Would There Ever Be a Possibility...? - The Barrow-Downs Discussion Forum

Estelyn Telcontar · 04-03-2008, 02:55 AM

Nogrod, we ask members not to post their e-mail addresses in order to protect themselves from spam or worse. There are too many bots combing the internet for links. Please do remove it from your post; those who wish to have it can contact you by PM. Thanks!

Nogrod · 04-03-2008, 04:10 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Estelyn Telcontar

Nogrod, we ask members not to post their e-mail addresses in order to protect themselves from spam or worse. There are too many bots combing the internet for links. Please do remove it from your post; those who wish to have it can contact you by PM. Thanks!

I see. Done.

Nerwen · 04-03-2008, 05:27 AM

If you need a second person to mix the recordings etc., I have experience with this and access to professional software and equipment (my father's a musician and I'm doing a multimedia course).

Nogrod · 04-03-2008, 05:36 AM

Great!

We could try different mixings and then compare them. If you have far superior sofware we should use yours but if they are roughly similar - producing roughly similar quality - we could share the tasks according to which one of us has time or whether certain tasks are better suited to one software than the other.

Nogrod · 04-03-2008, 02:21 PM

I got Matthew's clip on Boromir.

You act well but the recording is pretty terrible...

I'd give you (all) two pieces of advice.

1. Don't record your voice too loud so that the voice breaks down. Adjust the input in a way that the recording levels stay in the middle or little above it. Whatever the recording device it normally goes red when the input volume is too high. If the voice breaks down already in the recording session there's no way to mend it afterwards. One shouldn't record on too low levels either as then all the background noises come to the fore: so try to find the levels just below the "red zone" as it gives the optimal quality of sound.

2. Get away from your computer, as far as is possible - or at least build some kind of a sound-wall between the microphone and the central unit of your PC. It's no problem if you record from far away of the PC and there's some empty track before your recording starts (if you have to move yourselves to the place where you will make the recording after pushing the rec-button) as that can be always cut away. When you record by your computer the humming of the cooler-system of your PC will come through to the recording and it sounds really nasty indeed - like you'd be talking on the deck of an old-fashioned steam-boat

. My friend who's a professional told me there's no solution for that as the pitch of the noise the computer has is low enough to be on the same wavelengths as the speech so cutting those will also cut out important lower tones from the voice.

I'll send a few clips to anyone who sends me their e-mail addresses. There will be two versions of Matthew as Boromir: one where I have tried to downplay the background humming as well as I could and one where I have tried to make his tone as Boromirish I could (which ended up sounding Boromir being on board of a steam-riverboat as heightening the lower frequencies to make the tone more forceful and low ends up also heightening the background humming of the computer...). Then there is one where I play Gimli and it has been done near the computer (and you can hear the humming) and on the other I play Bilbo a few meters away from the PC (and you can't hear the humming any more).

Btw. Those parts I've made myself you should not judge by the acting merits as they are basically just read-throughs with a lots of mistakes as my main focus was on finding the fitting tone to my speech as those characters - both acting-wise and mixing-wise. And I'm in no way trying to steal those characters to myself. I just tried them.

Speaking of audiosoftware once more. You Nerwen should especially listen to this - and why not the others who have not heard it yet (use headphones if you can). For I just remembered that I do have a Myspace account where there is my version of the Song of Boromir (a Finnish composition to the local theatrical version of the book which I have arranged myself and turned back to the original lyrics; it's all done in my room eg. I played all the instruments and made the vocals there). From it you can hear what I can do with my sofware; the possibilities and the limits as well - basically the interesting stuff from this point of view is in the end of the song as it's one that grows little by little. But I think we should aim for that kind of sound-quality (and it's an mp3 and not an audio file!).

Just keep on sending me your emails and audio clips! We'll overcome the technical obstacles!

Nogrod · 04-03-2008, 04:13 PM

Crashlanding!

I tried to send a few samples to Matthew via gmail and after trying to send it long and hard the program said that sending of it failed because it went over the 20 MB limit... and only those short clips I tried to send took 29 MB (Matthew's originals took about 3MB...) So let's take a different approach then.

I sent it to both Matthew and Gwath as mp3's. I had problems in sending things to Myspace as well and it's getting late. That's a stupid site indeed. I managed to send my song there when I joined the site (just to do that) a long time ago but now it seems practically impossible to add anything to my account there if it's not a video or a pic...

So anyhow I'm afraid we need to go on compressing the files - at least those I will send you as they include lots of mixing stuff and thence are heavier to load.

Let's first try with everyone sending me basic audiofiles if they're of reasonable size. I will send mp3's back to your mail after I have meddled with them.

We might also try sending them to Nerwen to see whether her software would bring better results.

PS. Anyone wishing to hear those first trials just send me your email address by a PM (this first trial is something like 2½ MB as an mp3 file).

McCaber · 04-03-2008, 04:20 PM

If we are still talking about setting a musical background, I have several guitars and some software which should be up to the task.

From my (somewhat limited) experience, acoustic guitar and keyboard can work very well together.

04-03-2008, 02:55 AM	#1
Estelyn Telcontar Princess of Skwerlz Join Date: Jan 2002 Location: where the Sea is eastwards (WtR: 6060 miles) Posts: 7,500	Nogrod, we ask members not to post their e-mail addresses in order to protect themselves from spam or worse. There are too many bots combing the internet for links. Please do remove it from your post; those who wish to have it can contact you by PM. Thanks! __________________ 'Mercy!' cried Gandalf. 'If the giving of information is to be the cure of your inquisitiveness, I shall spend all the rest of my days in answering you. What more do you want to know?' 'The whole history of Middle-earth...'

04-03-2008, 05:27 AM	#3
Nerwen Wisest of the Noldor Join Date: Oct 2007 Location: ˙˙˙ssɐןƃ ƃuıʞooן ǝɥʇ ɥƃnoɹɥʇ Posts: 6,694	If you need a second person to mix the recordings etc., I have experience with this and access to professional software and equipment (my father's a musician and I'm doing a multimedia course). __________________ "Even Nerwen wasn't evil in the beginning." –Elmo.

04-03-2008, 05:36 AM	#4
Nogrod Flame of the Ainulindalë Join Date: Jan 2006 Location: Wearing rat's coat, crowskin, crossed staves in a field behaving as the wind behaves Posts: 9,308	Great! We could try different mixings and then compare them. If you have far superior sofware we should use yours but if they are roughly similar - producing roughly similar quality - we could share the tasks according to which one of us has time or whether certain tasks are better suited to one software than the other. __________________ Upon the hearth the fire is red Beneath the roof there is a bed; But not yet weary are our feet...

04-03-2008, 02:21 PM	#5
Nogrod Flame of the Ainulindalë Join Date: Jan 2006 Location: Wearing rat's coat, crowskin, crossed staves in a field behaving as the wind behaves Posts: 9,308	I got Matthew's clip on Boromir. You act well but the recording is pretty terrible... I'd give you (all) two pieces of advice. 1. Don't record your voice too loud so that the voice breaks down. Adjust the input in a way that the recording levels stay in the middle or little above it. Whatever the recording device it normally goes red when the input volume is too high. If the voice breaks down already in the recording session there's no way to mend it afterwards. One shouldn't record on too low levels either as then all the background noises come to the fore: so try to find the levels just below the "red zone" as it gives the optimal quality of sound. 2. Get away from your computer, as far as is possible - or at least build some kind of a sound-wall between the microphone and the central unit of your PC. It's no problem if you record from far away of the PC and there's some empty track before your recording starts (if you have to move yourselves to the place where you will make the recording after pushing the rec-button) as that can be always cut away. When you record by your computer the humming of the cooler-system of your PC will come through to the recording and it sounds really nasty indeed - like you'd be talking on the deck of an old-fashioned steam-boat . My friend who's a professional told me there's no solution for that as the pitch of the noise the computer has is low enough to be on the same wavelengths as the speech so cutting those will also cut out important lower tones from the voice. I'll send a few clips to anyone who sends me their e-mail addresses. There will be two versions of Matthew as Boromir: one where I have tried to downplay the background humming as well as I could and one where I have tried to make his tone as Boromirish I could (which ended up sounding Boromir being on board of a steam-riverboat as heightening the lower frequencies to make the tone more forceful and low ends up also heightening the background humming of the computer...). Then there is one where I play Gimli and it has been done near the computer (and you can hear the humming) and on the other I play Bilbo a few meters away from the PC (and you can't hear the humming any more). Btw. Those parts I've made myself you should not judge by the acting merits as they are basically just read-throughs with a lots of mistakes as my main focus was on finding the fitting tone to my speech as those characters - both acting-wise and mixing-wise. And I'm in no way trying to steal those characters to myself. I just tried them. Speaking of audiosoftware once more. You Nerwen should especially listen to this - and why not the others who have not heard it yet (use headphones if you can). For I just remembered that I do have a Myspace account where there is my version of the Song of Boromir (a Finnish composition to the local theatrical version of the book which I have arranged myself and turned back to the original lyrics; it's all done in my room eg. I played all the instruments and made the vocals there). From it you can hear what I can do with my sofware; the possibilities and the limits as well - basically the interesting stuff from this point of view is in the end of the song as it's one that grows little by little. But I think we should aim for that kind of sound-quality (and it's an mp3 and not an audio file!). Just keep on sending me your emails and audio clips! We'll overcome the technical obstacles! __________________ Upon the hearth the fire is red Beneath the roof there is a bed; But not yet weary are our feet... Last edited by Nogrod; 04-03-2008 at 02:24 PM.

04-03-2008, 04:13 PM	#6
Nogrod Flame of the Ainulindalë Join Date: Jan 2006 Location: Wearing rat's coat, crowskin, crossed staves in a field behaving as the wind behaves Posts: 9,308	Crashlanding! I tried to send a few samples to Matthew via gmail and after trying to send it long and hard the program said that sending of it failed because it went over the 20 MB limit... and only those short clips I tried to send took 29 MB (Matthew's originals took about 3MB...) So let's take a different approach then. I sent it to both Matthew and Gwath as mp3's. I had problems in sending things to Myspace as well and it's getting late. That's a stupid site indeed. I managed to send my song there when I joined the site (just to do that) a long time ago but now it seems practically impossible to add anything to my account there if it's not a video or a pic... So anyhow I'm afraid we need to go on compressing the files - at least those I will send you as they include lots of mixing stuff and thence are heavier to load. Let's first try with everyone sending me basic audiofiles if they're of reasonable size. I will send mp3's back to your mail after I have meddled with them. We might also try sending them to Nerwen to see whether her software would bring better results. PS. Anyone wishing to hear those first trials just send me your email address by a PM (this first trial is something like 2½ MB as an mp3 file). __________________ Upon the hearth the fire is red Beneath the roof there is a bed; But not yet weary are our feet...

04-03-2008, 04:20 PM	#7
McCaber Ghost Prince of Cardolan Join Date: Nov 2007 Location: Skyrim, again. Posts: 820	If we are still talking about setting a musical background, I have several guitars and some software which should be up to the task. From my (somewhat limited) experience, acoustic guitar and keyboard can work very well together. __________________ Werewolves vs. Fishmen. The battle of the century.