Introduction to Audiobook Production and Narration
  • Welcome to the Course
  • A Growing Market and Opportunity
  • How to Use This Course
  • The Main Audiobook Production Platforms
  • Your Responsibilities as an Audiobook 'Producer'
Production - Recording Space & 'Treatment'
  • Room Treatment
  • Two Ways to Set Up Your Gear
  • My acoustic space
  • Alternative (and Better) Gear Setup
  • Exercise - Set up your recording space and Treatment
  • Vocal booth setup
Production - Recording Hardware & Software Setup
  • Minimum Recording Gear and Software
  • Exercise - Get Your Minimum Gear and Software Ready to Set Up
  • Setting Up the Digital Audio Interface
  • extra note re Digital Audio Interface settings
  • Exercise - Set Up YOUR Digital Audio Interface (if using one)
  • Setting up the Microphone
  • Exercise - Set up YOUR Microphone
  • Review of the new Zoom ZDM-1 dynamic microphone
  • Microphones, digital audio interfaces and headphones
  • Stands and shockmounts
  • Gain and amplitude - Part 1 Theory
  • Gain setups for different types of microphone - Part 2
Make Your Digital Audio Workstation (Reaper) a Dedicated Voice Over Machine
  • Acknowledgement and a Recommendation
  • Setting up Preferences in Reaper
  • Exercise - Setting Up YOUR Reaper Preferences
  • Customising Reaper - Part 1: Simplify the Interface and Create a Custom Menu
  • Exercise - Simplify YOUR Reaper Interface and Create Custom Menu
  • Customising Reaper - Part 2: Set Input and Output channels and Set Tracks
  • Exercise - Set your Input and Output paths and create and customise Tracks
  • Customising Reaper for Voice Over - Part 3: Screen Layout
  • ADDENDUM TO PART 3 LECTURE ABOVE - detailed explainer of docker and FX browser
  • Exercise - Create the custom layout in YOUR Reaper and save it as a template
  • Customising Reaper for Voice Over - Part 4: Setting Up Default FX chain
  • Exercise - Set Up Your Basic FX in Reaper
  • ADVANCED: Izotope RX settings
Recording
  • Setting Recording Options and then Recording
  • Exercise - Set Your Recording Options and Record Some Test Tracks
  • Introduction to the 3 Methods Used for Recording Audiobooks
  • 'Open Recording' method #1: The 'Dog Clicker'
  • Exercise - Practice the Dog Clicker method
  • 'Open Recording' Method #2: the Marker Method
  • How to get markers to 'follow' edits in the timeline
  • Exercise - Practice the Marker Method
  • Punch and Roll Recording - Part 1
  • Punch and Roll Recording - Part 2
  • Exercise - Set Reaper as per the #1 Punch and Roll lecture and practice!
Performance and Narration
  • The Art of Storytelling (and being a Storyteller) in Audiobooks
  • Framing and General Performance Preparation
  • Exercise - Listen to some Audible Samples
  • Volume and Finding Your Mid Range Voice
  • Exercise - Find Your Mid Range Voice
  • Pacing
  • Exercise - Pacing
  • Tone
  • Exercise - Tone
  • Emphasis
  • Exercise - Emphasis
  • Mouth Placement and Posture
  • Exercise - Placement
  • Inflection
  • Exercise - Inflection
  • Lilt and Cadence
  • Exercise - Lilt and Cadence
  • A Crash Course in Acting
  • Self Care and Voice Care - IMPORTANT!
Characters
  • Introduction to the Character Section of this Course
  • How much character background do I need?
Noise (and how to Reduce or Eliminate it)
  • Dealing with Noise
  • Using the (free) Reaper Noise Gate
  • Using ReaFir (free) to eliminate noise in a targeted way
  • Controlling Noise using an Expander (paid)
  • Controlling Noise using Spectral Noise reduction (paid)
Editing and Mastering Process
  • Creating a Room Tone Track
  • Editing - Sorting Out Chapters Starts and Ends
  • ADDENDUM: How to create the custom action, Make 4 Points and Decrease Envelope
  • Editing - How to convert Chapter Markers to Regions, ready for Rendering
  • Three-Step Audiobook Mastering in Reaper (using the free supplied plugins)
  • Batch Exporting (Rendering) Mastered Chapters from Reaper
  • Batch processing Reaper exports to comply with ACX technical specifications
  • Batch Converting ACX-ready audio files to MP3s
  • Checking that MP3s comply with ACX and uploading files to ACX
  • How to check mastered files in batch
Navigating the ACX Platform
  • Which books and authors to take on - and which to avoid
The Business Side of Audiobook Production
  • Reviews: How to Get Them and How to Use Them
Managing Audiobook Production Schedule and Workflow
  • Merlin & MS Project project management template
Troubleshooting
  • Troubleshooting audio connections