How to Lend Your Voice to Audio Books
The growing availability of MP3 players has opened a wide new market for audio books. Listeners are no longer forced to carry a stack of CDs or cassette tapes for a single novel, but instead get what they need from something that fits easily in their hand. While many bookstores sell audio books, many classics are available for free online, and you can help make more. It's easy, and it's a great way to share some of your favorite works with the world.
Instructions
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Confirm that the work you want to read is within the public domain. If a work is not in the public domain, then it is still under copyright and you will break the law if you read and record it. Protect yourself by making sure before you begin reading it. In the United States, most books published before 1923 are safe to read and record, but if you want to be completely sure, check a site like Project Gutenberg, where all of the uploaded works are confirmed in the public domain.
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Set up your microphone to record. Most new computers have integrated microphones, so you do not have to buy a new one and can get started recording right away. However, if your computer does not have one or the microphone is broken, you can easily find one for cheap at many computer or electronics stores.
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Set up your computer to record. If your computer has an integrated microphone, there should be recording software already installed like Sound Recorder. If you bought a microphone, it should come with bundled software. Another good choice for recording software is Audacity. You can download it online for free, it's very easy to use and you can also use it as an editor when you're done recording.
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Test your microphone and recording software with a poem or other short piece to make sure you understand how everything works and that it sounds good when you listen back to it. This is a good opportunity to figure out a good distance to sit from the microphone, so your recorded voice is neither too loud nor too quiet.
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Make yourself comfortable and begin reading. Some points to keep in mind, speak slowly. Enunciate to make sure that your listeners can understand you. Don't be afraid to take small breaks to rest your voice or take a drink of water. When you're done, you can edit the recordings together, so it sounds like it was all done in one take. Close the door and eliminate ambient noise as much as possible to avoid distractions and a TV playing over your recording. Have fun. Don't let it become a distraction, but read a passage how it makes you feel and share that emotion with your listeners.
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Edit your completed recordings by cutting out mistakes and combining all of the smaller pieces into full chapters with software like Audacity. When your reading sounds right and you are done editing, save the file as an MP3, which can be played on many different programs and strikes a good balance between sound quality and file size.
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Upload your completed recording to a site like LibriVox where users throughout the world can download and enjoy it.
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Tips & Warnings
Practice reading the book aloud before you record it. This way you won't stumble over an unfamiliar word when you try to read it for the first time.
References
Resources
- Photo Credit lecture image by sophie berclaz from Fotolia.com
