[SOLO] Told in the gardens of Araby (untranslated until now) by Chandler and Montgomery - brrot

DougWade · Post by **DougWade** » March 26th, 2024, 5:48 pm

Told in the gardens of Araby, by Izora Cecilia Chandler and Mary W. Montgomery

A collection of Persian stories (Summary by Doug Wade)

Source text (please read only from this text!): https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/73256

Target completion date: 2024-07-01

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: Children's Fiction/Myths, Legends & Fairy Tales

Keywords that describe the book:

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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 Told in the gardens of Araby. 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."] "Told in the gardens of Araby, by Izora Cecilia Chandler and Mary W. Montgomery. Section Title."

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

"Section (or Chapter) # of Told in the gardens of Araby, by Izora Cecilia Chandler and Mary W. Montgomery. 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 Told in the gardens of Araby, by Izora Cecilia Chandler and Mary W. Montgomery."

Leave 5 seconds of silence at the end.

Filename: toldinthegardensofaraby_##_chandler_128kb.mp3 where ## is the section number. (e.g. toldinthegardensofaraby_01_chandler_128kb.mp3)

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

MC to select: brownrottger

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.

LCaulkins · Post by **LCaulkins** » March 29th, 2024, 6:33 pm

Hi, Doug - I'd love to be your DPL on this if you need one.

(You might already have one, since there's not a ~ at the front of the subject line, but I thought this might also be your first solo, and you weren't familiar with that convention yet?)

DougWade · Post by **DougWade** » March 30th, 2024, 8:46 am

LCaulkins wrote: ↑March 29th, 2024, 6:33 pm Hi, Doug - I'd love to be your DPL on this if you need one.

(You might already have one, since there's not a ~ at the front of the subject line, but I thought this might also be your first solo, and you weren't familiar with that convention yet?)

Hi, that would be delightful! I do not have a DPL, and you are right -- I did not know about the convention. There's probably a line I missed in the instructions. Are there other steps I've missed?

LCaulkins · Post by **LCaulkins** » March 30th, 2024, 10:56 am

I don't think you've missed any other steps. Your source is from Project Gutenberg, so that's public domain without even looking into it. You just wait until an MC picks it up for you and creates your magic window. Shouldn't be much longer before that happens.

The only thing an experienced soloist might do is to edit the main post instructions portion so that the file name is shorter. For example, instead of the mechanically-entered "toldinthegardensofaraby," you might use something like, "gardensofaraby." Oh, and they'd edit the quote sections so that it only says "Section" or "Chapter" in the introductions. That's your choice, which word you want to use.

Post by **brownrottger** » March 30th, 2024, 4:00 pm

Hi Doug, I will MC this for you.
Best,
Christine

Post by **brownrottger** » March 30th, 2024, 4:15 pm

Hi Doug!
Your Magic Window is in place. Also, Lynette has access to the MW as DPL. As Soloist, you are your own Book Coordinator (BC). Since this is your first Solo, you will need to follow the instructions for first time BC login. For your convenience, here are the instructions for that excerpted from the guidelines for BCs.
Accessing the System – First Time Login

Use this Link to go the main login screen: http://librivox.org/workflow
Click on Login (for BCs & MCs)
Enter your forum username.
Click “Forgot Password” (Note: Your forum password will not work here!!)
You will receive an email with a link to reset your password. Click the link and enter a password and submit the form.
Go back to the main login screen and use the new password you entered above to log in to the system.

Here is a link for more detailed instructions: https://wiki.librivox.org/index.php/Soloists:_How_to_update_the_Magic_Window#Accessing_the_System_%E2%80%93_First_Time_Login

As soon as you do all that, please post here and I will move us to Going Solo.

If there is any problem, please let me know.

Best,
Christine

DougWade · Post by **DougWade** » April 1st, 2024, 4:18 pm

brownrottger wrote: ↑March 30th, 2024, 4:15 pm Hi Doug!
Your Magic Window is in place. Also, Lynette has access to the MW as DPL. As Soloist, you are your own Book Coordinator (BC). Since this is your first Solo, you will need to follow the instructions for first time BC login. For your convenience, here are the instructions for that excerpted from the guidelines for BCs.
Accessing the System – First Time Login

Use this Link to go the main login screen: http://librivox.org/workflow
Click on Login (for BCs & MCs)
Enter your forum username.
Click “Forgot Password” (Note: Your forum password will not work here!!)
You will receive an email with a link to reset your password. Click the link and enter a password and submit the form.
Go back to the main login screen and use the new password you entered above to log in to the system.

Here is a link for more detailed instructions: https://wiki.librivox.org/index.php/Soloists:_How_to_update_the_Magic_Window#Accessing_the_System_%E2%80%93_First_Time_Login

As soon as you do all that, please post here and I will move us to Going Solo.

If there is any problem, please let me know.

Best,
Christine

Hi Christine,

Thanks for the detailed instructions! I believe I followed them successfully -- at least, I see a page titled "LibriVox Management Dashboard", though I'm getting a 404 from the pdf that has the screenshots so I can't compare. Clicking on the id for this project throws a permission denied error as well, but I have logged in successfully, which I think was the goal.

Best,
Doug

Post by **brownrottger** » April 2nd, 2024, 12:47 pm

Can you edit the MW?

DougWade · Post by **DougWade** » May 25th, 2024, 9:40 am

brownrottger wrote: ↑April 2nd, 2024, 12:47 pm Can you edit the MW?

I can, and I did! I tried my best to follow the instructions, but they're a little unclear as to what is done by a solo reader (I think the youtube video and the wiki page are primarily for a different kind of admin, maybe?) -- please, let me know if there is anything more I should do, or anything I shouldn't have done.

DougWade · Post by **DougWade** » May 25th, 2024, 9:42 am

Hiya, here for my monthly check-in for May. I didn't make much progress due to some unforeseen busyness that arose, but I'm back in the booth this morning. I probably won't hit my original July date, but I will be trying to make up for lost time.

Post by **brownrottger** » May 25th, 2024, 1:25 pm

DougWade wrote: ↑May 25th, 2024, 9:42 am Hiya, here for my monthly check-in for May. I didn't make much progress due to some unforeseen busyness that arose, but I'm back in the booth this morning. I probably won't hit my original July date, but I will be trying to make up for lost time.

Thanks for checking in.

DougWade · Post by **DougWade** » May 26th, 2024, 3:44 pm

I posted the first two sections, which are ready for PL. The second one seems to have gotten a little loud about 2/3rds of the way in and has warnings from the checker -- let me know if I need to re-record it to get the levels right.

LCaulkins · Post by **LCaulkins** » May 28th, 2024, 3:36 pm

Hi, Doug!

Sorry to take so long to respond. This is an uncharacteristic lull from me, so feel free to shoot me a note if it happens again. (Scott and I were scrambling to get some weather-dependent renovations completed over his long weekend, and I didn't have any time to check into LV until today.)

I'd downloaded all three sections and will get them PL'd by tomorrow evening, Colorado time.

LCaulkins · Post by **LCaulkins** » May 29th, 2024, 8:20 pm

Hey there

I knew I would find the stories interesting!

Sections 1 and 3 are both PL OK

On Section 2, as you noted, Checker marks it just outside the LV parameters - it also notes moderately high background noise (which I didn't find distracting, sometimes the reading doesn't reflect perceived auditory levels). Both of these are very easy to edit, so there's zero need to re-record anything.

In addition, this file needs its 5 seconds of room silence at the end.

So - pull your file up for some small-tweaks editing.

First give it the silence at the end. You can either set the cursor at the end and record the room silence, or copy/paste silence that's already existing on the track.

And please forgive me if I ask questions and offer "instructions" for things that you already know about on this next part.

Have you already done Noise Reduction on section 2? Doing so would automatically pull the overall decibel range down in LV parameters, so I'm going to paste in the little tutorial on using Noise Reduction in Audacity that I have on hand for folks who aren't familiar with that editing feature. (If the volume were even louder than it is now, I'd also recommend putting in a negative value on the Amplify effect, but that won't be necessary on this file.)

------
Noise Reduction

A really great magic trick is Noise Reduction! My single most favorite effect. These instructions are for Audacity editing. If you're using something different to edit your recordings, there is probably a similar effect available that you can find.

Noise Reduction is a two-step process. It is great at cleaning out background noise so your recording is clean and clear, but you do need to watch out how strongly you apply it, because if you do it too much, it will distort your recording so that it starts sounding tinny, with Darth Vader breathing, and even like space monkeys are invading your reading.

Open your recording file, and then:

Zoom the track bigger so you can easily highlight a stretch of silence. (Just click and drag your mouse across that stretch.)
In the Effects Menu, select "Noise Reduction"
Click on "Get Noise Profile" (the pop-up window will disappear)
Now click Control-A to highlight the entire track.
Re-open the Noise Reduction effect and for now use these numbers:
Noise Reduction: 12
Sensitivity: 6
Frequency smoothing: 3
Click OK

Then you're ready to re-export to mp3 and upload the file the same way you did the first time. (keep the mp3 file name the same)