lunchee | Night pages: It's my journal and I'll cheat if I want to. (Reply)

Today’s night pages is actually me cheating a little bit, by using some writing I had already written out earlier today (it still counts!) I was left a comment on one of my podfics asking how long I spend on my podfics and what kind of prep I do beforehand. This is the (extended) response:

I guess the short of it is I spend anywhere from 2.5x - 5x the completed length of the podfic. Other podficcers take shorter or longer to produce their work - I think the most awe inspiring figure I've seen was one reader who takes up to 10x the completed length of the podfic! That's extreme dedication to your craft, I think.

For me, if it’s more towards the 2.5x end of the spectrum, this usually means the project is easy in terms of sound production, because I’ve chosen to not fiddle around with effects or multiple tracks beyond a bit of music I’ve chosen to go with the podfic as an intro/outro and story break.

If it’s towards the 5x end of the spectrum, that means I’ve made a lot of mistakes with the text and had to re-record until I’ve found it to be of a passable quality. It also probably means as I’ve recorded it, I’ve bumped into a scenario that might require multiple tracks or sound effects in the background, such as telephone calls, simultaneous dialogue, echoing, psychic ability, etc. A lot of that extended time is dedicated to trying to work out the best combination of effects that I’m happy will convey what I want it to convey, or trying to find the right sound effect on various sfx websites. There may also be problematic emotional scenes, such as fights or confrontations which requires a bit of playing around before I get the tone or impact I’m happy with. And the motherload of all difficult scenes that I endlessly re-record is, of course, the sexy times.

Usual preparation phase:

do nothing with the story text,
choose appropriate song to fit the story to use as story breaks,
look up the story's warnings and triggers to record at the beginning of the podfic, and then begin podficcing the story itself.

This can take from 5 to 30mins depending on how picky I am about song choices.

A lot of readers do actual test runs, read throughs, or annotate the story for particular lines they want to place emphasis on. Some also annotate the dialogue, so that they can visually prepare to inhabit different characters. I'm more of a cold reader, because I don't think I can be organic if I've gone through the text too many times. Also I'm lazy, so usually when I sit down to podfic I won't have read the text for a good while beforehand, so it’s basically a cold read. I’m lucky in that I don’t find it hard to get into rhythm for the narration or character dialogue, because I have a clear image of who the character is and what their goals are. It’s easy for me to access them once I think about their personalities and how they try to present themselves.

Usual recording process:

Record from the start to the first story break
Go back and listen through. Adjust timing, or re-record when there are mistakes, or the nuance isn’t quite right.
Slap on the already prepared story break music and record the next segment up to the next story break.
Rinse and repeat until the end of fic.

Some readers choose to record non-linearly, but I don’t enjoy the idea of it, even if it’s not a chronological story. I haven’t worked out the mechanics of how or why I might do that outside of a collaboration - the thought of the editing that might involve is so not my idea of a good time. Most readers also prefer to record the whole text in one go and edit the whole thing afterwards, not just because that is their preferred MO, but also because they might not have much time to themselves in a silent environment and must take the opportunities that they do have to record as much as they can. Others find that they lose the thread of the story if they stop and start. Others also find that their voices change too much if they don't use this method. Personally, I circumvent that by slapping on story break music to distract the listener if my voice does differ from one segment to the next - it's not perfect but I can deal with it. I also flub so much that it would be far too time consuming to edit them out after the fact. Also I hate editing with a passion and if I didn't edit as I go... I wouldn't put out podfic.

This process is the most time consuming, because depending on how much I flub or re-record or edit, it could take anywhere from 2.5x - 10x the actual recording length. (I’ve never timed myself, but I’m pretty sure there have been times when I’ve spent way too much time fiddling with one scene).

Usual end of recording process:

slap on the music outro
credit the author and beg for feedback for both author and myself
talk about the process of making that podfic in particular and why I chose to podfic it (my reader freetalk)
export the completed file
fill in the meta data
make an mp3 version
make a podfic cover
upload it onto paraka’s server
crosspost up the wazoo

Most readers credit the authors and not themselves, which is a damn shame. For the freetalk I usually jot down notes as I'm completing the project to talk about, or even recorded straight after a tough scene so I can edit it together at the end. However, it’s also likely that I just wing the freetalk without any notes.

I skip doing a final listen through because I’ve basically done that as I’ve gone along, and I trust past!me to have made good quality control decisions. Nothing is worse than downloading a podfic only to hear the reader hasn’t bothered to do their own final listen through - doubled up lines really screw up the flow of the narrative for me something fierce.

Making a cover is perhaps the most arduous step since I’m not particularly gifted with design skills, but I do try. Also can be time consuming step depending on how experimental I feel at the time.

Finally, posting. I hate coding, so it usually sits on my computer for a good while before I get off my ass and do it.

What’s intriguing to me as a podficcer, is to see the process of other podficcers, and uncover their reasons for why they follow that process, rather than seeing a broad, quantitative survey of who does what.