HMMM This was really interesting... I use Audacity and yeah there are times when I wanna chuck the whole thing out of the window. It'll cut out WHILE I'm recording... Editing... Breathing too hard... Whatever!
What I really found useful was your tips, especially on keeping the breathing. I have been triming the little intakes of air before I start reading and you are the first who's said to keep them.
thank you, I found I really should look more into technical, hands-on posts (both the reading and the writing). I've wondered why Audacity stops recording sometimes too -- maybe there's a setting in preferences? (But "Sound Actiuvated Recording" is unticked for me, so... no idea!)
And I never find simple breathing noises distracting unless they are weirdly enhanced by the mic, it would be interesting to find if other people think differently! (poll time?)
Yup, that would be the #1 advantage! I used to have ProTools Free on my ages-old Mac >_>; I miiiiss eeet. But with my hard-earned wisdom I'm fairly confident I could take on Audacity again and not die next time around ^^;
As a listener, I think it's a good thing that I've not really had time to start listening to many of the Podbang podfics. I think these meta posts will greatly enhance my enjoyment when I do listen because of feeling I know the readers better. :-)
(I've almost made it through 2, now I need to cook up proper feedback!) I kind of want to know the story behind every podbang podfic ^^;
and thank you so much for creating the audiobook versions. Not only are they pretty & super-practical, but smaller, too, which often saves me some download headaches <3 <3 <3
Actually, jinjurly is responsible for the podbang podbooks; I didn't do anything this year except make the archive entries and do a couple of covers for pinch hits. Still, as the instigator of the podbook movement lo, all those couple of years ago, I plan to feel proprietary about the whole thing. :-)
I was sad I had to cut out *all* my breathing, because my mic picked it up all tinny and Darth Vader-ish, but I took care to re-insert all the natural breaks and stops. Yup. That one!!!
I am glad I realized that early on, and I actually lengthen and shorten breaks when I listen to it again depending on the pacing I think the story requires.
Re Audacity, my one big learning thing was to never ever save anything in the Audacity format, bc that screws even the wav files. And I've become a big fan of shorter files (10-20 min) which is what I can edit in one go as well...
Only thing I object to...it's *not* a diss :) i only wish a diss could be written in 6-8 weeks :)
thank you for reading! I'm still working my way through the lively discussion at your inspiring post (which did help me to write this one.)
Man, I wish I had known that the Audacity file system would mercilessly stab me in the back. I'd only done this one 40min fic before, but that was on XP, and I didn't have any there trouble at all.
Only thing I object to...it's *not* a diss :) i only wish a diss could be written in 6-8 weeks :)
:#) I was grasping at something sufficiently awe-inspiring and may have exaggerated a wee bit! ;)
LOL. I know. I just...couldn't let that stand, y'know :)
I found your comments on collaboration interesting. It hadn't really occurred to me before to do this, but I'd assumed it would be maybe 1/2 the time plus 10-15% merging the files. I hadn't thought about differing equipment. And that even though I made sure that the entire story gets recorded in one spot with the furniture the same way.
(Funny, true story...halfway through bullet I cleaned up my study, bc my mom was coming. And when I recorded the next section it sounded echoey and hollow. Until I realized that getting rid of piles of books and shit had made the room empty and affected the sound. So I took comforters and covered all surfaces for the recordings :)
Yeah, I don't have much experience to judge from, so my guess may be off. The costs of collaboration probably differ from team to team, but I wouldn't underestimate them. I should ask 7pennies about their experience.
And yeah, room atmosphere (for lack of a better word.) It's so weird, because I took great care to tone it down, and succeeded, in that I don't think the room influenced my voice greatly. Only to find that in the end, it's more important to get a clear recording of the *voice*, first and foremost, background noise be damned, because you can edit the hell out of background noises, but trying to shape a voice gone bad via effects..ugh.
My room is usually v. cluttered, even when I clean it, but maybe I should place a couple more books on my desk, hee -- I do have some problems with echoing (tho' it's my mic, I think).
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What I really found useful was your tips, especially on keeping the breathing. I have been triming the little intakes of air before I start reading and you are the first who's said to keep them.
Thanks for sharing this... It's really useful!
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And I never find simple breathing noises distracting unless they are weirdly enhanced by the mic, it would be interesting to find if other people think differently! (poll time?)
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and thank you so much for creating the audiobook versions. Not only are they pretty & super-practical, but smaller, too, which often saves me some download headaches <3 <3 <3
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I am glad I realized that early on, and I actually lengthen and shorten breaks when I listen to it again depending on the pacing I think the story requires.
Re Audacity, my one big learning thing was to never ever save anything in the Audacity format, bc that screws even the wav files. And I've become a big fan of shorter files (10-20 min) which is what I can edit in one go as well...
Only thing I object to...it's *not* a diss :) i only wish a diss could be written in 6-8 weeks :)
that was a great post!!! thanks!!! <3
Reply
Man, I wish I had known that the Audacity file system would mercilessly stab me in the back. I'd only done this one 40min fic before, but that was on XP, and I didn't have any there trouble at all.
Only thing I object to...it's *not* a diss :) i only wish a diss could be written in 6-8 weeks :)
:#) I was grasping at something sufficiently awe-inspiring and may have exaggerated a wee bit! ;)
Reply
I found your comments on collaboration interesting. It hadn't really occurred to me before to do this, but I'd assumed it would be maybe 1/2 the time plus 10-15% merging the files. I hadn't thought about differing equipment. And that even though I made sure that the entire story gets recorded in one spot with the furniture the same way.
(Funny, true story...halfway through bullet I cleaned up my study, bc my mom was coming. And when I recorded the next section it sounded echoey and hollow. Until I realized that getting rid of piles of books and shit had made the room empty and affected the sound. So I took comforters and covered all surfaces for the recordings :)
Reply
And yeah, room atmosphere (for lack of a better word.) It's so weird, because I took great care to tone it down, and succeeded, in that I don't think the room influenced my voice greatly. Only to find that in the end, it's more important to get a clear recording of the *voice*, first and foremost, background noise be damned, because you can edit the hell out of background noises, but trying to shape a voice gone bad via effects..ugh.
My room is usually v. cluttered, even when I clean it, but maybe I should place a couple more books on my desk, hee -- I do have some problems with echoing (tho' it's my mic, I think).
Reply
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