A small company working with conversational audio.
We license podcast archives, build software for the people who record them, and run research projects with universities. Whichever of those brings us together, the terms fit on one page and your show stays yours.
Three kinds of work.
Different projects, one way of going about them.
Licensing
We license recordings and back catalogues. The agreement lists what is covered, and covers nothing beyond it.
Tools
We build software for podcasters. Getting more out of the recordings you already have, and taking the fiddly parts off your desk.
Research
We run projects with universities on how conversation works, and bring the findings back to the people who record it.
Independent shows of every size, from a first season to a decade-long back catalogue.
Production companies and editors who look after archives on behalf of the shows they work for.
Research groups studying conversation, speech, and the way people actually talk to one another.
The team behind Waltoa.
A small team, consisting of the four of us. Reach us by email at great@peoplemakethings.com, or book a call with Antonia, our project coordinator.
How we work.
A few habits we keep, whatever the project.
Good projects aren't decided in a day. Ask whatever you like, sleep on it, and pick the conversation back up whenever it suits you.
Everything you've made keeps being yours, and you keep publishing just as you do today.
Before anything happens with your audio, we'll have talked it through and put it in writing, so both sides know where they stand.
Our agreements fit on a page and are written the way people actually talk. If a line reads oddly, tell us and we'll fix it.
Questions we get a lot.
Who are you?
Waltoa is operated by People Make Things, Inc., a company registered in San Francisco. We're a small team, not a platform. Write in and you reach a person, and we're happy to get on a call before you commit to anything.
What happens to the recordings?
That depends on what brings us together. We license podcast archives, build software for the people who record them, and run research projects with universities, including work on our own audio and speech models. Whichever it is, what we may and may not do with your files is written into a one-page agreement, and your show stays yours.
How does it work?
Usually it starts with a few emails or a short call, whatever suits you. If it feels like a fit, we put everything in a one-page agreement you can read in your own time. Then you send the files however is easiest: a Drive, Dropbox or WeTransfer link, or just attached to an email. Most people start with a single episode and see how it goes.
Fifteen minutes with Antonia.
She'll answer anything about how it works and whether your archive is a fit. No obligation, and no pitch if it isn't.
Book a 15-min sync