Resonate 2025: What It Felt Like to Be in the Room

When Third Coast stopped bringing audio storytellers together, it left a gap. Even from a distance, you could feel it. I never went myself, but I knew what it meant to people.

When I first heard about Resonate a couple of years ago, I wondered if it might fill some of that space or at least create a new kind of one.

I was excited to go and to be around people who are serious about the work, but also curious, experimental, a little uncontained. And that’s exactly what it felt like: a mix of storytellers, artists, and people doing their own thing, all orbiting the same core idea of caring deeply about sound.

Resonate is less about trying to replicate something and more about pushing things outward; what audio can be, how far it can stretch. It really leans into sound as an art form, not just a vehicle for story. And in the US, I am not sure that there is much else that holds that kind of space in the same way.

Part of why I went and honestly, part of why I came to the States at all was to get myself back into a more creative headspace. To feel something shift a bit. And it did, just maybe not in the way I expected. I left feeling more reflective than anything else, but in a way that felt useful.

TK Dutes was a highlight. What she shared about burnout landed, but what stayed with me was how she’s choosing to move through it. There’s a clear intention to the way she’s working now: collaborating with a different producer on each episode, letting go of a fixed release schedule, allowing things to come out when they’re ready. It felt honest and not rushed, not performative.

Aaron Edwards followed and completely held the room. There was something confident and captivating about his presence, poised, fully there and the story he shared was unforgettable. It made you lean in.

And then Audio Flux, which felt deeply considered and carefully made. You could feel the thought behind it, the care John DeLore and Julie Shapiro put into shaping something that didn’t just showcase audio, but created a distinct experience.

More than any one session, though, what really stayed with me were the in-between moments: the conversations, the people I met, the feeling of being around others who are also trying to figure out how to do this work in a way that actually means something.

I left feeling a bit clearer. Not completely, but enough.

-Natasha Miller
You can find Natasha's award winning podcast, Bitter/Sweet on Great Pods and everywhere else you get your podcasts.