I am so excited! I have imagined recording an audio version of my book for as long as I have wanted to write this book. Read HERE about how The C Word Book came to be. I googled and researched and listened to a few good audio books. While the hard copies of books can be very good, the audio versions always seem to be outstanding, especially when read by the author. The difference was the added expression of what was being “said” in the book. Listening to them speak their own words, describing heartbreaking and joyful experiences, I felt more of the emotion in it. The funny parts were funnier. The sadder parts were sadder, and the happy parts were happier. I could imagine it all just a little bit better. And I wanted that for The C Word.
Inspired By…
I was sure I’d record an audio version of my book even before it was finished. Since the release of the book, everyone that’s read it, that has actually met me, says it “sounds” just like I talk. I put great effort toward writing it that way. But how much easier and better it would be to just record my own voice reading it? I’d heard many thoughts about the process of doing an audio recording, mainly that it was very expensive. When Michelle Obama began her book tour, I saw interviews online, as well as some of her talks in Chicago and Los Angeles, and I listened to her re-count some of the stories that were included in her memoirs, and it all peaked my curiosity.
I purchased the audio book via Amazon, even though I’d already purchased the hard cover version weeks earlier, promising myself I’d start reading it “soon”. I procrastinated diving in because, I’ll be honest, that thing is huge! Have you seen it? The prospect of just starting it was quite daunting for me. So I read all the other smaller books on my reading list first. When Michelle’s audio book arrived in the mail, I started listening to it immediately. I was inspired more than ever to record my book, my story, in my own words.
Audio Book Recording: What Came Next
Completing my audio book was included in my 2019 First and Second Quarter goals. 1st Quarter I slated towards gathering all the information, and 2nd Quarter for implementation. Once I did my research, and reviewed a lot of information, I decided to make this a DIY project. Again, having listened to the box set of CDs for Michelle Obama’s “Becoming”, and reading the credits, the light bulb went off. I’ve done two music CDs before, on my own. Forever in 2001, and Back 2 Classic in 2011.
In addition to the two CDs I recorded, I’ve done a ton of voice overs and background vocal work in studios. How much more, or less, difficult could this be? Well we’re about to find out, haha!!! I figured this project would be very similar to those. But the same processes and equipment would be needed. First, a place to record with compressed sound. Thank goodness for the Dollhouse with pockets of space that have low noise levels, yay!
A good microphone, of course, an arm to hold the mic, wind and pop filters… what’s that Ingrid? Oh, those are studio recording tools used in conjunction with the microphone to mitigate breath blasts and the powerful sound of p’s and b’s when speaking or singing. Add some good headphones to block out as much noise as possible so you can hear yourself and your playbacks clearly, a good chair and you’re good to go on the equipment front. The next thing for me to do was to download Audacity, a free digital recording and audio editing software.
Now there was a bit of a learning curve, complete with freak outs, panics and lost tracks that had to be re-recorded… like three times! But thanks to a few YouTube videos, I was able to forge ahead.
Reading To Myself…
One would think that reading to yourself would be a bit strange, but it wasn’t. I started doing voice overs back in the 80’s (yeah, I know I’m seriously dating myself here, haha), and I’ve done events as Mistress of Ceremonies and Announcer work countless times, so I was quite used to speaking into a microphone. Though the recording process didn’t produce any major challenges, things didn’t go altogether smoothly either. I wasn’t able to get my book downloaded to a tablet (long story there), so I had to pause for the page-turning, leaving enough room for massive edits later. And when I lost five tracks I thought I was going to cry. But I took a deep breath and got them all down again. The plan was to do 2-3 chapters a night, and thank goodness I was able to do just that. I’ve listened to the playback of a few tracks in their entirety, but not all of them. Hopefully, once I get into the thick of the editing process, I won’t find that I’ll have to do any re-recording. That would be a huge blessing.
It’s a Wrap!
With everything going on in my world right now (more on that in the next post, so stay tuned), it was a wonder that I was able to even complete the recording. But for now, in a few weeks, I’ll be moving on to editing. And after that is the mastering and duplication processes, which are definitely not free, haha!!! They can cost a few coins. But I’m so glad I decided to do this and I can’t wait to see and “hear” how it all turns out! In the meantime, you can check out the book release party for The C Word HERE.
