[COMPLETE] The Pig Brother and other Fables and Stories-philc

veoviscool12 · Post by **veoviscool12** » July 11th, 2017, 8:47 pm

Hi!

Could I please be signed up for Section 9 - The Apron String?

This is my first recording, so I'd like to be credited as Filip Hofman with a link to www.filiphofman.com.

Thank you!

arjunanand · Post by **arjunanand** » July 11th, 2017, 9:58 pm

loon wrote:
arjunanand wrote:
https://librivox.org/uploads/philchenevert/thepigbrother_11_richards_128kb.mp3
I have uploaded a new recoridng here to this link.
I am using a bluetooth head set and audacity for recording to laptop. Is it coz of this my sound starts to muffle after 2 minutes. and i have to use the noise clean up and sound starts waivering.

If u recommend me to use an USB microphone i will get one and rerecord and see.
The overall sound quality in your re-record is about the same as the first. There are places here and there where your voice level drops and the lower frequencies in your voice are reduced. Also you don't have the lines:
“Oh!” cried the first child, “I see the boat. She is dancing like a lady at a ball; I never saw such a beauty. Come and look!”
“I cannot,” said the second child. “I am tying a knot.”
You had those in the first recording.

I still think it's the noise clean up that's doing things to your voice. Could you upload one more and not do any noise reduction at all? Sorry to make you jump through hoops on this.

I will try with a usb microphone this time and re-read it and upload soon
arjun

jq7288 · Post by **jq7288** » July 12th, 2017, 5:59 am

loon wrote:
jq7288 wrote:https://librivox.org/uploads/philchenevert/thepigbrother_30_richards_128kb.mp3

Length: 2:27.84

Here's section 30, let me know if I need to fix anything.
Jacob - I see you said in your 1 minute test you're using Adobe Audition, which I know very little about. But when I open your section in Audacity I see several spots where your audio goes all the way to digital zero - clipping - every time the tyke's angel says "Sit Down!" (and a few other spots as well). I think Audition does some processing to smooth out those clipping bits - they don't sound bad in my headphones. Still, the peaks might splatter on someone's MP3 player, so I'd be happier if they weren't there.

Could you load your chapter back into Audition, lower the level by 1.5 dB, and re-upload it please? That would bring your level as measured by Checker to 89.1 dB - right in the middle of the LibriVox range - and would bring the audio peaks away from peaking. Do that and your section will be PL OK.

https://librivox.org/uploads/philchenevert/thepigbrother_30_richards_128kb.mp3

Looks like it's at 89.1 now, and I also noticed that I never processed for clipping...whoops. I ran the de-clipper and, like you said, there were a bunch of small spots that needed adjustment. I think (though from a limited amount of experience) that it's fixed now. Let me know.

Thanks!

arjunanand · Post by **arjunanand** » July 12th, 2017, 12:00 pm

loon wrote:
arjunanand wrote:
https://librivox.org/uploads/philchenevert/thepigbrother_11_richards_128kb.mp3
I have uploaded a new recoridng here to this link.
I am using a bluetooth head set and audacity for recording to laptop. Is it coz of this my sound starts to muffle after 2 minutes. and i have to use the noise clean up and sound starts waivering.

If u recommend me to use an USB microphone i will get one and rerecord and see.
The overall sound quality in your re-record is about the same as the first. There are places here and there where your voice level drops and the lower frequencies in your voice are reduced. Also you don't have the lines:
“Oh!” cried the first child, “I see the boat. She is dancing like a lady at a ball; I never saw such a beauty. Come and look!”
“I cannot,” said the second child. “I am tying a knot.”
You had those in the first recording.

I still think it's the noise clean up that's doing things to your voice. Could you upload one more and not do any noise reduction at all? Sorry to make you jump through hoops on this.

I rerecorded again using my JBL branded blutooth headset with microphone to my laptop using audacity. I have not done any editing. just sending for you to review. My problem starts from min 2.13. i can see some wavelengths which has come as a surprise to me. this has been happening in all my past recordings and i do noise reduction leading to total quality loss. what could be the reason for such a strange wave appearing after circa 2.15 min?

https://librivox.org/uploads/philchenevert/thepigbrother_11_richards_128kb.mp3
regards
arjun

loon · Post by **loon** » July 12th, 2017, 12:38 pm

arjunanand wrote:

I rerecorded again using my JBL branded blutooth headset with microphone to my laptop using audacity. I have not done any editing. just sending for you to review. My problem starts from min 2.13. i can see some wavelengths which has come as a surprise to me. this has been happening in all my past recordings and i do noise reduction leading to total quality loss. what could be the reason for such a strange wave appearing after circa 2.15 min?

https://librivox.org/uploads/philchenevert/thepigbrother_11_richards_128kb.mp3
regards
arjun

Arjun - thanks for your hard work on this. As usual I'll give this a listen when I get home from work this evening.

loon · Post by **loon** » July 12th, 2017, 5:00 pm

jq7288 wrote: Looks like it's at 89.1 now, and I also noticed that I never processed for clipping...whoops. I ran the de-clipper and, like you said, there were a bunch of small spots that needed adjustment. I think (though from a limited amount of experience) that it's fixed now. Let me know.

Thanks!

Yes, it's all fixed. The loudest peaks come close to - but do not reach - digital zero, and Checker does indeed report the level at 89.1.

Section 30 - "The Tangled Skein" - PL OK

Thank you.

loon · Post by **loon** » July 12th, 2017, 5:33 pm

arjunanand wrote:
I rerecorded again using my JBL branded blutooth headset with microphone to my laptop using audacity. I have not done any editing. just sending for you to review. My problem starts from min 2.13. i can see some wavelengths which has come as a surprise to me. this has been happening in all my past recordings and i do noise reduction leading to total quality loss. what could be the reason for such a strange wave appearing after circa 2.15 min?

https://librivox.org/uploads/philchenevert/thepigbrother_11_richards_128kb.mp3
regards
arjun

Very, very strange. The Audacity waveform display suddenly looks terrible starting around 2:15, but I'm not hearing a sudden background change in my headphones - so it doesn't worry me, and I wouldn't try to do noise reduction on it.

The thing that does trouble me is that something your setup is somehow dropping the occasional syllable or word. For example, at 1:03 the text reads, "'all in good time,' said the sailor man" - and I'm pretty sure that's what you said - but what I'm hearing is "'all in goo.........,' said the sailor man".

Maybe a non-Bluetooth microphone would fix things, but I'm not at all sure about that.

Phil -- do you have any ideas to help Arjun? I'm at a loss.

Post by **philchenevert** » July 12th, 2017, 10:10 pm

Very, very strange. The Audacity waveform display suddenly looks terrible starting around 2:15, but I'm not hearing a sudden background change in my headphones - so it doesn't worry me, and I wouldn't try to do noise reduction on it.

The thing that does trouble me is that something your setup is somehow dropping the occasional syllable or word. For example, at 1:03 the text reads, "'all in good time,' said the sailor man" - and I'm pretty sure that's what you said - but what I'm hearing is "'all in goo.........,' said the sailor man".

Maybe a non-Bluetooth microphone would fix things, but I'm not at all sure about that.

Phil -- do you have any ideas to help Arjun? I'm at a loss.

It certainly sounds like a hardware kind of problem. I hear the dropped words and frequently the problem is some noise cancelling built into the microphone. Does yours have anything like this? If so turn it off most definitely. Let's check this out and we will go from there.

Jvega · Post by **Jvega** » July 13th, 2017, 8:04 am

philchenevert wrote:
Jvega wrote:Phil

Thank you for the feedback! I got confused with the wiki that mentioned joint stereo. It is now in mono. This is take 2. I'm not sure about the plosives. Let me know if I still need to work on that.

https://librivox.org/uploads/tests/test2_jvega.mp3

Thanks again!

Juliane
OK you are cleared to record lots of stuff for LV. sorry for the delay, my computer video card died and had to be replaced.

Thank you Phil!

arjunanand · Post by **arjunanand** » July 13th, 2017, 12:56 pm

philchenevert wrote:
Very, very strange. The Audacity waveform display suddenly looks terrible starting around 2:15, but I'm not hearing a sudden background change in my headphones - so it doesn't worry me, and I wouldn't try to do noise reduction on it.

The thing that does trouble me is that something your setup is somehow dropping the occasional syllable or word. For example, at 1:03 the text reads, "'all in good time,' said the sailor man" - and I'm pretty sure that's what you said - but what I'm hearing is "'all in goo.........,' said the sailor man".

Maybe a non-Bluetooth microphone would fix things, but I'm not at all sure about that.

Phil -- do you have any ideas to help Arjun? I'm at a loss.
It certainly sounds like a hardware kind of problem. I hear the dropped words and frequently the problem is some noise cancelling built into the microphone. Does yours have anything like this? If so turn it off most definitely. Let's check this out and we will go from there.

Dear Mr. Rich brown and Phil,

As per the comments you gave i kept aside my bluetooth head set microphone and now switched to a new recording with handheld USB Microphone. i got a good recording i guess. but i feel a small disturbance. I had done one time noise reduciton to that file. Request you to kindly review it and provide your feedback.

https://librivox.org/uploads/philchenevert/thepigbrother_11_richards_128kb.mp3

Regards
arjun

Post by **philchenevert** » July 13th, 2017, 1:27 pm

Dear Mr. Rich brown and Phil,
As per the comments you gave i kept aside my bluetooth head set microphone and now switched to a new recording with handheld USB Microphone. i got a good recording i guess. but i feel a small disturbance. I had done one time noise reduciton to that file. Request you to kindly review it and provide your feedback.
https://librivox.org/uploads/philchenevert/thepigbrother_11_richards_128kb.mp3

Regards
arjun

Arjun. This may be an improvement over the other method you have been using to record; at least I don't hear the skipped words any more. But please let me make some suggestions that I think will improve the intelligibility of your recordings. These are only suggestions but I know you want to make your recordings as understandable as possible:

1. Slow down, speak slowly and distinctly if at all possible. I know that English is not your first language and so when you speak fast your pronunciation becomes unclear to my ears. In other words I can't understand you. Take a breath before starting and just try slowing down, let each phrase come out easily without rushing. You speak with much emotion and that is great but I think it tends to speed up your reading too much. It is possible to read with great feeling and emotion and do it slowly. Try it!

2. Get a stand for your microphone and move it to the side of your mouth where your breath moves past it. You have no trouble with 'plosives (loud pops from puffs of air) but there are some bad ssssss sounds coming from somewhere and this may fix that.

3. Stay the same distance from the microphone as much as possible. Even when the story is exciting, try to keep your mouth in the same place so the volume does not go up and down unintentionally. Hand held microphones are especially prone to waving around. When I started recording I would get so excited about the story I would weave all over the place and even hit the mic with my hands while waving them around. Not good and I learned to stay still now.

Please be patient with LibriVox and yourself; we really want you to record lots. Ask if all this is confusing, OK?

SaraSounds · Post by **SaraSounds** » July 13th, 2017, 2:24 pm

https://librivox.org/uploads/philchenevert/thepigbrother_17_richards_128kb.mp3.mp3
Chapter 17 - Buttercup Gold - 11:08

https://librivox.org/uploads/philchenevert/thepigbrother_29_richards_128kb.mp3.mp3
Chapter 29 - Hokey Pokey - 16:14

These were great fun!

Best,

SaraSounds

Post by **philchenevert** » July 13th, 2017, 3:51 pm

SaraSounds wrote:https://librivox.org/uploads/philchenevert/thepigbrother_17_richards_128kb.mp3.mp3
Chapter 17 - Buttercup Gold - 11:08

https://librivox.org/uploads/philchenevert/thepigbrother_29_richards_128kb.mp3.mp3
Chapter 29 - Hokey Pokey - 16:14

These were great fun!

Best,

SaraSounds

Thank you Sara.

loon · Post by **loon** » July 13th, 2017, 5:42 pm

arjunanand wrote: Dear Mr. Rich brown and Phil,

As per the comments you gave i kept aside my bluetooth head set microphone and now switched to a new recording with handheld USB Microphone. i got a good recording i guess. but i feel a small disturbance. I had done one time noise reduciton to that file. Request you to kindly review it and provide your feedback.

https://librivox.org/uploads/philchenevert/thepigbrother_11_richards_128kb.mp3

Regards
arjun

I've had a chance to listen to the new recording and have a couple notes.

I hear some distortion on your loudest sylables. I think you might do well placing your microphone farther from your mouth when you record. As Phil says, it's good to have the microphone somewhat to the side so it won't pick up puffs of breath when you say words that start with "p" or "t". Having the mic a bit away will help a bit with changes in volume if you move your head a bit as you record. You will still need to be careful not to turn your head toward or away from the microphone as you record.

You can try running the Compressor effect on your recording before you do anything else. There are a lot of adjustments in the compressor effect. I'd start with:
Threshold: -25 dB
Noise Floor: -50 dB
Ratio: 2:1
Attack Time and Release Time: minimum
Make-up gain for 0 dB: unchecked
The combination of these two changes would make your recording a bit quieter, so you'll probably need to run the Amplify effect when you've finished your edits

Finally, from the test recording you sent I think where you are recording doesn't have a lot of noise - I'm going to suggest not doing any noise reduction at all - it sounds to me like the noise reduction you are doing may be taking away bits of your voice.

loon · Post by **loon** » July 13th, 2017, 6:24 pm

SaraSounds wrote: https://librivox.org/uploads/philchenevert/thepigbrother_17_richards_128kb.mp3.mp3
Chapter 17 - Buttercup Gold - 11:08

https://librivox.org/uploads/philchenevert/thepigbrother_29_richards_128kb.mp3.mp3
Chapter 29 - Hokey Pokey - 16:14

Both recordings names end with .mp3.mp3
Audcity - and many other sound recording programs - automatically adds ".mp3" to the end of a filename so you shouldn't have included the .mp3 when you exported the segments. Phil will have to fix the file name end when all the chapters are in.

Chapter 17 - "Buttercup Gold" - PL OK (after Phil changes the file name)

Chapter 29 - "Hokey Pokey" - you didn't include "end of Hokey Pokey. Recording by SaraSounds..." Please edit that onto your recording and upload it again, then everything for Chapter 29 should be fine.

Thanks!