ComPLETE Short Poetry Collection 213 - rap

Hi Rapunzelina,

It is my first recording after my 1 min test.
Please, see if it is ok.
Thank you in advance

My Boy by James Whitcomb Riley (1849–1916)
Text: https://www.bartleby.com/263/119.html
Duration: 0.43
MP3: https://librivox.org/uploads/rapunzelina/spc213_my_boy_apc_128kb.mp3

Luiza

Post by **Rapunzelina** » February 15th, 2021, 7:45 am

KVR022 wrote: ↑February 14th, 2021, 6:59 am Hello,

This is my first recording. I'm Kelly VR

'Endymion' by Oscar Wilde (1854-1900)
Text URL: https://www.theotherpages.org/poems/wilde02.html#5
Duration: 2:23
MP3 URL:https://librivox.org/uploads/rapunzelina/spc213_endymion_kmv_128kb.mp3

Thank you, Kelly! Welcome to the Poetry Collection! Congratulations on your first recording!

It's PL OK! Nice choice of a poem!

JoannaHoyt wrote: ↑February 14th, 2021, 3:45 pm "I Wake And Feel The Fell Of Dark, Not Day" by Gerard Manley Hopkins (1844–89)
https://librivox.org/uploads/rapunzelina/spc213_iwaketofeel_jmh_128kb.mp3
1:32
https://www.bartleby.com/122/45.html

Thank you, Joanna! All perfect with your recording! PL OK!

AudioLiz wrote: ↑February 15th, 2021, 6:53 am Hi Rapunzelina,

It is my first recording after my 1 min test.
Please, see if it is ok.
Thank you in advance

My Boy by James Whitcomb Riley (1849–1916)
Text: https://www.bartleby.com/263/119.html
Duration: 0.43
MP3: https://librivox.org/uploads/rapunzelina/spc213_my_boy_apc_128kb.mp3

Luiza

Hi Luiza! Welcome to Librivox and the Poetry Collection! Congratulations on your first recording! I have a couple of comments that may improve the sound quality and bring out more of your lovely voice.

First, the volume is a little lower than desired. I don't know if you're using a microphone that you could perhaps place closer to you so that it captures more of your voice. But not directly close to the mouth because then there is the risk of plosives - when air/breath hits the microphone and creates sound distortion. Or if you can increase the microphone's input volume so that it records in a higher volume. For this recording, maybe you can use Audacity's "Amplify" effect. Your recording currently measures ~82dB in the Checker, so it would need about 6-7 decibel amplification.

The second thing is that there is background noise in the recording. You can use Audacity's Noise Reduction effect to see if it sounds better to you. This is a two-step action: first you select (highlight with your mouse) a portion where there's no speech, for example a few seconds from the ending silence of the recording. Then go to menu Effects -> "Noise Reduction" and click on "Get Noise Profile". Then, the second step is to select the whole recording and then menu Effects -> "Noise Reduction", where this time you check the settings and click OK. I am currently using the following setting:
Noise Reduction: 10
Sensitivity: 3
Frequency smoothing: 2

In heavier background noise, I apply Noise Reduction twice. Try it and see if it sounds better to your ears.

When you're ready, reupload and post here again. Or let me know if you'll need any help with amplifying, etc.
The _apc_ part in the example filename are the reader's initials, so for you it might be something like _ld_ The title would be one word, so the filename for your recording would be: spc213_myboy_ld_128kb if you'd like to use that when you re-upload.

TonyPS214 · Post by **TonyPS214** » February 15th, 2021, 3:38 pm

Hi!

I have three poems I'd like to add to this collection:

"Ozymandias" by Percy Bysche Shelley (the one you already have is by another poet)
https://www.theotherpages.org/poems/shell01.html#1
01:19
https://librivox.org/uploads/rapunzelina/spc213_Ozymandias_Shelley_TS_128kb.mp3

"Prologue to Alice" by Lewis Carroll
https://www.theotherpages.org/poems/carrol01.html#1
02:06
https://librivox.org/uploads/rapunzelina/spc213_PrologueToAlice_TS_128kb.mp3

"Kublai Khan" by Samuel Taylor Coleridge
https://www.theotherpages.org/poems/coler03.html#3
03:09
https://librivox.org/uploads/rapunzelina/spc213_KublaiKhan_TS_128kb.mp3

Thanks and looking forward to hearing from you,

AudioLiz · Post by **AudioLiz** » February 16th, 2021, 7:41 am

Hi Rapunzelina

Thank you very much! It is so nice of you to help the process.

I did the recording again and with your tips it is much better:
My Boy by James Whitcomb Riley (1849–1916)
https://librivox.org/uploads/rapunzelina/spc213_myboy_ld_128kb.mp3
Track Length 0:43.62

I am recording with a mic and maybe I did something wrong. This time I had a problem with "s". For example when the word starts with "s" there is more clips than other words.

Luiza

Post by **Rapunzelina** » February 16th, 2021, 9:02 am

TonyPS214 wrote: ↑February 15th, 2021, 3:38 pm Hi!

I have three poems I'd like to add to this collection:

Thank you, Tony! What better than a few good poems to ease your way back to Librivox!

Will you be able to export and upload again to fix bitrate to 128kb constant (it's variable now), and filenames to be all lower-case?

AudioLiz wrote: ↑February 16th, 2021, 7:41 am Hi Rapunzelina

Thank you very much! It is so nice of you to help the process.

You're welcome, Luiza, and thank you for your new upload, now PL OK! Volume is great now, and background noise is quite clean! Maybe too clean? It almost sounds over-processed, so I wonder if you used a too heavy setting (like more than 12dB for Noise Reduction) or if the Noise Profile wasn't selected correctly (a few seconds of "silence" from the end).
It doesn't make a difference in a short poem, but I'm mentioning it to work it out for future recordings.

Regarding the "s", it was present in the previous recording too, but it is more prevalent in this one, because the volume is higher. Maybe you can still experiment with different placing of the microphone in case it helps. Then there are tools in Audacity that might decrease the s-sound, though I am not familiar with that side of Audacity. I've heard about a de-esser filter or the Low pass filter. If it bothers you and you'd like to address it, you can either google these terms for more information, or post in the "Need Help" part of the forum for the opinions of more technical Librivoxers

AudioLiz · Post by **AudioLiz** » February 16th, 2021, 10:58 am

Thank you, Rapunlzelina!

Luiza