klb: (Default)
[personal profile] klb posting in [community profile] amplificathon
And here is the second of today's two Official Mod Posts. If you are a podfic artist, then one of the bodies of work you know best of all is your own! In the comments below, rec one (or more) podfic(s) of yours that you think stands out, that you want to particularly direct listeners to. And explain why! Interpret the prompt in any way you want—just name a work of yours that you love and talk about why.

Self-rec: Forget About the Dirty Looks (bandom)

Date: 2012-07-30 11:58 pm (UTC)
podcath: podcath's default icon (Default)
From: [personal profile] podcath
Since everyone is too shy and well-behaved to self-rec, we figured as mods, we should go ahead and show that it really is OK :)

I initially didn't want to rec this story, bc I already mentioned in in my Podfic=Reading +... post, but the story and the reading are really dear to my heart, and I think the unusual pairing might put off some people as do the bdsm!verse warnings. And yet the story is so smart and meta on so many levels, moving the fun idfic of Xanthe's world, transformed into a gender!comment in Helen's homage, into a commentary on trans*issues. How far this story is from normal bdsm fic came to me when I was looking for ideas for a song--all the songs that deal with bdsm usually talk about its appeal, its hidden excitement. And yet that is not what is going on here. There is a normalization about it at the same time as there are huge issues with the binaries and the early assignment of roles. If real!Gerard questions gender roles and binaries in sexual orientation, sassbandit!Gerard challenges so much more within the establishment of this universe.

So that's what's great about the fic. For my reading, I asked a bunch of great readers to help me, and they were wonderful and all provided me gorgeous pieces that allowed me to replicate the multivocality of the original fic, the interviews and news reports that interspersed the story. It was hard for me to read Brian, because I'd never really read him nor did I have much listening precedents to go by, but I think I found his dom voice. In fact, I enjoyed having Frank's deeper voice and Mikey's monotone for two of the subs as opposed to Gerard's higher, more excited voice even though he is a dom--in effect playing out in voice the themes of the story that question the binary stereotypes.

Argentumlupine recorded the interview i assigned her without inquit formulas, so no he said/she said. Like a mini radio play, it still remained quite clear who was speaking at any given point. I already talked about my failure to actually sing and instead splicing in Gerard's panting and beginning of Prison, which is so much harder to do than it seems, but I ended up being quite happy with it. Likewise, having bunches of people's recordings cam be really hard, with different backgrounds and volumes, but I think I managed to balance it so that it's not painful to move back and forth between different voices.

Music, as I said, was harder than I'd have thought, so I ended up going with the duh! one but found a wonderful version that almost makes it not sound like Master and Servant at all. And the cover...hm...not my favorite, but I do think Gerard with the sub on his throat fits, both as canon for the story but also so clearly something Gerard would do (has all but done :).

Wow, that got long....anyway, this is a BDSM!verse Gerard/Brian, but if those are not a total no-go, it's a brilliant story, and I'm pretty proud of my reading (and that of my co-readers): Forget About the Dirty Looks (1:51:52)

*_*

Date: 2012-07-31 02:45 pm (UTC)
lunchee: 2NE1's Minzy listening to music (Minzy music)
From: [personal profile] lunchee
You're so articulate and lovely to read.

I really, really, REALLY like it when podficcers go in depth about the reasons they choose to podfic something, because I just feel the love wafting off the screen. Sometimes I feel that the accepted format of how we post pod is so stripped down, and that most podficcers don't include podficcer notes which makes me a sad monkey, so I am really pleased by how much you talked about your self-rec ♥

Re: *_*

From: [personal profile] podcath - Date: 2012-08-02 02:11 am (UTC) - Expand

Re: *_*

From: [personal profile] lunchee - Date: 2012-08-02 09:16 am (UTC) - Expand
From: [personal profile] eileenlufkin
I enjoyed listening to Forget About the Dirty Looks. Thank you.

Re: Self-rec: Forget About the Dirty Looks (bandom)

From: [personal profile] podcath - Date: 2012-08-18 02:05 am (UTC) - Expand
argentumlupine: American marten with its head tilted as if curious (Frank: pornface!)
From: [personal profile] argentumlupine
I'd like to rec my Bandom podfic The Happiest Fuckin' Place on Earth (TM). Disneyland AU! Frank the cranky cynical maintenance guy falls in love with Gerard the starry-eyed energetic Mickey Mouse fanatic. It is one of my favorite stories of all time. When the [livejournal.com profile] bandombigbang claims were going up I had actually typed my comment into Notepad beforehand so I could paste and claim because I was so eager to work on this one. SUCH IS MY LOVE FOR THIS STORY.

I recorded a good chunk of this during a period where I was feeling completely burned out on my own job, and I think the undercurrent of bitterness fits with Frank's cranky POV. Reading some of his more vicious dialogue was cathartic. Overall, I'm really proud of the character voices (there were a LOT of characters and I didn't realize this until after I got going, so finding voices for them all was a challenge) and the overall performance (particularly in part 3 with Frank's rant and the emotional climax) and the sound effects (I learned how to do a walkie-talkie effect in Audacity \o/).

I am really happy with how the podfic turned out and I keep going back to listen to it.
podcath: podcath's default icon (Default)
From: [personal profile] podcath
I already FBed you but...yes!!! Your Frank is a thing of beauty: angry and self delusional, and both the story and you just play that out so beautifully. I didn't know you were disenchanted with your job, but that might indeed explain the...realness...og Frank's utter frustration. I could SEE him sneer :)
From: [personal profile] eileenlufkin
I just started listening to this today. I'm enjoying it.

(no subject)

Date: 2012-07-31 01:20 am (UTC)
paraka: A baby wearing headphones and holding a mic (Default)
From: [personal profile] paraka
OK, this is really hard for me. AO3 is telling me I have 65 podfics so trying to come up with one to rec of all of those is really hard. And the podfic of mine that I'm currently most proud of, is a WIP I haven't posted yet, so I think, instead, I'm going to talk about some of my podfics that have historically held the place of 'the one I'm proudest of' (skipping over my earliest ones :S).

In From the Cold (J2)
This is one I recorded with my roommates. We kind of stumbled into this podfic, but still managed to split the story's POV shifts up between us in a way that we could all voice our strengths. We were each able to bring our best to our character(s) for this podfic and I think that really shows in the final product.

One AM (AI8 RPF-Kris/Adam)
This the first American Idol podfic I posted. I was so excited to join a new fandom and very proud of how I read Kris being clueless and how resigned Adam was.

From Adam to Kris (AI8 RPF-Kris/Adam)
I just enjoyed reading this one so much. And this story made me realize that reading crack worked for me. The flow of reading this felt like it had so much energy and I feel like I was able to get the lines how I envisioned them in my head.

Girl, You're Like a Weird Vacation (AI8 RPF-Kris/Adam)
This story has a lot of personal meaning to me, and as such, I took a lot of care as I read it. I really tried to embody the emotions of each scene and I think, especially near the end, I succeeded.

Undercover (AI8 RPF-Kris/Adam)
This is a podfic that I struggled with at times when recording (like, I remember having to walk away for more than a day at one point, because I just couldn't read a line properly), but I managed to overcome those struggles.
I also started recording this fic when it was still being posted as a WIP, and read the last few section cold, which I think added to the atmosphere, because Adam keeps trying to convince Kris to run away with him, and Kris keeps saying no, and just like Adam, I was never sure what Kris was going to say, never sure if the story would have a happy ending or not and I think that uncertainty ended up working well for the story.

(no subject)

Date: 2012-07-31 01:31 am (UTC)
podcath: podcath's default icon (Default)
From: [personal profile] podcath
Yeah, self recs! Good for you!!! I love all of these but given that the first one was recorded FOR ME it has a special place. I couldn't listen to it at first, bc of the mental issues, but when I finally did, I was wowed by the point of view shifts and the three different but equally beautifully accomplished readings.

And Girl? You know how we all kinda dislike the feedback, I don't like X but yours... Well, let's just say I'd never would have listened to this story if I hadn't trusted you and then several people just raved about it, and was I ever glad that I listened to them and the fic...more than once :)

*closes eyes* *clicks 'post'*

Date: 2012-07-31 01:42 am (UTC)
kalakirya: (aim high: you might miss)
From: [personal profile] kalakirya
oh god self-recs are hard. First I'm all "but I caaaaan't" then "but I love ALL my babies!". So I'm gonna cheat and point out little bits in a bunch of podfics :D

bigger things

Tomorrow Belongs to Me by [personal profile] valtyr (Avengers) I had *so much fun* recording this that just thinking about it makes me smile. I love voicing Asgardians and don't get to work with Steve's pov much and there are just so many fun moments in this fic and I loved doing every single one. If I'm going to highlight one thing, though, it's Zola's voice - when I go back I creep myself out because I can't recognize that as my voice and it's the weirdest feeling and I have *no idea* how I did that.

Chaos War by [personal profile] astolat (Thor) For me this podfic is now irrevocably tangled with yue_ix's art for it, which I cannot praise enough. I had a lot of fun with semi-hysterical!Loki, though. And the frost giants. I love the frost giants <3

Bedtime Stories by [personal profile] gyzym (Avengers) the number of times I nearly gave myself hypoxia recording these... talking that fast and that animatedly is unusual for me, and it was really fun to get out of my comfort zone and go crazy :D

A Place to Stand by [personal profile] lightgetsin (Vorkosiverse) I'm a sucker for unusual formats in fic, and go crazy over them in podfic, so the partially epistolary format of this continues to make me happy. I tried really hard to make the difference in the sections come through, and I actually think it worked pretty well :D

The One Where They're All in a Rock Band by [personal profile] labellementeuse (Young Wizards) the audio quality on this one isn't great, but I like my narration of the fic, and I love the audiobreaks :)

little things

The Language of Love by [personal profile] china_shop (Due South) I continue to giggle maniacally over 'Hymne à l'Amour'

Complicated by [personal profile] philomytha (Vorkosiverse) I'm not a big fan of my natural speaking voice, but I got to use it for Dono here, and that was really fun :D

Letters to Santa by [personal profile] sheafrotherdon (Stargate: Atlantis) baby giggle!

Re: *closes eyes* *clicks 'post'*

Date: 2012-09-13 03:22 am (UTC)
From: [personal profile] eileenlufkin
I really loved all three of the Avengers podfics. I'm looking forward to hearing the rest of them. I like the way you 'do the voices'.

(no subject)

Date: 2012-07-31 02:05 am (UTC)
dr_fumbles_mcstupid: (Default)
From: [personal profile] dr_fumbles_mcstupid
The one podfic I would want to direct people towards of mine is cursed! Or that one fic where Loki is a Disney Princess. It was some of the most fun I have ever had recording a podfic. First of all the story itself is hilarious, Loki is cursed by doctor strange and forest animals flolow him everywhere and people start singing disney songs at him. The singing was so much fun, I even roped my brother in to sing with me so i would have more voices and also have someone singing who wasn't a soprano for all the boy characters. Overall it was a super fun experience and I think that comes across in the podfic

(no subject)

Date: 2012-07-31 03:00 am (UTC)
anna_unfolding: (Default)
From: [personal profile] anna_unfolding
I recently completed a 68k Avengers fic by gqgqqt, called Disclosures, and I am enormously proud of it. I chose to record it because of how deeply the characters' journey moved me, and how carefully crafted the writing was, and how good the pay-off was. I also had a suspicion that the fic would play to my strengths as a podficcer: high emotion and lots of narration. I read aloud everyday for at least an hour or two to my children, and I'm good at phrasing, at giving myself over to the text in one go (I don't retake things for my kids, lol. Of course podficcing is very different, takes-wise). What I'm not great at is a lot of dialogue and different voices. This fic has more narration, action, activity, movement and head space than dialogue, and the dialogue is not so much snarky as it is dry, which suited me well. There are also many scenes from Phil's memory, which required very creative technical solutions. I'm super proud of how those parts came out.

I'm reccing my recording of it partly because it's a phenomenal fic and it's very long, so listening to it is a wonderful way to enjoy it. But I also believe my performance adds to the emotion that Phil encounters as little by little, shit gets real for him and he loses his defenses. I loved dwelling with these characters for these few weeks; I am pretty sure being with them in their fear, challenges, pain, and joys has helped me get a break from mine when I needed it to.

(no subject)

Date: 2012-07-31 03:07 am (UTC)
podcath: podcath's default icon (Default)
From: [personal profile] podcath
Oh, I'm so glad you mentioned it. I saw it when you posted the first part, but I avoid WiPs (especially when i don't know the story), and I missed that it was all finished. Go you!!!

(And I love how you describe your strengths and weaknesses. Like you, dialog is really hard for me, and I am always in awe of those who excel at it!)

Self rec: A couple of things

Date: 2012-07-31 03:21 am (UTC)
themusecalliope: Vulpes Vulpes (Default)
From: [personal profile] themusecalliope
Okay. So I had trouble just choosing one of my pods to rec, so here are three for y'all.

1) My most recent podfic - A Brief History of Liars by jibrailis is a bittersweet story of love and loss between two ancient Free Magic beings in Garth Nix's Old Kingdom Universe. Also? I sing a whole 11 words.

2) Everything is Chess by earlgreytea68 is the first story in a series in the Sherlock BBC universe, that eventually ends up Mycroft/Lestrade. I love Mycroft's POV in this. It was so fun to perform.

And finally, 3) Symmetrical, Unbroken by knkwrtr is another Sherlock BBC fic. It was very challenging for me to record, and this is why I'm proud of the finished product. ...And the story is very compelling.

And now I'm going to go hide.

(no subject)

Date: 2012-07-31 03:42 am (UTC)
aphelant: (inc - tower between you and me)
From: [personal profile] aphelant
My podfic that I like the most is "i'll see you when the sun sets east (don't forget me)". [mp3/m4b]

I first chose this to read because I thought it would be interesting to narrate, because of the uncommon setting (Arthur, memoryless, wanders Limbo in search of...someone who's supposed to be there) and style (surreal and dream-like, little 'true' dialogue).

When recording podfic I always pulled back my performances, carefully regulating the pieces of myself that went into them because I felt...I don't know. Ashamed? Afraid of being known and recognized as myself? I'm not really sure and don't really care to analyze.

But I quickly realized the story relies on Arthur's loss and longing to get from point a to point b, and I felt like the only way I could make a podfic work was if I didn't pull my punches. I had to be raw. Be emotional. Be unafraid.

So after I wrung my hands about it for a few days I decided, fuck it, if I can't do it or it's too embarrassing no big deal, took a deep breath, and recorded it. I didn't trip on words or have to scrap anything. Aside from the occasional line I read twice for perfectionism's sake, I recorded this in one take. And it was THE hardest recording I've ever done. I don't think I've ever shaken before because the characters needed me to. It was a truly amazing and, frankly, a fucking terrifying experience.

It. Was. Awesome.

Making this podfic taught me that there's nothing shameful in going balls out in a performance. It's kind of like an extreme sport for me now -- I've got to be fearless, and I've got to be unflinching, for it to work. It's a bit easier to record, too, because once I remove my filters it's like I can access the text more directly; I stop worrying about what *I'm* saying and can focus on what *they're* saying. And overcoming that fear of expression, *enjoying* the rush I get from it, means that now I demand the same level of commitment from myself (commit like a pig, not a chicken, phela!) for every podfic and seek out the emotionally draining stories to record because I've always loved reading them and they no longer frighten me to perform (they are exhausting though).

Anyway, long story short, I feel like this podfic marks a change in performance style for me, and I think it also contains the best acting I've ever done. \o/

(no subject)

Date: 2012-07-31 04:38 am (UTC)
dodificus: (Default)
From: [personal profile] dodificus
Hearing the story behind you recording this makes me love your performance even more.

(no subject)

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Date: 2012-07-31 04:32 am (UTC)
hardboiledbaby: (podfic)
From: [personal profile] hardboiledbaby
Even though it's been a little over a year since my first podfic, I still feel very much the newbie (hell, I feel that way about my writing too, but that's neither here nor there). Despite that, I'd like to think I've been learning and improving as I go. Thus, my self-recs are my latest works:

Secrets Kept, Secrets Revealed [Sherlock Holmes - book 'verse] co-read with [personal profile] equusentric, written by [personal profile] hardboiledbaby
Equusentric and I collaborated on a short, dialogue-only ficlet earlier and thoroughly enjoyed the process. When she pointed out that SKSR was in alternating POVs and why don't we record it, I jumped at the chance to work with her again. Even though we don't record together, there is still an energy and excitement in doing a collab that you just don't get when working alone, and I think it comes out in the podfic. I'm hoping we can do more together :)

Blood on the Sun [Starsky and Hutch] written by [personal profile] kassidy62
I'd wanted to record this awesome story since I first started podficcing. However, I felt it needed sfx to work, and I didn't have the skills (seriously, anybody want to write an "Audacity of Podficcing Dummies"? I'd buy it!). Finally, I felt I'd picked up enough experience to try. I also lucked upon a great song that I thought was perfect for the story. I learned a *lot* about editing as I worked on this. I've still got so much more to learn (like how to make my mouth stop making stupid noises), but I think I really took a big step forward with incorporating music and sfx. It's nice to feel like I'm making progress :)

(no subject)

Date: 2012-07-31 04:45 am (UTC)
nickelmountain: (Default)
From: [personal profile] nickelmountain
I record mostly in small fandoms, but I think recently I've been most proud of my Star Trek (2009) podfics.

The 80/20 Theory As Applied to Cats on the Bed (Kirk/Spock, pre-slash). In which Jim is kind of like a cat, and keeps turning up asleep in Spock's bed. This was the first podfic I read in this fandom, and one of my rare attempts at reading comedy. I don't have a very animated reading style, so normally I stick with quiet/sad/dark stories. This one, though, is from Spock's POV, and I ended up feeling really proud of my Spock-voice. Animated comedy might be beyond me, but perhaps deadpan comedy is within my grasp.

Let It Snow (Kirk/Spock). In which Jim tries to take Spock on a road trip for Christmas and they get snowed in. Also Spock's POV, but not a comedy. I'm especially proud of this one. I like reading Spock because all emotion has to be implied rather than directly communicated. He's contained in a way I really relate to. I'm also pleased with my how my use of music in this podfic worked out, particularly as a way to differentiate between the present and Spock's reveries on Christmases past.

Sunshine on Leith (Gaila/Uhura). In which Gaila recovers from injuries sustained during the destruction of the Narada before the relaunch of the Enterprise, with Nyota's support. This is a really beautiful story, and it gave me a real appreciation for Gaila. It was a more challenging read for me than either of the previous two self-recs, in part because I don't know Gaila like I know Spock, and in part because the narrative jumps back and forth in time and I wasn't sure how well I'd be able to communicate that. In the end, though, I felt good about it. I think I especially like my reading of Gaila dealing with pain - both her physical pain from her injuries, and her psychological pain moving past her trauma history and integrating her scars into her self concept.

And one more for the road, from my small fandom collection:

[Fright Night (2011)] Pluck (Charley/Jerry). Another way the movie might have ended - Charley goes back to Jerry's house by himself, and it doesn't go so well. I knew the second I read this story that I HAD to record it. It practically called my name. It's dark and bleak and sexy in a way that feels wrong but you still don't want it to stop. I had a really clear idea in my mind regarding how it should sound read out loud, and I felt like I got the results I wanted. I've been told that my voice has an intimate quality to it, and I'm not always sure that works very well for all the stories I want to record. For this one, though - I thought it was just right.

(no subject)

Date: 2012-07-31 07:28 am (UTC)
shiningartifact: (frankie11 - self-inflicted bunny ears)
From: [personal profile] shiningartifact
Hmm. So, I'm not completely sure why I'm doing this. Well, no. That's not true. I'm doing this because [personal profile] klb asked me to, and her powers are significant (she didn't even ask me directly and yet here I am). :)

It's a really really tough thing, to rec yourself, but [personal profile] klb is right - your own body of work is the one you probably know best.

I thought about it, and I think that of the 28 podfics I've made/participated in making, I would point people toward the two that are probably the most popular, and then two that I'm just particularly proud of.

The popular kids:

A Matter of Logistics | by [livejournal.com profile] brooklinegirl | 21 Jul 2010 | Bandom | Frank Iero/Gerard Way | NC-17 | 43m03s

This podfic will always be close to my heart. It's the first podfic I ever made where I really felt successful afterward. I feel like I hit on a combination of author and reader that really really works for me, and on top of that, I discovered that reading porn is maybe something that's in my wheelhouse. I realize that listening to porn isn't necessarily everyone's preference, but for whatever reason, I'm super-comfortable with reading it and have been ever since I started making bandom podfic. I recorded this in a marathon 3-hour session one night and it was the biggest editing project I'd had to that point. It's far from perfect, but I will love and treasure it always for letting me play around with reading something that's both funny and sexy and (hopefuly) making it work.

Hard Candy | by [livejournal.com profile] ladyfoxxx | 29 Aug 2010 | Bandom | Frank Iero/Gerard Way | NC-17 | 33m07s

This podfic is far and away my most-downloaded piece. For some reason (I'm guessing porny reasons), it seems to have resonated with people. :) It's interesting, because it is super-porny, yes, but the characters never actually touch. And yet, it's one of the dirtiest things I've ever recorded. I think that's why I loved the story so much and why I wanted to record it in the first place. I also like the Frank and Gerard voices in this piece a lot - not that they sound like the actual dudes, of course! But I like that they're different and distinguishable. I also feel like I managed to give the podfic a certain ~atmosphere, which is maybe part of what makes it successful.

The much-loved wallflowers:

Like a Secret | by [livejournal.com profile] desfinado | 24 Jan 2011 | Bandom | Mikey Way/OMC | PG-13 | 14m38s

This piece is so dear to me, and I still find myself listening to the whole thing sometimes when it accidentally comes up on my phone. Like A Secret is this short and sweet piece that's essentially about a high school dude discovering his sexuality, and she writes it with such a beautiful and delicate hand. It's a high school AU set in the mid-90's (when I was in high school), and I just related to the setting and the feelings the characters went through SO HARD. It's also the first time I ever sang in a podfic (albeit briefly), which was terrifying but I'm glad that I did it. I think it's possible that people may have skipped listening because it's not a pairing that strikes their interest, but it's one of those that I wish people might give it a shot.

Maps | by [livejournal.com profile] mrsronweasley | 09 Jun 2012 | Bandom | Frank Iero/Gerard Way | PG-13 | 10m06s

Last but not least is this short piece, which is also my most recent podfic. It's a relatively unusual one for me (due to an utter lack of porn), but I love the story and what it says and I am really proud of it. It's another one that I worked really hard at editing to make it sound as seamless and good as possible. And I got to speak Russian (okay, like two words, but still)! Speaking Russian in a podfic of a story written by someone who is Russian is NERVE-WRACKING. :) I'm including this because while I haven't had as much time to devote to making podfic lately, I still want to be learning and getting better all the time, and I was pretty proud of how this one came together in the end.

Anyway, okay. That went on WAY longer than I had intended. /o\ I have all kinds of fear that it's weird for me to be doing this and that people are going to look askance at me or wonder who the hell I am. But I guess that's part of the point of this, isn't it. :)

Thanks for this post. I appreciate the opportunity to shove my misgivings aside and give this a try, and I've loved reading other people do the same! <3

(no subject)

Date: 2012-07-31 10:54 am (UTC)
adistantsun: (remus & sirius don't like being interrup)
From: [personal profile] adistantsun
You know I actually cut one of the recs from my Insomniac Podfic post because it was a reading of a fic I'd written, and even though I love the podfic to pieces, it just seemed too much like blowing my own trumpet. (It was The Turtle and the Sun, read by [livejournal.com profile] kattunberry, for the curious.) That's about how comfortable I am with self-recs XD;;. But I'm going to try, because there is one podfic done this year that I am ridiculously proud of.


As Red as Hearts and Autumn
HP - Remus/Sirius - by rosemaryandrue - PG - 5:48:30
It's the autumn of Sixth Year, there's a flu epidemic at Hogwarts, and the Blacks want their heir back.


This was my submission for [community profile] podficbigbang, and at almost six hours its the longest podfic I've yet made. That's reason enough to be proud. But the fic in and of itself is fantastic, and right from the beginning I felt that I had to match that. I've always enjoyed doing character voices, and I learned a whole lot about them recording this, as it demanded a swathe - twelve recurring characters, plus a host of cameos. It got me thinking about where each character's sounds were coming from, that Remus' voice was more nasal and towards the roof of the mouth, whereas Sirius' was further back in the throat, and James' right behind the teeth with a twist of South East London etc. Weird as it sounds, thinking about shifting the centre of each voice actually helped a lot with creating all the different ones I needed. A lot of the podfics I'd done previously were more focused on narrative and lyricism, which doesn't usually call for the same amount of vocal variation. If I had to pick one element I was most proud of in this podfic, it would be how much I managed to do with my voice in creating all these characters and conveying their wide-ranging emotions alongside the tones and atmosphere of the narrative.

...and I got to sing a few lines of 'Dancing Queen'. Which was fantastic because I secretly love ABBA. The scene called for a rendition somewhat imperfect, but with great enthusiasm. Which was also great because while I love to sing, I doubt I'll be winnning any awards for it any time soon XD
Edited Date: 2012-07-31 10:57 am (UTC)

(no subject)

Date: 2012-07-31 11:48 am (UTC)
greedy_dancer: (Podfic)
From: [personal profile] greedy_dancer
*waves awkwardly* Choosing favourites of ANYTHING - books, movies, songs - is always terrible for me, for some reason, so picking the favourite of podfics that I have done myself is even worse. I always need to trick my brain into not actually choosing just ONE, and this is what I'm going to try here :)

POV voice I'm most proud of in a new fandom: Extremely Hot And Currently Female written by [personal profile] sam_storyteller | Avengers, Tony/Loki, R | 1:03:53

I think this is pretty self-explanatory. This was my first Avengers podfic and despite not being quite confident about his voice, I feel like the Tony POV came together quite well. I'm just generally pleased about this one! :)

Best-read watersports scene (lol) : All In written by [personal profile] fictionalaspect | Bandom, Panic GSF, NC-17 | 1:00:52

I'm mentioning this story because it's one of my favourites, and every time I check my stats, I'm surprised it's not more popular. Then I remember that not everybody wants to listen to spanking, crossdressing and watersports at the library! :p Still, I'm very proud of this performance because I feel like I managed to keep the balance of hotness and humour present in the story, without mixing them when I shouldn't have - it would have been easy to take a tongue-in-cheek approach to the whole thing, but I wanted to keep the vulnerability and earnestness where it was needed, and I think I managed that. The story is one that I love for making me appreciate things that are usually not my kinks, and people have commented on the fact that the podfic had the same effect on them, so I'm happy I conveyed it well.

The first of my performances that gave me chills : Born to Motorbabies, written by [personal profile] jjtaylor | Bandom, Frank/Gerard, Killjoys universe, NC-17 | 1:17:43

When I started podficcing, I thought my strength was in dry humour and sarcasm, and those were the only types of stories I recorded. I think that I was afraid of having to "let go" of my emotions in a more raw, earnest story. This story is about loss and pain - there's humour and hope and finding a family and love, but the loss and pain part is not insignificant. And I remember recording it late at night in 2 sittings, and then editing, and coming to the part where Ray and the kid have an argument, and getting chills at my own performance. That was a first for me, and overall I'm just really proud of the performance. I'm also quite proud of the Dr Death-Defying-like effects I worked into the story (there's an effects-less version for those who don't care about them).

The fandom classic I was most anxious about ruining but apparently *fingers crossed* am not : Nightswimming WIP, written by Waxjism | Bandom, Frank/Gerard, AU, NC-17 | 9:27:00 so far with about 5 more hours to go.

I'm proud of this for its sheer scale, but also because it was a CRAZY idea. Not just because of the scale, but because of the popularity of the story and its classic status, at least in my mind. I know 15-hour podfics are small potatoes for some podficcers, but this story is my Everest - and in fact I've been working on it for almost a year now. The performance is really making me stretch myself - there's EVERYTHING in there - but the thing I'm perhaps happiest about with is that I was able to let go of my insecurities and the "I'm not good enough" and "what if people hate me for daring to record it" and JUST DO IT and put it out there - with the help of amazing betas for reassurance, but still. And from what people are telling me they are enjoying it, and the story is not, in fact, ruined, so \o/

Wow, this got way longer that I was planning to make it! Who knew I had so many things to say. But wait, one more thing: Thank you, mods, for this run of Amplirecathon! <33

(no subject)

Date: 2012-07-31 03:25 pm (UTC)
croissantkatie: (Default)
From: [personal profile] croissantkatie
This was hard. I don't listen to my own podfic a lot and I have mixed feelings about it. I love creating podfic but listening to my own is a bit weird. And reccing myself or pointing people in the direction of one of my podfics just feels foreign to me. But, here we go! I'd like to point out falcon and a dove written by [personal profile] sophinisba. I like the wistful tone that comes across but my favourite thing is how transformative it is. This is a story which was based off an illustration which was then podficced by [personal profile] leish and I recorded my version by listening to Leisha's version without having read the fic (I've read it and looked at the artwork and completely reccommend both!). I'm just incredibly fond of it.

(no subject)

Date: 2012-08-01 01:33 am (UTC)
sophinisba: Gwen looking sexy from Merlin season 2 promo pics (gwen smiling by hermitsoul)
From: [personal profile] sophinisba

Talking myself up is not my strong point

Date: 2012-07-31 04:28 pm (UTC)
lunchee: 2NE1's Park Bom with green hair holding an umbrella from the 'It Hurts' MV (Bom Umbrella2)
From: [personal profile] lunchee
I kind of love hate all my podfics, because although I love the stories and I love acting out all the dialogue and narration and love the podficcing community to little itty bitty pieces because you've all given me so much love and support that motivates me to do better and try harder, I am also sadly plagued by 'can't really listen to myself' disease. A lot of really gorgeous people talked up some podfics of mine during amplirecathon, so I guess I will try not to mention those ones, and also my memory is frankly full of more holes than swiss cheese, I can only really remember enough about my recent podfics to be able to talk about them so..

My own 2012 catalogue picks:

And at the same time, something makes you whole || BIlly Elliot || 1hr06mins
I stumbled onto this fic during amplificathon, which really should say it all, right? But actually making the pod... made me want to try my hand at the Billy Elliot accent. And I thought long and hard about this, because I am not great with accents and this fic was lovely and about BILLY ELLIOT and I didn't want people to check it out and be turned off of it because I had to go and ruin it by putting on a bad accent. But then I thought, the thing that made the movie so amazing and distinctive had a lot to do with the native accents of the town. And went for it. 'It's okay if it sucks', I thought. 'I'll ask a Brit to listen to it and if they reckon it's mangled, then I'll just re-do all the dialogue!' And so I kind of grovelled at [personal profile] knight_tracer, and she promised me that I was unlikely to get ninja assassinated in the night if I released it as long as I levelled out Michael's accent. By this time my confidence with doing the accent had grown, so I re-did all of his dialogue, and released it. And people! People were so wonderful! They enjoyed it! They even said that the Michael accent was the one that rang truest! So in the aftermath of this podfic, I just thought 'man, if there's an accent I think I can do for a character - I'm gonna do it!'

In conclusion, I'd love it if you listened to this podfic. It's the first time that I ever put on an accent for such a huge percentage of the podfic, and I'm really proud people don't want to kill me for doing it. Also, the story is ace.

Upon This Throne || Sherlock BBC || 15mins

Sometimes a story is so powerful and hits me so hard I am just compelled to podfic it immediately. This has only happened to me twice before, for the stories Of Greatness, and Red Threads, and thematically all three of them are quite similar. They're all written beautifully, and the mood of all three stories are eerie and disquieting. Reading this story was like an epiphany. It was so gorgeous, so twisted, so out of left field, and yet made so much sense. In podficcing it, I could only hope to convey one iota of the depth that the story deserves. For me, podfic is something like immortality. Fic gets buried under new fic, especially in a fandom as large as Sherlock BBC, but podfic! Podfic is like a time capsule you can open up to reveal the culturally significant fics of a fandom, and I knew that I wanted to preserve this fic for eternity. It's only fifteen minutes, only about 2 or 3000 words, and yet, it just stopped me dead in my tracks, it made me sit up and take notice and think 'Yes. This is it.'

In closing, I'm proud to have found and been able to perform all the gorgeous imagery of this, so I'd love it if you listened to it.

A Scandal in Bohemia (Straight Genderswap) || Sherlock Holmes Canon || 1hr4mins

Everyone loves bad ass ladies. Everyone loves Sherlock Holmes. Therefore, why not merge the two together? To celebrate the casting of Lucy Liu as Watson, I decided to podfic Scandal with Holmes and Watsons as ladies. (Thanks for being dead so long Sir Doyle!) And I'm really, really proud of how this came out. I genderswapped as I went along, and with that I got to perform so many amazing ladies: ladies who drew cabs, ladies who mucked stables, ladies who mobbed a man on a street! Ladies who were BFFs and crime solving badasses! And while I was performing this, I got to exercise a lot of creative muscle that I don't get to do for normal podfic. There was no modelling cadence or tone on existing actors, I had to come up with something on my own. And it was GREAT. I turned Sherlock into a laid back socialite and Watson into, basically, a loving grandmotherly hitman. ACE. It was also my first foray into 1POV, and so I was emoting for 100% of the pod, which I got the hang of by the end.

So yeah, I'd love it if you gave it a listen :)

And FINALLY:

Place that don't know my name || The Social Network and Doctor Who || 1hr50mins

I saw them across a crowded room. My good friend, Doctor Who, was standing talking to someone I had never seen before. As I made my way over and read its summary I thought 'oh, they seem nice', and after two minutes, I thought, 'holy shit, I am so in love with you'. I fell for them hard, it seemed too good to be true, and yet, they really were that good. How? How did they know everything I ever wanted? I didn't even know I was wanting exactly what they were offering to me! Their prose was so gorgeous, but what was even more beautiful was their soul. Oh, how they moved me! Oh, how I delighted in their company! I hated to part ways with them, and so I thought, 'no, I must podfic you, so that others can gaze upon you and be enchanted as well'. And when the podfic was over, I thought, 'oh, I will never forget you! No matter how many others I may love, you will always be in my heart!' And so it remains.

I really love this podfic, and I would love for you to listen to it and hopefully love it too.

Re: Talking myself up is not my strong point

Date: 2012-07-31 04:34 pm (UTC)
luzula: a Luzula pilosa, or hairy wood-rush (Default)
From: [personal profile] luzula
Yessss! I love your genderswapped Scandal in Bohemia.

There was no modelling cadence or tone on existing actors, I had to come up with something on my own.

Oh, that's funny--I do that all the time, since I record a lot of lit fandoms, so for me it's not strange at all. In fact I find it freeing.

Re: Talking myself up is not my strong point

From: [personal profile] lunchee - Date: 2012-08-01 02:57 pm (UTC) - Expand

Re: Talking myself up is not my strong point

From: [personal profile] leish - Date: 2012-07-31 06:03 pm (UTC) - Expand

Re: Talking myself up is not my strong point

From: [personal profile] lunchee - Date: 2012-08-01 02:57 pm (UTC) - Expand

Re: Talking myself up is not my strong point

From: [personal profile] podcath - Date: 2012-08-02 02:14 am (UTC) - Expand

Re: Talking myself up is not my strong point

From: [personal profile] lunchee - Date: 2012-08-02 08:06 am (UTC) - Expand

Re: Talking myself up is not my strong point

From: [personal profile] regonym - Date: 2012-08-02 02:49 am (UTC) - Expand

Re: Talking myself up is not my strong point

From: [personal profile] lunchee - Date: 2012-08-02 08:01 am (UTC) - Expand

(no subject)

Date: 2012-07-31 04:32 pm (UTC)
luzula: a Luzula pilosa, or hairy wood-rush (Default)
From: [personal profile] luzula
Okay, this is hard--I have over a hundred podfics. But my reading has changed a lot over the years, and I do think I've done my best work in 2011 and 2012. I'm very fond of all the long rare fandom podfics I recorded in last year's amplificathon and going forward from that, a lot of which can be listened to without fandom knowledge. You can find them under "other long podfic" in my podfic index.

I am very fond of The Poignant Sting, which is a long Austen fic (the fandom is "Emma"). It was fun to try to get the feeling and style right without actually trying to imitate a British accent (I actually experimented with that, but decided not to, which was probably for the best). I think my reading voice was influenced by recently having listened to a great audiobook of "Emma" (read by Elizabeth Klett). And there's just so much fun acting in it--the opening has Mrs. Elton being all disdainful and ill-humored, for example. Often when I listen to my own podfics, I'm critical and think "oh, I should've phrased that differently" or "gah, that sounds so unnatural". But I'm still very happy with this one.

I'm also very fond of The Buried Treasure Racket, which is podfic for "The Sting". I have no idea why it should feel so natural to read a 1930's con man, but it did, and I think the podfic is good!

As for all my due South podfics, hmm. I'm very happy with the latest one, Death-Defying. I have so many feeeelings about this fic, and hopefully they came through in the reading. I actually made myself shiver re-listening to a bit of it now. I'm happy with the Kowalski-voice in it. And also there's poetry in it! I love reading poetry.

(no subject)

Date: 2012-08-01 10:27 am (UTC)
flyingthesky: Kurama hanging upside down with hands cupped around his mouth. Text on left side reads "Reili." (yyh: baaaaa!)
From: [personal profile] flyingthesky
I started podficcing the way I start doing a lot of things: I thought it would be fun to be a Dalek.

More accurately, I guess, I started doing it because of a singular stupid idea (being a Dalek) and then never stopped because one you get me started doing something, I kind of become the Jesse Eisenberg that you don't want in your hallway. Or maybe I'm the weird kid in the corner that talks to themselves and has no friends.

The point is that there is a really high chance you don't actually know who I am and I kind of wish that, like, we were friends so I knew what you liked and I could pick an appropriate podfic to rec you! I have a list of like twelve that I'm sitting here and going "okay, but. uh. hm." about so your input would have been really helpful.

(Funnily enough, the podfics you probably have with my name attached to them are not on my shortlist. Especially if you have the long ones. The long ones can go to hell, I never want to speak in foreign languages I don't know ever again.)

Let's go with something I am proud of in multiple mediums because that's an exceedingly rare achievement. I wrote a story called electricity is easy I'm told and then I read most of it on-camera because I wanted to and then my friend was exceedingly annoyed that I cut off the last two-hundred words in that video so I made a podfic. All of this happened in the span of like. Two weeks. During finals. Don't tell anyone, but I am the best at time management! My last post during amplificathon was made at 3am the morning I had an essay (which I finished before I posted those) due. I don't even remember what that essay was about, but I remember those podfics because I had to finish the essay to post them.

"electricity is easy I'm told" has a similar story. I'm pretty sure I stayed up all night writing it, posted it, then read it on camera and posted that. Then I think I went to class or slept, I don't remember. The point is that I kind of love all the versions of "electricity is easy I'm told." The fic itself for the regularity and phrasing, the video for being stupidly raw and unappealing, and the podfic for the weird ebb and flow of my voice. I listen to this podfic sometimes when I'm trying to put myself to sleep (falling asleep to recordings of my own voice is a terrible habit I picked up in speech and debate) and I hardly ever want to re-record it. Which, you know, is saying something since I regularly sit around and want to rerecord literally everything I've ever done.

That was a really long comment about nothing. tl;dr: I like this podfic because I think it's awesome and I never think anything I do is awesome but I hope you maybe think it's awesome too.

(no subject)

Date: 2012-08-02 02:17 am (UTC)
podcath: podcath's default icon (Default)
From: [personal profile] podcath
I subscribed to this post, so this comment came into my inbox and I thought, wait, I do know you. I recced you. ... and then I saw that you were talking generic you :D

i'm a tad sad that you feel so negative toward your long stories (I tend to have a preference for long, both reading and listening), but I so hear you on the foreign languages issue!!!

Anyway, thanks for the link to your reading on camera. I think that's a really interesting way to think about podfic, more performing the story maybe, or less of a disembodied voice? Anyway, I'm so glad you commented and self-recced!!!

(no subject)

From: [personal profile] flyingthesky - Date: 2012-08-03 08:15 am (UTC) - Expand

(no subject)

Date: 2012-08-02 03:01 am (UTC)
regonym: (Default)
From: [personal profile] regonym
I hope it's all right that I'm posting in this thread the day after - when I'd initially checked this post out no one had commented in it yet and I was too shy to go first. :x

I'd like to rec a twin set of podfics that I recorded for two stories in Avengers fandom, asking about a scar (and i know i gave it to you months ago) and you're the one who sees the darkness on the edge of town, by lanyon. They're a paired set of short character/backstory pieces for Clint Barton and Phil Coulson, and there's just something about the way lanyon writes that makes reading her work aloud like reading poetry. It was some of the easiest, smoothest-flowing recording I've ever done, and I'm really pleased with the way they turned out. ^^

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