Hindenburg Narrator – fast and easy

The advantages summarized

Audiobook production should be effortless. That’s why Hindenburg Narrator is designed specifically for narrators and voice actors, removing complexity and allowing you to focus on what truly matters: the story.

With Hindenburg Narrator, the process is as simple as:

• Open a book – Import your manuscript directly into the software.
• Record the book – Start narrating with just a few keys, while text and audio sync effortlessly.
• Export the book – Deliver high-quality files in the correct format with a single click.

Why Hindenburg Narrator?

• Effortless workflow – No complicated setup, no distractions—just record and go.
• Seamless text and audio synchronization – Navigate and record in real time with precision.
• Minimal learning curve – Master the basics in minutes with intuitive controls.
• Smart editing and automatic leveling – Ensure broadcast-quality sound with minimal effort.
• Perfect for studios and Independent Narrators – Smooth collaboration with session sharing.

The discovery of perfect alignment

In my years at Hewlett-Packard, I learned that during every new application implementation project at a customer organization there are two core questions to be asked. For the project to succeed, the application users involved must be able to answer both questions in the affirmative: Will the computer program help me do my job better – and can I learn to use it correctly?

There are many applications on the market for recording and editing sound in a general sense. Some go far in technical possibilities for processing sound, featuring a multitude of effects and possibilities for mixing. You can put a dozen tracks on the screen and it all looks overly complex. For a voice actor, it’s way too much. But at the same time, it is too little. Hindenburg Narrator is the positive exception. Since I started as a voice actor myself in 2018, I haven’t seen any other application that surpasses this powerful program at any point where it comes to ease of work, speed and interface layout.

With Hindenburg Narrator you can immediately see from the interface that it must be written for voice actors. Recording, editing and synchronizing text with sound are all extremely fast and easy.  You can actually get started right away, with minimal instructions. It’s a great software that was crafted with mastery and with obvious respect for its target group of users. From the first moment I have worked with it with great pleasure. And over time, as I started using more advanced features, I’ve only gotten more excited.

Easy to learn

As a voice actor, you really have to learn very little. Right Arrow to start the take, Space to stop it, and Left Arrow to listen back. Making adjustments and fixing imperfections is just as easy: select and press Alt+Shift+R to resume recording there, and existing audio will be shifted up if necessary.

How is text synchronized with sound? Simply by pressing Right Arrow while the take is running. The focus skips to the next paragraph in the text window and puts a synchronization marker on the timeline simultaneously. Synchronization therefore happens “on the fly”.

The text window, named “Manuscript”, may contain either the full text, such as an ePub you want to record, or just the chapter headings of a book, reflecting its table of contents. Where a DAISY book is concerned, you may find such a table of contents interspersed with the numbers of each page, so that listeners can later navigate even on that level.

Regardless of which type of audio product you create, these very simple basic actions always apply.

Supporting constructive collaboration with the studio

As a voice actor, you really have to learn truly little. Right Arrow to start the take, Space to stop it, and Left Arrow to listen back. Making adjustments and fixing imperfections is just as easy: select and press Alt+Shift+R to resume recording there, and existing audio will be shifted up if necessary.

How is text synchronized with sound? Simply by pressing Right Arrow while the take is running. The focus skips to the next paragraph in the text window and puts a synchronization marker on the timeline simultaneously. Synchronization therefore happens “on the fly”.

The text window, named “Manuscript”, may contain either the full text, such as an ePub you want to record, or just the chapter headings of a book, reflecting its table of contents. Where a DAISY book is concerned, you may find such a table of contents interspersed with the numbers of each page, so that listeners can later navigate even on that level.

Regardless of which type of audio product you create, these quite simple basic actions always apply.

Supporting constructive collaboration with the studio

Hindenburg Narrator comes with great features that facilitate collaboration with the studio, which makes tasks easier for both sides. To mention some of them:

Relieving the actor from engineer’s tasks – For a voice actor, creating the table of contents (the navigation structure) in the Manuscript window is extremely easy. But it can be even easier to have the studio’s sound engineer insert it for you. In such a case, he or she creates a new session file (nhsx file) in which he adds the navigation structure. He can also include the metadata describing the audio product, the values for equalization, filtering and compression, the export format and other technical values.

Next, he sends the session file and the source text to the voice actor, who opens these files and can get to work immediately. The source text can be a printed document or a PDF. So you don’t have to set anything up yourself, the studio has already done that for you. For the studio, this enables retaining control over the technical quality of the audio. Relieved from technical concerns, the actor can focus on speech.

Maintain the optimal sound of the voice actors – A specific combination of settings for equalization and compression may be the optimal one for an individual voice actor. The sound engineer (or the actor himself) can determine these values and save them in a so-called Voice Profile, assigning the name of the voice actor for identification. As he prepares a session file for the voice actor, the engineer also includes his voice profile.

Mark locations for review and improvement

The reviewing process is more efficient thanks to the usage of comment markers. After the voice actor has recorded the book, he does not need to export the audio. Instead, he returns the session file and the sound files to the studio. The sound engineer listens to the audio and may find some flaws, which he marks with a comment marker. In each marker he adds a text that describes the problem or the action to be taken.

At the push of a button, the engineer collects the markers in a small file and e-mails them to the actor. The voice actor opens the file in Hindenburg Narrator, and the comment markers automatically land in their correct locations in the audio.

The actor can jump to any marker using Tab and Shift+Tab, or from the list in the “Markers” panel. Next, he submits the improved version to the studio. Exporting the finalized version can be done either by the actor or the studio, depending on established procedures.

Of course, the voice actor can add comment markers for himself as well. He can do this even without interrupting speech by simply pressing a specific two-key shortcut during the take.

Enabling fast production

More great time saving features are described in the 2025 Handbook.  

Automatic volume leveling – Loudness should be on the same level throughout the recording. For newly recorded parts, the volume must be adapted to the audio that was already existing on the track. Doing this job by hand requires a lot of listening and comparing for each new take again and consumes an awful lot of time. Hindenburg Narrator will level newly added audio automatically.

Automatic name assignment to export files – A superb time saving feature was  introduced in 2024 for those among us who narrate texts for video games and other products that require a multitude of precisely named export files, such as museum audiotours, IVRs and car navigation. Input is taken from an Excel sheet with three columns for the filename, the clause and any directions, respectively. All we need to do is to speak the clauses and export the entire collection once.

Automatic length adjustment of chapter breaks – The length of breaks can be automatically adjusted to the specified standards set by some audiobook publishers like ACX and Findaway.  

Export audiobooks in batch – Depending on the book’s size, exporting can take up to several hours. You cannot use Hindenburg Narrator during export. Very efficient is the option to place several audio products in a batch (queue) and to run them outside working hours. The next morning you will find the results of the export and you can continue working.

Additional WAVE copies – You can tell Hindenburg Narrator to export to both MP3 and WAVE. The program then creates two versions, so you don’t have to wait for the first one to complete before you can start the second.

What audio products can you make with Hindenburg Narrator

Audio only – Pure audio with no relation to a text.

Audiobook – For example, a three-hundred-page text with seven chapters. As an option, you can have Hindenburg Narrator export each chapter using the title as the filename.  

DAISY book – Global standard for multi-level synchronization, enabling listeners to browse by chapter, subchapter and even by page.

ePub – Add narrated text to an ePub. For each subsequent paragraph, press the Right Arrow key during the take, which will light up the current paragraph. In the final result the paragraph will light up during playback.

Video game clauses – Texts for video games come with large numbers of clauses. Similarly, this is true for telephone answering machines (IVR), car navigation, and audio tours in a museum. During export, Hindenburg Narrator will save each clause under the filename that enables the developer to associate it later with the corresponding event in the game. This removes the need to export and name each clause separately, thereby saving a huge amount of time and effort.

Enrichment with music and ambient sounds – You can embellish the spoken text with music and ambient sounds. To that end, you can also add more soundtracks.

Stereo and mono – Instead of mono, you can of course also record in stereo, for example for interviews.