*Creating Your Own Audio Books

*Why Audiobooks?

*Another pool of listeners.

*Increasingly available.

*Another stream of income as a companion to print or ebooks.

*Make your work come alive.

*It can be fun to do.

*Hardware

*Usually not the one built in your computer for best results.

*Microphone

*CAD

*Behringer

*Audio Technica

*Blue Microphones

* Samson

*Computer = Anything with an audio input

*Many people use Mac computers for media.

*Headphones (Optional)

*Software

*Audacity (Free = audacity.sourceforge.net)

*Wavepad (Free or $$$ = www.nch.com.au/wavepad/index.htlml)

*MAGIX Music Maker ($$$ at http://www.magix.com/us/music-maker/)

*AVS Audio Editor ($$$ at http://www.avs4you.com/AVS-Audio-Editor.aspx)

*Dexster Audio Editor (Free or $$$ at http://www.dexster.net/)

*NGWave Audio Editor ($$$ at http://audio-editing-software-review.toptenreviews.com/ngwave-audio-editor-review.html)

*Audio Editor Gold ($$$ at http://www.audio-editor.net/aeg/)

*Blaze Media Pro ($$$ at http://www.blazemp.com/)

*Diamond Cut 8 ($$$ at http://www.tracertek.com/)

*Voice Talent

*Do it yourself.

*Fun

*Do things your way/more creative control

*Less expensive.

*Hire someone.

*Possibly more professional.

*Less internal control.

*More expensive.

*Can find someone to do accents and characters you cannot do yourself.

*Editor

*Do it yourself.

*Hire someone.

*Count on more than the time of the recording to listen to and edit is all. Always longer than you think.

*This is something that is not too hard to learn for a reasonably tech-savvy person.

*Distribution

*Self publish and host.

*Createspace, etc

*Submit to other sites.

*www.BigWorldNetwork.com

*www.infinitypublishing.com

*www.spokenbookspublishing.com

*www.acx.com

*Performance Tips

*Don’t speak too quickly and not too slowly.

*Breathe in logical places.

*Work out your accents/voices beforehand and be consistent.

*Make sure you know how to pronounce names, etc. and be consistent.

*Watch and make sure the sound waves don’t “spill over”. (Causes feedback)

*Experiment with the position of the microphone to find best sound.

*Some Tips

*Eliminate background noise. (Think time of day)

*Clocks

*Furnaces/air conditioning

*Dryer/Washer/Washing Machine

*Neighbors, environment, weather

*10 seconds of silence for additional background noise scrubbing.

*Don’t stop. Go back to the beginning of the sentence or phrase for easier cutting.

*Learn how to breathe quietly.

*Know pronunciations and problem spots beforehand.

*Try to record in the same conditions each time.

*When in doubt, redo something.

*Editing Tips

*Speed up the recording if possible, but not too fast. Somewhere between x1.5 and x2 usually works best.

*Zoom in enough so that you can make fine adjustments

*Know recording shortcuts such as using the spacebar for play/stop.

*Learn what a ‘breath’ or a ‘pop’ look like and anticipate them.

*Pause long enough between sentences to allow for editing if necessary.

*Use “Noise Removal” tool to make editing easier.

*When removing an mistake, see if you can remove a breath or pop with it. Remove as much bad audio as you can without making it sound unnatural.

*Allow a little space between sentences and do not cut too close.

*Questions?

*http://www.writermike.com – my site

*http://www.bigworldnetwork.com – the home of my audiobooks

*http://audacity.sourceforge.net/ - free audio recording and editing software

*Where to find me:

My site: http://www.writermike.comFacebook: http://www.facebook.com/authormichaelyoungTwitter: @mdybyu

Other: thesongoftherighteous.wordpress.comadventanthology.wordpress.comwww.bigworldnetwork.com