Audio books and my Journey- Studios

So I wasn't so keen to sit with my head under a blanket to record everything so I thought I would make my own studio/isolation booth. Everywhere I look they say sound acts like water. It has to do with the waves and such. But if a studio or isolation booth is a bucket what I have made is more like a waxed canvas bag.

Space- Most say use a cupboard or a small room. Well my small room is on the side where the road is so there is plenty of noise. All the other rooms seem to have gadgets that I can't turn off like the fridge or the fish tank. So I came up with an idea to build a small room. I got this idea while watching how to make sound absorption panels at home. I got some really big artist canvas. The weave is too tight for sound to penetrate easily. It is like when someone is talking with a piece of paper in front of their mouth. But hard surfaces create reflections and a tinny sound. So I hinged the canvases to make three very short walls. Glued foam on the "walls". Nothing fancy just an underlay foam mattress thing. It isn't as dense as acoustic foam but to deaden the walls of a small room it would do. I then put it against a wall in the quietest place I could find in the house. Because it is hinged I can fold it up and put it under the bed when I am done. I put a blanket over the whole lot and walla it is awful.

The roof sags and touches my head and to fit everything in is a bit tricky. Try drinking from a bottle when you can't move your elbows because you'll hit the walls. So I will come back later with my solutions. I already have some in mind.

Sound- I got a decent mic. Nothing super fancy but I'm very happy with it. And I didn't realise how noisy my house is. I was practicing last night but I was giggling so hard because every time I spoke I could hear the cats. Cats eating, cats jumping off tables, cats playing with the blanket over my head, cats scratching to get inside. I now have to figure out how to edit tracks but that is a little way off as the next step has been tricky.

Voices- It is not recommended that an author read their own stuff if it is fiction because doing the voices is bloody hard. I know as I've figured that out. I was listening to Jim Dale and he is awesome but I have no idea how to do what he does as I've never been good at hearing voices or accents. So far I have very snooty sounding characters who I want to stab in the eye so I'll have to work on that. I'm still tempted to get my family members to read out the dialogue if I can't get it sorted myself. Or maybe the cats, they certainly seem eager to be in the audio.