Five Podfic Artists I Would Listen to Anything By (And Three to Watch)

[podklb.livejournal.com]

I am not a terribly monofannish person. In fact, I am kind of between fandoms at the moment. So when I am choosing what to listen to, I pay some attention to the fandom/pairing/story but most of my attention to the reader. Here are my five favorites.

Five podfic artists I would listen to anything by

1. Huntsmonsters—HM appeared on the scene quite recently and hasn't crossposted to amplificathon, which I'm pretty sure is the only reason that this isn't the 4th or 5th rec for her this week. Her reading is fast-paced but doesn't feel rushed at all. It feels easy and natural, in a way that I find difficult to articulate but is my absolute favorite reading style. Her grasp of character is beautiful—like, I would actually describe her interpretation of Jesse Eisenberg as genius. And she is so good at highlighting both the humor and the emotions of a scene. Every choice she makes in her readings is perfectly suited to my tastes, and from the comments she's gotten, I know I'm not the only one who feels that way.

Her only recording so far is a WIP, but it's worth listening to without waiting for her to finish first, IMO. It's three hours of awesomeness, and if you're like me, you'll get a lot more than three hours of enjoyment out of it as you listen over and over again. My only caution is that she is American and does a British accent for one of the characters which is definitely not perfect (although I find it pretty charming). If you're the kind of person who is sensitive to that, this podfic may not work for you.

Carry It In My Heart (WIP), written by robin_pulaski, read by huntsmonsters, Social Network RPF, Andrew/Jesse, 3 hours.

2. Ann Ciudad—I discovered Ann Ciudad mostly by chance while browsing the archive one day, and I am so glad that I did, because I had an amazing few weeks devouring everything she's recorded and am now happily anticipating whatever she does next. She has a naturalness that's very similar to HM, the same feeling of a friend whispering in my ear, and the same way of pulling subtleties out of the story that I know I never would have found if I had been reading it myself. She reads in a wide range of fandoms, which makes it fun to listen to her collection. She pays less attention to individual character voices and more to just beautifully interpreting each sentence, whether dialogue or narration. I love her reading of Credit in the Straight World (Supernatural, Sam/Dean, 2:50:50) and I think her reading of A Woman's Work (The Dark Knight, girl!Joker/girl!Batman, 0:08:06) is brave and interesting, but if I am choosing my absolute top rec of hers, it has to be:

Some Strange Prophecy, written by cesperanza, read by ann_ciudad, due South, Fraser/Kowalski, 5:04:46.

3. Shiningartifact—One thing that's indisputably true about Shiningartifact is that she has an awesome voice. It's sexy and appealing and makes you want to listen to her talk forever. But her podfic performances are so much more than that. She is the world champion at interpreting speech tags. If the author has had a character say something, for example, in a steely tone, but also shakily, while also turned on and also laughing, Shiningartifact will nail every single part of that. It's pretty stunning. Her readings of sex scenes are some of the sexiest I've ever heard, and never awkward at all, even when I listen in public places. She just sounds so comfortable with it that there never seems to be anything to be embarrassed about. Comfort and ease with sex and sexuality is part of what I love about fandom, and I think her readings are really lovely for the way they convey that. Also, she has this great, sassy way of reading humor, and her Frank Iero voice is spot-on and makes me laugh all the time. I'd recommend checking out everything she's recorded—my most recent favorite is her Buffy podficlet Think Fast (Buffy/Faith, 0:04:17)—but my absolute favorite of hers, and one of the best, hottest, funniest podfics I've ever heard, is:

Hard Candy (podbook here), written by ladyfoxxx, read by shiningartifact, Bandom (MCR), Frank/Gerard, 0:33:07.

4. Fiercelydreamed—Fiercelydreamed was recced a lot in last year's amplirecathon, which is how I discovered her. But for people who are new and may *not* have heard her yet, you're in for a wonderful treat. Her reading is magnetic, it draws the listener in so that you're actually leaning forward holding your breath to hear more. She uses pacing in this amazing way that brings out the tension in the story and gives the perfect amount of weight to every word. I don't think I've ever heard a more masterful use of pacing, actually. Her voice is clear and a little hushed and just, it's hard to put my finger on why, but it's just exciting to listen to. I am really torn between which of my favorite two readings of hers to highlight, so I will just say that if you are in the mood for gen you should absolutely start with Who's Left and Who's Leaving (SGA, 0:58:37), which was utter perfection and will not disappoint, and if you are in the mood for a really amazingly-read NC-17 story you should start with:

Harmonic Function, written by shaenie, read by fiercelydreamed, SGA, McKay/Sheppard, 1:01:09.

5. Mcollinknight—Mcollinknight was the first podfic reader I listened to, and in my opinion she's still one of the best. She's only made a couple of recordings, and nothing recently, but I live in hope that I will hear more from her. Her reading is so animated, and her character voices are lovely and hilarious and capture each character perfectly. Her main podfic is Drop Dead Gorgeous, which is quite possibly the best fic I've ever read (and is no longer available in written form), and the only way I can explain how amazing she is is to say that her reading of the story made it even better than it was in print, at least to me. I am madly in love with both her Harry and her Draco. I love that she's a reader who totally *goes* for everything, and makes it work. She's not restrained or subtle at all, but what she is is completely phenomenal.

Drop Dead Gorgeous (probably-abandoned WIP but so worth it), read by mcollinknight, Harry Potter, Harry/Draco, 11.1 hours.

And three to watch

There are a few podfic artists who have so far only recorded a piece or two for the Awesome Ladies Podfic Anthology, but who are bursting with promise and whose future work I already feel confident reccing, whatever it may end up being. The pieces are short enough that I will let the voices speak for themselves on this one. Two of the three haven't gotten any comments on these pieces yet, so if you are as excited about these readers as I am, definitely let them know so they will be motivated to make more soon.

Jackofnone: Damnation!, Sherlock Holmes, gen, 0:03:57.

Swiiftly: Hold On, Veronica Mars, gen, 0:01:59.

Jenepel: Hot Child in the City, Gilmore Girls, Rory/Jess, 0:02:38.

Comments

[crinklysolution.livejournal.com]

Excellent choices, and I applaud your theme. It's so true - frequently I find that if I like someone's work, I'll listen to a wide range of what they record, just to hear their mastery of the medium. I am looking forward to hearing some of these that I haven't heard before, and I could not agree more with your picks of ann_ciudad and fiercelydreamed - magnetic is the word...thank you for the recs!

[podklb.livejournal.com]

I have a very centering-the-reader approach to podfic in general, I think, so this was the only rec post I could really have done. I'm pleased that you approve :) And yessss, ann_ciudad and fiercelydreamed are so amazing. I hope you enjoy the others!

[susan-voight.livejournal.com]

I wish I could listen to Drop Dead Gorgeous, but the sound quality is too poor for me to cope with. New listeners should definitely download just part 1 to check for themselves.

[evalangui.livejournal.com]

Yeah, same here. I was just thinking if there was any way to fix it. Like filtering or something since it seems to be background noise? *knows nothing about audio software*.

[podklb.livejournal.com]

I actually did do a bit of cleanup on Part 1A here (http://www.mediafire.com/?d03jd07c63pv7y5).

[podklb.livejournal.com]

Oh, actually, now that you mention it, I'd forgotten, but I went into Audacity and cleaned up Part 1A to take out a lot of the pops. I've put the cleaned up version that I listen to here (http://www.mediafire.com/?d03jd07c63pv7y5), if you want to see if that's better for you.

I actually think the sound quality was worst at the beginning, so after the first 20 minutes or so, it's still not great compared to a lot of other podfics, but it wasn't distractingly bad to me, and I actually acclimated quite quickly and then didn't really notice it at all.

[luzula]

I second your rec of "Some Strange Prophecy"! It totally blew me away.

[podklb.livejournal.com]

(whoops, reposting from correct username)

It is the only due South podfic I have ever listened to, and it made me fall in love with all the characters so quickly. She has this great noirish feel to the narration and, god, yes, she is just amazing. I can't wait to see what her next project will be.

[aneas.livejournal.com]

This is the perfect rec coming from you, since I'd try anything you read, I don't even care the pairing or fandom. They're totally secondary to your voice. I'm going to try them all, so if I become addicted to new fandoms, it'll be totally your fault!

[podklb.livejournal.com]

That is a lovely thing for you to say, and I hope you feel well-guided by these recs. I know that tastes in podfic vary pretty widely, but these are all my very very top favorites.

[aneas.livejournal.com]

In my opinion, if a reader chooses a determinate fic it's because it has something special. It's a very intense, powerful and vivid way to share a favorite fic with the world. For me, recording a podfic is the greatest way to recommend a fic, and so far, all your recommendations have been fantastic.

I know I always say it, but I can't thank podficcers enough for the huge labor of love you all do. We don't deserve it.

[podcath.livejournal.com]

I was thinking the exact same thing. I love klb's readings enough to venture into arenas (cough...bandom...cough) I'd never have thought I'd listen to. So this is indeed the perfect rec theme for you :)

[onthehill]

Heh - shining artifact is TOTALLY AWESOME *fangirls*. And on Friday I downloaded everything she had up at the audiofic archive.
And HUZZAH! I don't know any of the others.

[elemgi.livejournal.com]

Wow!! On the strength of your rec, I dl'd huntsmonsters performance of Carry It In My Heart and listened to it while at work (night shift, working a triage desk). You are so right, it was very well done, very gripping. Thank you for steering us there.