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0 pointsAndrewUnmuted10y ago0 comments

I got my education in audio engineering at a leading music conservatory, so moving into audiobook editing was a pretty easy sell for me.

An audiobook is made in four basic steps:

1. A voice actor records the narration for the book.

2. The editor takes the raw audio recordings and edits these files for pacing, flow, and aesthetic flavor. The editor also makes note of any errors in the narration which require a re-record.

3. After making all re-records and inserting the new audio, the audio is listened through one more time. They call this a "QC pass."

4. Finally, the QC'd audio is mastered and encoded for delivery.

I was the owner of step two for all Audible Studios productions.

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14 comments · 5 top-level

dzhiurgis10y ago· 4 in thread

Hey what software are you using for this?

I was thinking I really wish there was a good app where you can listen to audio articles. It is partly solved in iOS as you can speak selected text, but problem is you cannot select all text easily and you don't wanna mess with it while driving.

Was wondering what would be a great UI for the transcriber and whether you could create p2p network to share the transcriptions.

AndrewUnmutedOP10y ago

The audiobook editors at Audible used SoundForge. I started out on SoundForge, but I led a real charge to get the department to switch to Wavelab. I was able to get Audible to buy me a license for Wavelab and I never really got anyone else to switch, but it made me super efficient. At that point though I was heading into a more dev role at the company so I was already drifting away from audiobook editing at that point.

msutherl10y ago

Wavelab is so good – it's a shame it's not more commonly used.

tommyd10y ago

I've thought about this too, but I'm not sure I've got the patience to listen to articles read in TTS voice.

Anyway, on iOS if you enable voiceover you can read the entire screen by swiping down from the top with two fingers (I think - check the Apple website for accessibility information if not!)

dzhiurgis10y ago

You have to use the Speech from accessibility menu, and turn Speak Screen on.

Another possibility i just realised is the possibility to pass texts from reader mode into 3rd party text-to-speech application. Will have to research some of them.

snacksthecat10y ago· 3 in thread

I really enjoy when the voice actors do different voices for different characters. I've always wondered how they do the recording for that.

Do they read all of the dialogue for one character in a big chunk, then move on to the dialogue of the next character? Or do they read through the book naturally and switch voices? I would think that the latter would be very difficult.

AndrewUnmutedOP10y ago

Great question! :)

Narrators actually do switch all character voices in real-time. This does not commonly cause issues that require recording to stop, as the narrators are usually very experienced professionals that come from the Broadway stage or from other voice acting professions (cartoons and the like.) I've also recorded and edited my fair share of bad voice actors (for instance, former Labor Secretary Robert Reich narrated his book 'Beyond Outrage' even though he was told that it really wasn't a good idea.)

chongli10y ago

for instance, former Labor Secretary Robert Reich narrated his book 'Beyond Outrage' even though he was told that it really wasn't a good idea.

That's a very interesting aside. I could see how a non-professional narrator would struggle with the demands of the process. Would it not still have made sense for someone like Mr. Reich from a personal branding point of view? He is, after all, a somewhat well-known public figure and paid public speaker.

2 more replies

derefr10y ago

Simple question on a similar topic: how "real-time" is the source audio that you work with? I always imagined that voice actors would have arbitrary pauses between the delivery of every line, and it'd be the editor's job to tighten all of those up.

1 more reply

BHSPitMonkey10y ago· 1 in thread

That's really interesting! And it also sounds really exhausting given the amount of material in a typical book. Thanks for sharing.

AndrewUnmutedOP10y ago

No problem :)

Honestly, though, it was a great job. It never felt exhausting. Not only was the pay rather good for a 21 year old fresh out of university - the job was really fun. I got to read medium-to-high quality novels and create the audiobook experience.

Later, I got to witness Audible's rise into the mainstream and evangelized producing audiobooks for ACX [1], bringing it to a new generation of actors and engineers.

[1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QHmtV1Pe1hA

Kopion10y ago· 1 in thread

If you don't mind me asking, how were you compensated for this? What was the model?

AndrewUnmutedOP10y ago

I worked 40hrs per week in the Audible HQ. I was paid at the rate listed above - $30/hr. So, I walked out of Audible's offices on Friday with a $1200 check in my hands. This is how it worked until Audible was sued for not providing health insurance benefits, and lost the case. So they had to hire us as full-time employees, and didn't allow two out of 8 to continue to work with us as they didn't "make the cut." (They both were African American women.)

rdl10y ago

I wish you'd blog or do an AMA or something; your responses in this thread are fascinating.

(I discovered a couple years ago that I really like audiobooks.)

j / k navigate · click thread line to collapse

0 comments

14 comments · 5 top-level

dzhiurgis10y ago· 4 in thread

Hey what software are you using for this?

Was wondering what would be a great UI for the transcriber and whether you could create p2p network to share the transcriptions.

AndrewUnmutedOP10y ago

msutherl10y ago

Wavelab is so good – it's a shame it's not more commonly used.

tommyd10y ago

I've thought about this too, but I'm not sure I've got the patience to listen to articles read in TTS voice.

Anyway, on iOS if you enable voiceover you can read the entire screen by swiping down from the top with two fingers (I think - check the Apple website for accessibility information if not!)

dzhiurgis10y ago

You have to use the Speech from accessibility menu, and turn Speak Screen on.

Another possibility i just realised is the possibility to pass texts from reader mode into 3rd party text-to-speech application. Will have to research some of them.

snacksthecat10y ago· 3 in thread

I really enjoy when the voice actors do different voices for different characters. I've always wondered how they do the recording for that.

AndrewUnmutedOP10y ago

Great question! :)

chongli10y ago

for instance, former Labor Secretary Robert Reich narrated his book 'Beyond Outrage' even though he was told that it really wasn't a good idea.

2 more replies

derefr10y ago

1 more reply

BHSPitMonkey10y ago· 1 in thread

That's really interesting! And it also sounds really exhausting given the amount of material in a typical book. Thanks for sharing.

AndrewUnmutedOP10y ago

No problem :)

Later, I got to witness Audible's rise into the mainstream and evangelized producing audiobooks for ACX [1], bringing it to a new generation of actors and engineers.

[1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QHmtV1Pe1hA

Kopion10y ago· 1 in thread

If you don't mind me asking, how were you compensated for this? What was the model?

AndrewUnmutedOP10y ago

rdl10y ago

I wish you'd blog or do an AMA or something; your responses in this thread are fascinating.

(I discovered a couple years ago that I really like audiobooks.)

j / k navigate · click thread line to collapse