#but I have NO experience with audio recording and design

[da3drat]

playing morrowind has really given me a new appreciation of rpgs with no/minimal voice acting. Like idk if the game would be what it is (to me) if the lines were voiced. It asks you to pay close attention to what people have to say, to really understand what they mean, and then allows you to spend as much time as you want reading and rereading through the words by just presenting them as a paragraph. Ik a lot of people don't love text blocks and that's fair, but to me it offers a completely different gameplay experience where the dialogue can be of greater importance because YOU control the flow and pacing of information. You don't have to sit through three or four voice lines just to get to the one you want to check again, and you don't have to wrap up your thoughts by the time the VA finishes speaking. You can just sit and pick it apart!

[unproduciblesmackdown]

asia kate dillon (voice acting and guest starring) as LOS-307 in moon girl and devil dinosaur 1x04 "check yourself"

("part one" only referring to posting the audio, b/c the mp3 file size is too large for a single upload here or on discord, and i refuse lossy compression) (part two)

[physalian]

Humanizing Your Characters (And Why You Should)

To humanize a character is not to contort an irredeemable villain into the warped funhouse mirror reflection of a hero in the last 30 seconds to gain “narrative subversion” points. To humanize is not to give said villain a tragic backstory that validates every bad choice they make in attempt to provide nuance where it does not deserve to be.

To humanize a character, villain or otherwise, is to make them flawed. Scuff them up, give them narrative birthmarks and scars and imperfections. Whether it’s your hero, their love interest, the comic relief, the mentor, the villain, the rival, these little narrative details serve to make all your literary babies better.

Why should you humanize your characters?

To do this means to write in details beyond those that service the plot, or the themes, or the motifs, morals, foreshadowing, or story. These might be (and usually are) entirely unimportant in the grand scheme of things. So, if I wrote lengthy diatribes on pacing and why every detail must matter, and character descriptions and thematic importance, why am I now suggesting go free-for-all on the fluff?

Just like real people have quirks and tics and beliefs and pet peeves that serve our no greater purpose, so should fictional people. Your average reader doesn’t have the foggiest idea what literary devices are beyond metaphor, simile foreshadowing, and anecdote, but they can tell when the author is using motif and theme and all the syntactical marvels because it reads that much richer, even if they can’t pinpoint why.

And, for shipping fodder, these tiny little details are what help your audience fall in love with the character. It doesn’t even have to be in a book – Taylor Swift (whether you like her or not) never fills her music with sexual innuendo or going clubbing. She tells stories filled with human details like dancing in the refrigerator light. People can simultaneously relate to these very specific and vivid experiences, and say “not that exactly, but man this reminds me of…” and that’s (part of) the reason her music is so popular.

What kinds of narratives need these details?

All of them. Visual media, audio, written, stage play. Now, to what degree and excess you apply these details depends on your tone, intended audience, and writing style. If your style of writing is introspection heavy, noir character drama, you might go pretty heavy on the character design.

But even if you’re writing a kids book with a scant few paragraphs of setting descriptors and internal narration, or you’re drawing a comic book – if you have characters you want people to care about, do this.

Animators, particularly, are very adept at humanizing non-human characters, because, unlike live acting, every single stroke of the pen is there with intent. They use their own reflections for facial references, record their own movements to draw a dance, and insert little bits of themselves into signature character poses so you know that *that* animator did this one.

How to humanize your characters.

I’m going to break this down into a couple sections: Costume/wardrobe, personality, beliefs/behavior/superstitions, haptics/proxemics/kinesics, and voice. They will all overlap and the sheer variety and possibilities are way too broad for me to capture every facet.

Costumes and Wardrobe

In the film Fellowship of the Ring, there’s a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it moment where, after Boromir is slain by the Uruk-Hai, Aragorn takes Boromir’s Gondorian vambraces to wear in his honor, and in honor of their shared country. He wears them the rest of the trilogy. The editing pays no extra attention to them beyond a split second of Aragorn tightening the straps, it never lingers on them, never reminds you that they’re there, but they kept it in nonetheless. His actor also included a hunting bow that didn't exist in the book because he's a roamer, a ranger, and needs to be able to feed himself, along with a couple other survival tools.

Aragorn wears plenty of other symbolic bits of costume – the light of the Evenstar we see constantly from Arwen, the Lothlorien green cloaks shared by the entire Fellowship, his re-forged sword and eventual full Gondorian regalia, but all those are Epic Movie Moments that serve a thematic purpose.

Taking the vambraces is just a small, otherwise insignificant character moment, a choice made for no other reason than that’s what this character would do. That’s what makes him human, not an archetype.

When you’re writing these details and can’t rely on sneaking them into films, you have to work a little harder to remind your audience that they exist, but not too often. A detail shifts from “human” to “plot point” when it starts to serve a purpose to the themes and story.

Inconsequentiality might be how a character ties, or doesn’t tie their shoelaces, because they just can’t be bothered so they remain permanent knots and tripping hazards. It might be a throw-away line about how they refuse to wear shorts and strictly stick to long pants because they don’t like showing off their legs. It might be perpetually greasy hair from constantly running their fingers through it with stress, or self-soothing. A necklace they fidget with, or a ring, a belt they never bother to replace even though they should, a pair of lucky socks.

Resist the urge to make it more meaningful than “this is just how they are”. If I’m using the untied shoelaces example – in Spiderverse, this became a part of the story’s themes, motifs, and foreshadowing, and doesn’t count. Which isn’t bad! It’s just not what I’m talking about.

Personality

In How to Train Your Dragon, Toothless does not speak. All his personality comes from how he moves, the noises he makes, and the expressions on his face. There’s moments, like in the finale, when his prosthetic has burned off and Hiccup tells him to hold on for a little bit longer, and you can clearly see on his face that he’s deeply uncertain about his ability to do so. It’s almost off the screen, another blink-and-you’ll-miss-it moment. Or the beat of hesitation before he lets Hiccup touch him in the Forbidden Friendship scene. Or the irritated noise he makes when he’s impatiently waiting for Hiccup to stop chatting with his dad because they have a giant dragon to murder. Or when he slaps Hiccup with his ear fin for flying them into a rock spire.

None of those details *needed* to exist to endear you to his character or to serve the scenes they’re in. The scenes would carry on just fine without them. He’s a fictional dragon, yes, but these details make him real.

Other personality tics you could include might be a character who gets frustrated with tedious things very quickly and starts making little inteligible curses under their breath. Or how they giggle when they’re excited and start bouncing on their toes. Maybe they have a tic where they snap their fingers when they’re concentrating, trying to will an idea into existence. Or they stick their tongue out while they work and get embarrassed when another character calls them on it. They roll around in their sleep, steal blankets, drool, leave dishes in the sink or are neurotic with how things must be organized. They have one CD in their car, and actually use that CD player instead of the phone jack or Bluetooth. They sing in the shower, while they cook, or while they do homework, no matter how grating their voice.

They like the smell of new shoes or Sharpies. They hate the texture of suede or velvet or sticky residues. They never pick their socks up. They hate the overhead light in their room and use 50 lamps instead. They hate turning into oncoming traffic or don’t trust their backup camera. They collect Funko Pops and insist there’s always room for more.

And about a million others.

Beliefs, Behaviors, and Superstitions

*If you happen to be writing a story where superstitions have merit, maybe skip this one.* Usually, inevitably, these evolve into character centerpieces and I can’t actually think of one off the top of my head that doesn’t become this beyond the ones we all know. A few comedic examples do come to mind:

The Magic Conch in “Club Spongebob” and the sea-bear-proof dirt circle in “The Camping Episode”

Dean Winchester’s fear and panic-driven actions in “Yellow Fever” and “Sam, Interrupted”

The references to the trolls that steal left-foot socks in How to Train Your Dragon

I’m not a fan of wasting time writing a religious character doing their religious thing when Plot Is Happening, but smaller things are what I’m talking about. Like them wearing a cross/rosary and touching it when they’re nervous. Having a specific off-beat prayer, saying, or expression because they don’t believe in cursing.

The classic ones like black cats, ladders, broken mirrors, salt, sidewalk cracks can all be funny. Athletes have plenty, too, and some of them, particularly in baseball culture, are a bit ridiculous. Not washing socks or uniforms, having a team idol they donate Double Bubble to and also rub their toes. A specific workout routine, diet, team morale dance.

Other things, too. A character who’s afraid to go back downstairs once the lights are off, or fear the basement or the backyard shed. Or they’re really put-off by this old family photo for no reason other than how glassy their eyes look and it’s creepy. They like crystals, dreamcatchers, star signs, tarot, or they absolutely do not under any circumstances.

They believe in all the tried and true ways of predicting the weather like a grizzled old sailor. They believe in ghosts, vampires, werewolves, witches, skinwalkers, doppelgangers, fairies. They talk to the cat statue in their kitchen and named it Fudge Pop. They whisper to the spirit that possessed the fridge so it stops making all that racket, and half the time, it works every time. They wear yellow for good luck or carry a rabbit’s foot. They’re not religious at all but still throw prayers out to whoever’s listening because, you know, just in case. They sit by their window sill and talk to the moon and the stars and pretend like they’re in a music video when they’re driving through the city in the rain.

Haptics, Proxemics, and Kinesics

These are, for all you non-communication and psych majors out there, touch and physical contact, how they move, and how they move around other people.

Behold, your shipping fodder.

Two shining examples of proxemics in action are the famous “close talker” episode of Seinfeld (of which every communication major has been subjected to) and Castiel’s not understanding of personal space (and human chronemic habits) in Supernatural.

These are how a character walks, if they’re flat-footed, clumsy, or tip-toers. If they make a racket or constantly spook the other characters. If they fidget or can’t sit still in a seat for five seconds, if they like to sit backwards or upside down. How they touch themselves, if they do a lot of self-soothing maneuvers (hugging themselves, rubbing their arms, touching their face, drawing their knees up, holding their neck, etc) or if they don’t do any self-soothing at all.

This is how they shake hands, if they dance while they cook or work. It’s how much space they let themselves take up, if they man-spread or keep their limbs in closer. How close they stand to others or how far. If they let themselves be touched at all, or if they always have their skin covered. If they always have their back to a wall,  or are always making sure they know where the nearest exit is. If they make grand gestures when they talk and give directions. If they flinch from pats on the back or raised hands. If they lean away from loud voices or project their own. If they use their height to their advantage when arguing, puff their chest, square their shoulders, put their hands on their hips, or point fingers in accusation.

If they touch other characters as they pass by. If they’re huggers or victims of falling asleep on or near their comrades. If they must sleep facing the door, or with something solid behind them. If they can sleep in the middle of a party wholly uncaring. If they sleepwalk, sleeptalk, migrate across the bed to cuddle whoever’s nearest with no idea they’re doing it.

If they like to be held or like to hold others. If they hate being picked up and slung around or are touch-starved for it. If they like their space and stick to it or are more than happy to share.

Do they walk with grace, head held high and back straight? Or are they hunched over, head hung, watching their feet? Are they meanderers or speed-walkers? Do they cross their arms in front or lace their hands behind them? Do they bow to authority or meet that gaze head on?

I have heard that Prince Zuko, in Last Airbender, is usually drawn sleeping with his bad ear down when he doesn’t feel safe, like on his warship or anywhere in the Fire Nation, or on the road. He’s drawn on his other side once he joins the Gaang. In Dead Man’s Chest, just before Davy Jones drives the Flying Dutchman under the waves, two tentacles curl up and around the brim of his hat to keep it from blowing off in the water.

When they fight, do they attack first, or defend first? Do they touch other characters’ hair? Share makeup, share clothes? Touch their faces with boops or bonks or nuzzles and eskimo kisses? Do they crack their knuckles and necks and knees?

Do they stare in baffled curiosity at all the other characters wholly comfortable in each other's spaces because they can’t, won’t, or don’t see the point in all this nonsense? Do they say they’re happy on the outside, but are betrayed by their body language?

Voice

Whether or not to write an accent is entirely up to you. Books like Their Eyes Were Watching God writes dialogue in a vernacular specific to its characters. Westerners and southerners tend to be written with the southern drawl or dialect, ripe with stereotypical contractions. Be advised, however, that in attempt to write an accent to give your character depth, you could be instead turning off your audience who doesn’t have energy to decipher what they’re saying, or you went and wrote a racist stereotype.

Voice isn’t just accent and dialect, nor is it how it sounds, which falls more solidly under useful character descriptions. Voice for the sake of humanizing your characters concerns how they talk, how they convey their thoughts, and how they become distinct from other characters in dialogue and narration.

If you’re writing a narrative that hops heads and don’t want to include a big banner to indicate who’s talking at any given time, this is where voice matters. It is, I think, the least appreciated of all the possible traits to pay attention to.

First person narrators have the most flexibility here because the audience is zero degrees removed from their first-hand experiences. Their personality comes through sharply in how they describe things and what they pay attention to.

But it’s also in what similes and metaphors they use. I read a book that had an average (allegedly straight) male narrator going off and describing colors with types of flowers, some I had to look up because I just don’t know those off the top of my head. My immediate thought was either this character is a poorly written gay, or he’s a florist. Neither (allegedly), the writer was just being too specific.

Do they have crutch words they use? like, um, actually, so…, uh

Or repeat exclamations specific to them? yikes, yowzers, jeepers, jinkies, zoinks, balls, beans, d’oh!

Or idioms they’re fond of? Like a bat out of hell. Snowball’s chance.

Do they stutter when they’re nervous? Do they lose their train of thought and bounce around, losing other characters in the process? Do they have a non-Christian god they pray to and say something other than “thank God”? Are they from another country, culture, time period, realm, or planet with their own gods, beliefs, and idioms?

When they describe settings, how flowery is the language? Would this grizzled war hero use flowery language? How would he or she describe the color pink, versus a PTA mom? Do they use only a generic “blue, green, red” or do they really pay attention with “aquamarine, teal, emerald, viridian, vermillion, rose, ruby”?

How do this character’s hobbies affect how well they can describe dance moves, painting styles, car models, music genres?

This mostly matters when you’re head-hopping and the voice of the narrator serves to be more distinct, otherwise, what’s the point of head-hopping? Just use third-person omniscient.

If you really want to go wild, give a specific narrator unique syntax. Maybe one character is the ghost of Oscar Wild with never-ending run-on sentences. Just be sure to not go too overboard and compromise the integrity of your story.

In the book A Lesson Before Dying, a somewhat illiterate, underprivileged and undereducated minor has been given a mentor, a teacher, before they face the death penalty. At the end of the book, you read all of the letters they wrote to their teacher. There’s misspellings everywhere, almost no punctuation, and long, rambling sentences.

It’s heartbreaking. The subject matter is heavy and horrible, yes, but it’s the choice to write with such poor English that has a much bigger impact than perfect MLA format.

How to implement these details

Most of these, in the written medium, need only show up once or twice before your audience notices and wonders why they’re there. Most fall squarely under character design, which falls under exposition, and should follow all the exposition guidelines.

These details exist to be random and fluffy, but they can’t exist randomly within the narrative. If you want to have your character be superstitious, pick a relevant time to include that superstition.

Others, like ongoing speech habits or movements, still don’t overuse, especially if they’re unique. A character might like to sit backwards in a chair, but if you mention that they’re doing it every single time they sit down, your audience will wonder what’s so important and if the character is unwell.

And, of course, you can let these traits become thematically important, like a superstition being central to their personality or backstory or motivation. These all serve the same purpose of making your character feel like a real person instead of just a “character”.

Just think about tossing in a few random details every now and then and see what happens. One tiny sentence can take a background character and make them candidates for the eventual fandom’s fan favorite. Details like these turn your work from “This a story, and these are the characters who tell it” into “these are my characters, and this is their story.”

[therightrighthand]

And Pt.2 of the Fallout-Delv-erse lore! Because honestly, I couldn't pick between soft lovable herbo, and murder hobo, so we're getting both.

D.31-A, rouge Courser jerk of the Commonwealth.

Follow on from Dee & Rolls

~

Lore:

[???] "Audio recording, date [REDACTED] between Doctor Langstrum, Senior Institute Bio Division, and myself [REDACTED] regarding project D.31-A"

[D] "Again, I am going on record to state that there was plenty of oversights on project D.31-A and-"

[???] "Please Doctor, let keep to the questions. How about we start with what D.31-A is, and it's history."

[D] "Hmmph ... Fine. -sigh-, well we may as well start at the beguining with the Synth Program. After the sucessful test run of our 3rd generation Synth in the Capital Wasteland passing undercover as human in 'Rivet City', full production of next gerneration syths were approved for masss production."

"And whilst the topic of Synths seemed focused on under-cover intigration, security was also a keen concern. Our second genration synths, though tough, were far from subtle, and a militerised third generation synth seemed nessasery. The goal was to create something with a bit more bite, a single agent, rather than dozens of gen-1's and 2's littering the commonwealth."

"D3.1-A was the answer to this, our first official prototype of the Courser's we know today."

[???] "Why was D.31's biodata used for the Courser program? And can you explain in detail why they were so well equipped for a prototype?"

[D] "Well, obviously, D.31's DNA proved to create a natural resistance to radiation, so it only made sense to base D.31-A on their genetic makeup and memories, as we had done with Gen-3 synths so far."

"As for their ... 'equipment', you must understand that in the early days of testing, D.31-A wasn't built like our truly synthetic Coursers. They were designed to combine the most physically powerful elements of our Gen-2s with the outer fleshy coating of a Gen-3. Machine, wrapped in flesh."

"At the time, we believed Courser's would be going toe-to-toe against Death Claws and super mutants, so we ... built them to durable, strong and-"

[???] "Exessivly costly?"

[D] "Effective. We built them to be effective. However, as time went by, we realised that less was more, and discreet agents worked more effectively than super-powered assassins."

[???] "Can you tell me what led to losing D.31-A in the field?"

[D] "... again, I want to stress the oversight wasn't just on myself or my team at the tim- ok ok, fine."

"After successfully activating D.31-A and testing them rigorously for months, we felt it was time for a field test in the Commonwealth. So we fitted her with an old raider outfit, had her infiltrate an encampment, and simply let her get to work."

"Needless to say, she was effective—almost ferocious, in fact, if you could call it that."

"But, unfortunately, during the fight, a nuclear device was launched, which knocked out our communication with the Synth handlers observing the experiment. After several hours, we deployed security teams and mercenaries to scout the location and report back. There was no sign of D.31-A ... or her handlers, whom we believed to have been killed by D.31-A"

[???] "What led you to believe it was D.31-A?"

[D] "The entire team had been torn apart and stapled to a concrete bunker with steal poles through their chests and their power systems removed. The working theory is that the blast may have ... damaged ... D.31-A's hardware and left them to go-"

[???] "On a five-year-long murderous rampage of Institute assets, including research centres, 23 mercenaries, 12 staff members on the field, and 18 Courses?"

[D] "... Look, it's been months since we've heard from her, and this speculation that she is helping the railroad is preposterous. It's more than likely that her power core has started to falter, and any information on the institute has been damaged in the process."

[???] "Which brings us to the point of this interview: to uncover the lack of oversight that led to a hostile agent that we cannot stop with information on our most sensitive security protocols. What makes you so sure that information has been destroyed?"

[D] "Because I built her [REDACTED] and if she still had access to our location, our relay, and our defences, we would have been dead a long time ago..."

[INTERVIEW END]

-- Find my Discord and other sites: linktr.ee/The_red_right_hand Do not use, repost or claim (rp) my art/character  Art © The-Red-Right-Hand

[tincanaudio]

Is audio drama the only medium you've worked in? How does it compare to other mediums?

So I started out as a musician. When I was at university I used to busk with a bass and a loop pedal (an endeavour that got me quite far at one point) and this caught the attention of a couple of people in the filmmaking society, who asked if I wanted to make music for their short films. (One of these people is now my wife)

I worked in film as a sound recordist, sound designer and composer, sometimes all three at once. I really like film as a medium but, in my experience, on a set the sound recordist is often treated as an inconvienience (if the cinematographer says we need to go again, we go again, if the sound recordish says we need to go again, everyone groans) and after I while I found myself getting irritable about it, so I stopped.

I enjoy doing sound design and music for film, but I find it very limiting. To a certain extent you're stuck with what's on screen and you have to work within that, and so much of my job was fixing things rather than being creative ('we forgot to record this door closing, can you put it in?').

What I found liberating about audio drama is that you start with a blank space and you get to fill it with whatever you like, be that music or soundscapes or dialogues or monologues, and indie audio drama is still at the stage where a lot of things are still being worked out, which is exciting. I love talking to people about the idea of audio drama having its own musical vocabulary separate from film music and video game music.

It's not without its limits (money) but I agree with Ella when she says that audio drama is where comics used to be, and I think that's exciting!

[hephaestuscrew]

I'm a big fan of the way that Gabriel Urbina often includes details within the Wolf 359 scripts that can't be directly translated into audio, for example: the "tears silently streaming down [Minkowski's] face" in Ep31 Securité; Eiffel being "wrapped up in a blanket" when telling Lovelace about his traumatic experience of feeling like he was turning into Minkowski in Ep32 Controlled Demolition; the way "Hera and Eiffel stand together, his arm around her shoulder" when confronting Pryce in the finale; the idea that Eiffel "salutes" Minkowski after his speech to her before the memory wipe... These details make reading the scripts an even more rewarding experience. 

But I do think there's an interesting question here about to what extent these details are canon. After all, when changes have been made in the dialogue between the script and the final recording, I only consider the dialogue that actually ended up in the episode to be canon, although the version in the script might still provide interesting insights. But with details in the scripts that are inherently not audible - and therefore never intended to be literally included in the episode itself - should we consider them to be canon, or bonus content, or Word of God, or simply a tool used in the recording process? 

I know that it is possible to have an entirely full experience of the show without ever reading a single bit of the scripts. The scripts are placed in the 'Extras' area of the show website. 

Obviously the primary purpose of the non-auditory script details is to inform the actors in their performances, and perhaps provide some considerations for sound design. When I read the scripts, I can often feel how the non-auditory script directions are reflected in the feel of the voice acting. 

But once I've noticed these script directions, I also can't help having them feed into my experience of the scene when listening, in a way that enriches the experience beyond purely the audio, and informs my understanding of these moments. The script directions tell us more about what the writer was envisioning for a scene.

I love sharing the script directions that feel significant to me, and when I do so, I feel like I'm sharing something more significant than a behind-the-scenes tidbit. I feel like I'm sharing further knowledge of what happened in that scene. The script directions feel like a true part of the show to me, more so than the comments the writers and actors have made in Q&As. To me, these non-auditory bits of the scripts feel like canon, but a slightly lesser form of canon than the episodes themselves. But I don't know if I can fully justify this view. I'd be interested to hear other people's thoughts.

[throwing-in-the-towel]

you are actually a hero lol. All us people who can’t see the show are desperate for info. I’ve gotten lucky in that I got a playbill sent to me, scoured the internet until I found a copy of the script, and finally got a full audio recording of the show but no videos. It’s unhealthy the amount of times I’ve listened to it 😬 I know you said there’s no reunion scene between the brothers, but in the script is says during Hoods Turned Hero’s Soda runs to Pony and hugs him, then Darry kneels down next to him, clearly apologizing, and they hug. Did they cut that or is it just lost in the chaos of the song/ acting out the fire. Can you tell us more about how the fountain scene plays out?

thanks again for being so kind and taking the time to share! I’m glad that there are other Brent Comer/ Darry fans too. I ADORE him, but may be a little biased since we actually went to college together!! Sadly never met as he was 2 years older but I’m pretty sure I saw him in a school production of Parade, I lost my playbills though so can’t quite remember!

of course! i try my best to describe things as accurately as i can for you guys but it still doesn’t do justice to how amazing the production is!

for the “hoods turned heroes” bit that you’re referring to, that may have been part of the la jolla production from last spring. that was not in the broadway previews version of the show or the current broadway product.

the fountain scene is some of the most awesome staging i’ve ever seen. it’s done very well. the socs come on stage in the corvette right after “far away from tulsa” ends. they confront pony & johnny and bob slams pony’s head against the hood of the car, which gives him a concussion. the sound design for this is amazing, everything starts to move in slow motion and the sound goes muffled in the theater to simulate pony’s head trauma for the audience. they take pony’s head and dunk it into the tire (which has a pool of water in the middle of it) and again the sound in the theater makes it sound like the audience is underwater, it’s amazing. during that johnny moves in slow motion, beating up the soc that’s holding him back, then moves to stab bob. we see johnny stick the knife into bob’s side. then a white light flashes and the entire theater goes dark. after a few seconds, the lights come back on and you see bob bleeding out reaching for help. then the light flashes, goes dark again. then the lights come back again and bob is hanging over the side of the tire, dead. it’s extremely immersive.

and im more than happy to share this info! i acknowledge how lucky i am to be able to experience the show as often as i am and that is not lost on me. i want everyone to be able to enjoy the show in any capacity possible! :)

[ellaenchanting]

Hypnovember 2023 Master Post.

This year was my 5th Hypnovember! To be honest, it felt particularly hard-fought since I had a lot of life stuff happening in the background this month. (Nothing traumatic, don't worry.) Still, I managed to write about 10,803 words, record almost 50 minutes of audio, and pay tribute to a lovely friend. I'm likely not doing daily prompts next year but I'm glad I ran this marathon one more time. 5 years is a respectable amount of time to do anything so- I'm proud of myself.

Everything I wrote/created is below! Use these icons to find what looks interesting to you:

Icons- 📰- story 🔊- audio ✅-recommendation list ⭐-Ella's favorites 😍- romantic 🌈- queer 😴- regular ole’ hypnosis 🛀- brainwashing and/or hypnotist in a tub 👻- spooky ❓- bad or reeeally questionable consent  👨‍🔬 -science! 🤪 -crackfic #-#sceneideas 😭-feeeels  🦄 -mythological creatures   🔥 -explicitly sexy  🔁 switchy switches 😵‍ -intelligence play  🫥-amnesia 🏴‍☠️- Our Flag Means Death fanfic ☕- comfort 🤏-tiny fic 💌-poem 🚫- denial or teasing 🪞-autobiographical or contains autobiographical elements 🧲 old timey mesmerism

Day 1: Dazed 🔊⭐😴

File description: One Take Wonder induction designed to remind you that going into trance isn't difficult at all.

It's OK.

Just drift.

Day 2: Brain Drain M/m(/m) 📰 😴 🌈😍 🔁🏴‍☠️☕

Choice quote: "Izzy grinned too, feeling oddly proud to be trusted with this quiet moment. He and Ed had never been conventional. Maybe it was OK that Ed and Stede weren't either."

Day 3: Coils (Author/you) 📰 😴 🤏☕

Choice quote: "When I say 'my words coil around you', it IMPLIES control but what it really gives is permission. "

Day 4: Denial 🔊😴🔥🚫

File description: "Denial. That's it. That's all the description you get."

Fun fact: Unless you want spoilers- then head over here

Day 5: Maid (The author/you) 📰 🤏🛀

Choice Quote: "What if you could clean your home and clean your mind at the same time? "

Day 6: Soul Contract (Being/supplicant) 📰 🤏🦄🤪

Choice quote: "So- you say you'll give me your free will?"

Fun fact: This is secretly Good Omens fanfic about Aziraphale (with the serial numbers filed off).

Day 7: Repetition is Hypnotic 🔊👨‍🔬

File description: "Repetition is Hypnotic- what it says on the tin"

Day 8: Addicted (M/f) 📰 ⭐❓😭🛀🪞

Choice quote: "It felt like being owned. It felt like love. Then just as surely as the flood started- it stopped."

Fun fact: This was NOT a fun story to write, partially because it dug up some of my and my friends' worst experiences. I'm glad it's been helpful for some people who have been in some really bad situations, though- I'm hope I did you all justice. You (and we all) deserve so much more than this.

Day 9: Erased (?/f) 💌🛀

Choice quote: "That had all been/Erased"

Day 10: Confidence (F/f) 📰😴🌈🫥❓😍🤪🧲

Choice quote: "'No,' interrupted the young mesmerist. 'I mean- I know this is quite unusual but- I find myself quite fond of you, Harriet.'

Day 11: Attitude Adjustment/IQ Reduced (M/f) 📰⭐😴😍😵‍#🔥

Choice quote: "'That's good, honey,' he encouraged. 'You don't need to think right now. I've got all your bigger thoughts for safekeeping.'"

Day 12: Hyperfocus (The author/you) 📰😴🤏👨‍🔬

Choice quote: "I know you can focus, but can you HYPERfocus?"

Day 13: Smile (Being/f) 📰🤏👻🦄

Choice quote: "It made her smile."

Day 14: Impossibly Deep (Person/person) 📰🤏❓🛀🫥#

Choice quote: "'Not possible to be this deep, isn't that right?'

'Mmmm not possible. Too deep.'"

Day 15: Shatter 🔊👨‍🔬🛀

File description: Just a quick loopable file with a nice "shatter" mantra

Day 16: Sex Obsessed ✅🌈

Fun fact: Recommendation list of my favorite content from my friend @sex-obsessed-lesbian

Day 17: Corrupted (M/f) 📰⭐🤏❓🔥#

Choice quote: "'I can give you what you want," he said, silkily. "All the submission. All the pleasure. Everything you've been dreaming of...All you need to give me in return,' he continued, 'is your 'no'".

Day 18: Pet 🔊☕😴

File description: I'm a bit sick so- did some nice self hypnosis around the idea of being pet.

Day 19: Elevator (F/f) 📰😴🔁#

Choice quote: "Have you ever ridden the Tower of Terror at Disney World?" Ivy asked.

Day 20: Transformation 🪞⭐

Choice quote: "She didn't know that something could be both campy playacting and extremely real at the same time-the feelings, the bonding, the lingering effects-all of it."

Day 21: Forget 🔊🤪🫥👨‍🔬

File description: "Similar to the style of Samsung's website that helps you forget TV series you've watched, this file is designed to help you forget all of my Hypnovember content for this year- so you can experience it again for the first time!"

Day 22: Hypnotic Hands (F/f) 📰😴#🌈

Choice quote: "But mistress could make anything hypnotic. And today she had made HER hands hypnotic too."

Day 23: ...And Back Down 💌😴😭

Choice quote: "...And back down"

Day 24: Ready to Play (F/m) 📰😴#🪞🛀🚫

Choice quote: "The slight curve of her lip indicated she had something in mind but- had it started?"

Day 25: At Peace (Being/f) 📰🤏👻🦄

Choice quote: "It was useless to fight against it- although in the beginning she had tried."

Day 26: Shadows (F/f) 📰🌈🚫🛀

Choice quote: "Those shadows of her former self were still there- they helped make her who she was now. Who she was now, though, was happy."

Day 27: Shiny (F/m)📰🤏#😴🛀

Choice quote: "The leather boots weren't 'shiny, shiny' like in the song, but it didn't matter. "

Day 28: Workout (F/f) 📰⭐🛀🚫🔥🌈#

Choice quote: "'I'm going to challenge you a bit today, ok?' she says. 'Are you ready for that?'"

Day 29: Wholesome (The author/you) 📰⭐😂😴☕🪞

Choice quote: "It means something to us, and thus it has meaning"

Day 30: You Win (F/nb)📰😂😍😴☕

Choice quote: "'Hmph,' they responded, grumpily. 'I know what you're doing.'"

I'm entirely a hobbyist content creator and work primarily for feedback and belly rubs. :) (I do take tips on Ko-fi though if you're feeling generous!) If you liked anything I made this month, I'd be really really delighted to hear about it. Hell, I'm delighted to hear constructive criticism as well- anything to know this isn't all going to into a void somewhere. Reblogs are also very much appreciated.

That being said- here are a few people in particular I want to thank for your encouragement, your inspiration, your cheerleading, or just generally for helping get me through the month- @thekinkycocktailclub @mentat101posts @jam-and-stuff @linnybeenaughty @sex-obsessed-lesbian @theleeallure @tennfan2 @spiralturquoise @daja-the-hypnokitten @misscammiedawn @royb8772 @hypno-potion @hypno-sandwich @wellgnawed @redriotwest @egur19 @mozart32 @mys-oleander @sleepwithgiggli @telephonetrance @dommestic @subbypuppy (I know I'm leaving a bunch of people off so- I apologize if I am and know I still appreciate you a lot.)

Extra special shoutout to @emptyofbrains2 who has not only given me lots of great feedback but has also written a lot of her own great stuff this past month. Check out her Tumblr if you haven't already!

Stay tuned to this space for- whatever it is the future holds. :) I'm excited- I hope you are too.

Thanks y'all :)

[mr-laveau]

hiya, dog here! this is for lav's listener design lab!!

Crow Folkestone, aka Freelancer/Voyeur/Deviant/Silly!

Crow grew up moving around a lot and with not great parents. When his powers started manifesting, his family treated him even more like the dirt on the bottom of their shoes. After Caelum appeared to him for the first time, he ran away from his family and went no contact with them

He's very much got a grunge/skater kinda vibe to him. A lot of thrifted and oversized stuff. Baggy jeans, big shirts and sweatpants, chunky sneakers, yk the vibes

He's transmasc (he/they/it), he presents pretty masc but he doesn't bind and has a pretty large chest, so he kind of appears androgynous because of it

Crow is white (irish/scottish)

About 25-26 ish?

Crow is chubby, with large thighs, a thick tummy, large chest, and the kind of arms that dads who don't work out but are still very strong have

Gemini

Crow's closest relationships are the D.A.M.N. crew. my version of redacted has them as a polycule! crow and gavin are primary partners though. they love their boys so much. and also caelum, but like. he's their son

Crow has a numerous amount of hobbies, from photography (loves bringing a digicam everywhere he goes, esp with the D.A.M.N. crew, and recording memories), to writing poetry, to singing and playing guitar/bass, and more! They love video games, and reading books, and watching videos, and writing, and hanging out with the crew!

Not technically a deity, but a hero from myth: Crow would be Patroclus. Their dedication to their friends and lovers is so strong they would die for any of them. They don't want to be the hero, and are uncomfortable with the attention it can bring, but they're thrusted into the role anyways and have grown because of it

Redacted Audio's D.A.M.N. Storyline!

Crow is incredibly dedicated and very understanding. Past relationships have made them very much a pleaser and go-with-the-flow about things (/neutral, some partners were good, most were not, but both experiences shaped him). They understand limits and don't expect anything in return, even if they secretly want someone to dote on them. Crow wants to be the muse and not just the artist sometimes. In the past they were more the one doing things for their partner/s, so having Gavin do things for them like they would do still catches them off guard now and then. For their friends, Crow likes to treat them almost like other partners; that same dedication is given to them as well. Crow likes making sure everyone is happy and is heard

Crow values being truthful to oneself greatly, as well as having love for humanity

just existing by daysormay !

Crow is the truest "listenersona" i have, so their design is actually based on what i look like irl! just with a few differences (eye color and some minor body details mainly)

Crow stands at 5'8 1/2, with shaggy/curly dark brown hair in a shag mullet with fluffy bangs. A small braid hangs from behind their ear, given to them by Caelum. They have brown eyes and freckles across their face and body. They have piercings on their face and ears (septum & paired nostrils, center labret, stretched ears [2g], four more piercings in each ear), and tattoos across their body. Recently he got on testosterone. He's pretty hairy. Almost like a cub?

Crow is absolutely a puppyboy. It's also a polyglot! He calls Gavin "playboy", as well as "lover boy". Absolute stoner. It's assigned the D.A.M.N. crew as Muppets. He is just chef's kiss.

This listener lab design is one of the coolest things ever! Is it weird to say thank you? I love when creators give back to their community like this, and this is such a good way of doing that!

ty again!

LaVeau-gue - design #002 - Freelancer - Crow - Redactedgender

Heyo! You're welcome for making your design, I don't think it's weird really, it goes a long way to remind people that artists and creators are in fact human and do not exist for the benefit and entertainment of fandoms or people (you wouldn't believe the sense of entitlement on some folks really) but enough about that, here's the design for crow!

Design Notes!

There's a little something I like to keep in mind sometimes and something that I have to remind myself about from time to time which is:

"Sometimes people don't want your extra touch, they just want you to draw something for them."

That is something I had to keep in mind for this design so instead of going on a tangent in regards to how my own, I'll just let ya know how I interepreted your notes:

In particular, I chose to just take your visual notes literally, making sure to incorporate the different piercings where I could make them visible. Other stuff like its haircut, freckles, eyes and hair type were just thongs I took at face value.

Now when it came to a few other elements, things got tricky:

You specified that Crow had tattoos but never specified what those tattoos were so I decided to improvise by incorporating barbs, the anarchist symbol, a broken heart, a "live" tatoo and a star om their arms since they seemed to make sense for his backstory.

In terms of fashion, I leaned into the skater/grunge aesthetic to create something easy, breezy that could fit the vibe but also felt androgynous whilst leaning into masc territory.

A few special tidbits I incorporated was the braid-by which I mean that I used a pink hair tie on it to colour match with Caelum and gave Crow a hot pink collar that I like to think he got from Gavin.

Crow genuinely feels like a character who doesn't see themself as the main character but perceivs himself as an extra in everybody else's life, its fashion does come from a more bold subculture but they also seem very much to be the type to be the lone skater dude. In conjunction with this, your pick of Patroclus was interesting as it general supports my theory that Crow likely doesn't see themself as their own person but as a part to other people's stories. As such, I felt it best to give crow an appearance that would match that, something that would at least look different to your average Joe but wouldn't seem to out of place in a city like Dahlia I'm California.

And that's your LaVeau-gue design! Hope you enjoy it! (Oh yeah I also changed the name to LaVeau-gue since I liked it more)

Wanna have your listener designed by me? Check out my rules for LaVeau-gue and send an ask my way!

[joesalw]

Story time! My cousin is six and wants to become a fashion designer. She saw an ad for the TS movie on TV and liked the sparkly costumes, so I pirated the thing and we watched it together so she could draw the clothes. Two big things I noticed are: 1) the vocals are... not that good? I mean, the quality of the audio has been improved a lot, but the vocals themselves are painfully mid even for Taylor. In one of the very first songs, I got the ick from a note she missed badly, and I'm no musical genius. Considering she chose this performance to be recorded in a movie to broadcast worldwide, you'd expect her to be top of her game, or at least to use some good old autotune to fix her mistakes. (I'll leave out the massive use of background vocals because I don't abitually listen to pop, so I don't know if that's a thing other artists do too or not. Tbh, if I paid hundreds for a tour ticket and all I heard was a recorded track and background vocalists, I'd be pissed to say the least, but maybe that's me, idk. 2) Her stage presence, dance skills, talking, it's all bad and completely unnatural. Her dance moves look like poorly done tik tok dances, her comments between songs are so fake it hurts, there is not a single thing she does on stage that comes off as genuine. I get no performer is ever truly themselves on stage, but damn, at least others are better at faking it. Her expressions and gestures are exaggerated for no reason, which ruins the whole experience, at least for me. Mind you, I like a goofy moment on stage, I like jokes, hell, Corey Taylor performing the Spongebob soundtrack mid concert may be one of my favourite concert moments ever. But if it's clear the person is acting, I can't have fun, I only feel like I'm being treated as an idiot. Luckily, my cousin didn't like the concert either, so I won't have to deal with a swiftie in the future ahah. Though I fear I might have to get through the Beyoncé movie as well once she sees her costumes (hoping that one's a little bit better).

Only one time I used to find Taylor's mid performance speeches genuine was during reputation tour. she used to be very relaxed and confident with who she was and exactly knew what she was saying, before that she would always seem fake and insecure to me, and this eras tour is her fakest version ever, she's just straight up acting. I myself would never spend my money on such mid shows ever.

[defira85]

I have... thoughts about the first episode of the Veilguard podcast and I suppose one could call them critical but I'm having war flashbacks about the DA fandom in the 2010s so. This is going under a cut and I'm not going to tag it. Because I don't want to spoiler people but I also don't want to draw lots of attention

My biggest issue is that I don't necessarily feel like anyone on the writing team has specific experience with writing radio drama

Listen, writing specifically audio only narratives is a skill. It's a difficult one. It's not the same as reading an audiobook out loud, and it's not the same as listening to a recording of a live-play/improv group. It's not the same as a movie script. I've often thought that the closest comparison in terms of narrative structure and performance is live theatre, but even that has limitations to the comparisons

Exposition in radio drama is, by necessity, somewhat overstated. There's a lot of characters stating outright things that are happening, in order to convey that information to the audience, and sometimes that can come across as very... heavy handed. It's really hard to balance in a way that can seem like an organic conversation. They managed it relatively well at the start of the show when Nadia outright states that Elio has given her a ring - in a visual medium like a movie, we'd have a close up shot of the ring and maybe a close up of her shocked face, and they wouldn't need to explain it. But in the radio drama, we get the shock play out and then she confirms it's a ring thats upset her, because we as the audience need that explicit confirmation. It's the nature of the medium.

What isn't great, and this is where I think that it's obvious to me that the writers either aren't familiar with the medium or don't have a ton of experience with it, is the way that everything related to the conspiracy is laid out. Obviously, you don't want to info dump and ruin everything related to the conspiracy in the first episode, but it feels like this conversation happened at least 3 times:

"*gasp* what are you even saying?"

"... I don't want to talk about it."

"Oh, you never want to talk-"

"Now isn't the time!"

"It's never the time for you!!"

What did Neve know about the raid and what did she say to convince Elio? We don't know, it's more important to have five minutes of grunting as Nadia climbs walls. Did we learn some stuff about Nadia as a character through the grunting? I mean, some of her stuff with Vik at the start, I'd say yes, but then it just went on and on. Did Elio talk to Nadia about what Neve told him on the arguably days or weeks long trek from Minrathous south to the Silent Plains? We don't know, they had to have multiple arguments like the one above. Could some of it be solved by the presence of a narrator? Arguable. How did Elio know the chant to follow along with Solas immediately?

"But Defira, they can't drop all of their exposition in the first episode, they need to build narrative tension" I'm not really talking about the story so much as I'm talking about how it's conveyed, how it's presented to us as an audience and what they're choosing to offer as the most important pieces of information and world/character building in the limited time frame. Lots of screaming each other's names dramatically sounds exciting, but it doesn't tell me anything the 15th time around. Lots of grunting as they yell and run and fight over and over again and I start to tune out

What can I tell about this first episode? That they spent a lot of money on sound design, and it sounds crowded. Narratively, I have lore questions (complaints) but that's not the point of the post.

The actors were great. The music was pretty good, but was it really worth it forking out for Hans Zimmer? The sound design was messy and cluttered.

I don't know. I'll keep listening, and maybe the writing will improve. The story concept is exciting but the execution is weak

I did laugh at Solas immediately fucking up again though

[virtualtyrant69]

The bad batch as people in theater!!

I'm a theater major and I love the bad batch so I thought why not combine the two lol. Most of this is personal experience working in some of these positions but some I have never worked as and it's just based on my own observations of these people that I have while working with them. Sadly, none of the bad batch are costumers, which is my area of focus but I have done other stuff like lighting and set building. Also, she/her pronouns for hunter because she's a woman to me. Anyways, onto the list!

Hunter- She would be a stage manager. She has the spirit to be one. She's the kind of stage manager that takes absolutely no bullshit at all from anyone but would also be very nice and carry around a fanny pack full of snacks. She would also have first aid essentials, gaff tape, and pins in that thing. Maybe a multi tool too. She is prepared for anything to happen even if she isn’t an assistant stage manager and is only calling cues. She would also be so on top of cues and would run that theater like the navy. Her timing is absolutely impeccable.

Tech- I know in my heart of hearts that Tech is a sound guy. ((respect to people who do sound in theater, I could never)) Like, in TCW episodes, they mention that Tech is always recording sounds??? And they never bring it up again??? Wish they would since that’s so interesting but whatever. Anyways, he’s sound because he likes sounds and I think he would have a genuinely good time making audioscapes and sound effects for plays. I feel like he would get annoyed at having to help actors with putting mics on but I don’t really think he’d be audio crew, just the board operator and the sound designer. ((this also kinda goes along with my hc that Tech makes beats/EDM))

Wrecker- I had a bit of a tough time with Wrecker but I think I’ve settled on him being in set building/carpentry. I feel like this is a bit obvious and uninspired but I really do think it fits him. He would have a fun time doing tasks like welding and painting and carving. I feel like this field really works with his ADHD in that he has a lot of different tasks he can do and the way he would need to build something changes every time. It's a constantly changing puzzle that he needs to solve with his brain and strength and I think he would get a kick out of it.

Crosshair- Another obvious choice to me but Crosshair does lighting. I’m not sure if he enjoys the programming or design aspects of lighting but I’m sure he would love the electrician parts of lighting. He would have such a good time doing lighting focusing. I can also imagine him yelling at an actor to stay in their light lol. Also from what I’ve experienced in college, many people who do lighting do stage management and Crosshair feels like the kind of guy who would also want to be a stage manager so he’s probably an assistant stage manager to like, Hunter. I bet he’s so intimidating backstage lol. The deck and costume crew are shaking in their boots.

Echo- They’re a props guy. I don’t think they work props in a show but instead they design and build them. All the props people I know are pretty chill but really weird and I think that fits Echo pretty well lol. I think they have loads of fun making realistic food out of inedible things. Whenever an actor breaks a prop Echo does the whole “I’m not mad, just disappointed” thing and that shames the actors more than being angry would. They just have a fun time building and finding objects that would fit whatever play they are working on.

Omega- She’s an actor :). And she would be an absolute darling of an actor too. She would have some trouble trying not to talk too loud backstage but she would be able to learn before the performance. I also feel like she gets kinda nervous about her entrances so she’s always really early in places just to make sure she isn’t late. She also does a bunch of weird things to help her memorize her lines like singing them or saying them in funny accents. She can cry on demand and sometimes uses this power off stage and for evil lol

[usafphantom2]

On the morning of 29 July, 1968, my navigator, Jimmy Fagg, was not feeling well when we were having our preflight steak and eggs breakfast at the Personal Support Detachment. Butch Sheffield, returning from leave, walked in and mentioned he needed flight time and he would gladly substitute for Jimmy. “The flight was going well. We had just finished refueling and were accelerating thru approx 2.6 Mach and 65,000′, leaving Louisiana heading West. (ed.: usually a 40 minute flight to Sacramento)

First indication of a problem was when the right engine “unstarted”. However, this was more serious than a routine inlet unstart.

“I heard a Big Bang and immediately had a big red light (ed: there are no small red lights) I looked through the rear-facing periscope not a contrail.

“Understand, when the inlet is unstarted, the aircraft is experiencing severe aerodynamic buffeting, making it difficult to read instruments until we slow to about Mach 2. Right engine is shut down. I ask Butch for the Engine Fire and the Descent checklist. I declare “Emergency” with Air Traffic Control center, “descending and diverting to Carswell AFB”. Then I tell Butch to “be ready to bail out”, who responds with, “Oh S***”! (Butch had punched out of an SR once before April 13 1967 ) and was not anxious to repeat the experience.)

“Butch says, “I wish I had my checklist” (What Butch meant was that he had Jimmy Fagg’s checklist, not his own. Every crew member marks up his checklist with useful margin notes, obviously of great personal value. As a stand-in, Butch was wishing he had his own annotated checklist rather than Jimmy’s, captured on the aircraft’s audio recorder). The roughness is now gone and the machine is flying smoothly with normal control. I tell Butch that I would just as soon stay with her as long as we have good control. Butch concurs (although, the check list says that if Fire Light does not extinguish…Bail Out). The problem remains, Fire Light is still On, flying on one engine, the smoke has diminished, but is it smoke, fuel spray (we are dumping as much as possible prior to landing) or contrail? I don’t want to land with a fire and Butch concurs. Still difficult to tell if we are trailing smoke due to overcast, poor light conditions, and looking through the periscope is like looking through the barrel of a 22 rifle.

“We elect to request a fly-by with the tower to tell us if they can detect any smoke or fire. The Fire light is still ON. Tower says we look OK. Landing was uneventful. We taxi to and into a designated hanger, stopping inside, shut down the left engine and the hanger doors are closed. We complete the “shutdown checklist”…unbuckle our harness and stuff, but no one comes to help us out of the airplane. We at least need a ladder! Butch says the crowd is over by the right wing. Finally, a couple of considerate colonels come to our rescue and advised us, “you may want to see this”. We shuffled around to the right side. The outboard forward section of the nacelle had been blown out, taking with it a portion of the wing leading edge. Obvious severe fire damage. Not much of the engine was left in the nacelle…you could see daylight. Lockheed used this accident as testimonial for titanium airframes. Conventional construction could not have survived the intense heat from the fire…the right outboard wing would have failed rather quickly.” Written by SR 71 pilot Ben Bowles.

Linda Sheffield

@Habubrats71 via X

[thumpypuppy]

for the isat soundtrack, did you use pre-existing soundfonts, make your own, or didn't use soundfonts? i don't know much about music production so bear with me. also, if the first option, which ones did you use?

Fantastic question!

So there was exactly one song that used sound fonts (the SNES strings), otherwise it's entirely softsynths, multisamplers, and some recorded guitar and bass for a few songs.

If you're just getting started in making music there are a lot of free synths available from Native Instruments, and the Spitfire Audio LABS series has loads of cool free stuff as well. (You can also find bunches of free VSTs online!)

I have a lot of stuff in the studio, but I'll list out some of my current favs:

Xfer Records Serum - It's an absolutely incredible modular synth that has two channel AM/FM/RM modulation, wavetable synthesis, a bunch of really cool built-in effects, and there's so much automation you can do to create really amazing sounds.

Toontrack Superior Drummer - I have v2 + Metal Foundry, but they have a v3 now and loads of libraries available. Super customizable, absolutely the next best thing to just mic'ing up a kit yourself.

SubMission Audio Eurobass III - Honestly such a precise bass multisampler that has really detailed velocity and articulation control. Features heavily in our last album, DOOMTROID.

So to answer your question, a lot of things are either custom-designed in the studio or are built off of multisampling engines and then further modified and EQ'd to have a very particular sound.

I would just like to say that composition is FAR more important than having fancy plugins and experience with sound design and mixing, so go find yourself a bunch of free VSTs and focus on your composition first and learn the engineering part second.

[girlboyzone]

some sunship chr physical media hcs :3 this is a long one Sorry

can you tell i'm like super autistic abt both of these things . can you tell is it obvious

c!aimsey would have a walkman w some old cassettes, some mixtapes and some audio logs from blooms own travels, maybe some audio diaries she could listen to in the future to reflect on past feelings and see how much they'd change. a few of these had them talking about sola and seeing her before everything soured and bloom lost her. i think especially during the daisy hollow era she listened to these ones a lot. i think in the future (around endless sunset) they wouldn't record as many of them, maybe just before big events because bloom's quite stationary now. she probably keeps a box of the old tapes in a box somewhere, not entirely hidden but still out of the way so they don't always reach for them.

arg!sunshipduo would have had an old timey record player in the cabin, like the ones with the kind of horn thing at the top you only really see in animated movies. most of the records they would have had would be old albums with love songs they would've danced to. i like to think hera played these often during experiments.

au!aimsey in s1 absolutely would've had a cd collection. like ABSOLUTELY in my mind no doubt abt this. i've gone on about my au!aimsey cd headcanon here but i think au!aims made a mixtape for au!guq when they were both crushing on eachother with a couple lovey dovey emo songs and then made an especially romantic one (like i will follow you into the dark, the world is ugly, summertime, teenage dirtbag, the only exception etc etc etc) after everything went down with hera for the first time as a way to show that he still loves her all the same.

a!guqqie i feel like would've made a!aimsey a mixtape but a cassette mixtape, old school cassette mixtape with a bunch of songs. maybe this was something she did in the universes that lasted the longest, where they got the most involved with eachother and the most attached. but they never got to give them to a!aimsey i think, like something always got in the way of it.

con!aimsey came from royalty so i Know growing up they had the craziest dvd and cd collection, and they had a hello kitty cd player that got stolen by their sibling all the time. also emo con!aimsey Thank U.

on the other hand i think con!guqqie would also have cassettes but they would just be a couple albums she really liked and she'd listen to them on their walkman which i think would be painted with little designs :D

p!sunship would also write little letters to eachother and sneakily get them to one another . to me but thats not a physical media hc

[misscammiedawn]

Buzzfeed just posted an article regarding a certain cult and their abusive hypnosis files.

I know that the annoying anon is still out there circulating sea-lioning asks about this, so I thought it would be a good idea to signal boost for community safety.

CW: The article goes in depth on the experiences of a victim and may be triggering to others who have known this kind of grooming and abuse.