Maia Stern ʼ03: Keeping it Raw at NPR’s Tiny Desk Concerts

Since 2019, NPR’s wildly popular Tiny Desk Concerts have been captured through the eyes—and camera—of lead video producer Maia Stern ʼ03. Every week, Maia and her team produce three concerts filmed in front of mostly NPR employees at the company’s DC headquarters. No vocal amplification. No Auto-Tune. Just raw performances in an intimate space.

Hundreds of musical artists—from Justin Timberlake to T-Pain to Taylor Swift—have appeared in the Tiny Desk series since its launch in 2008. Performances take place behind the desk once used by former NPR staffer Bob Boilen, who co-created the concept. The concerts are viewed online by millions of fans worldwide each month. Maia estimates that she’s shot 500 of those videos so far.

“Being the lead video producer is a really interesting job because it's not all about the cool shots and angles,” said Maia, who majored in Media Studies at Pitzer College and lives in suburban Maryland with her husband, Paul, and two children. “It’s really about setting up a lovely frame for musicians to fill up.”

Maia spoke with Georgetown Days about combining her love of music and video, why the intimate concerts make some performers nervous, and which artists she’s still hoping to get behind the desk. The interview has been edited for length and clarity.

How did you get interested in video production?

From a really young age, I always had a camera around me. My dad was the home movie maker in my family, and he gave me my first video camera. I would make little plays with my friends after school. It wasn't until college that I realized this could actually be a field of study.

What’s your favorite type of music to listen to, and does it differ from what you most enjoy shooting? 

I'm a big sucker for the singer-songwriters, the folk musicians and rock bands. Some of my favorite music is music I’ve loved for decades. It sounds like nostalgia, and I love to film those bands at Tiny Desk. But I also love to film bands I've never heard of—ones that pleasantly surprise me with a unique sound when I turn on the camera. One of our best shows from last year is also one of my favorites. It was a duo from Argentina called Ca7riel & Paco Amoroso. It just blew everyone away because no one seemed to be ready for what they heard. It was such fun music, and I absolutely loved it. So those are the two kinds of music styles I like: surprising ones and the ones that I've listened to for decades.

How does the intimate, eclectic Tiny Desk setting affect the performances?

It basically looks like an office space with some cool shelves behind it. There are really people working there. It’s so fun to see artists arrive. That's my favorite part—when they're like, “Oh, it looks nothing like what I've seen on YouTube” or “Oh, it’s a lot bigger than I thought.” We usually film in the middle of the day, and a bunch of NPR employees are standing six feet away from the artists, so there’s really no place for the bands to hide. Some of these employees may have not even heard of the artists before, or they may be huge fans. When we edit our shows, we keep in all the banter between songs and all the tuning and keep everything raw. I think that really helps showcase who the artists are as people. 

Why do you think people enjoy watching Tiny Desk Concerts?

I’ve got to say, I think the concerts sound amazing, not just from the production side. I think performers really take the time to rehearse because of the challenges and limitations of playing a Tiny Desk concert. We’re not a studio by any means. I joke that sometimes I prefer to listen to the Tiny Desk [Concert] more than the studio album. It just sounds much more stripped down, like I'm in the room with them. That's my goal with the video direction—to make [the online audience] feel as if they are at a concert and their eyes are seeing what they’re hearing. You hear background vocals over here, so I want to go to that camera. Now the drummer is doing a cool drum fill, so I want to go to that camera. That’s how we present the shows, as if [the online audience] is right there with us…We definitely like to show people's faces, to show emotion. It’s important to see the person as much as it is to hear and see the music.

The items crammed into the shelves behind the desk are all signed and left by previous performers. What are some of your favorites?

The biggest one at the top-center is our orange Grateful Dead bear that Bob Weir left. The bear has since been adorned with various scarves and hats and things. I love him. I also love that Phish—known for jumping on trampolines at their concerts—brought a tiny trampoline that they signed and left on the shelf. I love that Action Bronson brought his own brand of olive oil. Babyface left a bottle of relish. Sometimes people just find something in their backpack, like a Chapstick or an expired license. We've had a couple of those, and a lot of guitar picks, a lot of hats. Sweatbands seem to be coming back. A lot of people leave a record. 

Do you have a sense of what the artists get out of performing in this small space?

I think it’s exciting for them to be that close to their audience. They're kind of letting us in on their basement rehearsal in a way. It gets quiet sometimes in between songs. It's not like a rowdy concert. I think that can make the artists a little bit nervous. Sometimes, after a show is over, we’ll say, “Okay everyone, back to work!” Most of the musicians may not realize that people are taking their lunch break to come watch Tiny Desk.

A lot of Tiny Desk performers aren’t exactly household names. How do you find them?

We have an internal pitch process, and there are three people who decide together what gets greenlit. They take input from the big team of music lovers at NPR Music. It takes a village. We have folks who pitch a lot of Latinx music. We have folks who do more classical, more R&B, more jazz. We pitch internally to each other. One of our big rules is you have to love the music. So Tiny Desk is basically a curation of our whole team. We want there to be a variety.

Which dream performer have you yet to get?

I would love to see Stevie Nicks. My daughter and I love to put on Fleetwood Mac albums and dance around the kitchen. Her voice is so iconic to me that I would love to see her sing in that setting. Hearing iconic voices that you've listened to your whole life singing in front of you is crazy without amplification. I'd also love to see Bob Dylan. I know that we've tried with Bruce Springsteen, and it just hasn't lined up.

What's next for you?

I'm just excited to keep producing, to be honest. I'm trying to keep dreaming of who I want to see and see if they want to come. I'm just going to keep letting the music speak for itself. That's a big part of the Tiny Desk vibe—just capturing it all as it's happening naturally…I just want folks to know how special it is for us to make this thing and have people like it. That's what keeps us going.