I mentioned earlier that I was embarking on a project to record an audio version of my book, Filming An Indie: A Diary of Making Revenge In Kind. The learning curve has been difficult, but not insurmountable. I had to study what kind of equipment to buy (mic, boom, pop filter, sound isolation) and take an online course (as well as watch YouTubes) on GarageBand for podcasts (the nearest instruction related to audiobook recording). After all that, I had a lot of false starts, but the biggest hurdle has actually been my deafness. I cannot record with headphones (there is feedback from my hearing aids and my hearing is too bad anyway) and cannot hear the result well enough to know where the mistakes are. So I've hired an excellent sound editor to help me. It takes me about an hour per chapter to prepare and record; there are 20+ chapters. It has been fun, but physically challenging in a new way. I am used to getting physically tired from exertion in the garden or whatever. This activity, however, tires my voice. It changes my pitch and messes with the clarity of speech. So I can't do more than about 3 chapters before things begin to go south on me.
It has been about a year since I published the book. Reading it aloud makes me wish I could fix a lot of things, especially typos and some repetition, but that is water under the bridge. Time to move on. But I have been pleased that I still think the book is worthy. Below is a photo of my mic setup. The kitty bed is usually occupied by a sleeping cat named Kala. She sometimes awakens and messes up the recording, so I start over. I don't mind. I like her presence.
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About this BlogMy intent here is to try to record some of the process and progress of my art. I forget easily, so this is something of a diary for me. Archives
September 2022
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