Podfic Feedback Exchange

[niko]

Here is my response for the Podfic Critical Feedback Exchange.  Some interesting responses have been posted at PodficMeta on DreamWidth and both the LJ and DW versions of amplificathon.  It's a little eye-opening about the wide variety of preferences that are out there.

Reader:   emeraldsedai 
Story:       When Heroes Go Down, They Go Down Fast   by  buffyaddict13
Fandom:   Supernatural (Gen)

Link:  mp3  m4b
 

Quick disclaimer: I am very new to listening to podfic, especially from a "critical" perspective, so I apologize upfront that this isn't as helpful or analytical as some.

First off, I enjoyed the podfic very much.  I went into it knowing I wasn't "required" to listen to all eight-ish hours, but I never felt any strong need to skip ahead.  Your voice is lovely - makes me want to curl up with a warm blanket and a cup of cocoa for a good, long listen - and your reading style suited the story well.  I especially appreciated the... hrrrmmm… the driving quality, or sense of forward motion, if that makes any sense - that came out especially in scenes with high intensity.  For such a long fic with lots of little road-trippy interludes, I think the delivery really helped emphasize the sense of the characters pushing onward toward a final goal, and kept the momentum from flagging to much during the episodic stretches in the middle of the story.

Having said that... I do think that there are times where that “driving”-ness became a bit of a liability and the momentum needed to be reined in a bit.  On my first run-through, the first three hours seemed very fast.  After some re-listening, I've concluded that part of the issue was me getting acclimated to the pacing, but I’d definitely say there are places that could use a slowdown.  I have a hard time pinpointing specific areas, because it’s sort of scattered - a paragraph here, a few sentences there.  I have noticed it fairly consistently in the "Now" sections around Oklahoma City in the first half-hour or so of Part 2.  I don’t notice it as much in parts 3 and 4, so I think it definitely improved as you went along.

Annnnnd... that's the only significant issue I had with the whole podfic, honestly.  On the technical side, I listened to the recording over three different setups (in my car, at work, and at home), and it sounded perfectly fine on all three - no significant sound issues that I noticed, and remarkably few editing "oops" moments for something this size.  The volume was nice and even throughout.

The main character voices (Sam/Dean/Andy/Izzy/Craig) were all fairly easy to tell apart within context - and I thought your Dean, in particular, got better and better as you went along.  You also nailed Yellow Eyes' smarminess in his brief appearances. 

One character-voice thing I'll mention, though I might be crossing a line between critique and general meta:  This is the second podfic I've listened to recently that threw me a bit with a female reader going a bit falsetto-y with the girl's voices.  It didn't *bother* me here (it did in the other story I'm thinking of) as I think you did a pretty good job of keeping on the right side of the fine line between a natural-sounding voice and something more cartoony, but I *did* have to adapt to it a bit as a listener.  Thought I'd at least throw it out there, to kind of acknowledge that that line exists.  I’m kind of intrigued by the difficulty a reader with a deeper voice must have with how to voice younger girls, especially.  Since I’m always struggling to *lower* my voice, it’s hard to picture the reverse. :)

Hrrrrmmmm... what else.  I'm in favor of the short-and-sweet title/author/read-by intro spiel, so that was fine.  The musical segueways were very effective, both in the song choice and where you brought them in/out.  I’m glad you didn’t try to work in the various song lyrics that the author has at the top of each of her chapters.  It would have been overkill, I think.

And I can't figure out a good place to slot this into the "delivery" section up above, so I'll just close with mentioning that my favorite part of the reading were the little italicized or parenthetical asides throughout the story.  The drop in volume and shift in tone was always really clear that it was an aside or thought, and every single one (Izzy muttering to Claudia, Sam flashing back to his evil days, little “shit!” exclamations, or whatever)  jumped out at me as an "oh, that was cool" moment.

Thanks, a lot! I enjoyed this. :)
 

 

Comments

[emeraldsedai.livejournal.com]

Excellent, incredibly useful and constructive. Thank you so much! I nominate this post as a kind of template for podfic feedback review.

I became aware of my speeding problem not in this recording but in the one I undertook next, and I thought, wow! Where's the fire? I've since installed a little metronome app on my phone, and I let it click away slowly in one ear while I'm recording now, to keep me at a more appropriate pace.

It IS hard to know what to do with female voices in a fic where male characters rule (i.e., the vast majority of fanfic), and I suspect it's a rookie mistake to use pitch alone to distinguish characters. Dean is low, Sam is medium, so of course females have to be high, and pretty soon, when you get to a child, you're out of options! It's definitely an area I'm giving a lot of thought to. I think some acting lessons would be in order.

Again, thank you for this extremely useful and valuable feedback. I'm glad you enjoyed the piece, and I really appreciate the time and thought you've put into it.

If you're up for it, I think you should definitely crosspost this to amplificathon, because it's a fantastic resource.

[nikojen.livejournal.com]

Yay! I'm glad it was useful for you. :) And oh, I remember seeing your post on podfic_tips about the speed issue, now that you mention the metronome. D'oh. Didn't make that connection before. I *was* mighty impressed with how clear your diction was in some of those speedy sections. I'd have been tripping all over my tongue, I think. :)

Acting lessons... that's an interesting thought. I'm on a local arts-scene mailing list that has an occasional ad offering lessons specifically in doing voice-over work. Hmmmm...

After sleeping on it, I guess I will post a link over at the comm, since there seem to be more going up there now. I'm looking forward to comparing notes with the other reviewer of your story. :)

[luzula]

Interesting with the higher pitch for female characters! I've never done that, and never even thought of it. I mean, I'm female, so I don't need to go higher up to do a female voice. And it's physically impossible for me to go as deep as a male voice, so I just try to distinguish different voices by means of other things. I've heard a female reader try to go down deep for a male voice, but I thought it sounded a bit strained.

[emeraldsedai.livejournal.com]

In pro audiobooks I've heard both approaches, and success depends a great deal on the individual actor/reader. On the whole, though, the very best of them rely a little bit on pitch and a LOT on intonation and vocal style to distinguish characters.

It helps a lot, of course, if the "voices" in the source material are clear, so that the words they use, and the rhythm of their speech is unique.