Optional check-in & discussion post 1

[behindthepod]

Welcome to the first discussion post of Series 2!

Here, you can check in with us mods regarding any concerns you might have, talk ideas or issues through with other BtP participants, or share your excitement!

Here are a few questions for you to consider. No problem if you don’t know the answers yet! These discussion posts are also a prompt for you to think about things you may not have already got around to:

• Do you know what topic/s your episode is going to be about? Have you settled on any broad or specific ideas, a particular project you have in mind, etc?
• Which side of the improvisation versus reading-from-prepared-material spectrum are you the most comfortable on?
• If you’re part of a group, how are you planning on distributing the work between you?
• Particularly if you're part of a group, do you know how you're going to record your episode?
• What difficulties/hurdles are you foreseeing?
• Is there anything we can do to help, or anything you'd like us to know?

In the comments you can let us know how you're getting on, ask us questions, squee about your ideas, get cheerleading support from other participants, or anything else!

Useful links: Intro post, Rules/FAQ/questions post, Submission info post, Party Favour rules, contact info.

Comments

[flowersforgraves]

[waves] hi! I'm hoping to record a bit about moderating an exchange that includes podfic and other audio as formats. It's just me, since I'm the sole mod of the exchange I was going to talk about (unconventionalfanworkex). The biggest thing I'm worried about is having to do multiple takes since I'm already pushing myself outside my comfort zone with this! I look forward to hearing everyone else's audio.

[annapods]

Hi :D
That sounds super interesting! I have so many questions, I can't wait to hear your episode.
If you need any help with anything just let us know.

(Also, would you be interested in advertising your exchange on the podfic calendar? Because that sounds exactly up the alley of several podficcers I know > >)

[flowersforgraves]

Thanks! I was planning to put a post up on the podfic calendar when it gets closer to nominations -- while I personally am already preparing, nominations don't open until May 1st. So sometime next month I'll make a post there!

[eafay70]

Hi there! :) Captain Gondolin and I recorded our episode a little over a week ago - very early, but it gives me more time to edit. Plus, it gives us time to re-record if we think of other things to say!

Do you know what topic/s your episode is going to be about? Have you settled on any broad or specific ideas, a particular project you have in mind, etc?
The topic is language in podfic. I originally pitched it as, "What do you do when there are foreign words in a work you're podficcing?" We wound up talking about related things, too, such as how to accomodate a translation within a podfic.

Which side of the improvisation versus reading-from-prepared-material spectrum are you the most comfortable on?
We decided to write down our thoughts before recording in order to make sure we said everything we wanted to say. Since we didn't read each other's lists beforehand, I would say this was leaning a bit towards improvisation, rather than 100% prepared material.

If you’re part of a group, how are you planning on distributing the work between you?
Gondolin handled the recording (with me doing a backup on my phone that turned out to be...not great in terms of quality). At the end of the episode, I volunteered to edit, so Gondolin sent me the files.

Particularly if you're part of a group, do you know how you're going to record your episode?
We decided on Discord, since we both have it. Gondolin found a bot called Craig to record our voice call; when we were done, she used the bot's website to export WAV files (which didn't work) and an Audacity file (which did), which she sent to me along with a recording of her part on a different mic.

What difficulties/hurdles are you foreseeing?
I've never edited a multivoice pod before; it's going okay so far, but it's quite slow. Part of the speed-of-work problem is that the recording is fairly long and gets off-topic at points, so I'm debating what, if anything, to cut. My plan is to send Gondolin an edited version for feedback with plenty of time before the deadline so more editing and/or recording can happen as needed. (I thought I'd have to edit out a lot of yawning because we started recording around 6 AM my time, but so far that hasn't been a problem!)

Is there anything we can do to help, or anything you'd like us to know?
I don't think I need help at this point, but I'll be in touch with the mods (not counting myself, of course!) should that change. I'd like you to know that recording with Gondolin was a lot of fun, which I'm hoping comes across in the episode!! :D

[annapods]

Sounds like you have it all figured out :D
Good luck with editing! I look forward to listening to you two!