Greetings from Vienna =) [Test OK]

Richard Cromwell · Post by **Richard Cromwell** » March 17th, 2011, 3:53 pm

A cordially yet soft spoken Hello to everyone =P

My name is Benjamin and as the heading says I was born & raised in Austria [Middle Europe

] where I live at my fathers at presence.

Some brief information on my person:
- I am 16 years old,
- I will graduate to be able to study in June 2012
- Ever since last but one weekend, I know that I plan to study “Sciences of Translation” [Which is quite funnily spelled pretty much the same in Austria, but when not thinking in English no one has any idea of what you are talking =P ] to become translator and interpreter.
Since therefore I need to pass a test on skills at English language at a level of B1, I’d be happy for anyone who would take time to mention wrong grammar or other in my sentences =)
- I do love to read [Presently reading Fforde, that is hard to evade!] but sadly other ‘crap’ way too often I give priority to.

I found LibriVox when I researched for school, being very happy to find "Intrigue and Love" [Kabale und Liebe] by Friedrich von Schiller as an audio version to read along with.
That very recording was quite distinct, but yet brought my attention to the project.

I had planned to join the community for some weeks now, finally I have made it and I am most thrillingly looking forward to produce as many books in teams as possible. Also I have one novel to be produced in mind, but I'll wait with that until there is some foundation of experience to base onto.

I quite enjoy working on Audacity, yet I did not do anything too hard until now, so I’d thought it would be a good idea for me to ask you to tell me what to do better about my settings =)

Test record:
http://upload.librivox.org/share/uploads/tests/test_RichardCromwell.mp3
Edit: Of course my spelling includes the Austrian accent, I am planning to focus on German readings anyway. Just be prepared =D

Deeply thankful for any kind of help and looking forward to a great time to be spent with and for LibriVox,
Benjamin =)

Starlite · Post by **Starlite** » March 17th, 2011, 4:51 pm

Welcome Benjamin! You have a nice clear sound but you can still go a bit louder. It would also benefit from using the leveler.

At 25 seconds you have a puff of air on the mic. There are other spots that are not as pronounced. Move the mic off to one side or use a wind sock.

I'd like to hear another one please. Focus on increasing the volume and reducing plosives (air on the mic).

Esther

Richard Cromwell · Post by **Richard Cromwell** » March 18th, 2011, 4:04 pm

Thank you! =)

I will take care of the plosives and as far as I think, that should fix any volume issues, too.

I did look to use the highest settings therefore in the beginning, but when I shut down my computer, I could see how it had been decreased automatically, probably because I had been to close to the microphone.
I used my headphones plugged into some speakers, so I suppose I had just equalized it without thinking.

When I am home at Sunday, I will send another version.

Richard Cromwell · Post by **Richard Cromwell** » March 20th, 2011, 11:42 am

[Doublepost because of the highly new information, I hope you don't mind =) ]

So following comes the next trial...
I did improve on the volume, but I would not know how to make it even more lout without overdoing it...
A wind sock I already had been using before...So at this time, I hope there are not as many puffs this time? =)

And then one more thing for this one, not in any way having to do with the settings. After the first 30 seconds, there is another recording of the same text, just spoken in a bit of a lower voice. I'd wonder which you think sounds better! =)

Starlite · Post by **Starlite** » March 20th, 2011, 12:55 pm

Did you upload it? I don't see anything uploaded today. Only a file that was uploaded on the 17th. Don't forget to post the url either. <shrugs>

Esther

Richard Cromwell · Post by **Richard Cromwell** » March 20th, 2011, 1:00 pm

Goddamn =D

http://upload.librivox.org/share/uploads/tests/test_RichardCromwell2.mp3

Starlite · Post by **Starlite** » March 20th, 2011, 1:30 pm

Ok now you are too loud. You can see the wav form flattening out at the tops and bottoms. This is called 'clipping' and you lose information. Instead of reducing the mic input, try moving a touch further away from the mic.

One more try? You are so close now.

Esther

Richard Cromwell · Post by **Richard Cromwell** » March 20th, 2011, 2:08 pm

I do hope, I can satisfy you with that one? =D

http://upload.librivox.org/share/uploads/tests/test_RichardCromwell3.mp3
The amplify looks better, as far as I think, but the thing is that I hear nearly no difference in volume?

And did you intentionally not answer my question about the 2 versions? =)

Starlite · Post by **Starlite** » March 20th, 2011, 2:14 pm

Ah now I see... Sorry about that. I prefer the first. It sounds more natural.

Did you do a new recording or just take the volume down on the previous one? This does NOT work as the file has lost information during the clipping. Please record a new file.

Esther

Richard Cromwell · Post by **Richard Cromwell** » March 20th, 2011, 2:52 pm

Well, pretty obvious, actually =x
Will do tomorrow =)

Richard Cromwell · Post by **Richard Cromwell** » March 23rd, 2011, 3:55 pm

Well, never say tomorrow, right? =x

http://upload.librivox.org/share/uploads/tests/test_RichardCromwell4.mp3

This one here is perfectly original, never has been over the 1.0 border, I changed the amplitude using the amplifier and I love the present setting of the Noise Removal =)

Really hope, this one is useful right now. But just because I wonder: What is so important about the amplitude anyway? When I set off the automatic of my microphone to 0.00dB [20.00dB being the usual case] everything sounds a nice bit more smooth. The volume to me appears perfectly okay. But although all that, the amplitude hardly reaches 0.1 !!?

By the way, thank you for your perfect work at helping to get started, Esther!

Starlite · Post by **Starlite** » March 24th, 2011, 2:56 am

Volume is ok but would benefit from using the leveler. (Only available on the beta 1.3.9 version of audacity)

To fix the inconsistent volume, try the leveler under 'effects'. Select the whole recording, "effects", "leveler", Select "moderate" (or use a heavier setting if needed). This brings the high bits down and the low bits up and makes for more consistent volume.

Just remember to level the recording when you are done editing. You may need to do this for all your recordings. (Just look at the wav forms, if there are high and low bits, this will fix it.)

Amplitude is very important as we want our listeners to be able to hear us. I listen in my car as do many others and the volume on the recording needs to be loud enough to drown out the road noise. I have listened to files that were far too soft and it was difficult to hear as my car stereo only increases the volume by so much. We need to start out with a good volume.

Try another please using the leveler. (this should do it) (I used the leveler on 'heavy' and it sounds fine)

Esther

Richard Cromwell · Post by **Richard Cromwell** » March 24th, 2011, 10:48 am

http://upload.librivox.org/share/uploads/tests/test_RichardCromwell5.mp3

Et voila. Levelled & amplified until just below 1. Noise removal as always. The beta I was using anyway all the time =)

So how does it look like? =)

Starlite · Post by **Starlite** » March 24th, 2011, 3:34 pm

Perfect

Get ye recording.......

Esther

Richard Cromwell · Post by **Richard Cromwell** » March 25th, 2011, 1:44 pm

Oooh, thank you once more =)

I just recognised that it is recommended to set the output main volume to the middle, that might help feeling into the car listener =)