podfic meme

Aug 02, 2011 17:16

Here is a podfic meme that
paraka started up and has been making the rounds. :D

When did you first start podficcing?

According to my journal, I posted my first podfic in mid-2007. It's only been 4 years? Really? It seems like so long ago...

What would you say was your inspiration or motivation to start doing it?

Back in the day,
general_jinjur had a page on her website where she had archived a few SGA and Due South podfics, which then grew (and grew and grew). Anyway, I had never heard of them before, but fics read aloud? That I could then put on my iPod? And listen to at work?? AMAZING. I remember downloading, like, everything there. And at some point she told me that she wanted to make her own, and then we talked about me making one too, and then…we both made some! So that is my motivation for making podfic -- I thought they were awesome and Jinjur makes an excellent partner in crime.

But I really feel like I have been waiting for podfic my whole life. I grew up an only child and didn't have many kids around to play with, so I used to entertain myself by reciting and acting out my favourite movies in front of the tv screen and play acting with my stuffed animals sitting in for the Thundercats or the cast of She-Ra. I love reading, I love being read to, and my dad was always enthusiastic and animated when he read me books before bed. When my baby bro was old enough I in turn read to him in the same way -- whether it was performing the song in 'Love You Forever' or trying to do the accents and wand movements of Harry Potter, putting everything I had into a reading isn't something new to me. I did musical theatre in high school, too! I just really like telling stories, I really like making people feel the same way I do about a story or a character, and now I get to do it with fic and people actually carry my voice around with them. It's pretty much the coolest thing ever.

What fandoms have you podficced in?

Uhhhh hm, mostly Stargate: Atlantis, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Inception, Leverage. But also American Idol, Harry Potter, MacDonald Hall, Merlin, Skins, DCU, Lord of the Rings, Iron Man, NCIS, Supernatural, Transformers, Due South. Maybe others?

What was your favourite podfic to make or do?

Hm, I think The World Is Crumbling All Around Us, mostly because I don't remember having to record it a hundred times until I was happy, and because I loved doing Bruno's ridiculous lines like "MELVIN P. O'NEAL YOU ARE THE LIGHT OF MY LIFE ETC BRUNO WALTON". But I also really loved doing Jeannie in my two podfics that she appears in, Sailor's Delight and Five Lies John Told (and then a whole lotta truth), though the podficcing process as a whole for both of these was definitely more trying (I recorded Sailor's Delight something like 2.5 times due to technical difficulties, and it's pretty long -- and I'm pretty sure Five Lies was the first with a new mic set up and I had a few struggles with that one, too, but c'est la vie).

Where do you draw your inspiration from for podfic?

I'm not sure that I really know how to answer this question? I'm just trying to tell stories! For the characters I guess I start from canon and then try to figure out their voices from there. lunchymunchy inspired me to use GarageBand and do sound effects? But most of my inspiration is emotional, I suppose -- I try to figure out what a character is feeling, what their motivations for their dialogue and actions might be, and then try to project that. I think it tends to work?

What was your least favourite podfic to make or do?

Can I say one that I'm working on now? I have recorded this thing something like 4 times. 4 TIMES. It's like it DOESN'T WANT TO EXIST. I keep taking long breaks from working on it because it frustrates me so much! It is not the story, really, or even the characters (at least, not anymore -- I think after 4 serious run-throughs and countless practice runs that I have this thing down), but new technical issues crop up every. single. time. But I am going to conquer it, and THEN I SHALL BE KING.

Which podfic are you most proud of?

Time of Your Life, I guess? I'm not sure that I had listened to an AI7 podfic before recording this, or watched many interviews, so I went pretty much entirely on my own internal fanon when constructing the character voices. I also was really into the music and this is the first (and so far only) time I've used music in a podfic (intro and outro). I think this is the one that turned out the most like how it sounded in my head, so I feel like I created something that is really made up of everything I could pour into it. It's a little piece of me wandering around the internet!

What's the best feedback or comment you've ever gotten?

ALL OF THEM. Okay, well, to sort of actually answer the question, I think my favourite is the kind that say 'I'm not in this fandom but I like your readings so I listened to this anyway'. That someone would try a whole new fandom just because I made something in it? Wow. Blows me away every time! I've also gotten some 'listening to this podfic made me [consume] the [source]', and 'I hated [the source] but I listened to this and I liked it'. ;___; GROUP HUG!

What's your opinion on music in podfic?

I definitely have the opinion that you should podfic however you want to podfic! Though I do think creating a non-music option is the best thing to do if you have talking over music as that can be inaccessible to some listeners.

Preference-wise, obviously everyone's got different opinions/likes/dislikes, so all of this is worth a grain of salt, but personally, I like intro and outro music provided they aren't so long that I lose attention (with outro music I can skip it, so that's not really a big deal), and I don't like scene break music unless they are used sparingly. I extremely dislike intro music that is before any words (ie: the title of the story) because I always wonder if there's been a mix-up and a song was uploaded in error. No really, it happens to me every single time. I'm sure it's a lot easier to put the music at the beginning! But it is so confusing and frustrating to me. :(

Favourite genre to podfic to (comedy, angst, romance, drama, AU)?

I'm going to say comedy, but I don't think I do it well in audio form. I'm better at angst, I think, but I find it exhausting. Lol WHAT ARE THESE EMOTIONS.

Favourite fandom(s) and/or pairing(s) to podfic in?

AHAHA. Uh. Right now Inception, I guess? But I would looooove to do more Harry Potter! There needs to be more Harry/Draco podfics ffs! And I think about doing more AI7 because I do love Archie's voice…

What just drives you up the wall when it comes to podfic?

Other than my issue with music at the very beginning of podfic (I just get so confused! D:) I mostly get driven up the wall by meta. Unsurprisingly. I have opinions, okay? Especially when they're offensive and held by people who don't know anything about podfic. And I also really don't like how I always feel like a second-class citizen in my fandom because I don't create in the same way that nearly everyone else does. PODFIC ARTISTS HAVE FEELINGS TOO, OKAY?

What’s your podfic recording set up like?

Um, I sit on a pillow on the living room floor and pull my coffee table close to me. I put my laptop on it and my standing mic sits beside it but not in front of me. I have two windows open: one with GarageBand and the other with Safari on reader mode. And I have a GIANT glass or bottle of water with me to help me swallow (when I talk a lot, I get a really wet mouth and it actually sounds full in my recording. I KNOW, GROSS, RIGHT?). I record when my fridge has decided it has finished running (they're usually about 30 minute bursts, but sometimes I get lucky and they're nearly an hour). And then I usually edit whenever I don't feel like doing anything else, otherwise I get distracted by fic/television/Tumblr and have to listen through my edits three or four times because - OH LOOK SHINY!

What is your latest project or idea for your next podfic (if your muse isn't dead)?

AHAHAHA. Uh, I am working on some things for ae_match, and of course I've got that podfic that refuses to live (soon you will be mine, precious). I have a lot of Inception stuff I want to record (and at least two that I was supposed to do a while ago and…haven't yet oh god I'm sorry Penny), but also some DCU (mostly Reconcilable Differences) and Drastically Redefining Protocol (ugh I keep pushing it back) and yeah totally some H/D yesssss --

Uh, basically I want to make ALL THE PODFIC. And I am shit at organizing my time, unfortunately. :(

Finally, what kind of words of wisdom would you offer someone who wants to podfic/is a newbie?

If you want to do it, do it. Don't be shy! We want to hear your voice no matter who you are or where you're from. <3

cross-posted from dreamwidth, please comment over there. existing comments:

podficcing, meme

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