Critical Feedback Exchange - Review of Abstain by Mific

[anatsuno]

Podfic: Abstain
Reader: mific
Author: Resonant
Fandom: SG:A
Pairing: John/Rodney
Time: 35:33

Here's my critical review of the podfic of Abstain, story by Resonant, read my Mific.

It is a recording of a story I know well and have always liked - I'm saying this before I start because I think it's pretty clear that these things influence the way I listen to podfic. I was positively biased - that is to say, looking forward to listening to this.

The podfic opens and closes with music, which is not my preference but wasn't a bother here either. I think the volume of the music (in both places) could have been a little lower, this even though they do fade in/out nicely and do not overlap the text. I also think that the opening segment of music is too long (about 20 seconds) - it probably gives several readers, if not me this time, enough time to wonder if they somehow ended up cueing a wrong track somehow, and aren't actually listening to a story.
I did like the mood-setting effect of the chosen music though, and I think it's a really nice touch that Mific anounces, at the very end, what the music actually is (title and artist).

Mific announces the title and author of the story, her own name (yay), and reads the summary, which is a short sentence. I can't help but feeling that fandom and perhaps pairing information are missing, perhaps even the rating. I personally tend to listen to podfics of stories I already know, so that the combination of title+author is enough to remind me what it is I'm going to be listening to, but I'm starting to branch out and listen to more fandoms, more pairings, and stories I have not read prior to listening, which means these informations are going to become more relevant to me in the future.

Mific has a pleasant voice and an accent I enjoy. I find her rapid pacing flows rather nicely, although it is possibly a tiny bit too rapid, in that it made it easy to feel lost if I let my attention wander. At the same time, the story is straightforward in its narration, short-ish, and involves a small cast of characters, so even such failures of my attention got easily straightened again after a few more sentences.

Perhaps the articulation could have been a little more crisp? On the other hand, the sibilants were a little hissy, which makes me think that with the same setup, a crisper articulation might end up too.. percussive for my ear. I do really enjoy the somwhat 'liquid' feeling I get from Mific's diction and accent.

She chose to perform the dialog, and I like it. In some points I felt there wasn't enough of a differentiation between the protagonists, but those were sparse; in general John and Rodney were distinguishable (with Rodney's speech a little quicker or higher), and I loved the various voices of the female OCs, all priestesses coming in to recite ritual advice. Their sing-songy delivery of the information was pitch-perfect, and really highlighted the humor inherent in the text.

Mific also pushes the performance in places to include effects that I would ordinarily claim to dislike: a wet noise for Rodney speaking while eating fruit, a blurted exclamation / laughed line, a laugh, a yawn. Only the blurted exclamation (around 14:05) gave me a jolt, and this purely because it's a little too loud. I love Rodney's yawn in particular, at the end, half because it adds to the reading and half because I'm impressed at how well done it is. *g*

On the other hand, I feel like the passage around minute 25 when the guys are starting to become tense and breathless - which continues, with interruptions, for a while - is an uneven success. I like the overall idea and execution but some moments are a little too inaudible (articulated less) or too breathy, and sadly (though realistically), the breathless voices make the protagonists less recognizable, which makes it easier to lose the thread. Still, it's not all bad - the sex scene itself is fine, imo, if anything bothers me there it's perhaps that the volume variations in it are a bit too wide, rather than any effect/performance aspect in itself - but I just thought I'd mention it.

Other things I particularly enjoyed include:

At 9:42, John's internal remark going "Great. Fruit with nipples." makes me giggle every time.

Ditto, at 13:42, the priestess saying (not for the first time) "I'm not acquainted with the reference." I just love the delivery on those lines particularly.

I really like the progression of the mood throughout the story, rendering the sleepiness/high effects that the night and the smoke have on John.

There is, that I can say, only one moment where Mific stumbles audibly, at the 18:55 mark - perhaps it is made even more noticeable because it is a unique occurence? Otherwise this is a very enat reading! I didn't notice any audible editing, either, and the silences were of the right lengths between sections/scenes - see my remark on the good pacing. :)

Overall, I really enjoyed/enjoy this podfic, and have given it 4 stars in iTunes (which puts it automatically in the 'heavy rotation comfort listens' playlist). It is very nicely done!

Here endeth my review.

Thank you very much for your recording, Mific. May you keep recording stories I love for a long time! I owe you feedback soon, too, for other things. :)

Comments

[mific]

Oh thanks for this - and I'm so glad that you liked the podfic. Helpful feedback too, and nice that you picked up the different voices of the priestesses. I also tried to make them sound progressively older as well (like they are in the story) so I hope that came across a little bit.
You know, it's only been from reading several of these reviews that I've come to realise that some people don't like the element of performance in reading podfic. I guess to me it's always been like a spoken play and I don't think I could do a flat unemotional version. But I suspect I err more on the dramatic side than some readers and I'll have to keep an eye on it and try not to get too histrionic!
It's been fascinating with all these reviews because to be honest I just fell into reading podfic as a rank amateur with not the faintest damn idea of what I was doing and of course no research or reading anyone's meta posts about it beforehand (having always tended to run new programs without reading the instructions and figure them out as I go!). So now I'm finding out all this stuff about the technique and having to figure out which bits I think matter so I need to adapt and learn, and which bits I'm not so fussed about. And its kind of boggling how every reviewer has their own very specific technical likes and dislikes. Definitely can't please all the people all the time so you have to find a middle way that works most of the time.
Anyway, I'll stop rambing on and just say thanks again!