Audacity Forum

these plugins are very helpful for that.

No shortage of those: LF-Rolloff filter for Equalize, Noise Reduction (in moderation), Normalize > DC Removal, etc. Let us know.

Do you have an automated acceptance service like ACX does (we call it "the robot")? Or do you get them all and have to sort them?

Do you have a recommended "studio" and microphone? You're not doing this for entertainment value, so you may have some different hints and techniques we haven't heard of.

Koz

kozikowski wrote:

these plugins are very helpful for that.

No shortage of those: LF-Rolloff filter for Equalize, Noise Reduction (in moderation), Normalize > DC Removal, etc. Let us know.

Do you have an automated acceptance service like ACX does (we call it "the robot")? Or do you get them all and have to sort them?

Do you have a recommended "studio" and microphone? You're not doing this for entertainment value, so you may have some different hints and techniques we haven't heard of.

Koz

Well, we're a startup company. We've been at it for about a year now, but typically our process is that we either outsource narration to Pro voice actors OR if authors want to record themselves; we send "studio travel kits" (typically an apogee 96k, Nady MPF-6 pop filter, and a kaotica eyeball). We then guide them through the process of recording, get a sample test, and let them upload to a Dropbox folder/Google Drive folder.

The quality isn't always ideal, but for the most part it sounds pretty good and the author's really enjoy having the ability to choose between the two options. We've maybe done about 40 of the remote recording audiobooks so far.

"studio travel kits"

[Writing that down.]
That is almost without question so much better than turning thousands of New Users loose in the kitchen with a Yeti (the microphone, not the mythical beast).
How do you deal with a noisy room? That's by far the worst problem in new recordings.
Do you have your basic recommendations available as either pages or videos?

Koz

kozikowski wrote:

"studio travel kits"

[Writing that down.]
That is almost without question so much better than turning thousands of New Users loose in the kitchen with a Yeti (the microphone, not the mythical beast).
How do you deal with a noisy room? That's by far the worst problem in new recordings.
Do you have your basic recommendations available as either pages or videos?

Koz

Haha yeah, well it can still be slightly chaotic at time as each project/author each comes with their own set of variables and issues.

Typically, before sending equipment- we try to evaluate their recording space and see if they have an insulated room (even a closet if they're open to that) to record in. We advise that they try to record during the quietest parts of the day (which seems to be around 6pm and after for most people). But there's no exact science to it, and quality control is definitely tough at times since everything is being one remotely.

In regard to background noise- we warn against all the major culprits like A/C units, buzzing fridges, etc. but definitely some recordings still have noticeable hums and other issues. Just using Noise Reduction works wonders on most of the recordings honestly, but like i said- the quality varies from person to person, but so far no one has had an issue with the finished product.

Oh, and to answer your previous question- in our local studio we use a Neumann u87 ai and we have a vocal booth made by the Whisper Room manufacturers in Knoxville.