How To Record an Audiobook at Home

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This edition of “The Storm” is my first attempt at recording an audiobook—it was a lot of fun to produce! I’ve wanted to make my stories available in additional formats for a long time, and with the final revisions of my short story and essay manuscripts in the works, I’m able to experiment with some new formats. Here are the steps I took for “The Storm” audio edition:

Final Revisions of “The Storm”

Before committing my stories to additional formats, I worked with Hannah Beresford to ensure I’m sharing the best possible version of this work. Hannah is a poet and editor with a keen eye and familiarity with the midwestern landscape that has become the backdrop of my stories.

My primary concern with “The Storm” was if there was too much exposition describing the characters feelings or thought process. Hannah’s line edits cut the excess exposition. She also made suggestions to enhance the subtext and create more distinction between the characters voices.

Create a Script

To make recording easier, I formatted the final version of “The Storm” as a script, including:

• Increasing the font size from 12 to 14

• Italicizing spoken dialogue as a cue to change my narration/characterization

• Adjusted line breaks to indicate a change of tone or when to breathe

Recording

With the script finalized, I got ready to record:

Set-up

The advice I read online was to record in the quietest area of house. I opted for a storage closet with no windows and an underground interior wall. I also shut off the heat to make sure there wouldn’t be any background noise from the furnace. There are lots of options available for recording equipment. I went with a USB mic, a basic pop filter, and used Garageband to record.

Vocal Warm-ups

To make sure my voice sounded good, I started hydrating and letting my voice rest as much as possible the day before recording. On the day of recording, I started warming up my vocal cords with these theatre exercises:

Pitch Exercises

Make the highest possible noise, then slowly lower it like a slide whistle to your lowest pitch. Then do the reverse.

Mouth Exercises

Scrunch up your face really tight, then open your mouth and stick out your tongue. Repeat a few times to warm-up the muscles of your face.

Enunciation Exercises

Repeating tongue twisters helps sharpen enunciation prior to performing. It’s important to use different phrases for different sounds. I like this one because it covers a bunch in one phrase:

To sit in solemn silence on a dull dark dark

In a pestilential prison with a life long lock

Awaiting the sensation of a short, sharp, shock

From a cheap and chippy chopper

On a big black block

There’s also:

You know you need unique New York

Red leather, yellow leather

It’s also important to practice any passages from the text you are performing that trip you up. I did a read-through of the story prior to recording and noted any phrases that were tricky and included them in my warm-up. “Tornado touched down” was one in particular that needed extra practice.

Recording

With everything set-up and ready to go, I started recording with the mindset of experimenting and treating the session like a dress rehearsal. I started from the beginning and recorded to the end, trying not to get too caught up on re-recording any particular passage. Since it was my first time recording, I wanted to get a sense of the experience. Some of the advice I read online that I kept in mind:

• Control voice level, enunciate, keep a steady pace

• Every chapter normalized to same volume - quality / noise floor

• Make sure the master volume remains in the mid-high green area and never hits red

• Keep the mic about 6-8” away from your face

• Stop recording when the computer fan starts

Even though I’ve read “The Storm” outloud many times, the intention of recording for an audience is different from when I’m proofreading. It took a little practice to get used to how much breath it would take to perform as a narrator, as well as finding the rhythmm of when to pause recording to catch my breath.

For any passages that were long or challenging to record, I would mark the beats in pencil, rehearse a few times, and re-record. I also took breaks between larger sections to rest my voice, catch my breath, and get my energy back up.

To get the tone right for the title card, I pretended I was announcing a guest feature on my blog or The Beautiful Worst.

Editing

After recording, I started the editing process by listening to the story from start to finish and took notes on what worked vs. what pulled me out of the listening experience. When I assessed the notes, I noticed there were three overall issues to keep in mind:

1. Sound quality

Were the volume levels of the narration consistent? Were there any interfering background noises?

2. Enunciation

Were all the words properly pronounced? Were there any stutters or stumbles in the narration?

3. Performance

How were the emotional beats dramatized?

To make it easier to “revise” audio, I listened to the recording while reading along with the script and marking any errors with a highlighter. I’d then re-record the highlighted passages with multiple takes and included the take with the best sound, enunciation, and performance quality.

When cutting the final tracks in Garageband, I was mindful of the emotional rhythm of the story. The emotional beats within each scene were emphasized with a small pause, while point of view shifts between characters had a longer pause. The length of these longer pauses between sections were consistent throughout the recording.

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