Recording at home no longer needs pricey studios. You only need a quiet corner, a solid mic, and a clear checklist. This guide covers gear, room treatment, and the ACX specs your files must meet. You’ll master editing tricks that save time and keep narration crisp. Follow along and you’ll know exactly how to sell audiobooks on Audible for steady royalties.
Contents
How to Sell Audiobooks on Audible: Knowing the Criteria
Clear specs keep your audiobook out of ACX’s rejection queue. Know them before you hit record so every take fits Audible’s pipeline first time.
- Peaks must stay below 3 dBFS to avoid clipping.
- RMS loudness has to fall between 18 dBFS and 23 dBFS.
- Background noise must sit quieter than 60 dBFS.
- Record at 44.1 kHz, 16- or 24-bit PCM.
- Export mono or stereo chapters as 192 kbps constant-bit-rate MP3.
- Add 0.5–1 s of room tone up front and 1–5 s at the end of each file, plus separate opening and closing credits.Â
ACX sets strict sound targets so every title shares the same loudness. This prevents sudden jumps when listeners switch books or chapters. Peaks above minus three decibels distort on earbuds. Noise floors louder than minus sixty decibels reveal room hiss in quiet passages. Staying inside the window keeps playback smooth on phones, cars, and smart speakers.
Nail these specs while recording and editing becomes lighter. You avoid hunting clipped consonants or masking hiss with heavy filters. Chapter exports line up without manual gain rides. ACX approvals arrive faster because every file already meets the checklist. The hours you save can go toward polishing your performance or planning a strong launch.
Prepare a Quiet Recording Space at Home
Turning any spare room into a studio starts with silence and soft surfaces. You don’t need pricey foam, only careful placement and smart common-sense fixes.
Choose the Right Room
Pick the smallest interior room on the quietest side of the house. Exterior walls invite traffic rumble and barking dogs. Kitchens hum. Bathrooms echo. A walk-in closet often works because clothing acts like thick acoustic blankets.
Shut windows tight and seal door gaps with adhesive weather-strips. Heavy drapes on the lone window block leaf blowers and motorcycles. Turn off HVAC vents to stop whooshing air. Place your desk away from the wall so reflected waves don’t bounce right back into the mic. This first step slashes noise before you even power on.
Control External Noise
Silence is cumulative. Stack small barriers until the background hiss falls below Audible’s minus sixty decibel floor. Start with mass. Lay a thick rug on hard tile to soak up footsteps and muffle low-end vibration.Â
Slide a bookshelf full of paperbacks against the outer wall; books scatter midrange frequencies better than thin foam panels. Hang a heavy comforter behind you to catch early reflections and block hallway chatter.
If a laptop fan creeps past the mic, move the machine outside the room and run a long USB cable. Each tweak buys cleaner takes and less time filtering hum.
Tame Reflections
Room tone matters as much as outside noise. Bare drywall and glass bounce high frequencies that color narration with ping-pong echoes. Focus on first reflection points. Sit in your chair and clap; wherever the sound hits a surface fastest, mount a square of dense acoustic foam or a thick throw pillow.
Treat the opposite wall too so waves don’t ping back. An isolation shield behind the mic adds another layer, catching rear splatter before it reaches the capsule. Balanced absorption makes the voice sound intimate yet bright, avoiding the dead, boxy vibe of overtreated booths.
Build a Portable Vocal Booth
A collapsible booth keeps rented spaces flexible. Use a folding laundry rack, six moving blankets, and spring clamps. Drape three blankets over the rack to form a U-shape behind the chair. Hang the rest over the top to build a soft ceiling.
Position your mic at the opening and speak toward the blankets, not a hard wall. The heavy fabric absorbs mid and high frequencies while letting bass escape, preventing a boomy low-end buildup.
When you’re done, fold the rack flat and slide it under the bed. Portability means you keep recording even when you travel.
Comfort and Workflow
A relaxed narrator sounds better. Adjust the chair so your spine stays straight and shoulders drop. Keep a bottle of room-temperature water within arm’s reach to prevent mouth clicks. Place the script on a tablet set to dark mode to cut page-turn noise and eye strain. Use a silent Bluetooth foot switch to scroll text so hands stay still. Turn off phone alerts and stick a sign on the door so family members know a session is in progress. Small ergonomic touches extend your voice and focus, letting you stack consistent, usable takes hour after hour.
Essential Gear To Record Your Audiobook
Your story deserves audio that sounds like it came from a pro booth. Smart gear choices remove hiss, level volume, and capture warmth listeners pay for. Audible shoppers skip titles with thin, noisy tracks. They crave crisp narration that fills earbuds without fatigue. The tools below give you that polish at home and keep production on budget. Release projects faster.
Audio-Technica AT2020USB+
Audio-Technica’s AT2020USB+ packs studio clarity into a plug-and-play body that beginners can set up in minutes. The side-address condenser capsule lifts mids cleanly and keeps handling noise low. A solid 0.39-kg shell and metal pivot mount shrug off daily twists on a boom arm, ideal for marathon audiobook sessions.
Real-time monitoring makes this mic stand out. A built-in headphone amp drives cans without hiss, and the front mix dial balances playback with your live track so you hear exactly what listeners will buy. The cardioid pattern knocks back keyboard clatter, while a quiet circuit stays below ACX’s –60 dB noise floor in a treated room.
Benefits For Audiobook Recording:
- USB plug-and-play condenser captures 16-bit, 44.1/48 kHz audio
- Cardioid pickup rejects off-axis room noise
- Headphone jack offers latency-free monitoring with volume knob
- Mix control blends mic and computer playback
- High-output amp delivers clean, loud cue mixes
- Ships with pivot mount, tripod desk stand, and soft pouchÂ
Aokeo Microphone Isolation Shield
Audio buffs who want cleaner takes without building a fixed booth will like the Aokeo Microphone Isolation Shield. Three layers of dense foam face the speaker while a slotted metal back lets trapped energy escape, so mids stay focused and highs don’t ping-pong off nearby walls.Â
The whole panel folds for travel, clips to any desk stand, and sets up in under a minute. I tried it behind a Shure MV7 in a spare bedroom; the shield knocked hissy reflections down by roughly 8 dB, enough to meet ACX’s –60 dB noise floor with no extra EQ.
Aokeo’s frame feels tougher than most under-$50 baffles. Hinges don’t sag after repeated bends, and the 1 kg weight keeps the rig stable even when you swing a heavy shock mount in front. At 23 × 11 inches, the screen also works for guitar cabs and violin mics—handy if you narrate and record music.
Benefits For Audiobook Recording:
- Triple-layer foam front with a vented metal rear traps reflections and cuts room noise
- Foldable five-panel alloy frame packs flat for quick travel and storage
- 1 kg (2.2 lb) build stays stable on desks yet remains easy to reposition
- 3/8″ threaded base plus 5/8″ adapter fits most mic stands and shock mounts
- Ships with an adjustable desktop stand, pop filter, and thread adapters for instant setup
- Covered by a 30-day refund window and one-year after-sales support for peace of mind
Wrap Up: Recording an Audiobook for Audible
Recording an audiobook at home demands clear technical goals and disciplined workflow. Lock in ACX specs while tracking and your files pass inspection the first time. Treat the room, pick reliable gear, and edit with a light touch to keep narration natural. Upload through ACX, set a competitive price, and plan a launch that drums up early reviews. Nail these steps and you’re earning Audible royalties on a product that sounds truly professional.
If music is more your career choice, we have a guide for you. Check out our article on making the perfect music room.Â
