So, I've been told for 30 years I should do narration so I figured I'd probably have a respectable chance at it. I ordered a nicer desktop mic for audio instead of gaming, and this morning I found your channel. I had heard of ACX but I have no idea what programs I need, how to use them correctly to get them the product specs they need. It looks like I just found a gold mine of a channel. I'll be looking much further into your available content as I plan on making this as full time as possible asap. Thanks!
Your expertise and professionalism, coupled with your ability to concisely and easily explain things is unmatched! As far as I’m concerned, you are the gold standard of voice over artistry! Thank you for all the hard work you put into your videos!
I am brand new and just starting out in this world of voiceovers/audiobook narration. Thank you for your helpful tips. They are tremendously beneficial!😊
Thank you so much for your videos! I am really new to producing audiobooks, and I just accepted my first offer! So here I am watching another one of your videos to help me navigate these new uncharted waters. Your help to myself, and I am sure many others has been invaluable.
Gotta say - the tip about pasting in 1/2 a second of room tone where there are mistakes or longer pauses is incredible! Excited to apply that myself. Thank you!
Thank you for unselfishly sharing your knowledge with us! I'm excited to get started on this career path in the near future and I'm enjoying videos like yours that give me a good education in this field. Thank you so much!!
Thanks for also showing the marking method and punch-and-roll. I think with Punch-and-roll it would be good to fully listen through when you are adding room tone.
Thank you so much 😊! This helped me immensely on my editing journey. I’ve been using ACX requirements page frequently . But this has been way more helpful and useful than any of the ACX videos out there ! Thank you so so much 🌟!
Thank you for the wealth of knowledge to help people get into the industry! Just starting out with auditions and haven't been selected yet, but I though I should look ahead to prepare for how to actually record the book when I get accepted to narrate at some point
Thank you, Angela! This was extremely informative and helpful in my learning process. I'm a writer narrator combo now and am trying to learn as much as I can to get the books out for my publisher! I appreciate the time and effort you put into giving back and helping people. May God bless you and your family greatly! Keep up the great work, and thank you again from the bottom of my heart!
Awesome clear videos! So helpful, just getting started and will definitely be checking out more videos to see what's new and to watch out for. Thank you for making this channel!
Thanks Angela. I'm just preparing myself to enter the world of audiobook narration and editing is my achilles heel. Your tutorials are simple to understand and reassuring. I appreciate the time it take you to make them and for helping us noobs out! 😊
I really appreciate your videos. I am considering starting my own journey into the wide world of voice-over/audio recording. I appreciate your honesty and instruction and that you note in another video that it is not a sprint but a marathon. Thank you again and I will continue to watch and learn. 😊
Im so excited to get started with audiobook narration, and i have you to thank for that. You single handily taught me how to edit properly in audition, and before i was literally crying in audacity it was so unfriendly to a beginner. No tutorial was helping me, and i lost hope at one point bc i felt like i wasnt going to be capable of understanding my daw. Im happy to say ive finished 3 acx auditions just last night, and found it much easier to edit after i treated my environment. Youd be surprised what you can do with no money starting out, as long as you are creative😂 thank you angela💖
Thank you very much Angela! Soooo helpful. I am at the beginning of my journey, but I have learned a lot from your channel. I have a lot left to learn, but I think part of that knowledge will come when I try to implement what you have taught. 👍
Thank you for these videos - I am currently preparing to self-publish and your tutorials have been immensely helpful. I am planning on posting my chapters one at a time to RU-vid in hopes of eventually finding an audience.
Thank you for saying you prefer using the clicker to punch and roll. I've tried both and have found that the clicker is faster for me, even taking into account editing time. Stopping and reseting the insert point takes more time and gets me frustrated. Whereas the clicker spikes during editing are easy to spot and fix.
Hi Angela. I really appreciate your advice. You put a lot of good work into your vids. You have an amazing voice. Thx for producing these vids. You are great.
Thank you so much for all the great knowledge you are sharing. I just purchased a year of Adobe Audition. Up to this point, I've been using Audacity...so navigating Audition is new to me. Would you be able to do a tutorial on building a rack in Audition, how to use it, and a good starting point for the settings (with ACX standards)? I'm not sure if you've already done this, so I'm sorry for asking this if you have.
Angela... Thank you for all of this information. I am just starting out as a sideline as I decided I should be speaking in public for myself and not for my main employer!... your style of instruction is really clear and everything is in sequence and in real-time. Brilliant stuff!
Thanks just trying to get started . I did manage to reach out to you via your website. I have a lot to learn, and you make it accessible. 'm looking forward to taking the course.
Hey angela! Do you happen to have a video that goes into more detail of your effects settings preset?! I am currently setting up my effects and am a bit overwhealmed with how many effects to choose from, as I also do not have a full understanding for what all of the effects do! 😅 And maybe perhaps an estimate on how much it costs to get the effects set up; I assume not all of the effect modules are free :p
This is great! Do you have a video about mastering? Keeping the levels all the same between your chapters? I saw something on ACX about needing to do that but they weren't clear about how to do it.
Narration is one thing… editing totally a new thing! Looks very complicated! I do VO auditions for commercials usually… Rode mic and pop blocker with my iPad. Minimal editing. Easier to redo rather than edit. Crazy! Is it necessary to get a laptop rather than an iPad? Where do we learn to edit ? You are a pro at it! I usually go to the production studio to record a commercial. They do the editing.
I'm so glad I found your videos. I've watched a few of them so far and it was so refreshing to have a pretty solid idea of how good your content is from the first video I watched. Part of the dread of trying to learn anything new from youtubers is sifting through the garbage supersaturating any search results. Thanks for the effort you put into your videos. Cheers!
Good morning beautiful. Who is this audio guy, Tim? If I want to develop my own presets for my voice, how much does he charge, and what does he need as a sample to develop those presets? Also, I downloaded Clarity Vx demo by Waves. It's incredible. Have you tried it yet? Where are you out of in the US? I fly several times per week, and would love to maybe work with you in the future.
Thank you so much Angela! I’m a bit confused as to how to use the equalizer and compressor effect. Are these essential? Are there generic levels I can select?
Everyone's space, DAW,equipment, mic placement and voice will be different. There are too many variables to have generic settings. You may need to go the trial and error route, or hire someone to help you do this with a booth audit or just hiring an audio engineer.
Thank you so much for your channel! The information is great, and you are so sympathetic! I am just starting out and am trying to get my sound right. I have heard from other pros that the recording audio level should average between -18 and -12 dB, peak at -6. With these settings, my noise floor and mouth sounds are pretty bad. I noticed in this video that your recording levels are much lower than that, yet you sound great and obviously meet ACX requirements. Is there a reason for this? I'm worried that if I record low, my voice will get distorted once I edit/normalize.
Angela-thank you so much for sharing your wisdom! I’m not sure if I heard this correctly: do you add or subtract the space between every sentence so that they are uniform? What amount of space do you leave? Much appreciated!
Hey Angela, I'm so excited to be producing my first audiobook, thanks to your awesome mentoring about ACX. Quick question: I know the file order is "Opening Credits" (00), followed by the "Introduction" (01), so I naturally skipped the "Table of Contents" since it comes after Opening Credits and before the "Introduction." However, there's a quote between "Table of Contents" and "Introduction." Should I include it in the production, and if so, which file do I put it in? Thanks so much for your help! Cheers
Hi, I am looking to get into voice over work for audiobooks on ACX/Fiverr, and was wondering whether it’s necessary to make a demo professionally, or can you just make your own demo? I’m confused about what to do. Thanks so much!
Make your own DIY demo to start! Get some practice in, learn your daw, get your recording space finished, and get some training before you need a professional demo.
@@VoiceOverAngelaI cannot thank you enough for sharing your knowledge! I have also been listening to your podcasts and I appreciate all your fantastic advice and your candor! I want to piggyback on this question, as I have just booked my first audiobook with ACX! I'm both terrified and excited! The RH just approved my first 15 minutes so we are good to go! In terms of doing the chapter uploads, should I ask the RH if they have a preference about when I do the uploads? A couple at a time or all at once? Is this something you would usually ask the RH? Thank you!! ❤
@@erikacalvert9481 congratulations! And thank you! I always upload all the chapters at once. They can review and let you know if any changes need to be made. For me, it's easier and less time consuming to have all the revisions to do at one time.
Hi! I found your channel recently and love your content - thank you! I have an editing question - if my Peak Amplitutde is higher than -3 dB (it's -1 dB) how do I change that? I tried the Amplify to -3dB effect and it changed the RMS to lower than the required -18 to -23 dB range. I am learning Adobe Audition for the first time. All the other levels are in the right range.
@kailariver keep in mind that RMS is the average dialogue volume. So that needs to be under control first, then always the last step is to normalize to -3db. That should get you to the right peak. If your RMS is too low, undo normalize and increase the volume then normalize again then check. Rinse and repeat until it's right
Hey what about saving your work? Do you save work- original before & definitely after & where do you save? I know you compress the file, but do you have storage issues. Do you use a cloud or external storage? How much space would be good to start?
I save the raw files and the finished files on my computer until the book is through QA and is up for retail sale. Then, I move the files to external storage.
Hi Angela! Your timing of this video is on point. I do have a question for you - when reaching out to the RH, if you propose an extension, and or other questions of clarity to them, and simply get back an answer that does not address all your questions, ...is this when I should be questioning if the RH is real? I just e-mailed the Author (it's a research book) so... any who here we are.
It could be a number of things, perhaps they are just busy, maybe it's a production house and don't know all the answers, or maybe they are not the RH. It's hard to say but It's good that you reached out to the author, just in case.
Do you work on each chapter by completing a recording of the chapter, edit/produce recording, save the file, then go on to the next chapter? Then send the ACX Client all the files/chapters all at once (for review), and assuming he/she is happy, then I would be done on my end right? Then the Client will upload the files to Audible.
another great video. i live in northern canada and where would you recommend getting the adobe audition from??? being colour blind and watching quite a few of your videos, now i think i can make it work for me. thansk
@@VoiceOverAngela thank you for the quick reply, being locked down in northern canada with the strict coivd 19 rules i have been working on my books and the Group of 8 hung me out to dry. so in january with the help of youtube, i got 3 books on amazon and then by july i had 16 books on. i looked in to audiobooks and the people i was referred to blew me off. then my friends pointed out i had narrated my 15 seconds of fame on Ice Road Truckers. i then youtubed my fame and listened to it over and over then i decided to do my own audiobooks. now with your videos and help i am very close to starting in september when the last of the pieces of my recording studio arrive. the dog clicker was a mystery piece of the puzzle because in northern canada nobody uses dog clicks. i had to google and learn about dog clickers and amazon sent me coloured ones like yours. my daughter helps me with colours since i am colour blind. plus she writes the colours on everything for me too. thansk
Hi Angela, this is really useful, thank you. I'm recording my first audiobook and I have never been a very loud breather but I am having an issue where after applying the various filters to bring the recording up to ACX specs my breaths seem much louder (relative to my speaking) than they actually were in the raw file. Is that because I have the wrong compression settings? Something else? I'm pretty technically minded but don't do a lot of audio editing so while I understand the logarithmic dB scale and so on, I don't have practical experience. I'd been following another tutorial for my workflow (and just trying it on the first few chapters to make sure I'm getting the process right) and what I've been doing in Audacity is: noise removal, editing, EQ, compression, limiter, normalize. The tutorial I found actually swapped the last steps so the limiter was last, which did make a difference, but everything else I've ever seen/read says normalizing should always be the last step. Anyway, I don't think my amplified breathing is the last thing I'll need to deal with but it's certainly the pain point right now and I was wondering if you had any tips!
After you normalize, at any point, everything at a lower volume will be louder. This is why I remove any breaths that I can really "see" in the spectral view because I know they will be much louder once all is said and done. It is a pain but I haven't found an effective plug in to reduce or remove breaths just yet, so fingers crossed that there will be one developed at some point!
@@VoiceOverAngela your detailed info is really helping me know the standards, It's been 2 years since I started working on Fiverr and 1 year on Upwork doing mostly commercials in Spanish, but from time to time they ask me if I can record audiobooks compatible with Audible (I can't work on this platform since I'm from Mexico), but I can certainly look for a way to record on those standards. Thank you Angela, you have an awesome voice!
Excuse my naivete, I was under the impression that for me to narrate my own book I would need a microphone, a DAW, headphone, and at least 8+ GB. Do I still have to subscribe to adobe audition or other to narrate? If so, I'm going to need to find a What you need to get started for audiobooks for DUMMIES or find someone (one-on-one training).
So the author isn't mentioned in the chapter being recorded? how about if it's the initial sample? I am new to this and have been watching your videos. You are amazing!
The author is only mentioned in the credits. The audition is a small section of the manuscript, perhaps 3 minutes. The author name is typically not included in the audition. Thanks for watching!
Angela, when you start your rack process, does it take your program a few minutes to complete? I ask because when I select my entire track and apply, say, de-clicker, to it, it can legit take like 10 minutes to complete. Is this your experience as well?
Thank you, this was SO helpful! Bookmarking this to return to when I get my first actual book. This stuff feels so scary, but you make it feel doable. My one burning question is where do we start reading the book? Do we have to read that whole copyright/ISBN page? Like what exactly is included in file 00_Title? 🧡💜
I know, it's alot to take in... but take it step by step. ACX has a full video academy and instructions on their site as well. As it's too much to type in here. Great topic for my next live Q&A on Tuesday!
@@DianeJarecki I go live on Tuesdays at 12pm EST. Usually for about an hour or so. I answer questions and have some laughs with those in the chat, it's fun :)
I have question- I'm going to volunteer to narrate a text book and it has pictures with captions. Do I read the captions? I should probably say, "caption under picture one" or something before?
If your noise floor hadn't been below -60 already, what would you have done? And would you have applied it to the entire file, or just your room tone bit?
Wondering why you have to keep inserting room tone. Shouldn't it just be there already? When you aren't speaking, isn't the "room tone" being picked up? Thanks!
Angela I am a complete new person at this and cannot get past the first NS1 mono effect. I dont know how to get it in there. When I google it it says to down load waves plugins. I dont understand. Do you mind me with a little more advise.
Ns1 is a plugin that you purchase from waves.com. Once you purchase and download it, you can use it in your recording software. Be sure that ns1 is compatible with your recording software before purchasing. (Compatibility is listed for each plugin within its listing on waves.com)
Thanks for sharing the process. Question: I notice that your read of chapter 1 is less conversational (a bit on the voicemail or explainer video, somewhat robotic) side. When reading audio books, is it helpful to read as though you are in the room reading to the person directly? Should things be a bit conversational in tone with good annunciation? Is a somewhat relaxed approach desirable?
I still get nervous narrating in front of people lol. Yes, you are telling a story. So it should sound as fitting for the story. I was demonstrating more process than narration. ;)
@@VoiceOverAngela Wasn’t critiquing, sorry about that. Just wanted to see how practical it is and whether the more explainer approach is desired or requested. I notice some of the AI voices out there and wonder if it will be commonplace for humans to emulate that because it is out there. Thank you for the direction.
I'm editing my first audition for a children's book. It was so much fun doing. I have to insert sound effects, how much should I do? They said to have fun with it.
@@VoiceOverAngela THANK YOU so muuuuuch! 😭❤ I'm just recording the first 15 minutes of my first project on ACX and JUST realized I had NO idea...it's these kind of details I'm finding it hard to find, so you are a LIFESAVER! :) Thanks for taking the time to answer, and have a great day, Angela!!
Undo normalization to -3db, and increase the volume of the whole file. Then normalize to -3db again, then test. If it's still too low, undo normalization and maybe add a bit of compression to even out the volume, then normalize again and test.
Oh, no, no, no, :) You need to record in WAV format to keep the full quality of your voice intact throughout your editing process. If you send an mp3 to someone to format, that person will need a WAV to open it in a DAW (the DAW will probably automatically format it to WAV anyway). Then for export it will be reconverted to mp3. So there would be three conversions involved, all of which will degrade the quality of your product. Stick with WAV until the very end of the process. Your question was asked 5 months back, so this is probably too late to help, but I had to send it.
Your noise floor needs to be below -60db in the final draft of the file. So adjust your effects to be sure that your noise floor is under -60db after you normalize. 😉
@@VoiceOverAngela I liked this one cause I want to write notes and learn it well. I appreciate the idea of punch and roll editing. That one had me say out loud Ohhhh cool ! Thanks again. I'll post this one on my feed.
Hi! Yes, I have one to help with the noise. Although after I had set my room up alittle better, I turned most of the songs way down and set all my presets. I don't want to take it out of the mix now because then I'll have to reset everything. Haha! So, I do have one but all it does now is offer a tiny bit of compression and a noise gate.
@@VoiceOverAngela Ok, thanks! I figured you may have been using some sort of gate to get that kind of noise floor profile while recording. I've been thinking of using one myself.
