ZOOM Discussion Thread

realisticspeakers · Post by **realisticspeakers** » February 12th, 2021, 10:17 pm

philchenevert wrote: ↑
February 12th, 2021, 8:35 pm

You are chagrined?? I thought you were Polish.

Still rough around the edges.

adrianstephens · Post by **adrianstephens** » February 13th, 2021, 1:08 am

Thank you, Phil, for posting the most recent meeting. And thank you, mighty one, for your talk - it was interesting to see how somebody with a lot of experience does it. It's also interesting to see how personal preference leads experienced people to slightly different solutions (e.g. labels, single alternate window vs lots of windows).

One thing that I do that I haven't seen other people do is I edit exclusively in "Waveform (db)" mode. The logic here is that you can hear sounds at -30dB (starts and ends of speech), but you can't see them on a linear display. You can see them on Waveform (db) mode and avoid editing in the middle of a breath.

I liked the setup shown later with two microphones. I may have to experiment with that. I think I could capture main and aux mics using the L+R channels of my Focusrite and capture them as a stereo channel, then split the channel and experiment with subtracting one from the other.

The issue for us Librivoxers without a professional sound booth is that a couple of inches of foam, or a duvet and blanket (my preference!) absorbs everything above some frequency (say 300Hz), it does little below that. So we end up with a sound that is "boomy" - what we are hearing is room reverberation of the low frequencies, but not the high frequencies. The active cancellation using two mics might help here.

GraceBuchanan · Post by **GraceBuchanan** » February 13th, 2021, 5:17 am

Thank you Devorah for generously sharing your expertise and talent. I am in awe of you, Todd and other dramatic works editors. Combining all the characters into one track is an intense labor of love and artisanry. Thanks for doing it. Your passion for it clearly shines through!

I look forward to when Todd and Jordan take their turns at joining Phil and Adrian leading Zoom meetings and videos to share their practices in more detail.

Post by **ToddHW** » February 13th, 2021, 5:47 am

My turn at showing editing was earlier, and is, I think, recorded somewhere...?

Thanks, Todd

Post by **TriciaG** » February 13th, 2021, 8:11 am

adrianstephens wrote: ↑
February 13th, 2021, 1:08 am
One thing that I do that I haven't seen other people do is I edit exclusively in "Waveform (db)" mode. The logic here is that you can hear sounds at -30dB (starts and ends of speech), but you can't see them on a linear display. You can see them on Waveform (db) mode and avoid editing in the middle of a breath.

The latest version of Audacity (2.4.2) doesn't have the "Waveform (dB)" mode. Or if it is there, it's not in the side pick list.

KevinS · Post by **KevinS** » February 13th, 2021, 8:34 am

I'm wearing the LibriVox dunce cap today. I thought the zoom session was to be on Sunday. Entirely my fault.

adrianstephens · Post by **adrianstephens** » February 13th, 2021, 9:02 am

TriciaG wrote: ↑
February 13th, 2021, 8:11 am

adrianstephens wrote: ↑
February 13th, 2021, 1:08 am
One thing that I do that I haven't seen other people do is I edit exclusively in "Waveform (db)" mode. The logic here is that you can hear sounds at -30dB (starts and ends of speech), but you can't see them on a linear display. You can see them on Waveform (db) mode and avoid editing in the middle of a breath.
The latest version of Audacity (2.4.2) doesn't have the "Waveform (dB)" mode. Or if it is there, it's not in the side pick list.

Hello Tricia,

They moved it to Preferences/Tracks/Display Mode. Not as useful there if you want to switch between modes frequently.

Regards,
Adrian

Post by **TriciaG** » February 13th, 2021, 9:08 am

Thanks! I do look at it sometimes and wasn't happy when I saw it was "gone".

ColleenMc · Post by **ColleenMc** » February 13th, 2021, 9:30 am

I was so sorry to have to miss this -- I had a whopping headache and was actually in bed by the time it rolled around! I'm looking forward to the recording though!

Colleen

JordanN · Post by **JordanN** » February 13th, 2021, 9:41 am

I’m going to do a Librivox recording this afternoon if anyone is interested in virtually looking over my shoulder and my observing my workflow in real time.

I’m not sure if anyone is that bored, but let me know if you’re interested. I’ll start at about 1 PM EDT.

Post by **philchenevert** » February 13th, 2021, 10:13 am

benderca wrote: ↑
February 12th, 2021, 3:36 pm
Is someone going to let us in? I've been waiting for several minutes...

I hope you finally got in and apologize for not seeing you. We will have co-hosts next time to be sure about this.

loon · Post by **loon** » February 13th, 2021, 11:24 am

TriciaG wrote: ↑
February 13th, 2021, 8:11 am

adrianstephens wrote: ↑
February 13th, 2021, 1:08 am
One thing that I do that I haven't seen other people do is I edit exclusively in "Waveform (db)" mode. The logic here is that you can hear sounds at -30dB (starts and ends of speech), but you can't see them on a linear display. You can see them on Waveform (db) mode and avoid editing in the middle of a breath.
The latest version of Audacity (2.4.2) doesn't have the "Waveform (dB)" mode. Or if it is there, it's not in the side pick list.

I'm sorry to read that. I'm still on Audacity 2.3.3.

I also look at tracks in Waveform (dB) mode most of the time. If I'm looking for clipping I switch to Waveform mode - I've had more than enough math classes in college to know what a sine wave is supposed to look like!

Peter Why · Post by **Peter Why** » February 13th, 2021, 1:25 pm

To get the dB display in version 2.4.2, right click in the +1.0 to -1.0 area in the pale blue area at the far left of the sonogram.

Peter

Post by **TriciaG** » February 13th, 2021, 1:30 pm

Peter Why wrote: ↑
February 13th, 2021, 1:25 pm
To get the dB display in version 2.4.2, right click in the +1.0 to -1.0 area in the pale blue area at the far left of the sonogram.

Peter

YAY!!! Thank you!!

Peter Why · Post by **Peter Why** » February 13th, 2021, 1:34 pm

It *does* seem a strange place to hide such a useful thing.
Peter