The Writer's Journey - Log 2

The air in my house is stifling. Even with the fans blowing, the lack of air circulation is brutal. With a normal desired temperature somewhere in the mid-70s, the upper 80s the afternoon brings makes it nearly unbearable to be inside. However, there are still things that need to be done, so I take a long chug of water, pour myself a whiskey-Dr. Pepper, and head into the sweltering office. 

One thing my past recordings taught me is that it is incredibly important to have some sort of setup. It doesn't need to be too professional or fancy; it just needs to be something that can help block the echo, which is exacerbated in my house due to the fact the floor is entirely tile. With some ingenuity, I learned while recording Viator's audiobook that several sheets and blankets will do the job well enough, especially when combined with covering the floor with every dog pillow I have. 

When setting up for Viator, the process of hanging the sheets and blankets took nearly a full day. Every time I would get one end secured, the weight would pull it free, hence why a section of my ceiling has several holes. This time, however, it took just mere minutes to get everything in place and secured for the foreseeable future. I put my monitor on a bedside table I put on top of my desk, hooked up the mic, and despite beginning to really suffer the heat, everything was set up. 

Inside that makeshift recording studio, the circulation drops even more, and the temperatures increase. To prevent audio pollution, fans in the room are an absolute no-go, and with the walls being made of blankets, insulation of the heat is extreme. 

When recording, I have yet to find a way to sit and record, so all of the sessions are done while standing. At first, it isn't an issue, but over the course of a day, standing in one place, sweltering from being inside several blankets, no air conditioning or cooling finding their way inside, it becomes quite excruciating. 

I made it through about an hour of recording on Sunday, the 8th of June, before the effects of my surroundings began to truly have an effect, and they made their presence felt in a way I hadn't been expecting. With little to no movement, my legs began swell a bit, my thighs feeling tight. They almost felt as if I'd just run a half marathon. I pushed through the issue, though, making sure to take time in between chapters to move around, crouch, and stretch.

On day 2, I set my alarm early, waking up to the early  morning sun as it broke through my window at 7 A.M. Even though the AC has issues, it still cools overnight, so I was determined to take advantage of the lower temperatures while I could. 

Without having to put up the sheets and table, I grabbed some water and a drink that it was way too early for, and I stepped into the 'booth'. The chapters came easy, flowing out with so few problems it almost concerned me. There were several more typos and grammatical issues I ran into, but overall, things were going as well as I could have hoped for. 

I made it through roughly 3 hours of recording when summer activities next door - kids playing in the pool - began to creep in through my back door, their laughter getting picked up by my microphone. That put a bit of a pause on the recording, but my feet were grateful. They'd begun swelling again in the heat and standing in one position for so long, so even though I didn't want to stop, they needed the break. 

By the evening, I was able to hop back in the booth and get several more chapters recorded, and now, as I prepare for the third day of recording, I am more than halfway through recording. It isn't the recording process that takes a while, though. It's the editing. 

While recording Viator's audiobook, though, I had begun to do a loud beep whenever I flubbed a word or got the reading of a sentence wrong. That made the editing process a lot easier, and if it goes half as well as the recording is going, it will take just a few days! 

Now, with another $750 spent to get my AC working, at least temporarily, I'm hoping my third day of recording is free of the swelling and tingling issues, but there is only one way to find out!