Hi! My name's Nate! I'm new to this site, and I've just been told to give a 1 minute voice test on the site. I've decided to do my first excerpt from a passive of The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mister Hyde Let me know what you think and how I can improve upon this. Thanks!
https://librivox.org/uploads/tests/Hyde.mp3
My First Excerpt
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TriciaG
- LibriVox Admin Team
- Posts: 60726
- Joined: June 15th, 2008, 10:30 pm
- Location: Toronto, ON (but Minnesotan to age 32)
Welcome!
Usually test recordings go in the "listeners and editors wanted" forum, but we can deal with this here, if you like.
Sounds pretty good, and the volume is really good. There are some technical things to fix. Are you using Audcity? I'm going to assume so in my instructions.
1. The recording is in stereo. To change all future recordings, go to Edit, Preferences, Devices. Under Recording, change Channels to "1 (Mono)".
2. You've got quite a bit of background noise. It shows up as the blue stuff between your phrases. I would suggest some noise reduction to take care of some of it. Here are a couple resources:
text instructions: http://wiki.librivox.org/index.php/Noisecleaning_With_Pics
video, but with an older version of Audacity so the settings are different: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VFSg9o37HMw
My settings are as follows:
Noise reduction: 10-16 (I suggest about 14 for you)
Sensitivity: 6
Frequency Smoothing: 6
3. Bit rate is variable; it needs to be 128 constant. This is set when you export to MP3. When you go to export, on the screen where you enter the file name for the MP3, change the Bit Rate mode to Constant, and the quality should be 128 kbps. You should only have to set it once; it'll remember the setting until you change it again.
That's all the technical stuff. Since you ask for areas of improvement, I'll say that you could try to not blast some of your vowels. If you look at your whole wave form, you've got a lot of occasional spikes. If you go to View/Show Clipping, it'll show two red, vertical lines where those spikes hit the maximum (clip - and clipping can cause distortion of the sound). It takes a lot of practice, but try to be more even in your tone. If you can keep an eye on the wave forms as you're recording, that "show clipping" will bring up that red line while recording, too, so you can notice it and redo that phrase with a bit less blast.
It's a fine line between reading with emphasis and passion (which often involves a lot of volume changes), and reading to be heard and understood and enjoyed by the listener. Too much variation in volume can cause irritation to people on headphones or earbuds - they can't hear some of the words very well, but others can be piercing.
Like I said, though, this is a fairly advanced thing. Your vocal style as it is now is perfectly OK for LibriVox, and this isn't an audition.
The technical stuff, though, will need adjustment.
Try making these adjustments, then post another test. Post in this same thread when it's ready.
Usually test recordings go in the "listeners and editors wanted" forum, but we can deal with this here, if you like.
Sounds pretty good, and the volume is really good. There are some technical things to fix. Are you using Audcity? I'm going to assume so in my instructions.
1. The recording is in stereo. To change all future recordings, go to Edit, Preferences, Devices. Under Recording, change Channels to "1 (Mono)".
2. You've got quite a bit of background noise. It shows up as the blue stuff between your phrases. I would suggest some noise reduction to take care of some of it. Here are a couple resources:
text instructions: http://wiki.librivox.org/index.php/Noisecleaning_With_Pics
video, but with an older version of Audacity so the settings are different: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VFSg9o37HMw
My settings are as follows:
Noise reduction: 10-16 (I suggest about 14 for you)
Sensitivity: 6
Frequency Smoothing: 6
3. Bit rate is variable; it needs to be 128 constant. This is set when you export to MP3. When you go to export, on the screen where you enter the file name for the MP3, change the Bit Rate mode to Constant, and the quality should be 128 kbps. You should only have to set it once; it'll remember the setting until you change it again.
That's all the technical stuff. Since you ask for areas of improvement, I'll say that you could try to not blast some of your vowels.
If you look at your whole wave form, you've got a lot of occasional spikes. If you go to View/Show Clipping, it'll show two red, vertical lines where those spikes hit the maximum (clip - and clipping can cause distortion of the sound). It takes a lot of practice, but try to be more even in your tone. If you can keep an eye on the wave forms as you're recording, that "show clipping" will bring up that red line while recording, too, so you can notice it and redo that phrase with a bit less blast. It's a fine line between reading with emphasis and passion (which often involves a lot of volume changes), and reading to be heard and understood and enjoyed by the listener. Too much variation in volume can cause irritation to people on headphones or earbuds - they can't hear some of the words very well, but others can be piercing.
Like I said, though, this is a fairly advanced thing. Your vocal style as it is now is perfectly OK for LibriVox, and this isn't an audition.
The technical stuff, though, will need adjustment.Try making these adjustments, then post another test. Post in this same thread when it's ready.
School fiction: David Blaize
Exploration: The First Four Voyages of Amerigo Vespucci
Serial novel: The Wandering Jew
Medieval England meets Civil War Americans: Centuries Apart
Humor: My Lady Nicotine
Exploration: The First Four Voyages of Amerigo Vespucci
Serial novel: The Wandering Jew
Medieval England meets Civil War Americans: Centuries Apart
Humor: My Lady Nicotine