CD Book Recording Information
- Audiobook readers expect a certain type of voice for each kind of audiobook. If your audiobook is strictly business, you will want to maintain a businesslike tone that is clear and easy to hear. If your CD book will be fiction, you will need to read the text dramatically and use your voice to identify characters. If your book is for children, you will need to vary your tone to keep the children's attention. Find an audiobook that sells well in your field and mimic the style it uses.
- You can record your own audiobook narration at home. To do this, you will need a computer, a microphone and an audio editing program. Pro Tools and Cubase are professional programs that are powerful but cost hundreds of dollars to set up. Audacity is an audio recording program you can download for free. Audacity will allow you to record multiple tracks and edit your audio.
A viable startup microphone for recording audiobook narration is the Shure SM-57 or SM-58. If you want your recording to sound professional, you will need to use a preamp in your audio recording setup. A preamp is an amplifier used to add fullness and richness to the sound of your voice. A new preamp can cost as little as $20. If you have an A/V receiver, like those you would use for your TV setup, or a mixer with signal boosting capabilities, you can use them as entry-level preamps.
If you only have access to a handheld or tape-recording device, you can still record a demo that can be loaded on a computer to be burned to CD. - An advantage to multitrack recording in an audio editor is the ability to fix small errors in recorded audio. This means that when you mess up, you don't have to re-record the whole section. You can just record a fixed version and patch it over the bad parts like an audio Band-Aid. If you do this, it is important that you record the re-recorded sections in similar tone and cadence so they can blend in smoothly.
- Use your audio editing program to arrange your narration so it flows smoothly. If your audio editing program has equalizer (EQ) capability, adjust the settings to see if you can make your voice sound more clear and precise. If your voice is low and the recording sounds muddy, you may benefit from boosting higher-frequencies in your sound recording. If your voice is high or lacks fullness, your recording may benefit from dampening the high frequencies and reducing the low to middle tones.
- Export your completed audiobook narration file as a wav file. Use a CD burning program such as Nero, or the burning capabilities on programs such as Foobar2000 and iTunes, to burn your finished files onto a CD. You may want to break your narration down into different tracks so the user can easily navigate through the audiobook. When burning your CD, make sure to choose the option to burn an audio CD, rather than a data CD, or your CD will not play in a CD player that does not play data files.
