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Request for Review: Audio Book Recording

S

Shibboleth

Seasoned Member
Male
I've mentioned once or twice on here before that I've been considering creating an audio book version of public domain polygamy works such as The History and Philosophy of Marriage or Thelyphthora. Ultimately, the goal would be to put these somewhere public like youtube and/or librivox.

I've finally finished reading and editing the Preface and Chapter 1 of the former, and would appreciate feedback on the quality. The file is just over half an hour, though it took much longer than that to edit. Note that for my own privacy, I'm using a pitch-shifter to lower my voice, and I'm speaking in a fake pseudo-British accent which occasionally slips around a bit (I'm actually from the US Midwest). Hopefully this doesn't make it sound too cheesy or terrible -- apologies to any Brits out there!

The mp3 is uploaded here (at least for now):
The History and Philosophy of Marriage: Preface & Chapter 1

If you're curious, the copy I'm reading from is located here:
https://archive.org/stream/2edhistoryphilosoph00jencrich#page/n0/mode/2up
 
I haven't listened to it all, @Shibboleth, really only just a few minutes, but I felt it was clear and of 'good' quality. I can't quite put my finger on it, but there is something with the quality that prevents it from being 'excellent'. Like I said, I can't put my finger on it, but it sounds almost as if it is being read in a large room. That said, it is far better than most non-professional book readings I've heard. Given I'm a southerner in the US with little ability to discern accents, I thought you sounded British. :D I wonder if you might find your privacy is hidden enough with a pitch shifter and a slight change in speed, 5% or so, rather than taking on a different accent. I will certainly download and listen to this when you complete the project though.
 
Ditto what aineo said. Good work—keep it up! What mic are you using and what software are you mixing and editing with?
 
Sounds good. Are you adding any reverb or effects?

And I'm with aineo in that I don't know if you need the Brit accent, but on the other hand I don't mind it much either. Gives it a sort of dignified formality. Whatever you're most comfortable with.
 
Thank you for putting the time into doing this recording.

I did find two places that might be worth review.
At about 17:46, page 18
The text is "that they should not be baptized", but I hear "that they should be baptized".
At about 23:09, page 21
The word is judicially, but I hear the word judiciously.

Indignation. Yea, I think that fits my own reaction to that story. I've read of such thing happening even today. I am reminded of Mark 9:42, and I am sad.

Overall, I like it. I agree with Andrew about the accent giving it a dignified formality.
The occasional touch of emotion seems nice also.
Thank you again.
 
The only effects are a background noise cancellation (low-freq rolloff), and the pitch shift.

Oddly, the accent came into my mind naturally, as I was reading through Thelyphthora (even before I had the thought of recording). Something about the writing style, and the long-esses just made it feel right. I'm glad it had the desired effect.

I'll have to go back and check those two spots. I went through several times reading while listening closely for wrong words (and found and fixed many) but I may have missed a few. Thanks for checking!
 
FIRST. I appreciate your effort in doing this.

When I listened to it, the first thing that came to mind was your recording room. That makes a ton of difference. Even if you have the most expensive mic available, it will just record the room echo in equally perfect quality. If you watch some of the youtubers like Mike the Cop or Barnacules, you'll notice they have inexpensive foam panels on the walls in an alternating pattern. Professional sound studios do the same thing with various panels that have ridges, cones or pyramids on them. This absorbs sound and cancels out any echo.
 
NetWatchR beat me to it, ;) but that was my next question, and I agree with him (and aineo) that the best thing you could do to improve your sound is an inexpensive room treatment. You might come back later and fatten your voice up in some particular ways, but you'll have control over that, and meanwhile it seems to me that up-close-and-intimate is in these days (very dead room), rather than a more detached, bigger-room voice.

Unless you go all in and go for a more theatrical "big auditorium" voice. I wouldn't do that, though. This is all pretty subjective, but the way I hold all that in my mind is that going from natural to artificial, adding the accent is one kind of enhancement, going for the big auditorium voice is a different kind, and you probably don't need both.
 
Along the same lines as the intention of this thread, I have often wondered about the value in rewriting a book like this in modern English, and in conjunction making an ebook version available. I have far more places that need my energy than to take on such a project right now, but it seems it would at least be received well by some, particularly if it could be offered side by side to the original.
 
Brilliant. Both ideas. The audiobook and the contemporary translation.
 
Definitely not trying for a big auditorium voice (I do add in some reverb when I record instruments, but I left this one dry). Interesting that people can hear that the room is untreated. Good ear! Mine aren't that sensitive. It's not really that large (maybe 7'x10' with two desks, two bookcases, and much clutter... to break up the sound... ;)), but the microphone is next to a large stretch of empty wall, which probably makes a difference. Back when I was building up my current semi-decent amateur setup, sound panels would probably have been the "next thing on the list". I remember starting to read a bit about panel placement, and how sound waves bounce in a rectangular region to create standing waves, and it was probably about that point where I started to wonder if I was taking things too far. @NetWatchR, thanks for that link; I think I may just go ahead and grab some anyway. The lure of the home studio is that you're never really done setting it up; there's always something to be improved. :eek::D
 
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