Wuxia Audiobook

[CrazyT]

Per spcnet's idea of a wuxia podcast, I would like to convert one of our many many translations into an audiobook. But instead of just me reading the book, I think it will be much more fun if we can cast forum members as the characters in the book. It'll be a huge undertaking but well worth the effort. There's a wuxia discussion drought anyways so might as well do something to keep ourselves busy.

We will be reading the English version so if you would like to participate, please reply here and also the book you would like to start with. Possible choices are:

LOCH
ROCH
LXF
SOD

I only chose novels that are completely translated because it'll be easier to look ahead and see what needs to be planned. So to starts thing, I volunteer myself.

CrazyT - male voice - vote for SOD

[PJ]

How Interesting - a wuxia reading jam of sort !

CrazyT - are you thinking of casting ONE male voice and ONE female voice per novel? I think it'll be more fun if we cast each person into a specific role (or multiple small roles), if we have enough volunteers.

For example, I would be interested in presenting some ELOCs (you guessed it).

Also, should there be a few narrators, since most of the content is not dialogue.

So, Who wants to present the high pitch voice of Dongfang Bubai?

[CrazyT]

One voice per character... but if you can do multiple voices, then you can be multiple characters. So I'm gonna need a whole lotta volunteers.

[PJ]

Well, in the past, somebody said that DGSD had around 780 characters...

[Ren Wo Xing]

RWX nominates himself as...RWX!!!

[pemberly]

i think the members who are entering the spcnet idol competition should definitely join in! they're obviously not shy and have nice voices.

maybe spcnet can do a site-wide announcement requesting volunteers?

[PJ]

RWX nominates himself as...RWX!!!

Why don't you surprise us for once, and nominate yourself as Dongfang Bubai instead?

[Ren Wo Xing]

I can be both?

[PJ]

LOL, if you tackle Dongfang Bubai, I'll play post-castration Lin Pingzhi!

[Ren Wo Xing]

Then who shall do Yue Buqun? (btw, the only books I would be willing to do are XAJH and TL8B...and since the latter isn't finished, it'd have to be the former for me).

[PJ]

One thing is for sure: the role of Linghu Chong should be reserved for He Who excels in Dramatizing His (Linghu Chong's) Amazing Feats: the one and only Great FEAT DRAMATIZER -- CC.

It would be worth all the trouble and more, to hear CC deliver a blow-by-blow account of His Amazing Feats.

I expect some massive dramatization!

[Han Solo]

How are you planning to integrate the many different voices into a single track?

It would be both a logistic and technical nightmare!

[CrazyT]

There are tools out there to cut and paste together audio tracks. Time consuming? Yes, but very possible.

[UltraRob]

Oh, it's possible.

I've been doing it (producing audio dramatizations/radioplays) for about 2 years now and so have a host of other groups. How do you do it? Well, listen to this to get some idea of how it's done.

That said, there's something you need to know:

1 minute of audio time is roughly 1 hour of production time. So 30 minutes of show is 30 hours (give or take an hour or two) of actual production time on the part of the guy who has to put it together. This is consistent across production groups, so if you don't believe me go ask someone on the first link above and they'll tell you the same thing.

The number one reason fan groups often only produce one or two episodes of shows is because they don't realize what kind of dedication pulling this kind of thing off requires.

If I might make a suggestion, try doing one of Jin Yong's short stories (such as Sword of the Yueh Maiden) first as a test run to get everything in order. Producing satellite audio drama (the term for what you're suggesting) has a hundred little tricks to it you won't see coming until you actually DO it, so your first stuff will generally sound like crap. If you do a few test shows first you'll be able to put your best foot forward when you do the big stuff!

My other alternative suggestion might be to do them as regular audiobooks instead, having a group of people take turns reading chapters and a single editor doing final adjustments and releasing them in order. I just did this with a book called Warriors of Old Japan and in a matter of 3 weeks we turned a 200+ page book into a complete audiobook. Since all of us did a piece when we put the whole thing together it was very little work and all of us (and you) get to enjoy what would have taken a single person months.

All an audiobook reader needs is a decent microphone and a willingness to have fun reading by the people involved.

10 readers can go through 40 chapters of Jin Yong like butter.

Rob

[Suet Seung]

Yeh, The SPCNET IDOL people need to join and participate in this one for sure. If possible, they should record a theme song to go with the novel too!!!!

I wish I could join and participate, but I don't have a mic or the software to record myself.

[Ren Ying Ying]

Yeh, The SPCNET IDOL people need to join and participate in this one for sure. If possible, they should record a theme song to go with the novel too!!!!

I wish I could join and participate, but I don't have a mic or the software to record myself.

they can even sing insert/background songs, just like real dramas!

[UltraRob]

they can even sing insert/background songs, just like real dramas!

If it's a reading of the story, gentle instrumental music underneath (and occasional sound effects, if you have time) can add a lot and are pretty easy to do. Vocal music would generally best be saved for sticking between scene breaks and that sort of thing, it's too distracting during the show itself.

Rob

P.S. D'oh! I just realized I replied to a dead thread! Sorry...:-P

[Ren Ying Ying]

P.S. D'oh! I just realized I replied to a dead thread! Sorry...:-P

Thread necrosis! It's been quite fashionable these days after the "related threads" function popped up.

actually, i don't think there is such a thing as "dead" threads these days. only coma threads.

[Suet Seung]

I didn't notice the thread was dead either. I guess two years ago, the plan didn't fall through.

[LuNaR]

this neeeds to happen even if its a dead thread!!! it'l lbe great