William McInnes has been in the studio recording his book "A Man's Gotta Have A Hobby".  The audio book is for ABC Audio.  We thought some of you may be interested in how these audio books are put together.

The first step is to secure the audio rights.  Once an agreement is made work can get underway.  A production meeting decides whether to record the entire book, or do an abridged version.  In this case the book was cut-down by producer Pam Verral.  The object is to get the book down a commercial length (in this case, two CD's) without destroying the content.  Pam reviews the book a few times, and works out what is absolutely necessary and what isn't.

A script is printed ready for the recording.  At the same time other staff at ABC Audio are busy getting artwork completed and production dates finalised.

The recording time for books can vary quite a bit, but most are based on recording approximately thirty to forty pages per hour.  Some books we have done over the years have had thirty hours of recording which is cutdown to thirteen hours of final content.

Once William has arrived, had a quick briefing and settled in to the studio, we're away.  As well as recording to Pro-Tools, we always record a back-up to DAT.  Most of the people who read these books are high profile Australian actors, often on busy schedules, so we don't want them to have to come back for technical issues.

Normally a book is recorded in hour long stretches in the studio.  Then William will have a short break.  Reading a book out aloud is an entirely different experience, requiring a lot of concentration.  Often there are a lot of character voices involved as well, and remembering these and getting it right, is difficult.  As this book is about Williams childhood, it required him to read about very personal moments, some funny where he would stop and be in fits of laughter, or others where you could hear his voice cracking as he held back the tears.  In fact, he found some bits very difficult to read saying "Who wrote this stuff!!!"

As he reads, Pam can stop him at any point for missread words or to get a better performance.  I'm busy taking down times for editing and riding levels as his delivery changes.

Once all the book is recorded, it was decided to come back in a few days to re-record the first chapter.  During that time, I can get editing underway.  Obviously the first thing is to get the good takes, but during editing I will also adjust the pace of the read.  Many times the actors can't change character voice quickly, or need to take a deeper breath after a long sentence.  All these things need to be fixed.  I may also add some pace to certain sections if there is a lot of action.  I'll also clean up noisy or strange breaths, throat sounds, clothes moves and anything else that gets in the way of the story. 

William returns and re-reads the first chapter.  Then that chapter is edited and we're on the home stretch.

The next step is to add music.  Pam will brief me about what she'd like and the I'll sit down and come with an idea.  Once a rough demo is made, Pam OK's it and I can go ahead and do the rest of the music.  Most books involve a thirty second theme plus a dozen stings.

After the music is finished, I'll put it into the time line and create listening copies for Pam.  Pam then listens to these and lists any edits, tightens, loosens that she feels are necessary.

The last stage of the product from our end is the master. This involves using compression, eq and limiting tools to get the sound louder and clearer.  With spoken word, you need to be able to hear every word, no exceptions!

Once we're happy with the sound, I'll create a Red Book CD master which is then sent to the replication factory to press the copies.  Some books will also require an MP3 master for Internet sales.

Have a listen to a sample of the book.

From there it's into the ABC shops, or onto the web.  "A Man's Gotta Have A Hobby" took about a week of studio time to complete.

Audio books are a great way to 'read' a book.  If you haven't tried one, make an effort to try one out.  You'll enjoy the experience.