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Audible Narrators (Patreon)

Published:
2018-12-13 21:52:19
Imported:
2021-07

Content

(First, an unrelated note: I just uploaded version 0.40.4 in the TLS thread. If anyone hasn't gotten tired of this content yet and wants to check this one before we do the public release, feel free!)

I guess it's time to do a thread about audiobook narrators, since it wouldn't be professional to keep the narrators waiting. I got another submission this morning, so it's possible that more will come in yet, but I believe I've probably received the majority of the auditions I'll get.

Most new authors said they got 0-5 auditions, so I was surprised to get 24 of them. Notably, only a single one of those had what sounded like substandard audio to me, though audiophiles may have higher standards. I threw out nine of the auditions as unacceptable, mostly those whose readings failed to capture dialogue nuance.

Beyond that, though... I struggled. Whatever part of the brain makes people absolutely love some narrators and hate others, I don't think I have it. All I feel after listening to all the auditions is regret at taking this project on, because producing the book is likely to be a joyless slog.

However, you can help me pick a narrator who audiobook-appreciating people will like! In the following link you will find 15 narrators. Because that's a lot, I moved six of them to a subfolder, ones I had a reason to disfavor that I'm not sure other people will share. So if you don't want to listen to so many, you can just check out the main folder.

Narrators: https://mega.nz/#!fg8X3AwT!qG6jluR1x3Ecja8LhQkZTT8MHIXRWU4yH9r2Gl7KViY

Let me know what you think! Remember that you're choosing the narrators for their skill, not for their specific reading of the character. All they got was a brief description of the characters and the text to read - I can talk to the final narrator a lot more about how to voice specific characters. Nobody got pronunciation guides either.

I think a poll might be unnecessary on this one. Anyone who listens, just let me know any narrators you think are particularly good or particularly bad. Thanks very much for helping me produce this audiobook!

Comments

sierralee

Literally minutes after I posted this, I received another audition: <a href="https://mega.nz/" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">https://mega.nz/</a>#!O0twRYbZ!L6JdTgo7iIW-oqntnN-V5Ii5WJsmvG8v7PPl2-0Ajos It is also fine.

Anonymous

I don't listen to audiobooks so take my vote with a grain of salt, but I liked Ethan Fifield and Sarah Colton

Quiet Stranger

If only we could have different actors for different characters.

sierralee
>>17992029

While I do hope to hear from people who particularly like audiobooks, I'm happy for anyone's opinions. Thanks!

sierralee
>>17992265

As I understand it, only the largest of series with a lot of weight to throw around have managed anything like that.

Anonymous

Gary Bennett has my vote. I listen to my Audiobooks while driving most of the time, and his narration was easy to listen to and didn't have any irritating vocal tendencies (in my opinion). Unfortunately, I haven't had a chance to read NGM in book form yet, but that did give me the advantage of not judging the readers on their performances based on my preconceived notions of each character. I tend to only have time to read books through Audiobooks these days, so I'm happy to hear that NGM is coming to Audible! Thank you for taking the time and effort to do so.

Anonymous

I actually listen to audiobooks frequently, so I gave them a quick listen. I skipped the secondary folder cause if you find fault with them then you frankly shouldn't use them. Anyway, my top three were (in order): Sarah Colton, Gary Bennett, and Seth Podowitz. All three had: good differentiation between characters voices. Pleasant and consistent speaking voices, intonation and annunciation. Reasonable emotional nuances. And acceptable audio quality. All the others (in quality order: Ethan Fifield, Matt Weight Bryan Lamb, Sarah Sampino, Apryl Renee West, William Turbett, J Scott Bennet) preformed poorly on at least one of those 4 criteria. And now I shall wave my hands to the gods of subjectivity and "just my opinion" because this is the internet and obvious things must be stated explicitly :)

Scol

I have to say I'm positively surprised by most narrators. I'm not an audiophile (can't even hear a difference between FLAC and MP3 :D ), but here are my thoughts There are few Narrators I really disliked, mostly due to poor recording quality ( Sarah Colton, Apryl Renee West, Gary Benett, Dominic Desmarais, Jennifer Bloom), but Bryce Clifton is also on this list because he read some lines way too fast (which is especially bad for me as non native english speaker). I'd be happy to listen to any of the remaining 9 narrators, but here's my personal top 3: 1.) Meghan Kelly - Great quality, great volume control, great narration, Great Overall. 2.) Matt Weight - Great quality, my favourite narration but he sometimes strugles with volume control 3.) Scott Bennet. -Great quality, Great volume control but somehow his voice makes me think of National Geographic documentary. What I mean by: - Quality: Purely recording quality - wether there is any static noise, if sound recording seems to cut to early etc. - Volume control: wether the whole audiobook keeps similar volume. It feels bad when narrator tends to raise his voice in certain lines (this seems to happen the most when narrator switches from reading narration to reading dialogue. "Aww" and "Hey!" lines made gauging this much more easier :) - Narration: how much i like narrator's voice and how she/he modulates it. Not sure how it's done by english publishers but I've noticed a trend in Polish audiobooks: In almost all cases narrator and autor are of the same gender. Not sure if there is any reason behind it, or if it even is the same on english market, but I like it this way. Few people I've talked about this said that they kinda expect book by a male author to have a male narrator, and a book by a female author to have a female narrator. On the other hand few others said that they expect narrator's gender to match main character's gender.

sierralee
>>17993609

Thanks for your feedback! Not sure how this will go, but it seems pretty likely that we'll get the audiobook version done eventually, so I hope you enjoy it then.

sierralee
>>17993901

The main reason I was hesitant about my judgment on the secondary folder is that I'm so far from being an audiobook person that I don't know if my opinions should count for anything. Anyway, thanks for your opinions on everyone!

sierralee
>>17994030

Thanks for your very detailed opinions! &gt;Bryce Clifton is also on this list because he read some lines way too fast (which is especially bad for me as non native english speaker) I honestly don't hear most of the things you mention, but yeah, that's why I put him in the secondary folder. While native English speakers would have no trouble understanding, his rapid delivery sounds rushed to me. &gt;Not sure how it's done by english publishers but I've noticed a trend in Polish audiobooks: In almost all cases narrator and autor are of the same gender. Not sure if there is any reason behind it, or if it even is the same on english market, but I like it this way. Few people I've talked about this said that they kinda expect book by a male author to have a male narrator, and a book by a female author to have a female narrator. On the other hand few others said that they expect narrator's gender to match main character's gender. Huh, interesting. I honestly have no idea about this, and I don't know if it's relevant that this genre is about 95% male.

Dubsington

Thanks for notifying about the 40.4 release. I know you don't like sending out new posts for every dot release, but I think most of us appreciate it when you do. As for narrators-- I like Bryan Lamb the best. Can't really tell you why, though.

Anonymous

I only listened to a little bit of each one as a sort of a first impression run, but I found myself listening to Bryan Lamb and Sarah Colton the longest. They did a decent job differentiating characters, taking their time to read, and conveying the emotions that the text seemed to be written with (given the very brief glimpses into the characters). They were just the most enjoyable to listen to for me.

Anonymous
>>17998366

Seth Podowitz is actually pretty good too, now that I've seen your extra comment. He definitely tops out those two I just mentioned in my opinion.

sierralee
>>17996709

Thanks for your input! I still feel weird making new posts for little updates, but I'm trying to increase notifications of them for those who appreciate it.

Anonymous

First of all, I really appreciate the work you are going through to get this into audio form. Second, I would say that I have a slight bias towards female narrators all other things being equal. I've put those in the main folder below in order from my most favorite to least along with some thoughts as to why. I've judged them pretty much only on delivery because I can find it hard to tell the difference between good and excellent quality audio. I still need to listen to the secondary folder as well but I want to give it a half day or so. Sarah Colton - 'combatant' felt oddly pronounced and sharp, but otherwise was my favorite to listen to. Bloodwraith’s voice felt natural and distinct. Good pacing. Bryan Lamb - Was thrown off by the brutishness at first, but quickly acclimated. Good differentiation between genders and narration vs dialogue. good pacing particularly how he varies the timing of lines to create appropriate emotion. Gary Bennett - To me feels like a very standard voice for audiobooks and would probably be a safe choice. I like him. Seth Podowitz - Like the above three I can't find much objectively negative with Seth. I really liked his narration but like Matt, his Bloodwraith voice feels less easy on the ears, which is something important for a main character. Sarah Sampino - The voices felt good, the pacing was fine, but something that I can’t quite put my finger on makes me not prefer her to those I ranked above her. Matt Weight - My only knock against Matt was the deepness of Bloodwraith's voice, but I think this is more a personal preference than anything else. Ethan Fifield - Good pacing, but the voices didn’t quite feel natural. Like he was reaching for them sometimes. J Scott Bennett - Fairly good. In particular the female lines felt good, but it all felt too ... flourishey, especially when narrating. Apryl Renee West - Pacing felt a bit off in the direction of being too fast. It’s not that she was talking too fast per se, but the gaps between different speakers felt a tad too short. It wasn't something that was happening for the entirety of recording, but it gave a general feeling of anxiousness to me. William Turbett - The female parts felt forced and the narration felt oddly aggressive. Not a fan.

SantaTheHutt

My top 2 are Matt Weight and Bryan Lamb. Sarah Colton would be on the list, but there is an annoying sharp hiss on her s's that is a recording artifact. I don't know how audiobook recording usually happens, but if she uses that mic and there is no post-processing to clean it up, I don't think she's a viable choice. Matt Weight and Bryan Lamb both delivered clean lines at a reasonable speed - not so slow that it would be tedious to listen to, but not so fast that you have to work to figure out what they are saying. They enunciated clearly, and made characters distinguishable from one another and the narrator. Their reading of female character lines didn't make them sound like an English anime dub. Sarah's reading was similarly good, but the recording artifacts are a major disqualifier for me.

sierralee
>>18000148

Thanks for giving your thoughts on everyone! I should mention that I'll be able to work with the chosen narrator - while I don't intend to micromanage, I'll try to cover pronunciation issues. &gt;Matt Weight My only knock against matt was the deepness of Bloodwraith's voice, but I think this is more a personal preference than anything else. Should also mention that while I'm not set on the voice Matt used, I definitely had in mind Bloodwraith with a deep bass. For maximum villainy effect.

sierralee
>>18000166

Thanks for providing your feedback! I think narrators generally use the same equipment to record the audiobook that they use for their auditions. Had one person say they have a studio for their main work, but it wasn't her.

DukeLeto7

FWIW, I'm not able to go through audio auditions, but if the narrators are listed on Audible under the same names as their submissions, you can look at their list of works and get some sense of how they are viewed by end consumers by reviewing their performance ratings.

DuckTogo

Wow, a lot of people gave their take before me. I guess people love their armchairs as much as I do. (I know it is not a fair criticism, but I was somewhat annoyed by the name Bloodwraith. In the context of the book the absurdity of it is quite amusing at first and then you can just fly over the name anyway, but if it is read over and over it really does seem ridiculous.) I ended up listening to everyone, including the late-comer. A lot of the male-actors seem to use a lot of vocal fry, possibly to seem... old and narratory. This is not bad on its own, but you can often tell that they are very intent on getting the fry across. The auditions which appealed most to me were Bryan Lamb, Gary Bennett, Sarah Colton and Meghan Kelly, who I would strongly urge you to reconsider. Matt Weight seemed okay at first, but he keeps ending his sentences with the same emphasis, which turns the narration into a very monotonous affair. Bryan Lamb - I think he is an all-around solid choice. Solid meaning good at everything, expectional at nothing. Though I want to note that his recording quality is below that of Gary Bennett and Meghan Kelly. Sarah Colton and Bryan Lamb both have a lot of hissing sounds in their recordings. People just end up noting it with Sarah Colton because her voice is much higher. Gary Bennett - He makes me feel like I am listening to old Harry Potter audiobooks, which is also the only knock against him that I can offer. His Bloodwraith sounds like a 14-year old wizard. Or let's say: He makes him sound young and somewhat unsure of himself. But it also means he is injecting a lot of emotion and his own reading into the characters, which is generally what makes an audiobook more than just a straight reading of the text. His audio quality is also really good, at least... Well, it feels like a cassette, so maybe its just my nostalgia. Sarah Colton - I really like her narration, but she mispronounces some words (i.e. 'immediately' in the very first sentence) and underpronounces some words (i.e. 'forward' as fo-ward in the first 30 seconds). These can be redone with better takes, but she seems inexperienced. Note also the audio quality problems, which I mentioned in Gary Bennett's section. Of the four picks I am the least sure about her. Meghan Kelly - Her take starts off with a very repetitive emphasis on sentence endings, like in Matt Weight's case. It's less obvious but keeps cropping up. Her actual acting for all characters, except for Bloodwraith, is really good however. Bloodwraith sadly sounds like an NPC, which is weird because that is what he is, but he shouldn't sound like he is not the protagonist -- or not a thinking, feeling person. The narration also improves later and gets quite good. I think this is mainly because she is getting into the feel of the characters and injects some of that into the inflections of the narration lines. I hope this helps and doesn't just make the decision harder!

Lamsey

OK, I'm probably not the best judge on this, given that I don't listen to audiobooks and I'm not American, but I've given them all a listen and noted down some brief off-the-top-of-the-head reactions for each: Main folder: Apryl Renee West - bit slow for me, and I'm not convinced by the character voicing, sounds a bit forced. Bryan Lamb - better pacing and character voicing. Narration is a little sing-song but more emotive. Ethan Fifield - audio quality not great, bit muffled and strong sibilance. I'm neutral on the voicing and narration. Gary Bennett - narration/pacing OK but character voicing is weak; no difference between the girls, and Bloodwraith only a little deeper. J Scott Bennett - narration sounds a bit overdramatic, and quite slow. Character voicing is distinctive, at least. Matt Weight - pacing is good, but narration and voicing sound slightly overdone to me, like he's reading to a young child. Sarah Colton - poor audio quality, strong sibilance. Otherwise, I think her pacing, narration, and voicing are all good, apart from the gaps being a bit long on interruptions. Sarah Sampino - pacing and narration is OK, voicing is great if not particularly varied. William Turbett - strong sibilance again, and a lot of variation in volume. Voicing not the best. Secondary: Bryce Clifton - pacing might be a bit on the quick side, but character voicing and narration are good. Dominic Desmarais - audio quality very bad, especially sibilance. Pacing very fast, feels rushed. Not great on voicing. Jennifer Blom - slow pace and feels a little overdone voicing-wise. Maximillian Breed - bit of popping on the plosives, needs a better windshield on his mic. Sounds a bit robotic. Meghan Kelly - strong sibilance. Voicing is pretty good. Narration and pacing OK. Miles Meili - voicing and narration are OK. Pace is fairly slow but doesn't sound too bad for it. My favourites are probably Bryan Lamb and Bryce Clifton on the male side, and Sarah Colton and Meghan Kelly on the female side (though the latter two both suffer from poorer audio quality). It seems like heavy sibilance is a theme; I believe there are post-processing tools that can help with this, but it's best if it's not there in the first place.

Lamsey
>>18020019

Just noticed the extra Seth Podowitz download. He's pretty good too - the voicing is varied and the intonation is good on the narration. Pacing is slightly on the slow side for me and there's a touch of excess sibiliance again, but neither is too bad. He's easily as good as the other two male voices I picked out.

sierralee
>>18014272

Thanks for all your feedback! Since you're the second person to speak very highly of Meghan Kelley, I listened to her audition again to remember why I put it in the secondary folder. This isn't a response just to you, I'm simply giving my thoughts in general. The biggest thing is that I dislike her Bloodwraith voice and it doesn't give me confidence she can nail a deep male voice. Bloodwraith talks a lot. This may be the emphasis issue you identified, but I don't like how she ends many of her sentences on a downward intonation. To my ear, this is something that is only appropriate in very rare cases, not regularly. She skipped/changed more words than average and apparently doesn't know the word "amenable", which suggests to me that going through the whole book with her could turn into an ordeal of checking details. Having said that, she's the most prolific of the narrators who sent in auditions in terms of finished audiobooks, so clearly plenty of people like her.

Anonymous

I'll chime in to agree with some others that Bryan Lamb was my favorite, closely followed by Sarah Colton. Sarah would get my personal vote if not for the quality of her recording. Many of the others either didn't nail Bloodwraith for me, or were too off with their pacing.

[]

Sarah Colton for any female narrated parts. I'm not of a strong opinion for the male voices.

Dark Art

I liked Matt Weight the most as a voice, but he does need to work on his volume a bit. Sarah Colton would be a second choice. A collaboration between them would be awesome, not sure if that is possible though. I did think you arent a native english speaker! Its a frigging hard to pinpoint your mother tongue without hearing you talk. Not gonna ask (yet) what is, but since my initial thoughts were correct I'll keep trying to figure it out :D

sierralee
>>18026913

Thanks for your feedback! For the record, the whole book will need to have one narrator.

sierralee
>>18028456

Thank you for your input. My understanding is that collaboration is generally impossible. For the record, I am a native English speaker.

sierralee

Not sure how many people will see this, but we got another audition: <a href="https://mega.nz/" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">https://mega.nz/</a>#!rlMQTIgL!YkjOpcddiT0mPSctdIJESFmL3md4sI5xJzzG4RpCXCY I'd like to hear from the audiophiles on this one. While I'm not without misgivings, this guy is only the 4th person auditioning to have the "top narrator" badge. Also the first one with a true bass voice, I think.

Lamsey
>>18045600

Sound quality doesn't sound too bad to me, but I'm far from an audiophile. Narration is expressive and his Bloodwraith is good - less convinced by the girls.

sierralee

They're not stopping! This one is less likely in my opinion, so it's an easy one to skip if you prefer, but if you want to hear an Australian or British accent, here you go: <a href="https://mega.nz/" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">https://mega.nz/</a>#!q1Vg2AaI!_Vo6mvXxae_gtMszOsi757k9NhRs6V9iatl6p-xIkm8 She's really enthusiastic about the role.

Dark Art
>>18054039

Yeah, she isnt bad, but (IMHO) doesnt fit the theme as much as others. I hope I will not come off as too pushy (again), but this pool of talented voice actors might be extremely useful. Maybe not so much for this novel, but as a valuable resource for future projects. I dont think it would be quite possible to fully voice TLS with your current budgets, but I think you could've used a narrator at least in some major points. I guess what I am trying to say is this: now that you've got their attention, maybe its a good time to scope possible narrators for other projects and get a feel of how much it would could you to voice over something as large and text heavy as TLS.