I have one over-riding question to anyone/everyone: is this of any value?
I think so. Audiobooks are great for long car trips. As for your other questions - your voice is great, but you need some practice. And some editing - there were a few noticeable stumbles that ought to have been corrected in a professional sounding product. If I had to offer one piece of advice on your manner, I would probably suggest that you try to make it more 'theatrical' - don't worry about being too 'cheezy' - cheese works in this format.
I was a little surprised that you abridged and modified the text so much. Is that standard in audio books? And there was one thing I didn't like - the echo-chamber effect for Harry's thinking to himself. I suppose you need some kind of effect, but I didn't care for the one you chose. But that is a minor point. Well done!
Actually the "abridged" part is in reference to the flash-forwards that start out several of the early chapters (I just don't know how to do those in a way that doesn't sound confusing). The rest was read straight, directly from the most recent version available at fanfic.net. Eliezer changed the original text of the first chapter a fair bit, which also surprised me when I went back and re-read it in preparation for this.
I'd definitely fix the stumbles in any final version I put out. Is the echo-chamber OK for the letter-writing portion?
Thanks for the feedback! :)
Like far too many people, I have a job that for decent chunks of my day doesn't require much concentration. I listen to various podcasts and ebooks to alleviate the boredom at these times, as well as to get me through my daily commute. I have several friends with plenty of audio-listening time, a fair bit of which is given to amateur podcasts (in the "not getting paid for it" sense), who have much less time available for straight reading. I have, on more than one occasion, thought "Wouldn't it be great if Methods of Rationality was available in audio format?"
Well, now it is.
At least, the first chapter is, in a "testing the waters" sort of way.
If you have 17 minutes free and any interest, here's the file - http://www.filedropper.com/hpmorpilot
I have one over-riding question to anyone/everyone: is this of any value? Would this be useful to anyone here, either personally, or to share with others? Would a spruced-up first chapter, and regular production of further chapters, be something you want more of?
A closely-related follow-up question: if so - am I the right person to do this? Even "acceptable", I'm not shooting for perfection. Or is something about my voice/manner so grating I should stick to non-radio work.
If the answer to these is "yes", then are there any comments/suggestions? I'm new to this recording thing. I got a decent mic and a pop-filter, and I've played around with the software a bit, but I'm still learning. I have noticed that I need to enunciate more, it turns out my "can't win" sounds just like my "can win". Further suggestions? I'm thinking of varying my pitch when different characters are talking to make it more apparent when dialog is switching back and forth, hopefully that won't be too cheesy.
If people want more of this I'll get an actual server to host the files and make it available through iTunes as a podcast.
Again: http://www.filedropper.com/hpmorpilot