The One You Feed
Rob McGeechan for Storyteller
The story takes place in two settings: the real world, and in a mystical forest that exists in some sort of other dimension or plane. I'd like the Storyteller to use two distinct styles - a more ordinary style for the real world and more of a fantasy-based, mystical style for the forest. Not two completely different voices or accents, but two different feelings/vibes/auras, to emphasize that these are two different dimensions. Please feel free to experiment with multiple takes or ask any questions you need to.
The storytelling in this tale should reflect the emotion being experienced by the character whose actions are being described. No dead-pan narration for this story, please! I want to hear the Storyteller's compassion for Hayden and sense of wonder at the other-world feeling of the forest.
(Real World) They shared an embrace, and Hayden ran off to school, with her new friend by her side.
(Real World) She raced upstairs, buried herself in her blankets and, utterly exhausted, fell fast asleep.
(Mystical Forest) As she stepped into the forest, time seemed to stop. The falling leaves were still mostly red and orange, but there was the oddest hint of blue in them. The dead, fall leaves on the forest floor looked special; delicate and vibrant, almost as though they were still growing on a tree. Magnificent vines wound up the nearby tree trunks.
Hey, Rookie! This is a really good audition. The audio is fuzzy, though - not as crisp as it should be. What is your setup?
Thank you!! My setup at the moment is a USB Blue Yeti mic with a mechanical arm attached to my desk -- have a cheap-ish pop filter in front of it. The fuzziness might have come from the Noise Reduction effect I used on Audacity to try and be rid of my PC fan. Might have had the settings a tad too high. Any thoughts?
Hmmmm, do you have anything set up around your recording space to absorb noise - acoustic tiles, or simply blankets/pillows? Also, ideally your mic should be far enough away from your PC that it won't pick up the noise from the fan.
I have some acoustic foam set up around my desk, but whether they're place optimally or not is a different matter. I usually move my mic arm away from my desk and attach it to a separate surface when I record, but I think the biggest issue with my PC is that the cooling fan is just surprisingly loud. I think the optimal strategy for myself is to record on my Mac, so that my PC's fan doesn't produce any noise at all.