Thursday, June 28, 2012

CAN YOU HEAR ME NOW?

Today, Karen Krause brings us the second installment in the adventures of a newbie audiobook narrator. Go to Audible, iTunes, or Amazon to hear a sample of her recording of my Death on the Aegean Queen.





With the first hurdle cleared (getting the contract to produce a book), the real work began.  Now we had decisions to make.  How do we set up the recording space?  Which microphone do we use?  Which pre-amp?  Do we use a compressor?  Which program will we record into and edit with?  How do we map out a schedule?  It seems with every question we answered, a new one materialized.

Fortunately, for me, we had my husband’s experience to guide us.  As a musician, songwriter, and composer, he’s logged hundreds, possibly thousands, of hours recording, editing, and manipulating sound.  He already had the basics we needed to produce a quality recording.  The fact that his expertise was in music rather than the spoken word, meant we had some adjusting to do; but for the most part, we had all the tools we needed.

We set up a spare bedroom as our sound booth.  Old duvets lined the walls and hung in strategic positions to baffle the sound and muffle outside noises.  After testing various microphone/pre-amp combinations, we settled on the one we liked the best.  We set it up in a portable isolation box to isolate the sound even more.  I brought in my water and green apple slices (which I’d been told I would need, but wasn’t really sure what to do with), sat down in my chair, my copy on the music stand in front of me, eager to finally get into the “fun” part.

I couldn’t see or hear my husband.  He was in front of the computer in the room adjacent to mine, holding a copy of the manuscript in front of him so he could follow along for continuity. 

“Are you ready?” he yelled. 

“What?” 

“I said, are you ready?” he yelled, louder. 

“Yes!” I yelled back.

“Ow!  You don’t have to yell!  I can hear you through the headphones!”

We were off to a great start.



Okay, what are the green apples for?

3 comments:

  1. I'm reading these posts with great interest. I'd love to do an audio book myself but find it intimidating. Much admiration for you and your husband!

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    1. Thank you, Jacqueline. Ignorance certainly is bliss. If we'd known all the problems that can crop up, we may have shied away from doing it; and I'm so glad we tried it. If you really want to narrate, don't give up. I've heard that many narrators have started out doing books for the blind. There are several organizations looking for volunteers. Maybe there's one in your area.

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  2. Talk to the folks at ACX, Jacqueline. That's what I did. I'm glad I let Karen do the narration for Aegean Queen. Now that I know what's involved, I know I could never do it myself.

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