Production

This audio drama is literally a one-man show.  Yes, it has taken untold hours to write, record, edit, and put it all together.  But that's what it takes to make good drama and entertainment!

Thanks to AI technology, what we can do as creators is practically limitless.  Before, a show of this caliber would have required a large budget, major overhead, and lots of help -- to which, I really don't have any access to.  Just a few years ago, I wouldn't have even attempted this.

But now ... 

I have always had a love for cinema and behind-the-scenes production.  With all the resources available, it was time to take all my blood, sweat, and tears with one of my favorite creations and bring it to life.  Yes, it still costs a fair amount of $$$$, but not nearly what it could be.  In addition, the logistics and production process is very time consuming.  

So how does it come together?  

The audio drama is a hybrid screenplay and novel – as I’ve written both for this story.  Though the main character, Elouan, is fictional, along with the other cast members, the context of what they encounter in terms of the plague and religious persecution is based on documented texts for those particular events.  Many of the characters react exactly as people did back in the time period.  The collapse of society as expressed in the drama actually did happen in many towns and villages as it is dramatized.

I use the screenplay format as the base, breaking out each scene by number.  Each scene, then, gets its own folder in my computer system, and within that folder will go all the voices, sound effects, and music for that particular scene. 

First step is recording any narration, which is my natural native voice in the drama.  Then I will go back and do each character, one-by-one.  If they have multiple lines, broken up by other characters, doesn’t matter … It all gets recorded in one pass.  Sometimes I end up recording the same line of dialogue three or four times to get differing inflections or intensity, and will then edit them prior to the AI voice change, or – if I’m really curious – keep them all in there and see how they sound with the AI voice.  Once the voices have been transformed, they will designated by Scene Number and Character Name.

Then on to the creation process.  I first lay out the entire scene in my audio creation program as it is written in the script.  Once all the voices have been put into place, then I will go out and grab the sound effects.  Environmental sounds, character movements … whatever is needed to bring a sense of exterior reality within the conversation or scene description as it’s happening.  Then finally, if the tone calls for it, I will add music for that extra bit of cinematic depth.

I can spend several hours tweaking just one scene … but sometimes that's what it takes.

Naturally, all this technology comes with a price tag.  There are several annual subscriptions to the various many services (even beyond the AI voice change), that do add up.  So, if you are enjoying the show, please consider donating through the show's Patreon site.  IT IS SO HUMBLY APPRECIATED.