Learning the Art of Narrating Audio Books

I have to confess that this was a huge learning curve for me, but I have found some great mentors. As some of you know, I recorded my first audio book in 2012 for a local author and recorded it much the same way that I have recorded my CDs in the past.  Since then I have recorded a total of 10 books to this date.

Narration is not, for me, a question of sitting down and reading the book out loud. There is thought to the characters, who they are, and, of course, what they sound like. So far the authors who have got in touch with me have liked what I have done.  One of the things I was told by an audio book producing company was that I should learn to punch and roll.  This is very different from drop and roll.  It is a technique where you can, with certain DAW's, 'roll-back' to where you have made a mistake and the program punches in so you can record over said mistake. This eliminates the need to edit out clicks of the keyboard when you hit 'go'!  It is editing on the fly.  At first I thought it was easy, but then found I was missing and over-recording, or little bits or part of a word merged right into where I started, or I started too soon and my first word, or part of it was cut off!  It took about three days of constantly trying this to master it.

One of the things you need to listen for are mouth pops and clicks. Imagine you just ate your favourite meal and your mouth is still watering, it tasted that good! Then open your mouth and move it around. Hear those weird sounds? So will your mic if it's any good. You have to make sure your do not have that 'wet mouth' thing going on. Squeaky chair? Get rid of it. Find a solid chair that does not squeak! Clothes that rustle? Don't wear them! Cat in the room purring? Get it out of there! Kids playing in the basement rec room? Can't record if you can hear them.

I have been recording in my office, an ex-sunroom with two glass walls. One six feet long, the other 8 feet long. Big windows are BAD for recording. Sounds can travel through glass easily. We replaced one window because it had rotted out. The new window made a big difference but I can still hear sounds. I made two soundproof false walls and put them up over the non-replaced window which made a huge difference, and then added these rubber soundproof 'mats' on the new window. Worked really well, but I could still hear trucks driving by. A few weekends ago I moved the recording space out of the house and built a recording booth from all the materials I had. Pretty much dead silent. Nothing can be heard. I love the new space, although it is small.

So what does one do when one records a book? Read it all the way through before you do anything, especially fiction. I was told about one narrator who did not do this, and recorded a book and when he got to the last chapter, the author mentioned the main character had a southern accent. This was not mentioned before in the book. The narrator had to re-record all of the main characters talking lines with a southern accent.  One thing I learned to do was to make an audio and written file of the characters' voices. Some of the characters have large roles, but others have small and infrequent parts in the story.  By making a 'living' audio file of the character-voices as I do them, it allowed me to revisit - when the characters revisit at the end of the book, when they last appeared in the first chapter!  The written file is for a gentle reminder (oh, yeah, that was it), the audio for a kick on to the right path (what did this guy sound like?  Oh really, I thought it was something else).

One of the fun things to do, for me, is read the dialogue and try to hear the voice of each character as the writer might have, without making stereo-types.  So I try different things out and find some of the characters really come to life.  Obviously, to me, I do not want to make a too heavy statement on the two main characters, so the eventual listeners of the book can make their own picture up, so I try to make them neutral.  But other characters have real back-bone to their voices. With non-fiction one does not have to think about character voices!

When I have recorded my stories for CD or my website, I record them 'live', that is without a script.  I know these stories, so tell them as they come out of me, the same as if it were a live performance.  These are my words, not someone else's.  When I make a mistake, I stop and go back to a place and 'do over'.  Because there is music on my CDs between each story, it does not matter if I record on different days as my voice stays somewhat the same.  This is not possible when recording a book.  Especially when you get sick, as has happened to me once, or my voice gets rough, and slowly gets better - and you are working to someone else's deadline!

Then are snow storms and with those storms came snow days and kids at home!  College maintenance people and the town move snow around with their big trucks beeping and growling. In the summer the power or phone company, might be cutting and mulching trees up and down my street, and mowers! Now I know to 'get on it and work it hard' from day one, because you never know what will happen on day two! And the Audio Company I work with and when I am free lancing, we have a reputation keep.

The Audio Company have a number of quality control steps.  I record the text, or script.  A proofer listens to what I have done and marks up where I went wrong on a spread sheet and highlights the script.  I then go back and look these over and record the corrections.  My proofer was/is great.  It is amazing when you read quickly what your brain does and has you say!  From these I create a single audio file with the corrections.  Doing the corrections means trying to match my voice up today, with what it sounded like two weeks ago after shoveling snow off the driveway for an hour, or after a sleepless night with sick kids!  Like I said, I've learned a lot.

If you think you want to record books for a living, think about the amount of money you make on a single book, and how often you will get books to record. This can either be done for fun, for supplemental compensation, or as a full time gig. Royalty split books are fine to do, but not if they do not sell. If you want to make a living, I suggest staying away from those, especially big ones. All that time and stress has to be worth something and for me getting minimum wage for recording a book is not it.

I hope this helps those who are new or are thinking about recording audio books.

Be well!
Simon

Taking Something Floating in the Air

My first recorder. It weighed a ton!

This past weekend I taught a workshop on recording in a home studio, from setting it up, to find the right equipment, to recording.  As a kid, my brother and I recorded on my step-father's Grundig reel to reel machine, and occasionally on the Dictaphones my dad sold from his office supply store in South Wales (before Office Max was invented).  The Grundig had a great smell to it and would wake up like a living beast.  You would click it on with the roll volume button, and watch the green light (above the word automatic) come slowly on and the whole creature of a machine would hum. You could smell the electricity of it, like you can smell the gas burning from a fast car driving 100 mph or more.

I wonder where those tapes are now, and if they still have a couple of little boys pretending to be police officers or spies on them! I later used that same Grundig to record my rock and band. I moved 'up' to a cassette machine, a Walkman and tried recording with that. My best friend Billy in the UK had a Tascam Portastudio which recorded 4 track onto a cassette.  We played with that a lot and recorded a bunch of songs - at least one albums worth! That was the first time I tried engineering a track.  I would take my cassette recorder with me and record my life and stories to my wife when she was over here in America and I was still in the UK. I have always loved recording sounds, stories, and other people, especially street musicians, as well as photograph them. I usually have a voice recorder and camera with me!

When I began life as a professional storyteller in 2003, one of the first things I wanted to do was record stories, share them with the world, and show the world what I could do. Share stories and show my talent, was my plan.  But I also knew I wanted to do the best job I could possibly do - not just a quick record, get it out there, but a really good job.

There is a folk story about a woman who spreads gossip. One day she discovers that something that she spread was a lie and went to the preacher to see what she could do to stop it from spreading further.  The preacher told her to take a feather pillow to the top of a hill on a windy day.  When she was there, she was to rip open the pillow and sake the feathers into the wind, then return to talk to the priest. She did this.  When she got back to the priest, she asked what to do next.  He told her to go and collect every single feather she had released from the pillow. She said it could not be done, and he agreed, but this is how rumours, lies, gossip spreads. Once it is out there, you have no control over it. It has a life of its own, and that is the same to ANYTHING we put up on-line. So I wanted something good, that in 10 years I could look back on say 'It's still good, and I am still happy with it."

Second-hand Tales, released 2006
Artwork copyright Rob Brookes 2006

The first CD was recorded professionally in a studio, but I watched and learned and went home, found Audacity and played with it. Audacity is a free Digital Audio Workstation (DAW). That first CD was released in 2006. I recorded more, and played with Audacity more. I began putting stories on my website. Some of the tools I purchased a long the way (my Roland Edirol R-09 and Zoom Q3) had light versions of DAW programs like Cakewalk and Cubase, so I tried those out.  But I liked the simplicity of Audacity, although there were many limitations.  I began putting more stories on my website. I recorded my second CD in another studio and sat with the engineer, watched, asked questions and played more with the programs I had, working between Audacity and the others, combining talents (tools), if you were.  That CD was released in 2008.  In

More Second-hand Tales, released 2008
Artwork copyright Rob Brookes 2008

2010, with my own equipment (the Edirol R-09) and the DAWs I had, I recorded my third CD.  The music was recorded at the second studio and the stories and music were put together there, and produced, with me helping (again asking questions and watching closely). This was released in 2011 and won Parent's Choice Gold Award.

A Tangle of Tales, released 2010
Artwork copyright Rob Brookes 2010

Then I invested in new equipment.  I bought a condenser mic, a USB box, and set of headphones, as a kit, put out by PreSonus and it came with their DAW called Studio One.  I started playing around with the kit and discovered I had found the digital audio workstation for me! It was fast to learn, easy to use, did everything I wanted it to do and more.  I recorded more and put more out on my website. Played around with the new tools I found. I made bootlegs of unreleased stories which I sometimes gave away at birthday parties. Someone asked me to record their juvenile fantasy novel, which I did.  That was in 2012. Last year (2013) I recorded 4 more books and so far this year (April 2nd 2014) I have recorded two more. All in my home studio. (I would share a photo of it, but it is in a bit of a mess right now!)

It's is not that I like the sound of my own voice.  I just love playing around and recording. I take my voice recorder everywhere I go mostly. You never know when you will hear something cool. (This is the time to listen out for those Peepers calling out to their mates!) Sometimes we just take it for granted, but there is still wonder in it for me, which is probably why I love it so much.  The DAW does not have the same smell that the Grundig used to have, and luckily it does not hum like it! But the same magic instilled in me all those years ago, has a strong hold; and that magic of taking something floating in the air, something unseen and capturing it so I can be heard again and again is pretty cool to me!

Recording (Family) Stories

If you have young children, read on.  If you have grandchildren, read on. If you have elders in your family, read on.

We all come from different cultures and each and everyone of us has different life experiences. These experiences, and our heritage, I believe, make us who we are.  These experiences can be told in stories, and the stories from our own culture and heritage can be, and should be told. As our planet, Earth, gets smaller and as we travel further a field to live the life we want to, we sometimes find ourselves leaving family behind and the stories they have within them.

Photo by Simon Brooks, 2014
Showing: Disney's Babes in Toyland LP, a compact disc, an Agfa cassette tape,
the Olympus WS-300M, the Zoom Q3 and Roland's Edirol R-09HR

I was not able to record many stories from my Gran before she died, just a little bit here and there, although I knew a great deal about my Grandad - he also came to America and Canada.  My grandparents on my father's side, sadly passed away before I could get any family stories from them, and it wasn't until after their death I found that I had Irish in me. My Mum, however, shared some great stories of her life growing up, when I last saw Gran, two years ago.  I found out about her jaunts to the jazz clubs of Birmingham and her wild and crazy friend. Her sneaking off to date with boys! I got some of these stories on tape. (To be used later...!)

As a kid, my brother and I recorded on my step-father's Grundig reel to reel machine, and occasionally on the Dictaphones my dad sold from his office supply store in South Wales (before Office Max was invented).  I wonder where those tapes are now, and if they still have a couple of little boys pretending to be police officers or spies on them! I later used that same Grundig to record my rock and band. I moved 'up' to a cassette machine, a Walkman and then an Olympus voice recorder. I have always loved recording sounds, stories, other people!

As Gran grew sick I realized how much I did NOT know about her.  She came from Canada originally, told me we were someway related to Cecil Rhodes, but I can't see how! She lost her brother, James, at a fairly young age. Gran and my Aunt (great aunt really) Andree sold their burial plots because they were worth some money and planned on being cremated! Our family has been Quakers and Christian Scientists. I tried to get over to the UK and record some of her stories but she was reluctant to talk into the recorder.  I wish I had done more many, many years ago.

These days, it is easy to record at very high quality for not too much money. With the ease of getting digital recorders we do not need tapes anymore, we only need free computer space, and we can get more of that with memory sticks, or external drives! For the cost of taking the family out for a meal or two at a restaurant, you can get voice recorders which record nicely. My grandfather was recorded on cassette, but there is a lot of hiss on it, as it was from one of those Jones cassette machines you see libraries giving away!

Now to bring this into a full circle!  I whole-heartedly suggest that you invest in a good voice recorder. Go to a store, take a good pair of headphones and try a few out. Why? The headphones will allow you to hear the sound quality, which you might not otherwise hear in the store.  Buy one and record stories for your children and grandchildren. If you have elders in your family, ask them to share some of their memories with you. Record your own stories! When your kids grow up, and have their own children, they might want to hear stories you might forget! When people pass away, so do their stories, their life experiences and the stories they knew and loved. If your elders are young enough, then they can record those stories and send them to you. Keep them.  Even though young kids might not appreciate the stories now, when they get older and get interested, you will have them.  If your family moved from another country be it England or Ireland, Egypt or South Africa, India or Serbia you might have family still there, embedded in your heritage.  Have them share those stories with your children, or share with other people's children within your community. You might have a rich source of stories that others do not.  Share this source, your heritage, your stories.

Books are great, they can contain so much information, but voices of your own family or of those close to you contain so much more - their own lives and experiences.

(I am doing a workshop on recording stories using voice recorders, computers, microphones and Digital Audio Workstations - DAWs - at Sharing the Fire, the North Eastern Storytelling Conference on Friday, 28th March at UMASS, Amhurst MA. For more details visit the website of the League for the Advancement of New England Storytelling: http://lanes.org/storytelling-conference/friday-pre-conference-intensives/)

Review - Elisa Pearmain’s “Forgiveness”

Elisa Pearmain’s “Forgiveness” – Collection of folk tales, workshop, or counseling?

Cover of CD

We all need forgiveness, or to forgive, even ourselves. ElisaPearmain’s double CD set “Forgiveness” is a must-have on many different levels. First there are the stories themselves. But this is not simply a collection of good folk tales, well told.  This is a collection of stories and knowledge which has been put together, very thoughtfully, as a program which uses stories to teach and to heal.

There is the glimpse at Pearmain’s skills, and gifts, as a counselor.  She brings to the front of the CD the forgiveness which is inherent in the stories Elisa has chosen and shares with us on the 2 CDs.  She teaches, through these stories, how we can learn to forgive (ourselves and others), exploring what we need to do first to be able to forgive and/or receive forgiveness.  Pearmain allows us to look at ourselves in a new light through these tales, and from that spring board, how we can grow.  The way the stories and narrative between the tales is presented, is not preachy or cloying.  Pearmain’s voice is guiding, gentle and strong.

“Forgiveness” also gives us the treat to discover, if we have not already done so, Elisa the storyteller, and what a strong storyteller she is.  Her delivery is natural, pacing immaculate, and her voice and style makes it wonderful to listen to.  She invokes sadness and joy in her telling, and each tale is given a power that few can deliver as well as Pearmain; more so, in the context of which she shares the stories.

The 15 tales (and the 8 sections they share) themselves come from many different cultures, traditions and countries. Two are personal stories: one of Pearmain’s own, and one from another primary source, and shared with permission.  These stories add to the power of the program, proving that one is ‘not alone’ in suffering or grief. There are also teachings, ritual, and meditation included to help understand, travel through, and learn.  The eight sections take us from ‘Getting Started’, and ‘Empathy’ through to ‘Letting Go of Anger’ concluding with ‘The Forgiving Stance’. Each section contains at least one story with a reflection or exercise to aid the listener “and those they serve to heal…[to] live more joyfully in the present”.

One could buy the 2 CD set for the tales alone: they are worth ever penny.  One could also buy the CDs for therapy work, or as a gift for those close to us who may be in need of such a program.  15 stories, plus the teachings included on the 2 CD program are very much worth the $22.50.  For more details on the stories, where the stories come from (there are very good sources here), and details on how to purchase Elsia Pearmain’s recorded “Forgiveness” program, please visit: http://www.wisdomtales.com/forgiveness.html

If Elisa Pearmain ever offered a workshop which is based around this program, or brought out a book, to explore and expand this program, I for one would be on board.

Artwork by Simon Brooks, copyright 2013

Branding! A story of who we are?

A recent discussion occurred on the Storytellers Facebook page.  It seems may people have different reactions to 'branding'.  My colleague Karen Chace (a professional storyteller and researcher whom I have a huge amount of respect for) and I created a workshop on branding called: "Branding, It Doesn't Have to Hurt!"  Some people do not like the word brand and I can identify with that! Was that pun intentional?

I think what most people don't realize is that everything has a 'brand' of some kind.  Even some people have a 'brand' - who do you know is known for whacky socks, or strange hats, or braces/suspenders, or tie dye shirts, or wears the same type of clothes all the time (other than Tomm Wolf)? That can all be a form of branding.  Even the glasses some of us wear! And brands change over time.  A lot of change has to do with perception, fashion, management, needs, or personal choice!

However, branding usually tells people who we are as a business, product, or organization.  It's about our image, what we do, and how we present ourselves and act in the world.  A brand can incorporate our ethics and sometimes brands change because of our business.  WorldCom (who began as LDDS for Long Distance Discount Services) were a fabulous company that bought MCI and became MCI WorldCom.  The MCI was dropped and the company reverted to WorldCom, but kept the MCI star, although reversed in direction. Certain accounting practices pretty much destroyed the company, which then went back to MCI, trying to hide the WorldCom negative past history, and is now owned by  Verizon! WorldCom crashed from being a major contender rivaling AT&T, almost overnight.

You can look at Jason Mraz and know him by his now almost iconic pork pie hats.  We know Nike by the 'swoosh', and Coke by it's swish!  Although Starbucks has changed its logo over the years, we still recognize it, from the brown, twin-tailed siren, to pretty much just her face and hair (the twin tails looking like something she is holding, almost off camera, as it were) - now in green.  We can see these 'things' and know what they are and where they come from.  There is an app available where you can guess the company from the brand or logo image! Go and try it out.  It's free!

Be aware, though, that Brand and Logo are not the same thing.  A logo is part of the brand.  The brand, as I see it, is the overall image a company, product or person (small business) has. The logo is part of that.  Other things make up a brand: type face, colour schemes, design styles, sometimes a brand includes 'the copy line' or 'by-line', the mission statement or organizations culture etc..  Take for example: "Just Do It" or "Lovin' It"!  Yeah, I know! But all those things come together to make a 'brand'.  My CDs have their own separate 'brand' with the circle image and type face: the style they have.

Originally, my letterhead, which was part of my brand, was a watercolour picture I had painted.  I moved from performing primarily at libraries for kids and families, to also working in colleges and for adult audiences and with businesses; I had to change my letterhead to reflect that additional business focus.

So the watercolour was dropped and I adopted a more serious black panel with my name in white letters (see top).  This is now used across all my stationary, and is part of my 'brand'. Another part of my 'brand' is what I have with me when I show up to perform or teach, whether at a school, college or business - my apple crate!  This became 'part of me' (the storyteller), and fits the 'storytelling image' I have in my mind.  It began as a simple way to cart all my gear around and have something to put my glasses and other 'bits' on:- a small table and carrying tool.  It carries everything I need, so I do not have to bother my host with requests for this and that. My bodhrán and backdrop are also part of my 'brand'! In some ways, I suppose even the little notebook/journal I always have - seen in the picture here - is also part of my 'brand'.  One of my patrons said they loved the apple crate as it felt like I was bringing part of my home with me!

When we look at these things across the board of our business or organization, we might see that we already have a brand without knowing it.  Some storytellers are known for the shoes they wear, or the way they paint their nails, a certain shawl, shirt, or hat they always wear when telling tales, or are known for their harp.  That is all part of their brand, knowingly or otherwise. Karen Chace is known and uses her ladybird (ladybug).

You could say that your brand is your schtick!  Your brand is YOU!  A brand, your brand is telling people the story of who you are, and what you do, and sometimes how you do it!

Some people don't like the word 'brand'. It comes from the tag, or logo, used for identifying livestock, usually burned or painted onto the skin, hair or fleece of the creature.  Some people feel that companies use their brand to present a false image, but those false images are usually found out and uncovered. Some companies use brand to sell things by brainwashing people, but we can only blame ourselves for letting that happen.

Neither the watercolour or the 'name black banner' are or were my my logo,
but are part of my brand! You might recognize my logo, however - it goes everywhere with me!

Taliesin

And that word - Brand!
Is there another word we could use?
Moniker? Not really, a moniker is a nick name.
Identifier? Maybe! The Collins Dictionary describes
an identifier as: "a person or thing that establishes the identity of someone or something." It's a bunch of 'things' which make up a brand!

So take a look at yourself and what you do, look at what others think you do, and see if you have a brand or identifier! And, if you need or want some help, the workshop Karen and I created can help you focus or fine tune your public and/or professional persona.  Contact us!  We are just a click away!

simonATdiamondscree.com or storybugATaol.com

Growing Stories

A friend of mine, Marek Bennett, who is an artist, musician and teacher, wrote a blog about his forthcoming graphic (comic) travelog of his visit to Slovakia.  It gave me pause for thought about stories and how they grow. In his blog, Marek likens his book like transplanting cabbage! Read it, it is interesting.

In the vein of nothing now is truly original, and with Marek's permission, his blog inspired me to think about stories in a similar way.  Personal stories more so, because they are, well - personal.  Something happens to us, we see or hear something and a seed is planted inside us - the seed of a story.  If we ignore it, it will die and be lost.  Some stories we want to lose and forget, but sometimes those are the stories we should keep, nurture and try to explore and find meaning in.  Sometimes our hardest work is our most valuable.

So here are my thoughts on stories beginning as seeds:

1/. Choose a seed

Heirloom seeds could be considered our family stories, or historical stories.  But there are also our personal stories as mentioned above like those heard on The Moth, traditional folk and faerie stories, myths, legends, sacred stories, the list can go on forever.

2/. Seeds need to be planted in fertile soil
Our minds need to hold these stories, collect them, and store them, recall them.  We need to be creative for the stories to become strong.  We need imagination.  We need to be able to place ourselves IN the story to feel and see, hear and touch those things in the story

3/. Seeds need the right nutrients to grow
For a story to grow (and by that I do not mean add lies for embellishment) you need to work on it. Going back to school, you need to make sure that you have all the who's, what's, why's, where's, when's which's and the how's! Without these the listener might get lost, find the story confusing, not understand what is happening.  The who, what, why, when, when, which and how are the nutrients of the story and without these the story will become stilted, awkward or stunted.  Sue Black has a great resource for these nutrients on her website (which has a number of other teacher resources).

4/. Keep the seedlings indoors until chance of frost has gone
Stories can trick you and trip you, and likewise if a story is brought outdoors before it is strong enough, you could damage or kill the story.  Tell the stories; at first to yourself, to a voice recorder, a pet, a stuffy, the mirror, on a car ride!  This is keeping those seedlings safe until they have grown stronger. Then tell to a practice audience to get the real feeling of the story.  This is like bringing the plants out during the day, but back in at night.  In Laura Packer's recent blog "Eight Things I Learned From the Kansas City Fringe Festival" she says of working with a practice audience: "Because I am a storyteller and not confined to a word-for-word script, the story shifted each time. I loved hearing how some bits rose to the surface and others fell away as I danced with the audience." Personally I like to find those bits that rise in case this indicates something else I need to bring to the story, and not be surprised, although that is fun too, and how stories grow!

5/. Once frost has passed, plant outside in a steady light
Many traditional cultures say that stories are living things - something I strongly believe - and that they only live, or become alive, when told.  If you have never told a story and been In The Story you are telling, then try it.  Not reciting a story, but telling it. When you do, you will understand what I mean by stories are living things.  By now the story you have been growing and nurturing is strong enough to go outside and into the light of day.  Telling the story truly gives the story strength to grow more.  It's roots will go down deeper, the shoots will become thicker and longer, the flowers more radiant.

6/. It doesn't hurt to learn more about your plant as it grows
Long after I have been telling a tale, I have uncovered older versions, or variants, and by reading, listening or looking over these I might find things that were missing - maybe there was another who, what, why, when, when, which or how that I was unaware of and has been brought to light.  I can choose to add that nutrient to the story, or make the decision that the story is strong enough and the right shape and form, and has the right type and number of flowers for me to make it without those extra bits.

7/. Take care of your plant and: Enjoy!

The story has become itself. It has grown from a small seed, and you have nurtured it, but it is it's own being - I believe - and it will continue to grow and change.  It will stay strong if you keep telling it, and will grow weak if you leave it alone with no nourishment at all.  Just like a plant the story will need watering, take it out and tell it once in a while as you learn new stories.  You will never forget it; the story will not die if you have tended it well and look after it well.  And over time your mind will contain a beautiful garden filled with tales and stories to share.  Some will be family stories, some will be personal stories, and some will be the folk and faerie tales we all love so well.

To hear some of my stories, visit my website and go to Free Stuff! And if you are looking for other resources on my website you can find them at: Resources and in the Teacher's Room.

Marek's book is called Slovakia, Fall in the Heart of Europe and you can read some of it and see it's growth on one if his many working websites: http://marekslovakia.wordpress.com

Recording with PreSonus' Studio One DAW

For those of you who are new to using a Digital Audio Workstation or DAW, I have been using Studio One by PreSonus for over a year now and have found it to be very good indeed.  There is a lot of functionality and free tools on board.  It is very intuitive, and does not cost an absolute fortune.  I have discovered many things on my journey of recording and it's taken me a while to figure out some of the short cuts.  I have put what I have found in a document to share with others who might want to try it.  You can get a free trial from the PreSonus website.  This also includes tips on recording punch and roll, where you can easily fix mistakes. It is a lot faster than keeping on recording and going back to edit and fix later.  There is a learning curve but it is not steep!

My simple set-up

Studio One Quick Start for narration (for Windows XP)

Open Studio One

1/. Starting from scratch

Click on ‘Create new Song’ and a dialogue box opens with Empty Song on left highlighted. On the right enter Song Title.

Choose where you want song to be saved in next box down.

Sample rate: 44.1 kHz

Resolution: 16 bit

Timebase: Seconds

Song Length: leave at default

Tempo: leave at default

Time Signiture: leave at default

Make sure Stretch audio files to Song tempo is unchecked

Click OK

2/. If you want to save a Template

You cannot save a template until you have first created one! Create a song and save it as a Template.  This will automatically create a folder within Studio for Templates.  You cannot make your own folder or save an existing Template until this is done.

3/. Short Cuts

Short cuts are listed in the top bar: Studio One > Keyboard Short cuts…

There are some handy number keypad shortcuts!

Number pad *: Record

Number pad -: wind time bar back

Number pad +: wind time bar forward

Number pad Enter: play

Number pad 0: stop

Spacebar: play and stop

I added Number Keypad 5 to make a new Mono Track

4/. To Start

Once Song is open, make a new track: Top bar - Track> add new mono track

Click on the solid circle to activate record mode, and playback is automatically opened at the same time.  If you want speakers/headphones muted, click the speaker button so it is no longer blue, or ‘M’ for mute.

Position white time bar at beginning if not already there.

Click the Record button on the bottom tool bar.

5/. Snap time bar

When editing you will find the white time bar will snap into place which is not very handy for narration.  On the top tool bar under the shaded ‘Adaptive’ button, you will find a small box with ‘Snap’ next to it.  Click on the box.  If you open up the ‘Editor” (F2) you will find the same button and will need to click there too.

6/. Punch and roll

On the bottom tool bar there are counters and to the right of those are what look like thumb tracks or map pins.  Click on the top ‘Auto Punch’ button for auto punch!  If you want to have some pre-roll, then click the ‘Pre-roll’ button beneath.  Pre-roll can eliminate the click of a keyboard and give you a lead-in.

To select how much pre-roll you have, to the right of these buttons is the Metronome. Click on the ‘Metronome Setup’ button (the spanner/wrench) and under ‘Options’ choose number of bars.  Two bars is usually fine but you might want more if you are just staring to learn this technique.

When punching and rolling with pre-roll, place the white time bar where you want to cut in.  Hit the record button.  The time bar will jump back your set number of bars and play.  Listen along and jump in at you chosen spot and keep going.

7/. Making Corrections

When I have made corrections, I have opened another track below the ‘finished’ track. By cutting the ‘bad section’ so it is separated, you can use the Mute tool to mute that segment, then record on the second track you have opened. By using a separate track you do not record over what you already have that is good.  But if you do go over you hear it when you get to the ‘okay’ and none muted section.

8/. Multiple takes

If you want to try multiple takes for a section this is fairly painless. Using the ‘Loop Active’ button, you can keep re-recording non-stop in that area until happy.

            To create a loop, hover mouse over the very thin light grey line above the time digits so you get a ‘pencil’ icon as the cursor. Clicking once on the thin grey bar will bring two lighter points.  Dragging these to the left and right creates your loop.

            Click on the Active Loop button on the bottom tool bar, immediately to the right of the record button so it is lighten up blue.

Hit record.

Record until happy and stop.

            If you right click on that new recorded section you will see “Select take”.  Beneath that will be a number of ‘takes’, the most current being ‘checked’. Beneath that is “Unpack takes” and if you hover over that, you can select “Unpack Takes to Tracks.” You can then mute each track, listening to each in turn to decide which fits the best.  This is an option, and is okay for small bits, but can take up more time than you want to spend.

9/. Mixdown or create WAV or FLAC file

When you mixdown it will automatically mixdown between the loop and this needs to be set up. (See: 8/.  multiple takes)

Studio One automatically mixes down a mono track to stereo. To this fix this:
Go to Song> Song Setup> Audio I/O Setup.
Go to the Outputs panel and click on 'Add (Mono)’. This will create ‘Sub 1’. Click Okay.
You can now do one of two things. Make it the default, or just click okay to exit.
If you made it default you are all set.

Go to top bar and click on Song > Export Mixdown which opens a dialogue box.

Location

Choose where you want file to be saved.  It will automatically save to a mixdown folder within the song folder.

Filename: FileNumber_BookTitle_Ch_Number_NarratorName

Publishing: (depending on version): Do not publish

Format (depending on version) Wave File, click on arrow to get to FLAC

Resolution: 16 bit

Sample rate: 44.1 kHz

Export Range

Click circle for Between Loop

Options

Output: Sub 1 (for the mono mixdown) should be default if you made is so earlier.  If not:

Click 'Main' with arrow. Click the arrow to 'Sub 1' and highlight/chose it.

Check the ‘Close after export” box.

Then click OK to mixdown.
Once file is mixed down a folder will open with your file in it (for Windows XP).

Have fun!