How to Record an Audiobook - Part Three: Post Production

Welcome to the final part of my series on how to record audiobooks. I’m primarily a Home Studio based narrator, so these blogs are a reflection of my production methods. Much of what I do is universal to all narrators. I also may do things that are unique to me. I suggest no value judgement on my or anyone else’s way of working. The idea is to provide a little insight into what seems to be a fairly unusual occupation!

In part one we explored the casting process and the vital importance of good preparation. Part two was about how a voice prepares for the intense challenge of narrating hours of text. In part three we will examine the post-production process. In particular we will pay attention to a complex process that allows the experienced narrator to edit their work as they go along. This clever editing trick can save many hours of post-production and ensure a more consistent quality throughout the narrator’s performance.

1 – PUNCH AND ROLL

I am often asked, “how do you manage to record all that text without making a mistake?” The answer is simple: I don’t! I make plenty of mistakes when I’m narrating an audiobook. It’s seriously difficult to maintain 100% accuracy across say a 80,000-word text (roughly 8 hours of recorded narration).

Making as few mistakes as possible is always the aim of course. But narrating a fiction audiobook is still acting. In order to find that knife edge of creative immediacy that brings a text to life you run the risk of slipping on the occasional word. In my view this is vastly preferable to making no mistakes and being an utter bore in the process.

An alert narrator usually realises they’ve made a mistake. If left unfixed, these conscious errors can become quite a pile of work for the editor and proofer. Happily, there is a clever technique for ensuring the proofer has a lot less work to do.

Punch and Roll is a method of on-the-fly editing that is essential for any narrator who wants to make a living from audiobooks. It allows you to correct a conscious mistake on the go. Once the narrator is proficient with it a listener won’t be able to tell the error was ever made! It’s also very helpful if the narrator simply wants to attempt a passage again for artistic reasons.

Using software such as Adobe Audition CC makes punch and roll very straightforward. When the mistake is made and noticed the narrator stops recording. They then delete the mistake before placing an “in point” on the timeline where they want to resume recording. This is the tricky part, as you have to make sure you’ve not chosen the “in point” in the middle of a breath or other speech noise. That done you click to resume recording. The software will then play about 5 seconds of what recorded before your “in point”. It will then start recording again when this point is reached allowing the narrator to seamlessly pick up the story. It definitely takes practice, but the results are excellent once you know what you’re doing. With Punch and Roll a narrator can even submit a recording that apparently has no mistakes at all. Great for the ego that!

To find out about how the proofer helps an audiobook narrator and editor to complete a title click here. Please leave your comments and don't forget to subscribe for more blogs.