You can check your own Technical Specifications!

All languages: post your test recording here. Help check audio files.
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njgorgen
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Post by njgorgen »

Hi! I am a newbie and just want to know if my 1minute test was OK. I found it in the forum after I posted it but haven't found anything since. Forum name is njgorgen. Anxious to get started. Thanks for your help!
smijen
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Post by smijen »

njgorgen wrote: August 26th, 2018, 6:10 pm Hi! I am a newbie and just want to know if my 1minute test was OK. I found it in the forum after I posted it but haven't found anything since. Forum name is njgorgen. Anxious to get started. Thanks for your help!
Hi Nancy - welcome to LV!
Sonia has given you some feedback here.
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Post by Nichalia »

5Tommy00 wrote: April 30th, 2018, 4:55 pm I cannot get my recording volume up to specifications. I have increased it on Audacity, increased the gain on my interface to the point of clipping, did a live chat with Focusrite (the maker of my interface) who said to contact the maker of my software, searched FAQs on Audacity's website, increased the recording level on my PC (HP laptop with Windows 10), read "Recording for Newbies", and swore (that doesn't usually help, but sometimes it makes you feel better, especially if accompanied with the slamming of a door) and still cannot get the recording volume required. I can't get Checker to test it because it comes in too low. Can you say 'frustration'? Anyone got any ideas?

https://librivox.org/uploads/tests/test.mp3
Did you get it fixed? All good now?
gibhere2
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Post by gibhere2 »

5Tommy00 wrote: April 30th, 2018, 4:55 pm I cannot get my recording volume up to specifications. I have increased it on Audacity, increased the gain on my interface to the point of clipping, did a live chat with Focusrite (the maker of my interface) who said to contact the maker of my software, searched FAQs on Audacity's website, increased the recording level on my PC (HP laptop with Windows 10), read "Recording for Newbies", and swore (that doesn't usually help, but sometimes it makes you feel better, especially if accompanied with the slamming of a door) and still cannot get the recording volume required. I can't get Checker to test it because it comes in too low. Can you say 'frustration'? Anyone got any ideas?

https://librivox.org/uploads/tests/test.mp3
I know this is an old post but looks like there are no real answers. I was having that trouble too. If you are using audacity to record, use the leveler effect first. That will boost the sound up several dBs. Then you can increase a little using the "amplify" effect without clipping if you are still coming up a little short.
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Nichalia
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Post by Nichalia »

gibhere2 wrote: April 14th, 2019, 3:58 pm
Nichalia wrote: February 27th, 2019, 2:19 am
5Tommy00 wrote: April 30th, 2018, 4:55 pm I cannot get my recording volume up to specifications. I have increased it on Audacity, increased the gain on my interface to the point of clipping, did a live chat with Focusrite (the maker of my interface) who said to contact the maker of my software, searched FAQs on Audacity's website, increased the recording level on my PC (HP laptop with Windows 10), read "Recording for Newbies", and swore (that doesn't usually help, but sometimes it makes you feel better, especially if accompanied with the slamming of a door) and still cannot get the recording volume required. I can't get Checker to test it because it comes in too low. Can you say 'frustration'? Anyone got any ideas?

https://librivox.org/uploads/tests/test.mp3
I know this is an old post but looks like there are no real answers. I was having that trouble too. If you are using audacity to record, use the leveler effect first. That will boost the sound up several dBs. Then you can increase a little using the "amplify" effect without clipping if you are still coming up a little short.
That's a nice suggestion! :)

I also use a Focusrite (Scarlett 2i2), and often use Audacity to record. I'm sure we can help you get it all set up! What kind of mic are you using?

Try these steps:

1) Make sure that you have the interface (Scarlett, or whatever you use) selected in the drop-down at the top for the mic and output (as long as your mic and headphones connect to it!) You'll also want to choose "mono" (your sample is recorded in stereo). So from left to right: Core Audio, <name of your interface>, Mono, <name of your interface>.

2) Hit record, and start talking. Look for the levels on the screen, to watch your loudness. Keep talking and change the gain on your interface until you see the levels on Audacity bouncing around 12. A little more or less is perfectly fine. Like you said, clipping (the meter going to zero, which turns red) is bad -- if you are clipping, turn the gain down a bit. You can always increase loudness a little bit, but there's no real way to fix clipped audio.

3) Once you're at an ok level, don't touch your gain anymore. Record your test, plus the 5 seconds of silence at the end.

4) Export it as MP3, just go ahead and do it. Don't close Audacity, though, because we're not done. Run that MP3 through the Checker. Click on "Information" to see the details... Look at the Volume. Whatever the number is there, you can compare it to 89 to find out how much you need to change your volume. Changing volume in Audacity is called "Amplify." For example, if you see it says your Volume is 90, then we'd need to Amplify it by -1 (turn it down 1). If it says 85, then we need to Amplify it by 4. You do this by highlighting the whole track that you want to amplify, then Effects -> Amplify and type into the box how much you want to amplify.

Example: Your test one is actually at 70.4 dB "volume" in the tracker. Since the goal is 89 db, that means we would need to increase it by 18.6 db (89-70.4=18.6).

There are other things you can do to help your audio, too, but please do let us know if you try again, and how it goes!
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Post by TriciaG »

There are some posts that are all quotes. I cannot tell if someone is having a problem or not (or even who wrote what). Please don't use the quote button on a post unless you're actually quoting another post, and write YOUR response after the last /quote coding tag. (I usually just use the Post Reply button on the very top and bottom of a thread, unless I specifically want to quote someone.)

With that said, is everyone set, or are there unresolved problems?
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cowguy02
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Post by cowguy02 »

Starlite wrote: October 24th, 2011, 4:27 am mp3 gain (use it to measure volume only- we aim for 89db -DO NOT change volume with this tool. If it needs to be increased, either increase your microphone inputs or amplify the file in audacity. Does not work on a mac.)
Actully someone just ported it for Mac I've been using it for a few weeks now and it works great! http://projects.sappharad.com/mp3gain/
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Post by annise »

I don't claim to be a sound expert but everything I have read online seems to suggest it is better to record to the needed specifications than to rely on a "magic fix", especially if your volume is much lower- it's an exponential file so there is a really big difference between low 70's and high eighties. And that seems quite reasonable to me as far as sound quality is concerned.
Also Replay gain seems to just tell the player to play louder. So if the player is not able to read the instruction it won't work.

Anne
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Post by Jmbau13 »

Is there any way to update the beginning post of this thread to include Windows 10, as the operating systems referred to are now somewhat outdated? Happy to help with suitable text.
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TriciaG
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Post by TriciaG »

Oh, my - Vista? XP? :shock:

It's probably the same instructions as XP, correct? I don't think Win10 lets you see all the tech specs in the Properties window.
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Jmbau13
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Post by Jmbau13 »

TriciaG wrote: September 10th, 2019, 4:30 pm Oh, my - Vista? XP? :shock:
It's probably the same instructions as XP, correct? I don't think Win10 lets you see all the tech specs in the Properties window.
Well... Vista and XP are now dodos - Microblot stopped providing support for them some years ago. They were replaced by Windows 7, the shortlived and much decried Windows 8 and then by Windows 10.

In Windows 10 you can check the specs of an audio file by right clicking on the file, selecting Properties and then the Audio Properties tab, which most helpfully lists much of the the critical info, viz:
- recording Length
- Mono (or not, via number of channels)
- KhZ
- Bit Rate
- whether bit rate is Constant or not

I don't want to sound too critical, but this thread is now really way out of date. I think it would confuse most and almost certainly anyone non technical who read it looking for help on getting their technical specs correct. And getting the tech specs correct is a confusing task for a newby, but essential when starting out.

My suggestion is to delete or archive it, and replace it with something current and more helpful - but then, not my thread and not my call.
regards
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Bloater51
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Post by Bloater51 »

The reality is that reviewing and updating the technical instructions including the Wiki is no mean task! A lot has changed over the years.

One thing I have found as a newcomer is that there is a known problem with recording levels for USB microphones in Win 10. Microsoft acknowledge that but have no official solution. Not everyone experiences it, nor every make, but for those that do merely turning the microphone volume up to maximum (in Windows and Audacity) is not sufficient even if their speaking level is quite high. The simplest solution then seems to be to use the ReplayGain plug-in in Audacity to get the 89dB target level, though as commented above that is not ideal, and for those with a naturally quiet voice the background amplification may well be too much. Having experimented with a couple of microphones i have had access to, the technically inferior Logitech microphone on my webcam seemed the better option overall because it does not require a boost, though this was with my fairly loud voice and the Audacity volume at 1.0.

The other thing I have discovered is that Audacity now comes bundled with LAME, except for Linux users (a minority). So the instruction to install it separately is now mostly redundant.

There will be volunteers with old machines and unusual software but with official Microsoft support for Win 7 and below now ended leaving them vulnerable, it should certainly be assumed that newcomers are most likely to be Win 10 or MacOS 10 users.
Andrew
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Post by linny »

The links in the first post to the Checker are broken. :cry:
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Post by MichaelMaggs »

Bloater51 wrote: January 16th, 2020, 4:43 am The reality is that reviewing and updating the technical instructions including the Wiki is no mean task!
True. And it becomes even more difficult, and confusing for beginners, when the instructions are spread around between the wiki and old forum posts. Even the list of people who have editing rights are different - so for example I updated the Checker page on the wiki (https://wiki.librivox.org/index.php?title=Checker) a few months ago, but I can't correct that outdated link on the forum

Much better would be to keep all technical instructions on the wiki only, with forum advice being replaced with wiki links.
DavidPhillips
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Post by DavidPhillips »

I am using an iMac running 10.15.4. I have opened the file in iTunes and I find no "Summary" tab. Further I right clicked and opened "get info" - again no "summary" tab. I'm not sure where to go from here. And none of the information provided shows volume -????
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