My Audiobook Journey. Publishing – Part III

Hello? Testing. Testing.

My previous two posts brought you along my publishing path through initial decision making and preliminary steps. 

Next, I shifted into recording-and-publishing-the-book-to-audio gear. Because I haven’t recorded anything since cassette tape days, once again, I began to research in earnest.

YouTube hosts a huge library of how-to record audiobooks videos, from elementary to grad school level, so finding information wasn’t difficult.

What was challenging was finding teachers who taught the process step-by-step. 

In time, I found my top three resources:

• Dave Chesson at Kindlepreneur, a clear and prolific writer;
• various trainers on video at Amazon-owned ACX University;
• and the most-helpful George Smolinski at GutenbergReloaded. 

What Tools to Use?

Among a million other tips and details, I learned on Kindlepreneur that I would need at minimum

• a good microphone
• a pop screen (that flat disk between one’s mouth and the mic which softens the intense pops of the “p” sound when recording lines like “Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peaches – or peppers, if you prefer.”)
• a recording program, called a DAW (Digital Audio Workstation) installed on my computer.
• And… a silent space to record.

Hmm.

For the mic, I called one of my besties, the super-talented actor, singer/songwriter, and instructor, Kenny Hayes, who advised me to contact one of local music stores here in Ottawa: Long and McQuade. 

They have an extensive rental department including a variety of microphones. Randy, their rental expert, helped me choose the best mic for my needs: something simple with a USB port cord, yet sensitive enough for professional level recording. His top recommendation was the Audio Technica AT2020USB.

Amazingly, the mic rented for a reasonable and pro-rated $24 per month! Sold!

 

Pop filters aren’t a rental item, thank goodness; (they’re basically spit screens, after all.) The mid-level one I purchased was also inexpensive – about $20.

My next decision was relatively simple. Since I use a Windows-based PC, my laptop didn’t come with GarageBand, the most-commonly used DAW/recording software that's auto-installed on every Mac.

After watching a few more educational videos, I downloaded a PC-friendly program called Reaper, which came with a free 60-day trial. It had a higher rating than the simpler PC program, Audacity. This may have been a mistake, as the learning curve was STEEP with Reaper! 

Since I’d never worked with a DAW before, though, learning any recording program would likely have been a challenge.

I experimented with it every day.  As I read bits of the 466-page manual and asked questions of Google and Pat, the recording expert at Long and McQuade, I came to understand the program I would need, one function at a time. 

Where to record?

The biggest challenge of creating an excellent recording is eliminating background noise. To that end, I explored the possibility of renting a professional recording studio. The least expensive space in town is called Audio Valley, a half-hour drive from home, without traffic. At $50/hour, it sounded relatively inexpensive, except that I’d be recording on a Mac/GarageBand DAW (meaning another learning curve, on the clock) and I’d have to pay for an additional two or more hours of editing time for every hour of actual recording time. Ugh! That would get pricey quickly!

 

I experimented with a makeshift “recording booth” at my friend, Val’s, condo. Wrapping a quilt over a chair atop her dining room table, I learned that the hum of her normally unheard fridge recorded perfectly in the background.

Although we live in a pretty quiet neighbourhood, my hesitation about home recording included not only our appliances, but the risk of a bark-fest from my pup, Kimchi. After turning off the central air fan, I set up pillows and a chair-and-quilt padded booth on our bed – far from the kitchen sounds. Kimchi curled up at the end of the bed, and I figured if she barked or a car drove by, I could always pause and re-start. It turned out to be a success!

 

I spent the next six weeks staying hydrated and bathing my lips with lip balm while recording one or two chapters at a time. I then spent hours cutting out mistakes, coughs, swallow sounds, and a rare but occasional puppy woof. Unfortunately, about halfway through, I caught a head cold and had to take a week-long break to regain my normal voice. Ah, the hazards of voice-over! 

Ready to Publish?

Along the way, I did more research, devoured George Smolinski’s book, “Recording Your Own Audiobooks,” and chatted with George via email. 

I learned that recording and cleaning up the chapters wasn’t going to be enough. Amazon’s audiobook platform, ACX, had a list of audio limits and requirements including terms like kilohertz, bit rates, and thresholds – a language I did not speak! 

Rather than become an audio engineer, I bit the bullet and hired George’s company, GutenbergReloaded, for the final mixing of the MP3 files to meet ACX’s specifications. Mixing four and a half hours of recorded material took three weeks and became my biggest financial investment: close to $500 CAD.

Once the polished files arrived, I uploaded them to ACX. A couple weeks later, after ACX and Audible ran their quality assurance tests, the book was ready to publish to Amazon, Audible, and iTunes! 

While these final audio processes were happening, I was checking off additional boxes on all three formats’ checklists.

Next post I’ll walk you through those background steps which brought me to the publication dates. 

Until then… 😊