## hpr1943 :: HPR AudioBook Club 11.5 - Interview with David Collins-Rivera

 SUMMARY
In  this episode, the HPR_AudioBookClub interviews David  Collins-Rivera.
David's Writing

 
 

David's Voice work and Acting

 
 

(summary)
BEVERAGE REVIEWS
As   usual, the HPR_AudioBookClub took some time to review the beverages  that each of us were drinking during the episode

x1101: Green & Mint tea. Very mellow and refreshing
Thaj: Typical homemade lemonade.  Teeth rotting good :) 
pokey: I was drinking a can of Polar Lime Seltzer. I love seltzer, and lime is my favorite flavor. I think that seltzer feels (not tastes!) like cheap beer, and I once used it to help me quit drinking beer. I have since quit quitting beer, but I now I can't quit seltzer
lostinbronx: 


Things We Talked About
 
OUR NEXT AUDIOBOOK
The Call of Cthulhu by H. P. Lovecraft
 https://hppodcraft.com/podcasts/TheCallofCthulhu-hppodcraft.mp3
pegwole  suggested this AudioBook, and we all thought that horror was a pretty  good selection for our October episode.
NEXT RECORDING
Our next book club recording will be 2014/10/14T23:00:00+00:00. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ISO_8601#Times   If you'd like a Google calendar invite, or if you'd like to be on the   HPR_AudioBookClub mailing list, please get in contact with us on the  HPR  mailing list 'hpr at hackerpublicradio dot org'
OUR AUDIO
This episode was processed using Audacity https://audacity.sourceforge.net/.   We've been making small adjustments to our audio mix each month in   order to get the best possible sound. It's been especially challenging   getting all of our voices relatively level, because everyone has their   own unique setup. Mumble is great for bringing us all together, and for   recording, but it's not good at making everyone's voice the same  volume.  We're pretty happy with the way this month's show turned out,  so we'd  like to share our editing process and settings with you and our  future  selves (who, of course, will have forgotten all this by  then).
Mumble   uses a sample rate of 48kHz, but HPR requires a sample rate of 44.1kHz   so the first step in our audio process is to resample the file at   44.1kHz. Resampeling can take a long time if you don't have a powerful   computer, and sometimes even if you do. If you record late at night,   like we do, you may want to start the task before you go to bed, and   save it first thing in the morning, so that the file is ready to go the   next time you are.
Next we use the "Compressor" effect with the following settings:

Threshold: -30db
Noise Floor: -50db
Ratio: 3:1
Attack Time: 0.2sec
Decay Time: 1.0 sec
"Make-up Gain for 0db after compressing" and "compress based on peaks" were both left un-checked.

After   compressing the audio we cut any pre-show and post-show chatter from   the file and save them in a separate file for possible use as outtakes   after the closing music.
At   this point we listen back to the whole file and we work on the   shownotes. This is when we can cut out anything that needs to be cut,   and we can also make sure that we put any links in the shownotes that   were talked about during the recording of the show. We finish the   shownotes before exporting the .aup file to .FLAC so that we can paste  a  copy of the shownotes into the audio file's metadata. We use the   "Truncate Silence" effect with it's default settings to minimize the   silence between people speaking. When used with it's default (or at   least reasonable) settings, Truncate Silence is extreemly effective and   satisfying. It makes everyone sound smarter, it makes the file shorter   without destroying actual content, and it makes a conversations sound  as  easy and fluid during playback as it was while it was recorded. It  can  be even more effective if you can train yourself to remain silent   instead of saying "uuuuummmm." Just remember to ONLY pass the file   through Truncate Silence ONCE. If you pass it through a second time, or   if you set it too agressively your audio may sound sped up and   choppy.
At   this point we add new, empty audio tracks into which we paste the   intro, outro and possibly outtakes, and we rename each track   accordingly.
We   adjust the Gain so that the VU meter in Audacity hovers around -12db   while people are speaking, and we try to keep the peaks under -6db, and   we adjust the Gain on each of the new tracks so that all volumes are   similar, and more importantly comfortable. Once this is done we can  "Mix  and Render" all of our tracks into a single track for export to  the  .FLAC file which is uploaded to the HPR FTP server.
Remember   to save often when using Audacity. We like to save after each of these   steps. Audacity has a reputation for being "crashy" but if you  remember  save after every major transform, you will wonder how it ever  got that  reputation.
FURTHER RECOMMENDATIONS
FEEDBACK
Thank   you very much for listening to this episode of the HPR_AudioBookClub.   We had a great time recording this show, and we hope you enjoyed it as   well. We also hope you'll consider joining us next time. Please leave a   few words in the episode's comment section.
 As always; remember to visit the HPR contribution page HPR could really use your help right now.
https://hackerpublicradio.org/contribute.php
Sincerely,
 The HPR_AudioBookClub
P.S. Some people really like finding mistakes. For their enjoyment, we always include a few.
