COMPLETE Mountaineering in the Sierra Nevada -mas

[melpaulm]

Mountaineering in the Sierra Nevada by Clarence King (1842 - 1901).


This project is now complete. All audio files can be found on our catalog page: https://librivox.org/mountaineering-in-the-sierra-nevada-by-clarence-king/

"Mountaineering in the Sierra Nevada" is a memoir by Clarence King of his adventures and work with the California Geological Survey. King later led a major survey of along the 40th Parallel in the American West and then was appointed the first director of the new U.S. Geological Survey.

King's 1872 "Mountaineering in the Sierra Nevada" exhibits a modern sense of timing and insight, and his accounts of hand-and-foot rock climbing seem as fresh as last week's blog post. He was part of the Victorian wave of mountain-climbing that first scaled the highest world peaks in the mid-19th century and, as a scientist, was part of a similar wave of new theories and discoveries: Darwinian evolution, glaciers, volcanism, erosion, earthquakes, topographical techniques, and human ecology. California had just passed through the Gold Rush years, and further survey of the Sierra Nevada was desired to extend knowledge of California economic geography.

While listening to this historic book, please consult a supplemental web resource at http://melanie.mccalmont.org which provides 19th century references, photographs of Clarence King and the Sierras, geologic definitions, and links.

The book is arranged in 14 chapters, each with a distinct purpose. Chapter 1 'The Range' starts slowly as a geologic history and description of the Sierra Nevada, then switches midway to an adventure across the desert. Chapter 2 'The Forest' likewise starts at a slower pace as King describes in detail the pine and sequoia forest through which the corps of discovery moves, then switches to a human interest story of the Maidu Indians. Chapters 3, 4, 11, 12, and 13 are mountaineering stories at their finest, from a time when technical gear consisted of ropes and hob-nailed shoes only. Chapters 7 and 8 describes King's participation in the boundary survey of the new Yosemite National Park. Chapters 5, 6, 9, 10, and 14 are centered on human interest stories in the Sierra Nevada. (Melanie Schleeter McCalmont)

1. Text source (only read from this text!): https://books.google.com/books?id=k3QUAAAAYAAJ
2. Type of proof-listening required (Note: please read the PL FAQ): standard
   
   IMPORTANT - soloist, please note: in order to limit the amount of languishing projects (and hence the amount of files on our hard-pressed server), we ask that you post an update at least once a month in your project thread, even if you haven't managed to record anything. If we don't hear from you for three months, your project may be opened up to a group project if a Book Coordinator is found. Files you have completed will be used in this project. If you haven't recorded anything yet, your project will be removed from the forum (contact any admin to see if it can be re-instated).
   
   Please don't download or listen to files belonging to projects in process (unless you are the BC or PL). Our servers are not set up to handle the greater volume of traffic. Please wait until the project has been completed. Thanks!
   

   Magic Window:

   
   
   BC Admin
   
3. The reader will record the following at the beginning and end of each file:
   No more than 0.5 to 1 second of silence at the beginning of the recording!
   START of recording (Intro):
   • "Chapter [number] of Mountaineering in the Sierra Nevada. This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information, or to volunteer, please visit: librivox DOT org"
   • If you wish, say:
     "Recording by [your name], [city, your blog, podcast, web address]"
   • Say:
     "Mountaineering in the Sierra Nevada, by Clarence King. [Chapter]"
   
   
   For the second and all subsequent sections, you may optionally use the shortened form of this intro disclaimer:
   • "Chapter [number] of Mountaineering in the Sierra Nevada by Clarence King. This LibriVox recording is in the Public Domain."
   • If you wish, say:
     "Recording by [your name], [city, your blog, podcast, web address]"
   • Only if applicable, say:
     "[Chapter title]"
   END of recording:
   • At the end of the section, say:
     "End of [Chapter]"
   • If you wish, say:
     "Recording by [your name], [city, your blog, podcast, web address]"
   • At the end of the book, say (in addition):
     "End of Mountaineering in the Sierra Nevada, by Clarence King. "
   
   There should be 5 seconds silence at the end of the recording.
4. Example filename mountaineering_##_king_128kbp3 (all lower-case) where ## is the section number (e.g. mountaineering_01_king_128kb.mp3)
5. Transfer of files (completed recordings)
   Please always post in this forum thread when you've sent a file. Also, post the length of the recording (file duration: mm:ss) together with the link.
   • Upload your file with the LibriVox Uploader:https://librivox.org/login/uploader
     
     (If you have trouble reading the image above, please message an admin)
   • You'll need to select the MC, which for this project is: maryannspiegel
   • When your upload is complete, you will receive a link - please post it in this thread.
   • If this doesn't work, or you have questions, please check our How To Send Your Recording wiki page.
6. Any questions?
   Please post below

[MaryAnnSpiegel]

Melanie,
I'd be happy to MC this for you. I'll get your MW set up.
MaryAnn

[MaryAnnSpiegel]

Melanie,

OK, Your MW is set up.

For a solo project, you are the Book Coordinator. That means you fill out the Magic Window and post your links and times in the window when you upload your files. You'll need to start by entering section (or chapter) titles. I've entered the first one as a model. The system adds the section number to the beginning of whatever you type in the MW.

You'll need to start by logging into the magic window. Instructions are in the BC How-to; and this is a more detailed version of the First Login instructions (with pictures!) Please be sure to read all of the BC How To document, as that will give you more information on your role as a BC.

If you have questions, or if you have any trouble with the instructions in the BC how to, please post and we'll work through it together. There is a bit of a learning curve when you do your first solo. You've picked a nice size book - not too long and something that you are interested in, so it should be a manageable and enjoyable process for you.

Enjoy!
MaryAnn

[melpaulm]

I've read through the MW and manager documentation, and am ready to enter my chapters. The system seems to be down tonight and wouldn't reply with a password reset. I emailed the forum admin for assistance already. So instead I did a trial read in audacity and discovered my new apartment is a bit noisy. I'm going to work on the sound quality this week and hopefully post a chapter a week!

I have a question. The book has a dedication page "To Josiah Dwight Whitney..." etc. Should I read that before "Chapter One of Mountaineering..." ? It is a convention of the time it was written, but wanted to ask for advice.

[melpaulm]

Mary Ann, I've also posted a longer test here
https://librivox.org/uploads/tests/mountaineering_01_king_128kbp3__sample.mp3 . Any critical feedback would be great as I have a new recording area, and it seems a bit noisy.

[MaryAnnSpiegel]

Melanie,

I've taken a listen. Here are my thoughts.

Your technical specs are fine, except your volume is very low. Replay Gain says it's 73 dB. We target 89 dB, with 87-91 being an acceptable range.

volume
For this recording, you can use the Effect | Amplify feature to increase your volume by 26 dB. You will need to edit out the markers for your mistakes, or tick the box to allow clipping in order to amplify by this much. Going forward, you should move the slider on the microphone (in the top area of the audacity screen) one notch to the right and then see where that puts your volume. If you're still low, move it right another notch (about 10% each adjustment). You don't want to overshoot, but you do want to get slightly below the 89 dB target with your raw recording, so you're only doing a touch up with the Amplify feature after you finish editing.

The easiest way to check your volume is to install an extra plugin in Audacity that will analyze your file to determine how much the recording needs to be amplified to reach the desired volume of 89 dB and do the adjustment for you. Replay Gain plugin for Audacity: - http://forum.audacityteam.org/download/file.php?id=4685

1. Save the file to your computer - your desktop or somewhere where you can easily find it.
2. Now browse to the folder in which Audacity is installed. It's probably in C:\Program Files\Audacity) and then open the Plug-Ins folder.
3. Drag the file you saved into the Plug-Ins folder.
4. When you start Audacity, look for ReplayGain under Effect | ReplayGain.
5. You will be able to select the whole recording (Ctrl+A on Windows), then go to Effect | ReplayGain, and it will adjust your file to about 89 dB.

DC offset
Your file also has a bit of DC Offset. That means the center line on your wave forms is shifted up or down from the center line on the screen. You can correct this by hitting CTRL-A (to mark the entire file) and then Effect | Normalize. The default should be to Remove DC Offset (center vertically on 0).

background noise
There was a bit of background noise, so I did one pass of noise cleaning. Select a short selection of background noise only (no speech), then click Effect | Noise Reduction and Get Noise Profile.

Then select the whole recording (Ctrl+A), click Effect | Noise Reduction again. I use the following settings:

Noise reduction: 6 dB
Sensitivity: 6.0 dB
Frequency smoothing (bands): 6

Further instructions are here: http://wiki.librivox.org/index.php/Noisecleaning_With_Pics

After making those adjustments, I thought the recording sounded fine. Your enunciation is very clear and your pace is good to my ear.

MaryAnn

[MaryAnnSpiegel]

Moving to going solo to keep the launch pad tidy . . .
MaryAnn

[melpaulm]

Mary Ann, I cannot log into BC admin per June 17 thread to update my book chapter titles and progress. When I hit the BC Admin link under the MW, it says I do not have permissions for this area. I think some permissions are not turned on yet for me to manage edit in the MW??

[melpaulm]

Mary Ann, I've posted a new test with DC offset fixed, noise reduced, and mic gain increased
https://librivox.org/uploads/maryannspiegel/mountaineering_test_2.mp3 . I could not get my ReplayGain to work as you described, and I'm not sure how to detect the overall db on my recording in Audacity.

But listen to this test 2 and see if it improves. I still need to have a quieter recording environment and, one that is set up, I may do another test to check bepfe I record the whole book.

[MaryAnnSpiegel]

Mel,

I'll listen when I get home tonight.

Mary Ann, I cannot log into BC admin per June 17 thread to update my book chapter titles and progress. When I hit the BC Admin link under the MW, it says I do not have permissions for this area. I think some permissions are not turned on yet for me to manage edit in the MW??

It's something about your login timing out, happens at one point or another to most of us. When you get this message, there is an option to log out. Click that link, then go back to the first post and try to access the MW again. You should then go to the login page.

MaryAnn

[cherylstewart]

Can I be DPL for this project?
Cheryls

[MaryAnnSpiegel]

Thanks Cheryl. I've added you to the MW.
MaryAnn

[melpaulm]

Logging out worked to have it send me a new password. --- But I'm not sure where it's sending it, as it never gets to my email. I've checked all of them several times, even my old abandoned email addresses. I think that's the real key is to check where the MW has "melpaulm" as an email. I think the login/email is different from the regular forum area?

Getting ready to start recording chapter 2 this weekend! I've set up a less noisy, confined area.

[melpaulm]

It was discovered that my email from 8 years ago was stuck in the Workflow section. That is resolved now. I've added all my chapter titles, and uploaded chapter 1 for the PL.

[MaryAnnSpiegel]

Mel,
Would you like me to add a section 0 so that your chapter and section numbers match?
MaryAnn