Podfic

[ratherastory]

Dear flist,

I have been in fandom just long enough to have heard of podfic but never to have listened to any. I'm not sure why the prospect worries me, but there are also technical considerations (such as I don't actually have an MP3 player on which to listen to it, and I can't see myself just sitting in front of my computer listening to a podfic when I could just as easily read it myself).

So, what's the deal with podfic? Why is it a good thing? Why do you like it? (Alternately, if you're not a fan, why is that? What fails to turn your crank about podfic?) What do you look for in your podfic? What makes you run screaming for the hills?

Is there the equivalent of BNFs for podfic? What's the protocol with recording someone else's fiction? Do people record their own work, or is that considered super-extra tacky?

How does it work for longer fiction? I would imagine that reading for six hours straight is right out for the vast majority of people, so do they get recorded as multiple tracks? So how does that work?

Anyway, this post is a bit disjointed, but I hope you get the gist.

Inquiring minds want to know! :)

Comments

[elsewhere-kels.livejournal.com]

I ADORE podfic. I think recording podfic and listening to it, while a new-ish thing for me, is one of my favourite fandom things. Being read aloud to is one of my favourite things ever, and to be able to access fanfic in this way is like two awesome christmas presents in one. A lot of podficcers really perform when they record - some podfics have songs or sound effects mixed in (this is somewhat uncommon, though, as it can be distracting when overdone - a lot of people do it very well - Fayjay (pandarus) is an excellent example of how to do this correctly, and is amazing and overall one of my favourite podficcers). The best podficcers know when to use a more business like (that's not the right term...) narrative, and when to really give her for emotional responses. Some use subtle changes in voices for each character. Besides FayJay, juice817 is another on of my favourite podficcers and has single-handedly turned me into a j2 fan.

Another thing about podfics is that it's like an instant rec, because if the reader liked the fic enough to put that kind of effort into the reading (and I don't know about other readers, but each hour of raw recording makes for about 2 and a half hours of editing) then it's pretty much guaranteed to be an awesome story.

Recording your own podfic is perfectly legitimate. :) If you record another person's fic, it's pretty much universally understood that you must have author permission in order to do so. If you want to surprise the author, you can make it for just them, send it to them, and then ask their permission to post it other places, I suppose. But that's a lot of work, lol.

For longer recordings, different readers approach it differently. Some sit with a bottle of water and read for hours, pausing occasionally and editing out the breaks. Depending on how you go about it, the sound quality can change between different tracks. I always podfic in my room, and make sure that I'm in a comfortable position when I start. Then, if I stop and go back to the fic later, I have to go back into the same position. I've noticed that the smallest difference can affect the resonance in the room, so it's important to keep as many things as you can control unchanged from the first recording. In my opinion, anyways. :)

Podfic got me in shape - I take really long walks to it and it's really helped my fitness level. It also gets me through mundane tasks like cleaning. I really hope you enjoy it if you end up checking it out!