
Hypothetical Inspiration — A twitterbot I wrote in 2019 that spouts out inspirational nonsense. Occasionally profound. Subject of this episode of Here Be Monsters
Dream Tapes Project — A project I coordinate where people mail tape recorders around the world and record their dreams. Subject of this episode of Here Be Monsters. Currently on hiatus.
How I learned to Love Rejection — Photo and audio essay from 2 months in 2011 that I spent hitchhiking across the USA.
The Black Spot — Music I make, mostly for podcasts (mostly my own podcasts).
Recording a peacock's call at Pfaueninsel (Peacock Island) near Potsdam, Germany
My name is Jeff Emtman. I'm an artist working with belief and fear. I fear the unknown, have troubles with my left eye, and am often more of a homebody than I wish I was.
My best-known project is called Here Be Monsters. It's a podcast about things that are impossible to know for certain. I started the show in 2012 with help from a grant from SoundCloud. In 2015, KCRW started distributing the podcast, which is when Bethany Denton joined the show in a much larger capacity.
Bethany and I know each other from college. We both went to a Fairhaven College at Western Washington University in Bellingham, Washington. Fairhaven's the kind of school that lets you create your own major and makes you put a colon in the title of that major, whether you want the colon or not.
My major was called Social Portraiture: Photography and Audio through the Sociological Lens. The audio part of my major largely took place at KUGS, where they hire students for management roles of the station. I stopped pursuing photography professionally after the emergence of the aforementioned eye issue. I did a two-year stint as the KUGS News and Public Affairs Director, where I managed a small news team and first learned a lot of the skills I use today.
I grew up in a house out in the countryside of Eastern Washington State, where it's more dry and hilly than you might think. The town's called Pullman, Washington, and they have an annual festival for lentils with a big pot of lentil chili that they park outside the library and hand it out for free.
My work comes largely from my dreams, but also basements, fake plants and fluorescent tube lights. I have this thing that happens whenever I'm tired where my mind just starts playing memories that get louder and louder until I either stand up or take a nap. I suspect that my mind is quite tuned to spatial things. Plastic wood also interests me, as does linoleum, wallpaper, and venetian blinds.
Hopefully you know me a bit better now. Tell me who you are when we speak next, or contact me now.
Fluent English. Intermediate German (B level).
I have a deep knowledge of editing, audio restoration, and sound design. The programs I feel most at home in are Reaper, Izotope RX, and Ableton Live. Currently learning Max/MSP
Most of my studies in college were related to visual art, namely photography and video. In making Here Be Monsters, I have picked up skills with vector graphics, 3D animation, and desktop publishing.
Making Neutrinowatch means I'm constantly learning new things about coding (mostly with Python) and data processing. I also like to tinker with CSS and HTML (I wrote this website). Hoping to learn more about SQL and statistics soon.
Field Recording. Pullman, Washington. 2021
Want to talk? Email me: jeff@jeffemtman.com
I used to post on Twitter. Now, I post as @jeffemtman on Bluesky.