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Post by SirPeteThe1st on Jan 26, 2017 11:11:47 GMT -8
Good Day Community,
I started working on my assigned volunteer recording for Librivox, the site that provides audiobook recordings of works in the public domain, and I noticed that straight reading through the text is sooooooooooo difficult (Yes, I put that many o's in there it's that difficult)! I had thirteen tracks under my Audacity file from where I broke up and re-recorded the line until the next flub.
Would anyone have any advice as to get the reading right on a continuous take? Is such a thing possible? I would like to know this.
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Post by Rebekah Amber Clark on Jan 28, 2017 6:17:26 GMT -8
Thirteen tracks? It sounds like you're stopping the recording and starting a new one for each mistake -- that's likely to frustrate and distract you and cause more mistakes. The best advice I ever got was to turn on the recording and LEAVE it running no matter what -- then you can edit out the mistakes later. You can keep a clicker (like a dog training clicker) in hand to make a visible mark in the waveform whenever you make a mistake, or just listen for them when you listen to the file and edit each mistake you hear. As for the number of mistakes, those just reduce over time with practice and getting more comfortable with narration. You might do better practicing the manuscript one or two times beforehand, and/or just reading the manuscript before recording. You might do better with a "cold" read. It's a bit of a throw-it-at-the-wall-and-see-what-sticks process at first to find what works for you. If you watch a livestream or live news, that's probably your best indicator of how streamlined it's possible to be. In an hour-long book, it's theoretically possible you could do it on one take, but especially when things get longer, people just naturally stumble over words or misspeak here and there, even WITHOUT a script you might misread. Typically, you're looking at around 1-2 hours (minimum) to record 1 hour of audio. You're then looking at an average of 4-5+ hours to edit and master it. I've heard figures anywhere from 6 hours on up to over 20 hours to produce 1 hour of finished audio, depending on how streamlined your process is, how many people are narrating or if it's just one person, etc. (But yes, it's very hard. So are ballet, jumping horses, and cooking -- but if you enjoy it enough, it doesn't seem like anywhere near as much work. )
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duffyweber
Member
Posts: 220
I Am A(n): Professional Voice Actor, Semi-Professional Voice Actor, Audio Engineer
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Post by duffyweber on Jan 28, 2017 6:46:48 GMT -8
Razzle's idea for a clicker is superb. And she's exactly right. I also find that you can simply give a good, sharp whistle to peak your mic (aim it slightly away from the pop filter/mic head to prevent damage) and you'll have a ready-made error marker. I take it you've got to edit and clean the audio anyway.
There is no possible way to get a book read done on a single take without error. At the very least, when the sentence cuts off on a page, you're going to have to do a couple takes so the page turning sound isn't in the way.
The fastest way is to back up to the beginning of the flubbed sentence, read it in exactly the tone you did before, and keep going. Then slice out the flubbed take in post.
It might help to read the page you're on once before the take, so it doesn't come as a surprise, and you can get an idea of the emotion you're going to put into the character dialogue.
I hate doing audiobooks. T_T Don't get me wrong - it's really fun, but also REALLY tedious. Huge props to the people who do them.
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