Karen Commins

7 Places to Learn Audio Editing for Audiobooks

21 February 2018

In my last article for narrators, I wrote about 3 ways to become a computer super user. One piece of software that all audiobook narrators need is a Digital Audio Workstation (DAW). Coaches and new narrators often ask me where they can learn how to use their DAW.

The 7 options listed below in no particular order will help you learn the DAW software.

1) The Deyan Institute offers classes in Pro Tools for Production and Pro Tools for Post-Production, as well as an option for 6 hours of Pro Tools instruction.

2) Edge Studio offers webinars in Audition, Audacity, Pro Tools, Reaper, and Twisted Wave.

3) Global Voice Acting Academy has several webinars on recording and occasionally offers classes.

4) Lynda.com is a FANTASTIC site with professionally produced video courses on Pro Tools, Audition, and Studio One, plus tons of other courses on things like WordPress, marketing, etc. Anyone can get a free 10-day trial using this (affiliate) link.You may be able to access Lynda for FREE with a library card as described in this article.

5) YouTube overflows with how-to videos for numerous DAWS. One excellent source for Studio One videos is the Red Baarns channel created by audio engineer Don Baarns. He also has created tutorials that show how to use iZotope RX products to clean up your audio.

6) Udemy.com offers a number of courses in Audacity, Adobe Audition, Reaper, and Pro Tools. I haven’t used any of these courses, but some of them look pretty comprehensive.

7) You might find a course at a local college or hire a student to teach you. For example, I took an enrichment class on Pro Tools offered on successive Saturdays at the Art Institute of Atlanta.

By the way, if you learn the basic shortcuts keys discussed in the previous article, you have a head start as they will work in your DAW!

Updated 4/19/18 to remove links to deleted courses on VoiceOverExtra. com and add the link to Udemy.com

3 Ways to Increase Your Computing Power

17 January 2018

An interviewer once asked me what I learned while working in information technology that helped me in my profession as an audiobook narrator. A 25-year career in a variety of IT positions including programmer, network and email administrator, and technical specialist certainly gave me an ease and confidence about utilizing a wide variety of software on my computer. I want to share 3 things that will help make you a computer super user.

1. Learn as much as you can about each software package that you use, especially its shortcut keys.

This tip is not only the #1 tip on this list, but it’s my #1 tip about how to improve your work flow.

Moving your mouse to select menu options takes longer than pressing a couple of keys to accomplish the same thing. Those extra few seconds may not seem like much on a single action, but they really add up over time. I saw one study that said office workers could save 8 days in the course of the year by learning shortcuts.

Software operations are transferrable skills. If you will spend a little time to learn the shortcut keys to copy and paste in one application, you’ll use the same keystrokes in all of them. Also, if you decide to move from a PC to a Mac or vice versa, the same basic keystrokes will perform the same functions.

Below are 10 common keyboard shortcuts dealing with text that work across applications. I use them all of the time! First, you highlight the text on which to perform the operation, then press the shortcut keys.

On a PC, you press the CTRL key in combination with another; on a Mac, you press the CMD key. Since I use a Mac, I’ll list the keyboard shortcuts for it.

Copy CMD-C
Paste CMD-V
Cut CMD-X
Bold CMD-B
Italic CMD-I
Underline CMD-U
Undo CMD-Z
Add hyperlink CMD-K
Select all CMD-A (no initial highlighting needed)
Find CMD-F

In addition to common tasks, each software program has shortcut keys for functions specific to it. For instance, when I was editing my audiobooks in Pro Tools, I decided to learn a few specific shortcut combos in it. Once I incorporated these 6 time-saving alternates, I felt my productivity improved by a quantum leap rather than a baby step.

Insert Silence Shift-CMD-E
Paste Special/Repeat to Fill Selection Option-CMD-V (I use these first 2 shortcuts back-to-back to insert room tone in my recording.)
Batch Fades CMD-F (often used after pressing CMD-A to select all clips rather than simply fading between 2 clips at a time)
Consolidate Clips Option-Shift-3 (again after pressing CMD-A to select all clips)
Export Clip as File Shift-CMD-K
Memory Locations Window CMD-5 on number pad

Don’t feel like you have to learn all the shortcuts available in your software! To start, pick 3-5 of the things you frequently do in a single program. As you mouse through the menus to find your selection, notice if the option lists some keystrokes on the line. Write down those keys and use them the next time you need to do the same task.

Of course, an even speedier method of finding the shortcut keys for any program is to search for them online. Even Google’s Gmail has keyboard shortcuts.

With a little practice, the shortcut keys will be absorbed into your kinesthetic memory. You’ll do them without even thinking and get faster every day!

2. Choose your operating system and software upgrade dates very carefully.

Don’t upgrade your operating system the moment Apple or Microsoft releases a new update. Also, don’t upgrade in the middle of a book if you can avoid it. The cutting edge of technology is often the bleeding edge of technology!

New operating systems often cause existing programs to fail because other developers may not have modified their application. If you’re using Pro Tools, you’ll want to check the Pro Tools Operating System Compatibility Chart before you make any updates.

If your system is stable and satisfactorily performing all of your tasks, assess whether you truly need an update. I’m still running Mac OS 10.10.5, also known as Yosemite. Apple has released 3 new systems since the time of my last OS update.

I initially didn’t upgrade because Pro Tools, which is my most important software, wouldn’t run on the new operating system. I am also still running Pro Tools version 11.3.1, which is not the latest for that program. However, I didn’t see any features in the latest version that I had to have, so I haven’t spent the money to upgrade.

If I upgrade my OS now, I’ll also probably have to upgrade Pro Tools. According to the chart linked above, my version of Pro Tools isn’t guaranteed to run on a newer OS.

People worry that Apple or Microsoft won’t support their OS if they fail to keep up with upgrades. At some point, that statement becomes true. I’m simply saying that you need to be in control of the decision to upgrade your system, not the manufacturer. You should be okay as long as you have a safe copy on DVD or USB drive of the installation software in the event you need to re-install the OS after a system failure.

3. Keep calm, and compute on.

Errors sometimes occur on even the most stable system. When troubleshooting, always retrace your steps to the last time the system was operating correctly. What changed in the meantime?

Use your favorite search engine and enter the exact error message of any software to learn how to troubleshoot it. You most probably aren’t the first person to experience an error. In fact, your search results usually will include numerous sites. Sometimes you’ll have to extrapolate from others’ situations in order to solve your problem.

Once I find solutions to any computer problem, I save them in an Evernote notebook. That way, if the issue re-occurs, I’m not reinventing the wheel to find the answer.

We had this saying in IT: “the only day you need to do a backup is the day before your system crashes.” You never know when a system will malfunction, but Murphy’s Law increases the probability that it will happen when you can least afford the time — and possibly money — to deal with it.

In addition to doing regular backups on another drive, I highly recommend that you include some measure of off-site storage in your data safety and recovery plan. I learned the hard way that having only one copy of critical data is asking for trouble. In the early 2000s, I was editing one of my first audiobooks when the drive crashed. I had to pay to get the data recovered.

Now, at the end of each day’s recording session, I copy my book files to Dropbox. If my computer fails or, worse, something happens to my house, my audiobook files are safely stored in the cloud.

In case you don’t know, I love my computer and computing devices! By following these 3 tips, I hope you will feel more empowered when you are in front of your computer.

Resolutions and Intentions

3 January 2018

What lies behind us and what lies ahead of us

are tiny matters compared to what lies within us.

— Henry Stanley Hoskins (not Emerson as I originally believed)

It’s day 3 in a new year. Have you already broken your New Year’s Resolutions?

At the end of 2016, I took Michael Hyatt’s 5 Days to Your Best Year Ever course. (This book is based on that course.) On day 3 of the course, he wrote about New Year’s Resolutions:

The average person makes the same New Year’s resolutions ten separate times without success.

After going through all of the exercises in Hyatt’s course, I confidently started 2017 with several specific goals in the areas of health, career, and avocation. I was making progress on all of them until mid-May.

Drew’s parents, who were 93 and 92 at the time, had been in good health for their age. They both were able to walk and care for themselves, and they were still living independently in their house of 54 years. He still drove, they did their own shopping, and they did all of the personal care activities that we take for granted. We enjoyed lunch with them at a restaurant on 12 May. In a blink of an eye, life changed.

Drew and his parents in June 2017. They were at rehab, and we were hoping for better days to come.

Should An Author Narrate Her Audiobook?

27 December 2017

Last updated 3/15/21

One question that I’ve seen and heard repeatedly from authors and listeners is: How is a narrator selected to read the audiobook?

In addition, many authors tell me that they want to narrate their audiobooks for financial and/or artistic reasons.

At first glance, the author might seem to be the most logical choice for the narrator. The author has labored over every word in the book and obviously is the person most familiar with its arc and important points.

However, many avid listeners refuse to listen to books narrated by the author because they have frequently discovered that the writer is not necessarily the best performer. In fact, the annual consumer surveys from the Audio Publishers Association show this consistent finding:

“Audiobook consumers place a high priority on quality of narration. Non-fiction and fiction listeners alike prefer a professional voice actor to the author as a narrator.”

I always advise authors and publishers to select the narrator who can best serve the text. The following 3 questions guide the casting process:

1) Is the book fiction or non-fiction?
2) What narrative point of view (POV) is used in the book?
3) Who is paying for the production costs?

Antidote For A Dry Spell

20 December 2017

As I wrote over 10 years ago, in order for your ship containing job contracts to come sailing in to your harbor, you have to keep sending out promotional and prospecting ships into the world. But what happens when you don’t see any results from your efforts? It’s so easy to fall into a negative mindset, especially when it seems that every narrator you know is announcing on social media that they had scheduled work through the next 6 months even before they were just hired for a 10-book series.

I still am not at the level of success that I envision, and some days, the critical voice in my mind starts in on me about what I haven’t accomplished. I notice that mean girl never gives me credit for all of the things I HAVE done! No matter how circumstances may appear in the moment, the key is to push the doubts away and keep marching toward your dream.

In 2012, Dave Courvoisier wrote candidly on his blog about a dry spell he was experiencing in gaining work. In this article, I’m including and expanding on my response to him.

First, it’s possible to want something so badly that your desperation to have it can actually push it away from you. I wrote about this phenomenon in the article Voiceover and the Law of Paradoxical Intent.

I can tell you honestly that it was only after I truly ACCEPTED my life as it was that things really started to move forward for me.

Second, the number of jobs booked in a time period is only one small way of measuring success. I wrote about 3 techniques for maintaining a feel-good mentality about your career in the post The feel-good voiceover blog post of the summer!. I write my articles for myself as much as for my audience, and this is one post that I often re-read to maintain balance and objectivity during slow times.

I cannot overemphasize the 3rd technique too much — STOP THE COMPARISONS TO OTHER PEOPLE! It is the single greatest act of self-negation that keeps us from our good.

In fact, when I listened to Rob Lowe’s most excellent narration of his autobiographical audiobook Stories I Only Tell My Friends, I heard a compelling reason to keep going forward with your dream. When Lowe talked about meeting an unknown LeVar Burton about a week before ROOTS was aired on TV, he said:

“It showed me how quickly the rocket fuel of stardom can ignite, how unimaginably GIANT the g-forces can be as you are propelled into fame’s orbit.

Looking back, I also wonder at the mystery of destiny and fate. I marvel at the mercurial forces of fortune and am reminded that one must be ever vigilant to stay on one’s own path, without envy of others.”

When I don’t know what the next step is, I just take one. It doesn’t matter what it is. It doesn’t matter if it’s the best thing I could do at the time. It doesn’t matter if other people agree with me, cheer me on, throw spitballs my way, or totally ignore me.

It’s not about them. It’s about me. It’s about “staying vigilant on my path, without envy of others.”

All that matters is that I take that step…..because that step gets me one step closer to the life I’m meant to lead.

Law of Attraction

Shortly after I responded on Dave’s blog, I wrote the article Power of “I Am” In Maintaining a Positive Attitude. Whatever you put after those 2 words becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy.

A passage in the 12/15/17 Science of Mind magazine daily guide really brings home this point.

“Whenever a negative, demeaning thought is believed and allowed to repeat, it is a prayer. “I am [blank] is a prayer. This thought repeatedly spoken becomes a belief. A belief becomes a reality, a prayer answered. By repeating the thoughts, “I am not good enough”…or “Life has always been a struggle”, I am actually creating that reality.

One of our greatest tools is practicing discipline with what we allow ourselves to think. The reality is that you must first believe your affirmation to be true of you.

…See and know your good, then praise and embrace it.”

We need to keep thinking and believing that the success we seek is coming to us. What we think about expands. If we focus on what we think we lack, we will continue to experience more of the same lack.

Just because things don’t happen on our timetable or in the way that we would expect them to show up doesn’t mean they aren’t going to happen. They probably will happen and be even greater than we could imagine!

Just keep smiling, taking steps, and sending out those ships!