Lois & Clark Forums Forums General Discussion FoLC Productions AudioFic: Readers Wanted!

Still early in setting things up, but it looks like I may be playing some official part in the archive's new endevour.

There's a lot of stuff to sort out, but I'd like to get the ball rolling.

Soon, the archive will put up a form (or something of the sort) for authors to grant permission to have their works read. Or, depending on how you look at it, to submit their stories to the pool of fic to be read.

We're going to need readers to do the actual work.

It's pretty simple, really. Here's the checklist of what you need:

1. The ability to read. If you understand this message, you have that. Congratulations!

2. A voice. If you're mute or sick or something, that's not going to work. But, if you can speak and be understood, you're good to go. It doesn't have to be a great voice. Some are better than others, sure. And they improve with practice. But as long as you can speak clearly, you'll do fine.

3. Interest. In the story, the project, the archive... Contributing something to the fandom. If you're still reading, you've probably got that.

4. A computer, particularly one which is able to access the internet. Again, if you can see this, odds are you're set.

5. A microphone. A USB headset, like you'd use for Skype, is best, but there are plenty of options. And they're cheap enough to pick up at pretty much any electronics store.

6. An audio recording program. I like Audacity . It's free, has the features you need, works fairly well, and (if you install the "LAME encoder," can create MP3s.

That's it. Really.

For more advice on recording, check out the LibriVox Wiki . Among other things, they have a guide for new readers, a guide on how to use Audacity (and other similar programs), a page entitled "Help, what if I suck," and a bunch of helpful links.

There's also this thread on their forums.

If you want, I set up a quickie Guide to Recording AudioFic .

Otherwise, you can head on over to the coordination thread and/or the complete project list .

If you need anything else, contact me however you'd like - post in any of the audiofic threads, PM me, email me... whatever works.

Paul

Count me in.

I'm a sucker for #3 on the list.

So, against my better judgement (read: I get stage fright even in front of a keyboard ), count me in too!

Sara

PS: Should we sticky this topic? Looks like we have room for one more.

All right... count me in. <g>

*wonders what she's getting herself into* <g>

Julie

Hey Paul!

I'm just catching up with some of the posts. I think the audio files are an excellent idea. Do the readers have to have an American accent? I'm wondering what people would think of Lois with an Aussie accent? Or any other character?

Tricia

Well, if you guys want me and my Greek accent, I think I could find some time for it. I'd rather start by recording some of my shorter stories, though - and if they turn out okay... we'll see about other fics too

See ya,
AnnaBtG.

Wow, Paul, I'm glad that your pretty cool idea turned out this way.

It'll be some convenient distraction during my daily ride at work

I'd really love to contribute but my English seems to have a British accent (well, among the German one, I guess) so this might sound a little strange, especially when reading American.

But nevertheless, I'll have a check on Audacity and look what I can make out of my voice.

Bye,

Jana,
who is very happy about this new development

Wow. This is a better response than I'd dared hope for.

I can see we're going to have to get organized soon.

Of course, first we'll need some authors to submit their stories to the pool.

Regarding accents: I don't think that'll be a problem.

The way I see it: None of us is going to sound like Dean or Teri. We all have our own voices and accents. There are a large number of distinct accents just within the US. We've got FoLCs around the world. We've also (hopefully) got a lot of stories to cover.

In short: if we start turning away willing volunteers just because their voices don't "sound right," we'll be left with no one.

This isn't official, but I figure that we'll be best off following LibriVox's lead. As long as you're willing and able to read clearly, you'll be welcome. If we have a bunch of different accents, well, that just reflects the diversity of the fandom.

Remember, too, that the archive does have that "stories in other languages" section. If anyone fluent wants to take a crack at those (assuming, of course, that the author grants permission), that would be pretty cool, too.

Paul

Well, I suspect it'll be a long time before anyone is craz...er...dum...um...kind, yes, that's the word I'm lookng for, kind enough to do my stories, but I'll register that I don't mind them being done anyway.

LabRat

Just a quickie about accents since you guys are discussing it. It's just my opinion here, but this is coming from someone who's more than likely to download audiofic and listen to it:

I happen to enjoy accents. I love how melodic sounding Aussies (and Brits and Scotts and Irish!) are. And I've got a soft spot for that gorgeous Southern drawl.

It's different and that's what's great about it. It adds to the enjoyment. So, *please* don't shy away because you don't have a perfectly international English -- no one does.

That would be cool. I can read French, if there's any demand for that.

Some are pretty long (one, I remember took me over 5 hours to read) but they're so gooooood! Recording one of your stories would be quite an honor, I'm sure.

Well, count me in! It sounds like a lot of fun

Any by me alone you can read.

James aka Mr. D8a.

I'll do it. I need to get the headset, though. I can read in Spanish, also.

Hey, where are you guys?

We've got a rapidly growing list of stories , and only one reader so far.

I want you guys to be able to pick your projects, but I'd also like to see some more of you getting started on them...

Paul

This weekend I am planning to try recording my own little vignette Damn Good Thing and see how it goes. As Tank said it is probably harder than it seems! After that's done and if I am satisfied with it I will try another story.

It sounds like fun, and I've enjoyed doing dramatic readings before... I'd have to buy a microphone and download the software but I could probably manage that... and as many people know I have this problem with compulsively volunteering for fannish things... now if only I had a few more hours in the day... <sigh>

PJ

I'd be happy to help. I just have to buy a headset this week. Let me know what to do.

Cheryl, welcome to the boards!

Very cool that your first post is here. Thanks.

I've set up a little Guide to Recording . That should get you started.

If you have any more questions, let me know. The guide is just a start, and your questions will help me know what needs to be added.

Paul

I'm in! I'm probably going to start by recording my own fics first though. Once I've finished those, I'll start seeing about other people's.

Darcy

I have to help. I'm a hopeless addict to the fanfic archive, so if I can master the technology (I'm going to do a few test runs), this will be a good way to contribute. Does anyone out there recommend a particular brand of recording headset?

According to the good people at LibriVox, USB headsets generally offer better quality than traditional microphones. The downside with them is that the volume can be a little harder to control.

Personally, I'm fond of Logitech. They make two good models: the 250 and the more upscale 350. I have a 250. Not sure how easy the 350s are to find, or if they're even worth the extra money. But Logitech products in general tend to be good quality.

But... go to the electronics store and see what they have available.

One thing you can check while buying is the microphone's frequency range. Higher quality mics will be sensative to a broader range of frequencies, perhaps even up to the nigh-inaudiable 21,000 khz level.

Oh, and my Logitech headset has a handy feature... there's a second sensor on the outside of the mic, directly opposite the part that faces me. It uses that to automatically cancel out some degree of background noise. Not sure how effective it really is, but it's cool to have.

Paul

Oh, I'd love to read fics aloud. Count me in (if I can get the program to work) Oh but where to begin? Too many fics!

hi, i am the trucker that left a comment on the audiofic poll.i read a lot of fan fiction on the archive and i don't really read the forum much, but i was so thrilled about this idea that i had to make a comment.(i am not sure if this is the place for this post, so move it if you want to) i just wanted to say how excited i am about this project!!! i think its just wonderful of all of you to want to do this!

i think Paul did a fine job on the first story, i put it on my MP3 player and listened to it in the truck, and the sound came thru just great, he was easy to understand and i got caught up in the story completely. Good story too.

i think the different accents will be a lot of fun and i encourage everyone to participate. as i was reading the threads on this subject about the accents, i thought it would be really fun if the Tank/Wendy challenges could be read in the appropriate accents or genders. they always write about the different spellings in the opening comments, so hearing the story read in the accent it was written in would be a real giggle.

on a selfish note--i would love the longer stories to be narrated! i drive for 8 to 10 hours straight, and like long involved books. the short stories are good for commuters, but the longer ones would be so nice for long haul drivers or anyone going on vacation with a long drive.

thank you, thank you, thank you....
just can't thank you enough!! Peggy

I would love to be a reader. I do have some questions though. I have a MacBook and wondered if I need to download anythng special to record and send my files to you. I have something called GarageBand preinstalled and wondered if any of the more tech-savy friendly FOLC could help me out getting started The gargeband software is PODCAST ready if that information helps. So if someone could just help me get started I would appreciate it Thanks for starting such a wonderful project.

Molly, how about browsing the aforementioned rapidly growing list of available stories to see what strikes you?

Peggy... welcome! Very cool to see this project bringing in a new face, and I love your enthusiasm. Thanks, too, for the comments on my efforts. Much appreciated.

As for longer stories, there are a couple currently being worked on. Might be a little while, but be patient. They'll get there...

Wanda, we've already been in contact, and I'm glad to see your progress. For others who may be reading this... Nope, you don't need anything else. Garage Band seems to work just fine. As you've noticed, LibriVox even has some tutorial information for it.

Paul

I am new, but would LOVE to participate - please let me know how to go forward.

Tony

Sorry - did not read the entire thread. My error.

I now see how to do it. I am looking forward to this!

Tony

Cool. Welcome to the boards! And I look forward to your participation.

And thanks for reminding me to update the first post in this thread. Kept forgetting to do so, but it now has better information and links to the other threads.

Paul

Ok, I know I'm a pain, but here's my problem. I bought my cool headset and am now ready to record. I went to the Audacity link and it keeps coming up as a bad request.

I could record on "Sound Recorder" which will generate a .wmv file. Can you tell me where else to go for Audacity or is a .wmv file ok?

I'm all ready to go and I'd appreciate help on this one.

Don't apologize. You're volunteering. You're trying. And we could use all the help we can get. If you need some help getting started, I'm glad to provide whatever assitance I can.

Sound Recorder isn't great. IIRC, it's got a fairly short recording limit. It also has zero editing capability.

(Trust me, you'll need editing. I just finished Part 1 of my latest project, and when I was done editing out the places where I fumbled and rerecorded, what had been a 67-minute recording ended up as 49 minutes long... Which means I edited out over 1/4 of what I'd had.)

Not sure what problem you're having with Audacity. The following should be the direct link to their download page:

http://audacity.sourceforge.net/download/windows

Left-click on the link for the installer, and you'll be taken to the list of mirror sites for that file:

http://prdownloads.sourceforge.net/audacity/audacity-win-1.2.4b.exe?use_mirror=voxel

Pick one (try for something geographically close) and left-click "download" to start the download. It may take a few seconds before the download prompt pops up, so be patient.

If, for whatever reason, you can't get it from there, I can email you a copy of the installer file. It's freeware, so there's no problem with passing it along.

Or you could try using a different program.

LibriVox has a list of available software:

http://librivox.org/wiki/moin.cgi/SoftwareWeUse

Looks like the only other program on the list which is available free for Windows and which allows you to record and edit and save as MP3 is Exact Audio Copy:

http://www.exactaudiocopy.de/

I've never used it, though, so I can't tell you any more than that.

If all else fails, the other option (pointed out to me last night by Kaylle) is Odeo:

http://odeo.com

Sign up with them, and you can record MP3s by phone. No editing, though. Which, come to think, is the same capability as you can get through Skype and Pamela ...

Hope something here works. Let me know if you need anything more. I'm glad to help.

Paul

Paul, you're the best. I downloaded everything and I recorded "Only Yesterday" by Wendy Richards this morning. I have 3 mistakes to fix, so I'm figuring out how to do that now and then I'm ready to send it to you. It's short so that you can let me know if what I'm doing is what you're looking for. Then, I'll do some longer fanfics. Thanks for all your help!

Glad to help, Cheryl.

What program are you using?

If it's Audacity, all you have to do is highlight, cut, and paste. Same as you would with a text file. Only trick is snipping out the right part. If you left reasonable pauses before rerecording, that shouldn't be too bad. If you tapped on the mic or something after each mistake, finding the right spot should be pretty easy.

Anyway, sounds like you're making good progress. That's great. And thanks again for pitching in!

Paul

Yep, I'm using Audacity. Cutting is pretty easy, especially since I actually remembered to tap the microphone so I could find the three errors again. I've been going through a tutorial (can you tell I have zero experience with technology?!), which has been really helpful. I'm almost to the part where I learn to paste a piece in. I assume I record a new piece on a separate track and "paste" it in. Tomorrow night is edit night, then I'm going to jump into a longer story. I don't know about the other readers, but picking a story is so hard, because there's so much talent here .

When I'm recording, I tap on the mic, wait a second or two, and reread from the beginning of the sentence. Then I just delete the flub, and I'm left with the second, clean recording.

If you want to paste something, just do it like you would with a text file. Highlight what you want, cut it (CTRL-X or edit -> cut), select where you want it to go (by placing the cursor in the right spot), and paste (CTRL-V or edit -> paste).

As for recording on a new track.. Audacity does that automatically when you stop and start a new recording. You can combine them using cut and paste ("edit -> select -> select all" or "edit -> select -> cursor to end" can help) or, if everything is already lined up, you can use "project -> quick mix".

Does that help?

Paul

It sure does. I'm sure I can figure it out (at last). Thanks again!

LaraMoon, I saw you said you can read French if it's desired. My dad speaks French but is getting rusty and needs practice; he drives around a lot and listens to stuff in the car, so if you get permission from any of the authors of French fanfics (or even the French versions of S5 and S6), he would love the practice. He's not really into fanfic, but showed quite a bit of interest in listening to French fanfic, so if that works out for you, it would definitely be appreciated over here.

ok, I hope I'm not going to make a complete idiot out of myself but I'd also like to give it a try. I just have to buy a new usb-mic the next days and then I'll have to see how to get it work.

One question at the end: are there by now readers who are not native-english-speakers (or whatever the right word for it might be ... )? The question is: has it worked out or are for example especially Germans bad readers ... ?

We've been awfully short on readers in general, actually. I haven't gotten a new file in months. So... no. No ESL readers as of yet. But as long as you can speak clearly, it shouldn't be a problem.

The archive also welcomes stories in other languages . If you can get permission from the author (and, preferably, someone who speaks German to beta listen), I don't see any reason why you couldn't read in your native tongue.

Paul

Is there any chance that new fics are being recorded? I don't have much time to read at the moment so I would love to be able to listen to some new fics.

I haven't had a new audiofic submitted to the Archive in...oh, must be at least over a year.

Sorry!

We'd like new ones, too. But until we get volunteers recording them....

LabRat

If you have an iPad or and iPod Touch, you can have it read the fiction to you. The synthesized voice is pretty good, considering the low price of the necessary app.s I've posted a 'How To' with the apps I use here.

Of course, the Kindle has a similar functionality built in, as well.

Joy,
Lynn

I'd be happy to record some fics. :)I'm a singer, so diction is sort of my thing... it would be fun to record some stories. Should I start with one of my own? Are there some fics that you have in mind that need to be recorded? Are the programs suggested(like Audacity) still good ones to use?

/going off to experiment a little.../

Hmm, I do have a microphone and some time, as of late. Maybe I could take a crack at one or two of them.....

I feared that there weren't any new readers, Labrat. But thankfully mozartmaid is willing to record some.
Mozartmaid, your fics would be great. Any new fics would be great but I really liked what I read of your fics so far.
Lynn, unfortunately I don't have a I Phone or I Pod. I consider getting an I Phone at some point in the future but I stopped working and started studying last year so I can't afford it at the moment. I read your post about the apps and I think it is a good idea. Thanks for sharing.
Queeen of the capes, it would be great if you'd record some.

I thought about participating in audio reading some of the shorter fic, but my knowledge of setting up this sort of thing is pretty nil.

Any information as to how to go about doing this?

Everything you ever wanted to know about audiofic is here.

LabRat

Thanks. I'll have some time this weekend to play around with it... I am thinking of starting with 'Night Witness'--it's not too long, it's humorous, and I even get to sing! (If anyone recalls: 'I'm gonna wash that man right outta my hair...') I just have to get used to the Audacity software -- haven't figured out how to splice when I go back to cover mistakes...

By all means, go for it! I would listen to at least part of the story, even though I already read it. I always like hearing the speaking voices of FoLCs, so I can 'hear' them in my head when I read their posts. That we'd get to hear you sing, too, is an added bonus.

Joy,
Lynn

Actually, if there's someone out there who has the time and inclination to take over the admin of the audiofics, that would be great.

Paul would listen to the recordings, make sure that they were clear, that all of the disclaimers, etc, were in place, before sending them on to me for uploading.

At the moment, I don't have the time to do that. So if no one else does, the recordings will have to just come to me and be uploaded unchecked. It won't be that much of an issue, but it would obviously be much better if there was someone there to do that last minute check beforehand.

So if anyone is interested - mail me!

LabRat

Mozartmaid, if by any chance you can work with Adobe Audition I'd recommend it instead of Audacity (even though this last one is freeware). Audacity isn't bad but when you edit the timeline sometimes the cuts are noticeable as popping sounds. In that respect Audition is better to work with.

By the way, thank you for working on new audiofics

I'd love to participate but I'm a bit scared. I have no idea of how my accent sounds to a native. I'm a radio broadcaster so speaking loud and clear isn't a problem in my mother tongue. But... if anyone ever need a news announcer with a foreign accent count me in!!!