by Daryl Bolicek
Wild Horse Recording, LLC is a full-service tracking and recording studio that specializes in audiobook production, music scoring, audio editing, podcasting and live tracking.
Music has been my passion since the age ten. After years of school, playing in bands, recording albums, and going on tour, my studio is a representation of all those years of hard work.
I started a unique recording studio in Stillwater, Minnesota. While music started the studio, my entrepreneurial spirit is what kept it going. Quality and professionalism became the mortar that holds it all together.
While I built a name and tried to find new, creative ways to form relationships, I ran across an audiobook with horrible production. The narrator sounded so bad I couldn’t listen. It got me thinking—are a lot of audiobooks like this? Well, come to find out, they are. These poorly done audiobooks don’t represent the author’s work. In fact, they probably hurt the author’s sales and image. I decided to dig in and learn more about audiobooks and their place in the market. I saw a trend starting; audiobooks slowly took a huge segment of the publishing industry.
I have a professional recording studio with all the gear, and an emerging market in need of quality audiobook production. I knew I could step in and provide a professional service to authors and publishers. Offering production management and a quality product, I successfully started an audiobook production company. We do the technical and project management aspects of projects so authors and publishers are free to focus on the creative side.
Getting your book into the audio format increases sales. Audiobooks provide value to your marketing efforts.
A quick example of marketing with an audiobook:
Your audiobook goes live on Amazon. All of the individual files are saved on your computer. You have an email list of followers and a following on your social media accounts. Spark more interest. Send a section of your book to your contacts. On social media, post a section with links to buy.
At Wild Horse Recording, we offer two production packages, Full production and post-production. Here’s what it involves.
Full production (includes post-production)
Project management
- Narrator (Your choice of narrator. We provide custom demos from a page in your book. You’ll get 10-20 options, more if needed, for a voice that fits your desired style and performance.)
- Voiceover for opening and closing credits (if needed)
- Two rounds of corrections
- Editing
- Mixing
- Mastering
File formatting
- Uploading to a distributor, i.e., Amazon/Audible, iTunes
- Post–Production (narrated by author or recorded in a different studio)
- includes – Voiceover for opening and closing credits (if needed)
- Mixing
- Mastering
- File formatting
- Uploading to a distributor, i.e., Amazon/Audible, iTunes
Additions:
- Write music between chapters
- Score music throughout the audiobook
- Cover art resizing/formatting for the audiobook
From the start of the project to uploading the audiobook to a distributor, the whole process takes about 4-6 weeks, depending on the length of the audiobook.
Production Time
One thing to understand is the time it takes to do it right. One hour of finished audio can take four to six hours of production. The narrator needs to prepare, get situated in the studio, and the engineer prepares. The narrator reads. Mistakes are made and the engineer stops recording, erases the mistake and re-records. The engineer needs to make sure the edit/correction sounds natural and is unrecognized as an edit. The process can go on for three to four hours. Narrators can read only so long before their voice starts to change. If the narrator’s voice is getting tired, it’s best to call it a day.
Using Amazon as a commonly used distributor example, you can expect them to take up to 30 days to approve the audiobook and send it live on the author’s/publisher’s account.
Editing
After narration, raw files are sent to the author/publisher for detailed notes of mistakes or mispronunciations. The narrator will make the corrections.
Once approved, it’s time for post-production. The files from the recording session are transferred to the post-production mixing engineer and imported into a new session. Mixing starts. Equalizing, compression, and noise gates are added to the voice to make a broadcast sound. Each chapter is edited separately, formatted to industry standards, and converted to mp3 format and uploaded to a dropbox so the author can download the individual chapter sections. The engineer can also upload the files to a distributor like Amazon/ACX.
Picture your friend or neighbor running or walking the dog, mowing the lawn, vacuuming, doing the dishes, or commuting while listening to your book. This is the reality we’re in. People want convenience and ease with every aspect of their lives, including entertainment. Audiobooks are the convenient way to take in information or stories without the time it takes to sit and read a book. If they can’t get your book in audio, some customers won’t buy your book.
In this exciting era of innovation, authors and publishers can learn new techniques and marketing styles to reach more customers. Each new format shares more stories.
Daryl Bolicek – CEO / Audio Engineer / Producer founder and owner of Wild Horse Recording, LLC
Listen to the audiobook samples by clicking on “Audio Sample” under the cover art of the book.
A Talent for Trouble: The Dorset Boy, Book 1
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