Some stories belong in one particular voice. The bedtime story you tell your child every evening. Your mother's favourite book, now that she can no longer read it. At Tonstudio Leipzig I produce personal audiobooks for families, in your voice, at your pace, in an acoustically treated studio.
An audiobook from a shop has a professional narrator. A trained voice, cleanly edited, in studio sound. That can be lovely. But it is not your voice. It is not the voice of your mother, your father, your grandmother, your child. And that is exactly the difference between an ordinary audiobook and a personal one. The second one moves you differently, because the voice in your ear is a familiar one. One that matters to someone.
At Tonstudio Leipzig I produce personal audiobooks for very different occasions. Parents who read bedtime stories for their children, so the child can hear them when the parents are away. Grandparents who record fairy tales for grandchildren who live far away. Children who read a favourite book for an aunt who is ill. Family members who record a favourite book for a mother with failing sight, instead of buying her an audiobook. People who want their own written memories, family histories or poems preserved as audio, so the next generation can hear them.
What these recordings share: they come from an honest occasion, not from commercial calculation. They are made for particular people, not for a market. And they will be just as valuable in ten or twenty years. Sometimes even more valuable, because the voice on them may no longer be there to hear live. If you are thinking about a project like that: for a proper assessment with a concept and recommendations, book a first consultation in the studio shop. Short organisational questions about booking are welcome by email or phone beforehand.
Audiobook projects usually grow out of one clear occasion: a child who should fall asleep, a mother who can no longer read, a family history that would otherwise be lost. Here are the typical situations.
You read your child's favourite stories, as help falling asleep, as company while you are travelling, as a memory for later. In your voice, with your emphasis, at your pace. With quiet piano music underneath if you want it. When the child is grown up and you are no longer there, that recording is beyond price.
When a family member can no longer read, because of an eye condition, failing sight or simply age, an audio recording is often the loveliest gift. You read their favourite book in your own voice, instead of a stranger from the audiobook market. A familiar voice in the ear is comfort and closeness at the same time.
Grandparents often live far from their grandchildren. A recorded collection of fairy tales, family stories or favourite books is an audio bridge that works every evening. With grandmother's or grandfather's voice in the child's room, even if they live 500 kilometres away or are one day no longer there.
Your own life story, a family history across several generations, or the memories of someone you love, recorded as a complete audiobook. Structured in chapters, at a calm pace, sometimes across several sessions. A family heirloom that does not gather dust in a cupboard but is genuinely listened to.
Recordings with children are something special. The particular sound of the voice, the unselfconscious emphasis, the laughing between sentences. A child reading a story for grandparents, for an aunt who is ill or for a sibling is a gift nobody forgets.
You write stories, memories, a family novel or a book of poems yourself. Instead of having it only on paper, read it as an audiobook. For your closest family, for one particular person, or simply for yourself, as the heard version of what you wrote.
Audiobooks vary enormously in length, from a bedtime story through a book of fairy tales to a complete life story. Here are the three package sizes that suit the most common projects, with editing, the option of background music and a CD cover on request.
Ideal for a bedtime story, a short story as a gift or a favourite chapter as an audio message. Up to 30 minutes of final audio, one studio session, editing out pauses and slips, and a finished file to share privately or give as a CD.
The most popular package. A complete children's book, a collection of fairy tales for the grandchildren, a book of poems you wrote yourself, or a favourite book for a relative with failing sight. Up to two hours of final audio, several sessions where needed, editing, background music optional.
When a larger project takes shape: a life story running several hours, a complete family novel, memories in several parts with a chapter structure. Recordings spread across several appointments, edited together into one audio series. With pauses, pace and dignity.
Quiet piano music under bedtime stories, atmospheric sounds for fairy tales, soft acoustic guitar for recordings of memories. Produced here, matched to the pace of your reading and the mood of the story.
The audiobook becomes a CD with an individually designed cover, with a photo of the person reading, the title of the book and a layout that suits. Especially moving as a gift for a big birthday or a birth.
For longer projects: a clean final mix with chapter markers, a consistent level across all chapters and mastering optimised for phones and MP3 players.
An MP3 disappears into cloud storage. A CD with a photo cover stands on the bookshelf, next to the novels, next to the family photos. Anyone given a personal audiobook receives something they can hold, something that stays visible in the room.
You choose a photo showing the person reading, for example a mother with the book in her lap, a grandfather at his desk, a child with a favourite book. Or an abstract image that suits the story. The photo becomes the centre of the cover and gives the audiobook a face.
The cover carries the title of the audiobook, the name of the person reading, a dedication to the person receiving it and the date. Typeface and colours follow the mood of the book: playful for children's books, classic for family histories, calm for recordings of memories.
The finished cover is printed on the CD and the case in professional quality. You can order a single CD or several, one for each child, each sibling, each grandchild. That way every member of the family gets their own copy of the memory.
The audiobook cover is an optional extra, so mention it when you get in touch. Anyone who only needs the digital file gets that just as easily.
An audiobook is not only a recording of a story. Things happen during the recording, at the handover and in the years afterwards. Small quiet important moments that make a personal audiobook more than any bought one.
Recording an audiobook is not a technical procedure. While you read, you think of the person you are doing it for. The child, the mother with failing sight, the grandchildren far away. You can hear that connection in the recording later, and it makes the decisive difference to any bought audiobook.
When a child first hears a bedtime story in your voice while you are not in the room, something rather magical happens. The familiar voice in their ear, in a situation where you would normally be sitting beside them. Trouble falling asleep often disappears with that very first audiobook night.
When children read stories for their grandparents and the CD is handed over, a moment happens that is hard to describe. The voice of a grandchild in their ear, whenever they want it. Grandparents who hear a chapter read by their small grandchildren melt every single time.
For relatives with failing sight a personal audiobook does not only replace reading, it gives closeness. Instead of a stranger's voice from the audiobook market, the mother hears her daughter. That comforts, calms and gives the feeling of not being alone, even on a hard day.
In ten years the child is no longer a child. The parents are older. Some voices can no longer be heard live. That is exactly when the audiobook becomes especially valuable. A bedtime story from a time the teenager barely remembers. A voice that suddenly lives only in that recording.
Most family heirlooms are kept in a cupboard and rarely looked at. A personal audiobook is different. It gets listened to: on journeys, before sleep, on quiet Sunday afternoons. That keeps the person whose voice is on it present in family life, even when they are no longer there.
A good audiobook recording does not happen by chance, it comes from six simple steps of preparation. Nobody has to be a professional narrator, but anyone who keeps these points in mind sounds relaxed and natural on the day.
Choose the text carefully. What really matters to this child, this mother, these grandchildren? A favourite book, a collection of short stories, writing of your own. With several shorter texts, a selection that belongs together thematically works well, so that they form one coherent audiobook.
Read the whole text out loud at home at least once before you come to the studio. That shows you where the difficult passages are, where the emphasis is hard to place, which sentences sound awkward. It helps enormously with reading fluently in the studio, without learning anything by heart.
On the day: drink plenty of water, avoid ice cold drinks, do not eat too heavily, and do not spend the evening before shouting. A rested voice brings warmth and clarity. Before the first take we do a short reading test together, so you settle in easily.
A concentrated reading session lasts about 60 to 90 minutes, after which the voice tires. For longer audiobooks I plan several sessions across several days. That keeps the voice fresh and the audiobook sounds consistent throughout.
Should it be calm enough to fall asleep to? Playful and bright for children? Comforting for a relative with failing sight? Reverent for family memories? Think about the underlying mood before the recording. It helps me with the music and with the edit.
If the audiobook is meant as a gift and the person receiving it must not know, tell me at the first contact. I adjust how we communicate, how it is sent and how it is handed over. Personal content is stored on a cloud server chosen with data protection in mind and treated confidentially.
So that you know exactly what happens between the inquiry and the finished audiobook, here are the four phases of every audiobook production.
You send me an inquiry with your audiobook idea: who is reading, who is receiving it, which text or which book, roughly how long. You can send the text as a file or share it by cloud link. I get back to you with an honest assessment and a package suggestion that fits.
I reserve studio time to match the scope. For longer audiobooks I plan several sessions across several days. You get a short preparation checklist and tips for getting ready to read. If you want background music, we settle the mood and style in advance.
At the appointment I welcome you, show you the studio and do a microphone and reading test with you. We record at your pace, with breaks where you need them. I guide you while you read, give notes on breathing and flow, and allow several takes where a passage is difficult.
After the recording: editing out pauses and slips, improving the sound, adding background music if you want it, and mastering. Delivered as WAV files in studio quality or as MP3, split into chapters. On request there is also a CD with an individual cover.
My studio is centrally placed in the south of Leipzig, five minutes from the Bayerischer Bahnhof. Easy to reach by tram, city train and car. That matters when older family members travel in or parents come with children.
Bernhard Göring Straße 17, five minutes on foot from the Bayerischer Bahnhof. Reachable by tram, city train and car, with parking nearby. Important when older family members arrive by car or parents come with small children.
Halle is about 35 minutes away by city train, and roughly half an hour by car depending on the time of day. Many families from Halle combine the audiobook recording with a day in Leipzig: travelling in calmly and recording without rush.
From the towns around Leipzig you reach the studio in fifteen to twenty five minutes. Markkleeberg, Schkeuditz, Taucha, Markranstädt, Borna, Grimma. That suits especially well if you live nearby and want to record an audiobook for your own family.
Leipzig is under two hours from Chemnitz, Dresden, Jena, Weimar, Erfurt or Magdeburg. A day trip works well for a shorter audiobook recording. For larger projects I plan several appointments spread across several weeks.
For audiobooks with several family members, parents reading in turn, children reading for grandparents, siblings sharing the chapters, the family often comes together at the studio from different cities. Leipzig is well connected as a meeting point.
You can upload texts, books or manuscripts in advance through the cloud server chosen with data protection in mind. I estimate the recording time and a suitable plan without you having to travel first. The first consultation runs entirely remotely, and the studio appointment then comes with a clear plan.
Here are the answers that matter most before you get in touch about your audiobook project. If your question is not here, a short message is enough. I answer in confidence and without any sales pressure.
This page is written for Private clients and families with personal audiobook projects.
That includes: parents reading bedtime stories for their children. Grandparents recording fairy tales for their grandchildren. Family members reading a favourite book for a relative with failing sight. Memories and life stories as an audio heirloom. Children reading as a gift. And your own stories, family histories or books of poems.
Yes, and it is one of the most moving audiobook projects there is.
You read your child's favourite book, along with bedtime stories, fairy tales or stories you wrote yourself. In your voice, at your pace, with your emphasis.
When you are travelling, when you are no longer there, or when the child needs a memory of you, that recording is there.
Yes, that is a an especially valuable occasion.
When a family member can no longer read, because of failing sight, an eye condition or simply age, a personal recording is often the loveliest gift.
You read their favourite book, or a collection of short stories, in your voice instead of a stranger's from the audiobook market.
Yes, gladly. Recordings with children are something quite special.
The particular sound of a child's voice, the unselfconscious emphasis, the laughing between sentences. A child reading a story for grandparents, for an aunt who is ill or for a friend in hospital is a gift nobody forgets.
That depends on the scope.
A short story or a single chapter is often read and edited within two to three hours.
A a longer book I split across several sessions, because the voice tires after about 90 minutes of concentrated reading.
Yes, and it is often what completes an audiobook.
Quiet piano music under bedtime stories, atmospheric sounds for fairy tales, soft acoustic guitar for recordings of memories.
I can produce suitable background music myself, matched to the pace of your reading and in the right mood for the story.
Not a problem. Most parents and grandparents who come to me are standing at a studio microphone for the first time.
I explain how it works calmly and clearly, give you tips on breathing, flow and emphasis, and keep recording until you are happy with how your voice sounds.
You can send me the book, the script or the text as a message, or share it through my password protected cloud server in Germany with an upload chosen with data protection in mind.
That lets me estimate the length and a realistic recording plan in advance. With very personal texts, confidentiality goes without saying.
As standard, as WAV files in studio quality (24 bit), split into chapters or tracks.
On request also as MP3 to send quickly, or as a CD with a cover for handing it over as a gift.
Yes. If the audiobook is meant as a surprise gift , for a big birthday, an anniversary, a wedding or a confirmation, mention it at the first contact.
I adjust how we communicate, how it is sent and how it is handed over. Personal content stays entirely confidential.
Yes, that is a an especially moving format.
Anyone who has lost someone they love can record stories about them as an audiobook: memories, anecdotes, what that person meant to the family.
Purely several family members can contribute different chapters. As a memory of that person for everyone who loved them.
This page is written for private audiobook projects without a commercial background.
If you work for a a publisher, an author planning to publish, a company or for commercial purposes , please see the separate business site of Tonstudio Leipzig for companies and freelancers.
Tell me briefly what you have in mind: bedtime stories for your child, fairy tales for the grandchildren, your mother's favourite book now that her sight is failing, your own stories or a family heirloom. I usually answer the same day with an honest assessment and a package suggestion that fits. For a proper assessment of your project with a concept and recommendations, book a first consultation in the studio shop. Short organisational questions about booking are welcome by email or phone beforehand.