Overview

Hey y'all! For those who aren't aware, I've been doing a series of discussions here on backstage over the course of the last few weeks, with the goal of having the community (y'all) give us some helpful general feedback about ways to improve our scripts and audios, and hopefully help one another to improve our overall product. Over the course of the past three weeks, I've covered what are, to me, the three core components of audio creation: scripting, acting, and editing. Now that they've all had some time to generate discussion, I wanted to make this post to summarize/organize the basics of what's been said so far. I hope everyone forgives me for summarizing what they've said, and if you think I'm misinterpreting you (or that I've missed you entirely), please let me know so that I can correct it. Also, because I'm summarizing, I highly encourage anyone who hasn't already taken a look at them to go peruse the original posts by clicking on the section titles, as there's some great discussion there.

Script Writing

Advice bits courtesy of : /u/zenadillo, /u/naughty_charlotte, /u/cyalith, /u/8mementomori6, /u/icedchaiii, /u/kizkit, /u/suitsandlies, /u/miss_twisted, /u/lilysolanas, /u/nickelsilver, /u/rolling_seal, /u/fantasybay, /u/samuelenderby, and /u/_misshere_

• The most important thing is that it flows naturally. Certain words and phrases that are used in scripts are just not how people realistically speak. Word choice and contractions are particularly important here, as well as realizing that sentences are not always perfectly constructed. Overuse of a single word can be frustrating, but so can trying to find too many unnatural ways to say a single thing. Even a well-placed "uh" or "um" can add a lot to the natural feel of a script.

• Try to avoid overuse of using action questions to drive the narrative -- trust your audience to be able to figure out what's going on. Think about what the performer's reaction is to the listener and make it interesting, and make statements rather than asking questions.

• Make an outline of the sexytimes so the action is congruent

• Watch the length of your script! Many excellent scripts go unfilled because of the length.

• Be careful with directions and emotional cues. Avoid stage directions that cannot easily be conveyed via audio. Don't overuse emotional cues to the point where you limit the creativity of the performer. Perhaps make a note in the beginning of your script that such cues are meant to be suggestions, and are optional.

• Try to put yourself in the listener's role, imagining the performer speaking the words to you. Once you're done writing, read it out loud... maybe record it and listen back. Then ask others for to take a look over it with a critical eye.

• Leave editing until after you've finished your first draft. Getting it out first can help avoid writers block!

Acting Suggestions

Advice bits courtesy of : /u/asunnydelight, /u/throwawayyourlust, /u/ladybonerthrow86, /u/ipikachooseyou, /u/yourheavymetallover, /u/sweetashoneyy, /u/fruityrumpusfactory, /u/Galanthia, /u/mymbling, /u/cyalith, /u/rosetriesagain, /u/frantictumble, /u/hellenbach, /u/nickelsilver, /u/toughexterior, /u/jm_delphi, /u/rocketloverr, and /u/suitsandlies

• Before you record, take a moment. Read through the script a few times, out loud. Make sure you understand your character, and make sure you take the whole script into consideration - sometimes things happen later in the script that can affect how you want to portray earlier parts.

• Have a glass of water handy - you don't want to be in the middle of recording and have to stop and go to another room to grab a drink if your throat gets dry.

• Test your equipment before you record. Record a short clip and play it back to make sure it sounds the way you want it to.

• Tone and inflection! Your listener only has one sense (hearing) with which to experience your scene, and what feels like it might be "normal" risks coming off as monotonous in an audio. Don't make monotonous audios.

• Think about your pace! Vary it when appropriate, and take some care not to speak too fast -- it is easier to speak too quickly than it is to speak too slowly. Maybe even use a metronome to gauge your pace?

• Envision yourself in the scenario, and act like you are speaking to another person! This includes leaving some time for them to respond to you (but not too much time, or it gets awkward), speaking to them in the manner that you'd speak to a partner, maybe even positioning your body appropriately. Don't be too polished, speak to them like they're real.

• Don't rush recording! Give yourself plenty of time, wait until you're in the right headspace, etc. Don't force it.

• Movement! Act out what's happening, or find ways to simulate the actions so that your breathing, etc will be affected.

• Trust yourself! Reword things to make them more natural to the way you speak and don't hesitate to make it more you.

Editing Tips

Advice bits courtesy of : /u/ohshebops, /u/SamuelEnderby, /u/naughty_charlotte, /u/suitsandlies, /u/auralham, /u/MrBlueBirdGoneWild, /u/dontwantusername, and /u/YourHeavyMetalLover

• I'll start by saying that if I try to summarize u/AuralHam's excellent comment, I won't do it anything close to justice, so I'll just give you a direct link to that right here.

• When recording, make sure to leave a good amount of "dead air" that you can use for noise reduction, or to create gaps as necessary.

• Don't go overboard with noise reduction, though! Whatever you're stripping from the background is also being stripped from your voice, and overuse of this feature can often distort your voice significantly.

• Make sure your volume is loud enough, but not eardrum-destroying levels of loud. Where appropriate, balance your levels with amplification, compressors, limiters, or normalization.

• Use a 2-3 second fade in/out at the beginning and ending of your audio.

• Pay attention to the timing of your cuts - if your breathing is audible, try not to cut mid-breath, and try to maintain an in-out-in-out pattern to your breathing.

• If you're going to use sound effects, fade them in and out to balance them with the main audio, so that the background sound of the effect clip isn't as obvious/jarring.

• Additionally! If you're going to use sound effects, and are using Audacity, you can use the "add label at selection" tool to easily see where you'd like the sound effects to fit in.

• Finally, when you're done with it all, upload a test audio to soundgasm and give it a listen to make sure it all sounds how you'd like it to!

Thank you!

To everyone who participated in these discussions and gave feedback, even those that are reading, thank you! I hope this post will be of some help to people out there who are looking to improve as content creators. Also, I know there's a lot more to audio creation than just these three steps, but I wasn't sure if everything else needed its own post, so if anyone has any other big tips they'd like to share, please do so in the comments! I've had specific questions about how to pick a script or audio idea, and about how to tag audios, but I'm sure there are other questions people have. If you're reading this and have a question, please don't hesitate to ask in the comments and never ever forget the most important part of audio making: HAVE FUN!!

Also, if you haven't had a chance or seen it yet..

Check out Audible's New User Guide which may be helpful!