Effective Effects Recs +A Comfort Podfic

[paraka]

Even thought I listen to a lot of podfic, and have a lot of opinions on it, oddly enough the quality of a reading is not really at the top of my list of things that make a podfic good for me. There are a couple podficers that I really love, but at least half of that is that we have really similar fic tastes. There are also a few podficers whose readings styles I dislike, but I still find myself listening to their podfics over and over again because I like to stories they've podficed.

So, with all that in mind, I have a very short list of fics that really stand out to me based on the podfic itself instead of (or as well as) the fic.

Them Other Boys Don't Know How to Act by ponceflower (fic by eleveninches) MP3 | M4B
The reading of this podfic always blows me away. ponceflower does voices! Voices that sound like the characters! She does accents! And Caron's and Zelenka's accents sound different (that is surprisingly rare in SGA fandom)! And John's drawl is perfect.
I'm in awe of the characterization that went into the reading of this fic, and it's always made me sad that this is ponceflower's only solo podfic on the archive.


Crown Of the Summer Court by Fayjay (fic by astolat) MP3 | M4B | M4A
I know this podfic has pretty much been rec'ed every day of this rec-a-thon so far but since I only had 3 fics in mind for this category I'm not giving this one up due to popularity :P
And really, I think one of the reasons this fic is getting rec'ed all over the place is because it's so rare for a podficer to try an effect like Fayjay did for this one and succeed.
This is an awesome fic, and Fayjar is an awesome reader. Most people would have loved this podfic if she had just read it without special effects but she didn't. She went that extra mile, she picked up on a small comment made in the fic about the fairies voices and she ran with it and it worked.
When I first heard the echo of the fairies' voices I was shocked. I'll admit, when podficers get creative with voice effects I'm leery. I don't have the best hearing so often extra bells and whistles make it really hard for me to understand what's going on in the story. So to hear this effect, which matched so perfectly with the story's description and which I could understand was just an awesome experience.

Rave Atlantis by dodificus (fic by smittywing) MP3 | M4B
In general I tend to fall more on the side of being a fan of music in podfic when it comes to the music debate, although I'll admit sometimes it doesn't work for me. I absolutely love the music in this podfic. It makes total sense that there'd be music in a podfic about a rave, however for this podfic, it's like the music is a part of the story. I just checked, and in the written story the author includes song lyrics between scene breaks, so I guess it really is part of the story. The music in this podfic though, just makes it feel so alive. I really can't imagine consuming this fic any other way.



And because that seems like a bit of a short list, and because I adore this podfic beyond the telling of, I'm adding a Comfort Fic rec:

Things I Learned My Freshman Year of College MP3 | M4B and How I Spent My Summer Vacation MP3 | M4B by celtic_cookie (fic by aleia)
Between these two podfics there's almost 9 hours and I cannot tell you how many times I've listened to these. The series is just so fun, and celtic_cookie does a great job of acting out the characters, of putting feeling into what she's reading. A very enjoyable listen, and it's the podfic I always turn to when I just want to relax.

Comments

[podcath.livejournal.com]

I hear you on the story first pick but even more so on your comfort podfic. I have no idea what it is about that story. I just love it to pieces and every time I feel kinda sorry for myself I plug it in.

I remember listening to it the first time and i felt taken right back to college...it was weird, but the hopes and dreams and worries that I now see as amusing but back then were so real...they really are right there and you're right there with them!

[paraka]

It really is an awesome and fun fic. Every once in a while I'll step back from it, and notice some things in the fic that seem wrong or that could have been done differently, but then I get absorbed in the fic and forget all about it :)

I really wish celtic_cookie would read more in that 'verse. Every once in a while I consider recording the rest of it (or at least more of it, since it's a huge 'verse) but I just don't know if it would sound right with a different reader.

[podcath.livejournal.com]

Oh, i'd love you forever if you did :) (Or if she did!)

The first year from Jensen's pov might be my favorite...and I usually don't like that in remixes...it's funny, most of my normal likes and dislikes are just thrown out the window with this story!

[paraka]

Oh, i'd love you forever if you did :) (Or if she did!)
Well, I'll see about it. I really don't have time right now (besides the feedback exchange, I've also signed up at help_haiti to do two podfics and a vid, this is stressing me out a bit :S) but maybe in a few months I might have more time.

it's funny, most of my normal likes and dislikes are just thrown out the window with this story!
I find that things that can get me over a dislike are generally the things I love most. Last year I was trying to do a vid rec everyday, and I found what seemed like half of my recs starting off with "So, normally I hate it when people do X but this vid does it amazingly well!"

[cybel]

Are you officially podcath now? If so, I'll make sure all your tags etc. are correct. :-)

[podcath.livejournal.com]

When it comes to open communities that are not robot/spider blocked and relates to podfic, yes I am :) Sorry to be so confusing!

[cybel]

No problem! I'll check that everything is up to date.

[fishpatrol]

I was totally going to rec both Them Other Boys and Summer Court in my rec list too. ;) Great choices there!

I just adore ponceflower's recording of Them Other Boys -- she's like this one-woman radio show or drama production or something. It's such a shame that she hasn't recorded more!

When I first heard the echo of the fairies' voices I was shocked.

It was so unexpected, but I agree with you that it really added to the listening experience!

[paraka]

Hee, the podfic community is still small enough that as soon as we do something like this rec-a-thon there's going to be a lot of crossover. Especially for the people that want to rec based on recording specific things (if I was going to rec based on fic choice, my list would have been a hell of a lot longer :P).

And ponceflower's recording is probably the closest I've come to in podfic to the really good professional audio book recordings. Like Jim Dale or Stephen Briggs. It was really amazingly well done. And yes, it really is a shame she didn't record more :)

[chloe-elf.livejournal.com]

I like listening to podfic but I do wish someone would record some LOTR. I did read the first chapter of one once but I can't remember what it was called and there were never any more chapters. Anyone know where of any others?

[laurie-ky.livejournal.com]

Check out the Lord of the Rings page at Audio Fic archive.

http://audiofic.jinjurly.com/category/1/1948/565

Laurie

[paraka]

I'm not in the LOTR fandom, so I don't have any recs, I'm assuming you've already checked out the LOTR category at the archive?

However the thing with podfics is that the amount of podfics for a specific fandom doesn't really have much to do with the size of that fandom. Stargate Supernatural and SPN RPS are all big fandoms and have a ton of podfic for them and while I know the size of those fandoms helped the amount of podfics produced, it was realy more that those fandoms have a dedicated set of podficers that produce and encourage others to produce and welcome newbies.

There are other big fandoms, like LOTR, that have next to no podfic and I think that's just because no one in those fandoms think to do it. Most fannish activities aren't things that occur naturally to people to do and share, it's not until they see other people doing so and sharing what they do that they think "Hey, I could do that too." Things like fic, vidding and icon making are such huge parts of fandom as a whole that they are the first things people think about doing when they enter a fandom. Podfic doesn't have that foothold. It's not well known enough to fandom as a whole that people automatically expect it in new fandoms, that they automatically start to do it for all fandoms.

So, my advice on getting more podfic in your fandom? Start producing your own. If you regularly produce podfic in your fandom others will start following you and will want to try it out themselves and slowly volume will grow but there has to be something to call people to this art.

[cybel]

This is so so true! It's the main reason I continue to post podbook links to one of the SPN specific podfic comms, since I know it will be picked up from there by the spnnewsletter, where fans unfamiliar with podfics are more likely to see it and maybe get interested. :-)

[winkingstar.livejournal.com]

In addition to recording your own (there are tutorials to be found, if you're interested, and there will be a podfic workshop in a couple months that I'll be linking to here), you can also ask other people to record some, if you have some specific fics in mind that you'd love to hear. You can post requests to this comm using the info:recording requests (http://community.livejournal.com/amplificathon/tag/info:recording+requests) tag. :)

[nikojen.livejournal.com]

*sparkly anime eyes* Oooo... workshop sounds all kinds of cool. :)

[luzula]

I recced LotR podfic here, and there's some more by the same reader. Also, a few more in the archive: