[COMPLETE] The Outline of Science Vol. 3 by Thomson - ava

iamartin · Post by **iamartin** » April 3rd, 2011, 8:06 pm

Jim,

Thanks! You gave me the confidence to keep trying. It ended up that because I had "Snap to" at the bottom left clicked, it wouldn't let me select a section after I expanded.
Now, I can get to the real nitty-gritty and start experimenting!

Irma

Mich_elle · Post by **Mich_elle** » April 4th, 2011, 2:42 am

sec 11

URL: http://upload.librivox.org/share/uploads/ava/outlineofsciencevol3_11_thomson.mp3

Michelle

Mich_elle · Post by **Mich_elle** » April 4th, 2011, 2:48 am

sec 11
12m48s
sorry, I seem to have developed a new bad habit of leaving the times off

Michelle

Post by **Availle** » April 4th, 2011, 6:29 am

Thanks Michelle, I appreciate it! I hope I have time to PL your section soon...

Post by **Availle** » April 8th, 2011, 2:29 am

Michelle,

I've listened to your section and those are the things I noticed:

I like your reading in general, but especially in the end you are getting a little bit too fast for my taste (I'm not an English native). For non-fiction you may want to slow down just a little bit - remember that you are the only one who sees the text, and that the listener may need a bit of time to digest what you've just told him. For this one it's ok, don't worry

In the first 43 seconds, after the disclaimer, the recording sounds very choppy, as if you had recorded, stopped, started again, stopped again, and that about 10 times... Your voice sounds different and the background noise is changing. Personally I find that very distracting. Listen to it with headphones, and decide for yourself if you want to redo this part. It's perfectly understandable, but as I said I find it very distracting.

Your volume is too low. We are aiming for about 89 dB, your file is about 84. You can use the program mp3gain to check your files - it's freely available online. You can see this in Audacity: The peaks of the waves should be between 0.5 and 1. Please amplify it or use "normalize to -2 dB", then it will be fine.

Thanks for your hard work!

Post by **alg1001** » April 8th, 2011, 4:26 am

Hi Ava,

Here is Section 7.

http://upload.librivox.org/share/uploads/ava/outlineofsciencevol3_07_thomson.mp3
21:29

Thank you,
-Amy

Post by **Availle** » April 8th, 2011, 6:05 am

Not at all - I thank you Amy!

Mich_elle · Post by **Mich_elle** » April 8th, 2011, 10:28 am

Thanks for your comments Ava,
I can't repair right now, sore throat, but will as soon as I can.
Meanwhile, maybe you can give some advice about the levels.
I'm using the audacity beta with a Logitech USB mike.
The recording levels appear very low to me and when I amplify there always seem to be great dips in the levels while the normalize effect seems to be mainly just amplifying, without having that much effect on the low parts.
I will try the mp3gain when I feel better and definitely correct whatever you mentioned.
On that note: I find the corrected and added back in parts distracting also, but don’t yet know how to avoid having the corrections sound different, I do try to make them while doing the original recording so that as much as possible remains the same, but there are always the random reversed words, etc. to be re-recorded and spliced in.
Also thanks for the note to slow down, I am trying to overcome speeding up when I get excited about something I’m reading, but am not usually aware of it until I listen—hopefully your observation will prompt me to be more careful.
Michelle

Post by **TriciaG** » April 8th, 2011, 11:01 am

The recording levels appear very low to me and when I amplify there always seem to be great dips in the levels while the normalize effect seems to be mainly just amplifying, without having that much effect on the low parts.

This is where the Leveler effect comes in! It evens out the recording a bit. I haven't listened to yours, but you could try the Moderate or Heavy setting and see how it goes.

Oh, and if it doesn't sound too unnatural, you could use the Change Tempo effect to slow the whole recording down. I sometimes do it to mine, but I don't dare do more than about -3%.

Post by **Availle** » April 8th, 2011, 11:15 am

Michelle,

it's hard to recreate the same recording conditions again. Things like doors/windows closed/open, the room or even place where the computer stands/you are sitting... can make a difference. If you notice a mistake while you are recording, just repeat the sentence and cut out the wrong part later on. Don't worry too much about perfectionism - it's quite ok to leave things like "his dog and cat" in when the text says "his cat and dog". If the meaning does not alter, you can leave these things in - unless a word perfect recording is required.

Here are general tips on how to do the editing: http://wiki.librivox.org/index.php/Editing_Audio#How_To I personally use the "tongue click" technique when I notice a mistake, and redo an appropriate part.

If your volume is rather inconsistent, try to use the "leveller" in Audacity to make it more even. This may not be a good idea for fiction, when you have, say, a fight scene and an early morning whispering between lovers in the same recording though...

Don't worry about the speed too much. I noticed very well that you were speedier in a part where you were excited - that's actually much better than monotonously droning on and on... Just remember that you may want to start out a tad slower than usual for non-fiction so that you don't lose your listeners on the way

Mich_elle · Post by **Mich_elle** » April 8th, 2011, 1:43 pm

Tricia, you are always so helpful.
I can't wait to get to work on this soon as I can.
Thanks,
Michelle

iamartin · Post by **iamartin** » April 12th, 2011, 2:05 pm

Ava & Tricia,

Here's try #3:
http://upload.librivox.org/share/uploads/ava/outlineofsciencevol3_10_thomson.mp3
33.8MB
35:10
I believe I corrected the skip.
@Tricia, to be quite honest (& I feel really stupid putting this!

) I never could get used to the multiple tracks of Audacity or the editing techniques (there's alot
going on right now in Texas so it was hard to find quiet time to focus) so
I corrected the skip in GarageBand then found out I can actually increase track volume (not gain) and did increase by 6.0dB (now I'm afraid it sounds too loud)
then imported into Audacity and did the Leveller as you suggested.
If it's wrong I'll keep on trying. I might be a little slow at absorbing this

(LOL) but I am stubborn!
THX,
Irma

Post by **TriciaG** » April 12th, 2011, 2:44 pm

Section 10 PL OK!

Volume was great - right on target.

Multiple tracks? Except for making a replacement phrase, I record it all in one track. If I stop the recording, I hold down the shift key when starting the recording again. That makes it so the new recording is started at the end of the current track.

But if GB works well for you, then I think that's fine, too.

jedcline · Post by **jedcline** » April 12th, 2011, 3:01 pm

Irma, I use multiple tracks in Audacity. Insert a new track section below the erroneous phrase in the main track, re-record it there and modify it like was already done to the main track (leveler, noise cleaning, amplitude setting to match, for example, if already done to main track), time-shift it to get it to align with the erroneous phrase span, select the erroneous area in the main track and record silence over it to make it a blank area; then go to the tracks pull-down menu and merge tracks. Is one more option for your toolbox. - Jim

iamartin · Post by **iamartin** » April 12th, 2011, 3:59 pm

@Tricia
YEH!!!!!
Thanks so much for your help and support!

@Jim
I really appreciate the tips! I'll have to try and keep conquering it!
I know it's something so basic and I really don't get it that I don't get it!

You all are great!
Irma