COMPLETE: Edison, His Life & Inventions by Dyer - ge

Solo or group recordings that are finished and fully available for listeners
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anthonysvoice
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Location: Long Island, NY

Post by anthonysvoice »

This will be my first recording! Can't wait!
I would like to take Section 16, The First Edison Central Station.
I was also wondering what the completion date is since there are only two sections left to be read.
Last edited by anthonysvoice on June 5th, 2008, 1:37 pm, edited 1 time in total.
lezer
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Post by lezer »

Hi jazbees,
I was just curiously looking around - that section 50 - are you really planning to have someone record that...? I wonder whether you'll find anyone to do that! It looks more like something for the insomniac collection! :D
(just to be on the safe side: this was not an offer to do the reading...)

Anna
Jazbees
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Post by Jazbees »

Anna,

It's part of the work, so IMO it should be part of the audiobook. Whether or not people actually listen to it is another matter, but I feel that it's important to record everything to be true to the original work.

FWIW, we originally had a reader for that section, but I was unable to contact them after a while so I released it for another volunteer to claim.
Justin S Barrett
http://www.justinsbarrett.com/

Solo: The 116th Battalion in France | The Life of John Taylor
lezer
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Post by lezer »

Of course, you can do what you want, I just look forward to hearing it :D

Sorry, by the way - hope you didn't miss anthony's post above mine just because I had a silly comment to make...
Jazbees
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Post by Jazbees »

Oops! Thanks for the heads-up. I just took a quick peek at the last message on the list...

Anthony: We'd be happy to have you on the project! Because this will be your first read, it would be really helpful if you could do a quick test recording. It helps to work through any basic issues with simple test recordings before tackling a longer read on a project. I'll send you a PM with more info on this. Once that's done, I'll sign you up for section 16.

We're shooting to have the project finished (well, at least all recording done and submitted) by the end of this month. Please review the first post in this thread for additional details.
Justin S Barrett
http://www.justinsbarrett.com/

Solo: The 116th Battalion in France | The Life of John Taylor
wkmanire
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Joined: June 7th, 2008, 12:29 am
Location: Las Vegas, Nevada, USA

Post by wkmanire »

Hello,
For my first contribution to Librivox.org I would like to claim section 19: Magnetic Ore Milling Work. I can most likely have it completed within a week and a half.
wkmanire
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Joined: June 7th, 2008, 12:29 am
Location: Las Vegas, Nevada, USA

Post by wkmanire »

I saw that a test recording from Anthony had been requested, so I took the liberty to provide one. Please take a listen. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. I hope that my reading is of the calibur required by this project. http://cid-a6fffb8b11e48276.skydrive.live.com/self.aspx/Librivox%20Recordings/edison|_lifeinventions|_19|_dyer|_martin.mp3
Jazbees
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Post by Jazbees »

Thanks for offering to help, MasonUS, and for providing a test recording. It sounds very good, but when looking at the waveform in Audacity, the audio levels are a little low. Try boosting the recording level on your mic a little bit. You should be aiming to have the strongest peaks in the audio waveform just inside the maximum displayable area. Right now they're only peaking about halfway to that point. While it doesn't sound too quiet on its own, it will sound quiet compared to louder clips, which makes it uncomfortable for the listener when going from a quiet section to a louder one.

If you would, please record another quick test (it only needs to be a sentence or two) once you have adjusted the recording level. Once we get the levels working, you can get rolling on the full section. Also, please tell me what name you'd like to use for your catalog entry. It can be your full name, your user ID, etc. Whatever you choose. Also, if you have a web site or blog you'd like to include in your catalog entry, post a link for that as well.

Thanks!
Justin S Barrett
http://www.justinsbarrett.com/

Solo: The 116th Battalion in France | The Life of John Taylor
Jazbees
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Post by Jazbees »

All right, I'm gonna bite the bullet and take the monster that is section 50. I'll be doing some other recording today anyway, and I'd *really* like to get that section out of the way. As one of my favorite songs says, "I'm diving in, I'm going deep...." :)
Justin S Barrett
http://www.justinsbarrett.com/

Solo: The 116th Battalion in France | The Life of John Taylor
Starlite
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Location: Thunder Bay Ontario, Canada

Post by Starlite »

Jazbees wrote: "I'm diving in, I'm going deep...." :)
:clap: :lol:
"Reasonable people adapt themselves to the world. Unreasonable
people attempt to adapt the world to themselves. All progress,
therefore, depends on unreasonable people." George Bernard Shaw
wkmanire
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Joined: June 7th, 2008, 12:29 am
Location: Las Vegas, Nevada, USA

Post by wkmanire »

I changed my set up a little bit. I'm using a better mic and I put a pre-amp in between my mic and the input jack on my computer. Please let me know if the new recording is more what you're looking for.

http://cid-a6fffb8b11e48276.skydrive.live.com/self.aspx/Librivox%20Recordings/test.mp3

I would like to be known by my full name. William Kevin Manire in the catalog.
Jazbees
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Post by Jazbees »

Thanks, William. The sound is definitely better, and the levels are improved as well. The only concerns with this recording are the parts between some sentences/phrases where the audio has been completely silenced. It doesn't happen during every break, which leads me to think it's a manual adjustment that was done in post-processing. I would caution against doing this, as it is a bit distracting to have the sound completely vanish. Even though the background noise is definitely noticeable, it isn't loud enough to warrant such drastic processing IMO.

I've entered you into the catalog, and have marked you down for section 19. Thanks again for helping!

Justin
Justin S Barrett
http://www.justinsbarrett.com/

Solo: The 116th Battalion in France | The Life of John Taylor
wkmanire
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Joined: June 7th, 2008, 12:29 am
Location: Las Vegas, Nevada, USA

Post by wkmanire »

You caught me. he he he. In the silenced sections I was trying to figure out how to get rid of some particularly heavy breath sounds. I'll see about reducing the level instead of completely wiping it.
Starlite
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Joined: April 30th, 2006, 2:17 pm
Location: Thunder Bay Ontario, Canada

Post by Starlite »

MasonUS wrote:You caught me. he he he. In the silenced sections I was trying to figure out how to get rid of some particularly heavy breath sounds. I'll see about reducing the level instead of completely wiping it.
There are several ways of cutting out heavy breathing! :wink:

1. Copy a bit of "room noise" from the very beginning of the recording when you start your editing. Then when you need an extra bit of silence or want to eliminate that overly loud breath sound, just paste it in! Sounds so natural this way. (This is what I Do) A half second paste is usually enough.

2. Select the loud breath sound and de-amplify it. The amplify tool also allows you to reduce the sound. (I use this occasionally too) Some ppl don't mind breath sounds in the recording. (I am one of them) It just seems more natural that way. When I am listening to a recording that has them all taken out, I actually feel myself getting out of breath. I'm like "Breath Man!".

I hope this helps.

Esther :)
"Reasonable people adapt themselves to the world. Unreasonable
people attempt to adapt the world to themselves. All progress,
therefore, depends on unreasonable people." George Bernard Shaw
wkmanire
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Joined: June 7th, 2008, 12:29 am
Location: Las Vegas, Nevada, USA

Post by wkmanire »

Currently I have recorded up to line 429 of 820 in chapter 19. I plan on recording at least 200 more tomorrow and finishing on Wednesday evening with the initial recording. Then I can begin cleaning it up as required. I'm enjoying this, but I think the next project I volunteer on will be slightly less technical :)
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