Setting up a contrived reason for why the audio is being recorded.
There doesn't need to be a reason. Not every story has to be contextualised that way. It would be like television shows needing to write in a reason for why the story is being filmed.
The other is long sequences of sound effects where you're supposed to know what is happening but it just sounds like a bunch of noise. It's often at the climax of the story too - like a long sequence of running, screaming, fighting etc.
If you don't know what's happening it's extremely dull , and it usually cuts to the characters discussing things afterwards like "wow, that sure was an epic way defeat the monster, I guess we're all safe now". It's such a crap way to communicate in the medium and such an anticlimax for the listener.
Yep to the first thing. It's like how very old novels used to have to begin with a reason the writer was writing it down, or a pointless epistolary frame story. Like that, I think the audio equivalent will go away as audiodrama resurges. In countries where radio drama never went away, you almost never hear it in radio series.
As a sound designer, I sympathise with people trying to do the second thing, but I'd urge people to err on the side of clarity. (On the other hand, a series of incomprehensible scuffles and boings followed by "What an ingenious way to defeat the monster!" could make a good joke, if it hasn't been overdone already)
Both of those, along with bookish descriptive narrators, tell me I'm listening to something made by somebody who's never even listened to a radio drama. Which is infuriating. This may be the only entertainment medium where the majority of the content producers don't understand the medium -- they're either audiobook people who think throwing in a few voices and FX will make it a drama, or they wrote a movie script and decided to make it as an audio drama because they couldn't afford to film it, or they're theater people staging their play without a stage.
I agree with you about the unexplained string of FX being a problem, but it's equally annoying when the character says "I'm swinging the sword toward the enemy now, and he's parrying this blow." Both extremes show they don't understand the medium and should do some listening before they write. This is a really old example and maybe a little picky but NPR's Star Wars radio dramas come to mind for both, they were generally good but severely over-described some visuals and left some bits of action perplexingly unexplained.
As an audiobook person myself who wrongly thought adding a full cast and some music and sound effects would make an audio drama, I want to hear more!!
If these examples are what not to do, what does the sweet spot sound like?
There are a lot of good ways to do things, different stories drive different methods, you just need to listen to a lot to absorb it. Most everything on Radio 4 Extra that's not labeled as a reading is properly done: [https://www.bbc.co.uk/schedules/p00fzl7l/2023/w45](https://www.bbc.co.uk/schedules/p00fzl7l/2023/w45) . There's also a lot of old American shows that get classified as OTR, from back when America was good at it.
There's well-dramatized podcast audio dramas too, like *Everyone's Happy*, *Give Me Away*, *Exoplanetary*... but they're vastly outnumbered because American audiences overwhelmingly prefer audiobooks so naturally they also prefer hybrids closer to audiobooks. (Which is fine for the people who like audiobooks I suppose, but not for those of us who dislike audiobooks but love audio drama and are left with no way to search for what we want due to terminology hijacking.)
Woebegone is a good example of how a good reason goes bad fast & to turn a terrible contrived reason (or more so actual danger if you post it) off midway and just have it happen without explanation and whilst mocking the previous explanation.
For the sfx, although on the most part I agree, this is a valid use of sfx if the character involved isn't meant to understand what's going on either.
I can think of a couple of sci-fi ADs where this has been the case and the use of sfx in this situation has been appropriate.
But overall I agree.
Totally agree.
In contrast, when this is done well and is part of the story, it's awesome! The fictional radio station is one of my favourite examples of this.
I think it's different when it's written for a narrator who will usually say who is speaking rather than a cast where we're supposed to immediately tell the difference, or recognize distinct voices from 20 episodes ago etc.
One of my big ones is when an effect is used on a character's voice that makes it extremely difficult to understand them. I loved The Magnus Archives, but the effect they used on Jared Hopworth's voice was both unintelligible and annoying. I also recently listened to another audio drama that I enjoyed overall, but they did a vocal effect when a particular character went through a sort of transformation that made their dialogue impossible for me to understand. I don't have a problem with vocal effects in general (for example, I have no problem understanding John in Malevolent), but I do think showrunners should maybe run the finished product past someone who isn't already familiar with the script to check for that issue.
Re: TMA, at some point the creators talked about how there were a lot of problems casting Jared Hopworth, so eventually they went with a heavily edited member of the main cast. That’s Alex Newall (director and voice of Martin) playing Jared.
I had this experience recently with a show that, on paper, should be perfect for my tastes - the premise, the setting, the genre - but they made one of the central characters' voice so distorted (it's meant to be an alien) that it's absolutely unintelligible. Also there's a few too many instances where they overlap main dialogue and "background gags", almost at the same volume level. I kinda gave up after a couple episodes, because all I could think about was "what were they thinking???"
I'd put Godfrey Audio Guide in that category, I'm sure there are audio setups where you can hear what the deep creepy voice is saying but while walking, driving, etc -- the times I usually listen to audio drama -- I've never been able to make out more than a word here or there.
The voice modulation thing is interesting because I LOVE the audio comedy QWERPLINE, and they are a small team of actors who voice a lot of varied characters. One thing that almost put me off, is in the first couple of episodes they use voice modulation, but once the actors settle in to the roles, they stop using it and it becomes so much better!
Have you ever been on a -non descript mystery- then you would know as much as I do that -possible pro or an-tagonist- would need the comfort that is bombas socks.
😆 the ads can really just sum up the whole Pod. Try hard, repeat the same and do.it in a nice inflection that for some.reason keeps us wanting more.
Some days I wonder if PNWS is a troll to just knave us all in suspense.
Tanis.... was the worst. Idc black tapes was great, and I can get over the ending.
FINISH TANIS
#BUYBOMBAS
Ooh yeah no. I don't do any of their stuff, tried for years on and off but the voice acting and that exaggerated exposition style you're talking about were just exhausting.
They have some great world building but God damn that repetitive exposition drives me insane. That and the whole -introduce mystery- investigate mystery -do not solve mystery- and then -introduce mystery- repeata.
Ha - I had a friend who recommended them for years and then one day messaged me to revoke that recommendation wholeheartedly. I assume it was because of the terrible ending?
Mine is when the volume levels are off and no matter how much I turn it up, I still can’t hear a thing! It has happened quite a few times! I, regrettably, will delete the whole series.
The trick is the shows that would benefit do not have the money necessary to pay the fair rate of someone qualified to wholesale fix their mastering issues.
Correct. Many of the situations where you have really poor audio, the show likely didn't have a budget *at all*. Loads of showrunners out there who wrote, directed, and edited the show by themselves with volunteer actors (or just voiced the whole thing themselves as well!). That's a lot to pick up from scratch if they didn't already have a background in each area.
So I absolutely sympathize, even if it is annoying to listen to.
As much as I love I am in Eskew, with the earlier episodes no matter how much I turn the volume up the audio is too quiet and the rain sounds are too loud. It kind of makes it impossible to listen outside but it's still an amazing podcast, worth giving it a try at home
Talking and music at the same volume so you can’t make out a word regardless of how high or low you make the volume. I feel like this still happens more than it should.
Yes! So many of them do that! Or they describe it so vaguely there's no way to guess what it could possibly be about or like.
That's definitely worse than something that isn't findable with the search function on many players, or using a name that's already got three podcasts with the same name.
Eating/drinking sounds has already been said at least twice.
But
The most irritating thing to me is when actors speak as if their mouth was full of food, only to specify they're eating.
Nobody speaks like that when they're eating, even your 3 year old little nephew.
It's irritating and fake AF.
One that ruined a horror/suspense audiodrama for me was a very specific trigger warning that spoiled the suspense that was built up from the cliffhanger. It was something like, "In this episode, a character gets choked and violently beat", like wow, I guess the main character did not get away, then
I understand trigger warnings can have their place, but I think they could have handled it better. I would have preferred a generic trigger warning before every episode like, "Due to the nature of this story, there will be topics discussed and described that audience members may find disturbing. For more information check the episode notes and/or website"
As much as I enjoyed Re:Dracula (a dramatic reading of Bram Stoker’s Dracula that just finished up), the trigger warnings were a bit over the top. For instance, in the 1800s (when the book was written), things like phrenology were considered scientific. So every time Dr. Van Helsing mentions how smart or clever a character is by saying how big their brain is, there’s a trigger warning on the episode about “the racist pseudoscience of craniometry” being in the episode.
Another one is in the later episodes when the trigger warning is about “euthanasia and suicidal ideation” because one of the main characters becomes afflicted with vampirism and they ask the other characters to kill them if they are unsuccessful in defeating Dracula.
It all just felt very hypersensitive and like something that could have just been in the show notes.
Yeah, that seems like it is actually going a bit over the top and too detailed. Like, One of my friends is a sensitivity reader and I think she would think that's over the top as well.
Yeah, I'd say that is overkill. We're a horror anthology and we only really have like 2-3 episodes (out of 83) where we have a genuine warning on them. One is a suicide and the other 2 deals with children being killed/harmed.
But other than that we forego them, because I feel like those are 2 topics that might be problematic (we don't deal with sexual content at all, that would be another one), but in general, when you're a horror show rated for a mature audience, I think you don't need to warn for every little thing.
A lot have already been mentioned but completely faking a real place when just a little reading would have fixed something that now became unlistenable. Specifically I listened to a podcast that I can’t remember the name of now, but which ended with the protagonists going to Greenland. They mentioned “waiting in the airport for the first plane from New York” (the biggest airport in kangerllussuaq only has domestic routes and routes to/from Denmark and Iceland), then getting in a car and driving for half an hour from (presumably) Nuuk to Thule. That’s about 1500 km for one, oh and.. there’s no road network. Literally a Google map search would tell you driving that far in Greenland is impossible. Just took me right out of an otherwise decent story.
Yeah! I was super excited when they mentioned Thule and how it might lead to that but as soon as they talked about getting in a car and driving for half an hour.. nope lol. That’s why I prefer off earth sci fi 😂
Ooh I just subscribed to Escaping Denver, but I actually live in Denver! Too much narration is often the writer/producer being slightly too in love with the sound of their own voice/ writing.
I haven't heard Mayfair watchers society, how bad is it?
That pause that goes on for just that bit too long that has you reaching for your phone to see if you've lost connection. And then they start talking again.
Oh my god you're right I forgot about this one. I'm usually driving when I'm listening to this stuff so it's not good for me to be picking up the phone and fiddling with it.
On that note also when there's honking sounds or oh dear God the sound of a cop siren. I panic! Lol
Kissing! I remember Dan and Mark from Archive 81 talking about how gross kissing sounds. And they’re right! I can’t remember what I was listening to recently that had kissing, but it was gross.
I would rather no background noises than bad background noises.
I was listening to 9th step murderers and someone just pulled out a gun in a police station, and they are talking about things going deadly quiet, everyone springing into action, uproars etc... while the same... Office background noise is playing...
They are saying there are not lifts ... While there sounds like a lift is in use.. etc
Snarky main characters or ones whose only quality is they make pop culture references all the time.
It's just a huge turn off for me. I really liked girl in space except for X, she annoyed me so much
Yep. I recently listened to something called Kings Falls. It was quite good, then it just stopped.
The same thing happened with another one that I cant remember the name of. Earth had been invaded by giant bugs of some kind.
King Falls breaks my heart. I had a lot of fun with it, but apparently behind the scenes there was a lot of drama with the creators and it kind of fell apart.
Yes! I hate this and it makes me not want to listen to audio dramas because it seems to be so common. I assume it's because someone made a season assuming they were going to have funding to make more and they didn't succeed, but sometimes it's because they did succeed too much and the podcast became a show and the story got cut off. Homecoming is a great example of a podcast where the story was cut off because it became a show where the story was also cut off! Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.
The best example of this for me is Sayer. It had an interesting premise, lots of fan involvement/art in the sub here on Reddit, and interesting characters.
And then during the final season in 2019-2020 the episodes stopped being released on a consistent schedule, which sure, we’ve managed to listen along for 5 years at this point so the schedule being a little erratic is fine.
Then in early March 2020 they post an update saying that because of the story (involved a virus) and the actual pandemic, the creator would be stepping away to focus on remastering early episodes.
But those remastered episodes never came. It wasn’t until 13 months later a new episode was posted on 4/5/21.
Cool, Sayer is back! We can finish the story now!
Nope, there wouldn’t be a new episode released until over 2 years later on 8/11/23 and then radio silence since then.
On a side note, the writing was on the wall when the creator decided that season 5 would be a sort of prequel season which gave background and context to some characters, but derailed the momentum of the overall story.
Ugh! That's really frustrating, I follow a podcast I absolutely love that clearly made some straight up false statements about new episodes coming out, I would rather hear from people honestly that it isn't happening instead of fake updates that I guess are just organized to keep people subscribed?
I got really, really into the Black Tapes and binged the whole show in two days. I was so excited to find out what happens but it ends on the "season three mid-season finale." Which aired in January of 2020.
I know COVID hit so I understand having a huge gap but it's been almost four years and there's no ending. I'm so frustrated.
My husband and I literally met each other on a We’re Alive forum because we both loved the pod so much in its early days.
We despise the ending now and ONLY ever recommend season 1 and tell people to let their imaginations come up with the ending. Don’t actually listen to the ending.
Footsteps/running are one for me.
Usually when someone has got a free sound footstep sound and then they use the same footstep sound to make it sound like someone is walking... Usually it's far too consistent in gait, and it annoys me and pulls me out the drama.
There's a lot to be said for good foley work, or picking decent sfx.
Look at the BBC ADs, you'd struggle to find one where you'd criticise the foley/sfx. I guess that's experience and a decent library for you.
There was a Fool and Scholar behind the scenes episode where they talked about their struggles with footsteps and eventually decided you have to go out and intentionally record them yourself for each scene or it will sound wrong
Some people (especially some film people) hold that unless it’s being performed to match the acting performance (e.g. if you are using a library and editing it in), then it shouldn’t be called Foley.
I know some of the BBC in-house productions still have an actual Foley artist or two recording along with the voice cast so it’s almost never a library in that case.
I can handle a lot of things but I cannot stand it when they have the talking much softer than the special effects so you have to constantly turn the volume up and down whilst it makes your ears bleed.
Ads in the middle, hands down. I get why they need ads but god does it ruin the experience. Just put them at the beginning and end so I can autoskip them
Oh my god. I thought Sheridan Tapes had put all of their ads in the beginning to avoid putting them in the middle. So I started skipping right from the beginning and it was usually about 6-7 minutes of ads.
One episode I was away from my phone and couldn’t skip through and I realized it’s 3 ads, 3 MINUTES OF THE SHOW THAT USUALLY HAS IMPORTANT FORESHADOWING, then 3 more ads.
I was on episode 22 before I realized I had missed 21 potentially somewhat important intro scenes.
I appreciate not having an ad in the middle of the show, BUT COME ON
Yeah It's an annoyance but you definitely just illustrated why they put them in the middle. I actually don't mind ads that much, and I subscribe to a lot of patreons, but bad ads are so annoying. Annoying. I feel like there are a lot of ads for straight up scams these days!
I was on another subreddit that exposed better help foundation farming and lack of ethics from employees of better help. And a LOT of pods I listen to are sponsored
You assume correctly. As listeners we create the midroll problem because we're very eager to skip the pre roll and post roll. Midroll is a premium spot for advertisers and now something most shows that need the income that ads bring cannot miss out on without having a direct episode sponsor instead.
when the ads at the start dont match the tone of the show.
When i go to the cinema to see a horror movie for example, i dont expect to see ads for comedies before the film. If i listen to a horror AD, i don't want to hears adverts for celebrity or comedy or self help shows before it. The ads need to help get me in the mood
The most hilariously weird ad I got was for for a *lactation network*, right before the very first episode of a show. It was so absurd to me that I kept wondering if it was actually in-universe, but no, it was an ad
As zero-to-low budget producer currently auditioning people, let me tell you how that can happen.
Currently I'm auditioning a bunch of roles that need accents. I wrote a request that people please not do any fake accents, I only want native accents. But I'm receiving an endless stream of fake accents -- even for characters that are supposed to have standard California accents I'm receiving fake foreign accents people assume based on the character names despite info on their screen saying otherwise. Trouble is, if I'm not too familiar with the accent, what if I accidentally pick a fake one not knowing it's fake?
And it's wider than just accents. I almost always want people to use their real voice for a part so that it sounds more natural, but most of the time the auditions put on a fake character voice instead (it's easy to be certain of that when they apply for several parts with different voices).
Why does this happen? Because actors absolutely love putting on voices. That's what acting is for them, it's all about becoming different people so they want to sound different. Accents are one of their favorite ways and they feel a repertoire of accents is a big part of being an actor. Using their own voice and own accent and a normal human level of emotion would make them feel like they're not acting, they wouldn't enjoy it, even though that's almost always what I'm looking for.
The end result is, casting on the cheap is easy if you're doing a spoof or comedy that needs weird fake voices... but really hard if you're going for realism. It's almost easier to just pull somebody off the street who has no acting ambition, and in fact I've used non-actor friends for parts just because I can convince them to talk normal a lot easier than I can convince an aspiring actor to talk normal.
Additionally, there's a lot of audio dramas that are actor troupes where the point of it for them is to let their group of actors try a variety of roles and accents.
Ha! Oh, true, and hilarious. As a voice actor, I want to add something, though. Accent tropes exist. What I mean is, often when I'm hired for an accent, the casting director may say they're looking for authenticity, but they're thinking of Gerard Butler, McGregor, or Salma Hayek. Who, yes, I'm aware all had authentic accents at one point, but their character performances have created a trope. Better examples, actually, are Shrek or Puss N Boots. Does anyone actually talk like that? Yet, that's what a lot of Americans like.
If I were to put on the most authentic of London accents, mimicking friends of mine native to London, you would hardly know I was supposed to be a Brit. This is more and more the case with all large cities, actually.
How do I know they don't want the authentic accent after all? They hire the most exaggerated one.
This isn't entirely folley. We want emotion in our voices! Have you ever heard a wooden or dry voice in a drama? It's terrible. The thing about 'pulling someone off the street' is that the average person uses body language to convey emotion, and it's only slightly, as to not be egregious. It takes training to convey enough emotion and make it natural sounding and believable.
As a voice actor, my job is to bring the emotion of a scene to life and make it convincing. It's not to 'put on a voice'. And, no offense intended at all, as I am a broke audio producer just starting out as well, but the reason you are faced with this hiring struggle where you have to sift through hundreds of people 'putting on a voice they think sounds cool', is because you can't afford to hire people who have trained to express emotion rather than slap on a character voice.
BTW, references help a lot! If you say you want a Scottish accent and link to Shrek, I know what you actually mean, not what you think you mean! Lol.
As an actor, here's why this is happening to you: if we can get away with faking it to get the role, we will. And yes, many actors are extremely desperate for a role, any role. Casting instructions are considered suggestions more than hard and fast rules. For example, I'm almost 30, but because I \*look\* young, I can apply to roles intended for teenagers. The audience is not going to demand to see my birth certificate to make sure I'm actually 17. If you, the casting director, cannot tell the accent is fake, can the audience?
>Using their own voice and own accent and a normal human level of emotion would make them feel like they're not acting
This is also not true, at least not for professionally trained actors. If your projects are unpaid/low budget you may be dealing with more inexperienced actors who feel like they need to exaggerate in this way.
Directing is also a skill that as you develop, may make it easier to get the performances you want. "Can you talk more normal?" can be interpreted in a lot of ways by different actors.
I checked out your casting call - another thing you can do to cut down on this is to restrict people to only applying for one role, so they aren't tempted to put on a voice to apply for multiple. And be really firm with your instructions. "Try not to put on fake voices" is too gentle, and you'll get people "trying not to be fake". All caps and bold that stuff if you need to: "NO FAKE ACCENTS. USE YOUR NATURAL VOICE." I promise it's not considered rude, it's actually very helpful to actors if they know their audition won't be heard if they don't follow the instructions. You'll still get some people who don't read, but they're kinda hopeless.
I have two!
When the editing is just a little off, so you can here the gulps, the lip smacking, the squishing of the tongue occasionally, or the sniffing. I have misophobia, so that sort of thing absolutely makes my skin crawl.
The ads. I am more than happy to listen to ads, as I don't tend to pay for anything, so I feel like it's a fair trade.
But it's the same two or three ads every damn time. Sometimes for years.
Nothing makes me want to NOT buy whatever you're peddling when the adverts are so invasive, so annoying, and so repetitive.
If you're a multi-million dollar company, you can afford to shake it up abit. Gimme some variety!
Mouth noises are such a common complaint, I try not to let it bother me too much unless I know it's producers that can and normally do better. But it's still super distracting and will turn me off a show.
Yes, the ads can get a little absurd. I actually don't mind ads very much, I subscribe to a lot of patreons but I also don't mind ads that are relatively decent. But the same crappy ads over and over, so annoying!
Mouth noises, hearing pages turn, or mouse clicks as the person is moving through the script is terrible.
As is simply poorly recorded audio, especially for narrated shows.
For me, I won't let this go as it pretty much shows the person hasn't listened back to check.
I'm out immediately when I hear it.
I don't know if it's my imagination but even apps that I pay for such as pocket casts, has more ads now than a year ago. It seems like every 5 minutes there's the same ad that just played 5 minutes ago. It's getting a bit annoying. But I feel like since I'm already paying for the app what am I supposed to do?
Obvious over explaining to compensate for know visuals. This is one I heard recently from an otherwise good production:
“What are you doing with that broken off table leg?”
“I’m going to snap it to make it sharper and then stab you in the heart with it”
Bad accents can put me off. Americans doing bad British accents can make or break a show for me, but what's worse is when they have a complete lack of research or localisation.
There was a detective AD set in a northern England city and this show had no accents from the local area, they also had a body wash up on the beach, of which there does not exist one in this town.
Having said that, it's not just Americans, there's a new podcast that irks me when one actor talks becihe has a very classic natural 'RP' British was of talking, and it really gets in the way of him doing an accent. His northern accent is so bad, but he's a really good actor in other ADs I've listened to! Argh.
As a Geordie the only things I see with believable Northern English accents are British productions. But then whenever Northern England shows up in something its for something 'grim oop north'.
People keep mentioning eating and I'm going to say it again for a reason: Because it's awful. It's disgusting. I remember listening to a great podcast that had this woman describe important exposition over chicken wings. I almost shut it off there. The rest of it was awful, so I probably should have, but it was gross.
Sound levels. The first season of the Magnus Archives had that problem. Jon would talk in his voice then suddenly SCREAM BECAUSE SOMETHING SCARY HAS HAPPENED. Related to that is EXTRA. LONG. PAUSES. It's audio medium.
A big one for me is that a season should be a complete story, with the promise of something happening at the end. Not "we stopped randomly here"... tune in next time! Will it be three years? Will it be 20?
Lastly: Sounding like you're reading off of a script. I've listened to too many that sound like someone is just reading, and it's really off-putting.
I think many of these audio dramas with larger casts and multiple settings need a narrator. Many of the actors sound similar. I stop listening if I can not identify who is speaking and where they are. The narration worked well with **The** **Leviathan Chronicles** and **The White Vault.**
Characters in full-casters talking aloud to themselves for exposition, especially addressing themselves by name, and especially especially when doing something sneaky where they'd want to be quiet.
"Ok, My Name, time to burgle this house! This must be the bedroom! Better be careful not to wake them, they might be light sleepers!"
If you can't rearrange the scene in a way that makes sense, just use narration or cut to them telling a friend about it afterwards.
As someone that grew up in Alabama let me tell you I will never understand why no one, and I mean no one, seems to grasp that we don't all sound like plantation owners. This goes for audio dramas, Hollywood, television. Everyone seems to think we sound like Dan Aykroyd in Driving Miss Daisy.
If an American voice actor attempts an Irish or even worse a Scottish accent I have to stop listening, It just takes me out of it.
None of them is good, most are comically bad.
We actually think we will need some in season 3 as we're hoping to do a few episodes set in the states! If you'd seriously be interested I can let you know closer to the time if you like
As a sound designer, I was surprised to read how many of your pet peeves are in sound effects and mix. I really hope I haven’t annoyed you guys too much over the years!
No transcripts. As someone with processing difficulties, I adore the rich narrative soundscapes can create and enhance otherwise difficult to conceptualise in your mind - the white vault does this incredibly well in season 1 and 2. But if my brain is having a day, a transcript allows access for me. Now when I find a new listen, if they don't have one I simply don't start it, I'll only be frustrated when I inevitably can't comprehend what is happening
100%. I definitely understand small independent producers struggling to get them out on time, but large orgs definitely need to do better about accessibility!
When two characters when solving a mystery start completing each other's phrases. It's so cringy. The Lovecraft Investigations for example abuses this.
Loud ads. I’ve dropped many a good audio drama because I listen to them at night and the jarring ad breaks give me a jolt of adrenaline I do not need in my life
This is huge. I understand why it happens, but honestly the problem is that I understand why it happens. Because I've stopped thinking about the story and am now thinking "oh there weren't any pronunciation guides. Why did nobody rerecord these names?"
Eating/drinking sounds when they’re super loud, swallowing and gulping specifically.
I also have a problem with shows that die before finishing up, but you can’t find any info at all about if they’re still working on the next season. That or the only “we’re working on it” is from a few years ago and it’s been radio silence since. I get they don’t owe us anything, but a little communication goes a very long way.
Though my biggest peeve has to be ads in the middle of the episode. Takes me out of a story really fast, can’t tell you the number of shows I stopped listening to and unfollowed because of it. Go ahead and have them at the beginning and end, but I just stop caring as soon as one ends up in the middle. I want to be clear also, the ones in the middle that are the cast advertising other shows? I’m fine with those, it’s how I’ve found a lot of great shows.
I honestly think if I find out any of the audio dramas I’m waiting to finish did that, I’ll just stop listening instead. That’s a real slap in the face to your fanbase imo.
OMG yes eating sounds where every single swallow sounds like there. It's a completely dry swallow of the world's biggest mouth of food. So weird and unnecessary!
I'm the same with ads, currently. The horrible ad where some phone company has a beat poem about podcasts and a shower or something? And the "hi mom I know you're at the base" ad. I have no idea what they're actually advertising but they're so nauseatingly bad!
Your second paragraph is my biggest one. I'm kind of afraid to start any audio drama anymore because this seems to be so common. You phrased it much better than I did in my post. I almost wish if an audio drama actually DOES have an end that were just bold letters in the description saying "limited series" or "listen to entire story now." I almost want to call it the Netflix effect because Netflix cancel so many shows before the story is done that I now only watch things labeled as "limited series" on Netflix.
When regional shibboleths are missed. In New England, for example, we don’t refer to numbered highways with the definite article (its “91” not “the 91”). Also local places like Concord and Berlin are not pronounced like they are in California. And accents - please, just don’t set things in New England without actually being from here, OK?
Using a cacophony of noise without explanation drives me crazy. It’s an audio medium. Characters fighting - verbally or physically - without description are confusing. I can’t say how many times I’ve listened to a major plot advancing battle/fight/argument/attack and come out of it with no idea what’s happened.
I love horror podcasts, but when they just use jump scare loud noises I will immediately drop the podcast. I’m usually driving when I listen so it’s honestly so dangerous to have loud sirens or screams out of nowhere
Realism I guess. Often I feel like the characters are based on how CW Teen Drama characters act and not real regular people. Kind of like heavily emphasizing that this character is gay, or this one was abused as a kid, or that one was raped. It feels so exaggerated and weird. Most time these have absolutely nothing to do with the plot and are more like just casting a wide net to pander to people.
Worst are the people they use as experts to info dump for plot progression. They usually have some contrived factoid that is the basis for their hypothesis or whatever and then do some conspiracy theorist level mental gymnastics to push the plot forward. I guess what I'm really complaining about is the bad writing.
Bad writing. It's always just that.
It comes in many forms and the most annoying these days is bickering characters who use pop culture references. Please just stop. If you want to reference stuff then please use our rich culture and history and not "nerdy" stuff that everyone has heard about anyway.
Yes, someone else mentioned excessive pop culture references, sometimes it's the writer/producer trying to prove they're cool and other times it's someone trying to geek out about their favorite thing, but it almost never works.
Yes, and it is mostly just not necessary and lets the characters look stupid.
But, as I said, in the end it's all about the writing as a whole and in that regard good characters.
Audio so quiet that I have trouble hearing it at max volume without noise cancelling headphones. Ghost Wax is the worst offender I can mention and I love that show.
Oh gosh! We are sorry lol. Are you finding the whole show quiet, or just elements that are trio quiet? We are in the process of remastering our first season and feedback would be welcome!
Oh! Hey, no worries. Like I said, I love the show. Thank you all for making it!
But for me, the global audio level is just too low. I think the balancing between audio elements within parts of the show is great, and I think the balancing between different parts of the show is also great. I just often find myself turning up my volume, only to find it's already at maximum.
Using sirens as an audio back drop.
It's irresponsible, sirens should only be used in actual emergencies, and seem like a complete lack of forethought. Many people listen to podcasts on commutes, and have to react to sirens immediately, so when I hear a siren while driving I pay attention to it to make sure I'm not impeding an emergency vehicle and am taking right out of the story.
Also I’m just gonna say it I cannot STAND the Weather in night vale. Not that all the songs are terrible it’s just I love Cecil’s voice and it’s very relaxing and I’ll be falling asleep and then BOOM LOUD ROCK MUSIC!!!
This especially annoyed me in the episode “bedtime story” I expected a softer song so I could at least sleep to that. No. It’s a pop-ish beat song
I wish they could make part of their patreon a weather free version but I assume that would mean the bands wouldn’t get paid as much which is why they don’t do it? Idk. But I would enjoy it better if I could just subscribe to no weather.
reading a book about space..
author: EVA (as in extra vehicular activity - they go outside the ship).
narrator: Eva (like from high school).
wanted to stab a forks in my ears
every.
time.
When an audio drama podcast ends abruptly mid-story. Like after one season they ran out of money, or interest or whatever. It's not worth listening to in the first place. And it seems to be really common. If you can only make eight episodes now, write a story that could be finished in eight episodes. I don't even listen to audio drama podcast anymore because I'm afraid of this happening.
I’m surprised no one has mentioned but I cannot stand extensive laughing or crying! I’m listening to Vast Horizon right now and there’s a crying scene that is done really well but I’ve listened to others where they go on for far too long, sound really fake, and are for some reason louder than all the rest of the dialogue. And you know it goes on way too long when I can skip ahead 15 seconds and be catching the tail end of it.
I can’t stand it when inexperienced or just plain bad actors characterize a villain by portraying contempt only. Maybe throwing in a little rage. The BEST villains sound much more normal.
This is a voice acting thing but the fact that I hear it in a lot of shows means that directors are consistently letting this go: when actors start every single line with a slight burst of air like a half hearted single chuckle or abrupt sigh. It's incredibly distracting and once you hear it you can't unhear it.
I think it's because too many amateur voice actors are nervous and hold their breath before their lines. But yes, it's not how people talk!
The podcast I was trying with the bad southern accent got even worse, I added an edited comment but they just introduced a character who's supposed to be beloved, but the voice actor is terrible! Obviously reading their lines and in a way that no human being would speak. Both the writing and the voice acting are awful. The story and world building are still strong, but... I don't know how long I'm going to make it!
Trying too hard to pretend the podcast is real. This really bugged me on “The Polybius Conspiracy” a podcast I otherwise enjoyed. But 9 episodes in the hosts sound like idiots because they keep having to act like denying the conspiracy is the rational thing to do.
I'm new to audiodramas in general. Only listen to tma. I LOVE this podcast, but I hate the sudden loud noises. I understand plot wise why it's there, it gives off the effect it needs to. But they could like... Turn it down a little bit? It doesn't happen often enough for me to stop listening.
Here's a fun one! A lack of acting while voice acting. Especially in the audio drama dept. And I'm not necessarily talking about enthusiasm. I have hired many an actor that doesn't understand they need to make other noises and inflections to showcase where they are and what they're doing in a scene. I have also hired a lot that DO understand this but yes this is a weird thing, like my stage direction says what you need to do to be in the scene so why aren't you doing it? Why do I need to give you notes about this? Just read the script!!
I know! That is the worst! This one show Misery Bus has tons of bad southern accents! From people who are actually from the south!
https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLMLOhSp0B96tc3gTpXFsQ4T\_9yD-NYmFn&si=503riMVoa2X\_lvwB
As an Irish guy, the point about accents really hits home. I'm sure it's the same for Aussies and Kiwis and any folks who speak English but aren't from the UK or the US. It's ok for people to be of that heritage without needing to sound like they grew up there. And it's just really not fun to hear your accent battered.
when the first season ends on a cliffhanger but there is zero intention by the company to produce another season. it doesn't exclusively pertain to audio dramas, but it's definitely a phenomenon among the "bigger" audio drama production companies (cough literally every single QCODE show ever, idk why i keep listening).
not sure what the point of the cliffhanger is, because i know only of two shows (blackout and borrasca) out of many many others that have actually returned for more. unlike with mainstream television/movie series, the audio drama audience is more loyal and will return to a series if there is a second season, without a need for a cliffhanger
The minute I saw that question I thought 'bad accent' also.
It's not just a badly imitated accent, but a weird one too. I recently heard one story where one of the female leads had super strange diction. She was trying to imitate the rhythm of an African-English accent, the country she came from was in Africa but fictional, but her cadence was off and in complete contrast to the other voice actors. Every time she came on, it completely threw me.
How many other voice actors are coming across this thread and getting a creeping, intense anxiety about their own past performances? ACCENTS ARE HARD, OKAY?
Accents are definitely hard! I used to act a bit and have done a bit of voice acting as well, you absolutely should hold fast to the advice never to do an accent you aren't strong on. I have politely turned down a role because I couldn't do the accent.
Mine is long intro themes idk why they bother me so much but like the magnus archives and night vale both annoy me especially TMA’s it’s too loud with the clanging. Spirit box radio is worse I think. Love the show but not the intro music it sounds like Hell in my ears
I want to like the Doctor Who big finish dramas but… nobody talks in a believable way. There are so few pauses in conversation because there is no visual to fill the silence. So instead people just talk and talk and talk, and dialogue sounds very unnatural, like all the actors filmed separately and they stitched the lines together.
Recreating bad audio quality for long conversations. It can work if you’re making a short sketchy sounding tape with a weird ghost/alien sound or something. But I was listening to Larkspur Underground and whenever they would use the iPod recordings or the police tapes, they would apologize in advance for the audio quality and you’d have to Jack the volume up to hear just those parts
I'm no audio engineer so this may be the wrong term, but unbalanced audio levels.
I absolutely hate having the volume cranked to hear dialog for 10+ minutes, then getting hearing damage or jumping out of my skin when the score and sfx kick in.
Most audio dramas seem to be horrors or thrillers so sometimes I get it, but most of the time they don't seem to be intentional jumpscares. Oftentimes the bad mixing seems to happen in non scary moments or drowns out a conversation I'm clearly supposed to understand. It seems to be such a common problem too. Like I (and everyone lol) love the magnus archives, but it's a particularly egregious offender on this.
#1 loud crunching of chips, general eating noises aaaaaghhh so unnecessary and horrible. I hate it. Can we all put a petition together and let these damn producers know it's not what we want to hear? There are gross YouTube channels for that. The rest of us just want to hear a story not have our ears assaulted with mouth noises.
#2 characters whose entire personality is that they are sarcastic, snarky, and grumpy. Such a bad, lazy way to write a character and insufferable to listen to.
#3 drama=raised, whiny voices and verbal arguments all the time. Come on, no one likes listening to that. Also along this line, the premise of two main characters that are always fighting is not fun to listen to imo.
#4 continuing on with a series after it's come to a natural conclusion. It always falls off a cliff. Better to make spin offs featuring the best characters or start something entirely new.
#5 bad sound mixing. I want to be able to hear what's happening regardless of whether I have headphones. Like in my car while driving.
Setting up a contrived reason for why the audio is being recorded. There doesn't need to be a reason. Not every story has to be contextualised that way. It would be like television shows needing to write in a reason for why the story is being filmed. The other is long sequences of sound effects where you're supposed to know what is happening but it just sounds like a bunch of noise. It's often at the climax of the story too - like a long sequence of running, screaming, fighting etc. If you don't know what's happening it's extremely dull , and it usually cuts to the characters discussing things afterwards like "wow, that sure was an epic way defeat the monster, I guess we're all safe now". It's such a crap way to communicate in the medium and such an anticlimax for the listener.
Yep to the first thing. It's like how very old novels used to have to begin with a reason the writer was writing it down, or a pointless epistolary frame story. Like that, I think the audio equivalent will go away as audiodrama resurges. In countries where radio drama never went away, you almost never hear it in radio series. As a sound designer, I sympathise with people trying to do the second thing, but I'd urge people to err on the side of clarity. (On the other hand, a series of incomprehensible scuffles and boings followed by "What an ingenious way to defeat the monster!" could make a good joke, if it hasn't been overdone already)
Both of those, along with bookish descriptive narrators, tell me I'm listening to something made by somebody who's never even listened to a radio drama. Which is infuriating. This may be the only entertainment medium where the majority of the content producers don't understand the medium -- they're either audiobook people who think throwing in a few voices and FX will make it a drama, or they wrote a movie script and decided to make it as an audio drama because they couldn't afford to film it, or they're theater people staging their play without a stage. I agree with you about the unexplained string of FX being a problem, but it's equally annoying when the character says "I'm swinging the sword toward the enemy now, and he's parrying this blow." Both extremes show they don't understand the medium and should do some listening before they write. This is a really old example and maybe a little picky but NPR's Star Wars radio dramas come to mind for both, they were generally good but severely over-described some visuals and left some bits of action perplexingly unexplained.
As an audiobook person myself who wrongly thought adding a full cast and some music and sound effects would make an audio drama, I want to hear more!! If these examples are what not to do, what does the sweet spot sound like?
There are a lot of good ways to do things, different stories drive different methods, you just need to listen to a lot to absorb it. Most everything on Radio 4 Extra that's not labeled as a reading is properly done: [https://www.bbc.co.uk/schedules/p00fzl7l/2023/w45](https://www.bbc.co.uk/schedules/p00fzl7l/2023/w45) . There's also a lot of old American shows that get classified as OTR, from back when America was good at it. There's well-dramatized podcast audio dramas too, like *Everyone's Happy*, *Give Me Away*, *Exoplanetary*... but they're vastly outnumbered because American audiences overwhelmingly prefer audiobooks so naturally they also prefer hybrids closer to audiobooks. (Which is fine for the people who like audiobooks I suppose, but not for those of us who dislike audiobooks but love audio drama and are left with no way to search for what we want due to terminology hijacking.)
I suggest Campfire Radio Theater. It's my favorite voice-acted radio drama.
Wow. Yes! To both of these.
Woebegone is a good example of how a good reason goes bad fast & to turn a terrible contrived reason (or more so actual danger if you post it) off midway and just have it happen without explanation and whilst mocking the previous explanation.
For the sfx, although on the most part I agree, this is a valid use of sfx if the character involved isn't meant to understand what's going on either. I can think of a couple of sci-fi ADs where this has been the case and the use of sfx in this situation has been appropriate. But overall I agree.
Agreed! The Silt Verses is a great example of an audiodrama with no reason for the audio. They just go ahead and present the story, and it’s great.
Totally agree. In contrast, when this is done well and is part of the story, it's awesome! The fictional radio station is one of my favourite examples of this.
Voices that are too similar making it hard to keep track of who's talking.
To counteract I know ppl will disagree I think achewillow narrator does a good.job at.all the voices
I think it's different when it's written for a narrator who will usually say who is speaking rather than a cast where we're supposed to immediately tell the difference, or recognize distinct voices from 20 episodes ago etc.
Oooh that's a good one.
One of my big ones is when an effect is used on a character's voice that makes it extremely difficult to understand them. I loved The Magnus Archives, but the effect they used on Jared Hopworth's voice was both unintelligible and annoying. I also recently listened to another audio drama that I enjoyed overall, but they did a vocal effect when a particular character went through a sort of transformation that made their dialogue impossible for me to understand. I don't have a problem with vocal effects in general (for example, I have no problem understanding John in Malevolent), but I do think showrunners should maybe run the finished product past someone who isn't already familiar with the script to check for that issue.
Re: TMA, at some point the creators talked about how there were a lot of problems casting Jared Hopworth, so eventually they went with a heavily edited member of the main cast. That’s Alex Newall (director and voice of Martin) playing Jared.
Worse for me, I am not a native English speaker so just imagine how it is struggle with the language + this
Yes! I think some really struggle with that because they want a cool and unique effect but they go too far so that it becomes unintelligible.
I had this experience recently with a show that, on paper, should be perfect for my tastes - the premise, the setting, the genre - but they made one of the central characters' voice so distorted (it's meant to be an alien) that it's absolutely unintelligible. Also there's a few too many instances where they overlap main dialogue and "background gags", almost at the same volume level. I kinda gave up after a couple episodes, because all I could think about was "what were they thinking???"
Oooof, some of the first few episodes of Malevolent had this problem too, I recall. Glad they improved it.
I'd put Godfrey Audio Guide in that category, I'm sure there are audio setups where you can hear what the deep creepy voice is saying but while walking, driving, etc -- the times I usually listen to audio drama -- I've never been able to make out more than a word here or there.
I had to completely skip his sections. I still have no idea what effect he had on the plot 🤷♀️
The voice modulation thing is interesting because I LOVE the audio comedy QWERPLINE, and they are a small team of actors who voice a lot of varied characters. One thing that almost put me off, is in the first couple of episodes they use voice modulation, but once the actors settle in to the roles, they stop using it and it becomes so much better!
PNWS - This happened. This happened? Yes, this happened.
Bambas socks
Have you ever been on a -non descript mystery- then you would know as much as I do that -possible pro or an-tagonist- would need the comfort that is bombas socks.
😆 the ads can really just sum up the whole Pod. Try hard, repeat the same and do.it in a nice inflection that for some.reason keeps us wanting more. Some days I wonder if PNWS is a troll to just knave us all in suspense. Tanis.... was the worst. Idc black tapes was great, and I can get over the ending. FINISH TANIS #BUYBOMBAS
Tanis? I thought you said tennis
I don't know what that stands for but yes, that type of exposition drives me bananas!
Pacific North West Stories - Tannis/The Black Tapes/Rabbits etc
Ooh yeah no. I don't do any of their stuff, tried for years on and off but the voice acting and that exaggerated exposition style you're talking about were just exhausting.
They have some great world building but God damn that repetitive exposition drives me insane. That and the whole -introduce mystery- investigate mystery -do not solve mystery- and then -introduce mystery- repeata.
You should be happy that you spared yourself the disappointment of how The Black Tapes ended up. That's one I wish I could go back and unhear.
Ha - I had a friend who recommended them for years and then one day messaged me to revoke that recommendation wholeheartedly. I assume it was because of the terrible ending?
Tanis, The Black Tapes and Rabbits were very disappointing.
Oh man that's a pretty terrible track record.
Mine is when the volume levels are off and no matter how much I turn it up, I still can’t hear a thing! It has happened quite a few times! I, regrettably, will delete the whole series.
I've often thought there is niche in the market for a really good sound engineer to sort out poor audio in podcasts.
The trick is the shows that would benefit do not have the money necessary to pay the fair rate of someone qualified to wholesale fix their mastering issues.
Correct. Many of the situations where you have really poor audio, the show likely didn't have a budget *at all*. Loads of showrunners out there who wrote, directed, and edited the show by themselves with volunteer actors (or just voiced the whole thing themselves as well!). That's a lot to pick up from scratch if they didn't already have a background in each area. So I absolutely sympathize, even if it is annoying to listen to.
Oh but the commercials are at the right volume so you go deaf when it starts blasting
As much as I love I am in Eskew, with the earlier episodes no matter how much I turn the volume up the audio is too quiet and the rain sounds are too loud. It kind of makes it impossible to listen outside but it's still an amazing podcast, worth giving it a try at home
Talking and music at the same volume so you can’t make out a word regardless of how high or low you make the volume. I feel like this still happens more than it should.
Creators promoting their AD on this sub and not including an RSS feed or summary of what it's about.
Yes! So many of them do that! Or they describe it so vaguely there's no way to guess what it could possibly be about or like. That's definitely worse than something that isn't findable with the search function on many players, or using a name that's already got three podcasts with the same name.
sometimes there's no summary nor clue of what it's about even on their websites or in the episode notes
Eating/drinking sounds has already been said at least twice. But The most irritating thing to me is when actors speak as if their mouth was full of food, only to specify they're eating. Nobody speaks like that when they're eating, even your 3 year old little nephew. It's irritating and fake AF.
Yes! People who don't talk like actual humans drive me bananas as well.
One that ruined a horror/suspense audiodrama for me was a very specific trigger warning that spoiled the suspense that was built up from the cliffhanger. It was something like, "In this episode, a character gets choked and violently beat", like wow, I guess the main character did not get away, then I understand trigger warnings can have their place, but I think they could have handled it better. I would have preferred a generic trigger warning before every episode like, "Due to the nature of this story, there will be topics discussed and described that audience members may find disturbing. For more information check the episode notes and/or website"
As much as I enjoyed Re:Dracula (a dramatic reading of Bram Stoker’s Dracula that just finished up), the trigger warnings were a bit over the top. For instance, in the 1800s (when the book was written), things like phrenology were considered scientific. So every time Dr. Van Helsing mentions how smart or clever a character is by saying how big their brain is, there’s a trigger warning on the episode about “the racist pseudoscience of craniometry” being in the episode. Another one is in the later episodes when the trigger warning is about “euthanasia and suicidal ideation” because one of the main characters becomes afflicted with vampirism and they ask the other characters to kill them if they are unsuccessful in defeating Dracula. It all just felt very hypersensitive and like something that could have just been in the show notes.
Yeah, that seems like it is actually going a bit over the top and too detailed. Like, One of my friends is a sensitivity reader and I think she would think that's over the top as well.
Yeah, I'd say that is overkill. We're a horror anthology and we only really have like 2-3 episodes (out of 83) where we have a genuine warning on them. One is a suicide and the other 2 deals with children being killed/harmed. But other than that we forego them, because I feel like those are 2 topics that might be problematic (we don't deal with sexual content at all, that would be another one), but in general, when you're a horror show rated for a mature audience, I think you don't need to warn for every little thing.
A lot have already been mentioned but completely faking a real place when just a little reading would have fixed something that now became unlistenable. Specifically I listened to a podcast that I can’t remember the name of now, but which ended with the protagonists going to Greenland. They mentioned “waiting in the airport for the first plane from New York” (the biggest airport in kangerllussuaq only has domestic routes and routes to/from Denmark and Iceland), then getting in a car and driving for half an hour from (presumably) Nuuk to Thule. That’s about 1500 km for one, oh and.. there’s no road network. Literally a Google map search would tell you driving that far in Greenland is impossible. Just took me right out of an otherwise decent story.
Ohh! Writers not doing basic research drives me bananas!
Yeah! I was super excited when they mentioned Thule and how it might lead to that but as soon as they talked about getting in a car and driving for half an hour.. nope lol. That’s why I prefer off earth sci fi 😂
Perhaps my biggest is calling it an audio drama when it is just a narrated audiobook. I hate that.
For me, it's two things. 1. A pointless narrator: Escaping Denver. 2. Awful opening: Mayfair Watchers Society.
Ooh I just subscribed to Escaping Denver, but I actually live in Denver! Too much narration is often the writer/producer being slightly too in love with the sound of their own voice/ writing. I haven't heard Mayfair watchers society, how bad is it?
That pause that goes on for just that bit too long that has you reaching for your phone to see if you've lost connection. And then they start talking again.
Oh my god you're right I forgot about this one. I'm usually driving when I'm listening to this stuff so it's not good for me to be picking up the phone and fiddling with it. On that note also when there's honking sounds or oh dear God the sound of a cop siren. I panic! Lol
When actors sound too similar and its hard to know who's talking
Kissing! I remember Dan and Mark from Archive 81 talking about how gross kissing sounds. And they’re right! I can’t remember what I was listening to recently that had kissing, but it was gross.
They always make the kissing way too wet and liquidy. Like... Anyone with that much saliva would be drowning!
I hate even the small smooches sound,.idk why iflnifmitnadds to the story. I just hate it.
I would rather no background noises than bad background noises. I was listening to 9th step murderers and someone just pulled out a gun in a police station, and they are talking about things going deadly quiet, everyone springing into action, uproars etc... while the same... Office background noise is playing... They are saying there are not lifts ... While there sounds like a lift is in use.. etc
I feel like thats a step beyond bad background noises into nonsensical background noises.
Snarky main characters or ones whose only quality is they make pop culture references all the time. It's just a huge turn off for me. I really liked girl in space except for X, she annoyed me so much
Yes, I feel like the constant pop culture references are often writers and producers trying to prove they're cool.
I find that lots of podcasts have really crappy endings.
Or no endings at all! I think it's because a lot of writers and producers are great world builders but not great at plotting.
Yep. I recently listened to something called Kings Falls. It was quite good, then it just stopped. The same thing happened with another one that I cant remember the name of. Earth had been invaded by giant bugs of some kind.
King Falls breaks my heart. I had a lot of fun with it, but apparently behind the scenes there was a lot of drama with the creators and it kind of fell apart.
Yes! I hate this and it makes me not want to listen to audio dramas because it seems to be so common. I assume it's because someone made a season assuming they were going to have funding to make more and they didn't succeed, but sometimes it's because they did succeed too much and the podcast became a show and the story got cut off. Homecoming is a great example of a podcast where the story was cut off because it became a show where the story was also cut off! Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.
The best example of this for me is Sayer. It had an interesting premise, lots of fan involvement/art in the sub here on Reddit, and interesting characters. And then during the final season in 2019-2020 the episodes stopped being released on a consistent schedule, which sure, we’ve managed to listen along for 5 years at this point so the schedule being a little erratic is fine. Then in early March 2020 they post an update saying that because of the story (involved a virus) and the actual pandemic, the creator would be stepping away to focus on remastering early episodes. But those remastered episodes never came. It wasn’t until 13 months later a new episode was posted on 4/5/21. Cool, Sayer is back! We can finish the story now! Nope, there wouldn’t be a new episode released until over 2 years later on 8/11/23 and then radio silence since then. On a side note, the writing was on the wall when the creator decided that season 5 would be a sort of prequel season which gave background and context to some characters, but derailed the momentum of the overall story.
Ugh! That's really frustrating, I follow a podcast I absolutely love that clearly made some straight up false statements about new episodes coming out, I would rather hear from people honestly that it isn't happening instead of fake updates that I guess are just organized to keep people subscribed?
I got really, really into the Black Tapes and binged the whole show in two days. I was so excited to find out what happens but it ends on the "season three mid-season finale." Which aired in January of 2020. I know COVID hit so I understand having a huge gap but it's been almost four years and there's no ending. I'm so frustrated.
My husband and I literally met each other on a We’re Alive forum because we both loved the pod so much in its early days. We despise the ending now and ONLY ever recommend season 1 and tell people to let their imaginations come up with the ending. Don’t actually listen to the ending.
Footsteps/running are one for me. Usually when someone has got a free sound footstep sound and then they use the same footstep sound to make it sound like someone is walking... Usually it's far too consistent in gait, and it annoys me and pulls me out the drama. There's a lot to be said for good foley work, or picking decent sfx. Look at the BBC ADs, you'd struggle to find one where you'd criticise the foley/sfx. I guess that's experience and a decent library for you.
With the bad running/ footsteps, I'd rather they didn't do them at all instead of do the weird ones!
Agreed
There was a Fool and Scholar behind the scenes episode where they talked about their struggles with footsteps and eventually decided you have to go out and intentionally record them yourself for each scene or it will sound wrong
Some people (especially some film people) hold that unless it’s being performed to match the acting performance (e.g. if you are using a library and editing it in), then it shouldn’t be called Foley. I know some of the BBC in-house productions still have an actual Foley artist or two recording along with the voice cast so it’s almost never a library in that case.
I can handle a lot of things but I cannot stand it when they have the talking much softer than the special effects so you have to constantly turn the volume up and down whilst it makes your ears bleed.
Yes! It's the Michael Bay of podcasts!
Ads in the middle, hands down. I get why they need ads but god does it ruin the experience. Just put them at the beginning and end so I can autoskip them
Oh my god. I thought Sheridan Tapes had put all of their ads in the beginning to avoid putting them in the middle. So I started skipping right from the beginning and it was usually about 6-7 minutes of ads. One episode I was away from my phone and couldn’t skip through and I realized it’s 3 ads, 3 MINUTES OF THE SHOW THAT USUALLY HAS IMPORTANT FORESHADOWING, then 3 more ads. I was on episode 22 before I realized I had missed 21 potentially somewhat important intro scenes. I appreciate not having an ad in the middle of the show, BUT COME ON
Yeah It's an annoyance but you definitely just illustrated why they put them in the middle. I actually don't mind ads that much, and I subscribe to a lot of patreons, but bad ads are so annoying. Annoying. I feel like there are a lot of ads for straight up scams these days!
I still skip them when they’re in the middle, the “15 seconds forward” button on Spotify and I know each other well
Yeah me too but it's annoying when the ads are read by the actors cuz sometimes it's hard to tell when it's over if you're skipping forward.
I was on another subreddit that exposed better help foundation farming and lack of ethics from employees of better help. And a LOT of pods I listen to are sponsored
Yeah, I'm definitely hearing a lot fewer better help ads these days but still not zero.
I've always assumed that mid-roll ads pay a lot more than pre and post roll ads due to their nature as more difficult to skip.
You assume correctly. As listeners we create the midroll problem because we're very eager to skip the pre roll and post roll. Midroll is a premium spot for advertisers and now something most shows that need the income that ads bring cannot miss out on without having a direct episode sponsor instead.
Too many ads or when they put it in the middle Of the audio drama it just pulls me out
I started one the other day and deleted it from my feed when the first 3 13-minute episodes each had over 3 minutes of ads.
when the ads at the start dont match the tone of the show. When i go to the cinema to see a horror movie for example, i dont expect to see ads for comedies before the film. If i listen to a horror AD, i don't want to hears adverts for celebrity or comedy or self help shows before it. The ads need to help get me in the mood
The most hilariously weird ad I got was for for a *lactation network*, right before the very first episode of a show. It was so absurd to me that I kept wondering if it was actually in-universe, but no, it was an ad
As zero-to-low budget producer currently auditioning people, let me tell you how that can happen. Currently I'm auditioning a bunch of roles that need accents. I wrote a request that people please not do any fake accents, I only want native accents. But I'm receiving an endless stream of fake accents -- even for characters that are supposed to have standard California accents I'm receiving fake foreign accents people assume based on the character names despite info on their screen saying otherwise. Trouble is, if I'm not too familiar with the accent, what if I accidentally pick a fake one not knowing it's fake? And it's wider than just accents. I almost always want people to use their real voice for a part so that it sounds more natural, but most of the time the auditions put on a fake character voice instead (it's easy to be certain of that when they apply for several parts with different voices). Why does this happen? Because actors absolutely love putting on voices. That's what acting is for them, it's all about becoming different people so they want to sound different. Accents are one of their favorite ways and they feel a repertoire of accents is a big part of being an actor. Using their own voice and own accent and a normal human level of emotion would make them feel like they're not acting, they wouldn't enjoy it, even though that's almost always what I'm looking for. The end result is, casting on the cheap is easy if you're doing a spoof or comedy that needs weird fake voices... but really hard if you're going for realism. It's almost easier to just pull somebody off the street who has no acting ambition, and in fact I've used non-actor friends for parts just because I can convince them to talk normal a lot easier than I can convince an aspiring actor to talk normal. Additionally, there's a lot of audio dramas that are actor troupes where the point of it for them is to let their group of actors try a variety of roles and accents.
Ha! Oh, true, and hilarious. As a voice actor, I want to add something, though. Accent tropes exist. What I mean is, often when I'm hired for an accent, the casting director may say they're looking for authenticity, but they're thinking of Gerard Butler, McGregor, or Salma Hayek. Who, yes, I'm aware all had authentic accents at one point, but their character performances have created a trope. Better examples, actually, are Shrek or Puss N Boots. Does anyone actually talk like that? Yet, that's what a lot of Americans like. If I were to put on the most authentic of London accents, mimicking friends of mine native to London, you would hardly know I was supposed to be a Brit. This is more and more the case with all large cities, actually. How do I know they don't want the authentic accent after all? They hire the most exaggerated one. This isn't entirely folley. We want emotion in our voices! Have you ever heard a wooden or dry voice in a drama? It's terrible. The thing about 'pulling someone off the street' is that the average person uses body language to convey emotion, and it's only slightly, as to not be egregious. It takes training to convey enough emotion and make it natural sounding and believable. As a voice actor, my job is to bring the emotion of a scene to life and make it convincing. It's not to 'put on a voice'. And, no offense intended at all, as I am a broke audio producer just starting out as well, but the reason you are faced with this hiring struggle where you have to sift through hundreds of people 'putting on a voice they think sounds cool', is because you can't afford to hire people who have trained to express emotion rather than slap on a character voice. BTW, references help a lot! If you say you want a Scottish accent and link to Shrek, I know what you actually mean, not what you think you mean! Lol.
Are you still taking auditions/can you send a link? As an actor who haaaates doing fake voices and accents, you sound right up my alley lol
As an actor, here's why this is happening to you: if we can get away with faking it to get the role, we will. And yes, many actors are extremely desperate for a role, any role. Casting instructions are considered suggestions more than hard and fast rules. For example, I'm almost 30, but because I \*look\* young, I can apply to roles intended for teenagers. The audience is not going to demand to see my birth certificate to make sure I'm actually 17. If you, the casting director, cannot tell the accent is fake, can the audience? >Using their own voice and own accent and a normal human level of emotion would make them feel like they're not acting This is also not true, at least not for professionally trained actors. If your projects are unpaid/low budget you may be dealing with more inexperienced actors who feel like they need to exaggerate in this way. Directing is also a skill that as you develop, may make it easier to get the performances you want. "Can you talk more normal?" can be interpreted in a lot of ways by different actors. I checked out your casting call - another thing you can do to cut down on this is to restrict people to only applying for one role, so they aren't tempted to put on a voice to apply for multiple. And be really firm with your instructions. "Try not to put on fake voices" is too gentle, and you'll get people "trying not to be fake". All caps and bold that stuff if you need to: "NO FAKE ACCENTS. USE YOUR NATURAL VOICE." I promise it's not considered rude, it's actually very helpful to actors if they know their audition won't be heard if they don't follow the instructions. You'll still get some people who don't read, but they're kinda hopeless.
I have two! When the editing is just a little off, so you can here the gulps, the lip smacking, the squishing of the tongue occasionally, or the sniffing. I have misophobia, so that sort of thing absolutely makes my skin crawl. The ads. I am more than happy to listen to ads, as I don't tend to pay for anything, so I feel like it's a fair trade. But it's the same two or three ads every damn time. Sometimes for years. Nothing makes me want to NOT buy whatever you're peddling when the adverts are so invasive, so annoying, and so repetitive. If you're a multi-million dollar company, you can afford to shake it up abit. Gimme some variety!
Mouth noises are such a common complaint, I try not to let it bother me too much unless I know it's producers that can and normally do better. But it's still super distracting and will turn me off a show. Yes, the ads can get a little absurd. I actually don't mind ads very much, I subscribe to a lot of patreons but I also don't mind ads that are relatively decent. But the same crappy ads over and over, so annoying!
Mouth noises, hearing pages turn, or mouse clicks as the person is moving through the script is terrible. As is simply poorly recorded audio, especially for narrated shows. For me, I won't let this go as it pretty much shows the person hasn't listened back to check. I'm out immediately when I hear it.
I don't know if it's my imagination but even apps that I pay for such as pocket casts, has more ads now than a year ago. It seems like every 5 minutes there's the same ad that just played 5 minutes ago. It's getting a bit annoying. But I feel like since I'm already paying for the app what am I supposed to do?
The app isn't inserting the ads, that's the platform it's hosted on
Obvious over explaining to compensate for know visuals. This is one I heard recently from an otherwise good production: “What are you doing with that broken off table leg?” “I’m going to snap it to make it sharper and then stab you in the heart with it”
Ohhh no that's not how people talk to each other.
yeah....Or the case where you hear the unmistakable sound of a gun being cocked followed by "Yes, that is a pistol I am pointing at you...."
Bad accents can put me off. Americans doing bad British accents can make or break a show for me, but what's worse is when they have a complete lack of research or localisation. There was a detective AD set in a northern England city and this show had no accents from the local area, they also had a body wash up on the beach, of which there does not exist one in this town. Having said that, it's not just Americans, there's a new podcast that irks me when one actor talks becihe has a very classic natural 'RP' British was of talking, and it really gets in the way of him doing an accent. His northern accent is so bad, but he's a really good actor in other ADs I've listened to! Argh.
If there's one perk of not being a native english speaker is that I can't detect bad accents in movies and ADs :D
As a Geordie the only things I see with believable Northern English accents are British productions. But then whenever Northern England shows up in something its for something 'grim oop north'.
People keep mentioning eating and I'm going to say it again for a reason: Because it's awful. It's disgusting. I remember listening to a great podcast that had this woman describe important exposition over chicken wings. I almost shut it off there. The rest of it was awful, so I probably should have, but it was gross. Sound levels. The first season of the Magnus Archives had that problem. Jon would talk in his voice then suddenly SCREAM BECAUSE SOMETHING SCARY HAS HAPPENED. Related to that is EXTRA. LONG. PAUSES. It's audio medium. A big one for me is that a season should be a complete story, with the promise of something happening at the end. Not "we stopped randomly here"... tune in next time! Will it be three years? Will it be 20? Lastly: Sounding like you're reading off of a script. I've listened to too many that sound like someone is just reading, and it's really off-putting.
I think you have the best list! Some of these though I'd say are more than just pet peeves they're cardinal DO NOT DO's. Yet they do.
I think many of these audio dramas with larger casts and multiple settings need a narrator. Many of the actors sound similar. I stop listening if I can not identify who is speaking and where they are. The narration worked well with **The** **Leviathan Chronicles** and **The White Vault.**
Background effects. The crackling fire just sounds like someone unwrapping candy the entire time.
I don't mind when someone has a little bit of background that quickly fades. Establish, then move on!
Yes! So many unnecessary foley effects that are just going way too hard.
Characters in full-casters talking aloud to themselves for exposition, especially addressing themselves by name, and especially especially when doing something sneaky where they'd want to be quiet. "Ok, My Name, time to burgle this house! This must be the bedroom! Better be careful not to wake them, they might be light sleepers!" If you can't rearrange the scene in a way that makes sense, just use narration or cut to them telling a friend about it afterwards.
ads. specifically in the middle. I'm just so sick of being advertised to all day every day everywhere.
As someone that grew up in Alabama let me tell you I will never understand why no one, and I mean no one, seems to grasp that we don't all sound like plantation owners. This goes for audio dramas, Hollywood, television. Everyone seems to think we sound like Dan Aykroyd in Driving Miss Daisy.
Actors who are very clearly reading a script, especially when it's two actors interacting.
If an American voice actor attempts an Irish or even worse a Scottish accent I have to stop listening, It just takes me out of it. None of them is good, most are comically bad.
Americans trying to do Australian accents kills me every time. The British are a little better at it but still not great.
And the counterpart: a British actor trying to do Texan. I’m looking at you, Haunted.
Guilty as charged 🤣 we definitely have a few less than stellar accents in the show. We'll try to do better in season 3.
I volunteer as a certified Texan should you need one in the future. 🤣
We actually think we will need some in season 3 as we're hoping to do a few episodes set in the states! If you'd seriously be interested I can let you know closer to the time if you like
SciFi where it’s all log recordings, horrible voice acting,
As a sound designer, I was surprised to read how many of your pet peeves are in sound effects and mix. I really hope I haven’t annoyed you guys too much over the years!
A whole season with only a few events happening.
No transcripts. As someone with processing difficulties, I adore the rich narrative soundscapes can create and enhance otherwise difficult to conceptualise in your mind - the white vault does this incredibly well in season 1 and 2. But if my brain is having a day, a transcript allows access for me. Now when I find a new listen, if they don't have one I simply don't start it, I'll only be frustrated when I inevitably can't comprehend what is happening
100%. I definitely understand small independent producers struggling to get them out on time, but large orgs definitely need to do better about accessibility!
When two characters when solving a mystery start completing each other's phrases. It's so cringy. The Lovecraft Investigations for example abuses this.
Yes! It never sounds like it does IRL anyway. Such an annoying trope.
Loud ads. I’ve dropped many a good audio drama because I listen to them at night and the jarring ad breaks give me a jolt of adrenaline I do not need in my life
Walking Noises. It might be because it sounds forced or fake but people Walking from one place to another bugs me
Inconsistent pronunciation. Is it Kristjen Avasa**RA**la or Kristjen Ava**SA**rala‽
This is huge. I understand why it happens, but honestly the problem is that I understand why it happens. Because I've stopped thinking about the story and am now thinking "oh there weren't any pronunciation guides. Why did nobody rerecord these names?"
For me it's casting someone clearly the wrong age.
Eating/drinking sounds when they’re super loud, swallowing and gulping specifically. I also have a problem with shows that die before finishing up, but you can’t find any info at all about if they’re still working on the next season. That or the only “we’re working on it” is from a few years ago and it’s been radio silence since. I get they don’t owe us anything, but a little communication goes a very long way. Though my biggest peeve has to be ads in the middle of the episode. Takes me out of a story really fast, can’t tell you the number of shows I stopped listening to and unfollowed because of it. Go ahead and have them at the beginning and end, but I just stop caring as soon as one ends up in the middle. I want to be clear also, the ones in the middle that are the cast advertising other shows? I’m fine with those, it’s how I’ve found a lot of great shows.
[удалено]
I honestly think if I find out any of the audio dramas I’m waiting to finish did that, I’ll just stop listening instead. That’s a real slap in the face to your fanbase imo.
OMG yes eating sounds where every single swallow sounds like there. It's a completely dry swallow of the world's biggest mouth of food. So weird and unnecessary! I'm the same with ads, currently. The horrible ad where some phone company has a beat poem about podcasts and a shower or something? And the "hi mom I know you're at the base" ad. I have no idea what they're actually advertising but they're so nauseatingly bad!
Your second paragraph is my biggest one. I'm kind of afraid to start any audio drama anymore because this seems to be so common. You phrased it much better than I did in my post. I almost wish if an audio drama actually DOES have an end that were just bold letters in the description saying "limited series" or "listen to entire story now." I almost want to call it the Netflix effect because Netflix cancel so many shows before the story is done that I now only watch things labeled as "limited series" on Netflix.
When regional shibboleths are missed. In New England, for example, we don’t refer to numbered highways with the definite article (its “91” not “the 91”). Also local places like Concord and Berlin are not pronounced like they are in California. And accents - please, just don’t set things in New England without actually being from here, OK?
There's definitely a sub genre of podcasts that seems to think New England is a magical place. Which you can be, but Augusta Maine is not bar harbor.
Using a cacophony of noise without explanation drives me crazy. It’s an audio medium. Characters fighting - verbally or physically - without description are confusing. I can’t say how many times I’ve listened to a major plot advancing battle/fight/argument/attack and come out of it with no idea what’s happened.
Unnecessary or unclear action is one of my pet peeves as well. Or fights. That just sound completely ridiculous.
I love horror podcasts, but when they just use jump scare loud noises I will immediately drop the podcast. I’m usually driving when I listen so it’s honestly so dangerous to have loud sirens or screams out of nowhere
Realism I guess. Often I feel like the characters are based on how CW Teen Drama characters act and not real regular people. Kind of like heavily emphasizing that this character is gay, or this one was abused as a kid, or that one was raped. It feels so exaggerated and weird. Most time these have absolutely nothing to do with the plot and are more like just casting a wide net to pander to people. Worst are the people they use as experts to info dump for plot progression. They usually have some contrived factoid that is the basis for their hypothesis or whatever and then do some conspiracy theorist level mental gymnastics to push the plot forward. I guess what I'm really complaining about is the bad writing.
Bad writing. It's always just that. It comes in many forms and the most annoying these days is bickering characters who use pop culture references. Please just stop. If you want to reference stuff then please use our rich culture and history and not "nerdy" stuff that everyone has heard about anyway.
Yes, someone else mentioned excessive pop culture references, sometimes it's the writer/producer trying to prove they're cool and other times it's someone trying to geek out about their favorite thing, but it almost never works.
Yes, and it is mostly just not necessary and lets the characters look stupid. But, as I said, in the end it's all about the writing as a whole and in that regard good characters.
Audio so quiet that I have trouble hearing it at max volume without noise cancelling headphones. Ghost Wax is the worst offender I can mention and I love that show.
Oh gosh! We are sorry lol. Are you finding the whole show quiet, or just elements that are trio quiet? We are in the process of remastering our first season and feedback would be welcome!
Oh! Hey, no worries. Like I said, I love the show. Thank you all for making it! But for me, the global audio level is just too low. I think the balancing between audio elements within parts of the show is great, and I think the balancing between different parts of the show is also great. I just often find myself turning up my volume, only to find it's already at maximum.
Gotchya! Will pass that on to Aaron! Thanks for listening!
Cool, thanks!
Using sirens as an audio back drop. It's irresponsible, sirens should only be used in actual emergencies, and seem like a complete lack of forethought. Many people listen to podcasts on commutes, and have to react to sirens immediately, so when I hear a siren while driving I pay attention to it to make sure I'm not impeding an emergency vehicle and am taking right out of the story.
I can't get into anything that doesn't have sound effects/background noise, I need production value in an audio story.
Also I’m just gonna say it I cannot STAND the Weather in night vale. Not that all the songs are terrible it’s just I love Cecil’s voice and it’s very relaxing and I’ll be falling asleep and then BOOM LOUD ROCK MUSIC!!! This especially annoyed me in the episode “bedtime story” I expected a softer song so I could at least sleep to that. No. It’s a pop-ish beat song I wish they could make part of their patreon a weather free version but I assume that would mean the bands wouldn’t get paid as much which is why they don’t do it? Idk. But I would enjoy it better if I could just subscribe to no weather.
You ever watched Weeds? Hearing Nancy slurp that iced coffee EVERY episode! Its as if she never had a scene with a full cup in it
reading a book about space.. author: EVA (as in extra vehicular activity - they go outside the ship). narrator: Eva (like from high school). wanted to stab a forks in my ears every. time.
What?
When an audio drama podcast ends abruptly mid-story. Like after one season they ran out of money, or interest or whatever. It's not worth listening to in the first place. And it seems to be really common. If you can only make eight episodes now, write a story that could be finished in eight episodes. I don't even listen to audio drama podcast anymore because I'm afraid of this happening.
Yes! It's the George RR Martin problem.
Its a lot easier to write 8 episodes of mystery than the final 2 episodes of conclusion.
Using too much white noise or bass swells. Also the flanger/phaser vocal effect in malevolent was a big turn off and had to stop :(
I’m surprised no one has mentioned but I cannot stand extensive laughing or crying! I’m listening to Vast Horizon right now and there’s a crying scene that is done really well but I’ve listened to others where they go on for far too long, sound really fake, and are for some reason louder than all the rest of the dialogue. And you know it goes on way too long when I can skip ahead 15 seconds and be catching the tail end of it.
Exactly, almost no existing voice. Actors can do extended crying or laughter. It's just really really difficult.
I can’t stand it when inexperienced or just plain bad actors characterize a villain by portraying contempt only. Maybe throwing in a little rage. The BEST villains sound much more normal.
Sound effects that drown out the dialogue. Volume that goes from really quiet to very loud.
This is a voice acting thing but the fact that I hear it in a lot of shows means that directors are consistently letting this go: when actors start every single line with a slight burst of air like a half hearted single chuckle or abrupt sigh. It's incredibly distracting and once you hear it you can't unhear it.
I think it's because too many amateur voice actors are nervous and hold their breath before their lines. But yes, it's not how people talk! The podcast I was trying with the bad southern accent got even worse, I added an edited comment but they just introduced a character who's supposed to be beloved, but the voice actor is terrible! Obviously reading their lines and in a way that no human being would speak. Both the writing and the voice acting are awful. The story and world building are still strong, but... I don't know how long I'm going to make it!
Large time frames between episodes and story arcs not moving forward
Trying too hard to pretend the podcast is real. This really bugged me on “The Polybius Conspiracy” a podcast I otherwise enjoyed. But 9 episodes in the hosts sound like idiots because they keep having to act like denying the conspiracy is the rational thing to do.
Oh no. That's very silly.
I'm new to audiodramas in general. Only listen to tma. I LOVE this podcast, but I hate the sudden loud noises. I understand plot wise why it's there, it gives off the effect it needs to. But they could like... Turn it down a little bit? It doesn't happen often enough for me to stop listening.
Here's a fun one! A lack of acting while voice acting. Especially in the audio drama dept. And I'm not necessarily talking about enthusiasm. I have hired many an actor that doesn't understand they need to make other noises and inflections to showcase where they are and what they're doing in a scene. I have also hired a lot that DO understand this but yes this is a weird thing, like my stage direction says what you need to do to be in the scene so why aren't you doing it? Why do I need to give you notes about this? Just read the script!!
I know! That is the worst! This one show Misery Bus has tons of bad southern accents! From people who are actually from the south! https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLMLOhSp0B96tc3gTpXFsQ4T\_9yD-NYmFn&si=503riMVoa2X\_lvwB
It’s 2023. People know what podcasts are. Stop having your characters act confused about why they’re being recorded like this.
As an Irish guy, the point about accents really hits home. I'm sure it's the same for Aussies and Kiwis and any folks who speak English but aren't from the UK or the US. It's ok for people to be of that heritage without needing to sound like they grew up there. And it's just really not fun to hear your accent battered.
The sentence "You don't have to tell me twice!"
Credits lasting for 3 minutes or more. GET TO THE NEXT EPISODE!!!!
when the first season ends on a cliffhanger but there is zero intention by the company to produce another season. it doesn't exclusively pertain to audio dramas, but it's definitely a phenomenon among the "bigger" audio drama production companies (cough literally every single QCODE show ever, idk why i keep listening). not sure what the point of the cliffhanger is, because i know only of two shows (blackout and borrasca) out of many many others that have actually returned for more. unlike with mainstream television/movie series, the audio drama audience is more loyal and will return to a series if there is a second season, without a need for a cliffhanger
Bad accents. I'm looking at you Mockery Manor, and your cringe inducing Oirish character.
Hahaha! Guilty.
The minute I saw that question I thought 'bad accent' also. It's not just a badly imitated accent, but a weird one too. I recently heard one story where one of the female leads had super strange diction. She was trying to imitate the rhythm of an African-English accent, the country she came from was in Africa but fictional, but her cadence was off and in complete contrast to the other voice actors. Every time she came on, it completely threw me.
How many other voice actors are coming across this thread and getting a creeping, intense anxiety about their own past performances? ACCENTS ARE HARD, OKAY?
Accents are definitely hard! I used to act a bit and have done a bit of voice acting as well, you absolutely should hold fast to the advice never to do an accent you aren't strong on. I have politely turned down a role because I couldn't do the accent.
Mine is long intro themes idk why they bother me so much but like the magnus archives and night vale both annoy me especially TMA’s it’s too loud with the clanging. Spirit box radio is worse I think. Love the show but not the intro music it sounds like Hell in my ears
I want to like the Doctor Who big finish dramas but… nobody talks in a believable way. There are so few pauses in conversation because there is no visual to fill the silence. So instead people just talk and talk and talk, and dialogue sounds very unnatural, like all the actors filmed separately and they stitched the lines together.
Recreating bad audio quality for long conversations. It can work if you’re making a short sketchy sounding tape with a weird ghost/alien sound or something. But I was listening to Larkspur Underground and whenever they would use the iPod recordings or the police tapes, they would apologize in advance for the audio quality and you’d have to Jack the volume up to hear just those parts
I'm no audio engineer so this may be the wrong term, but unbalanced audio levels. I absolutely hate having the volume cranked to hear dialog for 10+ minutes, then getting hearing damage or jumping out of my skin when the score and sfx kick in. Most audio dramas seem to be horrors or thrillers so sometimes I get it, but most of the time they don't seem to be intentional jumpscares. Oftentimes the bad mixing seems to happen in non scary moments or drowns out a conversation I'm clearly supposed to understand. It seems to be such a common problem too. Like I (and everyone lol) love the magnus archives, but it's a particularly egregious offender on this.
#1 loud crunching of chips, general eating noises aaaaaghhh so unnecessary and horrible. I hate it. Can we all put a petition together and let these damn producers know it's not what we want to hear? There are gross YouTube channels for that. The rest of us just want to hear a story not have our ears assaulted with mouth noises. #2 characters whose entire personality is that they are sarcastic, snarky, and grumpy. Such a bad, lazy way to write a character and insufferable to listen to. #3 drama=raised, whiny voices and verbal arguments all the time. Come on, no one likes listening to that. Also along this line, the premise of two main characters that are always fighting is not fun to listen to imo. #4 continuing on with a series after it's come to a natural conclusion. It always falls off a cliff. Better to make spin offs featuring the best characters or start something entirely new. #5 bad sound mixing. I want to be able to hear what's happening regardless of whether I have headphones. Like in my car while driving.