She is one of the most prestigious voices in the audio world. Some of his creations exceed millions of downloads worldwide and do so with exquisite content. Kaitlin Prest is an artist - she will pronounce this word many times during the interview - dedicated to the world of audio. His podcasts The Heart and The Shadows, conducted in collaboration with CBC Podcast (Division podcasts of Canadian public radio) address sexuality, intimacy and love a stylish but extremely addictive way. Prest sculpts each piece of audio as if trying to extract from them a unique elixir. And it certainly does. He just started his own podcast companywith other artist friends like Mooj Zadie, Sharon Mashihi, Mo Laborde, Phoebe Unter, Nicole Kelly, Dylan Gauche and Jen Ng. They are dedicated to making audioficions and sound documentaries, among many other things. We maintain this interview, how could it be otherwise, through the audio and in the midst of a pandemic. Prest's voice has more nuances and recesses than the best of the images.
What is Mermaid Palace?
It is more of a theater company or a dance company rather than an audio production company. We make art through the podcast, but also on the radio, on live stages or in art spaces. We are a company formed by artists who are in the media, that is, we all have a kind of diverse artistic practice, but what unites us is the audio. In fact, all the work we do happens inside the headphones, but we also want to do shows to podcasts live performance audio, sound walks and much more.
The Heart (Radiotopía) is one of the most important narrative podcasts in the world. It is the inspiration for many creators. When does the need arise to count the emotions in your ear?
I think I've always been an artist. When I was a child I had an innate sense that I dreamed of: hearing. This is very strange indeed, but when I was four years old I fantasized that my life was a storybook read by strange giants and I think hearing stories like these from different people made me want to create through audio. I have often wondered if it was my destiny, but I am also aware of how elitist the word artist is and how elitist the art world is, so I am ashamed to name myself like that but, at the same time, there has always been this kind of immortal force within me. I wanted to metabolize my experience of the world and express it in myself through beauty and the desire to create beauty. And the other thing that has always interested me is the sense of justice, equality, the questioning of power. So my drive and attraction stem from these obsessions. Radio was the answer to the question of whether I should be a person dedicated to social justice or should be an artist. I realized that public radio had it all. 10 years ago, when I started my career, everyone was very critical of anything that smelled of activism on the radio because radio, of course, had to be neutral, but the spirit of public radio is political. It is about offering something to the public. That is to say, it does not have a lucrative purpose, it does not want to entertain, it is not capitalist. It serves to educate. So when I started on public radio I realized that the industry also had a lot of room to grow in terms of its ingenuity. And for me it is a privilege. It is something to be thankful for, that is, have a purpose and know what is wonderful.
He released Asking for it in February alongside CBC, a contemporary and queer drama that talks about love, music, violence and abuse. What are we going to find in this new podcast ?
I have a political belief right now about fictional documentary: I think every time you take all perspectives on what happened and try to tell a story about it, that's just fiction. I think all documentaries are fiction because their stories are not the most accurate way to represent the truth of what happened. It is a single point of view most of the time. Even when you tell a story from multiple points of view, you're still not really grasping the nature of what actually happened. I don't think we have an art medium that can do that yet. The truth is relational and is constantly changing. So how do you think you can capture that with a story? So now I call all fiction. Asking for it deals with intimate partner violence but instead of interviewing real people and putting them in a vulnerable position like that, we did a lot of research and fictionalized it. We did it alongside Drew Denny, director and writer of this show , an amazing artist who has an exquisite sense of sound and uses her great skills to tell this incredible and immersive story. Asking for it tells the story of a young woman, Goldie, who wants to be a singer and meets a musician who becomes her best friend and they put together a band that becomes very popular and successful. She falls in love but the relationship is really toxic and sexual at the same time. She is abusive, but with the kind of abuse that can seem subtle, as if her partner is manipulative and controlling and hyper jealous. It's a great story, really, and it has a simply amazing original soundtrack by Hips , the real band by Christina Gaillard and Drew Denny and they act as characters on the show . This work is really very special. I highly recommend it.
Why do you think sound works are absent in the art world?
Well visual media is much more eye-catching and big business. Also, to become a master of sound you have to listen and people don't want to listen, they want to be distracted . So that could be a reason. You have to pay close attention when you are working with sound and we live in a very superficial and fast-paced world.
It is true and in the podcast world things are going very fast. Exorbitant figures in investment are predicted, but how sustainable do you think the audio business is right now? Are you worried that the money or fame of certain celebrities will reach the podcasting industry to pervert a format that you consider so artistic?
I don't know, it's a difficult question for me because I am a businesswoman and also an artist. I have a popular podcast that allows me to do more. I can make money from that and then take that money and do more experimental things. Well, I'm not worried about these people, really. It seems that everyone is concerned about this, right? Will podcasting success ruin everything and become gross and dirty? The truth is that I do not know. I mean, no matter what industry you're in, it's hard to be an artist because as an artist what you're trying to do is convince people to pay you to do something that ultimately won't be profitable. You know you can't promise it will be profitable. Also, as soon as it is promised to be profitable, the goal is already to be profitable, rather than the goal being to do something that you feel the need to do. I don't know, I think of David Lynch doing the new Twin Peaks episodes . Did he know that television is evil? Of course, but somehow he discovered how to reach an agreement that would allow him to do what he does, that some episodes are pieces of video art. That was a great triumph but I think that achievements like this will be difficult in the podcast world . I personally am happier in the audio industry now because there is more money and room for experimentation. 10 or 12 years ago, when I started, there was so much shortage in terms of good jobs that it was impossible to get the green light to tackle projects. I just think that if we really want the industry to succeed, that means there will be more trash. That is sure. If you watch television, there is so much junk television ... But there will also be more art, there will also be more opportunities to experiment and artists will be attracted to this medium. I think it is not a utopia and the podcast boom will also redistribute power and change what was previously impossible for the media. So I am excited for the moment we live, yes.
In this sense, the arrival of technology companies in the audio world, can it favor the business, the podcast industry ?
I think the arrival of tech companies could be great if they are legitimately interested in doing an excellent job. Sometimes I feel that certain author podcasts are almost branded content, as if people were trying to break into the podcast boom at all costs. And that is heartless. Sure, these big money companies may choose to invest in podcasts but they need to know that they may not get that money back. I think most of the people who come to this ' Podcast Gold Rush' don't have that artistic intention. In the end, part of the job of being an artist is figuring out how to pay for your life while making art.
The sound design of his works is a great differential element. Where did you learn to design sound?
Oh, thanks for asking me about sound design. It is very rare because whenever someone writes an article about me they think of Kaitlin as the sex girl ... ( laughs ). And I don't know if I really like that. My work has evolved so much and just yesterday I was wondering: "How come no one asks me about audio crafts?" So thank you because that is my true obsession. I can say that I fell in love with someone who worked in audio and became friends with people who were radio people or musicians and it was not premeditated. I was so obsessed with it that I just wanted to talk about the radio and couldn't make friends or date someone who didn't have the same passion because I couldn't talk about anything other than sound. I was not interested in anything else. It is strange to fall in love with someone's trade and I hardly knew people who really understood the science of sound. But I started living with two people who made music and used the same technical tools to sculpt the sound as a person on the radio. I always thought that the tools that musicians use are my own tools to tell an audio story. From 21 to 33 years old I had a series of great loves with which I collaborated and learned and then my two best friends with whom we could spend time talking about a reverb and the different ways to use it. I don't know, it's as if everything I've learned about sound design has been possible through friendship and love. I never went to school. I did not read any books. I didn't do anything formal. I didn't even have a radio job. Actually, I think of radio as a three-dimensional story that has a background, a close-up, and a middle ground. It looks like a stage you're playing on, but I almost think it's more like cinema than theater or acting. live . Finally, I think that my career as an “audio artisan” has greatly influenced my role as an interpreter.
Finally, in this quarantine, I don't know if you have listened to many podcasts , if you have seen a decrease in listeners. Do you think this new world that awaits us will continue to be favorable for the podcast ?
I think we have a real audio opportunity to talk to people in these times of crisis and find out how things have changed for them. I would like to do a job that addresses the issues that are connecting us all, whether it is living indoors with people or being in complete isolation. I believe in audio as an art form and look, even if the numbers go down or the money goes down, that final podcast goal is not going to change for me. As if I had to live in my parents' basement for the rest of my life to keep doing it. I've thought about it a lot these days: I have the privilege of having parents who have a house and can pay their mortgage and have enough money to buy food. And I'm lucky that we like each other enough to live harmoniously here in the basement with them. That's what I thought when the pandemic started and I came here with my parents. In this crisis I had an epiphany that I liked: if you take away all the money and everything famous that is in the top 10 of Apple Podcasts, audio is still something that touches people's hearts and in Mermaid Palace, be it for For an audience of 10 people or for an audience of 100 million people, we feel that if we can light or brighten someone's day with our show , well that's all that matters.