bethepod | Party Favour info post

Liked the idea of Behind the Pod but didn’t feel up to the full timeline? Have an idea but didn’t get around to approaching another podficcer to make it happen? All the episode slots filled up before you could sign up? Just want a low-commitment option? Party Favours might be for you!

There is no need to sign up - Party Favours will have no check-ins, and not much mod interaction until submission. We’ll give you everything you need to make a Party Favour right here, a submission deadline, and then it’s all yours! The Resources & Templates folder (where you can find Audacity screenshots, metadata, cover images, intro & outro WAV files, and everything else) is here: (GDRIVE LINK).

Submission of Party Favours closes on Sunday 8 December.
All Party Favours will be published on Sunday 22 December.

General info:

You may participate as a group or solo.
Any topic under the umbrella of podfic meta is valid and welcome!
- We would consider the following to be off-topic: discussion of fandom-wide issues, fandom- or ship-specific primers, oral not!fic, discussions about pro audio fiction/narration.
- If you find yourself approaching one of these topics, please focus on the ways in which it intersects with podfic and podfic fandom.
The meta can’t have been published before in any format, as we are emphasising the creation of new meta content.
- For example, recording a Dreamwidth or Tumblr post would not qualify for this project, but your thoughts and reactions to that post would.
- Discussion of the process(es) behind specific podfic would qualify,
There are no minimum duration requirements, and no restrictions on format. It can be structured any way you like:
- eg, a live two-person interview, a vox-pop-style series posing the same question to multiple people, a round-table meta discussion...
- eg, recording a live voice chat, sending and receiving voice recordings, one person reading a chatlog or their own meta post...

Editing & file wrangling info:

In order to maintain a consistent listening experience across all our Party Favours, please follow these guidelines for editing and exporting your files. If you need help with anything, please contact us!

Include your name(s) and a brief summary of which topic(s) you intend to cover at the beginning of your audio.
Please add the party favour_intro.wav and party favour_outtro.wav files, found in the Editing subfolder (Gdrive link), to your project before and after your own audio. No need to add silence at the start/end, or between the intro/outro and your audio, we’ve put some there already.
Please consult the Volume_Guide.mp3 file in the Editing subfolder (Gdrive link), import it into your audio editing software and then adjust your volume levels using your normal adjustment methods, if necessary. If you have any difficulty, let us know!
- You can also check the volume visually by comparing your zoomed-out audio wave to the volume_guide_screenshot.jpg in the Editing subfolder (Gdrive link).
- In general, try to get the different voices in the audio as similar to each other in volume as possible, so that it’s easy for the listener to follow along.
- As a rule, louder is better.
- If you’d rather do it by numbers: aim to have your peak volume around 0.9 on the vertical scale at the side of Audacity window, or 0.9 of a full wave (this can also be achieved by inputting -1.0dB Peak Amplitude when using the Amplify tool in Audacity). Also aim to keep your average volume between 0.2 and 0.5 on the Audacity vertical side scale, estimating by eye.
Export your file in:
- mp3, in mono, at 64kbps. If you’re not sure how to do this, take a look at this (link to Audacity manual), and export_audacity_mp3.jpg in the Editing subfolder (Gdrive link).
- One of either m4a OR m4b (whichever is your preference), also in mono, also at 64kbps. If you are unsure how to do this, take a look at this (link to Audacity manual), and both export_audacity_m4a_1.jpg & export_audacity_m4a_2.jpg in the Editing subfolder (Gdrive link).
- If you have any trouble with exporting, let us know!
- If you use effects that need stereo (panning, etc), you can export your file(s) in stereo.
Add metadata to your files.
- Please see the metadata_mp3tag.jpg screenshot for an example of how to input metadata in Mp3tag
- See the metadata_audacity_export.jpg screenshot for an example of how to add your metadata while exporting from Audacity
- You can import the metadata_audacity_template.xml file as an Audacity tag template, all found in the Editing subfolder (Gdrive link).
- You can also download the metadata_demo_file.mp3 to compare your file against.
Or, add your metadata as below, changing the information which is in parentheses (like this):
- Artist Name: (Name 1, Name 2, etc)
- Track Title: [BtP] (Choose the name of your episode!)
- Album Title: Behind the Pod, Series 1
- Track Number: -
- Year: 2019
- Genre: Podmeta
- Comments: Behind the Pod Series 1: Party Favour. (any additional info eg. links to things referred to, content warnings, etc)
- Album Artist: Behind the Pod
If you have any difficulty, let us know!
Add one of the cover art images, found in the Posting subfolder (Gdrive link), to both of your files. You can do that using software such as Mp3tag (link to download site). You can also add/change metadata with Mp3tag.
- If you are unsure how to do this, please let us know.
There are several cover options in that folder:
- cover template BtP party favor - no icon.png & with 2 icons.png, which are templates for you to use, if you’d like to add your own title, name(s) and icon(s) to create your own unique cover image.
- cover guide BtP party favor - with icons.png, which is there as a guideline image for the above two templates.
- If you don't already have the exact fonts installed on your computer, please use any similar sans-serif font you have available.
- cover BtP party favor - generic.png, which you can use as a ready-made cover image without altering anything.
- We are leaving the choice to you!

Posting info:

Create an AO3 work using the two screenshots and HTML template in the Posting subfolder (Gdrive link).
- The templates contain relevant tags, and the posting HTML. Please feel free to add more additional tags as you see fit to describe your discussion.
- Choosing the summary and title are up to you.
- It is also up to you to appropriately judge the rating and Major Archive Warnings applicable to your work. If you are unsure about this, please get in touch with us.
Add the Behind the Pod account as a co-creator: BehindThePod.
Add your AO3 work to the Behind the Pod - Series 1 collection: BtP_series1.
If you have your own hosting method(s), please use that, and we will mirror the files on our own hosting and add those links in afterwards. If you don’t have your own hosting method, mention that when you contact us, and we will host it for you.
Finally, send us an email with a link to the AO3 work so that we have your contact details and know which work is yours. Mention in your email anything you’d like help with, such as hosting!

Miscellaneous info:

If you would like to add a transcript to your work at any point, please add it as a second chapter.
We will be encouraging people to leave audio comments (aka talkback) as a way for people to contribute to the discussion, and some commenters may be doing that on the Party Favour Discussion post link to DW post, which will go live closer to the posting date. You may wish to turn on alerts for this post to keep track of the discussion.

Please get in touch with us by replying to this post, or via any of the below channels, if you need anything or have any questions!

Useful links: BeThePod, info post, questions post, contact info post, behindthepod@gmail.com.