Honored to be a part of Librivox

Cubrick · Post by **Cubrick** » September 27th, 2012, 12:52 pm

Hello Librivox Community,

My name is Raphael from the island of Mindanao in the Pacific. I'm afraid there's not much about me I can share at the moment, for only recently have I found myself and I'm currently relearning a lot of stuff. Librivox played a huge part in my recent adventures and I'm for that I'm eternally grateful. Librivox also taught me (indirectly) how to build websites with WordPress and write themes and plugins. I'm not yet a code ninja but I'm willing to help if volunteers are needed in that department.

Here's a link to my 1 minute test recording: http://upload.librivox.org/share/uploads/tests/test_Cubrick.mp3

Thanks again to the Librivox community of volunteers, I'm really excited to be a part of this community.

Best Wishes,

Raphael Villanea

Post by **TriciaG** » September 27th, 2012, 1:02 pm

Welcome! I looked up your island on Google Maps.

Regarding your test recording (instructions are using Audacity):

- The recording is in stereo. To change all future recordings, go to Edit, Preferences, Devices. Under Recording, change Channels to "1 (Mono)".

- The project rate is 48,000 Hz; it needs to be 44,100. This is fixed in the pick list in the lower left corner of the Audacity window.

- Your volume is too low. You should aim for your wave forms to peak near the 0.5 mark, like this:

Make sure the microphone slider in the Audacity window is all the way up. Also, have you increased your input volume in Windows yet? Here's a link to instructions: http://wiki.librivox.org/index.php/Audacity_1-2-3#Volume

Try making these adjustments, then post another test. Use the same file name as your previous one, and post in this same thread when it's ready.

ekzemplaro · Post by **ekzemplaro** » September 28th, 2012, 1:01 am

Hello Raphael san,
Welcome to LibriVox. I hope you enjoy it here.

I also live in an island in Pacific, even though the Seashore is 80 km apart from where I live.
I suppose you are interested in recording also in your native language.
Please pay a visit to Multilingual Short Works Collection 005. You're very welcome here.

Cheers,
Masa

elainesilva · Post by **elainesilva** » September 28th, 2012, 2:14 am

Hi Raphael! Welcome to Librivox!
Mindanao has been my long time goal destination... Soon!
I hope you'll have a great time here in Librivox!

ekzemplaro · Post by **ekzemplaro** » September 28th, 2012, 4:18 am

Hello Elaine san,
It's a nice surprise to meet you here.
Can you do me a favor?
There're 3 Tagalog recordings at Multilingual Short Works Collection 004.
If possible, can you proof listen them?

Raphael san,
Excuse me for intruding. Please follow Tricia san's instruction for one minute test.

Cheers,
Masa

Hobbit · Post by **Hobbit** » September 28th, 2012, 8:14 am

Welcome, Raphael! We're glad to have you here at LibriVox!

Cubrick · Post by **Cubrick** » September 28th, 2012, 7:22 pm

Hi all,

Thanks for the warm welcome, it really means a lot to me. I felt like a square in a world of circles the past couple of months. At any rate, I'm at home now and a thousand pardons for the trouble with my test recording. I admit that, out of excitement for being here, I made haste and may have skipped a couple of instructions.

Masa san, it's alright and I'm a Linux user too (running Ubuntu 12.04.1 development server on an old computer), feeling so much at home already. Oh, before I forget here's the link to my updated test recording: http://upload.librivox.org/share/uploads/tests/test_Cubrick.mp3. I hope I got it right this time around for I didn't give it my full attention. At any rate, getting off the keyboard now and probably be back in a day or two. Today we celebrate the Feast of Saint Michael the Archangel and have to bid you adeiu.

Viva! Señor San Miguel!

JohanLiebert · Post by **JohanLiebert** » September 29th, 2012, 12:53 am

Hi Raphael!

I'm assuming you know bisaya since you are from mindanao...
kon mu-rekord ka sa bisaya ako ray mu-proof listen sa imohang contribution

midaghan na jud ta diri...!

Post by **TriciaG** » September 29th, 2012, 6:59 am

Better! Tech settings are all correct now.

Now you just need to do some noise cleaning to lessen the background noise. Here are a couple resources:
http://wiki.librivox.org/index.php/Noisecleaning_With_Pics
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VFSg9o37HMw

My settings are as follows:
Noise reduction: 12
Sensitivity: 0
Frequency Smoothing: 150
Attack/decay: 0.03

Try that, and see what you think.

Cubrick · Post by **Cubrick** » October 9th, 2012, 10:48 pm

Hi Tricia,

I did some noise cleaning using your recommended settings and noticed a significant improvement in audio quality. Thank you very much for being patient with me and once again I would like to say that I really appreciate what everyone is doing here. If it wouldn't be too much of a trouble, any other pointers on areas of improvement would be much appreciated.

Kind regards,
Raphael Villanea

Raybrite · Post by **Raybrite** » October 9th, 2012, 11:26 pm

Welcome. I am also new and live a bit North of you in Luzon.
Have fun and enjoy yourself. If you do not enjoy something, you wil not stay with it.
Ken

Cubrick · Post by **Cubrick** » October 9th, 2012, 11:28 pm

I'm assuming you know bisaya since you are from mindanao...
kon mu-rekord ka sa bisaya ako ray mu-proof listen sa imohang contribution

Kumusta April, taga Mindanao ako, sa gamay na ciudad sa Iligan, gadaku gayud ako na Bisaya.

And I would be honored to have you PL my recordings in Bisaya, that is, if there's any, for I have not found any text in Bisaya in the public domain save for the one you already recorded, and in which you did a great job with. We speak the same Bisaya as clear as the sun, however I noticed subtle differences in our manner of speaking. It didn't come a surprise to me, for the Philippines has dialects as numerous as its islands, but sparked my interest nonetheless. At any rate, I'm looking forward to working with you in this endeavor.

JohanLiebert · Post by **JohanLiebert** » October 10th, 2012, 5:27 am

Cubrick wrote:We speak the same Bisaya as clear as the sun, however I noticed subtle differences in our manner of speaking. It didn't come a surprise to me, for the Philippines has dialects as numerous as its islands, but sparked my interest nonetheless. At any rate, I'm looking forward to working with you in this endeavor.

I thought you'd really catch the differences... I spent most of life in Cavite (with all the 'malalim na tagalog'), that's why

Should you record in tagalog I'll be your PLer too

elainesilva · Post by **elainesilva** » October 10th, 2012, 6:15 am

Wooohoo! Yay for Filipinos... Anyway, I'd like to offer my PL-ing to both of you in both Tagalog and Bisaya. Admittedly, I don't speak Bisaya though I understand a few. I do know the language rules though... I got a question to both of you though, do you speak Cebuano? Its not for Librivox really, but for my studies... Thank you!

JohanLiebert · Post by **JohanLiebert** » October 10th, 2012, 6:32 am

Cebuano is Bisaya actually [like Filipino is Tagalog] , although bisaya is a blanket term for the related visayan languages.

[or so I've learned... they sound alike anyway]