Volunteer Reader

About

The Role

Read from our studios or from home, once a week, a month or even every day if you really want to. We need people to read from the Herald Scotland, The National and Glasgow Evening Times websites for our daily service and from the print edition of the Kirkintilloch Herald for the weekly edition of our most local newspaper. Most of our readers are now reading from their homes at a time that suits them on the day that they have chosen to read after speaking with our Studio Coordinator.

Come to our studios - Office

If you would rather come to our recording studios to do your recording then that would be great, we are easy to find and would be more than happy to accommodate you.

And that’s it – you are (almost) ready to go!

• Make sure you are in a comfortable and quiet environment
• Take your time – reading into a microphone should not be hurried, this short video gives you some idea of a good reading pace.
• Don’t worry if you make mistakes – everyone does, and they are easily fixed. If you make a mistake you don’t need to start recording from the beginning, you simply indicate where the mistake happens by clicking your fingers, this “click” is picked up by your mic into the recording software and shows as a spike which can easily be edited out later and you simply continue recording.
• How often you do a recording is entirely up to you, this can be as little as once a month. Some of our readers record on a weekly basis, we are flexible and will work around your availability – we let you know well in advance when to do a recording.
• We also require Producers and Sound Technicians to assist with the recordings. We use Myriad and Audacity software to record our readers.
• If you are keen to learn and develop your knowledge of sound recording software and equipment, then this is the perfect opportunity for you. We will provide training and ongoing support for those interested in being a Producer or Sound Technician.

Volunteering Information

Thank you for being so interested in becoming a volunteer for Cue and Review Print Speaking to the Blind.

We want to make this as simple as possible. Below are different options available for volunteering with us; you simply choose what works best for you.

Some roles allow you to do this from home, and others will enable you to do it at our studio.

We will always be available to provide support and assistance to make this as easy as possible.

There are several other volunteer options; choose the one that suits you best.

• Using a Smartphone - Home

  Smartphones usually have a voice recording app as standard; if not, there are plenty of FREE ones from your app store (search "voice recorder" in the app store).

  To record, you press record on the voice recording software and speak into the mic on your headphones.

  You save the file and send it to us – easy.

• Using a PC/Laptop - Home

  When using a PC or Laptop for voice recording, you will need some essential “tools” to record:

  • Microphone (this can be the microphone on the headphones you use with your mobile phone or a standalone microphone that connects to your PC).
  • Recording software (the one we use is Audacity, which is FREE and easy to use).
  • A glass of water (this is optional but can help when recording as your mouth may dry).
• Come to our studios - Office

  If you would rather come to our recording studios to do your recording, that would be great. We are easy to find and would be more than happy to accommodate you.

  And that’s it – you are (almost) ready to go!