podfic yay

[sophinisba]

I feel so relieved that I've now filled two squares on my kink_bingo card, even if they aren't in the same line. I don't know how writing is going to go and I might not finish a bingo by August, but it's already such a nice feeling to have done that...other minimum (not that I would be in trouble if I didn't produce anything, but still). Sort of like when you're writing for a fest and you're nowhere near done with the fic but at least you've made the required 300 or 500 or 1000 words. I'm also excited that meri_sefket and baranduin are talking about giving podfic a try for their bingos too.

See there is this part of me that feels like I'm "cheating" by filling my squares this way because I ought to be writing new fics myself. But I am not feeling that kind of creativity right now and also recording is just as challenging for me, I think, just in a different way. I also get a real kick out of drawing attention to fics that I like, so right now I'm thinking about favorites and going, "Darn, too bad they don't fit any squares on my card!" but maybe I'll go ahead and record some of them anyway.

I'm so pleased that it's actually getting easier. Ignoring quite a few abandoned attempts, the first podfic I did was about a minute long, and the second one was five minutes, and the third was 17 minutes, and I feel like each one took about the same amount of time and work. That makes me hopeful that I can go for something longer soon, especially since as a listener I much prefer the longer ones. I don't think I'm getting any better at reading, but the editing's getting way easier with practice, and there's also, like...accepting that I'm going to trip over my words a lot and that the editing's going to be tedious and time-consuming and that's okay, that's helped me relax and enjoy it more.

Speaking of editing, I've been using GarageBand even though I know most people (including Mac users) prefer Audacity. I've tried using Audacity a few times but it crashed unexpectedly, which made me want to cry. Convince me, though, Audacity fans! I would like to know your experiences with this. I would also like to have any kind of technical talk, like about filters or ways of smoothing over edits or any of that. Or even if you don't know the programs but have just listened, if you would like the volume to be higher or have them labeled differently I'd like to know. I guess for the moment I would rather not talk about pacing and accents and whether I'm acting too much or not enough because, like I said, just starting to build up confidence here (and still cringing every time I hear myself say the word "arse"!). :D

I actually felt really inspired by this post about podfic that general_jinjur made the other day, even though I'm sad that it was prompted by pennyplainknits's (one of my favorite readers omg) posting about her recent loss of confidence. I love what Jinjurly says about our diversity of ways of speaking and recording. And the talk about bodies and judgment and all is...yeah, I don't think I want to get into it very much here, but I felt a lot of YES when I read that. ETA: Lots of wonderful comments on that post too. /ETA

I want to say more about my kink_bingo plans and also possibly something about hc_bingo (though mostly I'm just doing my best to tamp down my defensiveness and read that discussion with an open mind) but also I want to end this post and go out for a walk (and then watch some more Doctor Who and record some more kinky Gwen/Morgana), so maybe I will make another post later.

Comments

[thingswithwings]

yay for KB podfic! oh my gosh, I'm so excited about the number of people doing podfic for bingo squares this year. :D

also, I am a mac user here to say that I am NOT a fan of Audacity, because I think it is a bizarre and crappy program that laughs in the face of user-friendliness. But the thing is, it's free, so. I use Sound Studio, which I actually paid money for, and I love it beyond the telling of it. I am not so great at audio editing yet (mostly I do it painstakingly by hand and by ear), but I will hope that other people comment here with their tips and tricks!

[sophinisba]

Audacity definitely had me tearing my hair out the times I tried using it, but then so did GarageBand at first (and sometimes still, like when it ate my only take of the end of the fic the other night and I had to go back and rerecord bah). I keep seeing people say that more people use it but not explanations as to why, but maybe someone will tell me!

Also I have a kb question but I suppose I should ask it at the rules post rather than here!

[meri]

and still cringing every time I hear myself say the word "arse"!

Haha, yes. Because my American accent does not do the word justice. But screw it, it says "arse" on the page, I'll say arse.

I'm realizing that while I don't mind my own voice...much (I have a very Californian accent and I never noticed before) I do slur my words a bit. I'm trying to remember every enunciation technique I've ever learned to speak the damn words in a way that a listener can clearly hear them.

I also get a real kick out of drawing attention to fics that I like

I think that's one of the reason I'm getting into this. I really like reccing stuff, so reading it out loud becomes another way to point people to fics that I really enjoy. Too bad I tend to like the 20k+ fics. That's a lot of podficcing work right there.

[sophinisba]

And it's compounded because like, I know the word "arse" sounds stupid in my accent so that makes me say it in this embarrassed tone of voice that makes it sound even worse. And listening later I hear these little hesitations before I say "bum" and "entrance" too, but it's not a big enough deal to make me want to record it again so...eh, what are ya gonna do. I am learning!

But yes, the reccing thing. I am feeling happy about it and kind of shocked that Mia said she's never been podficced before, 'cause so many of her fics are the first ones I think of for their pairing. And besides reccing others it's fun going back and looking at my old fics and realizing, whoa, I used to write some kinky stuff back in 2006, which gives me some new confidence for the new kinky stories I want to do this summer.

(20k+ totally scares me though. At this point 3k scares me.)

[briar_pipe]

...I actually love Garageband over Audacity. Editing is easier, control over new tracks is easier, and I have a dozen fine-tuned filters I created for my own voice to adjust for different distances from the mic and different reading styles. I even have a "someone is running the dryer, dammit" filter. Garageband, at least the old version, is kind of awesome and easy to use.