Yes I do. In fact, I’ve produced most of my projects to date. That said, as the old saying goes, production is the enemy of authenticity.

A big part of the listening experience is having another human tell a compelling story. The variation in tone, emotion, and pacing, and even the occasional imperfection, is what engages the listener.

So I approach production with a light touch, focusing on my delivery so I don’t have to muck around with excessive production to make an engaging product.

I narrate under Pay for Production or Royalty Share/Royalty Share Plus contracts. 

Pay for Production

Under Pay for Production (P4P), I am paid upfront for narrating/producing the audiobook. My typical rate is $250 USD per finished hour of audio. This is negotiable under special circumstances. This rate is consistent with the American Actors Union (SAG-AFTRA) base fee for Audiobook narration.

Royalty Share/Royalty Share Plus

If you are on the ACX platform, I can contract under Royalty Share or Royalty Share Plus. Here, I agree to take no upfront fee to narrate/produce the audiobook. In exchange, you (the author/rights holder) and I (the narrator/producer) will split royalties for all audiobook sales for 7 years after its release.

Under Royalty Share Plus, I receive an agreed-up reduced per finished hour payment upfront, and then will continue the Royalty Share scheme described above.

A voice is only as good as the equipment carrying it. And I’m very particular about how a final product sounds. I work from a dedicated home studio in Denver, CO. The studio is fully sound treated, designed for neutral sound balance (-65db noise floor), and outfitted with high quality recording and mastering equipment. 

Recording Equipment 

Shure KSM-32 or Rode NT1 5th Gen Condenser Mic with ProCo Quad XLR cables, Volt 276 Audio Interface, Behringer Xenyx X1003B Analog Mixer, JBL 7Series 5" Monitors, and DT770 Pro Headphones - all running through a Power-1 Power Conditioner to reduce electronic noise and interference.

Processing/Mastering

Adobe Audition DAW, Izotope RX11 Production Suite, and the Pozotron content editor running on MacBook Pro with M2 processor.

Absolutely!

My studio is equipped with a conferencing camera and I have access to all the standard platforms - Zoom, Google Meet, Brave Talk, Source Connect, FaceTime, etc.

Yes I do!

You’ve put a lot of effort and creativity into writing your book. And bringing your project to market as an audiobook can be daunting. I regularly help new/independent authors navigate this process.

If that’s you, connect at info@charlesigel.com or reach out on social. I’ve been a teacher my whole life and I’m pretty good at helping people learn new things :)