I'm happy to say my read-throughs of the Project Kronosphere Episodes 1, 2 and teaser for 6 have gone for the most part better than I had expected. I didn't have and still don't have a handy copy of the last couple scenes of Episode 1 so we never did that but I now know that the news conference dialog the Professor has to speak is a bit too technical for many to read so I will have to reconfigure it to make it a bit easier to recite.
However, in the reading of Episode 2 we ran up into the same problem I've had with with recording the teaser of Episode 1 for the group earlier in the year. Specifically, it's sometimes hard to follow the action without either narration or Foley. So my current goal is to get a robust sound effects library and use that to supplement the dialog and bring it more to life.
Of course, all this precludes people showing up to these read aloud sessions. And by people I mean specifically people with a naturally higher-pitched voice, as in women. It's not that I need women per se to enjoy my tale, but I can't help but feel it sounds really silly when I play the Professor in my scratchy falsetto. After all, it's Project Kronosphere not Monty Python's Flying Circus!
So I'm thinking of going to the library tomorrow before my regular Reston Roundup Read Aloud meetup and borrow one or more of the BBC Sound Effects Libraries, transferring the audio to one of my large, portable, USB disks. Then, if I'm properly hasty I can return them at the wonderful Book and Essay Writers meetup that inspired my read aloud group on Tuesday. Well, probably not that fast; it'll take a while to rip all 10 disks. But so be it, progress is progress and as long as the chains are moving PKS is one step closer to your ears and my heart!
