Questions on Audio for stories

[ShelbyDawn57]

I ran into someone at darts last night that does semi professional voice recording(Works when he can find something, not a steady thing).

He has one of those old school FM DJ voices that sort of rumbles from his chest. I mentioned that I write, and even told him what, sort of(erotic romance). He's interested in maybe recording some of my stories.

I'm thinking about it. First, I'm not sure I want someone I barely know to know what I write in the intimate detail necessary to get this done, but the bigger questions is, how much does the voice matter when recording stories. Most of my stuff is MTF Transgender from the trans-woman's POV. Would a voice like his work?

We didn't talk fees or anything like that. In fact, I don't know how serious he really is, but the bug is planted in my little head and I think the question is valid. Thoughts, opinions, experience?


Thanks

Edit: If I do this, can I submit the audio version to Lit and keep the text one up, too?

 

[iwatchus]

I'm in the curious category myself. Did you follow @AwkwardMD thread about her having a pro (or semi-pro) VA recording it (which I still have to listen to).

 

[cw5523729]

You mention fees. Is this for work that you intend to sell? If so, a good voice actor can make a mediocre story great and a lousy voice actor can destroy a great story.

As for male vs female voices, I've listened to audiobooks voice by a female who imitates male voices fine and book voiced by a male who imitates female voices fine. You wouldn't mistake either of them for the gender they aren't but it works fine anyway.

If it isn't for sale, I wouldn't be springing for a professional voice actor for work I'm giving away for free.

 

[NaughteeDragon]

I use speechify to review what I’ve written. It’s a great way to find spelling errors that Word will ignore- though is very different than thought, but Word doesn’t know that. I have started assigning particular readers to particular stories because having the right voice does put me in a better place to understand that character.
I also listen to a metric ton of audiobooks, my Audible library will probably crack 1000 titles next year. The wrong narrator can ruin a book. Listening to a guy with a deep FM Radio voice telling me that a cheerleader is saying “but Johnny, I love it when you lick my pussy,” is going to sound…. off. If he’s a voice actor and not just a narrator, then as long as Suzy doesn’t sound like Johnny, I’m okay.
You also have to be cognizant of if your story is going to be narrated or not when you write. I find myself using a lot more speech tags now that I’m listening to my stories.

The below passage is relatively easy to follow in print because there are only two people in the room so you know who is who. In audio it blurs together.

“What is it you want me to do so bad?” she was begging him ‘please’ over and over again.

“What you did to my sister.”

“And what did I do to your sister?” He needed to know what she was thinking of. He’d done a lot of things to Kaitlyn.

“Please stick your tongue in my ass?” She reached back and spread herself for him. “Please fuck my naughty little hole with your tongue.”

 

[alohadave]

how much does the voice matter when recording stories. Most of my stuff is MTF Transgender from the trans-woman's POV. Would a voice like his work?

The voice makes or breaks the audio. You should have him do a sample to see if it works for you and your style.

There are several AH'rs who have audio stories. @AwkwardMD has a thread about her recent experience. I know others have talked about it, but I can't think of them offhand.

If I do this, can I submit the audio version to Lit and keep the text one up, too?

Yes.

 

[ShelbyDawn57]

I use speechify to review what I’ve written. It’s a great way to find spelling errors that Word will ignore- though is very different than thought, but Word doesn’t know that. I have started assigning particular readers to particular stories because having the right voice does put me in a better place to understand that character.
I also listen to a metric ton of audiobooks, my Audible library will probably crack 1000 titles next year. The wrong narrator can ruin a book. Listening to a guy with a deep FM Radio voice telling me that a cheerleader is saying “but Johnny, I love it when you lick my pussy,” is going to sound…. off. If he’s a voice actor and not just a narrator, then as long as Suzy doesn’t sound like Johnny, I’m okay.
You also have to be cognizant of if your story is going to be narrated or not when you write. I find myself using a lot more speech tags now that I’m listening to my stories.

The below passage is relatively easy to follow in print because there are only two people in the room so you know who is who. In audio it blurs together.

Good points. Thanks.

 

[ElectricBlue]

Edit: If I do this, can I submit the audio version to Lit and keep the text one up, too?

Yes. They're managed as different submissions. I had a voice artist read one of my very first stories, several years later - the audio version links back to the text version.

 

[iwatchus]

The thread from @AwkwardMD that @alohadave and I both mentioned is here I think you will find it interesting if you are seriously considering doing this. She went through largely the same path you are considering, and documented both the questions she ran into and how things worked (and didn't).

 

[AwkwardMD]

The website I used for auditions got me a handful of amazingly talented VAs who all would have done a perfectly serviceable job reading the supplied material. They would have made good on the deliverable on time, neatly, and for the agreed on price.

The one that I picked to read my wlw story understood the subject better than the others. I'll direct you to this brief section of my story to listen to:



from 1:16:30 or so until 1:18:10. Esther has just kissed another girl for the first time.

The VA added this... vocal hitch in a moment of tense emotions. That isn't in the story, and no one else could have given me this except a queer woman. For me, this was the kind of understanding that I was looking for. It's what I paid for, and I got it. I didn't coach her to add that, she just knew.

On the other hand, as demonstrated in this short clip (assuming anyone goes to listen), she does *very slightly* flub the pronunciation of valedictorian. This is a trade-off I am perfectly satisfied with.

(TW: incoming woke)
Short story long, unless you want to do a lot of vocal coaching, a cishet AMAB is going to give you either no vocal flourishes, or flourishes in places that make sense to him and not necessarily where a queer/trans VA would.

I am not saying that's bad. I am merely saying that for me, the wlw elements of Out are load bearing, and I picked my VA accordingly.

 

[AwkwardMD]

I use speechify to review what I’ve written. It’s a great way to find spelling errors that Word will ignore- though is very different than thought, but Word doesn’t know that. I have started assigning particular readers to particular stories because having the right voice does put me in a better place to understand that character.
I also listen to a metric ton of audiobooks, my Audible library will probably crack 1000 titles next year. The wrong narrator can ruin a book. Listening to a guy with a deep FM Radio voice telling me that a cheerleader is saying “but Johnny, I love it when you lick my pussy,” is going to sound…. off. If he’s a voice actor and not just a narrator, then as long as Suzy doesn’t sound like Johnny, I’m okay.
You also have to be cognizant of if your story is going to be narrated or not when you write. I find myself using a lot more speech tags now that I’m listening to my stories.

The below passage is relatively easy to follow in print because there are only two people in the room so you know who is who. In audio it blurs together.

Speechify can't do voices for characters. A professional VA will. It adds a layer of depth that I hadn't realized I was missing when I was using Speechify to read my stories to me.

 

[AwkwardMD]

Speechify can't do voices for characters. A professional VA will. It adds a layer of depth that I hadn't realized I was missing when I was using Speechify to read my stories to me.

I should clarify: I asked my VA to do voices, and my VA said that was not a problem. I guess I don't know if varied voice work is standard. It's probably like asking if the VA can whistle or roll their r's.

 

[Erozetta]

I get a lot out of voicing my own stories, but that's mostly because I'm still working on not hating my voice, lol.

At some point, I would like to do a production story where there are distinct voices for characters and the narrator. But getting the quality of the recordings the same is proving difficult. I managed a small scale version with a 750 I did, but I think anything longer than that is going to be time consuming.

And for anyone unaware, the length of your story matters a lot. 7k words is likely going to be about 1.5-2 hours of recording time including fuckups, which will be whittled down to right around an hour on edits. The time sink of editing raw audio will depend on how detailed you are with it, but can be anywhere from equal time to half an hour for every fifteen minutes of audio to edit. It is time intensive, so expect to pay a good bit if you pay someone to do it.

I've kept to short projects for now for my own sanity.

 

[alohadave]

The time sink of editing raw audio will depend on how detailed you are with it

The one time I did audio editing for a club meeting, I got a little too detailed with it. I edited out all the uhms and ahhs that the speaker said and removed longer gaps.

So tedious to do, but it made it sound so much better. It was to a slideshow, so I didn't have to worry about syncing video, but still it was a lot of work and I doubt that anyone really cared but me. Certainly no one ever mentioned the audio to me.

After that, I just took the straight audio and just removed simple speaking errors.

 

[ShelbyDawn57]

The one time I did audio editing for a club meeting, I got a little too detailed with it. I edited out all the uhms and ahhs that the speaker said and removed longer gaps.

So tedious to do, but it made it sound so much better. It was to a slideshow, so I didn't have to worry about syncing video, but still it was a lot of work and I doubt that anyone really cared but me. Certainly no one ever mentioned the audio to me.

After that, I just took the straight audio and just removed simple speaking errors.

Just be thankful you weren't doing it with a razor blade and a splicing block...