LibriVox

sjmarky · Joined: 29 Aug 2006 Posts: 736 Location: San Jose CA

Video clip of professional narrator Scott Brick recording a Harlan Ellison novel. Approx. 6 minutes.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=0UO0fzAICN8
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chocoholic · Posted: Sat Feb 02, 2008 4:25 am Post subject:

Well, don't I feel unworthy now. Thanks a lot, Mark. Laughing

You noticed the lack of page turns and mouse clicks, yes?
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luciburg · Posted: Sat Feb 02, 2008 9:11 am Post subject:

So much feeling and the expression on his face. Excellent!!!! Smile

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sjmarky · Joined: 29 Aug 2006 Posts: 736 Location: San Jose CA

chocoholic · Posted: Sun Feb 03, 2008 1:17 am Post subject:

Jc · Posted: Sun Feb 03, 2008 1:34 am Post subject:

so much emotions in the voice!!

I thought he'd have some sort of teleprompter, but his eyes actually go up and down, and I can't see his right hand, but it doesn't seem to be moving...

Mystery!
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sjmarky · Joined: 29 Aug 2006 Posts: 736 Location: San Jose CA

He would have read the text all the way through, consulted with both the director and the author on characters, accents, pronunciations, etc., and then most likely re-reviewed the chapters he was doing the day before. The text he is reading from no doubt has his annotations on characters, accents, phrasing, pronunciations, etc. Another reason for working from printed pages.

I have some limited experience working with direction and an author -- I can't begin to tell you how much difference it makes as opposed to just doing it all on your own.

For more on how a pro preps, see his blog at:

http://www.scottbrickpresents.com/wordpress/index.php

Good stuff.
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"How long has your camel been constipated?" - Christopher Moore

gypsygirl · Posted: Sun Feb 03, 2008 2:32 am Post subject:

Yeah, pros put a lot of work in before starting recording. They had Jim Dale on an episode of Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me last summer and he talked about some of the process he goes through: http://www.npr.org/templates/rundowns/rundown.php?prgId=35&prgDate=07-28-2007&view=storyview
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Shurtagal · Posted: Sun Feb 03, 2008 3:50 am Post subject:

wow that is simply astounding!!!! dudes got skill.

sjmarky · Joined: 29 Aug 2006 Posts: 736 Location: San Jose CA

hefyd · Posted: Mon Feb 04, 2008 8:53 am Post subject: reading as well as possible

It's always very interesting to listen to a professional and to try to puzzle out why they sound so good, erm ie why they sound so much better than I do. I have listened to Chip reading 'War of the Worlds' several times to try to find the secret, but haven't tracked it down yet. There are a number of contributory factors I think. Many, perhaps all, of the good readers are thesps, either amateur, professional or semi professional, some have good voices anyway, some have accents that are more acceptable than others,or can make them so, some limit themselves to readings that suit their voices. Professionals study their parts -to read anything you have to read it at least twice, once silently and once out loud, and then listen to it twice more while editing-this is more than enough for most of us [I say this even though one of the main reasons I read myself is the close attention doing so forces me to give to the text]. But Dickens [who was an amateur thesp] is said to have read a text he was to perform at least 200 times before he did so -and he had written it himself ! I haven't myself listened to many audiobooks other than Librivox ones, but I think we have some readers in Librivox who are as good as any anywhere [and they all have to edit their own stuff!] hefyd
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sjmarky · Joined: 29 Aug 2006 Posts: 736 Location: San Jose CA

While it is true that many top pro narrators have a theater background (including Brick), it isn't universally true. Conversely, almost none start out as announcers. The formal training for narrators emphasizes acting, acting, and more acting.

Like any other skill, narration improves with practice. A LV volunteer who reads a half-hour a week shouldn't be comparing him/herself with a professional narrator like Brick who reads 6 to 8 hours every day, with a director to coach him (this makes a huge difference), and who has recorded more than 250 books.

And you know, your voice is your voice -- you can't change it a whole lot. Its what you do with what you have. And yes -- book publishers purposefully select narrators that they feel have the right voice and style for a particular book. Scott Brick would never be hired to do a kid's book where they want a lot of distinct character voices, because that's not his style. You want that you hire a Dale or a Dufris.
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"How long has your camel been constipated?" - Christopher Moore