I’m Levi Sharp, Lifehacker Podcast Producer, and This Is How I Work
Every week, we share shortcuts, workspaces, and productivity tips from our favorite experts. This week we take a look behind the scenes at Lifehacker. I’m Levi Sharp and this is how I work.
Name: Levi Sharp Location: New York Current concert: Podcast maker, Gizmodo Media Current mobile device: iPhone 7 Current computer: MacBook Pro (Retina, 15-inch, Mid 2014) One word that best describes how you work : Excellent
First of all, tell us a little about your past and how you got where you are now.
I received my BS in Philosophy and Environmental Studies from the University of California, Santa Cruz. After that, I moved to New York because of a girl, with no career goals in mind. I spent all my money moving and buying a pair of boots and pea coats because I moved during a blizzard in 2010 with a few canvas wagons and a thin corduroy jacket. It was then that I realized that New York does not want people to live in it, but for some reason we do it and buy things to make it more comfortable.
The first job I got was a reception at the elite hairdressing hotel Chelsea Hotel. They paid well and they said I could work if I promised them at least a year. It turned out the only thing I had the right to do when I graduated from my undergraduate degree was to poke fun at parties and answer phone calls. So, I did this job for a year because I am a man of my word, and then I broke up.
My next job was to negotiate the lease of some apartment buildings in the Financial District. Basically, it’s about being a nanny for real estate brokers and helping them rent out apartments to their legitimate clients. It was heartbreaking. But! It was a job that I could leave at work and the girl for whom I moved to New York and I broke up, so I had a lot of free time. It was then that I learned that I have a talent for sculpting. You can see my work at levisharpe.tumblr.com , but keep in mind that these are really weird things and definitely NSFW.
Then the thought came to my mind that I wanted to do PR and marketing, so I worked part-time as a bartender and barista while doing public relations in several places at the same time. One of them was an online dating startup called HowAboutWe . They were then bought by IAC (the same people who own Match.com) and fired a bunch of people.
All this time I listened to podcasts. It seemed that this is one of the constant components of a very noisy and winding road. Once I was listening to an episode of This American Life about a child who ran away from home to find Pierce Anthony , his favorite author, and thought to myself, “Why am I not doing this?” By “this” I meant podcasting, not looking for Pierce Anthony, although he is also one of my favorite authors ( Spell For Chameleon FTW).
I took a chance and applied to the CUNY Graduate School of Journalism, where I spent 18 grueling months earning my Master of Science in Journalism with an emphasis on audio storytelling. I then spent about a year at Marketplace, mainly creating content for Marketplace Tech, but I also did a bit of work with Marketplace Weekend (RIP) and their Codebreaker (RIP) and Actuality (RIP) podcasts.
After Marketplace, I freelanced for a bit at WNYC and a few other places, and then got my wonderful position at the Gizmodo Media Group where I helped our audio executive launch the division. Some of the shows I’ve presented are Jezebel’s DirtCast and Big Time Dicks , and of course The Upgrade by Lifehacker.
All of this means that if you don’t like where you are or what you are doing, do not be afraid to leave the ship and try something else. Trying on lots of different hats isn’t bad luck, it’s just fashion.
Tell us about a recent work day.
My alarm goes off at 7:15. I quickly turn it off and sleep for another 45 minutes. Then I look at my phone, read the Times, flip through Instagram and send silly memes to my friends. Then I get out of bed, take a shower, listening to current old school punk rock (pretty much a bunch of stuff from Epitaph and Fat Wreck Chords), download a podcast, and run out the door. I walk 20 minutes to the subway, bump into a train with a bunch of other people, get annoyed and try to distract myself with new podcasts and online chess.
I walk four flights to the office and throw my things under the table. I make a sweet, sweet Flavia coffee that tastes like mud, comes out hot like lava, and then quickly turns icy.
I go through my emails, mostly about guest reservations, then start editing the feed for any podcast episode coming out soon. If there is another recording that day, I will most likely only be editing the tape before this recording. While I’m editing, I try not to be distracted by other work. I don’t watch email and can watch Slack. I edit the tape very quickly – I do that a lot and even give private Pro Tools lessons – but once you get into the stream, it becomes a real bummer to come off. To give you an idea of how much tape I cut when I first got to Gizmodo Media, I produced three weekly shows. Each episode will have 100-200 minutes on tape, I would cut that down to 60-40 minutes. Sometimes during the day.
Also, cutting the tape is not only a technical task, it is a creative task. I get the same pleasure when filming an episode together, as I sculpt something out of clay. In both cases, you take the raw material and turn it into what you want. But in order to cut the tape, you need not only good technical skills, but also good editorial judgment, the ability to cut out trash, kill your loved ones and make people sound much better and clearer than when they were recorded (but always remember that not to change the meaning of what they say! Everyone should take a course in journalistic ethics). You want to grab the attention of your listeners and you don’t want to give them a reason to stop listening or distract them with something that sounds bad.
If there is a recording that day, I will greet any guest, offer him some dirty coffee and water, and take him to the studio where I will tell them good mic etiquette. Then, with everyone set up, I hit the Record button and Melissa and Alice do their magic by polling the guest using the questions they or I have prepared.
After the appointment is made, I usually go back to checking my email, booking guests, and other administrative tasks. Sometimes there are editorial meetings, sometimes I run out and shove a microphone in strangers’ faces and ask them questions that we turn into montage, sometimes I scour our music library to find rough diamonds that don’t look like trash, and sometimes I even be a co-host or interview someone.
What apps, gadgets or tools can’t you live without?
- Audio Hijack that allows me to rip audio from any application in real time.
- Chrome ad blocker, because when you try to rip audio from YouTube, it is difficult for you to watch every ad in every video.
- Photoshop: I like to edit fools together to make people laugh. Premiere: everything is like in Photoshop.
- Skype or Google Hangouts: These are required to conduct remote interviews with people who don’t want to connect to us through a radio station near them.
- My banjo because it is a healing activity and a good way to switch from a working mind to a home mind. Making a good cocktail also helps.
How is your workplace arranged?
I have a large Mac display that I plug into my MacBook Pro on a standing table that I never stand on (I got it because everyone did and felt left out). I also have a ton of cacti.
What’s your best shortcut or life hack?
The Pro Tools guys know what I’m talking about:
R, t, b, x, space and enter. Yes, also, option + shift + enter, grouping breaths, and turning reads into fixations for fancy fades.
Tell us about an interesting, unusual, or challenging process you have at work.
I bite my nails and move my leg a lot.
Who are the people who help you achieve results, and how do you rely on them?
Melissa and Alice are the people I work with the most. They are talented, smart and hardworking people. Unsurprisingly, they ended up where they are today. They take over most of the editorial hard work on The Upgrade . They also had a vision of what they wanted this podcast to be, and they cared a lot about whatever project they get involved with.
I will also send my girlfriend Caitlin Royal here. She is a hard worker producing fashion photography, but still finds time to make amazing jewelry, which she sells on Etsy: Garnish by Royal . On top of that, she still finds time to listen to Every. Lonely. Thing. I am producing. From silly funny doodles to episode after episode, which not too long ago consisted of three podcast episodes a week, plus any freelance stuff I could do. She loves podcasts more than I do, and also gives better editorial feedback than many of the real editors I’ve met in my life.
How do you keep track of what you need to do?
I use a mixture of spreadsheets, Google Docs, notes, calendars, and Trello.
How to recharge or relax?
Take a walk with a work friend, play online chess, play Pokemon Go, check out Instagram.
What’s your favorite side project?
Along the way, I’m editing, sound design and mixing the script for a fictional sci-fi podcast called Roommate From Hell (it’s like a cartoon to your ears), which was written in part by Nick Douglas of Lifehacker. The premise is that our protagonist approaches with a literal demon from hell, they become friends and antics follow.
What are you reading now or what do you recommend?
I just bought Robin Dangelo’s White Fragility . I also enjoy reading comics and graphic novels such as Sex Criminals , Spider-Gwen , Sandman and Ultimate Spider-Man .
The last really good book that had a big impact on me was Julian Barnes ‘ Sense of Ending , so I would recommend it.
Who else would you like to see to answer these questions?
You already have Mission for the Zyxx People , so um … How about a band like STRFKR who have been together for a long time and still release real bandits?
What’s the best advice you’ve ever received?
It will be really stupid, but:
What if a demon crept up to you one night, in your loneliest loneliness, and said, “This life you are living must be lived by you once more and countless times; and every pain, joy, thought and sigh must come to you again, all in the same sequence. The eternal hourglass will revolve over and over again, and you with it, dust dust! “Would you rush, gnash your teeth and curse this demon? Or would you say, ‘I have never heard anything more divine’?
—Friedrich Nietzsche, Gay Science
What problem are you still trying to solve?
How to get rid of belly fat while maintaining your junk-based diet and doing a minimum of exercise.