[COMPLETE] The Golden Arrow by Mary Webb - dc

[mycatmissesme]

The Golden Arrow, by Mary Webb (1881 - 1927)

All audio files can be found on our catalog page: https://librivox.org/golden-arrow-by-mary-webb/

Deborah, a young girl from a Shropshire farm family, falls so deeply in love with the new preacher that she agrees to live with him as man and wife without marriage. She instinctively understands that finding love is like finding the mystical golden arrow--a lesson that Stephen has yet to learn. Their relationship, combining the most pragmatic aspects of rural life with a sublime vision of the natural world, is paralleled by that of her brother Joe and his bride Lily, a restless girl who sees her marriage only as an escape from her domineering father. (Summary by Anne Erickson)

Source text (please read only from this text!): https://archive.org/details/goldenarrow0000webb/page/n5/mode/2up

Target completion date:

Prooflistening level: Standard
Prospective PLs, please see the Guide for Proof-listeners.

IMPORTANT - soloist, please note: in order to limit the number of languishing projects on our server, we ask that you post an update at least once a month in your project thread, even if you haven't recorded 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
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Genres for the project: Literary Fiction, Romantic Fiction

Keywords that describe the book: fiction, relationships, England, Shropshire, rural life, literary, love and marriage

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LibriVox recording settings: mono (1 channel), 44100 Hz sample rate, 128 kbps constant bit rate MP3. See the Tech Specs

Intro to recording:
Leave 0.5 to 1 second of silence at the beginning.

For the first section, say:

"Section (or Chapter) # of The Golden Arrow. This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit librivox.org." [Optional: "Read by your name."] "The Golden Arrow, by Mary Webb. Section Title."

For the second and subsequent sections, you may use the shortened intro if you wish:

"Section (or Chapter) # of The Golden Arrow, by Mary Webb. This LibriVox recording is in the public domain." [Optional: "Read by your name."] "Section Title."

End of recording:
Say:

"End of section (or chapter) #." [Optional, and if not stated in the intro: "Read by your name, city, date."]

If you are recording the final section of the book, add:

"End of The Golden Arrow, by Mary Webb."

Leave 5 seconds of silence at the end.

Filename: goldenarrow_##_webb_128kb.mp3 where ## is the section number. (e.g. goldenarrow_01_webb_128kb.mp3)

Upload to the LibriVox Uploader: https://librivox.org/login/uploader

MC to select: craigdav1

Copy and paste the file link generated by the uploader into the relevant Listen URL field in the Section Compiler, enter the duration in the Notes field, and post in this thread to let your PL and MC know that you have uploaded a file. You may also post the file link in the thread.

[knotyouraveragejo]

Hi. I'm afraid we can't use this text at the link you provided. We would need a full view copy of the original 1916 edition.

[craigdav1]

Hathitrust seems to have a copy of the 1916 edition.

https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uiug.30112045753628&view=1up&seq=7

[craigdav1]

I can set this up for you. The book has 53 chapters though and you asked for 32 sections. Do you intend to cover one chapter/section? If so, 52 sections would be needed. As they are short you could have two chapters/section. It's entirely your decision.

[mycatmissesme]

The internet archive copy is in fact the 1916 edition--the copyright date of 1984 covers the new introduction. Unfortunately the Haith one is not available online.

[mycatmissesme]

Thanks! Yes, I do want to consolidate some of the chapters into a single section because they're so short--some are only four pages.

[craigdav1]

MW coming up.

edit: I gather from your comment that the text link I gave above doesn't work for you. Most curious. Do we need to advertise for a DPL?

[redrun]

If you haven't got one lined up already, I'd be glad to join as DPL.

[mycatmissesme]

Thanks, Dave and redrun! First chapter ready to upload.

[craigdav1]

Now that the team is complete it's off to the Going Solo forum.

[mycatmissesme]

Five sections ready for PL.

Sorry, I forgot I was supposed to paste the links into this message!

Anyway the links are in the MW. I'll do better next time.

[redrun]

Ah, gotcha! As long as the links are in MW, I don't need them in the forum, but yes, if you post to tell me they're up, I'll know quickly. Will PL today.

[redrun]

This is a somewhat long post, as I tend to be... perhaps overly helpful. I'm enjoying the listen so far, and can't wait to hear more of the story! I offer up advice and suggestions for what's helped me, but I know everyone has their own styles and priorities, so feel free to decline or ignore the whole second half.

I've found two spots that probably need fixing in Chapter 1:
@2:10, page 2: missing sentence "Eli's walking as determined-angry as ever."
@0:19-22: duplicate of "Chapter 1"

I also noticed the file names aren't exactly as specified in the first post. I don't think that's a problem, particularly since all the chapters are consistent, but it's worth checking with our MC.

---

Now, two completely optional technical notes/suggestions for you, while I listen to the further chapters:

1. I can hear you over the background noise just fine, but the LV "Checker" tool recommends noise reduction on each of the 5 chapters so far. Again, this is completely optional, but if you'd like to use Noise Reduction, here's what I did as a test.

I selected the last 5 seconds of the file, opened the Noise Reduction effect and hit "Get Noise Profile". I then selected the whole file, opened Noise Reduction again and entered these settings: Noise reduction dB: 20; Sensitivity: 3; Frequency smoothing bands: 0. I hit "OK", and I could see that the waveform between many of the words was much flatter... and Checker was satisfied with the next MP3 export.
If you have any questions or would just rather not do anything with this, I'm glad to help or to let it be.

2. This particular chapter is near the high end of LV's volume range at 91.6 dB, and is louder than the others. It passes, but if you'd like to make it a little more even, I'd recommend using "Amplify" at -2.6 dB to get it to right about 89 dB.

If you'd like a tool that does this for you, there's an effect called "Loudness Normalization", which I use on nearly every chapter I record. You can see a video on how to use it here. If it's not in the same place in your menu as in the video, try the "Volume and Compression" sub-menu.

[redrun]

I've finished the next chapters. Chapters 2, 3, and 5 are PL OK!
I can spot-PL them if you'd like to make optional adjustments mentioned in the previous post, but they pass standard PL.

Chapter 4:
@6:41-6:50, page 25, there's something distorting the audio, and the waveform looks funny. Maybe a wire gets moved, or there's an electrical issue?

[craigdav1]

The filenames should be in the following format.
goldenarrow_##_webb_128kb.mp3 where ## is the section number. (e.g. goldenarrow_01_webb_128kb.mp3)

Upload the files again with the corrected names and then change the url links in the MW.