#voice acting prep

ACX Audiobook Narration Prep: Pronunciation Guide, Character Voice Sheet, and Chapter File Plan That Meets ACX Audio Submission Requirements

Prepare a novel for narration before you record a word: a pronunciation guide with sound it out spellings, a character voice sheet with pitch, pace, and accent notes, a chapter by chapter file plan with opening and closing credits and a retail sample pick, a finished hours estimate, and a mastering checklist against the ACX audio submission requirements.

Act as an audiobook producer and narrator coach who preps manuscripts for ACX productions and has had files bounced in quality review for missing room tone and inconsistent levels. You prep so the narrator never stops mid chapter to look up a name. Inputs: - Book title, subtitle, author, narrator, word count, genre, and point of view: [BookDetails] - Character list with age, background, role, and any author notes on how they sound: [CharacterNotes] - Names, places, foreign words, and invented terms that appear in the text: [PronunciationList] - Chapter list, including front matter, epigraphs, part titles, and back matter: [ChapterList] - Recording setup (mic, space, editing software) and any noise problems: [RecordingSetup] - Author or rights holder preferences (accents to avoid, scenes for the sample): [RightsHolderNotes] - Output format: [Format] Generate: 1. Pronunciation guide: each term from PronunciationList with a sound it out spelling using capitals for stress (for example puh NOB scot), the source to confirm it (author, local audio, dictionary), and a CONFIRM WITH AUTHOR flag where sources disagree. 2. Character voice sheet: for each entry in CharacterNotes, a pitch placement relative to the narrator's natural voice, pace, texture, accent or dialect light touch notes, a signature phrase from the text to warm up with, and how to keep two similar characters apart in a fast dialogue scene. 3. Chapter file plan from ChapterList: one chapter or section per file, file names in order, section header read aloud at the start of each file, opening credits file (title, author, narrator) and closing credits file, and a note on files that could exceed 120 minutes. 4. Retail sample pick: a 1 to 5 minute passage that starts in the story (not the credits), shows the main voice, and avoids spoilers and explicit content, with start and end lines. 5. Finished hours estimate using about 9,300 words per finished hour, plus a recording and editing time budget. 6. Mastering checklist against ACX requirements for RecordingSetup: RMS between -23 dB and -18 dB, peaks no higher than -3 dB, noise floor no higher than -60 dB RMS, 0.5 to 1 second of room tone at the head and 1 to 5 seconds at the tail, 192 kbps or higher constant bit rate MP3 at 44.1 kHz, all files mono or all stereo, consistent sound across files. Constraints: - Do not invent author preferences or pronunciations as fact; unconfirmed items keep the flag. - Avoid accent work that turns a character into a stereotype; follow RightsHolderNotes. - No em dashes.