One on One

[audiomike]

I would like to do a series of one on one interviews over zoom that concentrate on the technical aspects of recording for Librivox. They would cover, for example, the reader's recording environment, equipment, recording and editing techniques, and any tips or advice they might have to offer. Essentially covering the individual's entire workflow from beginning to end. I believe these interviews would prove interesting and could help those new to recording see how the entire process is done by more experienced readers.

I'm thinking that each interview should take no more than about 20 minutes but the length can vary. I would then edit and post the videos to YouTube under a new dedicated channel called Librivox One on One. The videos would not have to be completely public but available to other Librivox users via a link posted in the forum.

With a few exceptions, I'm open to any day and time so I would be able to accommodate just about anyone's schedule.
So, who's brave enough to share their innermost Librivox secrets?
Or do you think there's no real value to it?
Either way, please commence to commenting. I will bend to the will of the Librivox masses.

[philchenevert]

That sounds like a valuable source of information for all of us. Me and my beanie, volunteer

EDIT: I think an outline to follow in general would give a framework both to organize workflow and to give watchers an idea of where parts will fall. Plus it would keep people from rambling on jumping from this part to that part. There are obviously lots of steps between choosing material to uploading finished tracks and how different people go about doing these steps could be compared with each other.

[audiomike]

EDIT: I think an outline to follow in general would give a framework both to organize workflow and to give watchers an idea of where parts will fall. Plus it would keep people from rambling on jumping from this part to that part. There are obviously lots of steps between choosing material to uploading finished tracks and how different people go about doing these steps could be compared with each other.

I'm not quite sure what you mean. Are you talking about an outline to maintain continuity across all videos or one for the person being interviewed to follow?

[philchenevert]

EDIT: I think an outline to follow in general would give a framework both to organize workflow and to give watchers an idea of where parts will fall. Plus it would keep people from rambling on jumping from this part to that part. There are obviously lots of steps between choosing material to uploading finished tracks and how different people go about doing these steps could be compared with each other.

I'm not quite sure what you mean. Are you talking about an outline to maintain continuity across all videos or one for the person being interviewed to follow?

Ha. Well now I gotta think about it. I suppose I mean a very broad breakdown of the things we must do to record. For example 1) choosing material to record 2) How that text is positioned to be recorded, for example a real book, online text on my screen, off of a pad, etc. We all must follow the text but there are many ways of doing this. 3) recording platform and area, what must do we do to our microphone, room and software to get ready to record 4) Actually recording process; what goes on; do we use punch and roll; how pause; how mark flubs, how do we save temporary files, what formats, etc. 5) Editing and probably a lot more. If a loose format like this were followed the interviewee might find it easier to talk about each section and their thoughts would be better organized. Or they might not. I just know that I'd like something to help me walk throug the process so I don't forget something. Whatever you do it will be beneficial to LibriVox and much appreciated.

[audiomike]

That is basically what I intend to do. Go over everything involved in the recording process from start to finish. Not in extreme detail for each step but enough for the viewer to get a grasp of what's going on, how it's being done by that individual, and in what order. It will be somewhat formulaic in that certain basic steps must be done in order every time. What goes on during each step is the good stuff.

[quartertone]

This sounds interesting! I'm always curious about other readers/narrators' setup and workflow.

I've only been doing this for a 1.5 months, but in that time I've settled on a workflow that I'm happy to share (as a faceless voice, if that's ok).
It's not the most efficient process, I'll admit, but it gets me where I'm going.

Also: Once you have all your content edited and compiled, it would be great to have either a transcript of the video (easily automated in Youtube), or a manually created summary of each interviewee's setup in text form. Audio/video is great for deep explanations, but the text summary might make it easier to scan through for whatever interests the reader.

[annise]

What I am saying does not mean I am against any of this but -
LV has attracted new readers successfully for many years who
have not much interest in the technical side
Do not want to make their living as voice-over artists

Just like reading aloud and having a hobby that is satisfying, and will fit around their lifestyle
And it has worked well.

So - I am happy for people to play with all these things as long as much as they enjoy and share it as long as there is no attempt to imply that any of it is necessary to produce readings that are enjoyable. There are readers who I could listen to reading a street directory in the middle of a round about
After all, if someone was reading to me, as long as I could understand it I would enjoy it.

One thing I would be very against is using our name in any way that implied it was official - yes it is legal and in no way am I against the ones who are running them but users do not understand that the fact they paid for a book they didn't get or they didn't like the political advert or the subject matter is 10 years out of date etc etc has nothing to do with us.
And there is also the problem of links not working, software and hardware getting out of date, the person making it not able or willing to keep it up.

Anne

[quartertone]

[...] as long as there is no attempt to imply that any of it is necessary to produce readings that are enjoyable.

I don't think there is any such implication as far as this hasn't-even-started-yet project is concerned. If I may put words in the mouth of the OP, this project is meant to help both new and veteran LibriVox-ers by showcasing the myriad ways of getting to the same goal of "a listenable voice recording".

As you suggest, there are just as many types of readers/narrators as there are listeners. Some listeners just want someone to vocalize the words, while some listeners want a storyteller who will make the words come alive. Likewise, there are readers who enjoy verbalizing the text flat, while some enjoy performing the text with emotive expressivity. Personally, I prefer to listen to narrators who perform and embody the text, so I strive to make recordings of a similar caliber.

One thing I would be very against is using our name in any way that implied it was official - yes it is legal and in no way am I against the ones who are running them but users do not understand that the fact they paid for a book they didn't get or they didn't like the political advert or the subject matter is 10 years out of date etc etc has nothing to do with us.

I'm not sure I understand the relevance of this bit. I think you may be missing the point of the project. No one has proposed selling a book, or running advertisements. Again, this is a project that has barely made it out of the brain of the person who suggested it, so you may be leaping way past the conclusions and seeing problems that have yet to start considering the notion of beginning to materialize.

And there is also the problem of links not working, software and hardware getting out of date, the person making it not able or willing to keep it up.

I think the solution to this problem is not to shy away from a project for fear of future issues, but to attract more and varied participants so that there would be the likelihood of someone remaining who is capable of maintaining the thing.
The reality is that links break, software gets outdated, hardware gets obsolete. It's just the nature of the current world we live in.
But then, this doesn't really have anything to do with the proposed project since it's anticipated to be just a YouTube video.

Like it or not, *some* amount of technology is necessary to participate in this thing called LibriVox. If the idea of "too much technology" is not to your liking, the best way to combat it would be to lend your experience to this project and show that yes, you can achieve great results with minimal equipment/technical_skill.

[annise]

I said this was my opinion at the beginning I'll say it again .

But if you'd answered as many emails as I have, you too would feel that having things labelled LV does seem to most that they are "official" and that when they need to complain often nicely but sometimes not, any attempt at explaining is regarded as buck-passing and they rush off badmouthing LV to all their friends and relations you would agree that it is not good PR.
I just do not feel it should be labelled in a way that implies that is what readers have to do.
And the first poster has given the project a name.

I think it would be quite interesting as long as it is made clear there are other ways.

Anne

[barleyguy]

I would like to do a series of one on one interviews over zoom that concentrate on the technical aspects of recording for Librivox. They would cover, for example, the reader's recording environment, equipment, recording and editing techniques, and any tips or advice they might have to offer. Essentially covering the individual's entire workflow from beginning to end. I believe these interviews would prove interesting and could help those new to recording see how the entire process is done by more experienced readers.

I'm thinking that each interview should take no more than about 20 minutes but the length can vary. I would then edit and post the videos to YouTube under a new dedicated channel called Librivox One on One. The videos would not have to be completely public but available to other Librivox users via a link posted in the forum.

With a few exceptions, I'm open to any day and time so I would be able to accommodate just about anyone's schedule.
So, who's brave enough to share their innermost Librivox secrets?
Or do you think there's no real value to it?
Either way, please commence to commenting. I will bend to the will of the Librivox masses.

I might be willing to do something like this. For a very long time I've been planning to make a video about how to use Reaper to record books, and have never gotten around to it. Also, I don't really have or want a channel to put it on.

I don't do face, so it would have to be just voice. Screen sharing could be super useful though. I could share my screen in the recording process, and then the editing process (which is on a different computer so would need to be a different Zoom session). I could also send some pictures of gear if you want (or take them ahead of time and share them while we're talking).

I doubt that anybody has the exact same workflow or effects chain that I do. So it might be a unique perspective. I doubt anybody uses the same gear I do either (it's overkill).

Maybe recording a short work, like a 1 minute poem or something, while sharing the screen and annotating the process, could be very helpful.

To Annise's point though, maybe you shouldn't put the word "Librivox" in the title (of the videos or the channel). Maybe something like "5 different workflows for recording audiobooks" would be better, so the videos don't look like something official.

[audiomike]

The videos are intended to be about Librivox readers for Librivox readers. They are not meant for general public ACX wannabees with dollar signs rolling in their eyes. In my original post I stated that "they would not have to be completely public...". Let me explain. The videos will be unlisted. This means that they would not show up on search or recommendations. But since the links will be posted in the 'public' Librivox forum for other readers to view, anyone could stumble upon them.

There are plenty of existing how-to videos that do show up in YouTube searches that have Librivox in the title so I will keep that. Without it, I would be more worried about someone watching the video thinking that it's professional advice and then roasting me in the comments because it didn't get them any paying jobs.

So, maybe I could put the collective mind at ease with a few changes.
First, a simple disclaimer at the beginning that it is not to be construed as an "OFFICIAL" video and that the information is intended solely for Librivox users.
Second, eliminate the separate channel completely since no videos would be visible in it anyway. Though they would be kept in a channel with a different name to help me keep things organized.

Please remember a couple of things. It's still a work in progress and I'll never be able to please everybody.
I'm beginning to feel like I did after trying that Do It Yourself Colonoscopy kit I got on Amazon.
If only the instructions hadn't been in Chinese.

[barleyguy]

Thanks for clarifying your perspective. Please disregard my previous post. I'm out.

[philchenevert]

Please remember a couple of things. It's still a work in progress and I'll never be able to please everybody.
I'm beginning to feel like I did after trying that Do It Yourself Colonoscopy kit I got on Amazon.
If only the instructions hadn't been in Chinese.

Oh wow! So I'm not the only guy who bought that kit, that's good to know. it was a bargain but I'm a bit skeptical about the results which said that i would soon meet a tall, mysterious stranger and that I was pregnant.

[SowasVon]

Sounds good!
It also sounds like something the veterans and/or most known currently active members would best volunteer for (prod, poke).
They might know these things quite well and have a great workflow already (at least I'm baffled at how much output some of them can produce!).

[philchenevert]

Sounds good!
It also sounds like something the veterans and/or most known currently active members would best volunteer for (prod, poke).
They might know these things quite well and have a great workflow already (at least I'm baffled at how much output some of them can produce!).

The very first interview is scheduled for Wednesday. Mike and I are going to zoom. Don't be shy people, step up and volunteer. You know you want to talk about your unique recording process.