How We Podfic
There are so many ways to create podfic and so many ways to listen. We might engage with podfic curled up in bed, in our closet, while commuting or at the gym, in our bathroom with makeshift soundproofing. To find out more information on podfic and how we podfic, check out Pod Aware on DW, LJ or Tumblr.
Podaware is on and it looks like it'll be a lovely week of interesting commentary! :) So far it's been fun to read the various posts I've seen people writing about their own process. Partly through that, and through listening to other podficcers talk at a recent convention, I've become aware recently of how many styles of podficcing there are. I hadn't really thought about this before, but I figure I'll explain my own practice, since it's both similar, and different from what others have said.
I am, in essence a lazy, slightly over-achieving, but definitely committed podficcer. I use garage band on my Macbook Pro. I know people swear by Audacity, but I've also heard it crashes on macs and garage band quits on me enough. I suck at saving and about every 2nd long fic I have to record chunks of 15 minutes or more. I hate that. And yet I still don't get better at saving.
I record various places, generally somewhere comfortable. currently that is with my laptop perched on the back of the love seat, leaning into the cushions of the back of the couch. I have to flip sides every hour or so or risk totally pissing off my back. Perviously my recording position was to sit on the couch in my parents house with my laptop balanced on my thighs/knees. I use my laptop's built in microphone. A friend kindly bought me a microphone for my birthday (hand held, karaoke style) and I use it on occasion, but it's more sensitive than my computer and gives me hissing white-noise I dislike when using it in quiet rooms. I record ~ 1 day a week at this point. The day I have my parents house or my space to myself. If I'm at my parents I still have to contend with a very chatty cat, which unfortunately often means locking her in the basement which is a sad state for all of us. I try and get her to shut up and sleep on my lap/next to me, but with the microphone in the computer it can get complicated. Also, my laptop can get very hot. I discovered this by really burning my legs with it this summer from recording while wearing shorts. But keeping the laptop balanced on my legs keeps it mostly in the cooler air and means the fan doesn't come on so much, so there are trade offs for the discomfort.
I edit while I read. I've tried editing later but it doesn't work for me. Sometimes I'll fix a very specific problem if I hear it in the recording, but honestly for the most part, I record something and don't listen to it until months after it's posted. While recording if I screw up I stop, take a breath run the line aloud and then continue recording from the point just before the mess up. Sometimes I'll run multiple takes of a line and see which one I like best, but 85% of the time when I finish a podfic it is done, ready for press. I record somewhere between 15 minutes to 8 hours at a stretch. I do have to stop for meals occasionally, but just as often I can forget them. Inherently long fics will have shift in background sound or the tone of my voice, but I like to get at least half an hour contiguously, and often go for 1-2 hours. I honestly don't stop for water much, because it will change the sound of my voice. I have only recorded myself hoarse once or twice and mostly that's from pitching a voice at something totally unsustainable. Which brings me to the other point that I find fun, and perhaps unique about podfic.
I inherently do voices. They come out in the text, when an author has a great grasp of character, and I love reading that way. This does mean that even if it's unintentional I tend to start doing them. At this point I try and do them intentionally so that there's some consistency. This can be hard to maintain over a long period of time, so I'm sure there are some of my longer works where I'm not entirely consistent. The only voices I can pull out at the drop of the hat at this point are probably the Gundam Wing boys because they are my baby's and I've been doing them enough, with enough gaps in recording that I've basically got them down. Due to my roommates prompting we found out I can pull Stiles and Derek out of thin air for others amusement, at least at the moment. And of course my Miria Harvent is very specific, annoying, and something I can do any time I don't have a cold. Not everybody does voices, some people do small affectations, but nothing immediately noticeable, some people go even further than I do and do accents. I do not do accents, I suck at accents.
I have done an accent other than my own fairly standard North American accent once in a fic, and it was by accident because I was channeling my mother (very light southern accent). I think I am probably the only one who notices. So unless I read a fic written in dialect I suspect I am unlikely to do anything with accents, ever. I do try and read foreign words in the correct pronunciation for which I'm deeply greatful to forvo.com for giving me all the auditory pronunciations I could want. Sometimes I have to ask a friend who speaks the language to get something right, but I do try and make that effort (even though I'm sure my past stabs at Czech, Russian, and French have been really laughable). I have enough school training for reasonable Spanish and if I know the words I'm confident of my Japanese (or I could as my roommate who actually has fluency from living in Japan). For the most part I try to avoid fics with long stretches of foreign dialogue or words, but I won't not record a podfic if I find one I want to with those elements.
Once I've finished recording, I save and export the mp3 file, then get it up somewhere online. It takes me a while to get a post out the door though, generally. I have a posting template at hand and it's fairly easy to fill out but it does take time. Generally this is the point I realize I forgot to read warnings (I'm still getting used to adding that into my practice, but it's a good idea). I get a post all formatted to go and then I wait until I have enough time to actually post it. Posting involves posting to Amplificathon on both DW and LJ and to whatever fandom specific coms I might be involved in and to my own podfic com and to AO3. I haven't started posting to tumblr yet because I'm not sure how I feel about it as a distribution service since I personally haven't mastered tumblr yet and don't know how well I could follow a post there. AO3 however has the wonderful addition of kudos and is just a wonderful place that I'm ready to call home at this point. Then once the podfic's all together and posted I go find the comment where the author said I could podfic their story, or the email, whatever and link them back to the Amplificathon post and call it a day.
All that points out the fact that I skipped that original process. I do ask every author whether I can podfic their work, sometimes even if they're on the Blanket Permission list, if I've forgot to ask first. I'll send out messages in batch, the basically are all some variation on "that was great/enjoyable/I loved this story, may I make a podfic of it?" I think I might used to have more words in that question but that's basically what it always boils down to so I just go with the lean, direct statement. I think 80% of the time I get back a yes fairly quickly and the other 20 is divided between the people I never hear back from, the folks who aren't interested, and those who are but get back to me months or years late (best kind of surprise ever!, if you're an author don't let the possibility of a tardy reply stop you from granting permission, I will be so happy to receive it, it's like Christmas). The majority of the time when I ask for permission to podfic I don't wait for a response to get on that, sometimes I ask for permission after I've recorded something. The only case where I really don't record before I get an answer is in the instance of super long podfics I know are going to take me time and an investment that wouldn't be okay if I didn't have the go-ahead. However, for small podfics, I figure I'll listen to them anyway, I'll enjoy them and enjoy recording them. The author has no control over what I do in my own space on my own computer and ipod and what they don't know will never be a problem because I'm the only one who'll enjoy it, doesn't matter if they say 'no'.
So that, in essence is how I podfic: sitting on a couch, talking to my computer, scrolling through a fic (minimized to half the screen with the garageband as the other half the screen so I can keep an eye on both), attempting to placate my cat, or with the minifridge unplugged, the heat turned down and the fan turned off so there's just the sound of my laptop to contend with, editing as I go, making various voices, generally with companying gesticulation, and enjoying this mode of art/fandom participation I love so dearly.
Podaware is on and it looks like it'll be a lovely week of interesting commentary! :) So far it's been fun to read the various posts I've seen people writing about their own process. Partly through that, and through listening to other podficcers talk at a recent convention, I've become aware recently of how many styles of podficcing there are. I hadn't really thought about this before, but I figure I'll explain my own practice, since it's both similar, and different from what others have said.
I am, in essence a lazy, slightly over-achieving, but definitely committed podficcer. I use garage band on my Macbook Pro. I know people swear by Audacity, but I've also heard it crashes on macs and garage band quits on me enough. I suck at saving and about every 2nd long fic I have to record chunks of 15 minutes or more. I hate that. And yet I still don't get better at saving.
I record various places, generally somewhere comfortable. currently that is with my laptop perched on the back of the love seat, leaning into the cushions of the back of the couch. I have to flip sides every hour or so or risk totally pissing off my back. Perviously my recording position was to sit on the couch in my parents house with my laptop balanced on my thighs/knees. I use my laptop's built in microphone. A friend kindly bought me a microphone for my birthday (hand held, karaoke style) and I use it on occasion, but it's more sensitive than my computer and gives me hissing white-noise I dislike when using it in quiet rooms. I record ~ 1 day a week at this point. The day I have my parents house or my space to myself. If I'm at my parents I still have to contend with a very chatty cat, which unfortunately often means locking her in the basement which is a sad state for all of us. I try and get her to shut up and sleep on my lap/next to me, but with the microphone in the computer it can get complicated. Also, my laptop can get very hot. I discovered this by really burning my legs with it this summer from recording while wearing shorts. But keeping the laptop balanced on my legs keeps it mostly in the cooler air and means the fan doesn't come on so much, so there are trade offs for the discomfort.
I edit while I read. I've tried editing later but it doesn't work for me. Sometimes I'll fix a very specific problem if I hear it in the recording, but honestly for the most part, I record something and don't listen to it until months after it's posted. While recording if I screw up I stop, take a breath run the line aloud and then continue recording from the point just before the mess up. Sometimes I'll run multiple takes of a line and see which one I like best, but 85% of the time when I finish a podfic it is done, ready for press. I record somewhere between 15 minutes to 8 hours at a stretch. I do have to stop for meals occasionally, but just as often I can forget them. Inherently long fics will have shift in background sound or the tone of my voice, but I like to get at least half an hour contiguously, and often go for 1-2 hours. I honestly don't stop for water much, because it will change the sound of my voice. I have only recorded myself hoarse once or twice and mostly that's from pitching a voice at something totally unsustainable. Which brings me to the other point that I find fun, and perhaps unique about podfic.
I inherently do voices. They come out in the text, when an author has a great grasp of character, and I love reading that way. This does mean that even if it's unintentional I tend to start doing them. At this point I try and do them intentionally so that there's some consistency. This can be hard to maintain over a long period of time, so I'm sure there are some of my longer works where I'm not entirely consistent. The only voices I can pull out at the drop of the hat at this point are probably the Gundam Wing boys because they are my baby's and I've been doing them enough, with enough gaps in recording that I've basically got them down. Due to my roommates prompting we found out I can pull Stiles and Derek out of thin air for others amusement, at least at the moment. And of course my Miria Harvent is very specific, annoying, and something I can do any time I don't have a cold. Not everybody does voices, some people do small affectations, but nothing immediately noticeable, some people go even further than I do and do accents. I do not do accents, I suck at accents.
I have done an accent other than my own fairly standard North American accent once in a fic, and it was by accident because I was channeling my mother (very light southern accent). I think I am probably the only one who notices. So unless I read a fic written in dialect I suspect I am unlikely to do anything with accents, ever. I do try and read foreign words in the correct pronunciation for which I'm deeply greatful to forvo.com for giving me all the auditory pronunciations I could want. Sometimes I have to ask a friend who speaks the language to get something right, but I do try and make that effort (even though I'm sure my past stabs at Czech, Russian, and French have been really laughable). I have enough school training for reasonable Spanish and if I know the words I'm confident of my Japanese (or I could as my roommate who actually has fluency from living in Japan). For the most part I try to avoid fics with long stretches of foreign dialogue or words, but I won't not record a podfic if I find one I want to with those elements.
Once I've finished recording, I save and export the mp3 file, then get it up somewhere online. It takes me a while to get a post out the door though, generally. I have a posting template at hand and it's fairly easy to fill out but it does take time. Generally this is the point I realize I forgot to read warnings (I'm still getting used to adding that into my practice, but it's a good idea). I get a post all formatted to go and then I wait until I have enough time to actually post it. Posting involves posting to Amplificathon on both DW and LJ and to whatever fandom specific coms I might be involved in and to my own podfic com and to AO3. I haven't started posting to tumblr yet because I'm not sure how I feel about it as a distribution service since I personally haven't mastered tumblr yet and don't know how well I could follow a post there. AO3 however has the wonderful addition of kudos and is just a wonderful place that I'm ready to call home at this point. Then once the podfic's all together and posted I go find the comment where the author said I could podfic their story, or the email, whatever and link them back to the Amplificathon post and call it a day.
All that points out the fact that I skipped that original process. I do ask every author whether I can podfic their work, sometimes even if they're on the Blanket Permission list, if I've forgot to ask first. I'll send out messages in batch, the basically are all some variation on "that was great/enjoyable/I loved this story, may I make a podfic of it?" I think I might used to have more words in that question but that's basically what it always boils down to so I just go with the lean, direct statement. I think 80% of the time I get back a yes fairly quickly and the other 20 is divided between the people I never hear back from, the folks who aren't interested, and those who are but get back to me months or years late (best kind of surprise ever!, if you're an author don't let the possibility of a tardy reply stop you from granting permission, I will be so happy to receive it, it's like Christmas). The majority of the time when I ask for permission to podfic I don't wait for a response to get on that, sometimes I ask for permission after I've recorded something. The only case where I really don't record before I get an answer is in the instance of super long podfics I know are going to take me time and an investment that wouldn't be okay if I didn't have the go-ahead. However, for small podfics, I figure I'll listen to them anyway, I'll enjoy them and enjoy recording them. The author has no control over what I do in my own space on my own computer and ipod and what they don't know will never be a problem because I'm the only one who'll enjoy it, doesn't matter if they say 'no'.
So that, in essence is how I podfic: sitting on a couch, talking to my computer, scrolling through a fic (minimized to half the screen with the garageband as the other half the screen so I can keep an eye on both), attempting to placate my cat, or with the minifridge unplugged, the heat turned down and the fan turned off so there's just the sound of my laptop to contend with, editing as I go, making various voices, generally with companying gesticulation, and enjoying this mode of art/fandom participation I love so dearly.