~[COMPLETE] The Secret Agent by Joseph Conrad - tg

[TheBanjo]

The Secret Agent by Joseph Conrad (1857 - 1924).

This project is now complete! All audio files can be found on our catalog page: https://librivox.org/the-secret-agent-version-3-by-joseph-conrad/

Taking as his inspiration the historical accidental death by explosion of an anarchist outside the Royal Observatory in Greenwich Park, London in 1894, Conrad tells the dark tale of Adolf Verloc, an indolent, double-dealing secret agent of a foreign government pressured into committing an act of "shocking senselessness" against astronomy, of all things. As the novel bleakly, but with occasional streaks of humour, sifts the hidden motives of London anarchists and revolutionaries, police and government officials, and indeed of Verloc and his own immediate family, nearly all emerge, in their own way, as secret agents of a kind, not quite who they purport to be. (Summary by Peter Dann)

• Text source (only read from this text!): https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/974
• 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 The Secret Agent. 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:
    "The Secret Agent, by Joseph Conrad. [Chapter]"
  
  
  For the second and all subsequent sections, you may optionally use the shortened form of this intro disclaimer:
  • "Chapter [number] of The Secret Agent by Joseph Conrad. 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 The Secret Agent, by Joseph Conrad. "
  
  There should be ~5 seconds silence at the end of the recording.
• Example filename secretagent_##_conrad_128kb.mp3 (all lower-case) where ## is the section number (e.g. secretagent_01_conrad_128kb.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: TriciaG
  • 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

[TriciaG]

Welcome!

This will be version 2 in the catalog. Yes, it's OK to have more than one version, but some readers prefer to record works that haven't been done yet, so I mention it.

Please, PLEASE, before embarking on a solo, do two things:

(1) We do STRONGLY encourage a one-minute test (LINK) to check your technical settings. It's not an audition, but to make sure you're exporting at the correct bit rate, have your recording in mono, etc. It would be a shame to record a whole section, only to have to scrap it and redo it because of some simple setting that is incorrect.

(2) Claim, record, and get OK'd at least one section in a group project. This is to make sure you know what you're getting into. Recording a whole book isn't as easy as it seems. It isn't simply sitting down and recording. There's editing to do - and that often can take up to 5 times as long as recording does. In my experience, a ballpark estimate of 95% of brand new readers who start with a solo end up quitting before finishing. Please test the waters first before jumping in. Not only that, you're basically alone in a solo: you are the coordinator, and unless you have a very friendly DPL, you won't get much encouragement while doing your solo.

[TheBanjo]

Thank you very much for your speedy response. I can only respect your experience in all these matters (that really is a shocking drop-out rate, for example), and I will follow your specific suggestions.

I have posted a one minute test recording to the following topic:

viewtopic.php?f=21&t=85224

Once I have received some feedback there, I will proceed as you suggest by taking up a section of a group project.

[TriciaG]

I'll MC this for you. I hate to think of you leaving The Caxtons, but I simply cannot hold you back.

As you're the soloist, you're in charge of updating the Magic Window.

Detailed Instructions for accessing the Magic Window can be found in the document linked here: Instructions for Soloists

Video showing how to use the Magic Window (read the above document first - it has the information on how to log in for the first time, which this does not have):
Magic Windows / Section Compiler: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nOP4tcr1kl8

I've entered the first two chapters for you as an example. You can fill in the rest. (If you want to make them Roman numerals, feel free.)

When you upload a chapter, put the file duration (mm:ss) in the Notes field and the uploaded URL into the Listen URL field, and mark it from Assigned to Ready for PL.

[TriciaG]

Moving to Going Solo...

[TheBanjo]

Still figuring out proper modus operandum here. I previously posted section 01 in MW but neglected to post that fact here.

Have just now posted section 02 in MW also. File Checker gave it the thumbs down because it's over 60 minutes long, but passed it for level.

Judging by previous (group) reading of this novel, it looks like at least three other chapters will likely run for over an hour (chapters 8, 11 and 12), while at my relatively measured tempo, several other chapters could go close. Personally I don't think that's a problem (it didn't bother me, as a listener, when I listened to the group reading), but you may have other thoughts on this.

I've only just realised that there is already a single reader version of this work on Librivox (I thought there was only a group reading), so I guess technically this one is Version 3. The confusion perhaps arises because the original group recording is catalogued as "The Secret Agent", while the 2016 version by Cori Samuel is catalogued as "The Secret Agent: A Simple Tale (Version 2)". I note that the Cori Samuel version breaks two longer chapters into "parts".

Incidentally, I was quietly thrilled the other day to discover that the group reading of "The Secret Agent" still in the catalogue was the first ever Librivox project: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LibriVox

[TriciaG]

Files can be over an hour, but we really want them to be under 72 minutes so that they can fit on a standard audio CD. If any of those long chapters get that long, I would prefer they be broken into parts 1 and 2.

Ah, yes, this will then be Version 3.

I'll advertise for a proof-listener over in Listeners & Editors Wanted.

[LZyyy]

Hello, hello! I'm a new proof-listener here, and I'd love to PL chapter 1 and 2 for you!
Just to be clear, once I'm done proofreading, I post a list of minutes where stuff seems to be wonky, right?
So for example:
4:20-4:27 gap;

[TriciaG]

Yes, like that. Thanks!

Do you want to proof-listen to the whole book? If so, I'll put you in as DPL (dedicated proof-listener). All I'll need from you is what name you'd like to be credited in the catalog page.

[LZyyy]

I'm sorry to say that I have to reject the offer. The month of February is busy for me, especially around the middle, but I appreciate the opportunity! If you still need to credit a PL (not dedicated), you can refer to me as just LZyyy (or if PLs are usually referred to by their first and last name, you can credit me as Lois Zan):D

[LZyyy]

^I edited my post above, sorry for the indecisiveness I'm only going to PL chapter 1 and 2
Chapter 1 is good to go by the way! The reader's voice is so soothing

[TriciaG]

Okay, no problem. Enjoy what you are able to do!

[LZyyy]

^Thank you so, so much!!
0:16~5:03 The pauses between periods border awkward (usually range from 3-5 seconds)
Other than that, this recording is as great as the last one! Chapter 2 is PLed
(Also I love how the reader uses different tones for each character's voice)

[TheBanjo]

Have uploaded Chapter 3: https://librivox.org/uploads/triciag/secretagent_03_conrad_128kb.mp3 (41:25)

[TriciaG]

Chapter 3 PL OK!