It seemed such a fanciful thought at the time: Let’s produce our own audio version of Alice in Wonderland! But barely six months later, the CD was on the shelves in local shops and a download was available from our brand new website. Soon after, our confidence received a much-welcome boost when The Times’ reviewer wrote to say she "enjoyed this very much." 

In between that first thought and the moment when we received our CDs - professionally produced by Sony - there was a learning curve so steep it would have daunted a veteran mountain climber. But being complete beginners, we couldn’t see the metaphorical mountain that lay ahead.

In our innocence we forged ahead, acquiring appropriate software – Cool Edit was fantastic and easy to use – and hardware such as microphones and a reflexion filter. A steady stream of wannabe audio stars turned up to audition and gradually it became clear who might be the best candidates for the main roles.

Auditions

Crucial to the success of the audiobook would be Alice herself. I had listened to a few Alice audiobooks and found Alice consistently disappointing: sounding too mature or even – dare I say it? - old, in the recordings narrated by a female. Male narrators simply did not figure in projecting a heroine who, in my mind, should sound innocent and naïve but definitely intelligent and with a modicum of feistiness. One of the first people to contact me was from Oxford University and, to my delight, she turned out to have the voice and manner that I was looking for. With Kate on board, I felt a growing confidence. Bill arrived some time later and it was great to discover someone who was a good mimic but also a very capable composer.

Recording

There were a number of glitches such as discovering that there was a lot of noise and hiss in the recording. Then there were the headache-inducing interruptions caused by unwanted noise from aeroplanes droning overhead. These usually occurred on hot, sunny days (of course!) when being stuck for long hours in a stuffy room was decidedly unpleasant. How trying that was for our poor Kate who was both narrator and Alice and had reams and reams to record. But she stoically carried on in the face of the adversity caused by global warming .

Editing

This was make or break time. Getting rid of the audible intake of breath at the start of sentences was easy. Inserting pauses between one speaker and the next - each timed to give maximum effect - was difficult to judge well and there were many revisions here. Once you realise that we could only record one actor at a time - due to limited space and equipment - you will understand the complexity of the task of attaining a smooth flow of verbal interaction between the various characters who had, in some cases, not even met one another.

Packaging

Designing the CD label and packaging came next. Adhering to Sony’s specifications was challenging but a cinch compared to the frustrations experienced during recording and editing. We utilised Photoshop as best we could and picked up some new skills.

Oxford is about to celebrate Alice’s Day on July 4th 2009 and BBC Radio Oxford is going to play extracts every day in the week leading up to Alice’s Day.

I reckon we must have got some things right. www.storypods.co.uk