Quote:
Originally Posted by newshirt
Would anyone care to critique my first recording? (see link below) I hope to begin uploading to ACX soon, but need to ensure my performance is good enough. Got any input?
BTW, I wrote this book, and will be recording it myself.
https://www.dropbox.com/s/ce7euaiedz3rc6t/ch3.mp3?dl=0 |
Disclaimer: I only listened to a short segment from the middle.
Okay, I listen to 1000s of hours of audiobooks and pay professional narrators to produce mine which I help edit. So I guess that makes me an "expert" in this. So here are my thoughts:
For a straight read, you did very well. It is clear and your diction is good. You have done well in eliminating background noise and the overall technical quality of the sound is good.
However, what you did not do is perform. Unless this is non-fiction, readers typically expect voice
actors. They expect emotion in the dialog. They expect volume and pitch to change like it would if it was on stage. They also expect different people to sound at least a little different so that they know who is talking without having to wait for the "said Bob" to tell them. In writing the format of the text gives them those clues, in audio, you have to do that with your voice.
So it comes down to your goal. Do you want to read this like a non-fiction book, or like audio entertainment? If the former, then carry on - you are nailing it. If the latter, well I would scrub that take and try again.
Voice acting is HARD. I have considered doing my own books many times since the price ranges into the many thousands to produce just one book but man it is HARD to do well. For a professional, the rule of thumb is that you can count on 4 to 7 hours of work to produce 1 finished hour of audio. That should give you an idea of the scale of the task you take on by doing it yourself.
Not saying that you should not do it, just trying to help you understand what you are taking on.
Good luck!