Hey, Hey, Hey!

[celaluzerne]

Good morning, all!
Thank you for allowing me the opportunity to join the forum and participate as a volunteer reader of audiobooks! This is one small step towards achieving a dream of mine. A medium step would be actually choosing and recording a book. I LOVE consuming audio, but when I actually do the talking, I get tired. I'm excited for the challenge and the chance to make my mark alongside a great group of other volunteers and experts in the field. Y'all are great, inspiring, and awesome for welcoming new readers to join!
Anyone who is reading the forums lately and sees this, please share an important piece of advice for narrating aloud!

Best to all,
Charnae

[FiccionNarrada]

We have shared dreams! I guess many around here can say the same, I can say that I feel the same emotion as you to be here.

I can't say I'm a professional voiceover artist, but in these two months since I decided to give shape to the idea of storytelling I have consumed all the information available to me.

One tip that seemed important to me is that you have to try to speak almost “in a whisper” as if you were telling the story to someone's ear, trying to project your voice with the minimum of effort, so to speak. Finding the right distance to the microphone in several tests. Then you can increase the volume of the recording with the recording software, In audacity, Effects>Normalize Volume>Check the perceived volume box>Set to -19LUFS.

I suppose that due to lack of habit my voice also gets tired quickly, so when I reach my limit (between 1 and 2 hours) I simply stop to rest and “layout” the following paragraphs to read (mark the parts where I have to read slower, find the words where it would be good to put more emphasis, etc) and clean the audio I have done in those 2 hours of mistakes.

I also found something that I find very interesting which is a simple exercise to strengthen the vocal cords and the resonator system developed by Dr Ingo Titze. It is also useful to do vocal praxias, although it is tedious but it helps a lot in diction and does not require more than 10 minutes a day. I leave you a link to a video that although it is in Spanish but do not speak throughout the video, just follow the exercises, but surely you will find a lot of information in your language.

A Hug!

[vviera]

Good morning, all!
Thank you for allowing me the opportunity to join the forum and participate as a volunteer reader of audiobooks! This is one small step towards achieving a dream of mine. A medium step would be actually choosing and recording a book. I LOVE consuming audio, but when I actually do the talking, I get tired. I'm excited for the challenge and the chance to make my mark alongside a great group of other volunteers and experts in the field. Y'all are great, inspiring, and awesome for welcoming new readers to join!
Anyone who is reading the forums lately and sees this, please share an important piece of advice for narrating aloud!

Best to all,
Charnae

Welcome, Charnae!

I have been recording for 2.5 years, and have found that over time my voice has built up much more endurance. I am AMAZED at FiccionNarrada saying he can record for up to 2 hours. Recording to maybe about 1 hr 15 or 20 min. is really my limit even after all this time, and by then I am good and tired. (That's for the unedited recording from the session, not the final product! The final recording will be much shorter as I will have deleted many retakes and errors.)

Remember, there's no hurry to do anything here, and everything you do should (more or less) be fun! The only real time limit is for two months on a claimed section in group projects. Go as slow as you need to. Take your time learning and getting comfortable.

One comment on the "almost a whisper." That isn't literal. Literal whispering can be hard on the voice. Speak about 6" from the mic, at an angle to avoid plosives, and if needed, use mic gain to adjust the volume to where it comes out about 89 dB (between 86 and 92dB is fine) on your final recording. On the waveform, your peaks and valleys should be mostly between about .5 and 1. (And -.5 and -1.) If you don't have mic gain on your setup, you can use Amplify on the track. In your 1minute test post, you didn't say what software you are using. In Audacity, Amplify is in the Effects menu. (It may be under the subhead Volume and Compression).

I see you have already done your 1-minute test. Someone will be along shortly to check that. After you're OK'd, browse the forums for a project you'd like to participate in. Most people start with a chapter in a book or some other short work. Post a claim for a section in the corresponding thread when you see something you'd like to record.

If you haven’t yet seen it, take a look at the Newbie Guide to Recording. It will orient you to the whole process.

Any time you have a question, post in one of the forums, and someone will pop in to help you out.

Have fun!

[celaluzerne]

Thanks for welcoming me in and sharing so many great tips and tricks. I am definitely going slow to start off this adventure, and trying to familiarize myself more with this platform is number 1 on the list!