Which microphone and interface should I get?

Which microphone and interface should I get?

Studio Configuration

Thanks to audiobook narrator and coach Chris Ciulla who gave me permission to re-publish this information and chart he created and originally shared on Facebook. Chris surveyed a group of professional narrators about their choice of microphone, interface, and pre-amp.

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I was taking a poll to see what the most popular choices were for working narrators. I did it for my student base to understand what pros are using.

The bold items are the most popular.

The blue items are my suggestions for them to keep their total initial home studio costs under $1K, since they’re newbies.

Other resources on this topic:

  • The ACX blog offers a lot of info about microphone and other equipment choices in this article.
  • Narrator Erin deWard’s site StepUpToTheMic.net contains a fantastic number of links about all phases of studio configuration.
  • In this article, narrator Steven Jay Cohen shows you how to position your mic properly in no more than 11 steps.
  • You’ll find people who can help you fine-tune your studio sound listed in the Welcome Center.

 

Standards for silence in the book

Best Practices

Here are long-time Audible standards for the seconds of pasted room tone to use in each file:

.5 at beginning of file

2.5 after chapter announcement

At least 2 and no more than 3.5 for mid-chapter section breaks designated by ####, ****, ———, or blank space in the text. Even when the text does not include these visual cues, you may need to add this transitional silence to alert the listener of a scene change. The narrator’s pace and type of story can cause this time to vary, but 2-2.5 seconds usually works well.

3.5 at end of file

Some rights holders will ask for a musical interlude or sound effects between chapters. They also may ask for longer pauses than those shown above and/or request that the narrator speak slower throughout the book so that the finished time will reach a certain threshold. Say NO to these types of requests.

Many indie rights holders have not listened to many audiobooks and do not know the norms of production. They also may be unaware of listener expectations. The audiobook’s pacing will be organically derived in the recording sessions and depend on the narrator’s normal rate of speech, acting choices, and complexity of the text. If a narrator speaks too slowly or adds unnecessary pauses, the listener can give up in frustration, leave negative reviews and ratings, and possibly even return the audiobook.

 

Other resources on this topic:

  • Check out the Knowledge Base articles about music and sound effects in audiobooks.
  • This article contains instructions for estimating your finished time and amount of real-time hours needed to produce an audiobook of that duration.

How to handle ACX offers

ACX

Many narrators are confused by the ACX offer screen. It only shows the rate and the date the offer expires.

You need to click on the title to see the details of the offer. You should see the rights holder’s (RH) proposed schedule on the resulting page in the same area as the rate.

New RHs typically don’t know the work involved in producing a retail-ready audiobook and often will request the full book in a ridiculously small amount of time.

You are in control of your workload and schedule. You can suggest new dates for the15-minute and full book deadlines based on:

  • how long it takes you to create a finished hour
  • your estimated finished hours in the book, which may vary from the estimate given by ACX
  • your other priorities
  • your editor’s workload

If I am doing an Royalty Share or Royalty Share Plus (RS/RS+) title, I will extend my proposed deadlines by 1 or more months to allow time for work that pays a PFH rate.

You can and should communicate with the RH using the ACX messaging system to negotiate the schedule. If you auditioned, I would not attempt to negotiate the rate unless it was listed as Unspecified. You knew the rate when you sent the audition, and you could have inquired about any flexibility on the posted rate before or with your audition. However, rate negotiation is acceptable when someone contacts you directly without an audition.

If the RH agrees to your dates, you will want to advise them that they cannot change their offer. Instead, you must decline it, and then the RH must send a new offer with the revised dates.

It’s important to have the correct dates on the offer so that you and the RH have the same expectations. Once you accept the offer, ACX doesn’t monitor the schedule or any changes to it.

Note that once you begin work, the RH and you may agree to communicate outside of ACX. However, you will want to send any messages about schedule changes through ACX as it is the official record and would be used in any disputes.

The RH will directly pay you or, in the case of SAG/AFTRA members, your paymaster for any PFH work. ACX does not coordinate or accept payments from the RH or pay you for your PFH work. Audible only pays the royalties earned on RS/RS+ projects.

 

How SAG/AFTRA members can use ACX

The RH must send an offer for either:

  • at least $250 PFH
  • minimum $100 PFH with RS+

Audible does not contribute to union H&R for straight royalty share projects.

In order for the RH to use the RS+ option, they should:

  1. Click the option for Royalty Share Plus
  2. Check the box to send the offer per the SAG/AFTRA agreement

Disclaimer: One narrator told me their RH did not see an option for Royalty Share Plus. I believe this situation was caused by the way the RH created the book listing. In that case, the RH had to select Royalty Share and then check the box for the SAG/AFTRA agreement.

When you accept the offer, you will click the button for “Accept with SAG/AFTRA H&R”. You’ll be prompted to enter your SAG/AFTRA number. Follow the instructions on this ACX page about contacting your paymaster..

Union narrators tell me that you don’t have to accept a PFH offer with the SAG/AFTRA button. The Union doesn’t check with ACX/Audible about earnings.

You would need to use that button for an RS+ deal since Audible will pay SAG/AFTRA for royalties received in eligible RS+ deals per item 1 at the bottom of this page.

You will need to ensure that the RH makes all PFH payments through a paymaster. ACX’s preferred paymaster is Eljin Productions, but you may choose another one such as Skywire.

 

Regardless of whether you accepted a PFH or RS+ contract, do not click the “I’m Done” button until you have received the PFH payment from the RH or paymaster.

 

Other resources on this topic:

  • Be sure the project isn’t among the ACX Projects to Avoid before accepting an offer.
  • ACX has extensive help pages, including ACX Offer and Acceptance Procedures and the section ACX Accept or Decline Offers.
  • I send each Rights Holder a link to this information page, which outlines my policies and process. You’ll see that I request the RH pay a non-refundable deposit of 50% of the estimated PFH cost at the time the first 15 minutes are approved, with the balance due at book completion.
  • My 3-hour webinar titled Put Yourself in the ACX Driver’s Seat is available on my Shop page and comes with its own set of resources.

Filed Under: ACX

Should I send files outside ACX?

ACX

An ACX rights holder might be a publisher or agent instead of the author. In these cases, the RH may ask the narrator to submit files to the author outside the ACX system for review.

However, such a request falls outside of the contracted obligations for both parties and should be denied.

Section 6 of the ACX Book Posting Agreement, which is the RH’s contract with Audible, states:

Delivery of Completed Audiobook. When the Producer you engage finishes production of the Audiobook, the Producer will upload the completed Audiobook and one excerpt from the Audiobook to ACX’s title production page in accordance with the requirements of ACX. You will be required to approve the Audiobook and excerpt using the ACX approval submission feature for rights holders in order for the Audiobook and excerpt to be deemed approved and ready for distribution by Audible.

Section 9 of the ACX Production Standard Terms, which is the contract among the RH, the narrator, and Audible,  states:

Delivery of Completed Audiobook. Producer will upload the completed Audiobook and one excerpt from the Audiobook to ACX’s title production page in accordance with the requirements of ACX. If Rights Holder approves the completed Audiobook and excerpt, Rights Holder will approve the Audiobook and excerpt using the approval submission feature on ACX.

Sending the files to a 3rd party outside the ACX system can open the door to artistic micromanagement, schedule delays, and non-payment. A non-contracted party could easily upload the audiobook files to retail sites without the narrator’s knowledge.

 

Other resources on this topic:

 

Filed Under: ACX

What Happens After 7 Years of an ACX RS/RS+ Contract?

ACX

After the initial 7-year distribution period, the rights holder (RH) has concluded their contractual obligation with the producer/narrator.

A  RH then can pull the book from Audible after the 7-year distribution term expires and then upload it back to Audible (and/or any other site) without any compensation or even notice to the narrator/producer.

The only way the author can remove the narrator from a Royalty Share/Royalty Share+ (RS/RS+) contract is by pulling the book from Audible. RHs can remove the narrator/producer from the contract in 2 ways:

    1. buying out the narrator’s portion of a RS/RS+ contract before the end of 7 years
    2. pulling the book any time after the end of 7 years by sending a notice to Audible terminating distribution at least 60 days before the end of the distribution period

If they end distribution after 7 or more years —and consistent with their rights over a Per Finished Hour (PFH) project on ACX at the moment they pay for it — the RH owns the RS/RS+ audiobook files outright. They can do whatever they want to with the files, including re-distributing the audiobook through Audible and other sites. They also can license the audio rights to a production company or personally hire another narrator to re-record the book.

The 7-year Distribution Term and termination notice requirements are outlined in section 5 of the Book Posting Agreement, which is the RH’s contract with Audible.

Section 10 of the Production Standard Terms, which is the narrator’s contract with the RH and Audible, covers file ownership:

Subject to the restriction on audiobook production rights above and the distribution rights granted by Rights Holder to Audible, Rights Holder will retain all right, title, and interest in and to the Book and the Audiobook, including the copyright in the Book and the sound recording copyright in the Audiobook. Producer agrees that the Audiobook is a “work made for hire” to the full extent permitted by law, with all copyrights in the Audiobook owned by Rights Holder. Producer assigns to Rights Holder all right, title and interest Producer may have in and to the Audiobook, including, but not limited to, all copyright or rights of authorship in the Audiobook.

Be aware that the narrator has no responsibility or obligation to furnish the original masters of the audio files to a RH after the contract has ended. They fulfilled their part of the contract by delivering the completed audiobook. If the RH wants the files, they must download them from ACX.

 

Other resources on this topic:

  • Note that rights holders who choose an RS/RS+ contract MUST have Exclusive Distribution with Audible per Section 13(2) of the Book Posting Agreement for 7 years unless they buy out the narrator. This means the audiobook legally can be sold only on Audible, Amazon, and Apple. If you learn that your RS/RS+ audiobook is being distributed any other way before the end of the 7-year term, the RH is in breach of the contract.
  • On a related topic, I want to point out that a RH cannot add your RS/RS+ book to a bundled series unless you narrated all the books in the series. Refer to this ACX Help page for the rules about bundled audiobooks.

 

 

Filed Under: ACX