I love Goldwave editor from 6 years ago. It's like the Photoshop of audio editing.

Settings that work for voice recording:

NOTE: Cover computer with pillow! --reduces hiss.


A. 'Noise Reduction' default settings. --may not work!

B. 'Noise Reduction' -- Hiss Removal preset --may give weird tonality!

C. 'Noise Reduction' -- Light Hiss Removal preset

D. 'Noise Reduction' -- Hiss Removal preset, and point Y -80, "use current spectrum" reduction envelope -- sounds very much like the others when one of the others works properly.

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

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!

Things I've Learned From Recording Fanfics Aloud

1. Slow down.
2. Cough drops! Water! Tea! Cough drops!
3. Voices are hard.
4. Apparently I'm very soft-spoken in my normal voice, and volume needs to be added in the editing process.
5. Cover my computer tower with blankets and a pillow to block sound! ...but leave the fan open in the back or it will catch fire.
6. Close the window, too.
7. Better to do wacky voices and recite kissing scenes when no one else is in the house to hear you and ask embarrassing questions.
8. Cough drops!
9. Goldwave is my fav audio program ever, ever, ever.
10. Noise Reduction>pre-set>light hiss removal>adjust to Y-88.00
11. Noise Reduction>use clipboard> sample CNTL+C from hiss-only 1 second, also for whine.
12. Take gaps between paragraphs to allow for water, cough drops, and ease in the editing process later.
13. Let my normal voice narrate. Penny is slightly higher, while Sheldon talks in abrupt stops and starts with a more flat tone across the board, unless he's pulling a Barney moment.
14. Don't slip into a sing-song pattern. Stop slightly after each sentence and treat it as its own.
15. When you record something aloud, every run-on sentence makes itself known to you, and you realize no amount of 'artistic' liberality will excuse that kind of thing. Your high school teacher was right. (Unless you're Jane Austen.)
16. I average 100-120 words a minute.

17. The loose and arty story structure favored by many fanfic authors on LJ just does not work on audio, I'm finding. Straightforward narrative is a lot easier, because when listening to the audio format you don't have the visual cues from paragraph style (or lack thereof) to give you hints like you do in the text format.