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@this-is-not-an-alien

Hi Cathy,

I can point you to some free…[Yes, I said FREE]…resources that I use, if you are interested.

I use “Voice Record Pro” on my Apple i-Phone.  It is free in the “App Store”.  Makes great recordings that can be sync’d and uploaded as an MP3 file to your Google Docs folder, or to your One Drive if you use that.  I think it may be offered on an Android phone too, but you’d have to check.

I then go to the recorded result file and “Edit” it using FREE audio editing software called “Audacity”.
Here’s a link to their website, if interested. Audacity Free Open Source Cross-platform Software
Here is a link to the Audacity How-To Manual if you just want to check it out first.  (See if it is something you might want to try out.)
I always start with just recording the Reading first–Get that cleaned up (i.e. removing long pauses, background noises, coughs, etc.)–Then Amplify the audio where it is too soft or quiet so that the vocal comes through clearly.
Next, I label the areas where I might want to add a background sound-effect.  Just highlight a section of the vocal audio and do a Ctrl-B and label what effect I want behind the vocal track.
Then I record the second layer audio of blank noise so that I can paste audio clips along it and line them up with the labels below the first row audio track–the labels are the visual cues for where these need to come in.

If I want a third row of ambient white noise, say forest sounds, I can add that in below the vocal and effects layers.  You can view the sound mixer and adjust the audio levels of each audio row, so one does not drown out the other.  (Hint: My vocal track is always the loudest.)

And lastly, you can add in a dramatic musical score behind all of these, creating a full cinematic effect.
I personally love the work of “Argsound Background Music” on YouTube.  A brilliant musician with some very powerful works that are (no copyright, no royalty) productions as long as one users follow the terms of use and do not try to monetize the result.  He does have a Patreon account for like $30 per year, if you want to donate.