StarShipSofa Narration Workshop

[kibitzer]

Heya folks. I See Tony Smith is capitalising on SSS's Hugo fame by running a Narrator's Workshop: http://narratorworkshop1.eventbrite.com/

Any opinions on whether this would be worthwhile? I doesn't cost that much; money isn't the issue. I just wonder how much I'd get out of it. I can't explain why but I feel wary of it. For example, they're pushing Adobe Audition which while not bank-breakingly expensive, isn't that cheap -- though maybe I just don't know what recording software costs.

[Swamp]

l'd really like to attend.  It looks great!  Unfortunately, the money is a factor for me.  When I ran the conversion, it turned out to be $46, which may be well worth all the setup and the presenters, but I am just a little bit strapped right now.

[DKT]

Kibitzer, you might want to email Tony, tell him you're considering the workshop, and ask how much you'll be able to get out of it using something other than Adobe Audition.

In general, (and if it's not contingent on Adobe Audition), I'd say it looks worthwhile. There's a lot of experience, there and I imagine there's a lot to learn from some of the people involved (love to hear the Santoro block, esp.)

[Swamp]

Kibitzer, you might want to email Tony, tell him you're considering the workshop, and ask how much you'll be able to get out of it using something other than Adobe Audition.

Not a bad question to ask.  I guess I was going under the assumption that the features they were speaking about would be general enough that most would apply to other software.  Maybe not the "secret sauce" settings per se, but the general discussion of how to edit.

[kibitzer]

I figure that whatever settings they recommend for Adobe Audition I can translate to whatever I use, unless Audition has some feature the others don't support.

I'm just curious as to why Audition. I can understand why folks wouldn't want to recommend Audacity or other free alternatives, but there's other packages that cost less. For example, Reaper seems to be pretty damn good at $150.

Ah well, one way to find out I guess. I'm probably over-thinking this. :-)

[kibitzer]

...and there we go. Signed up. Only slight problem is, if I want to see it live it's a 4am start for me

[Swamp]

I'm just curious as to why Audition. I can understand why folks wouldn't want to recommend Audacity or other free alternatives, but there's other packages that cost less. For example, Reaper seems to be pretty damn good at $150.

I was looking into Reaper.  Anybody else have any sugggestions for software?  I was also looking into WavePad, which comes in at $50.  Is this a good investment?

[kibitzer]

Actually that's a great question -- think I'll start another thread about that.

[Listener]

...and there we go. Signed up. Only slight problem is, if I want to see it live it's a 4am start for me

He told me today that he'll be making the audio and video available for all attendees, and that it'll take about a week to put it all online.

Audition is very popular among the sound engineers and producers that I know. That may be why he extols its virtues so much.

[kibitzer]

He told me today that he'll be making the audio and video available for all attendees, and that it'll take about a week to put it all online.

Yup, but then I'd have to wait a week. A week! For something I've paid to attend!

Might not be so bad actually...

I'm kidding here. I intend to get up for it; 4am ain't that bad.

[kibitzer]

In case anyone was wondering, this was a good entry-level Workshop. They covered a stack of stuff and overall, covered it well. If you've done some narrations before there may not be a lot of new ideas but you'll pick up some pointers. If you've not done much or any, it's a great place to start.

Happy to give more info if anyone wants it.

[Listener]

Best thing I learned was how to rejigger my Audition settings. My first use of the new ones will be in a certain Escape Artists story I just turned in, and also an upcoming Sofa story by David Brin. So far they sound a lot better than the ones I used to use.