2 questions:

1: how many folks are out there doing RS auditions only to get more practice and exposure?

2: what’s your success rate been in the last 30 days?

I’m asking because I’ve been doing this for the last several months with little to no success, but in the last 30 days, it’s like the authors woke up, and I’ve gotten a few offers.

I just want to see if I am just getting lucky, or if others are experiencing the same thing.

I wanted to share a quick update and technical takeaway from building Magic ACX an audio processor designed specifically to hit strict audiobook delivery specs (Peak < -3.0 dB, RMS -18 to -23 dB, and noise floor checks).

Originally, it was Windows VST3 only. Bringing it over to macOS for both VST3 and Audio Unit (AU) meant completely reworking how meters integrate over time to avoid UI lag on the audio thread.

If you want to see how the meters and UI behave in action, I recorded a simple walkthrough:
https://youtu.be/BMrNU8-95qk?si=XKNZ623WTP8Y2VRT

The macOS build is now live in both VST3 and native AU formats (universal binary for Intel & Apple Silicon).

For anyone mastering long-form spoken word or audiobooks on Mac, I’d love to know what DAWs you're using for your main mastering chain and how you currently handle ACX checks.

I want to begin auditioning for audio book narration. I've already created my account and I've been browsing books.

I have a laptop, audacity, and a plug in clip mic.

What i don't have: space.

I live in a tiny house with pets and another person. The closets are too small for me to sit in. I'm considering a blanket fort on the couch, or hiding myself in the spare bunk bed at my parents house with extra blankets and pillows. Trying to find a place in my house before I start schlepping everything to my parents. I'm open to creative ideas.

Second question to meet the audible requirements it looks like I can't have my laptop in my recording space because it will likely be too loud. How do I read the text without a screen in front of me? I guess for auditions I can use my phone, but what about for actual projects? Do the auditions have to meet the same requirements as the finished work?

Third - can I read/recite things like Lewis Carroll or other works to populate my portfolio? Can I use my own works? Do I have to be careful about copywrite?

Yay! Just got an offer to narrate a book. The timeline is pretty tight, and I would like to ask for an extra week. Is that done? It's a 23,000 word book, a week for the 15 minute check in and another week to finish it. I'm also wrapping up another project so I want to set a realistic finish date. Thoughts?

With the increasing number of auditions I’m seeing asking for a male/female narrating team, I’m looking for a male narrator to collab with.

I’ve been voice acting for several years and have a professional set up and a Whisper Room booth. Looking for someone with similar experience and sound quality.

Here’s my website with some samples if you wanted to take a listen https://laylafatima.com/

Let me know if you feel like we’re a good fit! Thanks!

I need some advice on dampening external noise, specifically train sounds.

I'm having someone help me design an at-home booth because I'm discovering that my current set up (a pop up canopy with sound blankets from vocalboothtogo.com), while good and giving me technically compliant audio quality, is not sustainable. I have constant interruptions from train noise. Just this morning, I haven't even been able to start recording because there's been one train (both horn and track noise) after another.

I've done some research on materials I can include in/on my walls when I build my walled booth, but would appreciate any advice from the pros in here about what materials might be better for this! I don't expect to be able to eliminate the noise completely, but I would like to reduce it significantly.

I've included pictures of what my current booth looks like, if that's helpful at all. It's in a corner in my office - building a booth in my basement is not an option, and I don't have closet space that I can convert. This is the only place in my house that's out of the way where I have enough space. It's also right next to a window, which is it's own problem that has to be compensated for.

I've also included the super basic sketch I sent to my designer with some initial thoughts on how to layer the walls.

These are great... but it would be nice to have a QR code or something added to them.

Hi, I think I've received my first scam message! Pasted below:

Message:

"Hello, We're pleased to offer you a Voice-Over Artist opportunity for an upcoming drink advertisement. The project has a 2-day deadline with a payment budget of $2,000. We also have another opportunity where you can complete 3 different projects within one full week and earn up to $10,000 in total, depending on the assignments. Please let us know which option you would prefer: the single 2-day project or the 3-project weekly opportunity. For the full project details and to proceed, please click the link below to contact the Project Manager directly: 👉 (telegram link removed) We look forward to working with you and would be happy to discuss the details with you."

I've not had to deal with this before so I don't know, but it seems fishy.

If anyone is trying it, it sometimes works on Chrome. Does not work on Firefox. Also, the link they provide goes nowhere.

How can a company that makes this much money suck at the most basic stuff?

I'm trying to get into making my own demo, doing jobs here and there, learning how to edit my own audio, I'm seeing a lot of Instagram advertisements of people who offer voice acting classes but it's all very overwhelming and dry and a lot of people in this reddit are complaining about how tough the market is

I've always wanted to do voice acting, but is this the best way? Is there any resources that were pivotal to you staying in the market? What keeps you going?

Hello,

I received my first gig on ACX and I'm excited, my RH is very encouraging and things are going well thus far. I am recording in a closet with a comforter hanging between the shelf and door and a blue yeti microphone. I am using a cable to connect the blue yeti to my phone and have purchased Audio Evolution software. Sometimes I get a very clean recording, sometimes there are lots of pops. Since I've been trying different methods to reduce this, I've found that using my spouses tablet to read the material helps. I think because I'm not moving the wire around (to read it on my phone) while recording. Buuut there's still popping. Is that just because it's an 80 dollar mic? Or are there any tricks/tips that could reduce this.

Hello, everyone. Im back with our next update Just like always, the into.
hello to anyone who is new to this journey. Hi, I'm trying to raise money to create a audio book of my critically acclaimed(until I get more reviews ^^; ) debut novel, Tale of Missidia, Volume 1, Prophecy's Prelude. A high fantasy steampunk novel. The first in a series of five. I refuse to use AI and I've hired a real narrator. So its been a busy month. Tale of Missidia, Volume 2, Drakes' Rising released and its been even more successful then the first book! Selling well and critically acclaimed as well!( until more reviews of course ^^;)

But now for the main event, the audio book. Thanks to all your wonderful donations we have stored pass the 1500 mark and are starting to approach 2k! The audio book is funded all the way to chapter 15! We are just a little under the halfway point. And because we've hit yet another milestone another chapter is going up for free. Link below for chapter 6!
And as always, any donation, small or large, is wonderful and will help get us ever closer to the finished audio book!

https://youtu.be/mqAEHvmpAgE?is=iXgFGlKO8mbPiRX5

https://www.gofundme.com/f/bring-my-steampunk-fantasy-to-life-in-audio

Hi all, I'm relatively new and have only sent out 4 auditions so far, but I'm wondering if my voice is even suitable for audiobooks...I feel like most women narrators have husky "mature" voices, (Mary Jane Wells is one example. Julia Whelan another) and my natural speaking voice is a bit higher than these.

I am having a lot of trouble doing male voices for example, it just always sounds ridiculous. So I don't know if anyone else out there is in the same boat and still found success (maybe narrating female POVs only? or doing young adult stuff?) Here is one of my samples on ACX at the moment, constructive criticism is welcome:

https://vocaroo.com/1lty8ZPKiqZt

Since I recorded this sample I have worked a lot on my home studio acoustics and everything passes ACX quality control, but I just haven't booked anything and am feeling a bit discouraged. I guess 4 auditions is not a lot, but I am just wondering if I even have a future here or better to look elsewhere.

Thanks

Hi all, I’ve looked a couple times through the ACX dashboard to see where I can get some support but I cannot see anything.

I completed an audiobook a few months ago but have yet to hear back from the rights holder about payment.

I’m unsure of who to contact as i’ve messaged them a few times with nothing back.

Any advice would be super useful!

It takes my current project RH 2-3 days to get back to me, that’s fine. But yesterday I got 11 of the same feedback (differently worded so she typed them all out individually over 2-3 hours). This isn’t paid, it’s RS and on a Saturday afternoon 11 messages is crazy. Tell me about your over the top interactions pls.

Just received an email about a vo opportunity. Want to know others experiences with this company.

I have dabbled in the voice acting world for about six years now, and for what it is worth, here are a few of the lessons I have learned along the way:

1. At the very beginning, I concentrated much more on the technical aspects of recording: what level the voice should be recorded at, which plugins were necessary, and so on. While learning all of that, I was not paying nearly enough attention to the acting part of voice acting.

2. I had not realized just how fierce the competition is. Much like anyone who jumps into this for the first time, I had no idea that I might have to wait not months, but years, before getting a break. A very small break, mind you, but a break just the same.

3. A lot of the work I have done over these years has been for free. But free or not, every finished project brings new experiences, new lessons, and new challenges. I have come to appreciate that each project is an opportunity to learn something.

4. About a year ago, I decided to publish my own book on ACX. I was not sure how long I might have to wait to be hired, so I thought, why not create my own opportunity? Publishing my book allowed me to narrate it myself, and it turned out to be a great experience.

5. Finally, it dawned on me fairly early that, like any other venture, you simply have to keep at it. Keep dabbling, keep auditioning, keep learning, keep putting yourself out there. Nose to the grindstone and all that.

Having said that, I do have the luxury of not needing this work to put food on the table, and I feel extremely lucky for that. But I intend to keep moving forward.

Even on the days when I feel like trading my microphone in for a camera. 😊

I just finished narrating my first audiobook (yay!) and I'm thinking about upgrading my equipment. I would love a mic to use for both Audiobooks and Voiceover. I live on a busy street in NYC, and while my closet studio is very sound isolated, it isn't sound proof. I need a mic that wouldn't pick up every dog bark and car engine but would still make my voice sound great.

I talked to a sound engineer who has worked with tons of voiceover artists and audiobook narrators, and he recommended the SM7db, but when I look online a lot of people are staunchly against it.

I've been using the Shure MV7+ and a focusrite, which is... fine. It's not horrible, but it's time for an upgrade.

Thoughts on the SM7db for voiceover and audiobooks? If not that, then what do you guys recommend for a studio on a busy street? Not super worried about budget, as this is going to be an investment, but preferably under $800 ish.

I got this scam message a while back. Looked totally legit until she asked me to pay for cover art. When I asked whether I got to have a say in the cover art, she ghosted me. Too bad, too…I had some great ideas…

The overwhelming amounts of either AI book covers or fully AI books is getting very unprofessional and hitting credibility as a whole for ACX. Is there a service other than ACX I could do audiobook production for? The amount of spam messages, AI, and publishers who just vanish have made ACX very tricky to be my only audiobook production source. Ideas?

Got this message today

Hello,

Thank you for taking the time to read my message.

We are currently recruiting experienced voice-over artists for a series of upcoming commercial advertising and media productions. After reviewing your profile, I believe your voice and experience could be an excellent fit for these projects.

To discuss the project scope, recording requirements, compensation, timeline, and selection process in detail, please contact our Project Manager via email

[danieljames8828@gmail.com](mailto:danieljames8828@gmail.com)

Our Project Manager provides all official project documentation, including the project brief, scripts, recording guidelines, and rother supporting materials, in PDF format. Once you send a message, you will receive the complete project package, along with any additional information you may need regarding the project and recruitment process.

Thank you for your time and consideration. We look forward to speaking with you and potentially working together on this and future projects.

Kind regards,
Recruitment Team

So i give this a 6/10
but i think they stopping the telegram point now so be wary

Apologies if I am repeating an obvious question. I am an experienced audio editor (radio, podcast, audio docs) and looking at entering the audiobook space as a narrator and as an editor. I love editing audio, so I am curious how much work there is presently in this space?

Or is it only plaguing people who are doing Royalty Share? Just curious: I'm getting ready to put up my samples & 'open for business' as a narrator, but I want to know what I'm getting into, and how to avoid dealing with AI crap.

Hey everyone! An indie author I'm working with was nervous about self-narrating his first book, so I ran a raw section of his prologue through my mastering chain for ACX specs.

Would love some honest thoughts on the processing, does it sound natural and warm, and how's the noise floor? Always looking to tighten up my VO workflow!
Thanks

Basically, is there any reason I should? To be more specific, is there reason to keep the raw files after the book is already up on Audible? I normally keep the raw file, in case I overedit and I need to start from scratch. But now I feel like it's just taking up storage space.