NaNaPooPoo, or whatever.

So, I signed up the other day for National Podcast Post Month, or NaPodPoMo. The name threw me, at first -- wondered what "NaPooPooMo" might be. (Need new glasses.)

NaPodPoMo is an idea inspired by NaNoWriMo, the National Novel Writing Month, I think that is. Writers pledge to write X thousand words every day for an entire month. Arguably, one could complete a novel in a month that way. And writers support each other in meeting their goals every day, which is rather hard, like anything else you have to decide to do on your own.

National Podcast Post Month requires a podcaster (like me) to produce at least one podcast every day, for all 31 days in November. On the face of it, this seems like a Good Thing. Podcasting is somewhat related to writing, depending on what you're podcasting. Some of it IS writing, of course.

Now I'm having second thoughts, at least on how to do this right.

Do I do much shorter shows, so I can manage to come up with 31 days of worthwhile (cough, cough) content? The case could be made that my shows are too long anyway, so it'd be an improvement, nu?

Would it count if I did 31 episodes of "Stories from the Hiber-Nation?" That would only require recording and editing; I wouldn't need to actually write that many shows. But that's not doing 31 days of my original "Grizzly's Growls" podcast. That would -definitely- require shorter shows, and at least one IDSL tune for each show.

And do I get to count both "Grizzly's Growls" and "Stories from the Hiber-Nation" shows? I'd think so, but I want to abide by the spirit of NaNaPooPoo, or whatever. (I think NaNoWriMo sounds much better and is easier to say. Am I wrong? I think it should be called NaPodWriMo, because podcasting requires writing, too, I think.)

And considering my next Grizzly's Growls will be show 70, I'd be producing Episode 100 some time during NaPodPoMo. Is that a Good Thing, or a Bad Thing?

Given I normally have no idea what I'm going to talk about on GG, doesn't that necessarily reduce the quality of the shows? Is producing 31 days of Mindless Drivel sufficient to the spirit of the event?

Don't ask me, I ave no idea. Anybody have any thoughts?

A good idea, a bad explanation

Had part of an idea the other day. A friend came up with the other part.

I usually end up recording my podcast in my bedroom. That's fine, I suppose, it's the space I have available. But when one does audio recording, it's best to have an accoustically "dead" space -- no hard flat walls to bounce sounds around and create a hollow, echo-ey quality. I just don't have such a space to use.

I mentioned to an old friend that it'd be nice if I could use some space down at the Duluth Art Institute. Didn't expect much, just a quieter room than my own. He pointed out that, after all, a decent audio recording space would be good for the DAI, too; they could record their own, arts-related podcasts, as well as hosting the handful of local non-commercial podcasters.

So I brought our idea -- mostly my friend's idea -- to someone I know from way back, who knows more about the DAI than I do, he seemed to have the impression I was talking about something like one of those fancy studios they use for recording albums and what-not, the ones you see on TV with all the big mixing hardware and a 24-track recording system and boom mikes and whatnot, and thought I needed to put together a powerpoint presentation to sell the idea to the DAI.

Well, that ain't happening. Me making a presentation like that is as likely as me skipping naked across the Lift Bridge. I just don't have the visual background to create such a presentation. I don't know diddly about the large-scale recording hardware he was thinking about. And I wasn't even thinking in those terms. I guess I just don't do well explaining things off-the-cuff.

Most podcasts are recorded in whatever room the producer has available. If they have the freedom and the space, they may staple some foam rubber on the walls, to cut down on echo. I heard the other day that Seth Harwood, creator of the Jack Palms audio novels (and now a published author), recorded the first in the series in a room with sleeping bags nailed to the walls to create that dead space.

And most podcasts are recorded with a microphone plugged into a computer, and, well, that's it. Free editing software. No elaborate mixing hardware. I'm pretty much on the bleeding edge of run-of-the-mill podcasters at least, with my Samson Zoom H2 Handy Recorder. For what it is, it's a pretty impressive piece of hardware. And it fits in my pocket and runs off of two AA batteries.

So I apparently explained the idea badly. But I still think the idea is good. For people like me, the space would be valuable. And I think the DAI could use it in the way my friend thought of, producing their own podcasts on arts-related stuff. Even without the expensive hardware. Even if they track down a bunch of used sleeping bags to nail to the walls. They could spend more, sure. But more expensive doesn't always mean better, and isn't always necessary.

If anybody from the Institute ever reads this, maybe they'll consider the idea. If not, I suppose it'll never happen.

Too bad, too.

If only I could explain things better.