Tape syncs, or “double-enders,” are audio productions where an audio engineer records one side of a remote interview using broadcast quality recording equipment while the interview subject speaks (usually over the phone) with an interviewer.
The resulting recording is synchronized with the recording of the host back at the studio, to produce a high-quality two-way conversation without the need for both people to be in the same studio location.
SBN is available to produce tape syncs for podcasters, radio stations, and radio networks. For remote audio recording, we have accounts with major online voice-and-video-over-Internet services, including Riverside.fm, Iris.fm, ipDTL.com, squadcast.fm, zencastr.com, and cleanfeed.net. Each of these services provides superior audio quality vs. Zoom, Skype, or Microsoft Teams, which people often use for podcasting.
When location recording is permitted and safely possible, we use Zoom H4n Pro or Tascam DR-44WL digital audio recorders, MXL BCD-1 Broadcast Dynamic Microphones on desktop anchored studio booms and a Zoom R-24 DAW recording deck capable of recording eight separate audio tracks simultaneously. We also have available Sennheiser shotgun microphones and Poulsen ENG mics, with a Røde PG2-R Pistol Grip and dual Rycote Lyre shockmounts, and a Neewer NW-088 Microphone Boom Arm.
We are available for remote tape syncs anywhere in the world connecting through our studio. During non-pandemic times, we can produce on-site tape syncs in New Jersey, eastern Pennsylvania, and Delaware. To book our services for a tape sync, please email steve@statebroadcastnews.com or call +1 (856) 751-5491.
Tape syncs produced
32 Thoughts Podcast (June 21, 2023)
Chuck Fletcher joins the podcast! Jeff and Elliotte chat with the former General Manager about the upcoming NHL Draft as he’ll be joining Sportsnet for all the coverage in Nashville (43:00). They also get into Chuck’s time in Philadelphia and what went wrong during his five seasons (1:13:45).
We recorded the interview with Chuck Fletcher, the former general manager and president of the Philadelphia Flyers of the National Hockey League (NHL).
The Fighty Pucks (Series Debut May 5, 2023)
The Fighty Pucks is the story of the Danbury Trashers, the most violent hockey team on the planet. A team of lovable bad boys, misfits and bruisers, led by a teenage boy – AJ Galante. Together with his father, a powerful business man with a dark past, AJ ran the team as they went rampaging on a path to glory. But all the while, the team was being secretly watched by their toughest opponent of all – the FBI.
We recorded the interview with Danbury Trashers player Dave MacIsaacs that appears in this series, at his home in Glassboro, NJ.
Masters of Scale with Reid Hoffman
PODCAST EPISODE 127 (February 28, 2023): Dare to make unexpected moves
Accenture Song’s David Droga
What drove the meteoric rise of David Droga’s trailblazing agency Droga5? A series of daring, unexpected leaps — tactics he’s now applying at mega-scale as head of Accenture Song. Conventional wisdom tells you to ‘climb the ladder’ of success linearly — as an individual or a company. But David’s unexpected moves — leaning into creative partnerships and controversial programs — accelerated his path to scale. David tells us: “I’m more scared of repetition than I am of failure.”
(We produced the interview with Terry Brennan, summer camp director and coach at the Philadelphia School of Circus Arts, included in this episode.)
The Assignment with Audie Cornish
The Long Arc of Long Covid (01/12/2023)
Millions of people are now disabled because of a long Covid, leading to what some are calling a “mass disabling event.” In this episode, Audie speaks with Dr. Monica Verduzco-Gutierrez, who has been diagnosing and treating patients with long Covid, to unpack this new terminology. Audie also hears from Imani Barbarin, a disability advocate, and Alexis Misko, who is struggling with long Covid, about what it means to be disabled in the United States and discusses whether long Covid could change the way we think about disability.
(SBN recorded the interview with Imani Barbarin in this episode.)
Audible Original – American Football (12/2022)
American Football is the untold tale of the rough-and-tumble origins of the National Football League. Produced and presented by Michael Strahan and narrated by actress and pro football enthusiast Kate Mara, this podcast reaches back into the past to explain the dirty, bloody, and tumultuous beginnings of America’s most popular sport.
We produced the audio interviews with NFL Films’ chief archivist Chris Willis that appear throughout this podcast series.
Center for Investigative Reporting
The Suspect Detective (12/17/2022)
Philadelphia Inquirer reporters Samantha Melamed and Chris Palmer report on the case of Detective Philip Nordo, convicted in December 2022 of sexual abuse of suspects he interrogated. (SBN recorded some of the interviews with Melamed and Palmer and with Marissa Bluestine of the University of Pennsylvania Law School.)
Morningstar Big Picture in Practice Podcast, S1 E11
Rise of the Machines: Disruptive Technology and Advice
In the season 1 finale of Big Picture in Practice, Julie Willoughby and Syl Flood interview Sandy Kaul about how disruptive technology like digital assets and AI will impact the future of the investment and wealth management industry. Sandy is the senior vice president of Franklin Templeton. We recorded the interview with Sandy Kaul at her home office in New Hope, PA.
How God Works Podcast
Is Burning Man a Party or a Pilgrimage? (10/22/2022)
Every year, thousands of people head to Nevada’s Black Rock Desert for a week at Burning Man. And while from the outside, it might seem like a place for partying, drugs, and debauchery, to many, it offers something deeper, even life changing.
We’ll ask neuroscientist Molly Crockett and Episcopal minister Alex Leach, both burners themselves: Is Burning Man a new type of spiritual gathering? How and why does it deeply move people? And should more traditional faiths aim to have a bit more Burning Man in them? After all, Jesus went to the desert to find himself. Maybe we should too.
We recorded the interview with Dr. Molly Crockett for this episode.
Last Day Podcast, Lemonada Media
What Can We Do to Stop the Shootings?
Inaction in the face of gun violence is deadly. So what can we do? This week, we meet the gun violence prevention activists who believe real change is within reach and that we can sell it to the majority of Americans – even if it means playing hardball with the politicians and corporations in power.
(We recorded the interview in this episode with Dr. Joseph Capella, Gerald R. Miller Professor Emeritus of Communication, Annenberg School for Communication at the University of Pennsylvania.)
Freakonomics M.D. Radio
Should We Have to Pay for Our Sins? (April 21, 2022)
Taxes on alcohol and tobacco promise to make people healthier and raise public funds. But can they backfire? Bapu Jena looks at the complicated economics of sin taxes. (We recorded the interview with Prof. Christina Roberto of the University of Pennsylvania in this episode.)
“Navy Cooking at 110%”
Feeding squadrons of pilots and hungry officers trained Ray Boutwell for a life in food service.
Ep 9: Feb 10, 2020
Wait, but how did the food get made in World War 2?
In this episode of Service, Navy veteran Ray Boutwell shares how he cooked at a training camp in New Jersey toward the latter part of the war: what equipment they had in the kitchen, what dishes they made regularly, and the difference between ingredients the government supplied and those officers of means could get the cooks to purchase on their own. With government experiments coming into the kitchen, we learn a little about innovation of military cuisine, too!
Ray worked in food service throughout his life, and opened a bakery at ninety-three. This episode is extra fun for cooks and bakers, who might hear themselves in this veteran’s story.
Listen for free: iHeartRadio | Apple Podcasts | Stitcher | Spotify
Steve Lubetkin was the on-site engineer with Ray for this episode (We recorded the interview in Ray’s Boozy Cup Cakes bakery, Voorhees, NJ.) Thank you to Ray’s daughter, Rosana, for her help. (Ray’s Cup Cakes closed in November 2021.)
A&E Networks History This Week Podcast
When the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic eliminated the practicality of in-person tape syncs for many months, we were engaged by A&E Networks to use our remote recording capabilities to produce regular remote tape syncs for the History This Week Podcast.
Episodes in which we’ve participated are:
The Great Stink, June 30th, 1858 (Air Date June 29, 2020). London is a world city, a global center of trade and commerce. But there’s something less glamorous going on in this bustling metropolis: the smell. Every inch of the city smells like rotting, human waste. And this smell is actually killing people. But no one is doing anything about it – until today. How did short-term thinking lead to a deadly problem? And how did an unlikely leader finally get London out of this very literal mess? We recorded the remote interview in this episode with Professor Rosemary Ashton, author of One Hot Summer: Dickens, Darwin, Disraeli, and the Great Stink of 1858.
Pride and Protest, June 28, 1970 (Air Date June 22, 2020). Hundreds of people start to gather on Christopher Street in Manhattan’s West Village for an anniversary celebration. One year earlier, in that very same spot, the Stonewall Inn was raided by police, sparking a revolution. Now, LGBTQ+ people have come here again, not to riot but to march in celebration of who they are and just how far they have come – something that might have been unthinkable if Stonewall hadn’t taken place. How did the Stonewall riot have such a huge impact on queer activism, and how did the community go from raid to parade in just a year? We recorded the interview with Marc Segal, a participant in the Stonewall Riot, in this episode.
Freedom Summer, 1964 (Air Date June 15, 2020) — June 21, 1964. James Chaney, Michael Schwerner and Andrew Goodman, three civil rights activists in their early twenties, are reported missing in Mississippi. They are part of the first wave of Freedom Summer, a massive voter registration campaign in the racist heart of the South, Mississippi. The first interracial movement of its kind, the project was led by black southern organizers and staffed by both black and white volunteers. The movement’s leader, Bob Moses, joins this episode to explain how the disappearance of those three men brought the Civil Rights movement into the homes of white Americans – and what Freedom Summer can teach us about moving the wheels of progress today. We recorded the interview with Bob Moses in this episode.
Have You No Decency, Sir? (Air date June 8, 2020) — June 9, 1954. Senator Joseph McCarthy has accused the United States Army of having communists within its midst. After rising to power during a time of great fear in America, McCarthy’s name has become synonymous with anti-communism – and with baseless, life-ruining accusations. But today, five simple words will take down one of the most notorious men in American political history. What made McCarthy so powerful in the first place? And how did that very same thing eventually bring him down? We recorded the interview with Ellen Schrecker in this episode.
A Century of Stigma for Black America and Mental Health (Air Date June 1, 2020) — June 1, 1840. U.S. Marshals are going door to door conducting the sixth-ever census in the United States. This year something is different – this is the very first time the U.S. government is asking a question about mental health. But the results are tragic, and long-lasting. Twenty-one years before the Civil War, with over two million slaves in America, this question will uphold a racist and pernicious lie that is already spreading throughout America: that freedom causes black people to go insane. We recorded the interview with King Davis in this episode.
A Gilded Age Apocalypse (Air Date May 25, 2020) — May 31, 1889. It’s raining in Johnstown, PA, causing some small flooding. But the townsfolk were used to it – this city of 30,000 was nestled in a valley between two rivers. What happened next was something every person in Johnstown feared, but hoped would never come true. The old dam at the millionaires’ resort, high up in the mountains, had failed… and unimaginable destruction was on its way. Special thanks to Neil M. Coleman, author of Johnstown’s Flood of 1889: Power Over Truth and The Science Behind the Disaster (https://amzn.to/2LY8B4N) We recorded the interview with Neil Colman in this episode.
Captain Kidd and the Nazis (Air date May 18, 2020)— May 23, 1701. Captain William Kidd is hanged at Execution Dock in London. His death sentence cements his legacy as one of history’s most notorious pirates, but he went to the gallows claiming to be an innocent man. And he may have been telling the truth. Nonetheless, his execution began a worldwide ripple effect that would change the high seas forever and ultimately help prosecute one of the most infamous Nazis that ever lived. Special thanks to Richard Zacks, author of The Pirate Hunter: The True Story of Captain Kidd https://amzn.to/2X5Etth. We recorded the interview with Richard Zacks in this episode.
Beethoven’s Silent Symphony (Air date May 4, 2020)— May 7, 1824. One of the great musical icons in history, Ludwig Van Beethoven, steps onto stage at the Kärntnertor Theater in Vienna. The audience is electric, buzzing with anticipation for a brand new symphony from the legendary composer. But there’s a rumor on their minds, something only a few know for certain… that Beethoven is deaf. He is about to conduct the debut of his Ninth Symphony — featuring the now-famous ‘Ode to Joy’ — yet Beethoven can barely hear a thing. How was it possible for him to conduct? And more importantly, how could he have composed one of the greatest works in the history of classical music? We recorded the interview with Jan Swafford, Beethoven scholar, in this episode.
The Hunt for the Hunley (Air date April 27, 2020) — May 3, 1995. The Hunley has been missing for over 100 years. This Civil War submarine and all eight of her crew disappeared after completing the first successful submarine attack ever. When a team of divers finally locates the wreck in the mid ‘90s, it seems the mystery has been solved, but what they find is more perplexing than the sub’s disappearance. The boat is undamaged, and the crew are still at their battle stations. What sank the Hunley? And why didn’t her crew try to escape? We recorded the interview with Rachel Lance in this episode.
When the Environment United Us (Air date April 20, 2020)— April 22, 1970. Nearly 20 million Americans come out in solidarity for one of the largest mass movements of the century. It was called Earth Day. And 50 years later, we still celebrate this day. But in 1970, this call to action crossed the aisle and brought major change to Washington, a feat that seems almost impossible today. Why did that first-ever Earth Day bring such a huge number of Americans—from across the political spectrum—out into the streets? And what might it take to unite the country again? We recorded the interviews in this episode with Adam Rome and Jerry Yudelson in this episode.
“Houston, We’ve Had a Problem” (Air date April 13, 2020)— April 14, 1970. Apollo 13 is a quarter million miles from Earth, speeding towards the Moon, when a sudden explosion rocks the ship. Against all odds, the astronauts pull off one of the most remarkable survival missions in NASA history. On the 50th anniversary of this harrowing flight, Apollo 13 Commander Jim Lovell explains exactly what it took to save his spaceship. We recorded the tape sync interviews with Capt. Jim Lovell and NASA scientist John Uri.
When Black Men Won the Vote (Air date February 2, 2020): February 3, 1870. The 15th Amendment is ratified, which establishes the right to vote for black men in America. While Jim Crow laws would grip the south by 1877, there was a brief, seven-year window of opportunity. Half a million black voters turned out at the polls, and 2,000 black officials are estimated to have been elected during this time. What did this moment of progress look like? And how do those votes still impact our lives 150 years later? We recorded the tape sync with Prof. Yohuru Williams, professor of history and the dean of the College of Arts and Sciences at the University of St. Thomas, St. Paul, Minnesota, at the Delaware History Museum, 504 North Market Street, Wilmington, Delaware.
Why Women Kill: Truth, Lies and Labels: The Black Widow, S1E1 (September 20, 2019): We recorded the tape sync for the interview in this podcast with James R. Fitzgerald, a retired FBI Supervisory Special Agent and Criminal Profiler and author of the memoir series A Journey Into the Center of the Mind. Fitzgerald’s interview appears at 17:30 in the program.
Bad with Money with Gaby Dunn, S4E14: Student Loan Advice from NJ Secretary of Higher Ed Zakiya Smith Ellis (July 24, 2019): Gaby talks to education superstar Zakiya Smith Ellis, a millennial who’s also the Secretary of Higher Education for New Jersey. They talk about how college debt has gotten so out of hand…making community college free… the tricky things universities do to make students feel like they’re getting a “deal” on tuition… and the freedom of giving up on a “dream school”.
