Before I waded deep into audiobook creation, I had the arrogance ignorance to say it’d take a month. I’ve been eating crow ever since.
Around 15 months ago, I started this long-ass audiobook journey, from initial idea of construction to this chapter now. It started with a simple, “Man, I’d love to get Steven Pacey to do my Maro books.” If you know who that is, you’re in the right circle. “Why do I do this?”
I was quoted $5,000 just to get Mr. Pacey in the door, not including studio time, post clean up, and assembly. So, you could double that easily. Holy Sh- I could build a studio for 20% of Mr. Pacey’s price, so that’s what I did. Unfortunately, I should’ve doubled that estimate at a minimum—lessons learned about subpar equipment, and unfortunately, if you don’t know, you’ll make the same mistakes, too.
This chapter is the 6th time I’ve recorded it, and each fuc- iteration taught me a lot of lessons along the way. There’s a steep learning curve for just recording, not to mention the recording software, building the studio, preparing the inside, learning the equipment and settings, studying the intricacies of the software, etc. Even with the cleanest recording you can manage right out of the gate, it’s subpar for audiobook excellence.
But using what I learned, I plugged along, knowing that I’d make a damn good audiobook. Then, I shared it. Most feedback was positive, but one person came back with feedback I hadn’t heard. “It’s so damn quiet when I listen in my car.” Since I love audiobooks, I listen to them in my car as well. So, I tried it, and at my usual listening level, he was right. It came out like a whisper. And that kicked off a whole new round of salvaging my work.
Turning up the gain on the track brought new problems. Since the beginning, I’ve been plagued by a hiss that I swore I heard. Other people thought I was crazy…hearing things. Only the employee at Sweetwater—who’s an audiobook narrator, too—heard it. With the volume raised now, other people said, “Hey, I hear a hiss.” Well, no shit!…I mean, of course.
That brought me to iZotope’s RX 12, the latest software I had to purchase, and mother of God, it was worth it. But that came with its own set of problems and contributions. I had to learn the plugins of De-noise, Mouth Clicks, De-click (not to be confused with Mouth Clicks), Spectral Repair, Spectral De-noise, Dialogue Isolation, etc. Not to mention learning the proper way to export and import fixed .WAV files without destroying the original. If I had hair, it’d either be gray now or departed.
But this journey, all the problems and setbacks, the learning, has brought me to this point. Now, I have something I can be proud of. This is the cleanest version I’ve ever had, and now, I’m sharing it wide: to my subscribers, followers, and the world at large. This is a promise of things to come, and to please be patient for the rest. I’ve doled out earlier drafts before, with all their imperfections, and nothing had my stamp of “final” on it. I think we finally earned it, and it’s about damn time!
Please, have a listen. I enjoy it at 2x speed, but then again, I have to, or my mind drifts. I’m proud of its quality, humble by the process, grateful for the experience, but I’m also wanting critical feedback from you. If you know people who love audiobooks, share it with them. I encourage you! Spread it far and wide. Having a barometer while recording is the best gauge. Please, comment below, and welcome to Maro Prakk and the world of Atar.
Oblus ina’ti Sepan Eti.
