When the prep is done it’s time to start recording. Most pro studios estimate that it takes two hours of recording to produce an hour of finished audio, and expect a narrator to complete around three to three and a half hours of finished audio per working day. This takes discipline, concentration and stamina. Of course the schedule can be more flexible when a narrator is recording in their own studio – but the concentration and need for consistency still applies!
Audiobook Acting – the Performer’s Challenge
Audiobook narration is one of the biggest challenges facing any actor. Not only is the narrator responsible for telling the story, they’re also responsible for creating and playing every single character in every book, page after page, chapter after chapter. Every character has to be believable and unique and the interpretation of the people in the book and that narrative must all remain true to the author’s intent. A challenge indeed!
Who Owns Audio Rights?
If you are a self-published author, then there is every chance that you own the audio rights to your work. But if your book is traditionally published, you may have unwittingly assigned your audio rights to your publisher. What options do you have?
Christmas Stories by Charles Dickens – Part Two
In the second part of this series on “The Essential Dickens Christmas”, Raconteurs narrators look at “A Cricket on the Hearth”, “The Haunted House” and “The Chimes.”
Bah Humbug!
Isn’t it extraordinary how ‘Bah Humbug!’ has entered our vocabulary? Not to mention the name of Scrooge – as the epitome of a skinflint; we echo the Cratchett family’s ‘oohs’ and ‘aaahs’ as our own Christmas pudding is served, and play Christmas party games just like the Fezziwigs.
Christmas Stories by Charles Dickens – Part One
A Christmas Carol is only one of the novellas that Dickens wrote to celebrate the festive season. In the audiobook The Essential Dickens Christmas there eight more stories that showcase the range of the author’s writing talents. In the first of this two-part series, some of the Raconteurs narrators talk about the stories in this collection that they recorded.