Tuesday, January 1, 2013

Not Sam Elliott

This is an attempt (the first one, actually) to produce an audible version of The Crackerhead Chronicles in my own voice.  If it is not already, it will soon become obvious that I don’t know much about audio engineering, video editing, nor digital graphics.  I have that on good authority, I’m told.  Of course, my darlin’ wife, Arlynda, would be a whole lot more enthusiastic about this project if I sounded a whole lot more like THE CELERBRATED American actor, Sam Elliott.  Hmm, I wonder if there’s an app for that?  Anyway, let’s move on to…

What you just read is the text for the opening of each of the crumbs/chapters that will be uploaded to YouTube.  Since it pretty much explains what is going on and is not included in written form during the videos, it seemed appropriate to use it as the opening for this.

Alas, I really should have a lot more accomplished than I do.  For I only have one more crumb/chapter actually ready to upload, but a couple are awfully close.

Speaking of awful, what I would think would not be all that much has been a nightmare so far.  Suffice to say that I have newfound great respect for those who can simply read something out loud without mumbling and slurring.  Furthermore, those who can add true feelings to what they are reading are most certainly not getting paid enough!

Of course, what they are given to read does make a difference, and when it is not right, their job becomes exponentially harder.  Despite countless attempts at proof-reading, there was/is quite a bit about the text of [The Crackerhead Chronicles] that wasn’t right, and correcting those mistakes has taken a lot time and energy.

In all fairness, I anticipated the actual recording and video editing process as being a lot more fun than what I wanted to participate in.  For I did not even realize that there was such a program as [Windows Sound Recorder] before I started this project—let alone that it was already included as part of Windows 7 on my computer.

Oh, but wait—there’s more!  For I am using a microphone that came with our first computer back in 2000, and I can hardly hear what has been recorded without cranking up the speaker volume to 100%.

So, some amplification was needed, and that has involved two more programs that I never knew existed before.  For [Audacity] can amplify recordings, but it will only work with mp3 and WAV files.  Therefore, [Free Audio Converter] was needed to convert the WMA files from Windows Sound Recorder to a WAV file, and then used to convert the amplified WAV files to mp3 before they are be added to the video.

The video itself has not been as much of a nightmare as I thought it might be beforehand.  For I played around with Windows Movie Maker a time or two before while trying to produce some WhiteHeart videos, and the Windows Live Movie Maker that I now have to work with is easier to get along with in many regards.

Still, if anything was really easy to do, He wouldn’t be having me do it—now, would He?  Sigh.


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6 comments:

Adullamite said...

Goodness gracious! You sound like someone from Arkansas!

Jackie said...

Wow...this is neat...wtg..good for ya'll!! I don't think your accent comes across too strong at all. Happy New Year to you and your family!!

This is really neat!!

Unknown said...

Thanks for stopping by, my dear Adullamite!!! Believe it or not, I was worried about that. For I have always been kind of mockingbird by quickly picking up on the local twang of wherever I was spending a lot of time at, and I was afraid that I had lost most of my most natural accent. So, I was relieved when to hear me sounding a lot like Bill Clinton at times. (LOL?)

Unknown said...

Thanks for stopping by, my dear Jackie!!! I actually wish it came across a lot stronger. For as I just told Adullamite, I was afraid of not sounding at all like I would like to. However, being understandable is more important, and I hope that will be helped by the text of the book being included. Alas, I sure wish I had many of the pictures that have disappeared over the years.

Brenda said...

Hi Jerry,
I look forward to hearing the rest of your story this way. No I do not believe that it is ridiculous to think that all that you have done has been by design as every day in our lives is written in His book before even one of them was formed, and I have had many instances where I have done something or been in a place where I have known that it had been predestined.

Unknown said...

Thanks for stopping by, my dear Brenda!!! Be assured that I greatly appreciate the encouragement.