Dani251 wrote: ↑August 4th, 2020, 1:37 amThank you so much for the very kind words and encouragement!
I'm currently making the changes but have two outstanding issues - I can't figure out how to enter lines in audacity, or get the sound above 84...? Any help sooo much appreciated
oh ok, a short tutorial is coming up
great that you use Audacity, because I work with that program too.
So, the easiest way for me to
insert corrections is the following. There are other methods, but this is how I do it:
1) open a new audacity window
2) record the sentences that had errors or that you missed in the new window
3) amplify and noise-clean the new version
4) highlight the corrected sentence, press "copy"
5) go to your masterfile (the old audacity file with the errors in)
6) put the cursor on the time stamp where you need to put in the missed sentence. Or highlight the sentence with the error in. Then press "paste". The new sentence will be replacing the old one
7) after that I usually listen to the sentence before and after the new recorded sentence, and maybe manually adjust the volume so the discrepancy is not too audible. Don't worry about "perfect match of voice", especially for beginners that is the most tricky part. But with practice, believe me, you will get better at making nearly flawless transitions in your corrections. But it's usually not something we can do right away (I couldn't in the beginning, and I really see how much I improved in time).
To
amplify with Audacity, do the following:
> highlight your recording
> go to Effect
> go to Amplify
> input 12 (in your case now) in the first upper box (called "amplification dB"): Important: don't change anything in the lower box !
> press ok
I think I remember that there is one part a bit in the middle (maybe "What!", but not sure anymore) that is much louder than the other parts, so it might not let you amplify without clipping. What you can do before you amplify, is highlight that part (you will see it in the audacity window, the spikes are really much higher than all the others). So highlight that part, and do the amplifcation I told you here, only instead of 12 you input -4 (don't forget the minus sign !) That will decrease the volume of this loud part. Then highlight it all and you can amplify with 12 without this line clipping.
The best is to keep your voice a bit level throughout a recording, that way you can uniformly amplify later on. Especially for prose texts that is important. You can still be expressive in your voice of course, but while you record, have an eye on the audacity window with the sound waves appearing. If you notice a spike all of a sudden, best to rerecord that sentence with a more level voice. You can cut out the other part later on.
And finally,
noise cleaning, which is very important, because the microphon picks up a lot of background noise:
> select a small portion where you don't speak (usually at the end of your file) - you will hear only "noise" there
> go to Effect - Noise Reduction
> first select Get Noise Profile
> then highlight the entire recording
> again Effect - Noise Reduction
> now select OK
Ok with these three basic tools, I think you are all set to get very good recording already. If you have further questions, don't hesitate to ask
And it may seem long and slow in the beginning, but with everything, practice makes perfect. You don't need to look at my "list" after you have done this some 4 or 5 times, believe me
It will all become routine soon.
Good luck
Sonia
As they say: prode comes before the fall...now when he is down he remembers Ruth. I think she goes to easy on him.
Loved it !
)
I really love this performance, thank you so much. He is endearingly lovable, especially when he is exasperated 
You make a great characterization of Mrs Gilfillian here. She is not a bad person, but still adamant that her daughter should get Clement by all means. And the exasperation at Mr Bream is palpable