audio publishing routes and authorial narration

[buyjupiter]

I was thinking about adding some audio recordings to my blog of my short stories that I've already put out into the world but aren't necessarily what I want to send out for publication...and I thought, maybe, since I've already got access to proper recording equipment, and I don't want to spend a fortune paying for narration services when I'm just getting started...I should just do it myself?

I'm not coming from a position of ego (i.e. I am the creator and only I know how it must be), but I do have a decent reading voice. I know how my characters sound and how I want the language to sound.

Is anyone else thinking of doing this? Has anyone else done their own audiobook recording? Pitfalls? Pluses? Do the platforms that distribute audiobooks laugh at writers for doing this and pat them on the head and tell them they'll do it again...in a proper studio?

Or am I so completely wrong about all of the above that I should just go back to playing in my sandbox and leave that kind of thing to the professionals?

 

[CupofJoe]

I know nothing about the business end of audio books so I cannot comment there.
I have done some audio recording for work [academic and not commercially] and it is a lot harder and more time consuming than I ever imagined.
We usually work on a scale of 1hr recording per 5min speech.
We usually work in short sections any where from a few second to a few minutes. 5 minutes would be a long take...
Then there comes the effects, mastering and general editing, tweaking and manipulation that has to be done.
You may think your voice is the same all day but it is not, morning sessions will sound very different to late night sessions. The same goes for pacing... We cannot help it, we talk at different speeds all the time. Linking and blending these takes taken hours or even days apart...
Then there is background noises. You cannot hear the AC or refrigerator in the room next door or the truck going down the road half a mile away but the listener will.
Luckily we have an acoustic booth to record in - everywhere else is too noisy, you can hear your own blood rushing - but even it fails if some one slams a door on the same floor.
Personally I would start with short podcasts and do a lot of experimentation there...
and I have only just noticed this
Podcasting

I would not say "don't" but I would view it as a labour of love...
Hope this helps.

 

[buyjupiter]

After I did a test run last night, I came to some similar conclusions. Surprisingly, the recording came out well as far as background noise went. The cats behaved themselves and didn't howl, the water system wasn't clanking, and the electronics didn't give off a hum.

Now, as far as my voice went, it was shot by the end of the 15 minutes of recording that I ended up with (took an hour and a half to do). Having to shift my voice for that many different dialogue voices as quickly as I did...my throat felt like it does after singing outside of my range. I also encountered a slight problem in volume control. About halfway through each section I recorded, my voice would start trailing off into a whisper. I don't know if I shifted away from the mic or if my voice just got rougher/quieter the more I "changed" voices.

I think the next time I try to do a run through, I'm going to record all of the dialogue tags/beats after dialogue and all the rest of the non-dialogue bits in one go. Then I'll do a run through of each separate character's dialogue, doing three or four takes to get a final mix. That should solve a lot of the problem with running the gamut of low, growly, male voice to higher than my normal pitch speaking voice for any children/some of the gals. And hopefully make everything a lot more consistent. Yay consistency!

Mixing it, for my purposes at the moment, shouldn't really take that long--a weekend at most, as I'm doing ridiculously short pieces. I don't know I'll go heavy duty into production for now (music-intro/outro, sounds to supplement the story a la an old-timey radio show, etc). But when I'm ready to dive headlong into that part of audio recording, I have some people that I can ask for help with those bits, so it sounds more professional.

And I was seriously just throwing this idea out there as one of those "how the heck do I distinguish myself from the rest of the folks out there trying to make a living from writing?" I don't want this to take over the writing time, but I do need to figure out some way of setting myself apart other than writing odd, genre-bending stories. If nothing else, it is seriously going to make me reconsider ever using dialogue as a cheap pacing fix again.

 

[racheledits]

I think it's a fantastic idea and should be pursued, for at least the reason of practising your voice talent! I think the digital age is a wonderful testable arena, and who knows what will develop from it. Possibilities abound! I have thought of doing this, too, when I have an ample supply of blogs or poems to put into audio. It's another step into the internet fray. Professionals have their place, for certain, but if you're wanting to see if your writing sticks, see if it attracts the readers you expect etc. (all part of long tail marketing), then this is a great testing ground to do that. Go for it!! Would love to hear you once you get things going! Cheers, and all the best on that! Rachel

I was thinking about adding some audio recordings to my blog of my short stories that I've already put out into the world but aren't necessarily what I want to send out for publication...and I thought, maybe, since I've already got access to proper recording equipment, and I don't want to spend a fortune paying for narration services when I'm just getting started...I should just do it myself?

I'm not coming from a position of ego (i.e. I am the creator and only I know how it must be), but I do have a decent reading voice. I know how my characters sound and how I want the language to sound.

Is anyone else thinking of doing this? Has anyone else done their own audiobook recording? Pitfalls? Pluses? Do the platforms that distribute audiobooks laugh at writers for doing this and pat them on the head and tell them they'll do it again...in a proper studio?

Or am I so completely wrong about all of the above that I should just go back to playing in my sandbox and leave that kind of thing to the professionals?

 

[buyjupiter]

I did a test piece and finally figured out how to post it to my blog. You all have no idea what I had to go through to get there. Grr. But a test piece is done.

If anyone would like to critique volume control, background noise (if you hear any), and overall sound quality, I would greatly, greatly appreciate it.

I did a song as a quick way to figure out what I have to do vocally to get into a certain decibel range for recording stories.

Testing audio in 3, 2, 1… | Process & form

 

[stephenspower]

Great idea. Best place to record? Your closet. With all the clothes still in it to act as acoustical dampers.