Pots ‘n Pans… and a lot of hard work

Matt Dower recently finished up at NOVA Entertainment after 9 and a half years; the last five of them as group production director.

He’s left to concentrate on his own projects, including podcasts with Tony Martin. Their podcasting relationship began with Childproof and has continued with Sizzletown.

The first was like an old-fashioned radio play. Recorded in front of a live audience over three nights at the Melbourne Fringe Festival.

According to Dower, Sizzletown is a very different project and it’s meant taking a unique approach to the recording process.

“We’d had success previously on the radio show ‘Get This’ with Tony recording character parts for some sketches at home into a portable recorder. This allowed him to riff ideas and voices at his own time and pace.

“To ensure we had everything sounding studio spec with his home records, we enlisted the help of Melbourne cabinet maker Tyrin Topia, who designed and built a demountable booth for Tony’s house.”

With just the two of them working on the podcast, Matt says preparation and planning is key to ensuring they make the most of the studio time.

“We both tend to be well prepared heading into editing sessions. We focus on finely honing audio rather than getting buried in laborious edits or searches for audio elements.

“To work with someone who cares so much about giving the project all the time it needs, immersing and work his ass off to land the perfect take is the dream. To be the guy that adds all the bells and whistles and finesses the final product is a real honour.”

As for the future, Dower says the time was right to move on from NOVA Entertainment and is looking forward to what the future might hold, particularly in podcasting.

“I love the long form podcasting format. Ideas and conversations have all the space they need to find a natural rhythm and flow.

“As far as my favourite podcasts at the moment, the Team Effort boys are always brilliant! One of my favourite podcasts for some time now is Song Exploder where musicians pull apart their songs and discuss the recording process. It’s brilliantly crafted, the artist audio access is outstanding.”

All episodes of Sizzletown are available here.