posted
I love to read aloud to my friends, and even more to be read to. It doesn't matter what. I will be rapt and spellbound by the sound of anyone reading to me. Recently I listened over and over to a recording of BunnV reading a few paragraphs out of his biochemistry textbook.
To me it's totally not something that is just for kids. I sometimes record stories for my friends and family and email them out, but my secret (don't tell anyone) motive is that I'm hoping they'll record stuff to send to me.
I guess I'm just really weird or something. Nobody else seems to enjoy it like I do. Sooooo.... I'm taking it to the highways and byways.
Is there anyone else who would like to record themselves reading something they love and swap? (I hate my voice, btw, but this activity is so fun (and I've had so much practice reading to kids) that I lost some of my shyness about it.)
Or maybe you have a dread textbook reading assignment that might be made more palatable by sharing?
I have a free program I downloaded that allows me to record for long periods of time, and at a lower bandwidth selected for voice, so that the resulting filesize isn't too huge. I will be glad to send anyone a copy of it.
The current club list:
White Nights by Fyodor Dostoyevsky as read by Tatiana in 4 parts, total running time 1:54:25.
In Which Piglet Does a Very Grand Thing from The House at Pooh Corner by A.A. Milne as read by Tatiana, running time : 14:42.
In Which Kanga and Baby Roo Come to the Forest and Piglet Has a Bath, from Winnie the Pooh by A.A. Milne, as read by Tatiana, running time: 14:08
The Gift of the Magi, by O. Henry, Chapter 1, as read by fugu13, running time: 2:39
The Raven, by Edgar Allen Poe, as read by Hobbes, running time: 5:57
And much much more! See the yahoo groups database here for a complete listing. How about it? Any takers? Email me at annekateard AT bham DOT rr DOT com to send or request stories.
posted
This sounds fun! I read aloud to my daughter every night. It really wouldn't be too difficult to record our sessions on a tape recorder or something. However, we've already started "The Secret Garden", so you'll have to wait until we're through with that.
Posts: 3141 | Registered: Apr 2000
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I record mine on computer, for easy emailing. Do you have a way to transfer from tape to computer?
I've also been looking for the cheapest and most convenient portable recorder that will put things in mp3 format. (Or if there's a quick way to convert from whatever format it records to mp3 that would also work.) Can anyone tell me the best way to go? What's the state of art in dictation machines these days, for instance?
Posts: 6246 | Registered: Aug 2004
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I'd love to do it, although I don't really have any equipment.
I think this is a great idea. We spent about a year recording us reading the New Testament together as a family when I was fourteen or so. I think it was supposed to be a gift for my grandpa, but we never finished it. I have all the tapes now, and I think they are the only recordings of my mother's voice. I haven't listened to them yet, but I love that I have them.
Posts: 26077 | Registered: Mar 2000
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Its just badly inefficient. Something like Speex will result in a significantly smaller file size.
Of course, its harder to share a Speex file around as fewer people will be able to deal with it. A low bitrate mp3 should be adequate enough.
As for a converter, most any music program out there should be able to convert from many formats to mp3, and if not there are tons of specialized pieces of software doing the same.
Posts: 15770 | Registered: Dec 2001
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The recorder I downloaded has a way to make 1 kilobyte/second mp3 voice recordings that seem easy to understand. That's what I use. Would ogg be better?
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If that is kilobyte per second and not kilobit per second, then speex can get it down to 2 kilobit per second (about a fourth of your size).
Posts: 15770 | Registered: Dec 2001
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Okay, thanks! Yes, it's kilobyte, sorry, I fixed it. I guess where that would come in handy is reading long things. So far the longest thing I've done is White Nights for Sasha, which is about an hour total, but I broke it up into four segments. The idea is to make each one a nice length for a bedtime story.
I'm willing to use whatever format others want, but I have this recorder software if anyone needs it, that can do mp3s at 1 kB/sec.
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Jenny Gardener, The Secret Garden rocks! I totally would love to get a recording of you reading this, even if it's only parts of it. No need to make it complete. After all, the book is there if I want to remember the rest of the story.
Obscure things or dry technical things are not excluded, either. Anything at all that someone wants to read or has to read I'm interested in. What I found it did with Sasha was provide motivation for me to read again something I loved but hadn't read in years. And I'm so glad I did. I had forgotten how much I loved that story.
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So, Katie and JG, do you have any requests? I'm excited to hear whatever you guys might decide on, so fire away. Let me know if you need this recording software for your computers.
Posts: 6246 | Registered: Aug 2004
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Dostoevsky's "White Nights" or some other story?
I used to read for the blind. Scholarly linguistics papers. That was a trip. Sometimes I think I might like to record some motivational books on tape for my husband so he can listen to them in the car. I listened to the book of Mormon on tape for a while once and it was a really different experience. Most people have probably experienced that more, but I found it very interesting.
Posts: 2010 | Registered: Apr 2003
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Sure, Miro! Do you have a microphone on your computer? If so then that's all you need. I will be glad to send you this software and tell you how to set it up for 1kB/sec recording.
Pooka, yeah the story I read for Sasha was White Nights. If he seems to like that and requests more then I'll pick some others, maybe Tolstoy's Death of Ivan Ilych or else Family Happiness. My favorite Dostoyevsky short story is called The Little Hero, and I read it in an old collection at my university's library. It's been out of print for a long time now, though. I wish I could find a copy of that story. I'd definitely read it to him.
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I think I have a mic I can use. I'm not sure about the software, though. I have a mac. Is your program for mac or windows? I'm sure I can figure something out either way, but it'll have to wait 'till next week. I have two finals on Monday. This weekend's going to be hellish.
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Heh, Miro, there's tons of recording software for macs, don't worry. If you have iLife, use Garageband, its great (add a voice instrument track, press the record button, record as desired, edit as desired).
Posts: 15770 | Registered: Dec 2001
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Thanks, fugu. I have GarageBand on my comp, so I guess I'll use that. I've never used it before, so I didn't know if it would be any good for voice recordings.
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I have chapters of winnie the pooh as read alloud by Tatiana, and they are great to listen to. I especially like chapter 7.
Posts: 376 | Registered: Sep 2004
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I'd be down for this. I've been looking for a reason to read some of my favorite short stories again. Posts: 204 | Registered: Dec 2004
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Ninja Birdman, what stories do you want to read? So far I have available for swapping 2 Pooh stories and Dostoyevsky's White Nights.
I think I'll keep a list on the zeroth post. Email me at annekateard AT bham DOT rr DOT com to send me recordings or to request stories.
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I would do some Sherlock Holmes for you all if I had any kind of recording equipment. My dad used to read aloud with us as kids; when we get together, we still do it.
Posts: 21182 | Registered: Sep 2004
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I bought a cheap microphone at Wal-Mart for about $10. It didn't work well, though, so I'm not sure I'd recommend that source. Can someone recommend a good cheap microphone to buy online?
I'd love to hear Sherlock Holmes!
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My dad always picks up his best microphones at yard sales, but 1) I don't know what to look for, and 2) they usually require some sort of adaptor to plug into a computer.
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Here's a cheap PC microphone from Amazon. No idea if they'd be any good, though. Reviews look good, anyway.
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You know what else would be fun to do? Some of Kipling's short stories, especially the Just-So Stories. Wow, that would take me back to my childhood.
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I'm running XP on a Celeron with 96Mb ram and this one works fine on mine. I installed it, configured it for 1kB/sec mp3, chose a filename, and hit record. It was pretty easy.
It's called "All Sound Recorder" but I think the newer versions have time limitations. I've got an older version with no time limit, if you would like it.
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Got it, thanks. I saved it to my desktop, is that what I should have done? *is totally technically inept*
Posts: 21182 | Registered: Sep 2004
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Um, now do you mind e-mailing me instructions, for future reference?
And Hobbesy, I don't have decent headphones. I hardly ever use headphones, so I have a folding pair I use for watching DVDs in public, and that's it.
Posts: 21182 | Registered: Sep 2004
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And most decent headphones don't have a microphone installed, Hobbes, they focus on being headphones . Certain kinds of headphones include a microphone, yes, but hardly most.
Try looking for a mic on most Grado or Sennheiser (or the like) headphones.
Posts: 15770 | Registered: Dec 2001
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Okay, I'll just post instructions here, in case anyone else ends up using this same software. The file I sent is an exe file, so just double click on it to install it.
Once it's installed, you can configure it for 1kB/sec mp3 like this: Run the program, then click on the little folder icon at the bottom left. You get a "select format" dialogue box. From the "format" drop down, pick "MPEG-Layer 3". From the "attributes" drop down, pick "16kBit/s 12,000 Hz Mono 1kb/sec". Click the "Save As" button and give this configuration a name.... I called mine "mp3 voice". Then click OK. Next it will pop up a box for the file name. Drill down to wherever you want to keep these stories, and type in the name of the story you're reading in the filename box. Click Save. Thereafter, click on the little triangle to start recording. Speak into the microphone. Click on the box to stop recording. Listen to your recording using Real Player or Windows Media Player or WinAmp or any sound playing software like that. You can also pause your recording at any point by clicking on the pause button (the two vertical lines). Record a short test first to make sure it's working, before you spend a long time reading in a story. Next time you record, you can skip the configure step and just choose "mp3 voice" or whatever you called it, from the drop down list in the select format screen.
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Fugu, I wasn't talking about headphones with a mike isntalled, I was talking about just reversing the headphones. Which just requires sticking them into the microphone jack.
Pretty low quality sounds but there's nothing cheaper than free.
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Well now I've been baited into it. AK my darling (mind if I refer to you like that?) could you send me the program? I'd like to at least try. Anyone have webspace they're dying to share?
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I'm so happy that other people want to do this too!
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. Certain kinds of headphones include a microphone, yes, but hardly most.![[Dont Know]](graemlins/dontknow.gif)
