Resting on laurels? Never a good idea

…. Each and every book deserves intimate, detailed preparation to arrive at the best narration possible.

When I study my short path in this voice acting business so far, it tells me everything I need to know not only about how far I have come, but also about how far I still need to go.

My first several books were non-fiction self-help types. Of course, I was thrilled to be chosen after only a few auditions on Audible/ACX. I did straight narration but with a warmth the authors appreciated. It almost felt too easy. But I learned a lot about organizing my time, learning my recording program, doing pickups (corrections) and putting out a high quality product with each production.

During this time I also began narrating a 17.5 hour-long post-apocalyptic fantasy. 43 chapters (short by fantasy book standards), dozens of characters, but a graciously long deadline and a rookie author who had spent a lot of time developing both his plot and his people.

With this book I helped with editing, since writing is what brought me here to begin with and he needed some pointers where a few things were fuzzy or the wrong words were used. He appreciated the value I added to the process, we were in close touch throughout the entire process, and it recently hit Amazon after months of production. I think it will be a hit with listeners in this genre, but it’s hard to tell yet. A sequel is already in the works.

Throughout this fantasy book, the author and I conspired to come up with distinguishable accents, both male and female — from the weeping willows of Deep South to the streets of London. From the swamps of Louisiana to the fast-talking boroughs of Brooklyn. And from France to Germany to Russia. Post-apocalypse means people the entire world over were survivors, right? I was having a ball. These characterizations added to each personality profile, making them easily recognizable whenever they resurfaced within the book. One voice was so raspy it hurt my throat, making me take more frequent breaks.

In the end, however, we got through it and the result was  — in our minds, anyway — a piece of fantasy art. For the author, this book was the culmination of years of his imagination, borrowing concepts and ideas from science, history, sci-fi movies and animated features. It was also my inauguration into the world of demons, mercenaries, scholars, and squishy, disgusting creatures using voices I had never tested until now. It was the beginning of the establishment of acting chops I never envisioned using when I started this trek last June.

Enter a new fantasy author …

… who engaged me to narrate one book of short stories (a fun project). He loved what I did so much that he handed me his novel in which a new cast of characters were upon me — this one a ten-hour narration. And I figured — piece of cake! If I could get through a long book like the one I practiced on for so long, I need not study this one as intensely.

Wrong. Dead wrong.

I spent time thinking I was floating right along. Each non-foreign-accented MALE character needed a different voice, but when I played the recordings back, they sounded as if they were running right into one another in a similar tone and voice. Ugh!

Mind you, I don’t have a sweet, feminine voice to begin with. I can sing anything from low alto to a medium-low tenor and often tackle traditionally male-voiced songs when I sing karaoke. Okay. Sultry, sexy, and whiskey-baritone for singing, but to become a host of male characters — all with no regional accents — was now obviously a challenge for me.

By the time I began doing pickups for this new narration, even with punch-and-roll corrections I heard entire swaths of dialogue that made me grimace. My other half also heard swear words ring out from my home office, where I do my DAW editing. And by the time I got to the last chapter, I decided an entire do-over was the only thing that could save me.

So I consulted with my handy-dandy fellow narrators on the Facebook ACX Narrators page, asking how they solved a problem like mine, how they kept track of it all, and how they preserved what they recorded for future reference. And they rallied as if I were being passed around atop a mosh pit. I ADORE how supportive we are with one another in this industry!

So here I am. Starting from scratch, but testing out and recording voice snippets that — once established in my head and in my heart — I can use not only in this book, but as reference material for any other book this or any other author hands me as well. For a female narrator, it’s not as much about lowering a voice as it is acting like the male character. Rasp, voice variations, intonation, and sometimes irreverence all enter into a gal talking like a guy. None of this belly-scraping experience will be for naught.

The bottom line? With this new face plant I realized that each and every book deserves this kind of preparation as well as attention. And I will never ASSUME what I have done in the past can be fully relied upon for future books.