First adventure into ACX recording

 Wowser, what an evening! Tonight I took the first step into uploading an audiobook on to ACX

 

Background: I love reading, I love making audiobooks for others on my Youtube channel and I was given the idea of using ACX by my dear friend Maggie. (Who incidentally was the first author to approach me to read a book and we became fast friends in the process! The audiobook has been recorded and it should be produced in April)

Aside from this exciting project with Maggie, I set up a profile on ACX which is the platform for recording audiobooks for Audible, Amazon, iTunes and their global stores. It's a place where independant authors, narrators and studio professionals come together to create audiobooks

 

There are a ton of resources available on the platform from audio production skills to marketing yourself and when you have explored the site and familiarised yourself with the legalities/  requirements, you are ready to go!  

Note: As a narrator, you are required to submit auditions. Don't feel despondent or down if you are not accepted to read an audiobook for an author, it is nothing personal, it's just that you are not quite right for their vision. Remember, these books are their babies, their creation and they have a vision of who their characters are, the environment, atmosphere and so on. If they give feedback, take it gracefully and hear what they say, a lot can be learned from them

(Second note, I was not intending for this post to be so long! See, ACX is just such a great adventure!)

Back to the point at hand. Be prepared to go on a reeeeeeeeeeally steep learning curve in respect of your audio techiness (not quiet the proper term, but I like it) If you have been creating audiobooks as an amateur, you will have likely used something like audacity and recorded mp3's which is fab, but on the professional level, you need to ensure consistency and continuity. In short, your recording needs to be the right volume range for ACX without background noise and within  peak/floor parameters...

"Oho" you might say..that's too much jargonese and faaar too complicated and yes, I thought so too (I had been accustomed to recording in long sessions and minor tech adjustment where needed) But fear not because ACX show you exactly how to meet their audio requirements. Advice I can give? Set aside a couple hours to work through the key production points and you cannot go far wrong

Did you like this little insight into my narrating journey? 

Would you be interested to know more about my journey and projects or have any questions? Let me know, I would love to hear from you

Ink x