Looking to expand your musical horizons? Want to learn something new on your morning commute? I’m pleased to present this list of 5 podcasts that, as a practicing musician, I’ve really enjoyed over this last year and, believe me, I’ve listened to loads.
Let’s not waste any more time and dive right in!
Offstage with Shubh Saran
Offstage sets out to explore Indian culture in music: what does it mean to be Indian today? What makes music “Indian”? What links a style of music to a place?
Guitarist and composer Shubh Saran explores the life of musicians on and off stage, digging into how artist see and express themselves through their music. In his own words, Shubh is “ethnically Indian but, culturaly, a little bit lost”.
This podcast is in it’s infancy, 2 episodes out at time of writing, but I can tell it’s going to grow into an excellent resource for musicians looking to explore teh diverse traditional music styles of India as well as the wider subject of musicology.
Listen to the most recent episode below or click here to visit Spotify. You can also follow Shubh on Instagram.
Inside the Music Industry
A podcast from Brighton Institute of Modern Music, pulling back the curtain on today’s music business. Acclaimed best-selling author Dr Jennifer Otter Bickerdike interviews bands, musicians and music influencers, tackling the biggest questions facing the music industry today.
Some interviews of note include YouTuber & producer Andrew Haung; Lucy & Sam of math-poppers Orchards; contemporary hip-hop legend Sage Francis and DJ & AV artist DJ Yoda.
Click here to visit ItMI on Spotify.
Twenty Thousand Hertz
Dallas Taylor (no relation) explores the stories behind the world’s most recognizable and interesting sounds. Through interviews with experts and industry professionals, Taylor digs deep into sounds you’ve heard, some you may have misheard or totally ignored – sounds you didn’t know you could go dig deep into.
Some stand-out episodes include Baby Shark; Foley Artists; The Loudness Wars; The [COMPRESSED] History of Mastering; and Sonic Illusions. As you can see, they have episodes that will interest people in any area of the music industry as well as episodes specifically geared towards producers.
Visit Twenty Thousand Hertz on Spotify by clicking here.
Art of the Score
Hosted by a group of professional musicians and composers, Art of the Score explores, demistifies and celebrates some of the greatest soundtracks of all time. Not limited to films, they also explore TV and video game scores. Andrew Pogson, Dan Golding and Nicholas Buc dive deep into the main themes of each soundtrack, examining instrumentation, harmony and more.
An incredibly informative podcast for musicians, especially those who enjoy soundtracks and cinematice music. It also includes insights into music history, development of the orchestra and how to set specific moods through music.
Click here to visit the podcast on Spotify or here to visit their Twitter.
Song Exploder
Hosted by Hrishikesh Hirway, Song Exploder is an interview podcast where musicians are invited to take apart their songs, piece-by-piece, and tell the stories of how they were made. This is a fantastic resource if you’re a songwriter, producer or instrumentalist, wherever you are in your career. Song Exploder is one of my go-to podcasts for learning the intricacies of popular music.
Some standout episode for me are Cheap Trick – Surrender; Raleigh Ritchie – Time in a Tree; and Fleetwood Mac – Go Your Own Way. This is one of the oldest podcasts on the list so there’s plenty of episodes available now, dating all the way back to 2014!
Visit Song Exploder on Spotify by clicking here.
I promised to write about 5 podcasts but here’s a little bonus for you. In the near future I’ll be uploading to the LTGuitarist podcast again with a series of stories about music, creativity and the most challenging aspect of any musician’s life: music promotion. Please click here to visit the LTGuitarist podcast on Spotify.
Finally, if you like the sound of these podcasts but you want more then this is the Spotify playlist for you – expand your horizons with these podcasts for musicians.
LTGuitarist 