Below is the latest in Home Recording Yahoo Answers Q&As. There is a bit of a departure in this question, as it relates primarily to starting an audio business. Also, the answer that was posted is pretty much in line with our advice! That, also, is a departure from the norm;). See the Home Brew Audio reply to this question at the end of the post.
Q: I am thinking about putting together a home audio studio to record audio books. Any ideas what equipment I might need? I already have a microphone with a usb hook-up. Will I also need an interface of some kind? And what about a sound room? Can you make much money recording audio books? Thanks.
A: With a USB mic you can download audacity and start recording right away. Record in a small room or build your own isolation booth to reduce room noise in the recording.
There might be some legal issues to worry about regarding rights to the work. I have no idea who to contact about that . Maybe the publisher, if you can find out who that is.
On the budget question, I can see going either way. You’ll probably wont make much unless you land a deal to do a lot of books or something like that, which is actually pretty unlikely and rare.
Here is the Home Brew Audio answer.
We agree with starting out using the USB mic. If the mic is close enough to your mouth, and you don’t have a lot of noise in the room, you don’t really need a sound room. However, anything you can do to reduce room noise (the reverb and echo that comes off the walls in the room) and other noise (babies crying, dogs, lawn mowers, etc.) would be helpful. We disagree with the “small room” aspect of the published answer. A bedroom would probably suffice, but the bigger the room, the longer it takes sound waves to travel to walls and ceilings and back again, so close-mic-ing will work better (less echo and reverb).
There are two excellent articles on this site that will help you. First is about voice-over recording and how to get started – Voice Over Jobs: Useful Tips For Landing Them and the 5-part series How to Build a Home Recording Studio.
As far as the money to be made — voice over work is extremely competitive. there is money to be made, but you have to be VERY persistent about auditioning for work. BTW, do NOT just read a copyrighted book and try to sell it. That is extremely illegal. If you want to sell your own book projects, go to Librivox.org for a catalogue of books in the public domain.
Cheers!
Ken
If you would like to do this on a regular professional bases, here’s what you’ll need:
-A contract with a publishing company.
-An audio interface (like these M-Audio ones): http://www.m-audio.com/index.php?do=products.family&ID=USBinterfaces
As you are recording just a reading voice, an interface with 1 input will do just fine.
-A good microphone for voice, like the RE20 (used in radio and audio books) http://shop.ebay.com/?_from=R40&_trksid=p3907.m570.l1313&_nkw=RE20&_sacat=See-All-Categories
-Recording software. Anything basic works, but I suggest Pro Tools.
-Good reference studio monitors for EQ of voice. http://www.m-audio.com/index.php?do=products.family&ID=studiomonitors
Hope this helps!
References :
Digidesig Certified
Apple Certified
Recording Engineer for 6 years.
with a USB mic you can download audacity and start recording right away. use a small room or build your own isolation booth to reduce room noise in the recording.
there might be some legal issues you’ll have to worry about regarding rights to the work. i have no idea who to contact on stuff like that (publishers, writers, distrubuters, etc).
as far as money goes i can kind of see that going either way. more that likely i bet you wont make too much unless you land a deal to do a lot of books or something like that. you never know
References :
recording engineer
I need to know where to start at? I have an appointment to tour a recording studio using myself as a narrator for my book. I have help with steps needed for publication of my book.
Hi Renee. I think it would be great if you could tour the recording studio and find out how much they will charge you. This is typically hourly. So multiply their hourly rate by the many dozens of hours it will take you to record your book. I think you’ll find you’re talking several thousand dollars! If you start with our “How To Create A Home Recording Studio” mini-course (takes you through suggested equipment different budget levels), you can get the right equipment for your needs. Right now that is only $12 and you can find it here: https://www.homebrewaudio.com/how-to-build-a-home-recording-studio-sales-page/). Then you’ll probably want to learn how to record your audio so that it sounds professional. Since you are recording an audio book, you can probably do everything you need to with Audacity, a free recording software. And I have a course on how to use it that is only $39 presently. You can find that here – https://www.homebrewaudio.com/tngtara1-bb-1/. And on top of that, I can help you with your questions and show you how to do things with 1-on-1 consulting, which is $100 per hour on a Zoom call with you.
Within a month or two, I will be giving another live session (5 weeks long) of “Professional Talkers: How To Record High Quality Audio For VoiceOvers, Podcasts And More.” This course is new and I don’t have a self-paced version of it yet (I’m working on that though!!). It’s probably just what you need. You can find out more about it here: https://www.homebrewaudio.com/professional-talkers-how-to-record-high-quality-audio-for-voiceovers-podcasts-and-more-2019/. The live course comes with two 30 minute 1-on-1 sessions with me, as well as access to a private Facebook Group where you can get help on your audio recording questions. I costs $297. And I don’t have the start date for the next one yet. Though I’m thinking just after New Years.
I hope that helps to answer your questions! I believe you can get professional quality by recording at home, which will probably save you thousands of dollars.