Making your reading sound Great

Post by **philchenevert** » August 5th, 2012, 11:01 am

Here is a video I just made that Attempts to deal with the pops and clicks that are hidden inside of words. Insert This technique may be obvious but it took me a long time to discover. Anyway and here it is. Since I still make lost despite using all these wonderful ideas, i must take 'em out. (speeck recognition is not my friend, sorry(()

Finding Those Elusive Clicks and Pops

Piotrek81 · Post by **Piotrek81** » August 6th, 2012, 8:47 am

Hi. I sometimes have problems with bits of words of just individual sounds that I want to get rid of, but if they occur in the middle of words I usually don't know how to handle them. I tried using the method you show, that is narrowing down the area to pintpoint the exact spot, but it's often unsuccessful in my case.

It may be that I'm simply not hunting these "intruders" patiently or accurately enough.
Also, I sometimes have problems with some background noises from my environment appearning while I'm reading- for example something drops or moves noisily and as a result becomes an inseparable (to me at least) part of the recording, as it probably overlaps with the legitimate wave forms which I produce when reading. I sometimes feel like hunting those intruders, but I have no idea how to take care of them without affecting the words I pronounce.

Post by **philchenevert** » August 6th, 2012, 9:00 am

Piotrek81 wrote:Hi. I sometimes have problems with bits of words of just individual sounds that I want to get rid of, but if they occur in the middle of words I usually don't know how to handle them. I tried using the method you show, that is narrowing down the area to pintpoint the exact spot, but it's often unsuccessful in my case. It may be that I'm simply not hunting these "intruders" patiently or accurately enough.
Also, I sometimes have problems with some background noises from my environment appearning while I'm reading- for example something drops or moves noisily and as a result becomes an inseparable (to me at least) part of the recording, as it probably overlaps with the legitimate wave forms which I produce when reading. I sometimes feel like hunting those intruders, but I have no idea how to take care of them without affecting the words I pronounce.

I know what I know what you mean sometimes it's just impossible to find exactly where they are. That's when I have to record that little phrase are sentence again and stick it in their When I hear a noise in my recording area I usually click and repeat the phrase again immediately but 20 editing it is sometimes essential to just recorded again. Insert Please excuse my voice recognition mistakes

catrose · Post by **catrose** » August 6th, 2012, 5:19 pm

ceastman wrote:
Here's a trick I've used to deal with unfamilaliar pronounciations: Say it in whatever way seems best to you, but say it WITH AUTHORITY.
It's really funny how well this works, not just in reading but in lots of other situations too.

Just adding that this really really does work! There's a girl in my class who thinks I'm a doctor because I told her with that much confidence!

lubee930 · Post by **lubee930** » August 15th, 2012, 4:37 pm

philchenevert wrote:Here is a video I just made that Attempts to deal with the pops and clicks that are hidden inside of words. Insert This technique may be obvious but it took me a long time to discover. Anyway and here it is. Since I still make lost despite using all these wonderful ideas, i must take 'em out. (speeck recognition is not my friend, sorry(()

Finding Those Elusive Clicks and Pops

Hi, Phil--

I just wanted to tell you that I've been trying the techniques that you suggested in this video--sometimes I can find the clicks & delete them, sometimes I can't. But I am definitely having more success after having watched the video. It is so useful to have a technique to help me isolate those pesky clicks! (And where in the world do all those clicks come from, anyway--??!!

)

Anyway, thank you for the new video--another winner, for sure!

Post by **philchenevert** » August 15th, 2012, 5:20 pm

Hi, Phil--
I just wanted to tell you that I've been trying the techniques that you suggested in this video--sometimes I can find the clicks & delete them, sometimes I can't. But I am definitely having more success after having watched the video. It is so useful to have a technique to help me isolate those pesky clicks! (And where in the world do all those clicks come from, anyway--??!! )

Anyway, thank you for the new video--another winner, for sure!

That is what I ask myself; they can't ALL come from my mouth surely. Also the other strange buzzes and things that pop up. Oh well ...... I am very pleased you like the video and glad you have another little tool to use in editing. The more we share these things with each other, the better our recordings can become.

Sometimes I listen to someone's track and say "how did they get that so clean???" wish I knew. ...

YouTube · Post by **Darvinia** » August 15th, 2012, 10:09 pm

lubee930 wrote: (And where in the world do all those clicks come from, anyway--??!! )

Just cos you asked, I'll tell you where I recently discovered two separate click noises coming from. I record from my laptop and the plastic frame around the monitor makes a sharp snap noise sometimes from changes in temperature as it shrinks or expands ever so slightly. And the other is my neck! Often, when I turn to the side it just gives a little 'snick' noise which I rarely notice but the mic picks up.

Algy Pug · Post by **Algy Pug** » August 30th, 2012, 7:24 am

Here's an easy tip which works well for me for general noise reduction:

Place a heavy cloth under your laptop and one under your microphone stand. Placing a heavy book under your laptop can have a similar beneficial effect.

Cheers

Algy Pug

gypsygirl · Post by **gypsygirl** » August 30th, 2012, 8:26 am

Algy Pug wrote:Here's an easy tip which works well for me for general noise reduction:

Place a heavy cloth under your laptop and one under your microphone stand. Placing a heavy book under your laptop can have a similar beneficial effect.

Cheers

Algy Pug

I have a few of those foam tiles like they use in gyms and daycares lining the floor of the closet where I record. Similar effect.

TimBower · Post by **TimBower** » October 10th, 2012, 7:11 pm

I detect sort of a whistle sound on some of my words containing the letter "s". Any known ways to cut down on that?

Thanks,
Tim

Post by **philchenevert** » October 10th, 2012, 8:21 pm

TimBower wrote:I detect sort of a whistle sound on some of my words containing the letter "s". Any known ways to cut down on that?

Thanks,
Tim

Well Tim, I exactly what you are saying. When I'm recording I don't know I'm doing it but when editing, those whistles pop out are are very annoying. But I've found it quite easy to take the whistle out of the sound by zooming in on the s sound, noticing the part that is much bigger (louder) usually in the middle, and just cutting the whistle out. It does not detract at all from the sound I've found and is one of the easiest edits to do.

rocknroll · Post by **rocknroll** » November 7th, 2012, 8:52 am

All these tips are incredibly helpful. I'm trying to incorporate these at the moment while doing my first solo. Some of you have pointed out good narrators as examples. I admit that I've never really listened to audiobooks before. I would imagine that listening to others would help too. As a musician, listening to other music gives me perspective. So listening to other audiobooks and narrators would probably do the same for readers. Do most of you listen to audiobooks regularly?

Post by **philchenevert** » November 7th, 2012, 9:10 am

Well I certainly do. Over the years I've listened to about 1600 books on tape, CD and now MP3. Some readers are completely awesome (e.g. Fry) but most are very good. The most important thing I've learned is that the reader vanishes once the book is underway. The story takes over. If they can make the story flow I don't notice accents, tonal quality, raspiness, or anything. So many times when my voice is not sounding too good to my ears, I just keep recording and 'tell the story' knowing that people want to hear the story, not a perfect voice.

So listen to lots; there are some wonderful stories and storytellers out there.

Cori · Post by **Cori** » November 7th, 2012, 9:26 am

I do a bit ... I like playing mindless computer games while listening.

But I've found that I can't really 'analyse' other people's performances that way. Like Phil says, unless something truly awful's happened during production, the story always takes over.

So, I do like to import the file into my regular editing program (SoundBooth) and look at their waves and background / mouth noise and pacing and so on. It stops being listening, but I find it veeeery interesting and helpful for perspective. I don't think I've ever done this with an LVer, though, only commercially-produced books. LV I listen to for pleasure, it would feel weird to use anyone's voice here in that way.

Post by **philchenevert** » November 7th, 2012, 9:42 am

Cori wrote:I do a bit ... I like playing mindless computer games while listening.

But I've found that I can't really 'analyse' other people's performances that way. Like Phil says, unless something truly awful's happened during production, the story always takes over.

So, I do like to import the file into my regular editing program (SoundBooth) and look at their waves and background / mouth noise and pacing and so on. It stops being listening, but I find it veeeery interesting and helpful for perspective. I don't think I've ever done this with an LVer, though, only commercially-produced books. LV I listen to for pleasure, it would feel weird to use anyone's voice here in that way.

Cori, that is a wonderful idea! Not as listening to a book, but as examining what the pros tracks look like. Duh! I am going to do that today! It never dawned on me to do this. Thanks.

And some of our best readers on LV; their tracks will be an education for me so there is nothing wrong doing that.