How I Learned to be a voice for LibriVox-The Basics

jimmowatt · Post by **jimmowatt** » December 15th, 2006, 7:18 am

wordplay wrote:How does one post a snippet of reading for sampling, like the bloopers thread? Cloud, never spoil your fun will I. I am always screwing things up and getting confused. No shortage of workrm fun for you!

Jim is cocked up an editing term? I thought it was a misspelling at first, a strange one at that, but now I wonder. If it is a word, please splain to me Lucy.

Becky

Post a snipped in 'listeners wanted' and make it clear what type of listening you want people to do.
'Cocked up' is a slang phrase for 'made a mistake'.

If President Bush or Tony Blair (British Prime Minister) were talking about the tactics chosen in Iraq he might say he cocked up.

gypsygirl · Post by **gypsygirl** » December 15th, 2006, 8:19 am

jimmowatt wrote:If President Bush or Tony Blair (British Prime Minister) were talking about the tactics chosen in Iraq he might say he cocked up.

Bush wouldn't, for two reasons.
1. He's an american, and they don't use that phrase.
2. He still won't admit there was anything wrong with his tactics.

brianlojeck · Post by **brianlojeck** » December 15th, 2006, 9:50 am

To avoid the "mixing colors" problem shown above, I find it easiest to record again starting at the most recent pause or comma. You can be a lot less accurate then in your cutting...

kristin · Post by **kristin** » December 15th, 2006, 11:38 am

Yes, Brian it is best to make the cut at a pause, which is what I was trying to show. It's probably best to do it between sentences if possible but when I wrote out my explanation I had just finnished reading this for the 20th time and finally gave up trying to do it in one go and for the sake of my sanity started repeating the phrases I messed up:

As regards Mark Ablett,
nobody had seen him from the moment of his going into the room,
but evidence would be called to show that he had enough money on
him at the time to take him to any other part of the country, and
that a man answering to his description had been observed on the
platform of Stanton station, apparently waiting to catch the 3.55
up train to London.

wordplay · Post by **wordplay** » December 15th, 2006, 11:42 am

What file hosting sites do you all use? I found this one and it looks pretty good, but then again, I don't know anything about this area of technology. The second is a link to a list of hosting sites.

https://www.mediamax.com/Brands/MediaMax/home/signup.aspx
http://www.prospector.cz/Free-Internet-services/Online-storage-space/

One thought, Since we all volunteer here, all recordings are free, yadda yadda, do you think we could get a web hosting company to offer free unlimited file hosting for each member for LibriVox files only? I know that many companies donate part of their profits as community outreach, perhaps we would be a good organization for them to help. Plus, they get free publicity for their 'good works.' I have worked for non-profits before..... Toss this around, and let me know what you think.

How do you all organize your recording work? Meaning keep track of what you are doing, done, want to do, and so on...... Basically, how do you get it all done? The editing is my big ol time sucking PIA until I get comfortable with it. You all make it look so easy. I need a little system or way of proceeding-otherwise I am like a shaken can of soda-all over the place. There are so many books, so many words..... I am dreaming this stuff now.

Record a lot then edit?
Have a system?
Store all files off the computer for secruity? I have to send my laptop for repair and need to back up my lv.
Just make it look like you have it together?

I am posting somes snippets today! Thank you. And Brian, easy is my byword when learning new stuff. Skillful editing takes time, and patience, two things I am short of!

Becky

brianlojeck · Post by **brianlojeck** » December 15th, 2006, 11:50 am

wordplay wrote: What file hosting sites do you all use?

I run my own website. I do have several friends who like the service of idrive.com, but I don't know if there is any cost to it...

I have worked for non-profits before..... Toss this around, and let me know what you think.

I think this would be easier if someone went through the time and effort to make Librivox an honest-to-goodness not-for-profit (paperwork, board of directors, etc...), but that's more a question for hugh. I understand it's a pretty big undertaking.

How do you all organize your recording work?

I have a "librivox files" folder, which is divided into "recording" and "listening". the recording folder has a folder for each project, and in the project I keep my own files seperate from any mp3's submitted by other users.

Store all files off the computer for secruity? I have to send my laptop for repair and need to back up my lv.

ALWAYS BACK UP YOUR DATA. I made most of my money in my career from people who didn't back up their data and then ran into computer trouble.

Cd/DVD burners are cheap, as are external hard drives. Many external drives now come with a "single button backup" feature. Plug it in, hit the "go" button, and go to sleep. THe machine backs itself up overnight.

. And Brian, easy is my byword when learning new stuff. Skillful editing takes time, and patience, two things I am short of!

I hate editing, and I'm terrible at it. I share your pain...

kristin · Post by **kristin** » December 15th, 2006, 11:52 am

Organised? Hahahaha.... Yes, my answer would be "Just make it look like you have it together."

Yes, editing is a huge time suck. In my latest project the finished chapters are running 15-20 minutes. Before editing they are 30-35 minutes long and each take an hour plus to edit. Maybe I'm slow but I don't seem to be able to do it any faster than this. (Though repeating myself less because I don't like the sound of what I read would probably speed things up but then I would feel I was sacrificing quality.)

wordplay · Post by **wordplay** » December 15th, 2006, 1:26 pm

1. Must contact Hugh about 501 c 3 status. Can write proposals for np's....
2. Kristin, I am the same way-quality-with anything I do. I have a lot of little spikes. I am learning to take out all the mistakes first, then listen for other stuff. Starting with short pieces while I learn the basics.

kri · Post by **kri** » December 15th, 2006, 1:50 pm

Re: hosting

Actually, we don't really need non-profit status for this. Many volunteers (including many MCs) offer their hosting for temporary purposes. We use a lot of these during the proof listening process. This has been the best way so far to deal with temporary hosting of files while they are being managed. I also am trying to work out using more of my hosted space for LV, since I'm only personally using 2% of it.

Re: Non-Profit status

This is something that we've had lots of discussion about behind the scenes. Trying to decide whether or not we should incorporate (non-profit), or become a part of Archive.org (which has offered to let us do so). This is mainly to deal with legal issues that can arise with some of our recordings that aren't out of copyright everywhere. We can't really afford lawyers, so...

We have a temporary solution that seems to be working so far, and I think the non-profit status is something we'll work on in the future when LV gets bigger and we really need it.

Re: organizing your work

I think this is something you'll have to work out with time, or just make it look like you're doing it

That's certainly what I do!

Here are a few helpful tips though (I hope).

Head on over to this search page and search for your forum name in the "Reader" field. Then click Search, and you'll probably see a bunch of project results. Look way at the bottom of the search results, and you'll see the text "# reader(s) found:" and your forum name. Click on your forum name, and you can use that page to keep track of your ongoing projects. Soon that page will be more accurate as we move every project over to the new system.
Becky, I think you said you already signed up for an account in the wiki, and I noticed you have a page created for yourself. Some people use their wiki page to keep track of works as well. Here's mine for an example...

http://librivox.org/wiki/moin.cgi/KristinLuoma

earthcalling · Post by **earthcalling** » December 15th, 2006, 2:05 pm

wordplay wrote:Earthcalling, my butterfly chasing brain needs a bit more on editing. The breathing is what helps it sound seamless? Do not cut in the middle of a pause? The flatish line so to speak? So I make the cut on the 'top 'of a sentence curve? Don't worry, your secrets are safe, I am a novice, skill ain't in them thar words!

Becky,

I've put together a contrived example.

Here's the raw recording.

Here's the wave form in Audacity:-

I've selected the area to delete, which hopefully makes sense as you listen to the recording. You can see the intake of breath just before the mis-reading of the phrase: "And then an idea..". I want to keep that intake of breath.

Now here's the edited recording.

Seamless. Not bad, huh?

wordplay · Post by **wordplay** » December 15th, 2006, 6:01 pm

Earthcalling:
Seamless. Not bad, huh?

So, keeping in breath is not bad, that will save me a bunch of time! and quess what! I am editing exactly like that-to take my breathing out! Now I only have to worry about mistakes! Not breathing sounds. Thank you! More time to read, less time to edit.

I actually have a lot of stuff recorded following the just keep reading method, now I can get it all edited and on the site for comments!

You all rock! Pat yourselves on the back, then get back to those mics!
Note the link in my sig below to my recordings on MediaMax-The site is really easy to use! 25gb's of space too. 1gb downloads a month. All for free! If I say it is easy, trust me, it is easy.

Becky

TBOL3 · Post by **TBOL3** » December 15th, 2006, 6:05 pm

wordplay wrote:

I actually have a lot of stuff recorded following the just keep reading method, now I can get it all edited and on the site for comments!

You all rock! Pat yourselves on the back, then get back to those mics!

Becky

He, He, me to

And thanks

sjmarky · Post by **sjmarky** » December 15th, 2006, 9:38 pm

My own method for long recordings;

Read straight thru - don't stop the recording. If I make a mistake or want to re-read something.. pause...start over at the beginning of the sentence or paragraph. Makes editing really easy...you can see the flat spot in the audiowave...don't have to be splitting sentences, and there's less change in tone/volume to signal an edit. I don't do any singles or markers...I try to keep a rythm up thru the reading. Focus on the text, not on yourself. Finally, if tired, quit for the day. I'm good for about an hour. Longer than that and I just lose focus...errors multiply...boredom comes thru...

So much is mental. Once I got stuck on a passage and re-read it no less than 6 times. When I listened to it later...all 6 were read correctly. THEY WERE JUST WRONG IN MY HEAD.

wordplay · Post by **wordplay** » December 15th, 2006, 10:25 pm

What do you do when you have a wonderful system-so you thought-for giving people access to and uploading files for LV-and no one, including myself can download anything? May I scream? Sound effect time I guess! Pulls hair out..... See link in sig, bad, bad, link. bad hosting site? Worked earlier. I love/hate technology.

Becky

brianlojeck · Post by **brianlojeck** » December 15th, 2006, 10:33 pm

at first glance it looks to me like a permissions problem. I'd talk to the hosting company's tech support...