COMPLETE [History] The French Revolution by R.M. Johnston - kiki

[LCaulkins]

It would be great if you do the last one I'm fine with some words here and there, but I would not be reliable with full passages.

[Elizabby]

Great! I'll skip straight to the last chapter, and hopefully Kiki will soon give you MW access!

[LCaulkins]

Chapter 4 (24:29)

https://librivox.org/uploads/kikisaulite/frenchrevolution_04_johnston_128kb.mp3

Hello, Ariphron - I will update the status of your chapter in the MW when I have access there (I just became the DPL for this project), but I'll go ahead and post the PL notes now for you.

Thanks for reading this chapter - having no training in speaking French, I love hearing people say the words effortlessly.

There is one fix needed: At 10:57, a passage starts where you're reading, "In January 1787 the notables assembled. . ." It should be 1788.
While you're in there doing an edit, there is one spot where the pause seems really quite long for the listener. So if you feel like shortening that one, it is at 17:01.

In the meantime, this is Checker passed, so the technical aspects are great.

[LCaulkins]

Submitting Chapter 6
25m.33s

https://librivox.org/uploads/kikisaulite/frenchrevolution_6_johnston_128kb.mp3

Thanks

Richard

Hi, Richard! I'm the new DPL for this project, and have just started going through the files that are uploaded so far.

You have a mavelous reading voice and style. Thank you for helping on this book!

I haven't been reading for LibriVox a whole lot longer than you have, but since you asked for some feedback in your post for chapter 7, I'll note here that I think there is room for you to raise the recording volume another notch. Chapter 6 is certainly not too quiet, I just think there's room for your voice to be recorded more strongly.

As for this chapter's file: First, the file name should have 06 instead of just 6. I think Kiki can fix that easily during cataloging, but for your future submissions, don't forget to double check that.

There are three edits that need to be made on this excellent recording. (You make history sound nice, by the way, not humdrum to hear.)

(***Have you found out yet that you want to work on edits from the back to the front so that the time cues the PL gives you remain accurate as you're working?)

1 - The lead-in silence should be longer. Your first words will get cut off when someone listens to the audio book. There is a wee bit of extra silence at the end of your recording, going past the 5 seconds, so you can cut some of that off and paste it at the front. You want to land the first words starting between .5 and 1 second.

2 - There is a missing sentence at 1:38 that should follow "headed by the Comte d'Artois and de Breteuil" Are you using Audacity? I've been finding some fantastic tutorials online to learn how to do things like a "punch in" edit for situations like this one. Let me know if you need help finding out how to do that. It was a big lesson for me to learn the first time, but soon became quite easy to do. You can also use things like the amplify effect - and even pitch change - to blend your own voice in with the surrounding audio.

3 - At 13:42 you have recorded "It did not tend to decrease order" - but this should be read as "did not tend to decrease disorder." Since it changes the meaning, we do need to have the word corrected.

When you've made the edits on this file, re-export it (go ahead and fix the 06 part of the name while you're doing this), re-upload it the same way you did the first time, and put up a post with the new upload link and its length of time. I'll spot check that edited file, and we'll be good!

Thank you again for your help!!

[richardauty]

Hi Lynette

Thanks so much for your detailed advice and encouragement and apologies for the recording errors and omissions; if I had been more careful in reviewing before submitting, they could have been avoided! Still, we live and learn and I certainly have plenty to learn though I am really enjoying the process.

I shall do my best to sort Section 6 and resubmit.

Thank you again

Richard

[LCaulkins]

Hi Lynette

Thanks so much for your detailed advice and encouragement and apologies for the recording errors and omissions; if I had been more careful in reviewing before submitting, they could have been avoided! Still, we live and learn and I certainly have plenty to learn though I am really enjoying the process.

I shall do my best to sort Section 6 and resubmit.

Thank you again

Richard

Hey, no knocking your work here! Truthfully, I rarely have a submission of my own go through without a PL's note for something (or several somethings), unless it's a tiny bit part for a play or something. Honestly, as a PL, it gives me something to prove I actually do the work!

[LCaulkins]

Hi

Submitting Chapter 7
22m 29 secs


https://librivox.org/uploads/kikisaulite/frenchrevolution_07_johnston_128kb.mp3

Bit breathy in places. Only my second recording for LV so would welcome any advice to reduce this.

Thanks

Richard

Chapter 7 is Checker passed and PL OK

I think your recording is quite nice. I'm not sure what you're feeling is breathy. From my side, it doesn't seem so. Your cadence is fantastic, giving enough breaks for the listener's mind to collate information, but not too many or too long so that it's draggy. In terms of the actual sound of breathing, it actually sounds better to the listener's ear to hear some of that. Without it, a reading sounds rather robot-y and some people even find themselves holding their breath waiting for the reader to come up for air, so to speak. It's only bothersome when it starts sounding quite loud, as in congestion or asthma.

I didn't notice any spots in this file where it would need to be reduced. When I've had issues with allergies, I've gone through the audio file and hilighted the breaths that are too loud, then used the Amplify effect (in Audacity) to put a negative amplification on that portion until I'm happy with it. I don't know if there's a way to do this more than one spot at a time, so it can be time consuming when I need to do it. But I'm happier with the end result.

And then some of the breathing is dampened with Noise Reduction, too. You have to be careful not to go too strong with that, though, as it will start to put a metallic interference on top of your words, so they get distorted.

[LCaulkins]

Submitting Chapter 11
Duration: 18:42

https://librivox.org/uploads/kikisaulite/frenchrevolution_11_johnston_128kb.mp3

Thanks!

Lincoln

What a nice reading. Thank you very much for helping with this project!

The only thing that needs a little fix is the length of time at the end of the file. There is a little extra there. Can you trim the portion past 18:41 so that it doesn't go beyond 5 seconds of silence? Thanks

[Elizabby]

It’s only about 6 seconds, I’ll pass that as being close enough! This section is PL OK!

[APeterson]

LCaulkins and Elizabby, thank you both for your kind attention!

Lincoln

[Kikisaulite]

Great! I'll skip straight to the last chapter, and hopefully Kiki will soon give you MW access!

Added! Sorry it took so long - I was away for a bit.

[LCaulkins]

Great! I'll skip straight to the last chapter, and hopefully Kiki will soon give you MW access!

Added! Sorry it took so long - I was away for a bit.

Thanks, Kiki

[Ariphron]

Hi, thanks for the attention.

There is one fix needed: At 10:57, a passage starts where you're reading, "In January 1787 the notables assembled. . ." It should be 1788.
While you're in there doing an edit, there is one spot where the pause seems really quite long for the listener. So if you feel like shortening that one, it is at 17:01.

In the meantime, this is Checker passed, so the technical aspects are great.

Oh, that one. I read 1787 because 1788 appeared to be a misprint. The narrative: in 1786, Calonne went to the king to propose new taxes and "an assembly of the notables of France to give their support to these reforms." Then, "In January 1788 the notables assembled. . ." They rejected his proposals and he was replaced by Loménie. "He succeeded in getting the approval of that body for a loan of 60,000,000 francs, and then, on the 1st of May, 1787, dissolved it." So I'm pretty sure January 1788 should read 1787. Sorry I didn't mention it when I uploaded the file.

I've corrected obvious misprints when I've encountered them reading other projects. If you still want it to stand as in the text, let me know and I'll make the edit. In either case, I'll shorten the pause at 17 minutes.

[LCaulkins]

Hi, thanks for the attention.

There is one fix needed: At 10:57, a passage starts where you're reading, "In January 1787 the notables assembled. . ." It should be 1788.
While you're in there doing an edit, there is one spot where the pause seems really quite long for the listener. So if you feel like shortening that one, it is at 17:01.

In the meantime, this is Checker passed, so the technical aspects are great.

Oh, that one. I read 1787 because 1788 appeared to be a misprint. The narrative: in 1786, Calonne went to the king to propose new taxes and "an assembly of the notables of France to give their support to these reforms." Then, "In January 1788 the notables assembled. . ." They rejected his proposals and he was replaced by Loménie. "He succeeded in getting the approval of that body for a loan of 60,000,000 francs, and then, on the 1st of May, 1787, dissolved it." So I'm pretty sure January 1788 should read 1787. Sorry I didn't mention it when I uploaded the file.

I've corrected obvious misprints when I've encountered them reading other projects. If you still want it to stand as in the text, let me know and I'll make the edit. In either case, I'll shorten the pause at 17 minutes.

I think you're correct about it being a misprint. I did go and check the full scan view to make sure it wasn't a typo that resulted between that and the move to full text. It *is* printed as 1788 in the book, so it didn't come from the transposing step.

Being a "young" PL, I'm going to see what Elizabby and Kiki say on this - do we leave it at what must surely be the correct year, or do we go strictly by what the book has?

[Kikisaulite]

I am fine with the correction, as it indeed seems to be a misprint.