Ayesha Lye is an audio producer specializing in dialogue tracks for film, TV, web, radio and podcasts. They have years of experience recording clear and compelling audio for documentary, narrative and experimental works.
They started their career as a producer for CBC Radio, working on such programs as Metro Morning, As It Happens, and Cross Country Check-up. They also contributed to podcasts for NPR, The Sick Kids Foundation, Electric City Magazine, and many more. They’re a co-founder of Peterborough Currents, a local news outlet publishing podcasts, video and in-depth articles. They’re also the founder of Peterborough Independent Podcasters, a not-for-profit organization that supports indie audio workers.
They have a strong reputation as a friendly and inspiring organizer, leading their teams towards socially-conscious and community-oriented media production.
Location sound
Selected credits
| Boom operator 2024 Short film | TIME By The Kollective | Producer: Kirthiga Rajanayagam Directors: Kiran Rai & Baljit Singh Production Manager: Eesha Johal Director of Photography: Maanas Kocchar Production Designer: Gagan Bassi Sound mixer: Keth Sivakumar |
| Sound mixer-recordist 2024 Short film | The Comeback of Eugenia St. Clair Team Asidulant 5 | Producer: Ayesha Lye Directors: Zachary Barmania & Ayesha Lye Director of Photography: Ayesha Lye |
| Boom operator & Sound utility 2023 TV pilot | Grist Paradigm Pictures | Producers: Pawel Dwulit, Adam Martignetti, Michael Hayes, Brendan Fell, Drew Antzis Directors: Drew Antzis & Pawel Dwulit Director of Photography: Pawel Dwulit Sound mixer: Mark McNeilly |
| Sound mixer-recordist 2023 Short film | Last Ferry Burgundy Dragon | Producers: Zachary Barmania, Ethan Ryckman, Dylan Alsop Director: Zachary Barmania Production Manager: Ethan Ryckman Director of Photography: Dylan Alsop |
Education
B.A. (Hons.) Trent University
Graduated 2015 on the Dean’s Honour Roll
Majored in International Development Studies and Anthropology
Other professional experience
Sound artist Independent
October 2016 – present
Lye is a sound composer. They work primarily with field recordings and interviews to create art pieces that reflect on topics such as the sense of self, the self among others, honesty and the capacity for sound to resonate in memory. Their long running podcast Sounds Like Life uses ambience, music and narration to craft compositions that blend diary-keeping with acoustic ecology.
Lye has participated in several group showings of sound art, including the LUCIA sound festival in Italy. They also completed a sound art residency at New Adventures in Sound Art in 2020.
Director, writer, producer Independent
December 2023 – present
Lye is a burgeoning filmmaker, learning the ropes for directing, writing, and producing their own independent productions. Currently they are developing scripts for both documentary and narrative fiction films.
Writer Freelance
March 2019 – present
Lye pitched, researched, and wrote articles for outlets such as CBC Radio, Briarpatch Magazine, Broadview Magazine, Electric City Magazine, Bello Collective and more. Pieces include profiles of a textile artist that uses his medium to promote understanding between religious factions, a profile of how student newspaper editors were using creative ways to raise funds, and a definitive how-to for the audio editing software Reaper.
Café operator Mickaël’s Café Librairie in Omemee
February 2023 – December 2023
During a career interlude, Lye managed and operated a café/French bakery outlet in Omemee.
Publisher & co-founder Peterborough Currents
September 2017 – November 2022
Lye co-founded the Peterborough Currents podcast in 2017 with creative partner Will Pearson, and for several years, the team published insightful documentaries about the Peterborough area as an independent podcast.
In January 2020, Lye and Pearson developed a business plan and re-launched Peterborough Currents as an independent local news outlet. By the time they left Currents in Fall 2022, they had helped build over $4,000 of monthly sponsorship and audience revenue, worked with colleagues to publish hard-hitting investigative news, and maintained strong audience-centered editorial products.
Founder & managing director Peterborough Independent Podcasters
September 2016 – July 2022
In 2016, Lye founded Peterborough Independent Podcasters, a not-for-profit organization with the mandate to foster a local community of podcasters and audio enthusiasts. They oversaw the development of the organization from an ad-hoc committee to a registered non-profit corporation. They also helped hundreds of community members learn about podcasting and start their own shows through workshops, teaching, one-on-one mentorship, and providing podcast resources.
In 2021, Lye organized the Peterborough Audiocraft Festival which brought together dozens of audio enthusiasts to learn from each other during online workshops.
Executive director Sadleir House
July 2019 – February 2020
Briefly, Lye led operations and administration of a small charity and community center called Sadleir House, which is a Victorian house turned student center. They administrated accounting, inventory, cleaning, contractors, staff, and reported to the board of directors.
Producer CBC Radio & CBC Podcasts
May 2015 – June 2019
In May 2015, Lye received a prestigious Gzowski internship at CBC Radio; during the four-month internship they learned how to produce interviews, documentaries and online content for shows such as As It Happens, Metro Morning and Fresh Air.
After their internship, they worked with Cross Country Checkup as their digital producer, producing interactive stories for the program. They also pitched stories and filled in for radio producers, producing phone-in specials and assisting in live in-person events.
Lye also worked with shows like Day 6, Ontario Morning, The Next Chapter, and Podcast Playlist as an on-call producer. And they were placed on several special assignments including producing a podcast series called The Next 150, a holiday special called The Disclosure Dilemma, and a cross-vertical promotional project called Being Black in Canada. They also were a contract producer on the Front Burner Podcast.
Reporter Arthur Newspaper
September 2014 – April 2015
Lye got their start in journalism as a student reporter with the Trent University student press, Arthur Newspaper. They pitched, wrote and edited articles about campus life and the Peterborough community, including features on city hall, library services, and the arts.