November 24, 2009 I wrote one of the shortest blogs of my career. BEST MIC FOR AUDIOBOOKS. I must’ve been really lazy or awfully busy that day.
Regardless, THAT blog must’ve shown up in a search somewhere, ’cause I got the following comment to the blog yesterday:
Hello,
I’m looking to finally create my audio book for my autobiography, The Courage To Believe. What would be the best type of mic and/or features on a Microphone that I should lookout for. Also, what should I have in my room that I’ll be doing the recording to maintain a quality sound?
Kevin
I don’t know Kevin, and I don’t know what to say to Kevin.
But when I read his comment, here were my first thoughts, in order:
- Oh boy, another author who thinks he’s also a narrator. (OK, some authors can narrate their own books, but the vast majority of them should never try — according to my unscientific research)
- How do you even BEGIN to explain the choosing of mics if you are not part of the voice-acting community? Is that something I want to try to explain to a newbie? In what depth?
- Similarly how does one even BEGIN to explain room treatment, and recording environments to the uninitiated?
- Am I making this too complicated?
- What is the proper level of response to Kevin without being discouraging or condescending?
I consider it my customer service responsibility to reply to anybody and everybody who comments on a blog article. First of all, I WANT people to respond to my thoughts, and the only way to encourage that is to actually answer back. BTW, Paul Strikwerda is a master at this on his blog. Am I right?
So, while I conjure up a response that is appropriate, I encourage you to do so as well. Go to the original article: BEST MIC FOR AUDIOBOOKS, and let Kevin know what you think he should do. Or just respond to TODAY’S blog with your thoughts.
And while you’re at it, I invite you to check again here tomorrow, as I want to dissect this general thought process of appropriate responses, relationships, social media, and…patience. I’m going to wrap it around an embarrassing story from my own time as a VO newbie, and the lesson it taught me.
Thanks!
CourVO
