Stuff To Know About Producing An Audiobook
When I sat down to plan an article about producing audiobooks for first-timers, I realised pretty quickly that I would be using all sorts of terminology and refer to all sorts of concepts that would need explaining first.
And every time I identified something I thought I needed to explain first, I found something else that needed to be explained before that.
There’s no choice but to just call this a work in progress which will grow and change as time goes by*. Let’s begin with introducing some basic terms and concepts that will used in later articles.
Basic Audiobook Production Terms and Concepts
Here are links to pages discussing key terms and ideas used in audiobook production – i.e. recording and editing:
Digital full-scale and headroom – The Concrete Wall
Room tone – The Spaces In-Between
File Formats and Bit Depths – WAV, MP3, 16-bit and 24-bit
Instantaneous and average levels: RMS, LU, LUFS
*I do try to resist my natural tendency to get over-technical and indulge my love of facts and figures. If there’s something you think I should go into more deeply, drop me a line or write a comment.
Justin Hill has been in the recording business for more years than he likes to talk about but has traded as The Other operation since 2013. In early 2020, just as the COVID lockdowns started, he decided to build a dedicated spoken word studio.
Despite materials and equipment suppliers either being closed or having no stock, and delivery drivers being unwilling to come to the door, Landen Park Studio actually got finished and had its first session in August 2020.
Since then, Landen Park Studio has recorded countless audiobooks and hosted countless voiceover sessions with Justin Hill at the helm. Many of these audiobooks have been self-narrated by authors who’ve never recorded an audiobook before.