What does it involve to record an audiobook?

Before I record a word, I need to do some preparation.

This includes studying the whole text for character descriptions, listing words or names that I need to check on the pronunciation of, getting the sense of the book’s story…where are the dramatic points…where do I want to lead listeners towards?

I’m always given a digital version of the book but I like to have the physical book too. I find it easier to do the prep and the checking with the real book and it helps cut down my screen time.

Characters

In any novel a narrator has to think about how each character is to be portrayed. Personally I‘m not keen on the common practice of female narrators deliberately deepening their voices for men. To me it’s unnecessary. I prefer to try to convey the energy of a character. How about accents? Sometimes I find too many accents in an audiobook narration a bit distracting. But some characters have accents that are a big part of the story. So I need to make an effort to convey those accents.

This is also something that the client, who is usually the author, can give me guidance on.

Recording

Then the recording itself, which includes redoing phrases when something doesn’t sound quite right or there is some extraneous noise like the neighbour’s dog barking. I ensure that my set up is the same each time so there is a consistency of sound across the recording sessions of the book.

Editing

After the recordings are safely filed on my laptop, it’s time for the editing. As well as editing out any extra phrases or sounds, I am careful to make sure there is enough silence, especially at the poignant moments.  I never like listening to a rushed narration.

Checking

Once I’m happy with the edited track, I will listen to it with the text to ensure that I haven’t missed out or misread anything. It gives me an extra check too on the background noise quality. Then the tracks need to be mastered to comply with the acx standards.

Each recorded hour you listen to on an audiobook will have taken at least 4 hours of prep, recording, editing, mastering and uploading.

When narrating a book through an acx contract, I have to upload the first 15 minutes to get the client’s approval. This is a chance to make sure that they are happy with the tone and energy I am conveying.

Once the whole book is complete, all the chapters, the opening and closing credits and a retail sample are uploaded to acx, and the client then gets the chance to listen to it all before they approve it. Then the recordings have to be checked for quality and technical compliance by the acx team which takes a couple of weeks before the audiobook finally goes live. Now it is out there in the world!

Audiobook preparation