A two-day workshop on audio storytelling will be held May 30-31, 2026, at Duke Center for Documentary Studies in Durham, North Carolina, teaching participants how to create sound-rich audio portraits inspired by Jay Allison’s Sonic IDs format.
The workshop, titled “Audio Snapshots,” brings together audio professionals Elizabeth Friend and Marc Maximov to guide participants through the process of gathering sounds and stories from the Durham area and condensing them into short, evocative audio pieces. According to the course description, audio snapshots are “sound-rich slices of life that evoke an unmistakable sense of place and personality; a kind of postcard for your ears.”
Over the two-day session, participants will listen to examples of Sonic IDs and short audio postcards, discuss key elements of the format, and venture into the field to record raw tape for their own pieces. The workshop concludes with a group listening session where participants share their completed work. Each attendee will create at least one 1-2 minute audio piece, with the option to produce additional pieces or alternate versions as desired.
Elizabeth Friend, an award-winning freelance audio producer and writer based in Chapel Hill, specializes in stories at the intersections of history, science, and the natural world. Her work has been featured on the BBC, NPR, North Carolina Public Radio, The Assembly, and Longreads. Friend is also the co-founder of the Audio Under the Stars listening series and organizer of the NC Audio Work Group, a regional community for audio makers.
Marc Maximov is a Durham-based independent media producer who works primarily in audio, recording and editing sound for radio, podcasts, video, audiobooks, theater productions, and museum installations. He has served on the production team and selection committee of the Full Frame Documentary Film Festival since 2012.
The workshop is open to all skill levels but ideally suited for students with some familiarity with audio recording and editing. Recording equipment is available to borrow for those who do not own their own. By the end of the workshop, participants will be able to plan ahead for field recording, identify and capture evocative audio, weave together ambient sound and narrative details to create a sense of place, and produce tightly edited audio pieces within time constraints.
The course runs from 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. ET on both days and is held at Duke Center for Documentary Studies, located at 1317 W Pettigrew Street, Durham, North Carolina 27705. The course fee is $500, which includes materials. The workshop offers 12 contact hours. Registration deadline is May 29, 2026, at 3:59 p.m. For more information, contact the Duke Center for Documentary Studies at (919) 660-3663 or cdscourses@duke.edu.
