If you've done any online research, you've already found out that prices and costs to record an audiobook are all over the place. And with so many choices, what's really a good deal, and companies or individuals to work with, or to avoid, and what are the real costs in recording an audiobook?
The first question is always cost - How much is this really going to cost me? That question is relative, based on a number of factors. It's like asking what is the car going to cost me? Well, is it used, is it new? Is it a luxury model or a car you want to avoid altogether, because of known problems and guarantee issues? Prices vary, but range anywhere from a kid in a college dorm room recording for $50 a finished hour of audio, to well over $700 a finished hour of audio. A finished hour of audio is mistake free, in other words, aside from a possible word that was skipped or misread, all the editing has been done. An hour of audio is based on a word count of approximately 9,500 to 10,000 words. Every reader and book has a different tempo and so most in the industry use this formula of 9,500 to 10,000 words per finished hour of audio, to get their costs and to give you a quote. So, if you have a book of say 52,000 words, and the price you are quoted is $1,560, by doing the math you'll find out that the company or individual is charging you roughly $300 per finished hour of audio.
Let's face it, audiobooks aren't cheap and they're not cheap for a number of reasons. They're much more difficult to produce and record than a commercial - why is that? Well, to start with most commercials have music, and they include the surrounding audio environment of where the commercial is to have taken place - which does what? - it hides the sometimes poor audio quality of the voice over. Audiobooks can go on for hours and if you took that same audio quality of the TV commercial voice over and used that for your audiobook, you might be sorely disappointed with the noise of the mic, boominess and bassy plosives - those are bassy pops while the voice talent is recording. Which leads to another question.
I'm the author and know the material of my book better than anybody, so shouldn't I record it? That sounds reasonable, but it all depends. Do you have the time, do you have the right equipment and do you have the know how? There is a trade off for authors who are concerned about the delivery of their book, in such a way where sometimes they win the battle, but still lose the war when they record it themselves. They record the book, just how they want to and certainly save money, but it's recorded in a space where one hears sound bouncing off the walls of the room, outside dogs, overhead planes, the hum of the computer and in many cases, even though the professional voice talent may not have every inflection that the author would have wanted, they would have still have come across more polished and professional. Not to discourage anyone from recording their book, but that's the case most of the time.
Let's say that you still want to record your book and you're willing to pay for studio time - which is more than likely, a better option. Make sure that the studio you are recording in, does this type of work. Just because the studio is a studio and is in business, doesn't mean that they record audiobooks. There's a big difference between recording song demos or commercials than audiobooks. Studios that record audiobooks instinctively know which mics to use, to minimize what they call the self noise of the mic itself - remember we don't have a music bed and the recorded ambiance in back of our voice talent, except for maybe the start of the chapters for intro music. They also know which mics will perform better, along with mic placement to avoid those plosives and microphones that are harsh or have a grisly sound to them - that's industry lingo that means that the mic has a metallic or real crispy high end to it. Cheaper pod casting mics tend to be more grisly sounding, although they have improved.
And finally, another factor if recording yourself, is the time in editing. You'd be surprised at how many mistakes you'll make recording your own book and all of the re-takes and time to pull back the audio mistake in the software and then start recording again. It takes hours to get one finished hour of audio. On average, it takes 3 - 4 hours for professional voice talent to record and edit one hour of finished audio. Just make a note to self - this is going to take some time if you've never recorded an audio book before - and this is before learning the software.
At ReelMusicianPro, we specialize in audio book production and recording audio books, with a vast array of voice over talent, music, sound effects and marketing ideas to create your next audio book recording. And as a Grammy nominated audio book production company, we do it all. From editing and abridging your book and script, to recording the voice over, adding custom or library music, audio book trailers to delivering a fully designed and marketable audio book CD with artwork included if you desire - We Do It!
ReelMusicianPro - Fast, affordable audiobook recording. We work with Pulitzer Prize authors, best selling authors, large talent booking agencies to those just starting out! We can include music, sound effects and are the go to team for audiobook trailers and video book trailers. Feel free to call us at 615-300-5030 or email tgauger@reelmusicianpro.com