I’ve decided to turn “Intangible” into an audiobook. I *could* just hire a production company to read/produce it and either pay them outright or split royalties. But then I found out from a tech-savvy friend that you can actually get the equipment for around $60, download a program to do it for free, and build your own little sound-proof box with cheap-o equipment form the Dollar Store (foam board and a foam bed topper, held together with duct tape).
Problem #1: I didn’t have duct tape. I had packing tape. And a glue stick. (NOT effective, in case you were wondering.)
Problem #2: First attempt to download said program —> malware on my Mac. This was super annoying when random popups showed up that day while I was trying to type up chart notes. Had to figure out how to restore the settings that night.
Problem #3: Downloaded it again from a reputable site this time, but it was a Windows program. I have a “virtual machine” on my computer so it went there… only some technological miscommunication between the two systems meant the recording was silent. Which sort of defeats the purpose of a recording. Also, it’s slightly possible it might have crashed my virtual machine.
Problem #4: I don’t have a British accent, and the books are set in England. I can affect an accent, but I don’t actually know whether anybody would be convinced. The last time I had to put on a British accent was about seven years ago when I was cast in an Agatha Christie play, and before the performance I drove around listening to “My Fair Lady” nonstop in my car for like a month before. Can I still pull it off? …We’ll see! (Or we won’t, if I can’t get the audio to work.)
Problem #5: I have no clue how to pronounce the Ancient Tongue. It’s really ancient Irish and I got of off of Google Translate, if you want to know the truth. There’s a little microphone next to the translate box that will pronounce it for you, but somehow it doesn’t sound right to me. But shoot, it’s my language (now anyway)… maybe I’ll just make it up! 🙂
This *may* be more trouble than it’s worth…
