Podfic Critical Feedback Exchange: Real Worlds read by Luzula

[darkemeralds]

Story: Real Worlds, by Salieri
Reader: luzula
Fandom: Due South
Length: 5 hours, 9 minutes

luzula is a prolific reader who makes podfic in an interesting range of fandoms of which Due South and its C6D branchings are the most mainstream. There's an emphasis on the mythic and the fantastic in her work (she has made Gilgamesh and Watership Down podfic!).

This story is one of only two pieces by luzula that I've heard, and it's a story I haven't read and wasn't familiar with, so I'm reviewing it outside the context of her or the author's body of work. I note only that its posting date of September 2009 makes it one of the most recent in a long line of contributions stretching back into podfic ancient history, August 2007.

I establish all this to make it clear that I, a podfic n00b, am reviewing the work of a highly original and very experienced veteran. So, cum grano salis, everybody.



Recording quality: luzula must have an excellent recording set-up. The recording quality is clear and practically noiseless, with good volume level, and no vocal pops or hisses. The overall ambience has a large-room quality. I can hear computer fan (I think) come on from time to time, and now and then some household sounds, but only with both earphones in a quiet setting, and these are in the realm of "slight imperfections" rather than problems. One caveat: the recording quality is so good that through in-ear stereo earphones, I kept thinking the sounds were in my own house!

Levels from one section to the next are as near identical as makes no difference. luzula produces a solid, worry-free recording that never detracts from the story.

Editing: It almost sounds like there wasn't any. It's that good. She manages the pauses well--no inadvertent gaps between sentences that made me think a new scene was starting where it wasn't, and no real smushed-together, too-close cuts. This long podfic sounds as if it was recorded in one magical, almost cut-free session. This must be experience at work! It's very impressive.

Reader's voice: You would be hard-pressed to find a more pleasant vocal quality than luzula's. She has a low-to-mid-range voice with soft, cool-and-dry characteristics that make her very easy to listen to. She told me that she's not a native speaker of English, but what accent she has is so faint that I can't even tell what language group it comes from.

I did, however, notice a number of surprising word mispronunciations ("loot" pronounced to rhyme with "foot," for instance, and "mic", short for microphone, pronounced "mick" instead of the usual "mike", "a-come-you-late" for accumulate). These weren't show-stoppers, but would definitely be something that a beta could help with in future productions.

Intro and Outro: These were simple and straightforward: At the beginning, story title, author and reader; in closing, a very nice "Thank you for listening" (after a good pause--no "the end"), followed by the author's fic website URL. Professional and just enough.

Reading style: luzula has a set of little "melodies" that she uses repeatedly. (I mean speaking melodies, not actual singing, though I know she's a musician.) I suspect her of having perfect pitch because she lands on the same note with amazing consistency at periods and commas, and rises to a different but equally consistent one at the peak of each phrase. This makes for a somewhat hypnotic reading, though the notes are far enough apart, and there are enough of them, that it's not monotonous.

While this characteristic makes pleasant listening--and is exactly what some listeners look for in podfic--for me it tended to overpower the meaning of the text and give every sentence equal weight. Because I'm a passive listener, I prefer a more interpreted reading--more ups and downs and variation to help carry the meaning to my lazy brain.

luzula can act--there are a number of places in dialog where she brings a wonderful emotional variation to her "song," and she does an absolutely stellar job at one point of conveying a broken-up radio transmission. (That's hard!) I could have wished her to bring a little more acting to the narrative sections as well.

Reader/story fit: This brings me to the heart of the matter: "Real Worlds" is a difficult story to sell. It's extremely AU (Fraser and Ray in an almost Firefly-like setting in which spaceships and sheep ranching converge. "Space Mounties Guard the Skies!" (Really--go look at the artwork for the fic--it's awesome!). Like all good AUs, it depends heavily on known character voices to orient the reader in an unknown setting. In this case the setting is a whole new and futuristic sci-fi world, with all the attendant unfamiliar vocabulary of names, places, technologies, etc.

And this is where I struggled the most with this production. luzula's voice is the sound of comfort and familiarity. She has a kind voice--a healing sort of voice. The smooth, soothing regularity of her reading style was at odds with the staccato space-ship-and-robot action, the explosions and crashes, the fast jive of banter between the two Rays, and the quirky Due South tone of the whole narrative. Because it's such a strange AU, it needs a LOT of selling, and I couldn't help thinking that a harder-voiced, more arm-waving type of reader would have been a better fit.

Nevertheless, "Real Worlds" is a fantastic story read by a very talented podficcer, and listeners who prefer even raucous stories to be read peacefully will get a lot of pleasure from this work.

Comments

[luzula]

This is so interesting! Thank you so much for doing this. \o/

My accent is Swedish, though I lived two years in the US as a kid. And yes, I know I mispronounce words occasionally, because I get most of my English from books--thanks for spotting those! I had a beta for my first few recordings, after that she got busy with other things, and I felt I couldn't ask someone to do all that work. I do look up the pronunciation of words I'm unsure of, but it's the ones I think I do right, but actually do wrong, that get to me.

I suspect the "melodies" in my voice are not there all the time--I think that's what I use for Ray Kowalski POV. I've done a fair amount of stories which alternate between Kowalski and Fraser POV, and I read Fraser quite differently (or at least I think I do, heh). But yes, I'll need to think about that, so that the set melodies don't take over too much.

And you're right--banter between the Rays is not my strong point. I find some characters easier to read than others--Thatcher and Victoria came easily in this recording, but Vecchio was harder. And it's interesting to hear that you didn't think my voice matched the action sequences--I tried to read those more intensely, but I find that when I think I'm acting something out, it actually comes across less than I thought it would. Maybe that means I shouldn't be afraid to overdo it? Hmm.

Did you think the list of search hits on the internet worked or not (the bit just before the last scene)? It was a bit of challenge to read.

[luzula]

Oh, and also:

This long podfic sounds as if it was recorded in one magical, almost cut-free session.

This is definitely not the case, but I'm glad it sounds that way! It's pieced together from sections that are 10-15 minutes long, because I have some voice problems that mean I can't record long stretches of time. Anyway, I can definitely hear some of the transitions, because sometimes I'll record one bit in the evening, and the next bit in the morning, when my voice is deeper.

[darkemeralds]

Really? Fifteen minute segments? It truly was not evident.

What is your recording setup? You get a wonderful sound.

[luzula]

I've got a ZOOM H2, which is an external recorder. That is, it's a device with a microphone and a memory card, so you don't need a computer when you're recording. I usually record in my bedroom, and then I connect the recorder to my computer with a USB cable afterwards and just move the files to my hard drive for editing. I'm very happy with it--it gives a good sound quality, and also, I can record with it some distance from my mouth (maybe 20 cm or so), which is good to cut down on breath sounds. It's maybe a bit pricey, though it's been worth it for me.

[darkemeralds]

Clearly, though, you don't hold it while you're recording, right? There's no noise! It sounds amazing.

And you read off your computer? (Sorry--don't mean to be overly nosy, but I learn a lot from other people's methods.)

[luzula]

No, I don't hold it--it sits on a stand which I put on my desk.

I sometimes read off the computer and sometimes not. I printed "Real Worlds" out, but I don't remember if I was consistent in shutting the computer down to lessen the noise, or not. It's something I should do, anyway.

(And no problem! It's interesting to hear other people's ways of podficcing.)