I recorded an audio version of one of my short stories and, frankly, it sounded awful from a quality perspective! I got some great help from this forum and it sounded a lot better (albeit still not perfect, but that was down to my recording environment). The thing is, I wanted to publish it and not have it sound completely inhuman just to squeeze it through ACX parameters. I didn’t even want to charge for the audio book, but let users hear it for free (after all, it isn’t professionally made!) and then link from there to where my written books are for sale. Audacity is amazing (thank you Koz) and to my admittedly untrained ear, I was able to use it to make my audio book sound a million times better than it started out. I thought I would like to be the one to decide whether it’s suitable to be heard or not. After all, Amazon don’t judge any other aspect of your work. They don’t say, ‘No, your plot is too weak and your characters too shallow, we’re not publishing this.’ I’m not pushing my audio book here. In fact I’m not even sure the story’s all that good. But if you want to see what I’m talking about have a look at a site called Bibliophone and…um…join me (it’s new and mine is the first upload!) It’s free. Audacity is free. Ergo free is good. I think (ok I hope) it will become something like YouTube for audio books.
If you want wider circulation for your book, one of the largest publishers of free books is LibriVox: https://librivox.org/
I wanted to publish it and not have it sound completely inhuman just to squeeze it through ACX parameters.
Which oddly enough, won’t pass ACX parameters. They have a failure called “overprocessing.” Squeezing may make it past the ACX robot which blindly looks at technical parameters, but it will crash the first time a human listens to it. No, it can’t sound like a bad cellphone—famous for world-class voice processing.
Nobody is holding a gun that you have to publish via ACX. I’m a dot-com. I can publish anything I want (the web hosts may have something to say about that). I even have a type of interconnect connection where I can publish from my laundry room with a server right next to the High Efficiency Detergent, Shout It Out and Bleach. All these things are possible.
But you do have to be clear what your product is. If you intend to publish on a platform with low (or no) technical standards, then multiple other people will be doing that as well. What chance do you think of success if a first (or second) customer experience is a kid who recorded a barely understandable audiobook in his empty basement?
ACX and Broadcast standards tend to be the same and for the same reasons. Somebody is paying for this product and it has to be as perfect and entertaining as we can make it with the least number of distractions. If you’re not willing to do that, open a Tumbler account or any of the other podcast services. Publishing sound files is not magic, but marketing, sales and publicity can be for the fresh, new producer.
I’ve had people tell me I’m crazy and they’re publishing on a cool, terrific new platform with no or few technical standards and the experience is liberating. I believe them, but I don’t remember which one it was.
Good luck.
Koz
They don’t say, ‘No, your plot is too weak and your characters too shallow, we’re not publishing this.’
Neither does ACX. That’s entirely between you and the rights holder and they say that multiple times. I don’t know if there’s a cut-off if you’re reading a comic book, for example, but the company is Audiobook Creation Exchange, not reading anything you want.
That’s a good point I can go look up. It is a business. Their job is to host stunningly successful readers/presenters and rake in the bux therefrom.
I could understand if they refused you not because the characters are terrible, but the realization that nobody is likely to buy it. I suspect if J.K. Rowling published her shopping list, people would buy it. It doesn’t happen in a vacuum.
And it is a business.
Koz
Thanks Koz, I appreciate your feedback, and thanks for wishing me luck - I’m quite certain I’ll be needing it.
You misunderstand me though or, as likely, I’ve misrepresented myself. By not enforcing strict audio parameters I’d like to see MORE discussion about quality on forums like this; yes I want to encourage freedom, but freedom to say, ‘Oh I listened to your audio book the other day and I loved it. By the way you should make sure the tops of the blue waves are around -6db and have you thought about setting the notch filter to 120. I really think that would help with…’ etc.
Yes you’re right - there will be some audio books recorded straight onto some old Blackberry voice notes recorder. There will be that kid you mentioned who records a barely understandable audio book in his empty basement. But…if I achieve what I hope to achieve, it will encourage more discussion over audio quality and draw more people into it. And by extension will foster an overall improvement of audio file sound quality - thanks to places like this forum. Look at Youtube: there’s some terrible content on there. In fact 90% of it is. But because it’s so accessible and as such so well proliferated, there’s also quite a bit of outstanding genius on there.
That’s the aim. I’m not suggesting it’s a finger-click away. Your comment about not remembering the name of another platform whereby an author posted their work resonated clearly, I assure you (I swear I intend no pun there) But that’s down to me: to make sure I make something that people do remember the name of. I’m not expecting it to be easy. I’m aware there will be some poor quality stuff on there. But there will also be some great stuff.
Your comment about not remembering the name of another platform whereby an author posted their work resonated clearly, I assure you
Probably more because I’m not a big audiobook listener and they don’t need what I’m doing. So my interest is just above zero.
you should make sure the tops of the blue waves are around -6db
No, that’s not how it works. Two interviews live crystal clear in my memory. One was a high powered executive running, literally, between meetings on a noisy street and agreed to give an interview on her cellphone. Except she wasn’t on her cellphone. She was on her earbud and microphone harness which may have worked OK in a quiet office, but her voice was just above garbage on the street. I had to lean forward and turn the volume up. If she had been anybody else, the producers would have cut her off first sentence.
That’s the J. K. Rowling syndrome. Anything she publishes works.
The other was the Rachel Maddow show. I use her show as what happens When Noise Gates Go Bad. She has a very noisy “studio” and uses a noise gate to simulate a quiet environment by chopping off the silences between words.
She had a multiple person interview and I could see the sound guy contemplating early retirement. Noise Gates stop working with multiple performers. It was awful. One of the guests looked around wondering if he needed to stop talking if the off-screen production staff was going to talk, too. It sounded like somebody was building an Ikea sectional with noisy tools in the studio.
Although the interview lives in my memory, I couldn’t tell you who the guests were. They will probably never be back.
Koz
Youtube: there’s some terrible content on there.
I can’t watch most training videos.
“Hang on a minute while I do something that needs three hands.”
Thanks. Maybe later.
Koz
It sounded like somebody was building an Ikea sectional with noisy tools in the studio.
Ha, are you sure you’re not Harlan Coben?
are you sure you’re not Harlan Coben?
Pretty sure [checking tag on shirt collar].
I should get something of his next time I’m in the library.
Painting with verbs can be fun.
Koz
You should - I’d say you and he went to the same school of literature!
So that’s upload number two on Bibliophone now (come on, that’s double the content of what was on there this time yesterday…) and I have to say it’s a lot better audio than my effort! It’s a poem, not a full length story, but that’s fine by me 
http://www.bibliophone.com/white-iron-maiden-by-mary-alexandra-stiefvater/