I made a bunch of tutorials for @lesmispodficweek and I wanted to gather them all in one place so if people wanted to reblog them, they could just reblog this instead.
INTRODUCTION - So You Want To Record a Podfic
Setting up your space to record
Buying a microphone
Downloading Audacity
Picking a fanfiction
BASIC:
(You’ll get the hang of it R, sweetie, don’t worry)
1: Recording 101
How to use set up and use Audacity for podfic
Set up, Recording, Saving
Example Video (same as Podfic 101)
2: Podfic 101
Noise Plates (for editing later)
Recording an Intro
What to do when you make a mistake
Recording an Outro.
Example Video
INTERMEDIATE:
(It’s okay Marius, editing can fix that!)
3: Editing 101
Noise removal
Editing
Pagebreaks
Polishing
Example Video
ADVANCED:
4: Multitracking 101
Setting Up
Royalty Free Music
Adding Sound
Leveling
Example Video
And that’s all of them! I hope you’ve learned something new! You got this.
If you’re using this to make a podfic for Les Mis Podfic Week, please feel free to tag me in it! I want to see and listen to all the amazing podfics you guys make. They’re going to be incredible and I’m super excited.
You’re also welcome to message me if you need help! <3
Until then, good luck, and thanks for listening. :)
The Les Misérables Podifc Week aims to motivate fandom members to produce and listen to more podfics!
HOW IT WORKS
Authors - I will be collecting names of writers who will grant permission for podfic-ing of their works! There will be an updated list here. You can also podfic your own works! Collection of names and works will continue until a day before the event ends (17 June).
If you’re a writer and want your fanfictions read for Podfic Week, shoot the blog an ask here!
Recorders - Before Podfic Week, choose a work from an author from the list and send this blog an ask with the title of the fanfic! I will add you to another list, so you’re basically “reserving” a work! This is to ensure equal distribution of readings.
Before/during Podfic Week, you can record yourself reading the works of the authors on the list! Throughout the week, I will be reblogging submissions of podfics tagged with #lesmispodficweek! Encourage the podfic-ers by telling them why you liked their pofic, or leave a string of heart emojis! Remember to be nice, even if you’re leaving constructive criticism!
Awards ceremony - After the week, we will have an awards ceremony! This is to encourage those who participated to continue podfic-ing!
Some categories are:
● Best Newbie Podcast (best first-time upload!)
● Best Audio Effects (like music or sound effects!)
● Best Pronunciation of Names (like. who can actually pronounce feuilly)
● Best Non-English Podfic (like reading a podfic in your own language!)
● and more!
A more detailed post will be posted later on! Winners of each category will be voted upon (because this is a democracy!). Please take note that these awards are not the main aim of the week, and these are only supplementary and to encourage more podfics!
HOW CAN YOU HELP
If you would let to help as an admin, shoot @smoljoly an ask! Admins will help to reblog podfics, make polls for the awards ceremony, and help manage the blog! I’m looking for 1-2 admins! :-)
If you would like to volunteer your fanfictions for podfics, shoot this blog an ask!
If you would like to read a fanfiction, shoot this blog an ask!
If you have had any experience with recording podfics, you can help by writing a guide on how to make one (preferably Les Mis specific)! For example, write/record how to pronounce names, or how to make a podfic cover! If you write a guide, please tag this blog so we can reblog it!
TL;DR (sorry i channeled my inner hugo writing this post)
Les Misérables Podfic Week is basically a week showcasing and encouraging more people to post podfics!
So Les Mis Podfic Week ( @lesmispodficweek ) is coming up in June and in order for us to maximize the amount of amazing podfic for this fandom, I thought I’d make a tutorial for anyone out there who thought about making podfic, but then looked and said “well this is rather terrifying” and ran in the other direction.
I’m here to make recording podfic easy peasy lemon squeezy. Mostly so you can make the amazing authors you’re reading for squee with delight.
This post is going to just be about setting up to record podfic, we’ll handle the mess of actually recording and editing later. (and if you’ve been around the block before, I’ve hidden some trade secrets in here for all interested parties)
So to start out you’re going to need 4 things:
A microphone
A free piece of software called Audacity
A super awesome amazing fanfiction to record
A bunch of big blankets and chairs.
Let’s tackle these one by one below the cut. (and we’ll do a summary at the end)
MICROPHONE
Please, for the love of all that is holy, get a microphone.
If you do one thing for me, it will be going outside (scary, I know) and retrieving a microphone. It can be a:
Beautiful, expensive Blue Snowball or Blue Yeti
A cheap, less than $25CAN microphone from Walmart
That USB Microphone that came with your Xbox or Playstation so you could play Rock Band when you were 9
Hell, at worst, use the microphone on your smartphone.
But please, PLEASE do not use your laptop microphone. It sucks. No matter what computer you have, IT IS THE WORST.
“But Amanda, I sound okay on Skype and Discord, do I really need…”
YES. YES YOU DO.
When you record sound using your laptop microphone… it also picks up all those lovely little sounds happening inside your computer that you can’t hear. And it’s nigh impossible to edit them out. I want to hear you reading, not your computer. So PLEASE get some kind of microphone.
Ideally, you want a microphone that has a USB on one end. That’s going to be the easiest way to do this.
“But Amanda! My microphone has a 3.5mm Headphone jack on the end!”
That’s alright. There should be a microphone port on your laptop next to where you plug in your headphones. If there isn’t, record into an app on your smartphone/tablet and then download it to your computer.
“But Amanda! There’s some port on the end that’s not a USB and it’s not a headphone jack…”
Props to you for finding a fancy professional microphone! But, you’re going to need an adapter. Most music stores sell them.
“But Amanda! Can’t I just use the microphone on my headphones?”
You know, I’ve never actually tried this. If anyone can get it to work, please let me know and I'll link how to do it here. (You might be able to record this way using an app on a smartphone/tablet.)
AUDACITY
So now that I made you go spend money on a microphone, I’m damn well NOT going to make you spend money on software. Enter a free, open-source, lovely program called Audacity. Think of Audacity like the cheap grocery stores of the world. Everything is the same (mostly) as the big, fancy, grocery stores, but you get everything for cheaper because the store doesn’t look pretty.
Audacity looks intimidating and terrifying, but we’re here to help. You can make Audacity your bitch.
But first you need to install it. Or… you need to install two parts of it.
The actual program
A piece of extra software that will let you import and export MP3s (called Lame)
There are a dozen tutorials on how to install this software so I’m just going to link them here:
DOWNLOAD AUDACITY HERE: https://www.audacityteam.org/
DOWNLOAD LAME (the software that lets you use MP3s) HERE: https://lame.buanzo.org/#lamewindl
INSTRUCTIONS TO INSTALL BOTH (for WINDOWS): https://manual.audacityteam.org/man/installing_and_updating_audacity_on_windows.html
INSTRUCTIONS TO INSTALL BOTH (for MAC): https://manual.audacityteam.org/man/installing_and_updating_audacity_on_mac_os_x.html
Note: If you also want to work with WMAs, then you may also need to download another piece of software called FFmpeg. The installation instructions above cover that as well.
Okay, now that you installed those, did you restart your computer? Audacity won’t link up the two pieces of software if you don’t. Go do that and come back.
PICKING A FIC
Look, I know that 60k slow burn, fake dating AU owns a small part of your soul. I get it. I’ve been there.
This is not the fic you want to pick for your first podfic. Trust me when I say pick something short.
One-shots in the 3k-5k range are a good first project. It’ll give you more than enough audio to practice your editing skills, and shouldn’t take you much longer than a couple hours to record.
More importantly, it should edit down to something about 30 min. long, which is an easily listenable length for most people.
“But Amanda! I reaaaaaaalllly like this one fic and…”
Live your dreams, kid. But don’t say I didn’t warn you.
Another thing you have to do is ask the author if you have permission to make a podfic of their work. Some authors don’t like it, and others will be absolutely thrilled. In the case of Les Mis Podfic Week, everyone on the list has granted permission, so you’re good on that front.
BLANKETS AND CHAIRS
Time to get comfy, yo. Put on some PJs. Drag out some pillows. And then box the whole thing in with the best damn blanket barricade fort you’ve ever built.
(has anyone else noticed that Courf just hands Gavroche a gun in this scene? OMG)
And then christen the barricade fort by reciting the recording cardinal rule:
THOU SHALT RECORD GOOD AUDIO.
No amount of editing or fancy software can fix audio that was bad in the first place, so nest yourself into an environment that’s as close to perfect as you can get.
Building a blanket fort is a cheap way to build a (mostly) soundproof space. The blankets are soft and will absorb harsh sounds, but also insulate the space from outside.
You could create a blanket fort one of two ways:
The classic tables, chairs and blankets method
Throwing a comforter over your head while you record
One of these ways looks more like a barricade. Just saying.
If you’re blankets don’t quite reach the ground it’s okay. Just make the side you’re speaking towards longer than the side towards your back (this will also help to ventilate the fort, which will probably get hella warm).
Then climb in your fort, set up your computer and plug in your microphone.
Now sit for a full minute in quiet meditation and just listen.
You’re listening for anything that would interrupt your revolution you would consider loud and annoying while you were making a very important phone call.
Are there windows open? Can you hear the outside world? Close them. We are going to a world of pure imagination, we don’t want the real world.
Is the fan on your computer being unbelievably loud at this, the one time you need it to be quiet? Close some of the things you have open and see if it calms down. If not, move the microphone to the opposite side of your computer from the fan, and pull it as far away from your computer as you can. I like to stick my computer outside the blanket fort and the microphone inside on one of the chairs.
Can you hear other people in the house? Ask them to be quiet while you record, or move to a part of the house where you can’t hear them.
Is the air/heart in your house very loud? Mine is SO LOUD. It’s like a vacuum cleaner, I swear. Turn it off.
Basically, you’re looking to eliminate any sound you have control over.
Now you’re ready to record. We’ll deal with how to do this in another how-to, but some things to consider:
Be very still. Your microphone will pick up you shuffling. Get comfy or pause to shift and then continue reading. You can always cut out the shuffling parts in editing.
Take breaks. Stretch. I like to do this every time there’s a page break.
Bring a drink. Your voice is gonna go wonky with all that chatter. Enjolras is gonna be a word that gets harder and harder to say. Feuilly’s just gonna be hard right from the start.
Watch your microphone cord. If your microphone is handheld, the shifting of the cord as you speak will also be picked up by the microphone.
Consider duct taping handheld microphones to lamps. No, I’m not kidding. Duct tape your microphone to a lamp. Got one of those articulated lamps like in the Pixar logo? Look at that, you’ve basically got a professional microphone stand. AND IT’S ALSO A LAMP.
Don’t read straight into your microphone. Hold it/set it up a couple of inches to the left or right of where you’re speaking towards. This will stop you from popping your P-s and spitting your S-es
NOW LOOK AT YOU!
You’re practically a professional already.
So let’s say the recording cardinal rule together.
Thou shalt record good audio by:
Using a real microphone. NOT YOUR LAPTOP MICROPHONE.
Downloading and installing Audacity. And the extra bit that lets you use MP3s.
Picking a fic to read that’s around 3k.
Building a badass blanket fort and eliminating ambient noise.
If you have any questions or are really stuck on something, you can reach out and message me. Also, if this tutorial was helpful to you, tag me in whatever you make! I want to hear how awesome you sound.
You got this, kid. Now go out there and tell the world’s stories.
(also <3 to @mysunfreckle for helping me format this in a way that was actually readable)
Hi! My name’s Amanda, or @fishandchipsandvinegar on tumblr, or TheLordOfLaMancha on Archive of Our Own. (I have too many names).
And in response to @lesmispodficweek, I wanted to make some tutorials on how to edit and record using a freeware program called Audacity. (sorry they’re so close to podfic week!! D: )
If you don’t have Audacity installed on your computer, check out this post, which will explain everything you need to do before we get started (as well as how to install Audacity).
Also, if you’re brand new to Audacity, you should check out Section 1: Recording 101 for a bit of a tutorial on how to use the program.
Before you actually set out to record your podfic, I suggest recording some short practice stuff so you get used to how this all works.
This is Section Two: Podfic 101. It will have four parts:
1. Setting up Noise Plates (we’ll need these for editing)
2. Recording an Intro
3. What to do when you make a mistake
4. Recording an Outro
At the end of the tutorial, I’ll link to a video of me recording something so you can get a play by play of what I explain here.
When you’re ready, click the read more to begin.
NOISE PLATES
So the first thing we’re going to do every time we sit down to record is to record a noise plate. A noise plate is just a few seconds of silence before we actually start talking that will record any background sound. We’re going to use this later in editing to remove some of that background noise and make the podfic sound clean and professional. The longer your noise plate, the better.
INTRO
Once we’re ready to record, the first thing we will record is the intro. The intro is an announcement that tells the listener what they are listening to and has three important things:
1. The name of the fanfiction
2. The name of the author of that fanfiction
3. Your name(s)
You might find it easier to script this part out so you have something to read from. I typically script mine as:
You’re listening to [TITLE], by [AUTHOR]. This podfic is read by [YOUR NAME].
Once you’ve read that, you’re going to leave another short, quiet space and then you can begin reading the podfic.
WHAT TO DO WHEN YOU MESS UP
It’s likely that while you’re reading, you’re going to make mistakes. There’s always going to be that one word that you just keep catching on. I cannot tell you how many times I’ve said Grantaire when the text clearly read Enjolras, and vice versa.
The nice thing about editing is that, as long as we catch it right away, we can pause, make the correction, and keep recording without stopping.
I made a mistake right where the play head is there (the vertical line next to the pause). Notice the pause after it, before I started reading again.
That pause is important. Putting space between the mistake and when we start reading again will make it easier to edit the mistake out later.
This also applies to any time you need to stop and stretch or take a drink of water. You can just keep recording and take out all the empty space in editing.
OUTRO
The last thing we’re going to record is the outro. Like an essay, this is a recap of the intro, plus some extras to direct the listener as to what to do next. Mine usually contain six parts:
1. The title of the fic they just listened to
2. Who wrote it
3. Who read it
4. A reminder to leave comments on the original work
5. Connections to social media
6. A sign off
Again, like the intro, it might help if you script this. I typically format mine like this.
That was [TITLE], by [AUTHOR]. Please remember to leave kudos and comments for the author on Archive Of Our Own. This podfic was read by [YOUR NAME]. Got feedback? Have a fic you think I should read? Send me a message on tumblr at the username [YOUR USERNAME]. Thanks for listening.
Look at them all cheering for you! Because YOU GOT THIS.
If you want to see an example of me recording, you can watch this video here where I recorded the scene in Les Miserables by Victor Hugo in which Combeferre burns Marius with “to be free.”
If you think you’re ready for the next step, you can check out the next two sections linked here:
EDITING 101 | MULTITRACK 101
If you need to go back and review how to use Audacity, you can do that here:
RECORDING 101
I hope you’ve learned something new, you’re not too overwhelmed, and you’re ready to make an awesome podfic.
If you’re using this to make a podfic for Les Mis Podfic Week, or even just in general, please feel free to tag me in it on tumblr, I want to see and listen to all the amazing podfics you guys make. They’re going to be incredible and I’m super excited.
Also, if you run into any problems, you get stuck, something weird happens, or you just want podfic advice, you can reach out to me on here.
It doesn’t have to be me either, there’s a plethora of incredible podficcers on tumblr who I’m sure would be more than delighted to help you out.
Until then, good luck, and thanks for listening. :)
An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works
[Podfic of Je me souviendrai, by eirenical]
Feuilly woke to the smell of blood, the bitter tang of it cloying at the back of his throat. Feuilly woke to darkness so deep that his eyes could not penetrate it. His friends were dead. The dawn they’d hoped for had not come. The blood and darkness were not a surprise...
The surprise was in that he had woken at all.
My contribution for @lesmispodficweek! This was my first ever attempt at a podfic, and it was quite an adventure.
I love to read out loud. I always have, but I’ve been extremely self-conscious about it at the same time. Instead of letting the week pass me by, pining and wondering about what could have been, I embraced my long-lost, not-so-secret dreams of becoming an audiobook narrator. It helped to have some measure of accountability, knowing that I had openly signed up to participate, meaning I couldn’t banish the recording to the depths of my iPod, never to see the light of day again (like that time I recorded the entirety of The Secret Garden for my now ex-girlfriend, and never let anyone else hear it).
Some challenges I encountered along the way:
Courfeyrac’s name is impossible for me to pronounce consistently. I feel like I’m always choking on it.
French pronunciation, in general, makes me want to hide under a rock. My diction teacher tried, he really did, but I was always better at Latin and Italian.
Trying to maintain three distinct voices (Narrator, Courfeyrac, Feuilly) was really difficult.
My microphone is not the best, and there were limits to how much editing I could do to improve the quality. Also, if you listen carefully, you can hear a motorcycle passing my apartment that I couldn’t quite edit out of the background.
Was it hard? Yes. Was it time consuming? Also yes. Would I record another podfic? FUCK YES.
Thank you for letting me record your fic, @eirenical! It was a lot of fun, and your fic makes me feel all manner of things. <3
Without further ado, my Les Mis Podfic Week 2018 ( @lesmispodficweek ) contribution:
[Podfic] After the Storm by kingess ( @kingesstropolis )
Author Summary: Courfeyrac has always been afraid--no, terrified of thunderstorms. Normally, he seeks comfort from his best friend, Enjolras, but on the night of the worst storm of the year, Enjolras isn't there.
