What Was Your First Ever Recording?

[bethesdalily]

Oh, absolutely! I often dislike editing my own recordings because, though I feel that others could benefit from what I do here, I don't really like my own voice. That said, we'd want to get the permission of any readers whose recordings we'd hope to use.

[Peter Why]

You could ask for comments by the reader of each piece ... how it could have been improved, how s/he would read it now, and so on.

Peter

[bethesdalily]

I agree with Peter, but I think there's another angle that we should examine. Interested readers should not only be asked how they would have improved, but should also be given the opportunity to have good points emphasized--either by themselves or by fellow listeners. For example, one of the volunteers declared herself slow and stumbling, but there was quite a bit of passion to her reading. Perhaps if we had reader evaluations--"I thought this recording sounded stilted"--juxtaposed with listener comments--"This was a leisurely reading that conveyed a strong, passionate interest in the subject"--then we could illustrate that every last recording in our system has its own set of delights. Does this make any sense? Another recording was introduced by the reader herself as "squeaky", and she seemed to dislike her rendering specifically because it sounded a bit young. Actualy, that recording is now on my iPod because it was so delightful, portrayed with such frankness and general innocence. I think that should be the aim of such a podcast--demonstrate that we may view ourselves with a far more critical eye than our listeners ever will. This will be the best way to encourage first-time volunteers. Thoughts?

[AdeledePignerolles]

What about pieces where the reader says why they think it was bad and then someone else who liked it says why they think it's good? That way it can be an encouragement podcast for newbies who think their recordings are awful

[bethesdalily]

Adelle,
That is exactly what I was hoping to convey--though you did it much more coherently and succinctly! I think that would be a wonderful idea.

[annise]

What if you can't find anyone who thinks it's good ?
Suppose I post my first recording and it is awful - what are you going to do then ? If no one says its great what then? If you leave it out , I will think it was so awful I'll donate my microphone to the op shop.
Good recordings and bad recording are very personal opinions - I know , I field the emails we get from people who believe they are the ulttimate authority.

All our recordings are freely given and make things available to people that would often not be available otherwise . If I was unable to read , I wouldn't tell someone who came to read to me that their accent was awful, the book should be read by someone of the right gender , race and species, that they pronounced Melbourne incorrectly and their voice sounded like fingernails on a blackboard.
And that is what we are providing , not perfect boring readings read by people who have a sound engineer and expensive equipment and don't necessarily like the book

Anne

[Elizabby]

IF someone were to do such a podcast, they should only use recordings with permission from the reader.

I'd suggest taking it a step further and asking for volunteers. I think it would be somewhat dismaying to be asked if your recording can be used in a podcast of "what not to do..."

[Peter Why]

And make the question specific: the first piece you recorded for LibriVox, the earliest piece of yours to be catalogued, or perhaps even the first PD thing you recorded for other people to listen to (including non-LV pieces).

Or possibly leave that choice to your volunteer.

Peter

[bethesdalily]

Anne asked an interesting question: What if listeners to volunteers' first recordings find absolutely nothing meritorious in the material? Well, I can tell you that in my entire audiobook-listening experience--which goes back to early childhood--I have never once found a narrator or reading that did not have at least a few beautiful points. Never one. So, if we were looking for someone to offer the kind of constructive look at first recordings that we're proposing here, I could do it easily. I agree--we'd want to obtain specific permission, and perhaps get the readers themselves involved--describing what the recording seemed to be in their minds--after which point we'd offer the listener perspective, complete with praise for what the reader did right in those first recordings. Keep in mind, too, that we'd probably want to offer four or five samples, depending on how many volunteers we had for this endeavor, and it could be up to the readers which excerpts they wanted us to include.

[Darvinia]

or perhaps even the first PD thing you recorded for other people to listen to (including non-LV pieces)

This caught my eye. It was a friend asking for a recording from me that got me started down this road. I recorded "The Tell-Tale Heart" for him. External mic? Editing? Nope! One sitting, all the way through. I was quite pleased with the result. But I wouldn't want to resurrect it.

[sjmarky]

My first LV recording was a chapter of Main Street. I already had a condenser mic and had done some other voice recording so the technical part was OK. I did manage to screw up and record the wrong chapter, one that someone else had already done. Duh.

[Kristingj]

My first was Twilight land by Howard Pyle. I had never done anything like this before, and had a crappy, headset mic while I was waiting for the proper one to arrive. I did have notes, but not horribly so.

[SaraHale]

Hello, I'm Sara. I am new to LibriVox's family. I am so happy to be here. I want to share with you, my first recording when it's still fresh in my memory. My first recording was the weekly poem, "She Comes Not" by Herbert Trench. I was so nervous. And I was shocked to listen to my own voice, I thought it's weird (I am still not used to the sound of my voice). My reading was very fast. Plus I joined LibriVox spontaneously so I used Samsung earbuds for a while.

Now, I am reading some sections from "Stories Worth Rereading".

[kayray]

Oh lord. My first recording is sooooo cringeworthy. Chapter 7-9 of Psmith in the City (I think this was the second book we cataloged, after The Secret Agent):

https://librivox.org/psmith-in-the-city-by-pg-wodehouse/

I read painfully slowly and over-enunciated everything. Also, I was using built-in mic on my iBook and I didn't know how to edit very well.

I had already done tons and tons of recording to make audiobooks for my son (but with no edits), so there is no excuse other than being very very nervous about reading too fast, and very very nervous about strangers hearing me read.

If we didn't have a rule against replacing old recordings, I would have replaced this long ago. I guess it's good that it's still out there, as proof that even a terrible reader can get better with practice ;-D

[aaronml]

Noah Claypole in Oliver Twist. It's not in the catalogue yet though... I had a horrible mic. and I read to slowly.