SOUND PROOF BOOTH OR HOME STUDIO?
Recently, I reached out to some audiobook publishing clients and potential clients with this question: Do you know the difference between a Sound Proof Booth and a Home Recording Studio? One responded I was "preaching to the choir" and he didn't "understand why many publishers accept such a varying degree in quality." One huge production house engineer thanked me for my letter, saying, "I wish all home narrators would provide a write up like this!" Here's some of my letter, along with an enhanced recorded version (from my sound proof booth, naturally) and photographs.
Have you ever thought about the difference between a “Home Recording Studio” and a
SOUND PROOF BOOTH? A Sound Proof Booth can be considered a Home Studio, but a Home Studio isn’t always a Sound Proof Booth, and this could cost you a lot of time and money in post-production.
I have narrated OVER 100 AUDIOBOOK TITLES, more than 1/2 from my SOUND PROOF BOOTH,
and of those, a good majority directly for AUDIBLE and BRILLIANCE AUDIO.
WHAT I DO NOT HAVE as a Home Studio is a closet corner, or 2x4 paneled room surrounded with quilts and studio foam, recording on free Audacity software using low end microphones. How do I know these exist? I used to narrate from one. At times, my re-reads for my engineer used to number close to 100.
Studio foam lining the top of my
closet & old "Home Studio".
WHAT I DO HAVE is a 6x8 Sound Proof Booth Home Studio manufactured by WHISPER ROOM, the same folks who provide journalists make-shift studios during the Olympics, as well as my own fully licensed latest version of
PRO TOOLS, the audiobook industry standard recording software, where I EDIT my mistakes as I roll. I also use a state of the art high-end microphone and pre-amplifier to ensure the best VOCAL QUALITY to my work, and my re-reads due to sounds, reader mistakes (and brilliant engineers) range on average between 0 and 10.
WHAT’S MISSING BY MY USING A SOUND PROOF BOOTH? Sounds that are not me telling a story, including but not limited to: dogs barking, lawn mowers mowing, low frequency heavy construction and truck vehicles passing by, trains, planes and automobile noise, phones ringing, people talking (or screaming) television programming and even garage doors opening when husbands return from work earlier than they told you they would.
WHAT DOES THIS MEAN FOR YOU? Less time your engineers spend editing out atmospheric sound, creating and editing narrator re-reads, and mastering files increasing audiobook output for quicker release, as well as being able to meet early deadlines.
Sound Proof Whisper Room Home Recording Studio
CLICK to hear me narrate a modified version of this letter from my "old" and current studio, using a USB plug-in microphone recording into Garage Band on my Mac Book Pro in my closet, against a Shure microphone recording into Pro Tools in my Sound Proof Booth!
