Brendan Baker is a multidisciplinary artist — a director, producer, composer — and a creator of audio projects intended to expand possibilities for sound as a medium through radio documentary, radio drama, sound design, and spatial audio.
He was the Director and Sound Designer for Marvel’s first scripted podcast series, Wolverine: The Long Night, named one of Apple’s “Best Podcasts of 2018” and iHeartRadio’s “Best Scripted Podcast of 2018.” He also pioneered the use of “3D” spatial audio in scripted podcasting, winning a 2019 Webby Award for Best Original Music/Sound Design. Before that, he was a longtime producer and sound designer for the critically-acclaimed podcast, Love + Radio, a founding member of PRX’s Radiotopia, and his work has been featured on numerous radio programs podcasts including This American Life and Radiolab. He has production credits on four of The Atlantic’s “50 Best Podcast Episodes of 2015,” and has received multiple awards from the Third Coast International Audio Festival (the so-called “Oscars for radio”): Best Documentary for “The Wisdom of Jay Thunderbolt” in 2011, an Honorable Mention for “Jack and Ellen” in 2013, Director’s Choice for Laura Starecheski’s “The Hospital Always Wins” in 2014, and Director’s Choice for “The Living Room” in 2015.
He’s the founder of Phenomephon — a creative audio studio and consultancy.
He studied electroacoustic composition at Grinnell College and is an expert audio engineer and editor with decades of radio and podcast storytelling experience.