Kimberlee Morrison: The audio interview

News Type: Event — Wed Feb 20, 2008 9:48 AM EST

entertainment, mobile, kymlee, mobile-posts, vikview, kimberlee-morrison, audio-interviews

I spoke with Newsvine user Kymlee, also known as Kimberlee Morrison, on Sunday morning. Understandably bleary-eyed, as she's in the midst of attending and covering the Ragga Muffins Festival, she tells of her experience as a young writer as a student of Erin Gruwell, and being part of the Freedom Writers, what writing on the internet does for her as a writer, her love of Toni Morrison and her gift with language, and how young writers today are eschewing tradition and creating and participating in new media.

Give it a listen...

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6.3

{"commentId":1489241,"authorDomain":"vikibabbles"}

Viki Babbles Gonia

This wasn't actually posted on Sunday, but that's when I created the article.

Thanks to Tom for cleaning up the audio as best he could, and to Mark for putting it all together.

Kymlee and I spoke on Skype, and I used the Pamela call recorder (thanks Dennis!) to record it.

{"commentId":1489241,"threadId":"222335","contentId":"1307311","authorDomain":"vikibabbles"}

3 votes

#1 - Wed Feb 20, 2008 8:11 AM EST

{"commentId":1489464,"authorDomain":"vikibabbles"}

Viki Babbles Gonia

Okay, my fault. It wasn't saved as "published" when Tom and Mark put it up.

Hopefully, you can all access it now.

{"commentId":1489464,"threadId":"222335","contentId":"1307311","authorDomain":"vikibabbles"}

2 votes

#1.1 - Wed Feb 20, 2008 9:50 AM EST

{"commentId":1489506,"authorDomain":"deatienza"}

Eric Atienza

Rookie mistake, Viki =p

{"commentId":1489506,"threadId":"222335","contentId":"1307311","authorDomain":"deatienza"}

2 votes

#1.2 - Wed Feb 20, 2008 10:02 AM EST

{"commentId":1489511,"authorDomain":"paperdragon"}

Dennis P. McCann

At first the sound is pretty bad, especially Kimberlee. Serious echo.

It gets better.

Viki, can you send me the original MP3?

{"commentId":1489511,"threadId":"222335","contentId":"1307311","authorDomain":"paperdragon"}

5 votes

#1.3 - Wed Feb 20, 2008 10:03 AM EST

{"commentId":1489552,"authorDomain":"deatienza"}

Eric Atienza

Yeah, Kimberlee is pretty inaudible for large portions of the interview.

{"commentId":1489552,"threadId":"222335","contentId":"1307311","authorDomain":"deatienza"}

3 votes

#1.4 - Wed Feb 20, 2008 10:13 AM EST

{"commentId":1489563,"authorDomain":"vikibabbles"}

Viki Babbles Gonia

No problem, Dennis. I'll send it now.

And, yes, I'm a little disappointed with the sound. It'll be easier and better when I am sitting with my interviewees, rather than talking on skype.

{"commentId":1489563,"threadId":"222335","contentId":"1307311","authorDomain":"vikibabbles"}

2 votes

#1.5 - Wed Feb 20, 2008 10:17 AM EST

{"commentId":1489508,"authorDomain":"deatienza"}

Eric Atienza

Cool stuff.

Out of curiosity, what'd you use to record?

{"commentId":1489508,"threadId":"222335","contentId":"1307311","authorDomain":"deatienza"}

#2 - Wed Feb 20, 2008 10:02 AM EST

{"commentId":1489561,"authorDomain":"vikibabbles"}

Viki Babbles Gonia

I used the Pamela call recorder on skype. My version of it has me sounding very clear, but Kymlee sounds pretty bad in portions. Tom tried to fix it, and I think that's where the echoing came in.

{"commentId":1489561,"threadId":"222335","contentId":"1307311","authorDomain":"vikibabbles"}

1 vote

#2.1 - Wed Feb 20, 2008 10:15 AM EST

{"commentId":1489584,"authorDomain":"LAUHAL63"}

lauhal

Hey, there are always bumps in the road when something new comes along. No big deal. Thanks for doing this you two! Kim sounded clearer as the interview proceeded.

{"commentId":1489584,"threadId":"222335","contentId":"1307311","authorDomain":"LAUHAL63"}

3 votes

#3 - Wed Feb 20, 2008 10:23 AM EST

{"commentId":1489760,"authorDomain":"bigmomma"}

rottlady

This is a really cool feature! I can't wait until all the kinks get worked out.....Thanks!

{"commentId":1489760,"threadId":"222335","contentId":"1307311","authorDomain":"bigmomma"}

3 votes

#4 - Wed Feb 20, 2008 11:18 AM EST

{"commentId":1489767,"authorDomain":"kymlee"}

kymlee

Despite the sound issues I am surprised by how coherent I was, considering that I was suffering from exhaustion and sleep deprivation. Ragga Muffins coverage can be found here and will be published to both Listen In and EG as well.

It was great talking to you Viki, let's hope the sound is better on the next interview. :)

{"commentId":1489767,"threadId":"222335","contentId":"1307311","authorDomain":"kymlee"}

2 votes

#5 - Wed Feb 20, 2008 11:19 AM EST

{"commentId":1490166,"authorDomain":"mark"}

mark

Thanks to Viki for being the guinea pig on this one. Unfortunately, they need to be sent to us directly for publishing. Please, keep them coming! Feel free to contact us directly with questions.

{"commentId":1490166,"threadId":"222335","contentId":"1307311","authorDomain":"mark"}

3 votes

#6 - Wed Feb 20, 2008 1:18 PM EST

{"commentId":1490190,"authorDomain":"vikibabbles"}

Viki Babbles Gonia

Thanks, Mark. I've got a couple more in the works and I'll get them to you asap.

For everyone wanting to do an audio interview: this one is about 15 minutes long, and after converting to mp3, it ended up at around 13mb. Even on a high-speed connection, it did take a long time to email.

Mark, do you want to make clear the mb limit for interviews?

{"commentId":1490190,"threadId":"222335","contentId":"1307311","authorDomain":"vikibabbles"}

2 votes

#6.1 - Wed Feb 20, 2008 1:23 PM EST

{"commentId":1490420,"authorDomain":"mark"}

mark

The actual limit is 25MB. But if you want to even just provide a sound bite, that would be great. I can send an author a phone number which your interviewee can call and just leave a quote. This eliminates the need for sending audio files back and forth.

{"commentId":1490420,"threadId":"222335","contentId":"1307311","authorDomain":"mark"}

3 votes

#6.2 - Wed Feb 20, 2008 2:20 PM EST

{"commentId":1490512,"authorDomain":"tom"}

tom

The following audio processing was done on the original recording:

Normalized Viki's voice with Kimberlee's (Vikis was much, much louder)
Removed a bunch of pops/cracks
RMS Normalized the entire waveform
Added a little reverb
Added a high-frequency shelf to take the edge off of the Skype audio.

The problem being some of Kimberlee's audio is so quiet it's very difficult to turn up the gain on without introducing a lot of noise... so there are parts that are quiet. I can try to fix those today.

Also, the echos are in the original recording (particularly at the beginning) - and i can't take those out (i don't know how, and i'm not sure it can be done, as the channels were already mixed together at the time i got the recording).

File under neither here nor there...

{"commentId":1490512,"threadId":"222335","contentId":"1307311","authorDomain":"tom"}

3 votes

#7 - Wed Feb 20, 2008 2:46 PM EST

{"commentId":1490535,"authorDomain":"vikibabbles"}

Viki Babbles Gonia

Thanks for the info, Tom!

{"commentId":1490535,"threadId":"222335","contentId":"1307311","authorDomain":"vikibabbles"}

#7.1 - Wed Feb 20, 2008 2:54 PM EST

{"commentId":1490721,"authorDomain":"paperdragon"}

Dennis P. McCann

Tom, what about amplifying Kimberlee, de-amplifying Viki, and then normalizing? It's a lot more work but it might just do the trick.

If you'd like, I'll give it a shot.

{"commentId":1490721,"threadId":"222335","contentId":"1307311","authorDomain":"paperdragon"}

1 vote

#7.2 - Wed Feb 20, 2008 3:43 PM EST

{"commentId":1490795,"authorDomain":"tom"}

tom

Indeed

{"commentId":1490795,"threadId":"222335","contentId":"1307311","authorDomain":"tom"}

1 vote

#7.3 - Wed Feb 20, 2008 4:04 PM EST

{"commentId":1490848,"authorDomain":"paperdragon"}

Dennis P. McCann

What program are you using, Tom?

{"commentId":1490848,"threadId":"222335","contentId":"1307311","authorDomain":"paperdragon"}

#7.4 - Wed Feb 20, 2008 4:20 PM EST

{"commentId":1490888,"authorDomain":"tom"}

tom

Peak

my Digital Performer rig is at home, along with the hardware i need to run it. i could do a lot better with DP.

{"commentId":1490888,"threadId":"222335","contentId":"1307311","authorDomain":"tom"}

#7.5 - Wed Feb 20, 2008 4:31 PM EST

{"commentId":1490905,"authorDomain":"paperdragon"}

Dennis P. McCann

I've never used it, since it's Mac only. The interface looks very similar to the program that I use, though... CoolEdit Pro.

{"commentId":1490905,"threadId":"222335","contentId":"1307311","authorDomain":"paperdragon"}

#7.6 - Wed Feb 20, 2008 4:36 PM EST

{"commentId":1490949,"authorDomain":"vikibabbles"}

Viki Babbles Gonia

Dennis, did you receive the mp3?

{"commentId":1490949,"threadId":"222335","contentId":"1307311","authorDomain":"vikibabbles"}

#7.7 - Wed Feb 20, 2008 4:46 PM EST

{"commentId":1490956,"authorDomain":"paperdragon"}

Dennis P. McCann

Yes, I did.

I'll wait to see what Tom can do with it before I take a crack at it.

But you know, Viki, I think the biggest problem with this thing was your Skype connection. I've talked to you on Skype a few times, and you do have an echo. Are you perhaps using the built-in mic and speakers on your laptop?

{"commentId":1490956,"threadId":"222335","contentId":"1307311","authorDomain":"paperdragon"}

#7.8 - Wed Feb 20, 2008 4:49 PM EST

{"commentId":1490967,"authorDomain":"vikibabbles"}

Viki Babbles Gonia

No, but I am using a really crappy mic.

I keep swearing I'm going to go get a new one. Looks like it's time to do that.

{"commentId":1490967,"threadId":"222335","contentId":"1307311","authorDomain":"vikibabbles"}

1 vote

#7.9 - Wed Feb 20, 2008 4:53 PM EST

{"commentId":1490974,"authorDomain":"paperdragon"}

Dennis P. McCann

Yeah, good idea. And keep it as far away from the speakers as possible.

I think what's happening is the sound is coming out of the speakers and feeding back into the mic, creating a loop. There's your echo.

{"commentId":1490974,"threadId":"222335","contentId":"1307311","authorDomain":"paperdragon"}

2 votes

#7.10 - Wed Feb 20, 2008 4:56 PM EST

{"commentId":1491061,"authorDomain":"tom"}

tom

Indeed

{"commentId":1491061,"threadId":"222335","contentId":"1307311","authorDomain":"tom"}

1 vote

#7.11 - Wed Feb 20, 2008 5:27 PM EST

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