Chapter fourteen is the chase through the old mill. The cast is right and the dialogue lands. But the music swells right over the moment she whispers the password, the rain outside sounds like a light shower, and when the door slams behind them there's no slam. Three notes, all about sound, none about the voices.
The question is whether fixing them means producing the chapter again. It doesn't. Here is how to change the music and sound effects in your audiobook, one note at a time.
The short answer
Open the chapter in the studio, open Martin, and type the notes the way you'd give them to a sound designer:
The music is too loud under her whisper, the rain should sound like a real storm, and I want a door slam when they run out.
Martin turns that music cue down, writes a heavier description of the rain and records a new take of it, and adds a door slam on the moment you named. You press play on the scene and hear it. The voices aren't touched, the chapter isn't produced again, and the rain you had before is kept: "bring back the old rain" puts it back.
That's the whole loop: the note, the change, the result. Martin is the AI audio director built into the Midsummerr studio, and Midsummerr is the only audiobook platform with one. It works on the same chapter you listen to, with the score, the effects and the cast already in place, so a note about one sound leaves the rest of the mix as it is. More on the studio is on the features page.
Ready to try it on your own book?
Start with 5,000words free →What you can ask for
Most sound notes fall into a few kinds. Some change the take you already have, some ask for a new one, and some add or remove a sound.
| Your note | What Martin changes | What you hear |
|---|---|---|
| "The music is too loud under her whisper" | That cue's level | The same music, sitting lower |
| "Let the music fade in, don't start it cold" | That cue's fade in | The same music, arriving gradually |
| "Make the rain heavier" | The sound's description | A new take of the rain |
| "Strings here, not piano" | The cue's description | A new take of the music |
| "Add a door slam when they run out" | A new sound effect on that moment | The slam on the words you named |
| "Put a low, uneasy score under the cellar scene" | New music across the scene | A new cue under that stretch of the chapter |
| "Lose the footsteps" | Hides that sound in this chapter | The scene without it |
| "Bring back the old rain" | Restores the earlier take | The version you had before |
New music can be a score under a scene, a recurring theme, a short sting on a reveal or a transition between scenes. New effects can be a setting that runs under the dialogue, like rain or a crowded tavern, or a single sound on a single moment. Martin creates the new sound and it drops into the chapter on its own when it's ready.
What a good note sounds like
Martin works from what you'd tell a sound designer. The notes that land best are specific about where and what:
- Name the moment. "When she opens the letter" or a few of the words on the page is enough for Martin to find it.
- Describe the sound, not the setting. "Distant thunder, not a crack overhead" gives a clearer target than "more storm".
- Say what the music should do. "Hold back until the reveal" or "keep it under his voice" tells Martin whether the note is about level, timing or the music itself.
- Several notes, one message. The three notes from the mill chase can go in together, and Martin makes them together.
If a new take isn't what you pictured, say what's off: "closer, but the rain still sounds too gentle". Each take is a new version, and the earlier ones stay in the sound's history. For a feel of where music and effects usually sit against the voices, see how loud audiobook sound effects should be and when an audiobook needs background music.
When the note is about the whole book
Some sound notes start in one chapter and turn out to be about the book. Martin has book-wide controls for those:
- "Fewer sound effects across the book." Martin can set the book's sound design to Light, Balanced or Cinematic, the same choice you'll find on the book's settings page.
- "No background ambience anywhere." Martin can hide one kind of sound across the whole book and leave the rest.
- "This book's music is strings and low brass, never synth." Martin updates the book's sound guide, its sound identity, which shapes the music in the chapters you produce next.
- "Remember: no music under the narrator's dry asides." Martin keeps preferences for the project and brings them to later chapters, so you give the note once.
A change that reaches chapters you've already produced never runs on its own. Martin sends it up as an approval card that says what will change and how many chapters it touches, and nothing happens until you click Approve. The voices stay as they are, and applying settings across the book costs no credits. The same approval step guards a book-wide voice change, covered in how to recast a character's voice.
Doing it by hand
Every change Martin makes is also in the editor. Click a sound on the chapter's timeline to open it: you'll find its description, its start and end, its fade in and fade out, and its volume against the narration, with Regenerate for a new take. The Previous Generations tab lists every earlier take, ready to restore. Martin is the fast way when you know the note but not which sound on the timeline it belongs to. For notes about a single line of dialogue, see how to change one line of your audiobook.
To hear what a scored production sounds like before you start, listen to Dracula, produced in Midsummerr with an original score and sound design across all 27 chapters.
Try it on your own chapter
Music and sound effects come with the Full Production tier, so start a book on Full Production, generate a chapter and listen with one question in mind: which sound would you change if you could? Open Martin and tell it. Directing and regenerating music and sound effects is free, until it sounds the way you hear it.
FAQ
Does changing a sound regenerate the chapter?
No. Martin changes the one sound you asked about, or adds or removes one, and the chapter's voices stay exactly as they are. The chapter itself is never produced again.
Can I get the old version of a sound back?
Yes. Every take is kept. Ask Martin for the earlier take, or open the sound in the editor and restore it from Previous Generations.
Does it cost credits to change the music or sound effects?
No. Directing and regenerating music and sound effects is included, as many times as it takes, and so is applying a book-wide sound setting to the chapters you've already produced.
Can Martin move a sound to a different moment?
Martin can add a sound on the moment you name and remove the one you don't want. To slide an existing sound to a new spot by hand, open it in the editor and set its start and end.
Which books have music and sound effects to direct?
Books on the Full Production tier, which includes music, sound effects and a cinematic mix for every chapter, and Pro cast titles with the Music + SFX add-on. Single Narrator and Full Cast books are voice-only, so on those Martin directs the performance instead.
