Audiofic / Podfic | Big Bang Theory | S/P | various authors!

[timepiececlock]

Last Friday sheldon_penny had a special event for Fiction Friday, where they challenged the comm members to write 50 drabbles in 24 hours. We did it, it was a blast, and many people put out two or three offerings. I did some on page 1 and page 2, personally. The challenge themes were homecoming and future.

Out of that event, I decided to record one of irrel's very few fanfics onto audio podfic format, after she encouraged me insanely to try recording my own. After I gave it a try, I realized how fun it was, and now I'm kind of addicted. I've made several podfics over the weekend and today, mostly of other people but a couple of my own as well. I've gotten better at reading (you'll notice the differences in the links below), and just tonight I figured out how to remove hiss and have a clean background for the audio files! ...This actually makes me very excited, which shows how geeky I am. Anyway, it's kinda tiring for my voice. I have new respect for voice actors and narrators! ...I'm drinking a lot of tea and sucking on cough drops.


FANDOM: The Big Bang Theory
PAIRING: Penny/Sheldon

Title: "Just Dessert" [abridged]
Author: patronuscharms
Spoilers: mild post-season 2 finale
Notes: The final 2 parts of Patronus's 4-part fic. | Parts 1-2, text
Rating: PG-13
Time: 06:45 min
Text version: Parts 3-4
Summary: Penny and Sheldon experiment in baking. Fun times!

Title: "Both Perfect and Promising"
Author: sinstralpride
Spoilers: season 2 finale
Rating: G
Time: 02:30 min
Text version: here
Summary: His homecoming was both grand and humble.

Title: "A Blanket and A Purpose"
Author: irrel
Spoilers: season 2 finale
Rating: G
Time: 02:00 min
Text version: here
Summary: Penny has something she's been holding onto for 3 whole months.

Title: "I'm Your Density"
Author: fujiidom
Spoilers: none
Rating: G
Time: 03:30 min
Text version: here
Summary: Sheldon and Penny watch Back to the Future. Fun times!

Title: "Homecoming"
Author: deludedvision
Spoilers: none
Rating: G
Time: 02:30 min
Text version: here
Summary: The first time Sheldon Cooper finds himself on a ranch in Omaha, Nebraska, it's with Penny's hand in his.


So far I've limited myself to BBT fanfic and have been practicing the voices for those characters. (The ones I'll post tomorrow are probably the best example of impressions.) But after I'm comfortable with these I'll probably experiment with other fandoms!

Comments

[rainjewel.livejournal.com]

This looks so cool. I remember there was a movement back in the day (which was probably quite a while ago, given my here and there ljing) where people were encouraged to record their fanfic (or other people's, with permission) and upload them for the fandom. I never did it (lack of recording equipment/mp3 player/time, etc.,) but now I am tempted, but...how hard is it?

(Okay, so really I just want to play Dr. McCoy and give my hand at a southern growl, but c'mon.)

Also, I have bad telephone voice. How did this not make you neurotic? I'm neurotic just thinking about it.

/rambles

Need coffee.

[rashaka.livejournal.com]

but now I am tempted, but...how hard is it?

It's not hard at all. I think that's why I like it--it's really, really easy. I just sat in a non-squeaky chair, tried to limit any background noises, and read my monitor. =D

Steps:

1. My Creative Zen mp3 player has a microphone that records as wav files. I sit and record, pausing sometimes to take drinks of water, or just taking the drink of water/cough whatever with the intention of cutting it out later.

2. I drag & drop the wav file from my Zen onto my hard drive.

3. I open the wav file in an editing program (Goldwave, which you can message me about if you're interested), and still in wav form, I cut & paste sections of the audio track. It's easy to use. I cut out messed-up parts and deep breathing moments and anything weird. I also try to cut down the length between paragraphs so they flow together in an even and pleasant pace. This step takes the longest, since I mess up often and there's a lot to cut out.

4. I use Goldwave's effects to get rid of background noise/hiss/hum.

5. I save the file as an mp3, then I open it in iTunes and add track name/artist/album tags. I delete the wav file and keep it just in mp3 format. I like to save them as 192 bitrate, when I remember to.


It takes me maybe 10 minutes to record a 4 minute thing, then takes me 'bout half an hour to edit it down and clean it up. Pretty fast. The biggest hurdle has been learning how to pace my reading and enunciate all the wrods, but I figure that's good speech practice in general. =) Also, remembering to take deep breaths between paragraphs and have liquid around to drink.

(Okay, so really I just want to play Dr. McCoy and give my hand at a southern growl, but c'mon.)

I'd love to hear it! I haven't tried ST yet; I don't know how I'd handle McCoy. Sheldon has a faint Texas accent, but I'm not able to really get that, so I try to focus on other aspects of his speech pattern. When I didn't know how to say something, or couldn't hear it in my head, I watched a few youtube clicks of the show to remind myself.


My other post on it has some variety of tips that I've figured out the last four days. One thing I do think is that it's important to give the characters their own voices. Even if it's a small change--Penny's voice is very close to mine, for example, just a little higher and girlier--it makes a world of difference, especially in dialogue scenes. It's also word pacing as much as accent or pitch. People just speak at different verbal patterns.

Anyway, I'm making it sound too difficult! It's actually easy. I did a 2 long drabbles before I had my third one which I felt confident sharing with others.

Let me know if you like any of the ones here! I can always use suggestions, myself.