[COMPLETE]In the Mayor's Parlour by J.S. Fletcher-ans

[clifford]

In the Mayor's Parlour by J. S. Fletcher (1863 - 1935).

“Rotten borough” is a term that goes back to the 18th century, and it used to mean a parliamentary constituency in which a few property owners, or sometimes a single one, could choose the local member of parliament. The three Reform Acts of 1832, 1857 and 1884 brought that system to an end and by the time this book begins, a rotten borough has taken on its more modern meaning of a constituency whos rules allow a handful of people to profit secretly from the borough’s finances. In one such borough a new mayor, victor by a margin of single vote, has been working on a reform program and is found mysteriously murdered in his office -- the Mayor’s Parlour. As it happens, his young nephew is visiting from London, and is determined to find the killer. It’s no easy task, and the final discovery leaves him, as well as many others, surprised.( Nicholas Clifford)

• Text source (only read from this text!): http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25424/25424-h/25424-h.htm
• Type of proof-listening required (Note: please read the PL FAQ): standard
  
  
  
  IMPORTANT - soloist, please note: in order to limit the amount of languishing projects (and hence the amount of files on our hard-pressed server), we ask that you post an update at least once a month in your project thread, even if you haven't managed to record anything. If we don't hear from you for three months, your project may be opened up to a group project if a Book Coordinator is found. Files you have completed will be used in this project. If you haven't recorded anything yet, your project will be removed from the forum (contact any admin to see if it can be re-instated).
  Please don't download or listen to files belonging to projects in process (unless you are the BC or PL). Our servers are not set up to handle the greater volume of traffic. Please wait until the project has been completed. Thanks!
  
  
  

  Magic Window:

  
  
  BC Admin
  
• The reader will record the following at the beginning and end of each file:
  No more than 0.5 to 1 second of silence at the beginning of the recording!
  START of recording (Intro):
  • "Chapter [number] of In the Mayor's Parlour. This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information, or to volunteer, please visit: librivox DOT org"
  • If you wish, say:
    "Recording by [your name], [city, your blog, podcast, web address]"
  • Say:
    "In the Mayor's Parlour, by J. S. Fletcher. [Chapter]"
  
  
  For the second and all subsequent sections, you may optionally use the shortened form of this intro disclaimer:
  • "Chapter [number] of In the Mayor's Parlour by J. S. Fletcher. This LibriVox recording is in the Public Domain."
  • If you wish, say:
    "Recording by [your name], [city, your blog, podcast, web address]"
  • Only if applicable, say:
    "[Chapter title]"
  END of recording:
  • At the end of the section, say:
    "End of [Chapter]"
  • If you wish, say:
    "Recording by [your name], [city, your blog, podcast, web address]"
  • At the end of the book, say (in addition):
    "End of In the Mayor's Parlour, by J. S. Fletcher. "
  
  There should be 5 seconds silence at the end of the recording, or 10 seconds for files longer than 30 minutes.
• Example filename inthemayorsparlour_##_fletcher.mp3 (all lower-case) where ## is the section number (e.g. inthemayorsparlour_01_fletcher.mp3)
  
  Transfer of files (completed recordings)
  Please always post in this forum thread when you've sent a file. Also, post the length of the recording (file duration: mm:ss) together with the link.
  • Upload your file with the LibriVox Uploader: https://librivox.org/login/uploader
    
    (If you have trouble reading the image above, please message an admin)
  • You'll need to select the MC, which for this project is: annise
  • When your upload is complete, you will receive a link - please post it in this thread.
  • If this doesn't work, or you have questions, please check our How To Send Your Recording wiki page.
  
  
  
  Any questions?
  Please post below

[craigdav1]

I'd enjoy being dpl.

[annise]

And I'll set it up. Back soon

Anne

[clifford]

Chapter i is up, just to get things going. I do wonder, however, how well this book will come across with an American accent -- we'll see.
And many thanks to both of you for signing on again.

Nick

[craigdav1]

1 PL OK.

[clifford]

Chapters ii and iii are now up. I'm in the midst of moving, and I may be a bit slower for a while.

Nick

[craigdav1]

2-3 PL OK.

Moving! Hope all goes as planned. Traveling so I'm a tad behind in my pl chores.

[clifford]

I need a bit of help, I'm afraid. Somehow I seem to have lost that little program I use after Noise Reduction to equalize the volume level of my readings -- sometimes it brings them up to standard, sometimes lowers volume. And I have forgotten its name -- what is it? I need to reinstall it.

Thanks,

Nick

[craigdav1]

Nick,
Below are two programs that I use.

Determining volume level
Use the instructions below to install the plugin ReplayGain into Audacity.
- Click this link,
http://forum.audacityteam.org/download/file.php?id=4685
and save the file to your computer - somewhere you can find it.
- Then go to the folder in which Audacity is installed (on my computer, it's in C:\Program Files (x86)\Audacity) and open the Plug-Ins folder.
- Drag or copy the file you saved into the Plug-Ins folder.
- The next time you start up Audacity go to Effect/ReplayGain* and it'll tell you how much you can amplify your file. If you highlight part of the file it will tell you how much you can amplify just that part of the file. It does not give you the exact dB of the file but it can be inferred from how much it tells you to amplify.
*If you do not see the plugin (near the bottom of the Effect dropdown menu), then at the very top of the Effect menu click on Add/Remove Plugins. You may need to "enable" the plugin. Once enabled restart Audacity and look for the plugin in the Effect dropdown menu.

Another useful program is Mp3Gain. It gives you actual dB levels for the audio file and it can also analyze multiple files (e.g. an entire book). It is a separate program independent from Audacity and is available free at the following link:
http://mp3gain.sourceforge.net/download.php

[clifford]

Craig -
Many, many thanks indeed. MP3 Gain is indeed the program I've been using. And in fact it is still on my computer, though for some reason it seems to have changed its position for reasons I don't understand.

In any case, chaps. 4 and 5 are now up. I'm afraid I don't read the conversation of the English lower orders very well. Or for that matter the English of the toffs. I was just looking at a TV broadcast of a New York production of Noel Coward's Present Laughter. I don't know which is worse -- an American cast trying to sound English, or an English cast trying to sound American. (Some years ago Kenneth Branagh, playing a Los Angeles cop, managed to pull it off in a movie whose name I've forgotten (he played opposite Emma Thompson when she was still Mrs. Branagh I think) but he was an exception).

Nick

[annise]

Nick , I'd describe your accent as "international English" read by an American. And I've never listened to any of your recordings that worried me at all .

Anne

[craigdav1]

4-5 PL OK!

[clifford]

Chaps. vi and vii are now up. Back in the days that I studied British history, "rotten borough" usually meant a constituency whose MP's had been selected only by the local grandee, or by a tiny number of voters, often under the grandee's control -- at least until the two great Reform Acts of 1832 and 1867. But here in the early xx century "rotten" simply seems to mean corrupt, financially or otherwise. But of course on my side of the Atlantic, we've never had any such problems!

There was a story making the rounds some decades ago in the US, that when the USSR, trying to appear a little bit democratic, sought to introduce voting machines, they bought a lot of used machines from Chicago, and set them up to determine the Mayor of Moscow. But after the final tally, the winner was, according to the voting machines, Richard Daley who, with members of his family, had run Chicago from the mayor's office for some twenty-one years, and who'd made sure the machines registered the vote the way he thought they should.

Nick

[annise]

Why do I feel it may well be true - the phrase absolute coruption corupts absolutely seems to always be true - bevevolent dictators seem an impossibity, and pople who rave about Athenian democracy should take another look at it , both in who could vote and what decisions they reached.
I always mean to hunt out a climbing down off a soap box emoticon and I don't know a better way but perfect it is not

[craigdav1]

6-7 PL OK.

Richard J Daley served as mayor for 21 years until his death while in office (actually while in his doctor's office). His son, Richard M Daley served for 22 years, declining to run for another term, in part because of the death from cancer of his wife. Were it not for the slight difference in their names we could have kept those voting machines.