Recording An Audiobook

Recording an audiobook, that of my novel Sunflowers Under Fire, turned out to be a nightmare, only because I didn’t have a clue as to how to go about it. But since my husband, Robert, is a passionate listener to audiobooks, I thought it would be fun to record one. And so the journey began.

Researching DIY videos and articles

Fortunately, there’s a lot of information on how to record an audiobook on youtube and elsewhere on the internet.

My First Recording

I decided to use GarageBand on my Mac because I assumed it was the best recording software to use as a DIY narrator. I also thought I could do it in my home office, which is quiet and looks out on a back lane, where there’s little traffic. I bought a snowball mic and a pop filter that I could screw on to the back of it. The filter is used to eliminate or at least soften those explosive ‘p’ sounds. I also felt I was ahead of the game because, as a professional actor, I’d voiced some radio dramas for CBC.

I closed my window blinds, took the landline portable phone out of my office and tested the sound of my speech in GarageBand. Thinking it sounded great, I began to record the first chapter of A Cry From The Deep. I even added some Irish music off the top and learned how to fade it in just before the audiobook narration began.

Establishing an Account with ACX

Then I opened an account with ACX. ACX is the home of Audible. It’s where you submit your audio files for their technicians to organize in the production of an audiobook. It’s also where you insert your bank and tax information in order to be paid.

With all of that done, I submitted the first chapter of A Cry From The Deep to find out if what I’d produced was good enough for Audible. I didn’t want to continue recording if there were issues with the sound. As I’d mentioned, I’m a total luddite when it comes to anything technical like this.

After waiting a couple of weeks, I got an email saying my recording had significant problems. It turned out that my quiet office space wasn’t as quiet as I’d thought. There is such a thing as room noise which varies depending on where you record.

I was so frustrated, I decided to forget about recording an audiobook.

Make Your Own Studio

A year or so later, I returned to Youtube and other informative articles online for guidance. I obviously needed a place where the sound wouldn’t bounce around. Some posts suggested I hang up blankets over my windows; another recommended recording in a closet. And there was one that showed lining a huge bin with styrofoam. With the latter in mind, I asked my husband if he could make me one like the one in the video.

But before we could set that plan in motion, I discovered that the North Vancouver Library had a recording studio. Wow! I was excited that there might be someplace where I could just go and read from my novel without a charge and without the headache of setting up a quiet space at home.

By now though, I had abandoned the idea of narrating my first novel. I moved on to my latest, Sunflowers Under Fire.

At the North Vancouver Library

A library technician set me up using Audacity recording software on a PC. I spent 29 hours recording 315 pages. I managed to sit and record in the studio for three hours at a time.

My mouth ran dry after only a few pages. And there were times I stumbled over words and had to re-record those sentences. Every chapter needed its own file. Even the title page, acknowledgements, dedication, about the author, copyright–they were all separate files.

ACX gives clear instructions on what’s required for these audio files to pass their inspection. Because a technician at the library had set me up, I merrily went along thinking all the knobs were set where they were supposed to be.

When I finished narrating the last chapter, I breathed a sigh of relief. I was done.

Wrong, Not Done Yet!

I hadn’t realized how much lip smacking and heavy breathing I needed to edit out of my story. As well, I had to make sure each chapter began and ended with the right amount of room noise (that sound in the room when no one is talking or doing anything). It must’ve taken me more than twice as long to edit all the unpleasant sounds as well as correct some errors. Then I had to record room noise on its own, so that I could cut and paste it where I needed to.

Okay, now I was done! WRONG AGAIN!

I uploaded an ACX check plug-in on Audacity only to discover that every file I’d recorded failed to meet ACX technical requirements. Did I want to cry? Yes! Loudly! Thoughts of hiring someone to fix it or to re-record another 29 hours occupied my mind for days.

After much hand wringing, I contacted someone who worked in radio and he referred me to a sound studio in town. The sound editor told me that not all was lost. He offered some free advice. I learned how to change each file to fit ACX requirements. But it meant going through each file and ensuring that each file fell within a specific volume range (RMS), and had minimum distortion (Peak Values) and minimal background noise (Noise Floor). It was an arduous task but in the end, it worked. Yay!

I probably could’ve saved myself a lot of time if I knew how to set all of those requirements at the beginning of my recording. Oh well, if I do another book, I’ll make sure that I test the first chapter before moving on to the next. Live and learn. 🙂

You can hear the sample chapter here.

Thoughts?

How about you? Do you prefer audiobooks over other formats? And have you listened to one?