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Title: How to Create Professional Audio Books from Scratch Post by: Daniel Franklin on September 22, 2007, 01:09:07 PM My name is Alan Twigg and I'm writing this article to offer advice to anyone thinking of creating their own professional audio books.
In the New Year I came up with the idea of creating professional children’s stories and offering them for download on the internet. The thing was, however, while I had someone to write the stories - my mother - and someone to market the stories – me, I knew nobody who knew about how to record the stories professionally. I knew it must be reasonably easy, since I only wanted to create an audio book containing speech. I started doing research on Google - but all the articles I found contained so much technical gobbledygook – I was soon put off. So I went to my local music store for advice on what to buy. I decided to use my computer to create the audio books and this is what I bought: 1 microphone stand 1 pop-screen (that's a piece of material that is placed just in front of the microphone to stop your “Ps” from popping) 1 studio microphone 1 software program (Wavelab) 1 USB Audio/MIDI interface (TASCAM US 122 with phantom power) 1 pair of heaphones It all came to 650 euros (800) dollars. I connected my Audio/MIDI interface (this is basically a really good sound card in an external case) to my computer using the USB cable provided. I then set up my microphone and attached the microphone cable to the MIDI interface. After installing the software, I was ready to go. The results have been great and I find Wavelab software powerful and incredibly easy to use. Some Audio Book recording tips I first get my entire copy ready before starting the recording. I pin the sheets of paper with the text that I am going to read in front of me onto the wall. Then, at about 8 inches away from the microphone, I start to talk. The more natural you can be the more interesting you will sound to your listeners. I found that the best thing to do is to stand in front of the microphone and make gestures in the same way as you would when talking to a close friend. If you stand there stiff like a statue, you'll come across in the same way in your recording. Another thing that I like to do before starting the recording is to get myself into a really good mood. Again, this will add to the impact of your recording. I always listen to a few uplifting songs and get enthusiastic before starting. You should also try to make sure that you keep the same distance from the microphone. And that’s it – I hope that this article will save you a little bit of time setting up your own home recording studio and I wish lots of success with your audio books. The author of this article is Alan Twigg. My business is Playtime books, which offers new and contemporary audio books for the 3 to 10-year-old age group. You will find this site at http://www.playtime-books.com. |