COMPLETE [Fortnightly Poetry] Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening, by Robert Frost - dl

Solo or group recordings that are finished and fully available for listeners
grs2905
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Post by grs2905 »

williamjones
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Post by williamjones »

-- Bill Jones

When you think that you have exhausted all possibilities, remember this: you haven't.
--- Thomas Edison
msfry
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Post by msfry »

jfgallagher wrote: January 8th, 2019, 8:43 am Michele,

Though I now live in mostly snowless Texas, I have spent plenty of time in snow country.

The answer is that it depends on what kind of snow! I am no expert, but I have been told that the Eskimos and Inuits have like 17 different words for snow.

The big, fluffy flakes that fall on a calm day not only fall silently, but do a marvelous job of muffing all other sounds. At the other end of the spectrum are the little pellets of snow that rattle off the remaining leaves and make a gentle hiss as they bounce off a crusted snow cover.

With "easy wind" you would be hard-pressed to catch the sound of the snow flakes...too much background noise (need real life 'noise removal'!).
Well, that is just fascinating. I do seem to recall from my childhood (a rare snow storm in Louisiana where 4 inches fell) some snowflakes falling on frozen leaves and making a tapping sound. Had to be those "barely frozen so they go splat", or "frozen hard like ice" flakes, but a distinct sound that amplified the silence by the contrast.
msfry
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Post by msfry »

Thank you Josh, Tomas, Graham and Bill for your renditions on this cold (in the 30's), wintery breezy night at my house. A perfect mood for listening to this poem . . . . though no snow for me. All are PL OK :thumbs: :thumbs: :thumbs: :thumbs:
chrysse
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Post by chrysse »

msfry
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Post by msfry »

Chrysse, welcome to Librivox and to the Poetry Fortnightly Project. Hope to see more of you around here.

Your rendition meets all specs and is PL OK. Nice reading! I noticed a lot of plosives, though, which you can remedy in future recordings by placing the mike at more of an angle to your mouth (some recommend 45 degrees), a little further away from your mouth, and/or covering your mike with a tight-fitting sock or stocking. Plosives are sharp hissing S's and popping P's, something most of us have had to grapple with. The poetry projects are a great place to practice.
mpetermann
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Post by mpetermann »

Hi! This is my first official shindig, so let me know if anything needs some changing.

Please list it under Melissa Jane (I signed up for another project under this name, but it isn't complete, so I figured I would put on here either way).

The duration is 1:14.

https://librivox.org/uploads/aradlaw/snowyevening_frost_mp_128kb.mp3__.mp3

Thank you!
Mel
msfry
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Post by msfry »

Melissa, welcome to Librivox and thanks for coming out to play with us. What an expressive rendition! Only two things need fixing.
Checker reports volume at 80.5, which falls outside of LV's target range (86–92 dB). Recommend you increase amplification by at least +6, or +9 to arrive at LV's median volume of 89dB. In future, up your volume on your recording program and on your mike if that's possible, before you record. Eventually you will get it set right.

Also, your file name has an extra .mp3__ at the end.
https://librivox.org/uploads/aradlaw/snowyevening_frost_mp_128kb.mp3__.mp3
Actually, .mp3 is added automatically when you save the file as an .mp3 file type, you don't add it yourself.
You just save as: https://librivox.org/uploads/aradlaw/snowyevening_frost_mp_128kb

Make your repair and upload again, with the correct file name, and post it here as before.

You are now entered into the LV catalog as MelissaJane.
chrysse
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Post by chrysse »

msfry wrote: January 16th, 2019, 10:36 am Chrysse, welcome to Librivox and to the Poetry Fortnightly Project. Hope to see more of you around here.

Your rendition meets all specs and is PL OK. Nice reading! I noticed a lot of plosives, though, which you can remedy in future recordings by placing the mike at more of an angle to your mouth (some recommend 45 degrees), a little further away from your mouth, and/or covering your mike with a tight-fitting sock or stocking. Plosives are sharp hissing S's and popping P's, something most of us have had to grapple with. The poetry projects are a great place to practice.
Thank you, Michele, appreciate the feedback. I'll try your tips on my next recordings. :D
mpetermann
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Post by mpetermann »

Hey Michele, I'm struggling to get this volume right. I posted in the help thread, but I wanted to post here as well, just in case:

"Help. I've looked at many videos, but can't figure out my problem.

My recordings don't have enough db. Right now, I'm around 80.5. I've tried amplifying the sound, but it's obvious that the waves don't increase that much, and Audacity won't allow me to amplify anymore without clipping it. When I do this anyway, there's a ton of background noise. When I try noise reduction, guess what? You can't hear me again.

I've tried repositioning my mic. I've tried increasing volume in audacity on my mic. But it seems like I have to unnaturally speak into my mic to get the volume where it needs to be. Any help would be appreciated!"
Mel
mpetermann
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Post by mpetermann »

Oooooook. Here we go again. Crossing my fingers and praying this one works! Thanks for being patient with me!

https://librivox.org/uploads/aradlaw/snowyevening_frost_mp_128kb.mp3

The length is 1:15.
Mel
msfry
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Post by msfry »

Melissa your rendition is now PL OK.

I don't know how to help you with your volume/gain problem. These things come to mind.

There is a slider to the left of the track in Audacity (the top slider) that controls gain. Mine is set at 0. Where is yours?

There is a microphone volume slider in the tools above the track. I keep mine at .95. Where is yours?

I saw Scotty's video and can't add anything there as I don't use ReplayGain, but I do use the Compressor Effect to lower the spikes (I have those in my recordings, too).
My recording process goes like this:
6 seconds of silence before I begin to record (especially on long files where noise conditions can change).
5 seconds of silence at the end.
Compare the two silent segments and get my noise profile from the quietest one.
Run Noise Removal twice, at these settings: 7, 7, 2, Reduce
Compare the two silent segments again. If the noisier one is still too noisy, take another Noise Profile of that and run that once.
Then run Compressor (my settings are Threshhold -12; Noise -20; Ratio 2:1 and the other sliders stay all the way to the left.
Remove the extra 5 seconds of silence at the beginning. (Weird thing about Compressor is it fades out the first 5 seconds of any recording, so I always record 5 seconds of silence at the beginning of my recordings, removing it AFTER I run Compressor.)

Export the file, run thru Checker, and make Amplification adjustments as necessary to get my dB around 89-90.
When you Compress first, you can jack up the volume a bit and there will be no clipped audio.

Hope this helps.


Oh, my first 18 months on LV I used a cheap noise cancelling headphone/microphone set. Did lots of PL OK recording with it, in fact I recorded my first big solo, Twenty Thousand Leagues Under The Sea, using that mike. A huge undertaking of 6 months duration! I can hardly stand to listen to those thin, tinny files now. But how was I to know then that I would be sticking with this hobby 5 years later! I now have a Yeti Blue, sitting in a styrefoam lined box on my desk, which sounds much better, but it's still not as crisp and clear as I wish. Point being, I'm still working on my setup too.
ekelly
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Post by ekelly »

hhtps://librivox.org/uploads/tests/snowyevening_frost_ebk_128kb.mp3
1.10 One minute and ten seconds



Hello!
Newbie here.
Let me know if it needs any modification. I have been working on lowering volume and uploading with correct URL.
Not a quick learner, but making progress. This poem is so appropriate tonight, weather-wise in Ohio.
Thanks!!
ekelly
bluechien
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Post by bluechien »

Sorry to leave this one so late, Michele, but happy to have the chance to do this:

https://librivox.org/uploads/aradlaw/snowyevening_frost_ed_128kb.mp3 1:14
Eva D
If we do meet again, why, we shall smile;
If not, why then, this parting was well made.
msfry
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Post by msfry »

Melissa and Eva, your poems are PL OK. Thanks.
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