Analysis Paralysis - Help with pre-recording questions?

[CharlotteA]

Hello! I'm about to officially record my first chapter. I believe I've got most things down, but there's one area I'm still a little confused about - preventing and/or editing speech mistakes (as opposed to background noise, etc.).

1) I had read that a chapter should be recorded in one sitting, so the sound environment doesn't change. But can editing be done later?

2) Since its unlikely I'll get through a whole chapter without mistakes, what is the best way to deal with them in the moment? Read the line again immediately after and just cut out the mistake later?

3) If I find a mistake in the editing process where I have to redo a line, what's the best way to copy/paste the newly read line back in - without it sounding like it was added in separately?

Thanks in advance, I appreciate the help!
Charlotte

[Peter Why]

Charlotte;

To record a piece in one go is just an ideal. It's often not possible. For example, I find that my voice tends to give out after about twenty minutes, so I usually have to record in bits and merge them later. If you're worried about the sound environment, you could try to record at the same time of day, but usually a final bout of noise cleaning will ease any variation in background.

I always edit my recordings later (sometimes days later!), but you'll probably hear from those who edit as they're making their recordings. You'll find a way that suits you.

I don't think *anyone* can record a piece of any length without mistakes. If I notice a mistake while I'm recording, I'll record that phrase again and again until it sounds right for me (I'll often rerecord to get an emphasis or tone of voice the way I want it). You could click with your tongue where this happens, so you can spot it more easily later on the sonogram ... and I tend to listen through the whole piece later, to check timing and watch for mistakes that I had missed when I was recording. People differ in this, too; find a way that satisfies you.

If you're rerecording a patch, and want to match the sound of your voice in the original recording, it can be worth while recording it a few times, with deliberately different voice tones, then checking them against the original before pasting the best patch in. It helps to record a whole sentence, rather than a phrase or single word, as a change in voice between sentences isn't as noticeable as one within a sentence.

Watch for a discussion about different methods!

Peter

[philchenevert]

Hello! I'm about to officially record my first chapter. I believe I've got most things down, but there's one area I'm still a little confused about - preventing and/or editing speech mistakes (as opposed to background noise, etc.).

1) I had read that a chapter should be recorded in one sitting, so the sound environment doesn't change. But can editing be done later?

This is simply not true. Perhaps as Peter said, it is an ideal, but most everyone records with stops and starts and I have certainly never been able to do it.

2

) Since its unlikely I'll get through a whole chapter without mistakes, what is the best way to deal with them in the moment? Read the line again immediately after and just cut out the mistake later?

Since it is extremely unlikely that you will get through a chapter without mistakes, there are two schools of thought: a) just repeat the word or phrase until it sounds right and keep on recording. the bad parts will be removed in editing later and b) fix it immediately, this is called Punch and Roll. I use the first method and it works well for me. Others prefer the second method and they will need to elaborate on how to do that. I have tried it but went back to method a.

3) If I find a mistake in the editing process where I have to redo a line, what's the best way to copy/paste the newly read line back in - without it sounding like it was added in separately?

Here is a video on how I edit,it may help but keep asking questions http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mLdJsoGQc9c
Here is another video on basic editing http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W9NuSuWYaWg&feature=youtu.be

Thanks in advance, I appreciate the help!
Charlotte

[knotyouraveragejo]

Hi Charlotte,

Peter and Phil have posted while I was typing so I will just add my comments anyway. They basically say the same thing.

(1) reading in one sitting - This depends on how much your recording environment changes and how long the chapter is. If you are recording where you can control the background (like a studio or other dedicated space where the background noise doesn't change significantly over time) then the sound environment isn't as much of a concern. On the other hand if the chapter is very long, you may get tired or your voice can start to sound strained. Some people use what is called punch and roll and correct errors on the fly, but I would guess that most readers here do their editing as a separate step.

(2) Yes just read the line again and edit out the mistake later. Punch and roll is another way to do this if your recording software accommodates this. I personally do the former. Reread the sentence without stopping the recording until I get it the way I want it and then continue reading.

(3) Try to rerecord the mistake in as close to the original recording setting as before. Pasting it in seamlessly takes practice, but you will get better at it as time goes on. You may need to adjust the volume a little to match the surrounding recording. It doesn't have to be perfect. I listen to the original, record the correction in a new track, then copy and paste it into the original. Then I listen again from a little before to a little after the correction to make sure it sounds OK.

[philchenevert]

Peter and Phil have posted while I was typing so I will just add my comments anyway. They basically say the same thing.

Ah, but you say it so much more smoothly and better Jo. The way i wish I had typed it but could not get it organized.

[KevinS]

All VERY good advice above.

But as for paralysis, I just blundered on at the beginning. Really... blundered! Everyone was nice despite that. And today they tell me that I'm slowly learning, getting better and better. It feels good!

[mightyfelix]

I won't beat the horse by repeating what others have said above. But, since a couple of them mentioned Punch and Roll, and it is now my preferred method (it wasn't always), I thought I'd post a link to a quick little video I made to explain how it works in Audacity: https://youtu.be/K1_Gti3lHaM Feel free to try it out. You may not like it, but you don't know until you try!

[audiomike]

Just to add my two cents on punch and roll. Be careful where you place the play head to start recording. As you listen to the previous 5 seconds, your natural rhythm will kick in and you'll start reading again when the timing feels right. If the play head is too far into the gap, you may start reading before Audacity begins recording. It's best to set the play head closer to the end of the good part. Then you won't have to go back and try to adjust the timing in the gap, which is harder than it looks to get it to sound right. It also allows you to be ready and looking at the text instead of watching Audacity to know when to start.

[MichaelMaggs]

I make reading mistakes all the time. Rather than stopping the recording, deleting the error immediately, and re-starting, I find it easiest to keep the recording running and make two very loud snaps with the fingers before trying again (or you could use your tongue).

When you have finished the chapter and are doing final checking and editing, you'll see that those two clicks appear on the waveform as a very obvious pair of closely-spaced lines. Wherever you see a pair of lines, just move back from there and delete the error. Then continue on with the editing until you reach the next pair, and so on.

[CharlotteA]

Thank you all! Your advice was a big help, and I just submitted my recording!

Charlotte

[philchenevert]

Thank you all! Your advice was a big help, and I just submitted my recording!

Charlotte

Great Charlotte! Keep asking questions and keep learning, it gets easier and easier. Not to mention more fun!

[michaelb71]

When recording multiple chapters, is it best to save project by chapter and then "merge" together later, or save as a single project as I record. I use audacity. Thanks.

[KevinS]

When recording multiple chapters, is it best to save project by chapter and then "merge" together later, or save as a single project as I record. I use audacity. Thanks.

I think whichever you prefer.

I find that Audacity slows down quite a bit as one adds minutes, but that may be due to my computer's limitations. I generally march on with a file regardless as LibriVox doesn't allow files more than 72 minutes or so anyway. I save frequently, though, and have begun to save to the FLAC format as a backup while recording longer sections. Audacity can be a little particular (peculiar?) sometimes and if it crashes in the middle of something, one can lose everything.

[mightyfelix]

I keep each chapter/section separate. I don't understand why you would ever merge them, to be honest. That would just give you one large unwieldy file, wouldn't it? And if that file is lost/corrupted/accidentally deleted, then you've lost multiple chapters, not just one. We upload each section separately, so why not save them all separately? Maybe there's something I'm missing.

I do, of course, save each file for the same project in a folder together with the others.

I could be misunderstanding your question. Let me know if I'm way off base.

[michaelb71]

Thanks. I'm considering my first recording and looking for best practices. I find it best to ask before i start