Children Audio Books
Children Audio Books (audio stories) are terrific
gifts for
children, family, and friends. My siblings and I received such a
special gift from one of our aunts one year. We got a whole set of
cassette tapes with fantastic stories, Aladdin and the Forty
Thieves, Beauty and the Beast, and we
listened to them every night before we slept.
Now you can make a great gift for your family and friends and enjoy
using your voice and creativity!
Equipment
You can record it the old school way or take advantage of new
technologies (you probably already have) to create your own set of
children audio books.
- Audio Cassettes – I recorded a personal story
with a cassette player just fine. If you have cassette tapes and a
player with a record option, give it a try!
- Computer
Recording – You can now record and edit sounds on your computer. You
may have some audio device on your computer with a recording function
already. With a computer audio program, you can record, edit, add sound
effects and maybe music to your audio books/stories. AND you can put
the story onto a CD or turn it into an MP3 to listen to whenever you
want.
- You can also use a Mp3 recorder and then upload
to your computer.
Team Work
This is a fun and easy story project, so try having everyone on the
team participate with each job.
- Story – Write up the story so that listeners
will understand the story.
- The more characters there are, the more voices.
You may get to do two voices, too!
- You
may want to use sound effects. For cassette, someone may need to make
the sound effects in the background. For computer creators, your team
could work with the sound effects on the computer.
- A beautiful printed version of the story needs
to be made to accompany the audio book.
Voice Shy
You may feel shy or uncomfortable with recording your voice. I felt
pretty uncomfortable when I was asked to record myself telling a story
for a class project. I couldn’t even listen to it afterwards.
Some
years later I realized that I reacted this way because I felt silly
talking to thin air. I bet many people would feel the same way too.
Here are a few practical ways to get rid of this uneasiness:
- Practice:
You may feel nervous when the tape is rolling. So practice ahead of
time so that you feel more comfortable with the lines
- Personalize:
Pretend you are talking to someone you know. Imagine yourself as the
character and inject some of your own personality.
Your
voice will sound a tad bit different from how you hear it. But that’s
normal. You’ll be surprised how fast you’ll become comfortable with
your own voice.
Easy and Fun Steps
When creating children audio books, a little preparation goes a long
way. You can always rerecord though.
- First, you need to make a script of your story,
such as:
Narrator: blah blah blah
Character A: “blah blah blah”
Character B: “Blah”
Break the story down.
- Then add in the script what sounds
are going to be used.
Narrator: blah blah blah
Sound: sounds of horse gallop
Character A: “blah blah blah”
Character B: “Blah”
Now you have a good script that you can print out and share with each
voice actor/tress.
- If
you’re planning on making your own sound effects then you need to
practice and make sure they are loud enough for the cassette or
computer to catch.
- You might want to practice going over the story
once with your team right before the actual recording.
- Now, record your story.
Note: If you are recording with a cassette
tape,
remember to listen after every few lines (and rerecord if needed).
Don't wait till you’ve recorded the whole story to go back and listen
for mistakes.
You should be able to rerecord, add, and
insert to an audio story if you’re working on a computer
sound editor without affecting the rest of the story.
- Don’t forget to make a written version of your
audio story so that readers can read along your lines!
Now you and your children can listen to the Children Audio
Books you've made together!
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