Dr. Smiti Nathan

Transcript

Smiti: Welcome to Curiosity Meets the Past, a podcast for curious minds who love learning about the past. My name is Dr. Smiti Nathan, and I’m an archaeologist and your host.

In this episode, I’m speaking with Jaime, a podcast producer and the host of ReCurrent at the Getty Museum.

Jaime’s work sits at the intersection of sound and living heritage, and we’ll talk about that term a little later in this episode. The way he approaches his work, though, is what really stands.

He meets people where their stories are, and he shows us that we can still hear the past all around us in music, voices, streets, and communities.

Now you don’t have to listen to ReCurrent to follow this episode.

Our conversation focuses on how his own past influences his storytelling, sound design and living heritage, and how recurrence surfaces, underrepresented stories about the past that still resonate with us today.

He starts us off by sharing an unexpected sound that often takes him back to a specific moment in his past.

Jaime: Um, when I hear, TV shows that like my parents used to watch when I was a kid, you know, like it brings me back. Or, um, a big one is, even just watching the six o’clock news in and specifically in Spanish, the Univision. This, this kind of brings me back to the past and, my mom cooking. you know, My siblings and I playing or doing homework or just getting in from playing, and then like my dad coming home, it’s home from work.

So that sound really does bring me back to that moment. You know, we’re kind of close to, um, the Día de Muertos. It’s a, a holiday that I now revere a lot, and really practice a lot.

But it’s kind of similar in that way. Like, you know, you Set up their favorite foods, their favorite drinks, all these things, pictures, but it’s like that bridge to the past. ’cause you believe that they’re coming back to visit you and so you set out these favorite things for them so on their journey they can come back. 

And so again, it’s like a reliving experience. Like a nostalgia experience. The food connects me, the sound connects me, and all of of that.

Smiti: So thank you so much for sharing that vivid example. And I’m curious, how has sound or even music shaped you as a storyteller?

Jaime: It’s shaped me a lot just because I feel like I come from that background. So that’s at the forefront of you know, ReCurrent episodes all the time. And it’s something that I think about a lot in post-production. You know, the sound design of things, the transition, using music to transition from one idea to the other, but still using music to kind of evoke the message that I wanna give

To transition you into like, let’s say I’m going into like this. Really deep thought. You know, like, I, I think of like that musical cue as being like the first part of that transition, okay, to get you in the mood. I gotta bring in, you know, the sound design and then we go into it. And also, something that I’ve had to kind of learn and learn to just let go and like, let it breathe is something we call, Real world audio, basically what that is, is just the sounds that you hear when I’m out in the field. So a lot of the stories, I’m off the hill. And when we say off the hill, Getty’s on this hill in LA. So like, I like to go out into the community to where, these other stories are found.

And so when I’m out in the field, I really like to get the soundscapes of the neighborhoods I’m in the city. I usually meet the guests where they’re at if we’re meeting to grab a bite and I record there, so you’ll hear, people walking by cars, you know, birds, you know, all these things, that I feel are very, very important because, stories are found out in the community.

You know, season two kind of deals with a lot of that. And so, and what I’ve had to let go of is this audio engineering side of me of wanting to just clean up the audio and I’m sure every podcaster and audio engineer and editor will hopefully resonate with what I’m saying.

But you know, the first thing you kind of learn is it’s like, oh, we got any, we need clean audio. You know? Right. We need clean audio. And you do, you do. I completely agree. But when I’m out in the field, like I wanna let the real world sounds breathe. Cause another thing about the podcast is we’re on a journey together.

We’re learning these subjects together. So you’re out there in the field with me. You’re in the studio with me as I’m reflecting on what I’m learning and the journey that I’ve been on.

But no, there’s a beauty I think in, and letting this audio breathe and be alive and ReCurrent, just because it’s such a big part of, of it, you know, like I’m out in the field, I’m out in the community, I’m talking to people, I’m meeting them where they’re at, you know, we’re not in a studio and, you know, but that also leads to really nice conversations, a really nice sounding conversations where I get to know them on a deeper level and it helps them open up.

A little bit more to me, you know, when I’m asking certain questions. So, you know, sound definitely huge part of the way I approach storytelling now.

Smiti: Got it. And you know, when you were speaking, it reminded me of, being an archaeologist in some ways. You go into the field, you’re doing field work and I love that you preserve that sound that you are finding and encountering. And you know, often with archaeologists, we have to take what we find back to the lab in some way.

So the parallel I’m drawing there is post-production and sound engineering. So I am curious, how do you decide what sounds to use to reflect the past? Do you have a. or a thought process around that that you would be willing to share?

Jaime: I sound design each episode. I believe each one is unique and has its own breadth and own space. And so if you listen to all the episodes, you’re gonna notice. You know, when I say, uh, “Hi, my name is Jaime. Welcome to ReCurrent.”

Like in the beginning, the, the intro music is gonna be different for each one, and that’s, that’s intentional just because, each sound design for each episode is different. And again, very intentional because I’m going with the story, I’m going with the, theme of what I’m trying to tell, the motion that I’m trying to evoke.

So, it’s very individual for each one. And you know, I hope people notice that. And I hope, you know, people appreciate the time and effort that it takes to, you know, either create or even just dig through a sound library just to look, look for. ’cause even that takes time. You know, when you’re not creating something, you’re still digging through a sound library it takes time. So I definitely appreciate the art of sound design, um, just because it adds so much layer and depth to what you’ve layered on top, you know, like the person and the, the narration that you’re writing.

Smiti: Got it. So there’s a bit of archival work that’s going into even the sound design. Of the stories you’re telling, which is pretty cool. So speaking of stories, you are telling stories on ReCurrent, and one of the things I love about the podcast is that you are surfacing stories that are often underrepresented or might otherwise not get told and I was wondering if you could tell us a bit more about that.

Jaime: The initial thought for, ReCurrent was me being off the hill, and I keep referencing off the hill. There’s a lot of amazing stories here at Getty, at the Getty Center, at the Getty Villa. you can do. Multiple seasons of podcast episodes here. And, and we do have, you know, we have Recording Artists, which kind of deals with archives. If Objects Could Talk, which is a kids podcast that deals with artwork, but the way that I wanted to approach ReCurrent was again, really just looking at how deep Getty’s roots run in the community and in the work that they’re doing. And like you said, in like more under reported underrepresented stories. Example, the barbershop episode that I did for season one.

At least in my view, and a lot of people I’ve talked to here around, they’re like, yeah, you don’t really associate like, a Getty in a barbershop. You know, he is like, Getty was doing work to help preserve this, barbershop, the oldest black-owned barbershop in, in LA.

And so I thought like, wow, this is such a really cool story to tell, and then looking at how Getty helped do work for a mural in La Placita Olvera here in LA downtown, América Tropical and just the significance that that had and.

Even now, you know, there’s a lot of, you know, resonances from that story that are happening now. One Getty’s doing work in the community that deserves more shine, it gets it shine, but you know, deserves it in another angle.

And then also stories that I resonated with. And so the barbershop story I resonated with. I like to cut my hair, you know, since we were kids, me and my brothers have been cutting our hairs. And so, um, and then there’s this whole barbershop culture that goes on. there’s storytelling that goes on within those spaces that, kind of just like lives in the moment.

No one’s recording it, but. It just lives in the moment. I, I mean, you can even say it could be considered almost like oral histories that get passed down there. You know, like, uh, you know, my grandpa or my, you know, came here and in Stylesville in that episode, Greg Faucett, he told me that he has generations of customers coming.

So. There’s that, and then there’s like the hidden histories of, you know, América Tropical, like I said my goodness. Like I’ve gone there for so many years and I never knew. there’s like a whole museum there. I, it’s just rediscovering and finding new things within the city is just amazing.

And again, going back to you just. How, you know, I go about picking these stories, it’s just finding stories that I resonate with. And I feel like uh, the broader community would, would be, you know, interested in.

Smiti: Gotcha. Well, thank you for walking us through your process of which stories you might resonate with and why you choose to pick certain stories. And when I was listening to your podcast, you often mentioned this term in certain episodes of Living Heritage, and I’m curious, after shooting the first season of ReCurrent, what has that term now come to mean to you?

Jaime: Yeah. And, and, and I’m totally coming at this from like my perspective of like, you know, doing the show and, and producing the show and talking to people. And it just kind of almost feels like. We don’t know. We’re living in the heritage of the now until afterwards. You know? There’s an episode for season two where, and I’m trying to remember the phrasing, ’cause I’m working on it right now, but it’s, The playlists, the, the flyers, the artwork or the concerts that we’re preserving like in our pockets or in our phones now, they’re the like, kind of like the living heritage of the now, but then it becomes like cultural heritage, when. Time passes and when someone keeps or deems it important enough to them to keep it, and then, you know, it goes through kind of like after time passes and then, you know, then becomes like this, like cultural heritage type of thing.

A lot of the, you know, my like living heritage or like the heritage that I. Being important is important to me because it was like photos of my parents, you know, photos of my sister, photos of, my past. Those are important to me, you know?

And then if I keep them long enough, maybe it’ll become more, you know, it’ll develop into something that could be held in an archive or anything like that. But the notion of this living heritage, it’s almost like. Maybe we don’t know. We’re living it. But then it becomes after a while after you realize and reflect Oh yeah, The second episode of ReCurrent, I did on George Rodriguez, his amazing photographer. And, one of the things that he brings up is like, I didn’t know I was living history. Now I realize I was, but at the time I was just, documenting what was in front of me because I felt it was important to me.

And, you know, and then it ended up being, history that he lived throughout. So and then I just got so much inspiration from George that of, of like documenting and then like what it could become afterwards, that now I, I try to document as much as I can through sound, through audio and through video, even if it’s just for me personally.

Smiti: Got it. And that’s such a great example and I’m, I’m wondering if you can tell us a bit more about how shooting these episodes of ReCurrent has maybe changed or added to your. Own documentation process that you were just alluding to.

Jaime: I don’t think I’ve talked about this on a podcast, but you know, when my dad was really sick and, and you kind of know, it’s coming to the end. I had him write down his life story in a book. and, and my thinking there was, you know, I wanna preserve one this story for me, you know, for me just to be able to read and have this connection back to him, once he had passed.

And then, also for future generations of, of my family, um. Him and my mom, were they, they immigrated here. They made their life here. They had their children here. And so I thought it was important to document that for the future generations that came to know, like basically you’re here because of this person and this person Read the story like know your history, right?

Like pay your dues almost, uh, by reading. And so I did, you know that and I recorded, my mom’s life story and audio. and, you know, pictures here and there, but now since that and since doing the podcast, it’s just changed completely. I document. I don’t wanna say everything, but it feels like I document everything.

I mean, I’m that person that has a camera on the weekends who’s just taking pictures. There’s a couple like, personal things that I do to preserve sound and a picture. So like, I’ll take a picture of a place and then I’ll record like. 15 to 20 seconds of sound in that moment. And again, this is all things for me that, that I enjoy doing and have done more since doing the podcast.

Um, I’m preserving, things that I find important, like flyers or, you know, just like, tangible things. And then the intangible stuff of like sound of, pictures, video. I mean, a big reason I bought. These glasses that I’m wearing is because I want to be able to capture, moments without having to take out, you know, a device or something.

So I’m always trying to fight that fine line of living in the moment and also documenting it. Then just not losing that, that perfect moment. So I bought these to, you know, hit a button and let it record and, and let me still be in the moment. And then again letting me relive it afterwards.

I’m constantly fighting that fine line. So I document, take pictures, video, audio more than ever. And I post The least amount I have ever in my life. Like I do it for me. And I got an inspiration, like a lot from George too, saying oh, I just did it for me.

You know, like I wanted to document and I really do document all these things for me. I don’t, I’ll be honest, I’m hardly on socials anymore. I should be a little bit more, but, a lot of the stuff is for me, and I think that’s where a lot of the Good moments or like the care comes out just ’cause you’re doing it for you.

You’re not doing it to get a like, or go viral. So you’re trying to capture that really special moment for you. Its all here, it all stays in house for me. At least for that.

Smiti: Thank you for sharing a bit into your process. You gave me some good ideas as well.

Jaime: Yeah.

Smiti: Documenting things for my family that, you know, we might not post online or maybe we will, but it’s important for us to preserve. And, one of the things you often say on ReCurrent is keeping the past present. And how would you like listeners to do that for themselves, after hearing your work or even after hearing this conversation?

Jaime: It almost feels like, you know, the, the prior answer I gave could also relate to this one because it’s just about documenting your community, and again, do it because you want to do it, like you, like to do it.

Not because, again, at least in my experience, not chasing clout or not doing it to go viral or anything. It’s like doing it genuinely because you want to document, you wanna preserve it. You want to keep these things that are present now, for you in the future. And I think the stuff that I talk about, you know, the past, keeping the past present is, someone who has documented, a concert, a, photo, a lecture, or anything. And it’s survived long enough to be relevant to me or to anybody. And again, anything can be relevant to anyone. But the things I talk about in ReCurrent is like they’re relevant to, to what we do here at Getty. And it resonates with me as well.

And then I keep it in the present. And then hopefully by me keeping it in the present, it keeps going down that line you, it creates more ripple effects that will keep, you know, these important stories of heritage and art and community just moving forward. So the next person that it hits maybe 30, 40 years down the line.

Oh, that was cool. Let me do research now what has happened since, you know, this story premier, and then they continue that. And so it’s like this continuation of keeping the past present and I’m just trying to, do my small part in, telling these stories to hopefully, preserve them for future generations to listen to.

Smiti: One of my biggest takeaways from this conversation is that sound can be a powerful bridge between the past and the present. Preserving that sound through storytelling can be meaningful for both personal and public living heritage.

If you’d like to follow Jaime’s work, you can check out the ReCurrent podcast at getty.edu/ReCurrent. You’ll find that linked below in the show notes along with a full transcript to this episode.

And if you’d like to hear more from Jaime, he gives us his recommendations on which ReCurrent episodes to check out in our Patreon exclusive bonus segment.

Our Patreon is free to join and gives you access to all of our bonus content. If you’d like to support the podcast monetarily, we’d of course appreciate that too. Thanks so much for listening and cultivating your curiosity with us. We’ll see you soon

Credits

Jaime: Guest

Noor Hanania: Theme Music Creator

Laura Riveiro: Podcast Cover Art Creator

Smiti Nathan: Host, Video Editor

Patreon Supporters

Thank you to our paid Patreon members for supporting the creation of this episode:

Nancy Fulton, James D., Giancarlo Annese, Thomas Martin, Stuart A. Griffin, Tagg, Ann Brookens, Diana Madden, Cole Guinn, Seemingly Unrelated Podcast, Chris, GeometryGirl

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