Absolute Basics of Set Up for an incurable right hander

lightcrystal · Post by **lightcrystal** » January 24th, 2022, 5:36 pm

Issue 1: Microphone picking up mouse clicks,

Attempt 1 to solve: buy a microphone clamp/stand thing.
Result: unsure, clamps on Amazon get very mixed to bad reviews.

Attempt 2: arrange desktop. Put mouse further away from microphone. Put microphone on a pile of sturdy books . Add noise reduction tool in Reaper [reafir] to tool chain.
Result: not tested this out yet.

Issue 2: look at the text to be read and speak towards the microphone at the same time.

Answers: unknown. I read online; sometimes I've used the online Gutenberg text. Sometimes I have saved the epub and read in calibre; that allows scanning as I want to avoid stumbles when ending one line and starting another. But calibre crashes often on Linux. PLease DO NOT suggest getting an ipad. You might enjoy the 5 star jail of Apple Town. But for me, no thanks.

Thankyou

Post by **TriciaG** » January 24th, 2022, 6:08 pm

Can you use the PageDown or down arrow key? That's what I do. Or get a scroll mouse?

Regarding the text, how far is your mic from the monitor? Mine's to the side of my mouth and works fine looking at my screen while recording.

lightcrystal · Post by **lightcrystal** » January 24th, 2022, 6:30 pm

TriciaG wrote: ↑January 24th, 2022, 6:08 pm Can you use the PageDown or down arrow key? That's what I do. Or get a scroll mouse?

Regarding the text, how far is your mic from the monitor? Mine's to the side of my mouth and works fine looking at my screen while recording.

In Audacity my scrolls in my scroll mouse were picked up; I would go back at the end and remove these noises. In Reaper I am not sure what I am picking up yet, It might also be artifacts from setting the latency too low. Easy to change that.

I have a large monitor. I only use one; I don't have any dual set up. The weird thing now is that I have put the microphone in a cardboard box. An accidental pop filter lol. THe box is right next to the right of the monitor.It doesn't seem to matter if I have the microphone ball downwards in the box; I still get the same loudness and gainstaging that I want. Maybe it's working out better than I thought.

audiomike · Post by **audiomike** » January 25th, 2022, 8:01 am

You have either the world's loudest scroll wheel or your mic gain is way too high. It's best to keep anything that makes noise behind the mic and a little off axis to the back of the mic where it's least sensitive.
If your mic is directly in front of you, facing straight at you, and reasonably close, there shouldn't be any problem. Don't do the 'angle the mic' thing. It works for DJ's and podcasters but not for reading audiobooks. Turning the mic away causes you to have to increase the gain and lose some of the dynamics of your voice. Directly facing the mic with a good pop filter is a much better solution.

I use 3 monitors; a 27" in the center and a 22" on each side angled in. If you have a 'large' monitor, you shouldn't have a problem seeing around, or over, the mic to read. In my case, those large flat surfaces should be reflecting sound back like crazy but they're behind the mic. I've never had a problem picking up mouse noises or keyboard clicks in a recording. Well, at least as long as I don't get mad because I made too many mistakes and bang on the keys.

Post by **TriciaG** » January 25th, 2022, 8:39 am

Don't do the 'angle the mic' thing. It works for DJ's and podcasters but not for reading audiobooks.

If it's good enough for podcasters, it's good enough for LibriVox. Of course, you might be talking about audiobooks for sale. *shrug* We don't require "professional quality".

paullawleyjones · Post by **paullawleyjones** » February 12th, 2022, 9:16 pm

lightcrystal wrote: ↑January 24th, 2022, 5:36 pm Issue 1: Microphone picking up mouse clicks,

Attempt 2: arrange desktop. Put mouse further away from microphone. Put microphone on a pile of sturdy books . Add noise reduction tool in Reaper [reafir] to tool chain.
Result: not tested this out yet.

"Reafir" is not meant for this type of noise removal. It's more for background noise suppression, room noise, etc.

The first thing to do it to put your recording mode into Tape Mode...

Go to Options -> "New recording that overlaps existing media" and set it to "Trims existing items behind new recording." Turn off "Trim contents behind media items when editing."

Next, go to Options -> "Metronome/pre-roll" and disable the metronome, set Pre-roll to "Pre-roll before recording," and adjust the number of measures (I use 2.)

The result is that you'll get a number of seconds unrecorded (the pre-roll) after you click the mouse. If it's at the start of the recording, you'll see a minus time count up to zero on the big clock at the bottom before it starts recording. If it's in the middle of a track, you'll hear a number of seconds of your recording before the marker is reached, and then it'll start recording. If you place the marker before a mouse click, it will record over it.

lightcrystal · Post by **lightcrystal** » February 12th, 2022, 9:19 pm

paullawleyjones wrote: ↑February 12th, 2022, 9:16 pm
lightcrystal wrote: ↑January 24th, 2022, 5:36 pm Issue 1: Microphone picking up mouse clicks,

Attempt 2: arrange desktop. Put mouse further away from microphone. Put microphone on a pile of sturdy books . Add noise reduction tool in Reaper [reafir] to tool chain.
Result: not tested this out yet.
"Reafir" is not meant for this type of noise removal. It's more for background noise suppression, room noise, etc.

The first thing to do it to put your recording mode into Tape Mode...

Go to Options -> "New recording that overlaps existing media" and set it to "Trims existing items behind new recording." Turn off "Trim contents behind media items when editing."

Next, go to Options -> "Metronome/pre-roll" and disable the metronome, set Pre-roll to "Pre-roll before recording," and adjust the number of measures (I use 2.)

The result is that you'll get a number of seconds unrecorded (the pre-roll) after you click the mouse. If it's at the start of the recording, you'll see a minus time count up to zero on the big clock at the bottom before it starts recording. If it's in the middle of a track, you'll hear a number of seconds of your recording before the marker is reached, and then it'll start recording. If you place the cursor before a mouse click, it will record over it.

Good advice! I have set it up that way and yes, that does stop mouse clicks appearing at the start of a record. I still get very quiet mouse clicks when a record block ends; I fade out a little to not show the mouse click.

paullawleyjones · Post by **paullawleyjones** » February 12th, 2022, 9:23 pm

lightcrystal wrote: ↑February 12th, 2022, 9:19 pm Good advice! I have set it up that way and yes, that does stop mouse clicks appearing at the start of a record. I still get very quiet mouse clicks when a record block ends; I fade out a little to not show the mouse click.

So, when you want to start a new recording block, move the green position indicator back a second or so before the mouse-click noise at the end of the preceding record block, hit record, wait for the pre-roll, and that end mouse click will be recorded over; no need to fade out.

lightcrystal · Post by **lightcrystal** » February 12th, 2022, 9:33 pm

paullawleyjones wrote: ↑February 12th, 2022, 9:23 pm
lightcrystal wrote: ↑February 12th, 2022, 9:19 pm Good advice! I have set it up that way and yes, that does stop mouse clicks appearing at the start of a record. I still get very quiet mouse clicks when a record block ends; I fade out a little to not show the mouse click.
So, when you want to start a new recording block, move the green position indicator back a second or so before the mouse-click noise at the end of the preceding record block, hit record, wait for the pre-roll, and that end mouse click will be recorded over; no need to fade out.

Thank you. Might try that!

paullawleyjones · February 12th, 2022, 10:35 pm

lightcrystal wrote: ↑January 24th, 2022, 5:36 pm Issue 2: look at the text to be read and speak towards the microphone at the same time.

Answers: unknown. I read online; sometimes I've used the online Gutenberg text. Sometimes I have saved the epub and read in calibre; that allows scanning as I want to avoid stumbles when ending one line and starting another. But calibre crashes often on Linux. PLease DO NOT suggest getting an ipad. You might enjoy the 5 star jail of Apple Town. But for me, no thanks.

In my setup, I have my monitor up high, and my mic down low on a mic stand pointing towards my throat so it picks up some chest resonance. It's about 20 degrees off-axis to the left (relative to my head,) and about the same down. My mouth is about 8-10 inches away.

When I get a boom arm, I'll follow this procedure by Steven Jay Cohen (a prolific audiobook narrator) to position it correctly.

When narrating, I get the plain text file from Gutenberg and load it into a simple text editor (GEdit on Ubuntu 20.04) and put it on the left ~40% of my (widescreen) monitor. Reaper goes on the right ~60% of the monitor. Here's a screenshot.

By using a text editor, I can add in my own notes (pronunciation, etc.) and by checking the text for typos (especially if it's OCR) I can preview it at the same time.

lightcrystal · Post by **lightcrystal** » February 13th, 2022, 3:42 am

paullawleyjones wrote: ↑February 12th, 2022, 10:35 pm
lightcrystal wrote: ↑January 24th, 2022, 5:36 pm Issue 2: look at the text to be read and speak towards the microphone at the same time.

Answers: unknown. I read online; sometimes I've used the online Gutenberg text. Sometimes I have saved the epub and read in calibre; that allows scanning as I want to avoid stumbles when ending one line and starting another. But calibre crashes often on Linux. PLease DO NOT suggest getting an ipad. You might enjoy the 5 star jail of Apple Town. But for me, no thanks.
In my setup, I have my monitor up high, and my mic down low on a mic stand pointing towards my throat so it picks up some chest resonance. It's about 20 degrees off-axis to the left (relative to my head,) and about the same down. My mouth is about 8-10 inches away.

When I get a boom arm, I'll follow this procedure by Steven Jay Cohen (a prolific audiobook narrator) to position it correctly.

When narrating, I get the plain text file from Gutenberg and load it into a simple text editor (GEdit on Ubuntu 20.04) and put it on the left ~40% of my (widescreen) monitor. Reaper goes on the right ~60% of the monitor. Here's a screenshot.

By using a text editor, I can add in my own notes (pronunciation, etc.) and by checking the text for typos (especially if it's OCR) I can preview it at the same time.

In the last week I have partially used your set up. I have bee having the text in calibre as half the screen and Reaper as the other half, except you do this with a text editor. I agree that your set up allows mark ups on the text which is something that I would use. Thanks again! Right now having done the record, I am onto the editing and mastering stage and have Reaper occupying the whole monitor space.

lightcrystal · Post by **lightcrystal** » February 13th, 2022, 3:43 am

lightcrystal wrote: ↑February 13th, 2022, 3:42 am
paullawleyjones wrote: ↑February 12th, 2022, 10:35 pm
lightcrystal wrote: ↑January 24th, 2022, 5:36 pm Issue 2: look at the text to be read and speak towards the microphone at the same time.

Answers: unknown. I read online; sometimes I've used the online Gutenberg text. Sometimes I have saved the epub and read in calibre; that allows scanning as I want to avoid stumbles when ending one line and starting another. But calibre crashes often on Linux. PLease DO NOT suggest getting an ipad. You might enjoy the 5 star jail of Apple Town. But for me, no thanks.
In my setup, I have my monitor up high, and my mic down low on a mic stand pointing towards my throat so it picks up some chest resonance. It's about 20 degrees off-axis to the left (relative to my head,) and about the same down. My mouth is about 8-10 inches away.

When I get a boom arm, I'll follow this procedure by Steven Jay Cohen (a prolific audiobook narrator) to position it correctly.

When narrating, I get the plain text file from Gutenberg and load it into a simple text editor (GEdit on Ubuntu 20.04) and put it on the left ~40% of my (widescreen) monitor. Reaper goes on the right ~60% of the monitor. Here's a screenshot.

By using a text editor, I can add in my own notes (pronunciation, etc.) and by checking the text for typos (especially if it's OCR) I can preview it at the same time.
In the last week I have partially used your set up. I have been having the text in calibre as half the screen and Reaper as the other half, except you do this with a text editor. I agree that your set up allows mark ups on the text which is something that I would use. Thanks again! Right now having done the record, I am onto the editing and mastering stage and have Reaper occupying the whole monitor space.