The Guide to Publishing Audiobooks by Jessica Kaye

Author:Jessica Kaye [Kaye, Jessica]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Penguin Publishing Group

Extraneous Noise Means Extraneous to the Narrator’s Voice

A studio recording should be able to work around noise interruptions that come from outside the booth. You can stop and wait for the siren to pass, the helicopter to fly away, the slamming door to stop reverberating.

Not all of the aural clutter comes from outside the studio walls. It is impressive how sensitive most microphones are. You will hear stomach noises you would never have noticed if not for the microphone picking up every tummy rumble. If stomach noise is too much of an impediment to smooth recording, stop and eat something. Of course, the irony of stomach noise is that the stomach makes noise when it is empty and it makes noise when it is digesting. Still, a very loud tummy in need of food is worth the pause in work. Or maybe your narrator accidentally kicked the music stand their script is on. Wait for it to stop vibrating after being kicked or after placing your script or tablet on it. Those sounds, too, should come out of the recording. Take the line again. Just rerecord it, being mindful of sound before the narrator resumes speaking. Whatever the source of the extraneous sound, narration should stop for its duration so that whomever is editing your program will be able to excise the noise and present you with a clean-sounding recording.

The editor will remove the extraneous sounds as much as possible, leaving behind a good, well-edited recording.

If you are recording in a studio subject to a lot of outside noise, maybe that isn’t the best studio for you. Once or twice I have arrived at a studio and found it completely unsuitable for our purposes and had to leave, which is problematic because it means rescheduling the narrator and may even mean recasting or changing the release date of the audiobook. Thankfully, the internet makes it easier to get recommendations, referrals, and reviews. This isn’t a foolproof method but it does narrow the odds of booking an inappropriate place. Still, if you have booked a place you find will not work and are unable to cancel it, whether for economic reasons or otherwise, you will just have to make the best of it. Try to record in the interstices between the noises you need to have edited out. If overall the studio sound just isn’t good, there may be no way to make the best of it. You could end up having to rerecord. In such an instance, walk away. The money you have to pay for the unused studio time may be less expensive than if you have to completely rerecord or spend extra on postproduction to try to salvage the program.

When I had my audio publishing company, a studio I often worked in would usually assign me their smallest studio. That was fine with me. They charged me a very reduced rate compared to what they charged musicians to record there, and musicians were their primary clientele. Audiobooks are most often recorded by just one voice and the booth in that room was plenty big enough for that.

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