We often cast our productions using a pool of narrators we regularly work with. We’ll make recommendations and provide samples upon receiving the following information:

• Genre and synopsis.

• An overview of the key characters and setting in addition to any notes on specific accents.

• The deadline for delivering the final audiobook.

Once the rights holder (author and/or publisher) has given us a list of narrators they’d like to audition, we’ll cut an audition piece from the manuscript that we feel will allow them to make an informed decision. We can offer an honest, professional opinion should the rights holder need support when choosing their preferred narrator.

We assign a producer/director to every audiobook commission who will work closely with the narrator throughout the production. At the pre-production stage, producers create a plan for the production, concentrating on the following:

• Characters – Who they are, who they interact with and how they can be voiced.

• Narrative structure – The producer/director will look at how the story transitions from page to page making notes on aspects including the tone, character interaction and pacing so they are ready to offer suggestions and guidance to the narrator during recording sessions.

• Checking pronunciations and providing samples for the narrator.

• Highlighting issues where the text doesn’t transition easily from page to audio and offering solutions.

Arran Dutton, Audio Factory’s Creative Director, acts as a point of contact between Audio Factory and the rights holder and will discuss issues and queries raised by the producer/director and narrator so that solutions are agreed upon ahead of the production. We’re also happy for authors to be involved and have developed a process that allows them to provide notes and offer feedback on samples for key characters before the recording process begins.

Every audiobook production is different and has its own set of challenges. The producer/director will work closely with the narrator during recording sessions, guiding them when necessary and acting as an important sounding board to discuss ideas and offer solutions.

As the recording progresses, the producer/director will follow the manuscript, making notes for the editor and sending them content regularly. They listen out for misreads, mispronounced words, extraneous noises and instances when the delivery isn’t quite right: diction, pacing, issues with intonation and more.

While some requirements of the producer/director role never change, every one has their own approach and their level of involvement can vary depending on the project and narrator requirements. In every case our ethos is to trust the performer and aim to honour their interpretation of the text, but we also feel it’s important that narrators are open-minded and consider that we encourage the producer/director to make suggestions if they feel it may enhance the delivery of any given sentence or passage.

Based on his personal experience, Audio Factory’s Arran Dutton always has notes on hand for every chapter and will regularly look to discuss what is coming up, ways it could be approached and how the narrator interprets the text. “I will only interject with performance notes if I feel a line or passage could be tackled differently and that doesn’t necessarily mean I have the final say!” Arran says. “When I was studying scriptwriting at University, I remember my lecturer stressing the importance of writers giving actors the space and freedom to put their stamp on a script, so I always think of that when I am working with a narrator.”

We’re often asked how long an audiobook will be and how long it will take to record. Every audiobook production is different and the final duration of two books with the same word count can vary for several reasons including the narrator’s natural pacing and the construction of the narrative. As a general rule of thumb, we’d expect to record 30,000 words (usually around 100 pages) in a full-day recording session, but this can also vary as every book has its own set of challenges, so we always cast and schedule a production with provisions in place should the narrator need more time.

The post production process includes the following:

• Editing – Editors take the raw audio from studio sessions and follow the producer/director’s notes as they work through the content and remove anything that shouldn’t be there to leave a clean read. This can include extraneous noises such as loud breaths, mouth clicks and stomach rumbles.

• Mixing – The mixing process uses a combination of equalisation (EQ) to adjust the tonal characteristics of the narrator’s voice and audio compression to ensure a constant volume level throughout a chapter.

• Mastering – This is the final step in the audio post production workflow. It uses compression, limiting and noise reduction to achieve a finished audiobook that is consistent in volume and quality throughout to make for a pleasant listening experience for the consumer.

• Proofing – We listen back through and highlight any issues such as misread lines, mispronounced words and noises we’ve missed and mark them for a pick up session. Rights holders are offered the opportunity to do the same.

• Pick up session – We review any issues highlighted during the proofing process and hold a session with the narrator to make any re-records that are necessary. This is always scheduled at the start of the process.

The final audio (master files) are shared with the rights holder and directly to a distributor if required (ACX, Findaway Voices, Author’s Republic et al) in line with their delivery guidelines.

From there the audiobooks can be made available by online retailers within a matter of weeks and ready to be found by a whole new audience who can enjoy them through this exciting and increasingly popular medium.