Amplirecathon: a half-dozen podfics with music and/or sound effects

[water_bby]

I think of myself as a "narrative" listener: mostly concerned with what happens in the story, with a bit of an ear out for how the reader distinguishes among characters' voices. This year, however, I'm learning to pay attention to the use of music and other sound effects in podfic. So, here are a half-dozen recs for short(ish) podfics with interesting and effective uses of sound and/or music.


Tape One, Take One, read and written by sabinetzin
Avengers (Tony Stark/Bruce Banner, background Clint Barton/Phil Coulson), available in mp3 or streamed, length: 4:26

Summary: Stark Method Meditation: Tony Stark's newest experiment.

If you usually read a fic before listening to the podfic, do yourself the favor of listening first to this one. It was intended to be heard rather than read, and the concept works really, really well that way. Tony is trying to make a nice, soothing tape for Bruce, and all we hear is what is captured on the tape: Tony being soothing, Tony shouting at people, the thuds of the microphone being moved, the phone ringing....


Red, read by themusecalliope, written by Kryptaria
Sherlock (Mrs. Hudson, background Sherlock Holmes/John Watson), available in mp3 & m4b, length: 10:44

Summary: Mrs. Hudson is an enigma so wrapped in mystery that even Sherlock Holmes thinks she's nothing more than his landlady. He never thinks to wonder what happened to her hip or what's in her tea cupboard or what she did in the days before she lived at Baker Street. The answers would surprise him.

England really might just fall, if Mrs. Hudson left Baker Street.

The story is a what-if, and the musical clip that opens and closes the podfic reinforces it. An effective use of a well-known musical theme. Note: The cover also plays on the what-if, so if you don't want to be spoiled, quickly scroll to the bottom for the download links and enjoy the cover later.


Take the Lead, read by tenoko1, written by shellygurumi
Supernatural AU (Castiel/Dean Winchester), available in mp3 & m4b, length: 12:57

Summary: Castiel is the dance instructor for ballroom dancing. After one of his students proves to have a difficult time following her partner's lead, Castiel asks one of his experienced students, Dean, to help him show the class how even someone unused to following can do so in a dance. Except he gets more than he bargains for when Dean decides to mix things up.

To be specific, Castiel and Dean tango. And, yes, it is as hot as you are imagining, even though they are fully clothed and standing. Tenoko1 uses music behind the portion of the story when they are dancing together, the beat of the tango ratcheting up the tension. The music does not actually end at the point when the story says it ends--instead it plays for another few seconds, ending when it emphasizes the emotional conclusion of the dance, which is rather more satisfying.


geeks will geek (and Tony Stark will create reasons for them to), read by canadasuperhero, written by flyingthesky
Avengers AU, available in mp3 & m4b or streamed, length: 14:15

Summary: Drunken app coding. Marshmallow machine guns. Great Lakes shipping mishaps. Many many people yelling Tony's name.

It's pretty much a regular day at the ThinkGeek offices.

This was created for last year's pod_together, and uses music not only as intro and outro, but also in the story itself--characters have to shout over Tony's music to be heard!


Portrait on His Garden, read by hananobira, written by author who requested anonymity
Onmyouji (Abe no Seimei/Minamoto no Hiromasa), available in mp3 & m4a, length: 19:59

Summary: They say that a gentleman's garden is a portrait of his soul. Hiromasa observes Seimei across the seasons to see if this is true.

There are four sections to this podfic, each marked with soft natural sounds of the season in the background (except winter, which is silent--itself an aural marker of the time of year). The cover also echoes the pattern, with a photo representing each season. If you like multiple cover options, have a look at the AO3 link, which includes two additional covers, each with a single seasonal photograph.


The Cephalopod Who Loved Me series, read by greeniron, written by LinguisticJubilee
Avengers (Clint Barton/Phil Coulson), available in mp3 or m4b, length: "Something Fishy" 28:10, Octopus Shawarma and Other Clues Clint Barton Has Lost Control of His Life" five pieces ranging from 6:27 to 11:16, combined audiobook 1:14:44

Summary: Clint stands outside the tank for Octopus Cynea, a Treasure of the Pacific, feeling distinctly like an idiot. He broke into an aquarium in the middle of the night, --an aquarium, by the way, he had just tried to convince his boss was full of Bad Guys Up to No Good--armed to the teeth with a bow and quiver, to talk to an octopus. Not his proudest moment.

Or, the one where Coulson gets turned into an octopus.

Do you have any idea how many octopus songs there are? Listening to these podfics, especially all of them, will introduce you to a number of such songs! Octopus songs are pretty silly, and they make great musical interludes for a series about, yes, someone getting turned into an octopus. While I tend to keep either the mp3 version or the audiobook version of a given podfic, I can't make myself throw away either recording: the covers for the mp3s are simple and attractive (featuring, you guessed it, an octopus) with one in red and the other in blue, while the cover for the audiobook looks like a still from the title sequence of a Bond film, which is appropriate for a series which is itself named after a Bond film.


Happy listening!

Comments

[kansouame]

Great rec list! Thanks!

[themusecalliope]

O.O
Thank you! I'm glad you liked Red. Mrs. Hudson is such a BAMF. :)

...And now I'll go download a couple of the other podfics from this list. They look awesome.

[scienceofobsession]

If you like the musical additions, I'm going to sneak in and shamefully promote one of my own, just because I'm proud of how it turned out and I got several comments about the music insertion being well-done. [sneak sneak]

It's a Sherlock BBC fic, a lovely John/Sherlock/Violin three-way. I dropped in music throughout when the text called for it.

http://www.audiofic.jinjurly.com/stringplay

Now off to listen to a few of the above that I missed!

[water_bby]

Oh, that sounds interesting--I'm downloading it right now!