[COMPLETE] Billy Mink, by Thornton W. Burgess-mtf

Solo or group recordings that are finished and fully available for listeners
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AricReed
Posts: 43
Joined: February 16th, 2021, 8:56 am

Post by AricReed »

loon wrote: May 26th, 2021, 7:13 pm
AricReed wrote: May 26th, 2021, 6:25 pm Here is chapter 18, 3:25

https://librivox.org/uploads/mightyfelix/billymink_18_burgess_128kb.mp3
Aric,

Chapter 18 - The Rats Plan To Kill Billy Mink - PL OK.
The silence at the end of this chapter is a bit long: about 6.8 seconds. Folks usually aim for 5 seconds, particularly in a book with chapters as short as Billy Mink.
My inexact knowledge of US East Coast accents says the old gray rat is from somewhere north of Boston - New Hampshire, maybe? In any event, yay, it's fun to give characters in a book a bit of personality.
I see you're signed up for the next chapter as well - I'm looking forward to it.
Shoot. I don't know how I left that much time on the end. I'm happy to shorten it and re upload it if you like.

Lol, the old rat speech reminded me of something JFK or Winston Churchill would have given, so it's sort of a mash up of the two. I'm not very good at voices, but what the heck.
loon
Posts: 2896
Joined: December 31st, 2016, 9:14 pm
Location: Minneapolis, Minnesota

Post by loon »

NicholeKristen wrote: May 26th, 2021, 8:42 pm Hello,

Here is chapter 32- 3:44

https://librivox.org/uploads/mightyfelix/billymink_32_burgess.mp3
Nichole -
All three of your chapters will need some fixes. I don't believe you will need to re-record anything, but you will need to fire up Audacity again.

Chapter 32 - Billy Makes A Discovery

The beginning and ending silence will need to be adjusted - the silence at the start of the chapter should be 1/2 second (or maybe just a bit more), it is currently about 1.9 seconds. The silence at the end should be 5 seconds (or maybe just a bit more), it is currently only about 1.7 seconds.

The overall volume for this chapter is right at the LibriVox lower limit. If this were the only thing I wouldn't ask for a change, but since you are editing anyway, I'm going to ask you to try the following fix -
1) Select the entire chapter
2) You can't just amplify everything because your loudest syllables are within 1/2 dB of clipping already - adding the desired 3 dB would drive the loudest bits into hard clipping (yuck - distorted - sounds bad). First you need to do some compression - select Compressor... in the Effect menu. There are a lot of adjustments here! I like to use something like - Threshold: -20 dB - Noise Floor: -40 dB - Ratio: 2:1 - Attack Time: 0.2 secs - Release Time: 1.0 secs - Make up gain and Compress based on peaks NOT checked. (These are quite gentle settings; others may prefer different positions for the sliders.) When you click 'OK' you will see the largest peaks in the waveform display are now reduced.
3) We reduced the volume! Didn't we want to amplify? Yes we did! Now it is possible to use the Amplify... effect to add about 4.5 dB to the entire chapter without clipping. (I experimented a bit here to find the right setting for this particular chapter.)

When you export your repaired chapter to .mp3 make sure the file name is billymink_32_burgess_128kb.mp3 (including the _128kb part).

Chapters 33 and 34 coming up, but I have a yoga class to get to!
Rich Brown - Minneapolis, MN
loon
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Joined: December 31st, 2016, 9:14 pm
Location: Minneapolis, Minnesota

Post by loon »

AricReed wrote: May 27th, 2021, 6:23 am Shoot. I don't know how I left that much time on the end. I'm happy to shorten it and re upload it if you like.

Lol, the old rat speech reminded me of something JFK or Winston Churchill would have given, so it's sort of a mash up of the two. I'm not very good at voices, but what the heck.
1) The silence is in the range so let it be. Keep an eye on the length in the next chapter.

2) Yes, the old rat sounded kind of statesman-like. :-)
Rich Brown - Minneapolis, MN
loon
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Joined: December 31st, 2016, 9:14 pm
Location: Minneapolis, Minnesota

Post by loon »

Chapter 33 - The Farmer Sees A Strange Sight
At around 2:27 in the recording, after "A very strange sight indeed" there is a pop that sounds like it may be a bad edit. I hear "(pop) from that hole" but the text reads "Out from that hole" - could you check to make sure you didn't trim out a word at that point please?

At around 3:21 I hear "the --- the farmer shouted" - the first "the" should be removed.

This chapter also has the same problems as I called out for chapter 32:
1) The opening silence is nearly 5 seconds but it should be 1/2 second.
2) The ending silence is about 3.2 seconds but it should be 5 seconds.
3) The volume for the whole chapter is 1/10th dB below the LibriVox minimum. The same compressor... followed by amplify... actions I suggested for chapter 32 should get your chapter near the middle of the volume range.
4) Upload the fixed chapter as billymink_33_burgess_128kb.mp3

Chapter 34 - Billy Goes Home
1) Fix the length of the opening and ending silence as in the other two chapters
2) Your volume in this chapter is in the LibriVox range, so no change is needed.
3) At about 35 seconds there is a pop of some sort in the recording - it is in the silence between Billy's poem and the main story. It is quite audible and should be removed. You can zoom in on a noise like this by typing [Ctrl]-1 several times and you'll be able to see where the sound is clearly. Select the sound, press 'Z' to move the beginning and end of the selection to zero crossings in the waveform (for a nice-sounding edit), then press [Ctrl]-X to remove the sound. Pressing [Ctrl]-2 returns your view of the time line to the normal view.
4) Export and upload the fixed chapter as billymink_34_burgess_128kb.mp3

A note - In chapter 34 I started hearing microphone popping on some of the words starting with plosives - "P"s, "T"s, "K"s - I believe you were a little closer to the mic for this chapter and it started catching air blowing right into it from your breath. This is no way serious enough to need recording again, but it would be nice to avoid in your future recordings. Simply moving the microphone so it is a bit off to the side of your face - still pointed at your mouth, of course - can help a lot. Many people use a home-made or purchased pop screen which also works great, but it can be hard to see what you are reading around the thing (another reason to move the microphone a bit off to the side).
Rich Brown - Minneapolis, MN
KuyaCarrot
Posts: 15
Joined: March 25th, 2021, 10:19 pm

Post by KuyaCarrot »

Hello! These are the recordings.

Chapter 12 - https://librivox.org/uploads/mightyfelix/billymink_12_burgess_128kb.mp3
Length - 2:37

Chapter 13 - https://librivox.org/uploads/mightyfelix/billymink_13_burgess_128kb.mp3
Length - 2:42

Thank you again!
silverquill
Posts: 28724
Joined: May 25th, 2013, 9:11 pm
Location: Southern California

Post by silverquill »

Thank you, Heather! I'm sure Rich will enjoy listening to these.

Little Joe Otter will be next. :D
~ Larry
NOTE: Traveling without internet until March 17
Katgirl576
Posts: 216
Joined: May 5th, 2021, 11:53 am

Post by Katgirl576 »

silverquill wrote: May 28th, 2021, 5:40 am Thank you, Heather! I'm sure Rich will enjoy listening to these.

Little Joe Otter will be next. :D
:thumbs:
loon
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Joined: December 31st, 2016, 9:14 pm
Location: Minneapolis, Minnesota

Post by loon »

KuyaCarrot wrote: May 27th, 2021, 8:56 pm
Chapter 12 - https://librivox.org/uploads/mightyfelix/billymink_12_burgess_128kb.mp3
Length - 2:37
Chapter 12 - Billy Has The Wandering Foot
At ~1:40 I'm hearing "...when apparently there is uh- to hide under..." - the text reads "...apparently there is nothing to hide under..." - I think this might be too tight an edit. Please check this.
The rest of the chapter is fine.
If you're going to include the date recorded along with your name I think you should include the year. The intent of LibriVox is that the audio books we are recording should be available for a good long time!
Rich Brown - Minneapolis, MN
loon
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Joined: December 31st, 2016, 9:14 pm
Location: Minneapolis, Minnesota

Post by loon »

KuyaCarrot wrote: May 27th, 2021, 8:56 pm Chapter 13 - https://librivox.org/uploads/mightyfelix/billymink_13_burgess_128kb.mp3
Length - 2:42
Chapter 13 - Billy Makes Himself At Home - PL OK. Thanks!
This is the chapter where we discover Billy loves the challenge of hunting rats.
Rich Brown - Minneapolis, MN
loon
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Joined: December 31st, 2016, 9:14 pm
Location: Minneapolis, Minnesota

Post by loon »

Katgirl576 wrote: May 28th, 2021, 4:01 am This was fun!!
Chapter 20 - 3:12
https://librivox.org/uploads/mightyfelix/billymink_20_burgess_128kb.mp3
Heather -
Chapter 20 - Why The Plans Of The Rats Failed - PL OK.

Note: Checker measures your overall volume for this chapter at 91.7 dB - pretty close to the upper limit, and the rest of your chapters are similar. You could reduce your level 2 to 3 dB in future recordings and get close to the middle of the range.

(I probably won't have time to listen to all your chapters in this session - I have new glasses to pick up soon - but I'll get to a couple more before I have to leave.)
Rich Brown - Minneapolis, MN
loon
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Joined: December 31st, 2016, 9:14 pm
Location: Minneapolis, Minnesota

Post by loon »

Heather -
Chapter 21 - The Rats Leave The Big Barn - PL OK.
You make your voice all gravelly for the old gray rat. :-)
Rich Brown - Minneapolis, MN
loon
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Joined: December 31st, 2016, 9:14 pm
Location: Minneapolis, Minnesota

Post by loon »

Heather -
Chapter 22 - Billy Mink's Surprise - PL OK.
At ~1:09 you read "how did they" and not "how they did" but the change is not that important.
Rich Brown - Minneapolis, MN
loon
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Joined: December 31st, 2016, 9:14 pm
Location: Minneapolis, Minnesota

Post by loon »

Heather -
Chapter 23 - Billy Hunts In Vain - PL OK.
Chapter 24 - Where The Rats Were - PL OK.

You are reducing the background noise from what you had in chapter 20 - it's around 10 dB quieter now. The overall volume is still a couple dB louder than ideal (but within the LibriVox spec).
Rich Brown - Minneapolis, MN
loon
Posts: 2896
Joined: December 31st, 2016, 9:14 pm
Location: Minneapolis, Minnesota

Post by loon »

Heather -
Chapter 25 - The Farmer And His Wife Are In Despair - ??
At around 2:22 you read "but as far as he blocked them up" - the text is "but as fast as he blocked them up" - a bit different. I'll let you decide if it's worth it to you to fix it. I'm marking the chapter See PL notes for now, but tell me if you are happy with it as is and I'll change that to PL OK.

Also noted - at the end of the chapter you read "the bite of a rat is poisonous" and not "the bite of a rat is often poisonous" - I think the word Burgess is searching for is RABIES. I enjoy the old-time wording "go down cellar" - I don't hear anyone saying it that way nowadays, but it does make perfect sense.
Rich Brown - Minneapolis, MN
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