Great story, I love the setting and the way we see it just from the character's texts, and the format works well (I read the text version but two narrators in stereo is a great way to produce it).
As the producer, I want to just say: "Thanks, Chuk!"
You (and maybe others) might be interested to know that my processing in production for this one went beyond panning between the L and R stereo channels. I've found a effects filter plug-in (that, generally, plays nice with Audacity) that uses what's called a "Head-Related Transfer Function" (or HRTF) to mimic not only what the ear closest to a sound would hear, but also what you would hear in your other ear
through your head! This results in a much more realistic 3-D audio effect with only two audio sources - L and R.
(You can see what this means with this episode. While listening on stereo earphones, take off the headphone/earbud on the side that the narrator is apparently "located." You'll hear that that narrator doesn't disappear entirely, as you might expect them to. Instead, you can hear them - more muffled but still intelligible - in your other ear. This is what that person speaking would sound like after the sound waves have traveled through a typical person's head.)
The filter is sophisticated enough that I can make (and have made, with work I've done for the Drabblecast) the apparent source of a voice or sounds move anywhere in a full sphere around the listener. I opted to keep it fairly straightforward here, however, as simply locating each narrator primarily in the L or R location would avoid confusion and seemed the best way to translate the visual effect of left or right justification into audio terms. (Incidentally, you should absolutely look at the text to get the full effect of what Alex has pulled off. They left us the challenge of how to interpret "?" and "..." into audio forms. Also, there's personality expressed in how Five and Hyeon use and understand texting. For example, Five is more likely to use slang and abbreviation, doesn't tend to use proper capitalization and punctuation - at least, until he slips into a more formal register briefly after Hyeon reveals himself - and tends to send much briefer messages. Hyeon, meanwhile, tends toward a more formal register even when he's trying to "be casual" - at least, until he starts drunk-texting - uses capitalization and punctuation correctly, and - even though he types slower - tends toward much longer texts.
Anyway, it takes some work, but I always have liked the greater depth of realism added by the 3-D effect.
TL;DR : Adam likes nerdy audio / literary stuff.
-Adam
Producer
