Make Money With Your Voice

by GingerC16 in Circuits > Audio

3998 Views, 10 Favorites, 0 Comments

Make Money With Your Voice

Recording Audio Books

Voice-Over Talent

You can do this if…

you enjoy reading aloud or telling stories
you want to be heard, but prefer not to be on-camera
you are/were a teacher
you enjoy acting
you are creative and enjoy sharing your craft or specialty
you know the vocabulary and concepts of a technical subject where people need training or education

What you will learn:

The “how-to” of getting started: recording for yourself and others.

Basic computer skills needed for recording audio books:

An ability to find instructions, or read directions.
Ability to turn on your computer, laptop, iPad, tablet.
Ability to work within your computer to open a program using your mouse (must know what a mouse is) and/or have the ability to use your fingers.
Ability to save a file
Ability to use search engines

Ability to find, or read instructions, again ;-)

DO NOT LET THE INFORMATION BELOW SCARE YOU INTO THINKING YOU CANNOT DO THIS - YOU CAN!

If you are worried about not getting it right or messing up, try Librivox , an all-volunteer recording site where you can record anything you want. It has millions of books, songs, poems, pamphlets, etc that need recording and they do not care of you have an accent or just want to practice a language. It is the perfect place to hone your skills before you start asking for payment of those skills.

Explaining the World of Audio Books

If you’ve ever listened to an audiobook, you know how grateful you were to have it available. It helped the time pass more quickly, it entertained you, it freed you up to do more things at once (for those multi-taskers!), or it allowed you to expand your knowledge of a subject you’d rather not read. Whatever your reasons for listening to an audiobook, it is a different format for the written word that is highly desired in today’s marketplace.

For the author, allowing your book to be “published” as an audiobook allows access to a different version of your book, and opening a new option for potential income. You have not only opened your readers and listeners to variations of hearing your words, but offered them a choice as to how they can discover what you’ve written.

For the narrator, an audiobook allows you to be creative, to share information, and to impart a meaning to the written word through sound. If this resonates with you, there are thousands of books needing to be recorded. Income for you should not be a factor. These books, songs, journals, and papers are in the public domain and ability, accent, and expertise are not important. If an income interests you, there are thousands of books that need to be recorded. For these books, proficiency, accent, age, and languages are all important, but not compulsory. There are so many choices; there are no shortages of books that need a voice to speak their words.

For the producer, it takes time and practice to gain the knowledge and the skills to be a producer. But don’t let that scare you, you learn as you are recording your own voice and editing your own recording for other listeners. If you are comfortable on a computer, you can produce your own clips or someone else’s.

For the person that is doing two or more of the above jobs, you are a self-contained audiobook creator. You would be allowing yourself the ability to work at your own convenience, in the privacy of your home with no special room, changing the audio as you see fit, and possibly earning an income from this prospect. Whether you do two hours a week or sixty, one month out of the year or twelve, this is an easy and rewarding possibility that is in immense demand.

Sample Lower End Prices for Recording Accessories

(This does not include the laptop, desktop, or tablet)

See attachment document for images of items below:

Pop Filter $9 - $20 https://www.amazon.com/Samson-PS01-Pop-Filter-Microphones/dp/B0002ORPN4

Samson Meteor Mic $50 - $60 https://www.amazon.com/Samson-Meteor-Studio-Microphone-Chrome/dp/B004MF39YS/ref=sr_1_1?s=musical-instruments&ie=UTF8&qid=1484752523&sr=1-1&keywords=samson+Meteor+Mic

Samson Q2U Bundle $90 Mic, Headphones, Pop filter, cords https://www.amazon.com/Samson-Handheld-Microphone-Headphones-Accessories/dp/B001R747SG/ref=sr_1_fkmr0_1?s=musical-instruments&ie=UTF8&qid=1484752584&sr=1-1-fkmr0&keywords=Samson+Q2U+Bundle

Samson Q2U Bundle $53 Microphone with Headphones and Windscreen ball

Samson Q2U Pack $50 Mic and Headphone pack

For Apple, you will need a USB Adapter for the Microphone. $13-30

https://www.amazon.com/Apple-USB-C-to-USB-Adapter/dp/B00VU2OID2/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1484752711&sr=8-3&keywords=usb+adapter+for+ipad

In order to record, you will need the following programs…

Audacity

http://audacity.sourceforge.net/

Audacity(R) is a free, open source (cross-platform) digital audio editor, recorder and mixer. It comes with a long list of features such as:

recording (from a microphone or mixer)
import/export of WAV, AIFF, AU, FLAC, MP3 (via LAME encoder)
advanced editing (cut, copy, paste, delete commands with unlimited "Undo" and "Redo", multitrack mixing)
digital effects (change the pitch, remove background noises, alter frequencies, remove vocals, create voice-overs for podcasts etc.) and plug-ins (support for LADSPA, Nyquist, VST Audio Unit, including VAMP analysis plug-ins).

Audacity Installation, startup, and programs questions:

http://manual.audacityteam.org/o/man/faq_installa...

Lame download: http://lame.buanzo.org/#lamewindl

Has download for both Windows and Apple platforms. Make sure you choose the correct

version to download. This allows you to record MP3s which are required.

MP3 Gain: http://mp3gain.sourceforge.net/download.php

MP3Gain analyzes and adjusts mp3 files so that they have the same volume.

Tutorials in case you need help:

Audacity: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL2B8A3178C7...

Lame: