Hello Kos!
I finally bit the bullet and sold some of my vintage Star Wars. Painful, but I think it was worth it.
This is recorded on an untouched audacity download - on a brand new laptop fresh out of the box.
I haven’t changed anything!
I’m quite impressed, but I would very much appreciate a professional opinion, please. 
That works. I applied ACX Mastering and added very gentle Noise Reduction of the Beast (6, 6, 6).
Everything from here is down to personal reading style and maybe the smallest touch of room echo. There’s no filters or effects for either of those.
Koz
Thanks very much!
Hello Kos,
Just thought I would let you know how my audio attempts are progressing.
https://librivox.org/uploads/lynnet/ss080_in_the_avu_observatory_je_128kb.mp3
It doesn’t sound very much like my first ‘1950’s/60’s’ sample!
If you do find the time to listen to some of it, I wondered if you had any suggestions for improvement?
Obviously I can’t do much about the mastication sounds I sometimes produce, but there are also odd pops and clicks that
I can’t account for. At the moment, on my current project, I am deleting any that I can manually - but this doesn’t work if
it happens in the middle of a word.
Any suggestions?
Cheers! 
Any suggestions?
Chasing clicks and pops is a career move.
I pulled down your H G Wells presentation, ran it through mastering and noise reduction of the beast. It passes ACX and it’s pleasant to listen to.
If I did anything to it at all it would be getting rid of that slight talking-in-a-box sound. Without reading through that whole post again, you’re using a soundproof closet, right? Whatever you used for soundproofing may not be dead enough. We have the silly line about not taking the winter jackets out when you record. Leave them in there.
I’m generating a process for creating a home studio without the hall closet problems. It’s based on a commercial product and the experience of one poster who was responding to a sound experiment posted by someone else. Without the series of bookmarks, I’d be lost.
I changed some of the pictures (not posted yet) and I need to look up some Imperial/Metric conversions. Half-Inch PVC is dead standard in the US, but Metric pipe is measured differently on top of the length conversion.
As it says in the post, sticking your head in that cave if a really odd experience. I’m doing all this outside and I can stick my head in there and listen to my neighborhood noise vanish.
That and I have a new recorder to check out. It’s not a computer and so all the computer sound problems vanish.
Same Piggly Wiggly towel roll, though.
As we go.
Koz
Thanks for that, Koz! Most appreciated!
Actually, I’m just sitting on my bed with my laptop - additional soundproofing didn’t occur to me!
Would it help if I was under the duvet, instead of on top? (That’s actually
a serious question. I might be able to rig something up, but if it’s doomed to failure…)
I shall follow your post with interest, it makes interesting reading.
Slightly tangential question. How does one actually make money doing this? (This is definately
something that I would be interested in investigating in the future!)
Stay Frosty!
PS: The following isn’t for testing, (I cheated!) but I just wanted to give you an idea of how I sound
today…
Would it help if I was under the duvet, instead of on top?
Yes, but you won’t be able to read that way for long. You do have to occasionally breathe.
There was a posting from someone who did exactly that on camera as an illustration of what happens to the sound clarity and echo suppression—that you didn’t have to soundproof the whole room. That was the basis of my kitchen table sound studio. instead of your head holding up the duvet, the plastic pipes do it.
I’m in the production phase where I simplify the design and make it hard to build wrong. There was an engineer where I used to work and he had the winning phrase, “You have to make it inconvenient to mess up” (not in those words).
You wouldn’t believe the complexity of the pipes. Half-inch PVC is dead standard over seven time zones (counting Honolulu). I built the original frame with pipe scraps I found in the back of the garage.
In Metric, it’s magic. They measure outer diameter instead if inner, etc. etc.
Half-Inch Imperial pipe converts to 20MM Metric pipe which converts to 3/4" Imperial… Wait…what?
I’m going to get a good strong tea and hit it again.
There was a famous performer who crawled into a hotel closet with a duvet in order to produce a sound track…and locked herself in. So reading for audiobooks can be a life-changing experience.
Koz
How does one actually make money doing this?
Two ways:
– You get hired to do the voice track for someone’s production/movie/show.
– You submit to a company such as ACX (Audible) and they put audiobooks up for sale on their various companies and production offices. You get a cut.
I have several audiobooks from Sarah Vowell. She has a really wacky reading style but I like it and I found it easy to listen to for a long time.
Fair warning, everybody with a pulse is trying to read audiobooks for profit and retire to a nice cottage on the Mal d’Mere coast.
That’s fair enough!
I’m not greedy - I just want enough to buy a set of false teeth! 
(Besides, I still want to do my Doctor Who FanFic first, so I should have plenty of time to practise!)
Do two tests. One like you have been and one under the covers. The only one we have like that is the guy who did it on video as a sound test.
And yes, I have to do one when I get the kitchen table far enough along.
Koz
That is so cool!
I shall definately give it a go!
Yeah - Thanks, Ken!
Hello Koz!
I did a couple of quick tests samples, and the difference is quite remarkable.
I think that there may also be a psychological factor as, even though I tried to read each at the same pace,
I actually read a bit faster ‘under the duvet’!
Anyway, these are both untouched raw audio, so I would be most interested to see how they compare.
Many thanks!
I don’t hear that much difference. There is a volume change between them, and if I make the quiet one a little louder, the differences go away. That was one of the problems with that demonstration from the guy under the blanket. He got closer to the microphone. Everything sounds good when you do that.
I think you are as good as possible with what you have.
Koz
That’s good to hear - ta!
I’m sure I’ll end up in a padded cell one day, maybe that will improve things!
maybe that will improve things!
Bring the recorders with you.
Koz
Hello Koz!
Just thought you might like to have a quick peek at this…
https://librivox.org/the-war-of-the-worlds-version-4-by-h-g-wells/
I totally understand if you don’t have the time or the inclination to listen to the whole thing,
but if you get a chance to take a listen to an early chapter, then one near the end for comparison, I would greatly appreciate your comments!
The two ends seem to match OK.
That can be one of the problems with new users. You start a book as a beginner and finish a seasoned professional…and the two ends don’t match at all.
This one seems to work.
Congratulations on your publication.
Koz
Thanks Mate!
That is a real relief!
