Bringing together a group of narrators for the purpose of hosting a discussion is always a joy. Recording in a sound booth all day long either in their home or at a publisher’s studio, means they don’t have all that many opportunities to just get together and chat after work. In 2011, I hosted a Narrators Forum over at Speaking of Audiobooks and the response was tremendous. Listeners thoroughly enjoyed hearing what narrators had to say about the industry or what happens behind the scenes. AudioGals has since hosted two Narrators Forums as well – both in 2013 – Charting a Path to Success and Hear the Narrators Talk.

Today’s forum is recorded and features audio narrations in general – of all genres. The discussion topics vary and, as you will see below, address several areas of the audio industry. The list of topics serves as an overview of the forum’s progression.

The Narrators

We are honored to have with us today six narrators who know their craft well and excel in performing audiobooks. Their combined years of experience in the audio industry is a little astonishing, especially when one considers just how young that industry is. Today’s forum was recorded on Monday night and not only was a great deal of information shared but lots of laughs as well.

AudioGals welcomes Simon Vance, Karen White, Patrick Lawlor, Tanya Eby, Luke Daniels, and Renee Raudman!

Our Six Discussion Topics

Topic 1 – We’ll start with the question we most often receive from listeners. Why aren’t the majority of audiobooks performed by both a male and female narrator interacting with one another while each performs the appropriate gender roles? And, as an extension to that question – what about the multi cast productions? At what point does an audiobook narration become more of an Audio Theatre type of production?

Topic 2 – What are methods you use to differentiate your characters? Are there times when you feel it is more appropriate to read a book without vocally distinguishing one character from another? And accents – when does a narrator choose to perform an accent? Do audiobook publishers prefer the use of accents or is that more of a narrator’s personal choice?

Topic 3 – Series – they seem to be everywhere these days but it must be a challenge to the narrator. How do you prepare for and continue working on a series? What are the special demands a series requires?

Topic 4 – Working with authors. It’s our understanding that at one time, interaction between the narrator and author was discouraged yet we hear that this type of relationship is often encouraged now. How does working with an author benefit each and have you made joint appearances with an author?

Topic 5 – Now to address what we as listeners assume are poor production issues or, let’s be honest, we might just be wondering if the narrator is responsible for those blunders. It’s those times that we repeatedly hear the narrator take a noisy breath or possibly there’s an annoying click. It’s the presence of a hum or fuzzy background noise. Also, it’s the obvious edits – repeated sentences or words left out all together or a clear change in background noise or volume level when a correction is made.

What goes into assuring a crystal clear listen? Do narrators make a conscious effort to avoid audible breathing or, are there techniques to minimize this effect? Is there advice you can offer to other narrators to avoid this type of problem?

Topic 6 – Our last discussion has to do with the inexperienced narrator. With the large influx of self-published audiobooks, we also discovered a large number of sub-standard performances. When we see that an eagerly anticipated book is to be performed by an unknown narrator, we now assume that the chances of a poor narration are significant. What advice do you have for the inexperienced/untrained narrator? Where can they start?

Note: We also discussed opportunities for narrator training in our AudioGals Charting a Path for Success forum in February 2013.

Listening to our Forum

In addition to listening from your computer or tablet, you may easily download any of our recorded talks to your MP3 player. Or, you can listen on your phone directly from AudioGals. I usually listen on my phone as I run errands.

Patrick, Tanya, Karen, Renee, Simon, and Luke will be stopping by to answer any questions you may have. So ask away.

Now for our forum!

To learn more about each narrator participating in today’s forum, follow the link in their name or photo to their AudioGals Narrator page. For other forums of interest moderated by Lea, check out our earlier article this week, Narrators Forum Coming This Week.

And a very special thanks to our behind-the-scenes technical Gal, Brenda, the producer of our recorded events. Also, I’m grateful to all of the Gals for brainstorming with me on topics for today’s forum.

Now, let us hear from you! What questions do you have for the narrators in today’s forum?

Lea Hensley