elsewhere_kels - Amplirecathon

[elsewhere-kels.livejournal.com]

I only discovered podfic this past summer, but I can definitely say that I became addicted immediately. So far I've mainly lurked around the communities collecting, (and jumped into recording stuff with no preparation, orz - learned from it, though!) so I was delighted to see this rec-a-thon! It's the perfect opportunity to de-lurk and gush a bit. Podfic has gotten me through life-organization, getting in shape, and just some BAD days. It's made me both MORE productive and less productive, alternately. A couple of the recs I have are repeats that other reccers have mentioned, but I have my own spin on them! But enough of that - ON TO THE RECS!


Freeform! The podfic that helped me get in shape - laughing all the way!

MERLIN (Merlin, BBC - Arthur/Merlin)
Author: moonythestrals
Reader: emptybackpack
This podfic holds a very special place in my heart not just because of the reasons in this category, but because it took my podfic virginity. &hearts I couldn't have asked for a better introduction to the phenomenon! The story itself is great material to begin with, but emptybackpack interprets the text masterfully - her comedic timing and inflection is superb. The warmth in her tone is a constant, comforting presence even as she integrates snark from the boys as they make assumptions about each other and gawp incredulously (and her reading lets you SEE them do it, too!) seamlessly. When the boys are stressed, her tone takes on a more frantic edge that really amps up the listener's reaction to their problems - even when you anticipate that the boys are overreacting anyways. The reader also handles the regular emails that are sent back and forth throughout the story wonderfully! She even uses a snootier tone for Arthur's fancy email signatures, and the constant monotone "Send through Blackberry from T-Mobile" will have you grinning like a fool every time. There was one thing that surprised me, and this was that Merlin's first email was read very monotone the whole way through - most of Merlin's other emails in the story are more expressive. I did not find this overly distracting, though. Clearly because I have listened to this podfic no less than 13 times, and maybe more than that!


Freeform! A quick dosage of Holycrapamazing

I Love the Bones of You (SPN, Not-quite?Dean/Castiel)
Author: fleshflutter
Reader: Fayjay (pandarus)
Fayjay is my IDOL for recording dialogue. There is no one else I've listened to with quite that variety, that life that she puts into the voice of every character. It's what, among all of the other amazing things she does, brings me back to her recordings again and again. Sadly, I'm kind of picky with podfic, and usually don't listen outside of a fandom I already have - I found Fayjay through the Merlin fandom with one of her epic-length podfics (more on that later) but that's kind of a big undertaking to listen to over and over but I still wanted to listen to HER. "I Love the Bones of You", even being such a short (but INCREDIBLE) fic, provides her with a few characters that are all different enough to provide quite varied voices and mannerisms for each. I feel kind of creepy saying it, but I'm... particularly amazed by her reading of the DEMON'S voice in this fic. Just for Fayjay's INTERPRETATION, I almost wouldn't recommend listening to this one in public - you might blush or clench your fists too much. The way Fayjay uses pauses and quiet tones in this reading just makes it that much more affecting. And her voice for Dean, as he describes his thoughts about what happened - the swallows, the double-backs, the cracking voice - I just. *sighs* I can't really describe it - if you're squeamish at all, this might not be the podfic for you - but if you can take a few gory details, it's a great way to squeeze an emotional roller-coaster into 30 minutes of your day.

In the Silence Afterward (SPN, Dean/Castiel)
Author: ibroketuesday
Reader: fullondazzled aka katrinaswift
Again, the reader chose an incredible story to podfic - it's very affecting in itself. But fullondazzled has taken things a step further with her reading - I'm sad to say that I can't think of any SPECIFIC aspect of the recording that made it wonderful, it's just - when I listen to it, it seems like her voice was made for it. Her reading is clear and soft; mournful, too. She shows such respect for the feel of the story, and the tragedy of it, and the insane hope of it even though it feels like there shouldn't be any. You can hear that she has been completely true to the text in every word, and the purity of that makes this podfic for me in so many ways. It's what keeps me going back to it, despite the horrible things that occur.

The Long Haul: Great Long Stories that are Worth Every Second


Readings that Will (Probably) Make You Cry

When Heroes Go Down (They Go Down Fast) (SPN, Gen - Apocafic)
Author: buffyaddict13
Reader: emeraldsedai
This podfic might throw you for a bit of a loop - not only is that situation that is written rather shocking, but there is a lot of switching back and forth between "Then" and "Now" - the readers are caught up on the situations through flashbacks and emeraldsedai is careful to pace her reading so that the listener can take the time to take in that a flashback has occurred - unless you've had a conversation while listening, or been dozing, she keeps you caught up as well as she can. This story has a LOT of characters, a lot of extremely emotional scenes, and the poignant, almost-happy-again moments make it impossible to record a tone on auto-pilot - and the reader never misses a single beat. It's kind of hard to describe how incredible this piece of work is - I think you really have to listen to understand the full affect. For some reason, even though it's not at all the most touching part of the story, I always remember her voice reading the line of this one little girl - "Nuh uh, I want more monies" - that scene really stuck with me, I guess because I got to see what wonderful comedic timing the reader has, as well as her ability to read heartclenching scenes perfectly. It's an amazing story, and an amazing reading of it - it got me through 4 hours of waiting when I injured my knee this past december, and I wasn't bored for a second of it.


Podfic That Changes the Way You Experience the Story

When You Care Enough to Hit Send 'Verse (SPN RPF, J2)
Author: Chash (longsufferingly)
Reader: juice817
Okay, so. This rec and the next one are under this category because I was VERY DETERMINED to not be a J2 fan. Since I first heard (or at least, heard about and processed) about RPF in the Merlin fandom, I have tried to avoid it bar a couple really hilarious fics because I have no willpower. I was EVEN MORE determined to avoid it in the SPN fandom because, as good of friends as they are, I feel like Jensen and Jared would be really uncomfortable about it. But this was an AU and I love Juice's readings and so I caved and gave it a shot. THANK GOODNESS I DID. Juice's comedic timing is incredible, she doesn't do really exaggerated voices for the boys but somehow you always know who is speaking, there's never any doubt. She's sure and clear in her reading, and truly loving in her interpretation. The pacing is perfect, never too fast or too slow, and I completely lost track of time listening, grinning like a loon. There's an occasional strange jingling sound but it's soft and doesn't come up too often and doesn't really distract from the reading that much. Actually, the more I listen to Juice's podfic, the more the sound (and I think it must be a collar or something) just makes me smile - I've learned to love it the way I've grown attached to different, distinctive voices - it's just another part of what makes her unique as a reader. Uh, but I digress. This podfic is my happy place - not only does it make me laugh, like a few of my others, but it just fills me up completely with a feeling of warmth and love and hope. I never would have experienced this story if it wasn't for Juice, and even if I had I'm not sure it would have taken on such a LIFE in my mind. I wanted to restart it as soon as it was over, even though I had another fic I hadn't gotten around to listening too, yet. It's that good!

Spin the Light to Gold (SPN RPF, J2)
Author: belyste
Reader: juice817
Again, I downloaded this because it was Juice reading it - and also because she'd infected me with J2 whether I liked it or not. XD (It's a good thing I liked it, however guiltily at first!) I wasn't disappointed one bit! I had to cover my mouth at the beginning to keep from laughing too loudly while I was supposed to be at least attempting to get homework done. As before, Juice's voices were distinctive without being over done, and I love the way she reads Jared's POV - the tone of his emotions, whatever they may be at the time, always sound clear in her voice and I found my mood shifting to subtle inflection changes, snarky tones, whiny tones, happy tones, affectionate... and a million others that would take forever to name and probably more than I even consciously registered because I get sucked right in so easily by her readings. It was especially wonderful for me to hear her narrate about how Jensen would stay away from Jared for entire evenings, even after they got together. Sometimes the scenes didn't describe that bothering Jared very much, or didn't even go to it at all - but you can hear the vague discomfort, that niggling in the back of Jared's mind just by the way Juice reads it. There are so many things between the lines in this story that are completely illuminated by the way it is read. Juice's readings, any of them, all of them, are an in-depth experience that goes far beyond text.


We Are Podfic: Multiple Voices

In from the Cold (SPN RPF, J2)
Reader: Group Slashpad (paraka as Jared, diurnal_lee as Jensen, and kronos999 as Jeff and Mackenzie)
Author: ladyjanelly
There could NOT have been a better choice of fic to do with multiple readers - each of the four characters perspectives on life are SO different, and it's a really exceptional effect to be able to think "oh, it's this voice, so now I have to shift my perspective a bit". It's interesting how the pacing even seems to change between readers near the beginning, but that levels out after a while and I didn't find it too distracting. The readers switch off regularly to the POVs in the story and even as I enjoyed one reader's part, I found myself trying to guess who would come next - and if the character felt different than they let on, and how that was going to show in their voice. I was very impressed with kronos999 because, as she had two different characters, her different reading styles for them both were distinct, and easily comparable to each other. paraka is a wonderful voice for Jared - so hopeful and earnest yet not completely naive. She reads with a competence and warmth that immediately drew me in. And diurnal_lee is exceptional as Jensen! She manages to make his thoughts come across as emotive and matter-of-fact at the same time. The way he thinks is unusual, and sometimes the logic isn't quite all together the way you'd expect but I had no problem getting inside his head - thanks to her interpretation, I could see the things he saw, and care about what he cared about. Part of all this is that the story is incredibly well written to begin with, but you can tell that all of the readers know it to it's very core, and they express it with passion and integrity without getting too mushy. It's really a thing of beauty. &hearts


Effective Effects

Defenders of the Realm (Merlin, BBC - Arthur/Merlin, others)
Author: Lamardeuse
Reader: Fayjay (pandarus)
This has already been recced a couple times, and with good reason! As I mentioned before, Fayjay's expression, both in narration and dialogue, constantly takes my breath away. Her voice is such a joy to listen to, and it's particularly nice when you know that the characters speaking share her accent. She is consistent with the character voices, which all have subtle changes in tone and/or pitch, through out the whole story. Her comedic timing is incredible, I can never get through the first scene at Uther's house without bursting into giggles multiple times. The way Merlin stutters over his words sometimes, the way you can hear Arthur squaring his shoulders before Merlin even says anything, it's like you don't even need to watch a movie! It's all in your head because she is just that good. She's also integrates snippets of appropriate music very seamlessly into the spaces between chapters and it's just such perfect choices of songs - she chose the same artist for each which had a wonderful effect of tying it all up together. There was never any discrepancies in volume and the fadeouts were smooth - the clips of audio were never so long as to be distracting, they just added a bit of extra magic. An excellent podfic I've recced as often as I can, so I didn't let a little repetition stop me! =D


Freeform! Podfic that makes me go 'Awwwwww!'

Entertaining Angels (SPN, Gen)
Author: maychorian
Reader: sly_hostetter
Kid!Fic - I'm a sucker for it and I think most people on my f-list know it - so when I saw that this fic had been recorded my day was officially MADE. I loved the switching POVs in this - the reader portrays Sam, Dean, and Cas with subtle differences, and she emotes beautifully - both during dialogue and just during the narration. She shifts from light tones as Dean and Sam finally have some fun for once but then you immediately notice when the boys realize something is wrong. They have superb guilty voices, poor things. I especially loved Missouri in this but I'm not quite sure how to explain why - she was just perfect. The pacing and volume is smooth through the whole thing. This is a podfic I go to when I ever need an extra dose of "squee!" and "Oh, DEAN"s. x3

EDIT: While I have your attention, I have a request! If you listen to and enjoy any of these podfics, pleasepleaseplease give the readers feedback! Far too often it turns out that people only end up commenting when they download, before they've actually heard the piece. I know it's not out of disliking anyone or anything, but people get busy and forget. But I also know the kind of time and effort and emotion that goes into crafting a great podfic - readers want to hear what you liked! What you might suggest for improvements! They love recording but they love it even more when they know that specific things they are doing are appreciated. :) Whenever you have a spare moment, and are thinking of a podfic you really enjoyed listening to, please take the time! &hearts

Comments

[pandarus.livejournal.com]

::flails speechlessly::

Yay! Awww, man, what a lovely thing to stumble across! I'm chuffed to bits you've enjoyed the podfics so, and I'm blushing so hard that the sky over Bangkok is probably glowing red.

Thank you SO MUCH for taking the time to write such a lovely and thoughtful rec - it's always extra special to get feedback for podfic, because I know it's more of a hassle than typing in a comment after reading something & I appreciate the heck out of it.

You've just made my evening! :D

[elsewhere-kels.livejournal.com]

Well, you deserve all the praise you get! The fics are already wonderful, well done, had a lot of work and love put into them by the awesome authors, but podficcing is still about performance and TRANSLATING that great work into another medium with skill and grace takes a lot of time and effort! So I'm really glad whenever I see feedback for readers. :)

Late reply is late, lol, but have a great rest of this evening anyways!