On this episode of Behind the Connection, Daedalian sits down with Brendon Skipper, LCC Connect's new Production & Operations Assistant. He joined our team last August and has been instrumental in ensuring the auditory excellence of our podcasts. During our conversation, Brendon, originally from Florida and a graduate of the Colorado Film School, shares insights into his journey from digital court reporting to the realm of podcast editing. We also explore the intricate relationship between sports and life lessons, the nuances of creativity, and the importance of maintaining one's individuality in professional endeavors.

Since then, we've expanded to offer more than 30 podcasts, all of which are hosted by members of Lansing Community College or folks within our community.

I'm Dalian, General Manager for LCC Connect, and on this episode of behind the Connection, I'm going to talk with someone you don't usually get to hear on the microphone.

Although if you've listened to any LCC Connect podcast lately, you've heard his work in your ears.

He's the one that makes sure each podcast episode we produce sounds clear, polished, and ready for listeners to hear in Lansing and around the world.

His name is Brendan Skipper, and last August, he joined the LCC Connect team as our production and operations assistant.

And now let's go behind the scenes with Brendan Skipper, behind the Connection.

Originally, you are actually from Florida, right?

Yes.

That's where you grew up.

Is that where you were born to?

Yep, I was born in Florida, yeah.

Then you went over to Denver.

You do for college there, right?

Yes.

So I was born and raised in Florida.

Pensacola, Florida.

Sort of in the Panhandle.

Rid the redneck Riviera, as it's fondly referred to.

That little portion of the Gulf coast there with Alabama and Florida.

Born there, moved to Colorado when I was 13.

My dad.

Oh, okay.

So even before college, eighth grade, and then all of high school, I didn't know that.

Okay, what exactly brought you to Michigan?

What brought me to Michigan was I had some friends going to MSU.

I had graduated from the Colorado Film School in May, and so I had big grand hopes of moving to New York or la, but again, Covid had hit.

So not doing that.

We wanted to move out of Colorado because prices were just getting very exorbitant.

And when you're saying we, you're talking about you and your spouse, right?

Yes, me and my wife, Lauren.

Okay.

And how long have you guys been married?

We have been married for five years, but we've been together for 16 years.

Okay, so you knew her from Colorado then?

Yes, from high school.

Okay.

All right.

Wow.

Well, it's very rare when you get to see somebody who marry their high school sweetheart.

That's cool.

That is actually a fun little tidbit about our personal history is we knew each other in high school, we were good friends, and we almost dated, but we wound up not.

And then we found each other years later, and it's been kismet ever since.

That's a very awesome story.

So do you guys get to go back to Florida?

Every once in a while.

Is there any people, family relations you go visit in Florida?

Sure, my dad's sister and her children, my cousins, they live out there.

We also have some distant relatives.

I think, like my godparents might still live out there, but they're getting up there in age.

But beyond that, in Florida, five or six years ago, we went out there just to see the old stomping grounds, visit the little single story ranch house that we lived in on our little cul de sac.

Do you remember Florida pretty well?

Yeah, definitely.

So what is it about Florida that you miss and what is it that you don't miss.

In relation to Colorado?

It was easy to see the difference when we moved there when I was a kid because in Florida there's tons and tons of trees.

It's like here in Michigan you're kind of inundated with the wilderness.

You don't get to be separate from it.

You're constantly having to fight the elements.

And it's the same thing in Florida.

It's just, it's a jungle as opposed to, you know, northern tundra.

That's the thing I missed about it when I was in Colorado is that there was just tons of places to go, like parks and just vegetation places to be where you're just inundated in forests and trees and the outside things of Colorado that not to say aren't there, it's just the Colorado, it's the plains, it's one giant suburb, basically.

And then there's the mountains.

So very different, very different.

Also no beaches in Colorado.

I gotta tell you, I'm a golfer, you know that.

And when I was in Colorado, I swear I could hit the ball farther and be better than I can in Michigan.

And I don't know if it had to do with the mountain air or what it was, but it was pretty cool.

It's probably that.

You never know, it could be elevation, probably less air friction or whatever.

So I can see that it's also, you probably just there's more oxygen in the air or less oxygen, probably, so you're more euphoric.

So I can see that too, being at elevation, the joy of hitting the ball.

So you played lacrosse and rugby in high school and college.

Did you find that maybe it maybe helped you run faster, give you better endurance, anything like that?

Ooh, no.

See, I was terrible at running.

I'm not a long distance runner.

Those are Both require a lot of running.

Yeah, I didn't know that.

I didn't know that getting into it.

Those sports are.

Those were amazing.

Like I very much enjoyed, especially lacrosse.

It's something I grew up with in Florida with Creek Indians and stickball.

We would go to Indiana annual powwows and they would have stickball games.

And so when I moved to Colorado and lacrosse was a high school sport, I was like, ooh, sign me up.

Cause they.

Did you play all four years?

No, I only played three years.

Sophomore, junior and senior year.

And then you went to college and you played rugby.

So did they just not have a lacrosse team?

No, they did.

Okay.

Both lacrosse and rugby were club sports.

The University of Northern Colorado.

And so I had a friend that was actually playing rugby.

So I was like, well, I'll just do that.

It was also less money for lacrosse.

You had to pay for all of the equipment.

You had to have a special helmet with all the different team gear and whatnot.

Whereas rugby.

Nope, you didn't have to do any of that.

Right, right.

You get the chance every once in a while to edit Stars on Sports.

I think you've been on there at least one time or at least hung out with them in the studio to produce.

And they of course talk about life experiences related to sports, the things that we learn from sports.

So what is it that you feel like lacrosse and rugby taught you about life or anything like that?

Yeah, sure.

I think it boils down to a lot of what they talk about on Stars on Sports and on Coach Cutscorner is this idea of not just showing up, but why you're showing up.

There are lots of routines in life, but it's like, how are those routines serving you?

What's the purpose?

What's the end goal?

And not even that, just the day to day.

And then that type of analytical mindset when it comes to sport, that's easy.

It's just play.

I know we overload it with other things like competition or status, but that's where it's fun to look at these structures.

And then that type of analysis can then help you out in your normal day to day life.

It's all the journey, right?

Exactly.

It's all a journey.

It's all about stacking those bricks.

Speaking of which, okay, so you got degrees in theater, history and film, am I right?

I have a degree in film, theater and history.

So those were your starting paths?

Those were my starting points.

So.

And don't get me wrong, I am completely somebody who has kind of done the Same thing in his academic journey.

How would you describe your academic journey to somebody you know saying that you started down this path, then this path?

What would you say?

For sure, I would say that my academic journey is indicative of a creative looking for a home.

It's rare that creativity can be harnessed for, just like I said, for fun.

In terms of sport or play, it often has to be commodified or monetized or turned into something that just has a different purpose.

And that's where I struggle is it's like as a creative, I have all sorts of interests, I have all sorts of passions, but then how do I turn that energy into something with purpose?

I think they call it fencing in the stallion.

You're either a unicorn or a stallion.

A unicorn can be special and unique, but it can only be one, and there's really no home for it.

But a stallion can be a workhorse, and it's not as special and as unique, but if you put a fence around it, that stallion can then become a workhorse.

Interesting analogy.

Sure.

I would say that there are probably a lot of creatives that suffer from the same thing.

I definitely had a struggle trying to figure out what I wanted it to be when I grow up.

And every once in a while I still wonder if I figured that out.

So there's that.

Yeah, it's always changing.

As long as you can roll with the punches or look on the greener side of life, as they say, or always try and learn.

Stay positive in that sense.

See the wider world for what's possible.

You'll find a place for yourself.

So do you find that the creativity kind of exists outside of work?

Yeah.

So outside of work, it's mainly my creative interests.

I do mainly music.

I practice slew of different instruments.

I am a filmmaker.

I'm writing various short pieces.

I'm working on a poetry program at the moment.

A good friend and I are bringing about various reenactments and recitals of poems.

He's really big into poetry.

That sounds interesting.

Definitely.

Are you doing that kind of like on a film basis then?

Yes.

I'm just looking for projects that can keep my film skills ready to go.

Exactly.

Yeah, I get that.

Yeah.

So also kind of like way off.

I'm not going to call it off base because I could see where you would incorporate some of the film skills in it.

But before you were here at lcc, you were a digital court reporter and video specialist, which is kind of a weird jump to come into podcast editing.

Explain a typical day of a Court reporter would be in that capacity, utilizing video and audio.

Is that how it's mostly done now?

Sure.

So actually, that's not how it's been done for the longest time.

Right, that's what I mean.

Exactly.

It's a very, very new.

Because most of the time you see the picture or the person.

A stenographer.

Is that what they're called?

Yeah, a steno.

Do those still exist?

They do.

Okay.

They're just going the way of the dodo.

It's a skill set that isn't highly sought after.

So it's not popular.

It's hardly visible.

I had no idea it existed as a job legitimately beyond what you see on TV or in the movies.

I would imagine that this is the type of job that you would have to go to, like a lawyer or a doctor.

You have to go to school for however many years.

Nope.

You just get a certificate.

You have to pass certain state or national exams to get certain certifications, and then you're ready to start.

Basically, a court reporter creates a legal record.

It's a document of who, what, when and where of when something happened.

Typically it's in the form of a deposition or like a court proceeding or a trial.

Could be meeting minutes, something as simple as that.

But it's anyone that wants something that's spoken turned into a written record.

And often that's used for legal purposes.

So I would get in depositions most frequently where you show up somewhere, you're there for typically eight hours, if not longer.

And it's so that one party can ask questions of another party.

Typically for some type of lawsuit, someone's suing somebody, somebody was injured or damaged in a car accident or something like that.

So they're suing.

So were you typically in the same courtroom, or did you find yourself in different courtrooms all the time and by the court beyond the Lansing area?

Sure.

So typically depositions would be anywhere.

They could either be online or they would be in person.

So you'd go to someone's house.

I've done depositions in.

In people's homes.

Typically they're done in an office.

You go into the lawyer's office.

But if they're a single practitioner or a small firm, you might go to a hotel or some conference room.

It really just depends on the variables of the situation.

Okay.

Has any of the skills that you did in that capacity, has it translated in any way to editing podcasts and doing what we do here at LCC Connect?

For sure.

Really?

Definitely.

I will say the one thing that I Find very valuable is listening to someone's agency as an individual, As a court reporter, I'm doing the same thing we're doing here.

I'm sitting in a room with headphones on, listening to people talking to microphones.

And so you have very distinct grasp of how people are feeling because you can hear the intonations in their voice, let alone the things they're talking about.

Then you're listening to the back and forth, the conversation, people asking questions, what's your name?

Did this happen?

These are all simple conversational things that we're aware of.

Sure.

But as a court reporter, you cannot interact with any of that.

If you make a joke, like if a lawyer asks you a question and it's funny, I can't laugh at that.

I mean, I can, but if you say something that's inflammatory and I gasp because it's against my personal beliefs, I'm now infringing on the neutrality of my.

Role as a court reporter.

Yep, yep.

Gotta really hold back on your emotions, feelings, and be stoic, I guess is probably the best word for it.

Yeah, definitely.

And so you almost kind of stop being a person to a degree, because when you're listening to everything, you have to pay attention to what people are saying.

So you're listening for diction, you're listening for enunciation.

Sure.

You also are having to remember how many syllables do go in that word and keeping up with the conversation.

So you don't really have time to have emotions.

To get back to your question as to how does this help with editing podcasts is.

Well, I've spent hours and hours and hours listening to deponents talk about things in all manner of ways.

High emotion, low emotion, boring details, exciting details.

And so it's this whole gamut of human experience that is truly theirs.

And again, this is a moment where they get to speak, they get to say what they want, and it's going to get turned into an official record.

In regards to editing podcasts, to me, it's the same thing.

Here are people talking, this is stamped in time.

This is a moment of their voice, how they spoke, how they think.

I try and be very careful when it comes to editing.

Don't reduce that.

Sure, I can get rid of the glitches.

Somebody might mess up a word.

There's an um or a like that needs to go away or that kind of vocal fry that comes through.

Yup.

That stuff's easy to fix.

Yeah.

But I'm always mindful of making sure not to step on anyone's personality, toes if that makes sense.

No, it completely makes sense, especially since we both do the same thing.

But yeah, that was one of the things we talked about like very early on when we edit the podcast, just to make sure that you're still respecting and honoring what it is that they want to say, which can be difficult at times, especially when you are finding incomplete thoughts and then all of a sudden you find that they refer to that incomplete thought later on and you got to go back and you got to go fix it again.

That's a whole nother story.

Let's jump off of work a little bit.

You said you play multi instruments.

What else do you play beyond guit?

So mostly I play clarinet.

Okay.

I've lately been learning flute.

My wife Lauren, she plays flute and so she's been teaching me that.

I'm also trying to learn bass, trying to learn Celtic instrument called the boren.

It's a drum.

Beyond that, I also have a Mongolian instrument called a morin kur, which is a two stringed cello basically.

So I've been trying to learn that.

Never heard of that.

It's super neat.

It's super neat.

What's your home base when it comes to music?

What do you like to play?

Sure, I would say I've got kind of a very wide reaching net when it comes to music.

I enjoy things like Credence screaming, Jay Hawkins, but it could be something also like Bonnie Raitt or trying to think more modern stuff too.

That's the thing is I don't really buy music.

I think that's the thing.

I never really consumed music I only ever heard on the radio.

It goes back to.

I was thinking of as you were talking about living in Florida and all these things that I can see in my head, these very distinct memories like driving in the car and my mom's listening to Bonnie Raitt or the Chieftains or like Phantom of the Opera.

I think that was a big thing.

Formatively is not having the agency over what music you get to listen to.

So I just happily glommed onto what anyone else was listening to at the time.

That makes sense.

So as a filmmaker, have you ever taken the time to incorporate your passion for music with the film?

Ooh, definitely.

Yes.

This is very much why I love how sound and video kind of work hand in hand.

They're both very similar when it comes to their physical properties.

Okay.

That was a thing I learned in school that really helped me in regards to video was that understanding how like bit depth in audio and video are essentially the same thing.

It's just this stepladder of volume as opposed to a stepladder of brightness.

So things like that.

Color theory, understanding how it worked in audio helped me understand how it worked in video.

I've run into people who have described that they can see music visually.

You're one of those people.

Or not.

Like, they can actually see colors in music.

Ooh.

That I can't really do.

I will say that editing the podcasts has helped me in seeing the waveform of how certain words look, certain sounds look.

Yeah, you do.

You get to the point where I tell people, it becomes almost like the Matrix.

When he's looking at the computer screen, he's like, oh, I see this, I see this and this.

You kind of get to that point where you're looking at the wav file and you can tell that somebody's either saying an or an ah or S's are definitely always prevalent.

An easy way to, like, really edit things out.

And that's the thing is we do a lot.

We've got like over 30 podcasts now.

It's fun work, but it's tedious as well.

You kind of feel like you're on a revolving door of editing audio a lot of the times.

So what is it that you do and would recommend to other people who have, like, those jobs where it's like, man, I'm kind of doing the same thing all the time.

How do you keep yourself fresh?

How do you keep yourself kind of focused?

I'd say it's two things.

The first is make sure you take breaks.

Always give yourself that opportunity to look at the horizon.

Definitely give yourself something to look at other than the computer screen.

But then the other thing would be, I mean, it's kind of similar thing with taking breaks is I very much enjoy all the different podcasts, even though they all kind of by this time function the same way.

I kind of know what I'm getting into with each one.

But with each guest or each topic, that's where things start to shine.

You start to see everyone's little interests.

Everyone's.

A little bit of life starts to come through.

And that's what brings me out of any tedium I may be feeling.

And it's just.

Yep, just going to edit and find out what happens next.

It's definitely one of my favorite things about editing the podcast is just getting to know these people that I've known for years here at the college.

And then all of a sudden, I start to know parts of their personality that I never would have even knew existed.

So is there a particular show or moment that you've edited that stands out as memorable or fun?

At the moment, I'd say they're all pretty much fun and enjoyable.

I haven't had really any big standout.

What do they call it on npr?

Driveway moments where I have to really dial in and listen to what's going on.

Stop and go, hey, what's right.

Yeah, I get you.

Yeah.

Yeah.

I did have a chance to be on the Psycho Delicious Conversation podcast a couple weeks ago.

Yeah, you were producing.

Exactly just as you were saying.

I got to hear them editing however many episodes up until that point.

And so I knew Mike and Morgan through personality only.

And so getting to be in the room with them and with all of that personality, I found to be fun, despite my trepidation.

Yeah.

So here I'm going to ask you the question.

Like, when I was in regular commercial radio, I used to get all the time, wow, you look nothing like I pictured you.

So did they look like you pictured them or not?

See, that's the odd thing.

I think it's that you are right.

The mystery of who they might look like once you see them.

It is.

It's like, oh, it's like.

Like a balloon.

It's not disappointing.

It's just.

Well.

And most people always think I'm like, bigger and I'm like, no, no, I'm not.

I'm not that big.

I'm a tiny guy.

Actually, average is what I think we're supposed to be.

Because you're about my height.

Right.

I would get that on Zoom all the time.

People would think I'm like six feet.

No, I don't know how I'm sitting.

I don't know how you would think I'm tall.

So, you know, and you can say it's a part of LCC Connect.

You can say it's a part of whatever.

But what's the most enjoyable part about being at Lansing Community College and working here so far that you've found?

Sure.

I will say that it is just the atmosphere here at LCC Connect, like I was saying before, with the creative trying to find a home, I understand this is under the guise of an educational institution.

It serves a certain function within that system as an institution, but again, just as a space for people to come and create.

I find that to be incredibly valuable.

Yeah, I'd agree, because it's definitely one of my most enjoyable parts about being here in this role.

This capacity that I'm at now is helping these folks kind of just create something that they've always wanted to do and give them the resources to make it happen.

A lot of these folks wouldn't be doing what they're doing other than the fact that we're here helping because it takes some time to get it edited, as we know for sure.

So what do you hope to explore or learn as you continue your work here at LCC Connect?

I would like to get better into what we are doing right now.

Being on mic, interacting with the hosts, kind of being more of an active producer in that role.

Okay, well, hopefully we will have you more often on behind the Connection because the one thing that I have considered doing is creating this into a co hosted show.

And.

And it would make it a lot easier for me to get myself in the swing of things if we actually did this on a regular basis.

So maybe we will explore that down the road.

Not to put too much pressure on you or anything like that.

Never.

But since we're on the topic.

So if you had to could produce or host any podcast of any type, no rules, no limits, what would it be?

So if I could produce my dream.

Podcast, I will say produce or host any kind.

I would say that it would be this hybrid like Dr. Demento meets some type of 40s radio play.

I want it to be like Casey Kasem's top 25, but instead of Casey Kasem, it's Dr. Demento.

But instead of real songs, it's done live as, you know, like 40s.

I love it.

Yeah.

Like telecom forgotten 45s.

Yeah, yeah, I love it.

And the fact that you pulled Dr. Demento into the conversation, extra awesome.

You get bonus points for that.

Congratulations.

All right, so last question is a. I can't tell you what it is because I don't know.

It is the rando question of the day.

Here we go.

We're going to click our random question generator.

What is something you can never seem to finish?

What is something you can never seem to finish?

That piece of cake.

Which one?

All birthday cake.

All birthday cake.

Like, you seriously leave a little bit behind.

I know, it's terrible.

Are you one of those I don't like frosting people?

Yes.

Really?

Yeah.

When it comes to things that are overly sweet, like you said, like frosting.

It'S like my heart is broken.

I love a bite, but I can't ever do more.

And give me the corner piece every time.

So if your guitar could say something, what would it say?

That's what it would say.

Is I always like that.

That.

Yeah, like a little.

What are you gonna call that?

The way.

Well, it only be like a wah pedal.

We'll call it the Wah Wah Wah.

Yeah.

This is lcc.

Connect Voices, Vibes, Vision.