The audiobook production process involves various tasks. In this piece, we're going to look at audiobook recording steps and what goes into the pre- and post-production stages.

A Quick Audiobook Creation Guide: What Goes into the Audiobook Production Process

Before we take a deep dive into pre-production, recording, and post-production, let's quickly scan over what the stages are so you can familiarize yourself with them.

In a broad sense, there are three stages of the audiobook production process:

Pre-production: planning, scripting, hiring people to help, and a studio
Recording: the actual recording of the script
Post-Production: Gathering files and editing audio, as well as reviewing the content

Later, we'll look into the audiobook recording steps in more detail, but this is the gist of things for now.

Before you start recording, it's important to gather information on how you are actually going to produce the audiobook and what you will need to do so.

Audiobook Recording Techniques

The recording itself is crucial for an audiobook. If the recording quality of the audio is not good, there is nothing you can do in editing to fix it. In order to record your audiobook to a high standard, you need to have the right people involved in the production and the correct equipment.

Roles Involved

You may be able to script, produce, and edit your audiobook on your own, but you may also want to bring in some help. Here are some roles you'll need to be covered in recording your audiobook:

Scriptwriter
Script editor
Narrator
Sound engineer/audio editor

You may find someone who can fill more than one of these roles, and in fact, you may be able to do most of this yourself.

Audiobook Studio Setup

It's worth investing proper studio time to record your audiobook to a high standard. Some things your studio set-up needs to have are:

A uni-directional microphone (one for each mouth talking)
A computer to record the sound
Soundproofing
A sound desk
Audio editing software

Recording Audiobooks at Home

During the pandemic, we all got used to working from home, and with the right audiobook recording techniques and equipment in place, you may be able to do the narration in the privacy of your own office or bedroom.

Recording audiobooks at home offers challenges depending on where you live and who else is in the house. It's best to choose a quiet room when you are home alone, and there is no disturbing background noise. Something to consider is not recording on the side of your house where the street is and being conscious of any interfering noises (e.g., dogs barking, cars going past). It is a bit more challenging to record at home than in a studio, but with the right equipment and environment, it can be done.

If you are regularly going to be recording at home, you should consider buying soundproofing of some sort to create a sort of home studio. However, if you are only going to be recording this one time, it probably makes more sense to rent a studio space.

Audiobook Recording Steps

Now, we can dive into what each stage of audiobook production involves.

Audiobook Pre-Production

In pre-production, you'll need to develop a script. If you already have a book written that you are turning into an audiobook, the manuscript will need to be adapted into a recording script. The script needs to be written in full and edited before the recording starts.

In pre-production, you will also organize recording equipment and a studio space.

Audiobook Narration Best Practices

For the audiobook narration, it's best to get a professional to work with you. The narrator is the voice of your audiobook, and the voice behind your audiobook is how people will take in your content. So it's worth getting a trained voice actor or narrator to do the recording. Selecting the right voice for your audiobook in terms of tone and style is crucial to ensuring your work sounds great. If you're considering recording your audiobook yourself, make sure you follow our audiobook narration tips to really optimize your performance.

Audiobook Narration Tips

Stay hydrated and drink plenty of water (lemon tea is great for vocal chords).
Avoid eating for half an hour before recording.
Take your time and go slower than you think you need to.
Be mindful of your breathing.
Re-record any parts with mistakes or slurred words.
Ensure your facial expression matches the tone of what you are reading (smile for the happy parts!).

Audiobook Post-Production Tips

But wait! You're not done yet! Post-production is where it all comes together. The first stage of post-production is to ensure all of your audio files are labeled correctly and saved in an appropriate place. It's vital to give files a unique, recognizable name. The best format to save audio files in is MP3.

After that, it's time to edit your audio. This is a time-consuming process that needs to be done diligently. It's worth putting in the effort. If you're not experienced in audio editing, it's best to hire someone who is.

When editing your audio, you're looking to get rid of:

Unnaturally long pauses
Distracting sounds
Repetition
Mistakes

Always review the final file and save your work as you go along!

Once you have your audio edited and the final version saved, you can upload your work to your platform of choice. Be mindful of any requirements your platform of choice has for audio; for example, some websites require audio to meet ACX requirements.

Optimize Your Audiobook Production Workflow

As we've mentioned a few times in this piece, if you're getting help with producing your audiobook, it's worth getting professionals who know what they are doing. Now, it's fair to say not every narrator, audio editor, or script editor will have the same amount of experience, but that doesn't mean they shouldn't be responsible and efficient. In order to ensure the audiobook production process runs smoothly, any freelancers you hire should be trustworthy and vetted.

In addition to this, when it comes to optimizing your audiobook production workflow, you should start as you mean to go on. Pre-production is a crucial audiobook recording step along the way to getting your best seller out there. If you don't do the prep work, you'll end up with twice the work to do in post-production. So be sure you have a final script you are happy with that is prepared correctly and ready to be recorded. Then you can get to following our audiobook narration best practices when it's time to actually record.

You want your work to be a success, and you want the audiobook post-production steps (as well as what comes before) to be efficient and manageable with as little stress as possible. So remember: