This is Unit 3B
Easy-to-understand and audio description
element 3, Technical aspects
video lecture, Voicing.
I am Luis Alonso-Bacigalupe, from Universidade de Vigo, Spain
and in this short video lecture
created by my colleague Lourdes Lorenzo-García
I will give you an overview
of the main software used to prepare voicing
taking into account its importance
when considering blind people with cognitive disability.
In the European project ADLAB PRO
Nina Reviers, from the University of Antwerp
stressed the importance of voicing for audio description:
the so-called para-linguistic information
can have a great influence on meaning.
When considering blind people with some cognitive disability
voicing and the principles related to "listenability"
must be carefully attended.
There are different professional programmes
to prepare voicing for audio description:
Pro Tools, Logic Pro, Cockos Reaper
Adobe Audition, WavePad, FL Studio
Sound Forge Audio or Noblurway Mosaic.
You can also use free software
such as Audacity, Ardour, Free Sound Recorder
AVS Audio Recorder (for PC) or Garage Band
Quick Time or Ocean Audio (for Mac).
They incorporate basic plugins
(EQ-Compressors, etc.)
which can be of use when recording.
In Spain, the app AudescMobile
was developed by S-Dos, CTI
ONCE and Fundación Vodafone España.
It is a free app
which can be installed in mobile phones
as well as in iOS and Android-system tablets
and allows blind people to have access
to audio-described films and TV-series.
However, users refer some synchronization problems.
Moreover, ISTRAD
Instituto Superior de Estudios Lingüísticos y Traducción
has developed TrAD-Software
a programme which can be used
both to write audio-described texts
and to record the audio-descriptor's voice.
Here you can see the interface of Noblurway Mosaic
just as an example.
The appearance of a digital rythmo band
allows to perfectly synchronize dialogues and audio description lines.
As far as audio description is concerned
the band will mark silences rather than speech fragments.
The audio-descriptor (one or two, in this software)
quickly identifies each silence (possible areas of writing)
where they can add a comment
as there is no dialogue, no noise, no music.
During the recording session
the actor starts to read each audio description line
as soon as they see the plain line (silence).
Moreover, they can also see the notes (if any)
included by the audio descriptor in an additional text track
(information about the performance of the actor or actress).
Here you can find an example.
Each audio description line can be stretched
to take up the available space.
Unlike methods using a paper script
it is not necessary to note the timecode of the lines
since it is automatically assigned when entering the text.
If required, the text of the audio description lines
can be exported in a document with timecodes and notes of writing.
In order to publish audio descriptions
you can use different download formats.
Some of them are text based
whilst some others are media based.
Text-based formats.
These can be downloaded as a WebVTT
TXT, DOC, Merged TXT, Merged DOC
Stamped Doc, and Merged Doc (Stamped).
Media-based formats.
Audio description alone, without the source audio.
These can be downloaded as an MP3, OGG or WAV.
Audio description plus source media plus captions combined into one file.
These can be downloaded as an MP4, MP3, OGG or WAV.
Since most popular video players and platforms
do not support WebVTT description tracks
or secondary audio tracks
for academic purposes
you can use the 3Play Plugin.
This plugin references the video
and plays the secondary audio description track along with it.
The 3Play Plugin is a free tool.
By using it, you can create an accessible video.
This plugin is compatible
with most video players and publishing platforms.
It enables users to add captions and audio description.
You can give it a try by accessing the link on the screen.
Important!
After voicing, the audio must be carefully edited
taking special care to undesirable noises
and paying attention to the quality of sound
that is, appropriate speech rate, right tone, strategic pauses
proper breathing...
In the edition process, file types and audio quality
that is, bitrates, sample rates and mono versus stereo
must be taken into account
and selected according to type of media
that is, films, TV series, web series…
More information about audio description
types and what elements to transfer
is provided in the video lecture within this unit
"The creation, adaptation and validation
of easy-to-understand audio description
and audio subtitling" produced by Elisa Perego.
The interviews with users conducted by Ester Hedberg
that is, "Audio description and audio subtitling users voice
on audio descripion, audio subtitling Camilla"
and "Audio description and audio subtitling users voice
on audio descripion, audio subtitling Anna"
are a must if you want to see their needs first-hand.
You can also have a look at audio description guidelines
on the link you can see on the screen
to learn about the main aspects of audio description voicing.
This video lecture has been prepared by Lourdes Lorenzo-García
from Universidade de Vigo.
You can reach her at llorenzo@uvigo.es.
EASIT has received funding from the EC programme
Erasmus+ Strategic Partnerships for Higher Education
grant agreement 2018-1-ES01-KA203-05275.
The EC support for this publication
does not endorse the contents
which reflect the authors' views.
The EC cannot be held responsible
for any use of the information contained therein.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution
ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
Partners of the EASIT project.
Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona.
Università Degli Studi Di Trieste.
Universidade de Vigo.
Stiftung Universität Hildesheim.
SDI München.
Dyslexiförbundet.
Radiotelevizija Slovenja.
Zavod RISA.
EASIT. Easy Access for Social Inclusion Training.