[Solo] Lolly Willowes: or the loving huntsman by Sylvia Townsend Warner - rap

[BetsyWalker]

Rapunzelina and Betsy, I have finished my first recording and have uploaded it to the magic window. I checked the specifications and the volume is at the correct db so it should be ready for you to go ahead and give it a listen!

Good reading! - Yes, the volume is certainly within the specified range. I encountered only one item that needs a fix:

At 7:39
Written: “Venice-point lappets”
Spoken: “Venice-point lappels”

Otherwise it's a "go"!

Betsy

[Lukessa]

Rapunzelina and Betsy, I have finished my first recording and have uploaded it to the magic window. I checked the specifications and the volume is at the correct db so it should be ready for you to go ahead and give it a listen!

Good reading! - Yes, the volume is certainly within the specified range. I encountered only one item that needs a fix:

At 7:39
Written: “Venice-point lappets”
Spoken: “Venice-point lappels”

Otherwise it's a "go"!

Betsy

The edits have been made and the new link is up!

I believe I should have the second section ready for listening sometime this week or next week at the latest for sure.

-Sandy

[BetsyWalker]

The edits have been made and the new link is up!
I believe I should have the second section ready for listening sometime this week or next week at the latest for sure.
-Sandy

Good fix - PL Okay!- Betsy

[Rapunzelina]

Hi Sandy! I see the next chapter is up! I think you forgot to post in the thread, so I thought I'd post instead

[Lukessa]

Thanks for the back up there Rapunzelina! I'll make sure not to forget to add a post each time I upload a section. With that said my next one is up as well!

[BetsyWalker]

Listening to section 2 I have just a few comments:

At 19:01
Repetition of “In summer especially, it was pleasant to sit on the churchyard wall under the thick roof of lime trees,”

At 19:45
Written “elaborated”
Spoken “embroidered”

I notice in this recording a very soft subtle background noise. It is VERY subtle, not worth trying any fixing. But I did not hear it in first recording. Has something changed in the space where you record? I do hear it again in the beginning of section 3. (I have not PLed all of section 3 yet.) It sort of comes and goes. Two other places you might go to hear it in section 2 are at 20:23 and 21:59. Again - this is a very soft sound, not obtrusive. I mention it just as something for you to think about what might be the cause.

Betsy

[BetsyWalker]

Overall, section 3 is a fine reading. But the background noise is still there and a bit more prominent in places. To get a sense of what I mean, you could check the paragraphs at these times: 7:07; 15:59; 18:31; 19:36; 25:10 to hear examples of what I mean.

The good news is that all of these can be very easily removed from the entire recording using Audacity's noise reduction. But I hope that you'll also examine your recording environment and see if you can figure out what is happening.

Betsy

[Lukessa]

Hey Betsy

Yea I do have an idea of what the issue is. I am still recording in the same place and environment, but I live like 30 min away from an airport and the sounds are planes flying over my house as they get ready to land. Its crazy to me how even though I don't live that close the noise still shows up although it is subtle as you said. When I was editing the two sections I did do some noise reduction but I think I'll go back and try and do some more along with your other edits. I do remember particularly having issues with it for section 3. I don't really have many options for moving my set up so I'll just have to be mindful when recording to try and stop for a while when there is that noise. Its possible also that there could be better days when I wont hear as much noise depending on the wind and which direction the planes are landing from so I'll try and shoot for those days if I can manage it. I'll also try and get more of the sound out when I do my editing as well.

I'll let you know when my revised clips are up!

-Sandy

[BetsyWalker]

Hey Betsy

Yea I do have an idea of what the issue is. I am still recording in the same place and environment, but I live like 30 min away from an airport and the sounds are planes flying over my house as they get ready to land. Its crazy to me how even though I don't live that close the noise still shows up although it is subtle as you said. When I was editing the two sections I did do some noise reduction but I think I'll go back and try and do some more along with your other edits. I do remember particularly having issues with it for section 3. I don't really have many options for moving my set up so I'll just have to be mindful when recording to try and stop for a while when there is that noise. Its possible also that there could be better days when I wont hear as much noise depending on the wind and which direction the planes are landing from so I'll try and shoot for those days if I can manage it. I'll also try and get more of the sound out when I do my editing as well.

I'll let you know when my revised clips are up!

-Sandy

Hi Sandy - Ah - I see. That would explain it! Remember that you can do one full noise reduction cleaning as a last step when you're editing. But I'm glad you're on top of it! - Betsy

[Lukessa]

Hey guys, I would have liked to have those edits back in by now but I've come across an issue which has caused me to get stuck and I am having a hard time trying to figure out what the problem is. Separate from the issues I have been having with background noise, now when I try and record and play back the recording the ambient noise is very loud. The silence as perceived on my end is exactly the same as it has been in the past when recording and it feels to me as if maybe I accidentally turned off some passive setting that was eliminating this ambient noise. I don't know if either of you might have any ideas about what is going on and what I might do to try and fix it. I went back and made sure all the LibriVox specifications were correct, I tried uninstalling and reinstalling Audacity, and I tried restarting my computer. I believe at the moment this likely has something to do with my mic as I don't have the issue when recording using my computer's built in mic. My mic doesn't have many settings I can change to begin with, mostly just the volume and some advanced settings that I've never touched before so I'm really confused as to what I might have accidentally changed. Perhaps it has just decided to stop working as it did before? I can also probably just post about this in the general help section but I thought I'd ask here first in case either of you had some insight. I probably could also just live with doing a noise removal for the entire recording once I am done as previously suggested but I'd really like it if I could just get it to go back to the way it was. I am growing increasingly suspicious that my microphone has just decided to sabotage me.

-Sandy

[Rapunzelina]

Hi Sandy! Have you tried different volume levels for your microphone? Maybe you had to increase it to reach desired volume, so now also the background white noise is increased as well. ?

If you'd like, you could upload a short clip, and I'll compare it to your 1-minute test file that was OKed, just to see the difference you're referring to.

[Lukessa]

Hi Sandy! Have you tried different volume levels for your microphone? Maybe you had to increase it to reach desired volume, so now also the background white noise is increased as well. ?

If you'd like, you could upload a short clip, and I'll compare it to your 1-minute test file that was OKed, just to see the difference you're referring to.

I haven't changed any of the volume settings on either the physical microphone (I've always had it at the max setting) and the input volume/recording level in Audacity has always been at around 95%-100%.

Here is a clip: https://librivox.org/uploads/rapunzelina/lukessa_microphone_test_1.mp3

Thanks for the help, I appreciate it!

-Sandy

[Rapunzelina]

I can hear a song playing in the background It's too faint to name. I don't suppose you usually have music playing while you record? Maybe it comes from another room.

I've amplified it a bit, let me know if you can also here it: https://librivox.org/uploads/rapunzelina/lukessa_microphone_test_2.mp3

[Lukessa]

Ah yea that would be my neighbors. That isn’t what I meant to record but other than that do you think I should be fine to noise reduce it down? I’m worried it won’t be consistent with the other recordings still though. Especially with the second recording since there is a word I need to replace. If you need I can send another clip without the recording. I should have double checked it before I sent the last one, my bad.

-Sandy

[Rapunzelina]

When you get a chance, send a clip with you speaking, to compare the sound difference. Maybe send a clip of the phrase you need to replace to see how different it sounds, and if I can suggest any editing effects to make it blend in better. I'm on the road today, I won't get to it until tomorrow. So, no hurry

PS, but otherwise yes, this level of background noise is fine, a light noise reduction pass should be enough