Perfectionism

[tovarisch]

Claudia,

Self-doubt is good, especially when it's well measured. It keeps you from becoming narcissistic or self-conceited. Don't overdo it, however, lest it becomes a self-loathing.

Every long journey starts with a single step over the threshold. Don't overthink it. Find a text in which you (and your listener) can get lost. If the subject is intriguing, engaging, they won't mind your mouth noises, I assure you, been there myself.

Just do it!

[ClaudiaSterngucker]

@Algy Pug

You're being very, very kind, sir. <3 You're so right, I often forget to just have fun and enjoy narrating and recording. I was very enthusiastic when I recorded the 1-Minute-Test and I must admit that this feeling went away bit by bit the more I read about the flaws people find off putting in narrators, because I realised that my reading shows exactly these most irritating flaws. I will do my best and heed your advice and just concentrate on narrating the story to the best of my ability...and do my best to learn and improve. Thank you so much!

[ClaudiaSterngucker]

@Tovarisch

Yes, healthy self-doubt can easily become self-loathing - and this isn't helpful but just destructive. And I couldn't agree more that constantly overthinking holds you back from just doing it (love the video, it's very powerful!) and improving along the way! It's very true, the text is important and when it's read with joy and enthusiasm, people may forgive and kindly 'overhear' the mouth noises...

[ClaudiaSterngucker]

@Cori

Thank you so much for sending me this video, I needed to see and hear it!

[Cori]

Next, I would recommend importing audio from recordings you enjoy, into your editing software, and listen using the same set-up that you're using on your own recordings. For me, it was really helpful to literally see other people's noise even though it was completely hidden when I listened 'normally'. I can also see a lot of post-processing going on, that personally I prefer to skip, because it tends to strip the voice back further than I like. And there are vast differences between different sources depending on their 'house standard'.

All of that helped me become much easier about my own process, which has evolved over time and is still changing here and there. An audience listening in the car, or over speakers, isn't going to mind a little clicking here and there. (And that's another good experiment to make with your own recordings -- listen on speakers, the cheap headphones that come with mobile phones, an old headset.)

[sjmarky]

I also listened to your one minute test, and although my German is shaky, I thought you sounded just fine. Don't worry about your voice. Relax, record, and just HAVE FUN. That's what this is all about.

[ClaudiaSterngucker]

@Cori I've listened to a few recordings this way, and it was really very interesting! Thanks a lot for telling me about the possibility to import audio from other recordings into audacity. I'd have never come to this idea myself in thousand years. Listening to these recordings this way helped me a lot, and it taught me some things about how to edit properly. Just like you, I'm a bit of a "purist" and don't like to edit and manipulate my recordings too much. Since I'm still a complete rookie, cutting out bloopers, putting in "total silences" between sentences and reducing noise will be challenge enough...

Thank you!

[ClaudiaSterngucker]

@sjmarky Yes, you're absolutely right and I will keep your advice in mind while recording! I always make the mistake to get lost in all kinds of details and problems that I still don't have the skills and experience to tackle and solve. And my own stupid perfectionism washes over me like a huge wave taking all the joy, spontaneity and enthusiasm away.

The help, support, encouragement and advice I've received from you all has been helping me so much with dealing with all these traps, doubts and fears; and I cannot thank you enough for it!

[Penumbra]

cutting out bloopers, putting in "total silences" between sentences and reducing noise will be challenge enough...

If by "total silence" you mean dead quiet, no amplitude whatsoever, I suggest that you not strive for that. There will likely be some small amount of noise under your voice when you are speaking and it sounds more natural to let that noise carry through into the gaps (perhaps diminished, but not totally removed).

Regarding bloopers, if you stumble over a word while recording, I recommend immediately repeating the entire phrase that contains the problematic word. That way, during editing, you can easily cut out the version with the stumble. It is vastly easier to make cuts in the gaps than it is to smoothly cut out and replace a single word in a stream.

[ClaudiaSterngucker]

While editing my first reading, I found out that you are right and dead quiet between the sentences really sounds unnatural, it feels as if the voice has 'no body'. I also heeded your advice regarding the bloopers and repeated the whole sentence after stumbling over a word. I even left a second or two silence before repeating the whole sentence, as the longer gaps between the waves showed me where the mistakes were. I read that some people clap their hands or make another loud noise, in order to locate bloopers. I think I will stick to my pauses...silence is sort of relaxing.

My son told me that at first, editing feels like being lost in a technical jungle, but as soon as you start to develop a feeling for it and know what you're doing, it's really fun.

Thanks a million for your advice, Tom, I'm very thankful for it!

[moniaqua]

NOBODY on here likes the sound of their own voice, or how they are reading. If anybody tells you they do, they are lying. Period.

Actually - yes, I do like my voice, meanwhile. I am honest! Took me a while, though. I just heard it so often, when I learned (with auto-suggestion, so I had to do my own files for all that stuff I needed to learn) that I got used to it. An usually I like how I am reading (ok, improvement is possible just always - shit happens ).

@ClaudiaSterngucker hey, you even make Peter Plapperblatt sound interesting! Please, what's your problem on your reading?! There is so much work to do, don't think about being perfect, go out and read! Btw, you know the Pareto-Prinzip?

Ok, mag ja sein, dass ich befangen bin, weil ich Schweizer Akzent einfach liebe - Mama war Schweizerin. Aber ehrlich, ich habe wirklich viele Peter Plapperblatts gehört und Deiner mischt da ganz gut oben an der Spitze mit. Was verbessert werden könnte ist das Aufnahmequipment, wenn Du schon perfektionistisch sein möchtest. Ich will Dir aber bitte nichts einreden, Deine Aufnahme ist gut so, wie sie ist und die anderen werden mindestens genauso gut.

[ClaudiaSterngucker]

@moniaqua Oh, I've only now detected the fine-print, stupid me! Guata Obig, Moni, viela Dank für Dini Antwort, es hät mi mega gfreut!

Honestly, I enjoyed reading Peter Plapperblatt! I read it 'instinctively', without analysing or thinking too much, and I had fun. Then, I read that one should take oneself back while narrating, just channel the author and give less in order to give more. And one should read with the un-projected voice of intimacy - with the kind of voice one talks to oneself...or to a lover, in bed, at 3 o'clock in the morning. Well, I did my best to implement all these advises while reading, and when I listened to my recording, I couldn't help but thinking that I sounded dull and boring, like a sleeping pill. I think it requires a lot of practise and experience to take oneself back and express moods and emotions only subtly nuanced, so that the listener has a chance to perceive his own feelings the story elicits in him. I find these videos of workshops given by Barbara Rosenblat extremely interesting (you most probably already know them for ages )

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YmF-u0rt1Ns

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MVmywsM9-h4

These narrators are...

[Availle]

Honestly, I enjoyed reading Peter Plapperblatt! I read it 'instinctively', without analysing or thinking too much, and I had fun.

And that's how you should be reading all your stuff!
Nevermind to what conclusions other people have come that they are touting as THE ULTIMATE ADVICE online. Who knows where they were starting from...

Over time you will learn that different texts may require a different way of reading them. If you record a 15 second advertisement, a short bedtime story for kids, or a serious scientific text - and they all sound the same, THEN you may want to start worrying.

For now, the best advice is:
1. choose a text you like
2. record
3. submit
4. goto 1. (aka rinse, repeat)

Nothing better to gain experience about something by actually doing it...

[moniaqua]

Honestly, I enjoyed reading Peter Plapperblatt! I read it 'instinctively', without analysing or thinking too much, and I had fun.

That's the point.

Then, I read that one should take oneself back while narrating, just channel the author and give less in order to give more. And one should read with the un-projected voice of intimacy - with the kind of voice one talks to oneself...or to a lover, in bed, at 3 o'clock in the morning. Well, I did my best to implement all these advises while reading, and when I listened to my recording, I couldn't help but thinking that I sounded dull and boring, like a sleeping pill. I think it requires a lot of practise and experience to take oneself back and express moods and emotions only subtly nuanced, so that the listener has a chance to perceive his own feelings the story elicits in him. I find these videos of workshops given by Barbara Rosenblat extremely interesting (you most probably already know them for ages )

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YmF-u0rt1Ns

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MVmywsM9-h4

These narrators are...

Actually, no, I don't know these workshops and I am not sure whether I want to know them or not Because of that sleeping-pill-thing.

I am completely with Availle - just record and have fun! There are People out there who appreciate a lively, not so subtle, natural reading (me, for example ) And for all the others - hey, no one forces them to listen to our recordings! They can do recordings of their own, if they don't like ours!

[Cori]

Thirding the bold above.

Also, it's good to observe how you feel after reading or watching people teaching narration. There's one blogger, who I read for a while, who is incredibly well-informed, has worked on thousands of books, writes thoughtful, in-depth analysis ... and after reading a post, I'd be ready to quit. The thoughts in my head would go: 'I don't know what he means, I don't get this, I'm one of the bad readers he makes fun of, I suck, I should never record again.' It took me a stupidly long time to notice the pattern and simply not visit his site again.

If people leave you excited to go and try out what they're recommending, that's perfect! If you're overwhelmed with information, or feeling down on yourself and your abilities to tell a good story ... that's awful. That might be 'helpful' for professional readers (though I don't think so either!) But we're not professionals. If you have fun, your recording will find its way to listeners who have fun with it too. It won't please everyone, but nothing ever does. (Compare books read explicitly for the blind to sighted-audience books ... a difference there straight away, and that's the commercial, professional level in both fields!)