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Neil K. Hess
Contributore Level V
Joined: 13 Dec 2012
Posts: 184
Location: Washington State
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 Posted: Fri Dec 28, 2012 11:57 am Post subject: My first audio book |
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Howdy all.
I am recordingmy first audio book using a demo of adobe audition (I am a real newbie when it comes to audio editing, so if you know of another DAW with a demo that is easy for begginers to get ahold of I would LOVE to hear your suggestions).
Here is a link to one o the chapters I just read (https://dl.dropbox.com/u/75743832/How%20To%20Cure%20Nodular%20Acne%20Project_mixdown.mp3). The text for the chapter can be found below. I would really like a critique on my reading AND on my editing so that I know what I need to fix. Don't hold back. I need all of the criticism I can get.
| Quote: | Chapter Six: Alternative Treatments for Nodular Acne
In addition to treating nodular acne, there are some things that you can do to help keep acne at bay that go beyond oral or topical treatments and medications.
Dietary Changes
While changing your diet will not be the “cure all” for your acne, you can help reduce your chances for a breakout by slowly changing the way you eat. Remember that any sudden changes in your environment (including what you eat) can stress your body and trigger a breakout, so gradual changes are highly recommended.
Things to enjoy in moderation:
• High-carb / sugary foods and drinks
High-carb foods such as breads or cookies made with white flour and sugary foods and drinks like candy and sodas are known to aggravate existing acne and set the stage for new breakouts.
• High-fat and sweetened dairy products
Foods like ice cream and cheese have a lot of fat and sugar, so they should be minimized or put aside in favor of lower-fat alternatives.
Things you can try instead:
• Low-carb / low-sugar foods and drinks
Things like sweet potatoes, whole-grain pasta, fruit, and steel-cut oats are great substitutes for traditional high-carb foods like potatoes, white and whole-wheat breads and bagels, breakfast cereals, white rice, soft drinks, and candy. You can still enjoy sodas and juice, simply choose low-sugar formulas and limit yourself to only a few a week.
• Low-fat / high-protein dairy products
Instead of full-fat milk or yogurt, try cultured dairy products with natural probiotics like greek yogurt and kefir, and trade in the whole fat milk for 2% or skim.
• Fresh fruits and vegetables
Fruits like pomegranates, strawberries, and dark grapes have plenty of vitamin C that can help refresh your skin from the inside out. Green, leafy vegetables like spinach and lettuces also contain strong antioxidants which can dry up excess oil and reduce inflammation. If you’re not a huge fan of fruits and veggies, look for ways to sneak them into your diet; try a fruit and veggie smoothie!
• Drink more clear liquids
You’ve likely heard that water is good for exercise and hydration. It’s very good for your skin too! Being hydrated helps your body function much better than it does without sufficient fluids. A cup of green tea a day can also help to reduce irritation and inflammation because of the antioxidant content in green tea. In addition, green tea also works to flush toxins from your body, so it’s a win-win!
• Get plenty of omega-3 fatty acids
Lots of foods contain omega-3 fatty acids, such as salmon, spinach, flax seeds, and walnuts. If you cannot add these to your diet because of allergies, there are effective omega-3 supplements you can discuss with your doctor.
Lifestyle Changes
Just like going on a diet, alternative treatments for nodular acne such as lifestyle changes, don’t work on their own - they should be combined with other methods such as dietary changes. And nothing says that you cannot combine traditional and alternative treatments to really get ahead of your nodular acne and keep flare ups and breakouts to a minimum while the medication works to knock them out for good.
Here are a few helpful changes you can make in your daily routine to help fight acne:
• Get more sleep!
Easier said than done – I know! - but studies have shown that people who sleep more, tend to be under less stress, and stress of course, can cause acne. Sleep also gives your body the time it needs to process nutrients from the foods you ate and drank during the day.
• Exercise!
Yes, sweat from exercise can irritate the skin and clog your pores, however if you make sure to shower off after your workout and use a gentle cleanser on your face, you should feel the benefits of reduced stress, increased energy, more oxygen to your body’s cells, and overall well-being.
• Wear Sunscreen!
Sun exposure can be a big irritant to your skin, even moreso than sunscreen itself. You might worry about using sunscreen because it can clog your pores, but a sunburn or any prolonged sun exposure can dry out your skin severely and cause other irritations that can lead to an acne breakout.
• Wipe down your cell phone!
One surprisingly undetected and hardly-mentioned (if mentioned at all) factor, is your trusty cell phone! Cell phones can be major breeding grounds for germs, and we hardly ever think about them when we’ve got our phones up beside our faces. Whenever you think about it, simply wipe down your phone with a cleaner designed for electronics. Heck, even a simple periodic wipe-down of your phone will do! Just do it.
Supplements
Before taking any new supplements, be sure to discuss them with your doctor. They might seem harmless and even helpful, but some supplements have been known to adversely react with certain medications. Your doctor will be able to tell you if anything you plan to take could interact negatively with medications and treatments you’re currently taking.
That being said, here are a couple of supplements commonly found at your local health food store that can help you fight acne from the inside out:
• Vitamin A
Vitamin A is one of the best supplements for your skin. It helps encourage the growth of new skin and also has the effect of reducing fine lines.
• Vitamin E
Vitamin E is another great supplement for skin health because it helps boost red blood cell production and prevents breeding grounds for internal causes of acne.
• Zinc
Zinc can help increase the body’s absorption of vitamins A and E, keeping them stable and steady in your bloodstream, thereby magnifying their effects.
• Magnesium
Magnesium can help balance out the effects of ingredients like benzoyl peroxide, which is commonly found in many acne medications and treatments. It can also improve the elasticity of your skin and balance of your hormones.
• Selenium
Selenium acts as an antioxidant as well as a booster for other vitamins and minerals like the aforementioned vitamins A, E, and Zinc. Selenium also has some positive effects against bacterial skin infections that can cause acne.
As some old sayings go, good things come to those who help themselves get there. If you have nodular acne and simply sit back, do nothing, and hope it will go away, chances are it will not, simply because the things that cause and trigger it are still happening! However, if you take action by seeking help from your doctor or dermatologist, make a few positive changes in your diet and daily habits, and try to think positively, more good things are going to happen than if you had not taken these steps. Even if your nodular acne may not appear completely “cured”, the adverse symptoms will be greatly reduced by the simple things you have done to change your daily habits, lifestyle, and environment for the better! |
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BruceG
Been Here Awhile
Joined: 01 Jun 2012
Posts: 258
Location: just south of Boston, MA
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| Posted: Fri Dec 28, 2012 4:35 pm Post subject: |
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Hi Neil,
Some observations for you which I hope will help:
1) For future reference, leave out the quote for the sample text of your demo; it won't be needed if you're linking to an audio file and Dierdre will love you for not taking up too much space in your post! 
2) You have some serious sylibance going on (a harsh "ess"' sound on your "s"'s). You need to fix this to move forward; it could be caused by the mic you're using or by your own vocal tendencies.
3) The audio quality of the file itself is lacking in terms of volume (I.e. - sound levels) and possibly the digital sampling/bit rate. The minimum ratio you would need would be 16 bit/44.1 kHz for it to sound ok. If you're not sure what this means, you'll need to research this and get some training with digital audio editing.
4) The space you're recording in sounds a little "boxy" and I'm not sure but I may be hearing some room reverb. What's your recording environment like? If you're not recording in a quiet, treated space you'll need some help to achieve that.
I would recommend that you SCOUR the VO-BB Archives and do Google & YouTube searches for info. There's TONS to find here and out on cyberspace but you'll need to invest some time and energy to focus on research. Also, start using Audacity for digital audio editing practice before you even think about buying a DAW. it's a free download and you can practice, practice, practice to hone the editing skills you'll need for the work you want to pursue.
I'll let others share observations about your read - I hope this helps!
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"What was that? An exhibition? We need emotional content." - Bruce Lee, Enter The Dragon |
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ConnieTerwilliger
Triple G
Joined: 07 Dec 2004
Posts: 3381
Location: San Diego - serving the world
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| Posted: Fri Dec 28, 2012 6:37 pm Post subject: |
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Actually the quote was helpful as I was listening - although we didn't need quite so much to provide a critique.
I will address the performance - not the audio quality.
As you got into it, you warmed to the topic and started talking more to someone with acne wanting to do something about it. Find someone you know who has acne and needs this information. Your voice pitch and quality is actually a good fit in my opinion, but right now it is not being used to its best advantages.
When you first started, it was "reading" the words - listen again to hear the sing song up and down inflections that are not related to the meaning of the words you are saying.
The pace also felt rushed to me. One thing about audiobooks is that the listener is NOT following along, so you need to be sure that you are going a pace that allows the listening to absorb what you are saying. It will also help you articulate just a tad more clearly.
As the "tour guide" through these various hints on helping acne, you need to be sure that what you are saying is actually helpful to the listener. Slowing down will help.
And in this case, with all the sub-heads, you need to find a way to work them into the "personality" you are developing here. Right now they seem to be done by that robot at your side - and then you come back on.
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Playing for a living...
www.voiceover-talent.com
YouTube Channel: http://youtube.com/connieterwilliger |
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Jason Huggins
The Gates of Troy
Joined: 12 Aug 2011
Posts: 1846
Location: In the souls of a million jeans
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| Posted: Fri Dec 28, 2012 7:27 pm Post subject: |
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I'll take a little stab at your editing. I think you've done a pretty good job, but there is one thing that I think you could do to help the flow. After you do a pickup or make a composite sentence, make sure you listen back without looking at the manuscript. I close my eyes and pretend I'm just a listener. Then you won't see the edit coming (in the DAW) and your ears will tell you if the edit fits. Sometimes you need a fraction of a second more or less...maybe you need to adjust the gain a hair...maybe the read just didn't match the inflection of the sentence, and needs to be redone. There were a couple edits that I could hear, and obvious edits make me (personally) crazy. I listened to an audiobook recently, and it sounded like the pickups were done in a different studio...just horrible. Yours were not like that...there were just some inflection and timing things that could be tweaked. You'll definitely get better with time.
Are you punch and roll recording or marking mistakes? |
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Limerick Lane Audio
Contributore Level V
Joined: 13 Jan 2012
Posts: 151
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| Posted: Fri Dec 28, 2012 8:26 pm Post subject: |
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***
Last edited by Limerick Lane Audio on Thu Aug 15, 2013 7:35 pm; edited 2 times in total |
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Neil K. Hess
Contributore Level V
Joined: 13 Dec 2012
Posts: 184
Location: Washington State
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| Posted: Fri Dec 28, 2012 8:46 pm Post subject: |
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Thanks everyone. I will make some changes.
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http://neilkhessvo.com |
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Neil K. Hess
Contributore Level V
Joined: 13 Dec 2012
Posts: 184
Location: Washington State
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| Posted: Fri Dec 28, 2012 8:56 pm Post subject: |
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I am trying what I can with a punch and roll technique, but I don't know if it is technically punch and roll. I am downloading a demo of Pro Tools right now and just setting it up to see what I can do with it. Just hope it is not too complicated.
If anyone knows of any video tutorials for Pro Tools specifically geared toward VO or vocals, I would really appreciate a link.
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Jeffrey Kafer
Assistant Zookeeper
Joined: 09 Dec 2006
Posts: 4931
Location: Location, Location!
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| Posted: Fri Dec 28, 2012 10:53 pm Post subject: |
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Your performance is, at best, a little dull. Like Connie said, you've got the ups and downs, but they seem forced and it doesn't feel connected to the copy.
Technically, your audio is horribly sibilant, too low, and seems to have been run through some noise reduction. I also heard some hiccups in your performance and it concerns me that you didn't hear them to edit them out.
I admire your tenacity, but you've got other things to deal with than choosing the right DAW or punching n rolling, or trying to find tutorials.
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Jeff
http://JeffreyKafer.com
Voice-overload Web comic: http://voice-overload.com |
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Benjamin Stovall
Been Here Awhile
Joined: 13 Dec 2011
Posts: 250
Location: Los Angeles, CA
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| Posted: Thu Jan 10, 2013 5:55 pm Post subject: |
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Hi Neil, and thanks for sharing! You asked for some undiluted feedback, so here's mine. I hope it's of some use to you.
Connie wrote:
| Quote: | | ...listen again to hear the sing song up and down inflections that are not related to the meaning of the words you are saying. |
^This.
Before you get overly concerned with the technical areas, I would first work on technique. To unlearn the habit of "sing-song" delivery can sometimes take time, but is incredibly rewarding. No matter how well one learns the audio editing portion of the business, if the ability to first decipher, then deliver the "voice" of the copy does not come naturally to you, you'll want to invest in some professional instruction (and probably even if it does!) Although this is an audiobook, it should not feel "read" and for this particular material, I would argue should feel somewhat conversational in tone.
Again, Connie brilliantly stated:
| Quote: | | ...you warmed to the topic and started talking more to someone with acne wanting to do something about it. |
That, is connecting with the copy and is an absolute must, especially when dealing with audiobooks where you will be reading for extended periods of time. You must be fully engaged, with the appropriate delivery for the applicable material, for the listeners to stay engaged. When you're not (and sometimes this applies to the pros too) it's sometimes referred to as "phoning in a performance," meaning the delivery is flat and uninspired — and make no bones about it — this is a performance art. Acting classes are a prerequisite (if you don't possess this ability naturally).
Unflinchingly, determine if you have what it takes to succeed in this business, in terms of both talent (natural or learned) and mental fortitude, and if you determine that you do, just never quit growing and striving. If it's for you, it's the best career in the world — the one that chose you.
UPDATE: Just FYI: When visiting your website, the landing page currently yields the following error:
"Nothing Found
Apologies, but no results were found for the requested archive. Perhaps searching will help find a related post."
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Ben Stovall Voiceover
http://www.benstovall.com
"When you're nearing the end of your rope, tie a knot. Keep on hanging. Keep on remembering, that there ain't nobody bad like you." -- The Electrifying Mojo |
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