Michelle Macklem

sound designer, mix engineer and artist

I’m a freelance sound designer and mix engineer for podcasts.


I sound design and mix for clients including TED, Audible, CBC Podcasts and Broadwave. I also sound design and mix my own freelance audio documentary and art projects.


My recent projects and reel are below.


Listen: Apple, Spotify

Sound designer and mix engineer

Am I Normal? with Mona Chalabi 


About the show:

We all want to know if we’re normal—do I have enough friends? Should it take me this long to get over my ex? Should I move or stay where I am?

Endlessly curious data journalist Mona Chalabi NEEDS to know, and she’s ready to dive into the numbers to get some answers. But studies and spreadsheets don’t tell the whole story, so she’s consulting experts, strangers, and even her mum to fill in the gaps. The answers might surprise you, and make you ask: does normal even exist?

These episodes were made in collaboration with the teams from TED and Transmitter Media.


Sound designer and mix engineer

A Florescent Feeling


About the show:

A Fluorescent Feeling is a new podcast about pain and our bodies – how we talk about them and live inside them.

Over three million Australians live with chronic pain. Being in pain can be lonely, boring, scary and frustrating. But what if it could also be beautiful, colourful and textural? What if we could share it with others?

Hosted by writer and artist Georgia Mill, this audio mini-series introduces you to people with lived experiences of pain, illness and disability. Featuring artists, writers, designers and video journalists, A Fluorescent Feeling looks at creative responses to pain and how pain intersects with all aspects of identity.




My sound design excerpts featured in the reel:

  • “Swimming with Tilapia” an excerpt from Catch of the Day, on CBC’s The Fridge Light. Tilapia are a game-changer in sustainable fish farming, in this excerpt scientists and industry experts describe the incredible history and life of the species.

  • “Emu in the Sky” featuring Kamilaroi astronomer Krystal De Napoli, on BBC Radio 4’s Short Cuts. Kamilaroi astronomer Krystal De Napoli takes us out under the night sky revealing how, for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, the sky is just as significant to culture as the land.

  • “A not-so tasty history” an excerpt from The Restaurant: A Table Divided on CBC Radio’s Ideas. Using extensive data from restaurant review websites like zamato and trip advisor, NYU food studies chair Krishnendu Ray has studied the demographics of the world’s top 100 restaurants over a 30 years period. In his game changing research, Krishnendu shows that eating another culture’s food doesn’t equate with acceptance.

  • “The sounds of advertising”, an excerpt from Sonic Sculptor: Suzanne Ciani on KCRW’s Lost Notes. Composer and synth wizard, Suzanne describes the heyday of her advertising career, sound designing for some of the world’s biggest brands.