(no subject)

[niko]

Having a bit of whiny writing-angst today.  I came across a snippet of writing this morning that I'd forgotten about.  It wasn't much - just a cute bit of dialogue - but it got me poking around at all the *other* cute little bits I've jotted down over time.  It's made me sad and irritated at myself for not doing anything with them.  I wish the ficstarting  comm was alive.  It'd be nice to have some sort of structured support-system to get something going.  Self-motivation obviously isn't getting the job done. 

On the bright side, the podfic of doom is progressing. :)  Got the "rough cut" finished over the weekend.   There are still two-ish steps to go, but it's nice to have another milestone done and have it down to the niggly technical stuff like timing and clicks and breath noises.

Comments

[solosundance.livejournal.com]

the niggly technical stuff like timing and clicks and breath noises. ... when I have another go, I will so have to pick your brains about this kind of stuff :-)

[nikojen.livejournal.com]

Heh... Not sure how much help I'd be, but I'd be glad to try. (Unless the Feedback Exchange that Paraka's running gives me low marks - in which case I'll be back at the drawing board myself. :) )

[dj-aida.livejournal.com]

You know, I might be interested in it too, because I have some recorded lectures that could use some clearing up. I'm really interested in the whole process. Who knows, maybe I might try doing a podfic some time down the road...

[nikojen.livejournal.com]

Who knows, maybe I might try doing a podfic some time down the road...

Oh, do! :) It's really less stressful than I probably make it sound. Most of the trouble I have comes from me being "kinda OCD about this podfic thing" (as a friend told me today :) ).

I'm not particularly a tech expert either - most of what I'm fixing is really obvious glitches caused by the aforementioned OCD - but I'd be happy to try.

[dj-aida.livejournal.com]

:) I'm reluctant because I don't know if my accent will show. People tell me that my English is good enough to fool a native speaker, but I wouldn't go that far. I guess the only way to find out is to try and see.

Can you recommend some (affordable!) equipment? Like, should I get a separate microphone or can I use the one that comes with my headphones? How to minimize noise? Your experience with this is greater than mine!

[nikojen.livejournal.com]

OK, #1: I really wouldn't stress about the accent thing. As long as you speak English well enough to be understandable (and from that compliment, it sounds like you probably do) then having it come out with an accent doesn't seem to be a problem in podfic-land. (And besides, accents are sexy. ;) )

Re: Equipment: All I use is a headphone-mic, so go ahead and try that first, imo. It will probably work fine. You might need to fiddle with how to position it to get the best sound without too many "pops" from P's and stuff. (I haven't worked that out very well, myself. I seem to have a lot of trouble with words ending in "TH", especially. ^_^)

For noise reduction, I think everyone will have slightly different issues. Needless to say, you ideally want a place/time when there isn't a lot of background noise. I live alone in a fairly quiet neighborhood, so I don't have too much trouble with this. (Except for the cats. :P)

My main problem I can't do anything about is this low-level hum that I think is line noise from the mic or the computer. Right now, I use the noise reduction tool in a program called "Goldwave" to eliminate that, but I'm not sure if that's the best way. It's just the best I've found so far. (Are you on Apple or PC? I'm afraid I don't know the Apple tools very well.)

[dj-aida.livejournal.com]

:) I didn't know how people felt about accents so that's good to hear. I've been studying English for twenty years, and I teach it for a living, but I have to be conscious about certain sounds (we don't have TH sounds, and our V is between yours V and W).

I'll try the headphone mic, and if that doesn't turn out too well, I can always try a free standing one.

(Oooh, cats! I love cats, but I live with my aunt now who's allergic. :( )

I can go to a different room to record, so there won't be any interference from that side. Yes, that's probably line noise. I have Audacity, so I'll try that. I'm on a PC, by the way.