I posted my first homemade audio book on Youtube last week. The results aren't as slick as I'd hoped for but the whole thing was a learning process and I expect to do a better job next time if I ever do another one. I chose The Dead Alive by Wilkie Collins because it was short, well-written and definitely in the public domain.
I thought I was doing something new, using the text for video as a read and listen tool that second language students might benefit from. Other posters were ahead of me by a few months, even posting some of the student readers that MacMillan and other publishers offer for students, with professional voice actors. I came across some of them randomly on Youtube when I was working on Chapter 2, The New Faces. I didn't let that stop me though.
I found an online program that converts pdfs to jpegs.
It took me 9 hours on a Saturday to learn how to use Audacity. That's more computer time than I usually have patience for. For the longest time, I couldn't get Audacity to do any of the wonderful functions it's supposed to be good for. I watched instructional videos where people showed off their advanced expertise but I still couldn't cut and split or add a second track. I finally typed in the Google box "Audacity won't do anything" and learned from some forum that you have to hit the square stop button every time you make a move, sort of like the Audacity clutch. All those instructional videos and no one thought to mention that one important detail. It wasn't obvious to me.
The Dead Alive almost qualifies as an early true crime novel as Collins was inspired by a real life story in the 19th century of two brothers who were almost hanged for murder with only rumor and public opinion for evidence. Sadly such things continue to happen in the 20th century as well.
I'm so glad I didn't try to tackle some of the more famous or lengthier novels like The Woman in White or The Moonstone. The Dead Alive took me long enough. It is presented in 12 chapters, one video per chapter in nice short chunks. The entire book clocks in somewhere around two hours. It's a flawed production but maybe not too bad for a first effort. Oh shoot. I thought I could just embed the entire playlist but that's not going to happen. Here are all twelve videos then.
2 comments:
Wow Ed... Nice work! I obviously haven't listened to all 12 chapters yet but it is very well made for a first timer and your voice is very clear. Might I add I quite enjoy the little sound effects every now and then... I can't believe you had the patience to read and record an entire novel... Well done.
Thanks for the positive feedback, Maria. I think the next one will be a bit smoother. I've learned a lot about the editing and recording process and won't repeat the same mistakes again. I was talking to Francisco last night and he has basically a home recording studio with special mikes and a homemade buffer that controls the spray of percussive p and s sounds, that he made out of the hoop from an old fishing net and some nylon. Plus he has a hands-on recording mixer that shortens editing time later. It all beats the heck out of a smart phone mike and he has offered to collaborate on a short story. I don't know what that will be but there are a lot of public domain options out there.
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