Alan Goffinski
Alan is available for
HI, I’M ALAN. I MAKE RADIO AND PODCASTS.PRODUCER, SOUND DESIGNER, MIXING, SONGWRITING
- Engineering
- Music
- Producing
- Reporting
About Alan
Hello! I’m Alan. I am a producer and music director for Terrestrials, a program of WNYC’s award winning Radiolab. I’ve served as technical director for podcast and radio projects at New York Public Radio and have made audio for BBC, Radiolab, University of Virginia, WNYC Studios, WQXR, WTJU, WQRT, Yo-Yo Ma, the Indianapolis Museum of Art, and The Brown Arts Institute. I’m honored to have projects win 2 Black Podcasting Awards, have been nominated for a Webby award and been included in Pushkin’s Best Audio Story Telling 2022.
After spending my early career touring the US in a punk/indie band (Victory Records) I studied social work and began a career in childhood development. Before long, creative pursuits got the best of me. I cofounded Know No Stranger, a friendly performing arts collective in Indianapolis that has been described as “Sesame Street but for adults… but also for kids.” In addition to writing scripts and building larger-than-life puppets, I’ve created countless musical compositions and soundscapes for stage and video, including a musical space odyssey commissioned by the Indianapolis Museum of Art. I moved to Charlottesville Virginia to take a role as executive director of an expansive community arts nonprofit facilitating after-school programs, public art, a community gallery and The Charlottesville Mural Project. I'm also "Director of Fun" for the Charlottesville chapter of CreativeMornings, the worlds largest face-to-face creative community. All the while, I’ve been freelancing sound design and music composition. In 2022 I teamed up with Radiolab host Lulu Miller to help launch Radiolab Presents: Terrestrials.
I love contributing my skills and experience to great productions with inspiring people. I like to stay busy! Keep me busy!
Alan's Portfolio
Producer and Director of Music
From WNYC Studios, New York Public Radio Terrestrials is a show for people of all ages that explores the strangeness that exists right here on Earth. In each episode, host Lulu Miller (co-host of Radiolab) will introduce you to a creature or earthly phenomenon that will defy your expectations of how nature is supposed to work. Along the way, you'll encounter a chorus of experts, including scientists, surfers, hip hop artists and…a "Songbud" named Alan (indie punk musician Alan Goffinski) who creates original songs for key moments of confusion, discovery or awe. New episodes drop Thursdays. Listen in with your whole family. Or all alone.
Technical Director and Sound Design
From WQXR, New York Public Radio
A show that spotlights the vibrant stories and perspectives that reflect the whole of the American musical experience.
Two-time Black Podcasting Award winning series for Best Art Podcast and Best Music Podcast. Our debut season examines the representation of Blackness in opera. There are many different kinds of classical music, depending on where you are in the world. While this music typically preserves the traditions of a given society, classical music in America remains wedded to its Western European roots. On this show, we want to know why — and what America’s classical music really sounds like. Through interviews, historical investigation, and personal storytelling, Terrance McKnight unearths the hidden voices that have been shaping our musical traditions all along.
Technical Director
Podcast and Radio from WNYC Studios and The Brown Arts Institute
Artist, performer, and host Helga Davis brings a soulful curiosity and love of people to the podcast Helga, where she talks about the intimate lives of creative people as they share the steps they’ve taken along their path. She draws listeners into these discussions with cultural change-makers, whether already famous or rising talents, whose sensibilities expand our imaginations as we explore what we think we know about each other.
Producer, Writer, Original Music Compositions
For Short Cuts Podcast and Radio from BBC Look through a student photographer's lens to discover a surprising streak of streaking in the 1970s that lead Walter Cronkite to declare Knoxville Tennessee the Streaking Capital of the World.
Josie Long presents short documentaries and audio adventures about the joys that lurk beneath the surface of things.
Songwriter and Music Production
The Chaos of Life, song parody performed and produced for the finale of this chaotic 2022 episode. Vocal performance by Alida Goffinski
Creator, Editor, Producer, Sound Design
Telemetry is an unconventional music series, showcasing bold new musical compositions, new instrumentation, and unique collaborations across space and genre. Each transmission is recorded live at The Bridge Progressive Arts Initiative in Charlottesville VA, in partnership with UVA Arts, The UVA Music Department, and WTJU 91.1 FM
Included in Pushkin's Best Audio Storytelling 2022
Producer and Music Director for Terrestrials ep: The Unimaginable
A new collection of thirteen of the year’s best nonfiction audio stories from podcasters, radio journalists, authors, independent creators, and more with foreword by bestselling author, David Sedaris.
Producer, Composer, Sound Design and Mix
For Short Cuts Podcast and Radio from BBC
In this piece, Sarita Bhatt and Alan Goffinski explore a common theme among those who immigrate to new places—the yearning to return to the lands and people left behind... to go back to where one begins. In doing so, they set out to experiment with a novel production technique; creating the first ever completely symmetrical audio documentary—a sonic journey that ends where it begins. When the tape is played in reverse, every word, note, and noise sounds exactly the same, down to the millisecond.
Reporting
Weekend Edition, NPR News
Luray Caverns in Virginia have been a natural landmark now for 50 years. They also hold the world's largest musical instrument, The Great Stalacpipe Organ.
Producer and Director of Music
From WNYC Studios, New York Public Radio Terrestrials is a show for people of all ages that explores the strangeness that exists right here on Earth. In each episode, host Lulu Miller (co-host of Radiolab) will introduce you to a creature or earthly phenomenon that will defy your expectations of how nature is supposed to work. Along the way, you'll encounter a chorus of experts, including scientists, surfers, hip hop artists and…a "Songbud" named Alan (indie punk musician Alan Goffinski) who creates original songs for key moments of confusion, discovery or awe. New episodes drop Thursdays. Listen in with your whole family. Or all alone.
Technical Director and Sound Design
From WQXR, New York Public Radio
A show that spotlights the vibrant stories and perspectives that reflect the whole of the American musical experience.
Two-time Black Podcasting Award winning series for Best Art Podcast and Best Music Podcast. Our debut season examines the representation of Blackness in opera. There are many different kinds of classical music, depending on where you are in the world. While this music typically preserves the traditions of a given society, classical music in America remains wedded to its Western European roots. On this show, we want to know why — and what America’s classical music really sounds like. Through interviews, historical investigation, and personal storytelling, Terrance McKnight unearths the hidden voices that have been shaping our musical traditions all along.
Technical Director
Podcast and Radio from WNYC Studios and The Brown Arts Institute
Artist, performer, and host Helga Davis brings a soulful curiosity and love of people to the podcast Helga, where she talks about the intimate lives of creative people as they share the steps they’ve taken along their path. She draws listeners into these discussions with cultural change-makers, whether already famous or rising talents, whose sensibilities expand our imaginations as we explore what we think we know about each other.
Producer, Composer, Sound Design and Mix
For Short Cuts Podcast and Radio from BBC
In this piece titled Drawn Onward, Sarita Bhatt and Alan Goffinski explore a common theme among those who immigrate to new places—the yearning to return to the lands and people left behind... to go back to where one begins. In doing so, they set out to experiment with a novel production technique; creating the first ever completely symmetrical audio documentary—a sonic journey that ends where it begins. When the tape is played in reverse, every word, note, and noise sounds exactly the same, down to the millisecond.
Experience
Skills
- Sound Design
- Scrubbing and Audio Editing
- Scoring
- Reporting
- Producing
- Interviewing
- Composition
- Audio Engineering