Have I mentioned I have a podcast? It’s called Caterpillar Goo: Tales of Transformation, and the idea is that like a caterpillar in a chrysalis, we’re all in a state of change, constantly going through something that is shaping who we are. It’s been an ongoing project for the past year and a half or two years, and every single episode is a huge learning experience. It’s a collaboration with Flora, though not quite as much of a collaboration as it used to be. She doesn’t have the time, or I think the love for the process, that I do. She is very good at pushing the editing to the next level, though. When I have fallen in love with the story and don’t want to cut another word, she comes through with clear-eyed delete, delete, delete.
For me this is one of those experiences that I fall into in such a way that I lose time. It was like that when I first learned how to use FileMaker, too. I poured myself into learning scripting and calculation techniques, working on layouts, learning how to make it jump and dance. Now I’m doing the same thing with the podcast. The equipment has improved, but we’re still working on a very small budget. I’ve learned how to mix multiple tracks, including adding music for emotional effect. Each episode is better than the last, I feel, with clear improvements in the editing of the recording to make a meaningful story arc, the recording and audio editing and mixing, and the selection and integration of music and sound effects. The latest episode was an exploration of normalizing volume levels as the subject, Steve, varied his speaking volume quite a bit and tended to lean further away from the microphone the longer we talked. I loved that! I love to work out puzzles, solve problems I didn’t even know existed until I have them right in front of me. It’s daunting trying to learn so many different skills at once, but I’ve loved nearly every minute of it. Except that one time I didn’t latch the trunk of my car and lost my recorder and microphones on the road. Oops.
Check it out. My conversation with Steve Birch is the latest episode, and it’s the 2nd in a series exploring alternative idea of masculinity.
