First audio book - feedback?

Adam Verner · **Voice Talent** Joined: 04 Nov 2004 Posts: 7

Hey everyone - I recorded my first audio book this last fall, and recently I cut together a little sample for my website. Take a listen and let me know what you think! (Hood, by Stephen Lawhead. A retelling of the Robin Hood legend set in ancient Wales.)

-- In addition to thoughts about the work itself - do you think it functions well as a sample? Good range of characters, etc? I took bits and pieces from a total of 12 hours worth of audio to create a 4 minute sample. I tried to include different character types and tempo of narration. Is it too long? Too short?

Adam
http://www.adamverner.com

Robert Jadah · **Voice Talent** Joined: 17 Jun 2005 Posts: 2627

Adam:
I couldn't let your posting go ignored by this normally chatty forum, so I tuned in.
I'm glad I did. I enjoyed it, and thank you for a fine read.
Permit my observation, however, that there may be too big a variance between your (very effective) characters and the narrator. They don't segue seamlessly. You might want to consider that an audio book is not a movie, and the read should be less than character-driven dialogue. I'd certainly suggest a strong toning down of the character voices, and leave that for anime, radio theatre, and the like.
The narrative is airy and clear, but I suggest you may slow the pace by just half a beat. It sounds a trifle headlong at times.
Also, the entire demo needs - sadly - to be chopped in half. A four-plus minute read is ages too long, since listeners don't much care about the story per se.
The background notes are elegantly understated, and work beautifully.
All in all, it's very, very fine. Kudoes from these shores.
Voice On!
Robert Jadah

Adam Verner · **Voice Talent** Joined: 04 Nov 2004 Posts: 7

Robert - thanks for responding! I was starting to think no one would.

I see what you're saying about the characters being too different/strong from the narrator voice. That wasn't really my choice, though - the director of the audio book kept saying things like "that needs to be more different than the narrator voice" and "make that character's pitch and tempo more intense." With 96 different characters and ancient Welsh names, this was quite a job Smile

This brings up a good point. The director of this particular book seemed to be wanting more of a radio-theatre style book. This being my first experience with an audio book - I didn't feel in any sort of position to offer my own opinions.

But when you have a book that contains lots of dialogue, sometimes without clear distinctions like "he said," or "said the wizard," isn't more distinction better? I've definately heard some audio books where I have no idea who is talking.

I'm definately going to edit it down so that I can get the same amount of character samples and narration in half the time. I'll shoot for two minutes and post it again here.

Thanks again!