czandra wrote: ↑January 21st, 2022, 4:48 pm
times are approximate because I worked from listen file, hard to fine-tune
My Conclusion: Ask PL to run my latest recording [section 100], and then decide whether to (1) re-record (2) do spot-fixes (3) abandon my efforts.
Remember, I record each page as a WAV file, so I can easily re-record a complete page, and then replace the WAV file, rather than risk frequent and minute changes in voice throughout a page.
104 was, I think, the first of these tracks, back on January 16th. Now five days isn’t a lot of time, but I did five or six more recordings in that time, some of which I didn’t upload. I am confident that I have improved since then, so there is a chance that [104] is the worst of the batch. To me this is encouraging.
(01). times are approximate because I worked from listen file, hard to fine-tune
Times were perfect. I found the audio AND the page text.
(02) German pronunciation okay overall, but:
This surprises me. My German is 45 years old, and even then it was a dialect, learned from a German Lutheran pastor in Gawler, right on the edge of the Barossa Valley, Adelaide Australia. Probably in a league of its own compared to “high” and “low” German in Germany
(03) 1:50 QVart- Guy-ge;
(04) 1:54 Zoan (Schoen is nice, Sohn is son);
(05) 23:21 erhOOb sich
Up to 5% (?) of the words are in German, names of cantatas, arias and so on. but my German is flaky. I know to pronounce “ie” as ee” and “ei” as “aye”, but that’s about it.
I am not sure how to approach this
(a) Identify all the German phrases, have a German-native-language (from Schweitzer’s home region!!) read out all the German, and have me memorize them then repeat them. I have a musical memory, honest; it freaks people out. I could play-back then memorize the phrases, and either study the phrases for each page before recording the page, or paste them in.
(b) Think of the audience. I suspect most will be English-speakers (EFL or ESL), and very few will be German. My experience living and working in “foreign” countries is that the hosts are very tolerant of mispronunciation. Schweitzer would probably mutter “not bad, for a West Australian”. I am the same with foreign tourists in Toronto; they always know more of my language than I know of theirs. So I am not too worried of the Germans; they are used to the English speaking very. Loudly. And. Slowly. The English audience probably don’t know German and are bothered that a German (hah hah) is reading to them. The Music teachers don’t worry me too much. Most of the German is given out with an identifier “Cantata number two hundred and forty six” which corroborates the German title.
I am at a handicap here because I am scrupulously obeying the command “Please don't download or listen to files belonging to projects in process”, and so have not listened to what other Readers have done with the German.
(06) French will pass, brave efforts
My French is not bad (2½ years in the Île de France in 1978-80). My problem in 2014 and 2016 was being mistaken for a Frenchman. French people tell me that I have a Parisian accent. I mean no disrespect here, but my wife and I had problems in Montreal & Quebec, I suspect because our French was from Paris. I think that people in French Guyana might be puzzled. People in Poissy opened up to me and told me jokes about myself, in French.
My German pronunciation worries me more, if only because so many references are in German.
(07) English pronunciation of “bass” not consistent. Should be long A as in ACE at 2:46 and 9:11
Absolutely. It’s not my fault (grin) It’s what comes from living in a town where “fish” means “cod”, and every other piece of seafood has to be identified by its name,
I fixed up a few base-->base and will happily go through and re-record.
(08) Generally noise would pass. I’ll note times of most obvious. There’s a trend of noise at page ends, indicating use of mouse
I have a solution. I read the text Full Screen (<F11>) in order to spot the blurred characters in the digital copy. When I want to pause Audacity I tap the space-bar, but the reader program interprets this as “skip ahead 1 or 2 pages; or backwards; at random, and then refuse to respond to any keystrokes”. There follows the Alt+Tab into the recorder, back-pedal etc. I get flustered.
It just so happens that I have THREE laptops here, any two of which will fit on my desk. I am going to have my main laptop running Audacity directly in front of me, and a second laptop with the full-screen reader. I might even work out how to have the third laptop with the reader on the following page, which will take care of page-turning except for the two places I have found where the end of the section is on the next page, and terminates with a footnote, which itself bleeds over to a third page.
(09) When I use mouse, I wait until I am silent so that bit can be cut easily. Such as: 2:06, 11:41, 12:16, 19:16, 22:52, 25:04. At 30 mins stomach grumbling?, 30:0 mouth noise.
I think I am getting better and cleaning out the pops, ticks, clicks etc.
My stomach grumbles after a long recording session that ran for nineteen tracks from 9:13 through to 13:10. I have since that day learned to let Audacity run on recording, leaving a large gap, and then shorten the long gap during my post-recording edits. I like to think that my later efforts will be cleaner.
(10) “end footnote” omitted at 18:46 and 25:04
I will patch these in.
(11) at about 16 mins. there’s a syntax problem (not yours). The sentence beginning “As before….” at the 5th line on p. 438, I would be tempted to remove both occurrences of “that”. The sentence as it is just doesn’t make sense.
I remember that. There is a place on one section where I corrected “flue” to “flute” and then two or more sections later realized that Schweitzer was talking about pipe-organs which, I assume, have a “flue”.
(12) the 5 second silence at 14:12 is too short. Clapping is good, but I think they still need the silence? Easiest for them if we all do it the same way.
I will go through and replace all music intervals with a 3-second 3-clap segment.
(13) P437 I like “small diagram” for the small diagram at 15:30
I didn’t think of that. It works for me, but will it puzzle audio-readers? I would be happy to use a slightly longer phrase such as “small diagram of a trumpet mouthpiece”.
(14) Now, about footnotes: The abbreviation at 8:18 and later notes which refer to “current practice” in Schweitzer’s time, I understand your choice. Others I’m not so sure: 2:50, 3:10, 3:22, 7:24, 10:30.
I am still pondering this. Footnotes about currency are meaningless without a date. Is “about £10” Newman’s translation of a German amount in 1911 to English pounds in 1911 or to English pounds in Newman’s time (1966) or ???. Simple Page references are obviously useless in an audio version.
Right now I see two options:-
(a) Footnotes Bah! Read the footnote in-line without mentioning that it is a footnote; maybe lower the tone? pitch? of voice a shade to indicate that it is some sort of an aside to the audience.
(b) Read the footnotes in full with “footnote” and “end footnote” and let the BC/PL decide whether the diversion of attention is too great.
One of the footnotes in "my" sections is 3/4 of a page long.
(15) My original post was padded all over with diplomacies and reassurances, and cautions not to over-edit, along with a note about small mouth noises and breathing being okay.
Czandra, I thank you for this. I think that when I am recording I am stressed out and my voice moves towards a frightened squeak. I suppose that I will relax as days go by. I am glad that I jumped into Music/German/French/Italian; anything less will now be “beneath me”(grin), but I bet that it kept me on my toes and added a little bit of stress.
(16) Some people edit out breathing, I don’t, unless it’s raspy, too long, etc. I feel it’s what makes a recording human and warm and not a bot. Reader discretion of course.
I agree with this.
(17) Also a note about pacing. Your pacing is good and the reading enjoyable to listen to. At the beginning there are longer gaps between sentences, but these become more comfortable and natural as the section progresses; I wouldn’t change them.
Czandra, I thank you for this.(plus what I wrote two minutes ago)
(18) You don`t need to be reassigned, the sections are yours. You can record and re-upload any time, though it`s best to do it only once, not to overload the system. It's best therefore to get all changes in at one time, after PL has weighed in.
That said, the PL requirements for this text are "standard", and most or all of the points I mentioned would likely pass muster.
Thank You. I know that I can do better; but I got aboard because this project had been abandoned, picked up etc and I wanted to put my shoulder to the wheel and help to shove it out the door. For that reason I am willing to put in the time. But if someone who is familiar with the work can read it better, then LibriVox has a better “product”, and I could work in another capacity.
(19) I did a closer listen because that's what you requested, in order to improve further recordings. I think we should let the PL do her job when she gets to it. I am just trying to help at your request, and have not suggested that you re-record anything.
Thank You. It’s true, I wanted a deep critique. I mean, now is the time to fix things that I can fix; that is a sound investment in the future with a high ROI.
My worry for the PL is that with almost three hours to wade through, if I then re-record there will be another three hours for the PL. If I wait for PL that saves me some time, but then there will be a great deal of spot-checking, perhaps another one to two hours anyway.
(20) Nonetheless, as you are intent on honing your skill, there are always improvements to make for each of us. It's one of the things I like about LV.
Me too.
Thanks, Chris
