Welcome

**Hello! I’m currently available for work – composition, writing, hosting, production, sound design, training – or other. Drop me a line.**

My name is Martin Zaltz Austwick. I’m a musician, podcaster, performer, Honorary Associate Professor at CASA (UCL); I’ve written, produced, composed and performed for award-winning podcasts including Answer Me This!, The Allusionist, ZigZag, 99% Invisible (live), Song by Song and 20,000Hz. I write music as Pale Bird.

You can contact me on twitter @martinaustwick, or email me.

What I’ve been up to lately – or have a look at my podchaser profile for more info:

  • Won a Bronze Audio Production Award for Best Sound Design Producer and was nominated in the Best Factual Producer category [November 2021]
  • Composed music for the Shedunnit limited series, Queens Of Crime At War [Oct-Nov 2021]
  • Guested on the Under The Radar podcast, talking to Celine Teo-Blockey about music and the UK [October 2021].
  • Producer/composer on Rigged, a new series by Amy Westervelt / Critical Frequency about the history of PR [October-December 2021].
  • With Sarah Myles, programmed the 2021 Podcast Maker Weekend, featuring 12 sessions on audio making from introductions to podcasting through pitch sessions and sessions on directing audio drama, comedy, and telling personal stories. I ran a session on music and sound design. I set up the Podcast Maker Weekend in 2017 to run as part of the London Podcast Festival and provide affordable sessions delivered by the best talent in the UK audio industry, and international talent. [September 2021]
  • Wrote the music and performed with the Allusionist live at the London Podcast Festival [September 2021].
  • Answer Me This won a Gold British Podcast Award in a special British Podcast Awards category to mark the end of 14 years of one of the UK’s most successful independent podcasts [July 2021].
  • Taught on a half-day Introduction to Podcasting course for the AHRC, the UK’s Arts and Humanities Research Council [March 2021]
  • Delivered a Music in Podcasting class for Simon Fraser University (Vancouver, CA) [March 2021]
  • Wrote the theme song for Charles Adrian and Lisa Findlay’s Romcom Rewrite podcast [March 2021]
  • Maddie’s Sound Explorers [Aug – Nov 2020] – a science podcast for 7-10 year olds, featuring a song built from the sounds of science and nature every episode. I developed the 15-episode series with host Maddie Moate and exec. producer Matt Hill. I booked and interviewed guests, scripted episodes with Maddie, and edited, produced, mixed and mastered the show, writing and a recording a new piece of music for each episode, based around the sounds and ideas we discover along the way.
  • Wrote scores for episodes of The Tranquillusionist, episodes of the show designed to be particularly soothing and calming [Mar-Aug 2020]

Quick links to:

I’m a podcaster – previously one third of Answer Me This!, one of the UK’s most successful independent podcasts (Sony/Aria Silver, 2010 and a Sony/Aria Gold 2011). I also co-created Song by Song (British Podcast Gold Award: Review, 2017), Neutrinowatch, Brain Train, Global Lab, and The Year of The Bird podcasts, helped to create Maddie’s Sound Explorers (nominated for Arias Best New Show 2021 and won British Podcast Awards for Best Family Show, and Smartest Show 2021, and was nominated for Best New Show), and I’ve written for 20,000Hz.

I’ve written and performed music for the above podcasts, and for Zig Zag, The Allusionist, The Beef and Dairy Network, Mortified, the Glamour UK podcast, and many, many others. I’ve written music and performed live with The Allusionist, Radio Diaries, 99% Invisible, The Bugle, Radiotopia Live, and the 3rd Coast International Audio Festival awards ceremony.

I’ve spoken at Audiocraft, Hearsay, Vancouver Podcast Festival, Boring Conference, Geek Showoff, SciBar, Pint of Science and TEDx LSE, in additional to a range of academic conferences from the AAG to SPIE – about everything from Music for Podcasting, to Eggs, to Cycling, to GPS Data, to Medical Laser Physics.

I founded the Podcast Maker Weekend (as part of the London Podcast Festival) in 2017 to create high-quality, affordable sessions for UK podcasters, and currently act as a co-director with Sarah Myles from Rise and Shine. In 2020 I organised a series of livestreams with international audio makers under the auspices of the Maker events.

In my academic life, I was a Senior Lecturer at CASA, at UCL’s Bartlett Faculty (2011-2017). I have a Physics degree and a PhD in Quantum Computing.  My recent research covered data visualisation, urban systems, and digital humanities. I have created modules and taught data visualisation, coding, podcasting, and physics, and was Course Director on their Spatial Data Science and Visualisation masters (2013-2017). I was active in public engagement through talks, videos, visualisations, events and podcasts. I won a UCL award for Public Engagement in 2016 and an ESPRC-funded Public Engagement Fellowship in 2015.

Podcasting

Here’s a Spotify Playlist of stuff I’ve worked and appeared on – including hosting/guest appearances, and music later in the playlist:

Recent production work:

  • Producer/composer on Rigged, a new series by Amy Westervelt / Critical Frequency about the history of PR [Oct-Dec 2021].
  • Answer Me This won a Gold British Podcast Award in a special British Podcast Awards category to mark the end of 14 years of one of the UK’s most successful independent podcasts [July 2021].
  • Research and production on two episodes of The Allusionist – The Cake is Mightier Than The Sword (research and engineering for Buenos Aires protest pastries) and Podlingual (editing and production) [Feb-March 2021]. Researched the most common words appearing in Christmas songs for A Festive Hit [Dec 2020].
  • Maddie’s Sound Explorers – a science podcast for 7-10 year olds, featuring a song built from the sounds of science and nature every episode. I developed the 15-episode series with host Maddie Moate based on an original idea by exec producer Matt Hill. I booked and interviewed guests, scripted episodes with Maddie, and edited, produced, mixed and mastered the show, writing and a recording a new piece of music based around the sounds and ideas in each episode [Aug-Nov 2020].
  • Judge and mentor on the 2019 Pulse Awards – a £50,000 fund led by the Wellcome Trust and the British Podcast Awards. Eleven podcasts were funded, and I supported two makers – Dave Pickering for Down to A Sunless Sea: Memories of My Dad – a series combining memoir, biography, and interviews with scientists and activists to address issues around ageing, dementia, assisted dying, and health; and Sarah Golding’s “Anyone F’Coffee”, a mixed fiction/nonfiction narrative podcast exploring women’s health [October 2019-May 2020].

Awards:

  • Audio Production Awards
    • 2021: Best Sound Design Producer (Bronze), Best Factual Producer (Nominated)
  • British Podcast Awards
    • 2021: Maddie’s Sound Explorers – Best Family Show (Gold), Smartest (Bronze), Best New Show (nominated); Answer Me This! – Gold Award.
    • 2017: Song by Song – Best Arts Show (Gold)
  • British Radio Academy Awards (Arias)
    • 2021: Maddie’s Sound Explorers – Best New Show (Nominated)
    • 2011: Answer Me This! – Best Internet Show (Gold)
    • 2010: Answer Me This! – Best Internet Show (Silver)
    • 2009: Answer Me This! – Best Internet Show (Nominated)

I’m a podcast maker from end to end – I create shows, research, interview, host, record, edit, mix, master, and score (see Podcast Music below). I have particular experience in creating, hosting, producing/mastering, interviewing, writing, and creating music for podcasts.

For example, I make music for The Allusionist, and have also provided editorial input for a number of episodes and touring shows:

  • Research and production: The Cake is Mightier Than The Sword, Podlingual, A Festive Hit, Second Home, and more.
  • Tailored Scores: Harsh Realm, Eclipse, Continental, Transquilluisionist series.
  • Live show: Additional writing, music, and performance on Allusionist Touring Show [2018] and No Title [2019]
  • In 2018, I re-edited over 100 episodes to be suitable for ad injection, and remastered them for LUFS standardisation. I worked with their technical team to create an automated solution for gapless mp3s to reduce the intrusiveness of injected ads – a solution which the show currently uses.

I produce and co-host Song by Song (2015-, co-founded with Sam Pay), which discusses every Tom Waits song in chronological order. Our guests have included Jon Ronson, Phoebe Judge, Jon Hodgman, Jeffrey Cranor, Simon Stephens and David Shrubsole.

Calliope, Blood Money, Tom Waits [313] – Song by Song

I was music director, live engineer, and comedy sidekick/science nerd on question-answering podcast Answer me This!:

Just so you know, it has rude words and racy content.

I’ve also guested on shows including The 90 Minutes or Less Film Festival (with Colin Trevorrow), The Wire Stripped, Scientists Not the Science, Twenty Thousand Hertz, Flixwatcher, Getting Better Acquainted, Bright Club, The Bugle [briefly], and Jordan, Jesse Go! [VERY briefly].

Podcast Music

I have been composing and recording music and song for podcasts since 2007, here is a sample:

You can listen to some samples of my podcast music organised into Themes, Bed Tracks, Full Songs and Live Scores – or it’s all together in the above soundcloud playlist. Or visit my podchaser profile.

Most recently:

  • Producer/composer on Rigged, a new series by Amy Westervelt / Critical Frequency about the history of PR [Oct-Dec 2021].
  • Composed music for the Shedunnit limited series, Queens Of Crime At War [Oct-Nov 2021]
  • Wrote the music and performed with the Allusionist live at the London Podcast Festival [September 2021].
  • Wrote the music for all 15 Episodes of Maddie’s Sound Explorers [season 1], a science podcast for young people. Each episode features a piece of music made from the sounds of science, engineering and nature we’ve discovered during the episode, and weaves in ideas that Maddie and our experts provided during the episode [August-November 2020].
  • Contributed music to the 20,000Hz episodes about Audio Deepfakes (September 2020) and John Cage’s 4’33” [January 2020], where the music was used in the subsequent mainstage TED talk – both of which I wrote and produced on.
  • Audiocraft Podcast Festival – created a mashup of (mostly Australian) podcast themes for their opening night event [July 2020].
  • I write theme music for the Zoom podcast (March 2019-June 2020 and onwards) – a movie podcast which focuses on a different genre each episode, so the theme song is different each time: spaghetti western, 50s scifi, zombie movie, classical, funk, Motown, Hot Club jazz…
  • Wrote scores for episodes of The Tranquillusionist, episodes of the show designed to be particularly soothing and calming (March 2020)
  • Created an original soundtrack for The Holiday Season, a podcast about the Nancy Meyers film The Holiday, inspired by Hans Zimmer’s score (December 2019).
  • Wrote the song “Apple Tree” for the end of The Family Tree – a magic realist drama.
  • In June 2017 I composed and recorded the score for The Allusionist’s Eclipse, inspired by Bonnie Tyler’s Total Eclipse of the Heart:
  • and in May 2016 created the score for Continental using items in a Moab Bed and Breakfast:

You can hear instrumental versions of my music on recent episodes of The Allusionist – as well as the theme tune I created.

Live Podcast Music and Performance

  • The Allusionist Live (US, Canada, UK, Australia and New Zealand, 2017-2019) ; composer, musician, performer, tour manager and writer on show.
  • Radio Diaries – Dropped Wrench with Joe Richman (Hearsay Audio Festival, 2019; NYC and Washington DC, 2019); composer and musician.
  • The Bugle (US, 2018); arranger and musician.
  • Radiotopia Live (US, 2018); musician in house band.
  • Third Coast International Audio Awards (Chicago, USA, 2017); composer, MD and musician.
  • 99% Allusional (with 99% Invisible and The Allusionist, USA, 2017); composer and musician.

Songwriting and recording

I write songs and sing them on recordings and in public (if only there were a hypenate for that!). You can find it all here: http://palebirdmusic.com, below is a sample:

In December 2020, I released this video for a song called Many Moons

from an EP called Unwavering Sentinels of Dreaming:

In July 2020, I released I Told You How Important You Would Be, a mini album created in (remote) collaboration with San Fransiscan songwriter Lily Sloane:

In January 2020, I released Apple Tree, written for The Family Tree podcast, based on the Hurrian Hymn to Nikkal, written in 3400BC in northern Syria.

In 2019 I released 40 songs written in 2018 while I travelled around the world. It’s called Year of The Bird:

Ten Things Which Aren’t Love was released in late 2017:

I sometimes make videos of my music, like this one for “10,000 Letters of Love”:

This is the album it was taken from, 2012’s The City of Gold and Lead:

This is my 2011 collection of songs about science:

I also produce other people’s music sometimes –  including Spirit of Play’s 2017 Apocalypse EP:

as well as their previous EP, Take Shelter: https://spiritofplay.bandcamp.com/

Training, talks, and videos

Podcast teaching and training

  • With Sarah Myles, programmed the 2021 Podcast Maker Weekend, featuring 12 sessions on audio making – from introductions to podcasting through pitch sessions and sessions on directing audio drama, comedy, and telling personal stories. I ran a session on Music and Sound Design – my first at the festival! I set up the Podcast Maker Weekend in 2017 to run as part of the London Podcast Festival and provide affordable sessions delivered by the best talent in UK audio, and international producers, hosts and critics. [September 2021]
  • Taught on a half-day Introduction to Podcasting course for the AHRC, the UK’s Arts and Humanities Research Council [March 2021]
  • Delivered a Music in Podcasting class for Simon Fraser University (Vancouver, CA) [March 2021]
  • Curated a series of weekly Podcast Maker Livestreams (April-July 2020) to give international podcasters (in the UK, Italy, France, Australia, USA, and Canada) a platform for sharing ideas.
  • Music and Podcasting at the Vancouver Podcast Festival (November 2019)
  • Taught two workshops on Podcasting for BIMM London’s Music Journalism BA (March 2019).
  • Down With Marimba at Hearsay audio festival, Kilfinane, Ireland, April 2019
  • Under the Hood with the Allusionist, Audiocraft 2019, Sydney, Australia
  • 10 Years of Podbiz with Helen Zaltzman and Martin Zaltz Austwick, PRX Podcast Garage, Boston, USA, 2017
  • Podcasting for scientists, lecture class, University College London (2015-2017).

University Teaching

I have a Postgraduate Certificate in Teaching and Learning in Higher and Professional Education from the University of London’s Institute of Education, and worked as Senior Lecturer in Spatial Data Science and Visualisation in the Bartlett Centre for Advanced Spatial Analysis at UCL (June 2011 – September 2017) teaching and designing and running modules and a masters degrees I have teaching experience going back to running Physics tutorials during my doctorate (2002), and have been regularly teaching lecture courses to undergraduates and graduates since 2008.

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Previous research interests

Here are some useful links for finding out more about my research:

Hannah Fry and I voiced (and I scored) this video about CASA’s work in 2016:

Here I am in 2015 talking about data visualisation (with thanks to Kevin Biderman, full details in the vimeo page):

And here I am talking about cities and data for a UCL lunch hour lecture in December 2012:

Here is a talk I did on eggs at the Boring Conference in May 2014. I’m not an egg physicist, I just like egg cookery:

Prior to working in this field, I have been a medical laser physicist and worked in the field of Quantum Computing. I think interdisciplinary work is inevitable whenever we start to to think about interesting problems that we might want to work on:

(that’s me at TEDx LSE in March 2013).

If you’d like to hear about some of my medical physics work, here’s a brief summary from 2009:

Data Visualisation

I’ve taught and trained on Data Visualisation since 2011, including

  • Principles of data visualisation and design
  • Processing
  • Python (pandas)
  • Carto

delivering to UCL Masters and Undergraduate students and ARUP and UK Central Government (Civil Service).

Examples of my work

RadioNet

RadioNet is a collaboration with Nina Garthwaite of In The Dark, a curated listening event. RadioNet visualises a network of recommendation and creation, centred around audio producers – it’s a work in progress (at time of writing in November 2018), and we are hoping it can be used in education, navigation and discovery. Check it out here and give us your feedback!

Screenshot 2018-10-26 15.24.59.png

Screenshot 2018-10-26 15.24.50

Painting With Light

Since 2015, I’ve developed site-specific visualisation and walks using the Pixelstick:

Madrid Bike Share

Visualising Data Collected by the Madrid Cycle Track project (this one from February 2018):

 

 

Visualisation of Dijkstra’s Algorithm

 

You can find more examples of my work on my vimeo page.

Press

Press for Neutrinowatch

“[Neutrinowatch] want[s] listeners to do more than just idly listen. Whether you want to is up to you.”– The week in audio: Have You Heard George’s Podcast?; Neutrinowatch — Miranda Sawyer, 17th July 2021, The Observer

“A new experimental project that’s now trying to push the boundaries of what’s possible… when the podcast is essentially making itself through infinite variations, there’s no limits on what you can do.”- Caroline Crampton, Vulture

“An incredible, dream-like experience… If you’re looking to push your listening to the next dimension, download and listen to Neutrinowatch, and then download and listen to it again.” – Lauren Passell for the Bello Collective  

“I cannot express how much I think this needs to be on your daily playlist…what it means to be living, breathing sound.” – Mourners, Landlords, and Experiment, Elena Fernández Collins, Audio Dramatic, July 2021

Neutrinowatch has also been written about in Internazionale, The Guardian, Podcast Movement, Podcast, The Newsletter, Headstuff, and The Podcast Host, and we’ve done interviews for Podcast Radio Hour, The Podcast Studies Podcast, and RTE Lyric FM.

Press for Song by Song

“Song by Song is “unashamedly pitched” at Tom Waits superfans. Musicians Martin Zaltz Austwick and Sam Pay analyse every song in Waits’s vast discography, with help from “less-obsessed guests” – The Week’s Podcasts of the Week, 2021-05-28

Maddie’s Sound Explorers
“…the questions are mostly rooted in everyday life, which helps with little kids, though there is ambition here too – I enjoyed the aural recreation of the big bang. Nice use of music and interviews, as well as the sounds of the title, make this a gorgeous listen.” – Miranda Sawyer on Podcasts and Radio, The Observer (London), 2021-04-03

The Allusionist Christmas Song

“…Zaltzman drafted in songwriter and podcaster Jenny Owen Youngs, who has written for Panic! at the Disco and Pitbull (quite a range there), and together they came up with a new, more appropriately 2020, Christmas song. “You have to find a balance between the relatable idea and finding something that’s uniquely you,” said Owen Youngs. Zaltzman offered “the Christmas meat sweats”, which really did make me laugh. Her husband, Martin Austwick, also joined in, and the resulting show – and festive song – was lovely to hear. I even felt quite merry afterwards. Who would have thought? Fa la la la laaaaa to one and all.” – Miranda Sawyer on Podcasts and Radio, The Observer (London), Sunday December 27th 2020

Coverage for The Tranquillusionist include the Financial Times, Observer, Niemann Lab and Another Man Mag, who said “…host Helen Zaltzman reads all of her listener’s favourite words, beautifully and simply scored by Martin Austwick. You might feel a little silly when you first start, but mid-way through the episode takes on a remarkably melodic, meditative quality. It’s surprisingly restorative.”

Other Press:

“Ms. Zomorodi got serious about explaining blockchain in the second episode of “ZigZag,” and she did it with the help of a “Schoolhouse Rock”-style jingle sung by the musician and podcaster Martin Zaltz Austwick.

…Between the host’s quick descriptions of the technology’s three basic principles, Mr. Austwick strummed a guitar and sang:

“Bitcoin is blockchain’s baby
Transactions, trading, taking care of business on the blockchain
All my friends are computers and we’re working together on the blockchain”

While the ditty made the digital ledger sound almost cute, Civil, with its reliance on cryptocurrency, is not without risks…” – “They Left Public Radio to Try Their Fortunes on The Blockchain”, New York Times, 2018-09-16


“…Austwick makes music under a number of banners—Pale Bird, Martin Austwick, Dr Martin Austwick, and The Sound of the Ladies—his output suggesting that he’s as fascinated with lo-fi folk and low-key postrock as he is with ambient noise and glitched-out electronica. But it’s arguably his podcasting—bringing him to the West Coast for the second Vancouver Podcast Festival—that he’s best known for…


Over the past decade or so, Austwick has had a hand in creating and/or hosting podcasts focused on everything from technology (Global Lab) to education (Brain Train) to horizon-expanding comedy (Answer Me This!). His Vancouver Podcast Fest appearance will see him teamed up with Helen Zaltzman for an episode of the series The Allusionist, which explores language and the way that humans use it….” – “Polymath podcaster Martin Zaltz Austwick thrives on DIY ethic at Vancouver Podcast Festival”, Mike Usinger, The Georgia Straight, 2019-11-06

“Coinciding with the second weekend of the event, the Podcast Makers’ Festival is a series of panels and workshops for would-be podcasters. They include guides to writing audio fiction, creating soundscapes for imaginary worlds, monetizing a new podcast and getting your voice heard.

…It’s hard to spend a few days surrounded by podcasters and fans without feeling the weight of all that work. But it’s also inspirational. It reminds me of the many things I’ve started to write and abandoned. If all these people can find the energy and courage to create something and send it out into the world, maybe I can too.” – “Embrace it: There are too many podcasts out there, and that’s good for everyone”, CNET review of Podcast Maker Weekend 2019, Sarah McDermott, 2019-09-20

“What I really wanted to write about is something you can’t listen to on your podcast player. But I need to give some immense buckets of love to the best podcast live show I saw in 2019, The Allusionist’s “No Title.” In a world where a live show usually means “doing the podcast exactly how we do it in the studio, but with an audience,” The Allusionist made a true piece of stage-craft in the tradition of what you usually here in your podcatcher. It’s smart, funny, and extremely Helen-Zaltzmanian, with an extra shoutout to Martin Austwick for the accompaniment and dry commentary that makes the show really feel live. Follow The Allusionist on Twitter to catch the end of this amazing tour, but if there isn’t a live show near you, you can still subscribe to the podcast.” – Review of The Allusionist 2019 Live Touring Show, “No Title”, Bello Collective 100 Outstanding Podcasts of 2019, 2019-12-03

Bios

This is embarassing. But if you want a bio for an event I’m speaking at, singing at, dancing at or otherwise frequenting, there’s some useful text here, and some lovely photos below:

Music/Podcasting Short Bio

Martin Zaltz Austwick is an audiomaker, musician, producer, and performer. He co-created Neutrinowatch in 2021, and was part of the Aria-winning Answer Me This and British Podcast Award-winning Maddie’s Sound Explorers and Song by Song teams, as well as winning an Audio Production award for sound design in 2021. He’s worked with prestigious podcasts including 99% Invisible, 20,000Hz, Radio Diaries, The Allusionist, and Zig Zag. He’s the founder and lead curator of the Podcast Maker Weekend as part of the London Podcast Festival, and has delivered podcast talks at Hearsay, Radio Techcon, the Vancouver Podcast Festival, Audiocraft and for BIMM and HEFCW. He has released ten albums as Pale Bird.

Photos:

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