Book Narration Made Easy
Audiobooks are way cool and you can create your own
So, I want to create an audiobook of my memoir. By and large the written version has remained inconspicuous, hidden beneath the piles of better written and more popular bestsellers, topping the undiscovered charts, but by no means will that deter me and make me give up on my dreams. Pardon me while I brush off the dust and slip on my professorial spectacles.
With a new dream in hand, I approach this challenge with a soft melodic voice as described by a friend, a slight stutter and an ever present tightness in my vocal cords exacerbated by nervousness. Whether I’ll be able to finish and have my audio files accepted by the audiobook judges remains to be seen. So, I’m doing this and the first thing is to create a recording studio in my home.
A. Create At-Home Recording Studio
That’s where I am as I write this blog. My 12 x 20 walk-in closet is filled with clothes neatly arranged by color and style on racks spanning two levels. The floors are carpeted and thick heavy blankets line the top most shelves on one side to help create a sound barrier. In the middle of my closet is a cavity, large enough for a recording studio. It’s well-insulated from the noises inside and outside my home, including the seasonal ice cream truck sensing warmer weather joyfully playing Oh Susanna and other nursery rhymes eliciting a Peter Piper effect. Then there is the incessant hum of a hemi-engine belonging to a neighbor who seems to get off on the earthshaking rattle and roar of his vehicle running idly only to sporadically drive to the intersection 500-feet away before turning around to noisily sit in his driveway for what seems like hours. What was I talking about? Oh yeah, my audiobook.
Laundry is scheduled for times when absolute quiet is not an imperative. Windows are closed and the thermostat is either turned off or set at a temperature low enough to keep me comfortable but not so low to require it to kick-in to maintain the desired room temperature. Another neighbor offers piano lessons so I know to work around their schedule. Why is this all so important?
B. Determine Noise Floor
There is this thing called noise floor, sometimes referred to as room tone. It is the acceptable level of background noise to record a professional sounding audio. It’s a setting that must be maintained throughout the length of the audiobook and is the background sound you hear in addition to the narrator’s voice when you listen to them speak. Your microphone is sensitive and will pick up strange sounds from a mouse click, to your breathing, your AC, neighbor's cat, traffic on a nearby highway, planes flying overhead, and maybe even my neighbor’s hemi if you’re within 10-miles of our D.C. suburb. Ok, everything but the hemi.
Deviations in sound can be jarring to the listener’s ears. It adds distraction, interfering with the audio flow and rhythm and reduces the listening experience. An audiobook is not usually completed in one day, but the noise floor setting must be consistent throughout for a uniform product. The Pre-sets below will come in handy.
C. Narration
Options exist for hiring professional narrators who vie to read your book and are paid either a fixed sum or a sum plus royalties. Memoirs are best suited to be narrated by the author. Here’s a video explaining the benefits of narrating your own book.
I joined an audiobook service and downloaded several memoirs I always wanted to read and listened closely not only to their content but how the narrators spoke. Imitation is flattery, right?
ACX.com is an Amazon company that will help with marketing your audiobook. It’s the audiobook equivalent of KDP. They’ll determine the quality of your audio and offer resources to help authors deliver a professional product. It’s my choice for audiobooks because they are very friendly to self-publishers like myself.
D. Equipment
I purchased the following items without making a huge investment. They were delivered by Amazon the next day:
1. A Blue Yeti microphone
2. A pop filter
3. An adjustable microphone arm
The recording software is called Audacity. It is freeware that comes highly recommended for the PC. If you have a Mac, GarageBand is the equivalent. Lowering spectacles: Make sure your anti-virus software is current, as a best practice for downloads.
In my studio, I have a comfortable chair, mini-desk for my laptop, a small side table with a flat-edge I’ve repurposed to accommodate the adjustable arm and pop filter. Both are clamped onto the edges of the table.
The adjustable arm holds the microphone so it’s suspended at eye level instead of sitting on a flat surface. The microphone comes with a table-top stand. I unscrewed mine and attached it to the adjustable arm with the supplied accessories. Supposedly this helps with sound quality.
The pop filter helps to reduce the recording of hard ‘P’s and hissing sounds when we speak, blocks moisture from gathering on the mic and helps to create a crisp sound. It is placed in front of the suspended microphone.
YouTube offers many examples of how an at-home recording studio can be configured with even more sophisticated equipment. This simple setup might be good enough for me. I’ll only know when I send my first recording sample to the audiobook folks who will either accept or reject it.
E. Getting Started
Settings are pivotal and must be made in the recording software according to the requirements established by the audiobook company or as noted above. These instructions will be found on their website and includes criteria for Opening/book introduction, Closing, chapter demarcation, retail sample specifications, recording levels and file formats.
To relax my vocal cords I drank a cup of warm tea with honey. This was a recommendation from folks who made their living with their voice and spend hours in recording studios. It worked, my voice was more fluid and relaxed after a few minutes. Unfortunately, I discovered I’m somewhat allergic to honey. Think Hitch. Two anti-histamines later, I was ready to give my recording studio a test.
With the Blue Yeti USB plugged into my laptop, a steady red light on the mute button signaled it was powered and unmuted. I adjusted the Volume button halfway around the dial, set the Pattern knob to Cardioid — one of four options based on the intended use and desired sound. Cardioid is best suited for podcasts and audiobooks. Lastly, there is a Gain dial. I kept it at the halfway setting.
Once Audacity was installed, I spent a few minutes configuring it per ACX:
1. From the Edit menu, I selected Preferences -> Quality
a. Under Sampling in the right window, I selected 44100 Hz for Default Sample Rate and 16-bit for Default Sample Format
b. from Preferences -> Directories, I verified my laptop had enough free space to allow for massive .aup and eventually .wav files. I had over 500GB so I was all set.
c. I located and downloaded the following plugins: ACX-Check, RMS-Normalize and saved them to the Audacity plugins folder. In Audacity, I enabled them in the Analyze plugins tool.
2. On the main Audacity window, dropdowns on the secondary ribbon were set as follows:
a. Audio Host = MME
b. Recording Device = my laptop’s default microphone
c. Recording Channels = Mono
d. Playback device = my laptop’s default speakers
3. The main Audacity primary ribbon consisted of the following:
a. Recording buttons included from left to right: Pause, Play, Stop, Skip to start, Skip to end, Record
b. Six icons on the Audacity Tools toolbar
c. A Recording Meter toolbar
d. A Playback Meter toolbar
Speakers & Microphone
Your speaker will either be embedded in your laptop or are external peripherals. They are used for playback purposes. I’ve purchased quality studio headphones to test for clarity. Your laptop comes with it’s own microphone and you may also have an external microphone peripheral. You want to be sure you are using the Blue Yeti microphone or the microphone you’ve selected to use with your recordings.
Use Manage Audio Devices in Control Panel (if you’re using Windows 10) to set the default Playback speaker and Recording microphone.
Create a Test Recording
Before diving into your first recording, test your studio equipment. In Audacity:
i. Press Record
ii. Repeat ‘this is a test’ several times into the mic (the Recording meter should flicker)
iii. Click Stop
iv. Click Skip to start
v. Click Play
The bars in the Playback meter should flicker to the left and right. If there is no audio, your laptop speaker needs to be switched to the correct speaker. Return to Manage Audio Devices in Control Panel setting each speaker as the default until you hear your audio.
Perform the following steps on your test recording in Audacity:
Pre-sets
1. Click Select -> Select All
2. Click Effect -> Equalization -> In the Select Curve dropdown, select Low rolloff for speech. In the Length of Filter set it to 5000 -> Click OK.
3. Click Effect -> RMS Normalize. Set the Target RMS level to -20db -> Click OK.
4. Click Effect -> Limiter. Set Type=Soft Limit, Input Gain Left: 0, Input Gain Right=0, Limit=-3.5, Hold=10, Apply Make-up Gain=No -> Click OK.
Play your recording. Your voice should sound clear and crisp with no discernable background noise and hissing. This doesn’t mean your microphone didn’t pick up a sound you missed. Noise reduction filters included in Audacity can remove extraneous sounds. The ACX-Check feature on the Analyze menu gives you feedback on the quality of your recording and is how you’ll test your audio files.
Recording Goal
Your goal is to create:
1. an Opening audio file
2. a Retail Sample audio file
3. an audio file for each chapter in your book
4. a Closing file
Recording for Real
With your studio and neighbors quiet, vocal cords warm and pliable, and the pages of your book handy, you’re ready to record for real. Start with the Opening.
Here is a minimal sample Opening: Pause .5 seconds + “American Hope, a memoir of teenage years by Phianna Rekab. Narrated by Phianna Rekab” + Pause 5 seconds.
Some folks include the Acknowledgement and Dedication. The Retail Sample is a 1–5 minute blurb from your book that’s sure to hook listeners. My Retail Sample is my book’s Introduction and Prologue. It’s the only audio file that doesn’t need to be introduced with chapter demarcation. Every chapter, hence every audio file, must begin with a verbal chapter demarcation so listeners know whether you’re narrating chapter one or chapter fifty.
In Audacity, click File -> New.
Take a deep breath, relax and press the Record button. Don’t worry about mistakes. Re-read the messed up parts and keep going until you’ve read the entire chapter or reached the five-minute mark of your Retail Sample. Be yourself, not monotonous nor the other extreme and enunciate. When you’re at the end of your recording, don’t forget to leave 1–5 seconds of room tone before clicking the Stop button. What comes next? Editing, of course.
But first, save this raw recording as a separate .wav file. In case you make an editing mistake you won’t have to re-read and record your entire chapter. From the main menu select File-> Export -> Export as WAV. Give the file a unique name like ’opening_backup.wav’.
Editing
Working with the file you want to prep for submission, play the audio, highlighting the graphical audio boundaries and cutting out the mistakes — outtakes, until it’s fluid, fluent, clear, clean, you at your best. Some people recommend experimenting with some of the audio filters which are like Photoshop for pictures. I suggest test the file to see if it will pass the ACX submission test as the first step in editing. Since this will be repeated for every audio file and consists of applying filters in a specific order, it’s best to create a macro. An Audacity macro is a set of instructions that can be called by a unique name to quickly execute a series of filters on a recording.
Create a Macro
1. Go to Tools -> Macros
2. Click on New
3. In the dialog, give your macro a useful name like ‘filecleaner’
4. Select the Insert button on the far right window
5. In the popup window, select Equalization -> click OK
6. select Insert->RMS Normalize -> click OK
7. select Insert->Limiter -> click OK
8. select Insert->ACX Check -> click OK
9. Click OK to close the macro dialog
Easy, right?
What’s next? Apply the macro to your audio.
Test Audio
1. Go to Tools -> Apply Macro -> filecleaner
2. Review the test results in the popup box for Peak level, RMS level, Noise Floor. All three tests should say ‘Passes ACX’ and ‘Clip meets ACX requirements’.
Did you pass? Awesome!
Didn’t pass? Run the Noise Reduction filter on the Effect menu against the audio file, then repeat the filecleaner macro.
Pretty soon you’ll be an expert at this.
F. Saving Files & Formats
Select File -> Save Project. Your project will be saved as a .aup file. Naming convention is: file number-chapter number. The file number is useful in knowing the order the files should be played once packaged. So, for chapter one, select File -> Export -> Export as WAV and name the file 02-chapter1. 01- is my Opening file.
During an export, a Metadata dialog displays. It should be completed for every audio file with information for Artist Name, Album Title, Track Title, Track Number, Genre, etc. An option exists to create a loadable template with this information. The Track Title and Track Number are the only values that must be changed to correspond with the audio file when the saved template is loaded for subsequent exports.
These files will be converted to MP3. An MP3 plugin for Audacity can be downloaded and mapped in the Edit-> Preferences -> Libraries section. This extends Audacity for MP3 conversions.
G. Submission to ACX
Once you’ve recorded all the chapters in your book, Opening, Closing and the Retail Sample, saved raw unfiltered copies of each file as a .wav backup and proofed for listenability (is that a word?) you’re ready to submit to ACX. You’ll need an account on their site. Follow the directions for uploading your narrated audiobook. You may want to consider hiring a sound engineer which is the proof-editor equivalent to written books for them to polish your submission.
As a self-publisher, you know to keep trying until you get that congratulatory message your audiobook was accepted. After acceptance, your book is made available for purchase on Amazon or the audio platform of your choice.
Bonus
If you haven’t yet realized, you are now well-positioned to offer narrating services for others if your submission was accepted by ACX and you found this audiobook adventure fun. More information on auditioning for gigs is available on the website. Cool, right? You’re very welcome!
You already know reading your book out loud is a good way to identify grammatical errors and cadence in your print book. Use this as an opportunity to make those corrections and re-publish.
What surprised me was how uncomfortable it felt reading out loud the parts of my book that had expletives or sensitive dialog. Anyone listening will hear me curse and being somewhat conservative this audiobook project has undoubtedly infringed my comfort zone. Also, listening to the narration of my own book convey meanings and intents a reader might have missed especially in areas of emphasis. Narration clearly defines the author’s meaning, frame of mind and is a more personal experience between author and listener.
Audacity has a wiki that is plenty helpful on creating audiobooks and information on how to get the plugins mentioned above.
With Summer quickly approaching and several long road trips planned, I’ll be downloading a handful of audiobooks to listen along the way. How about you?
If you try this and it works for you, sweet, send me a note. I’d love to listen to your memoir or self-help personally narrated audiobook. If you do become blazingly successful, don’t forget the Audacity or GarageBand freeware engineers.
Wishing us luck!
