Last month, a reader of The Magazine of Santa Clarita asked what skills are necessary for audiobook narration. I explained two of 10 different skills needed. Here’s her question again, and the third skill explained.
Q: I’m a professional commercial voice actor, but I’d love to get into narrating audiobooks, and don’t know what specialized skills it takes to do it professionally. Are there any guidelines I should know about before attempting to jump into this arena? Thanks in advance for your info. –Selina H., Westlake Village, California
A: Narrating an audiobook takes myriad skills to navigate them successfully. Master ten crucial skills for audiobook narration and you’ll successfully accomplish a performance that most audiobook listeners take for granted.
Delivery: The ability to tell a story compellingly constitutes solid delivery. Your delivery must be appropriate to the spirit of the text and the author’s intent, and must be consistent throughout the narration. Since you’ll be narrating over several days, your voice must match itself from day to day, pitch-wise and energy-wise. Timing and pacing are additional elements of professional delivery, and needs to be appropriate to the text. Repetitive cadence and pitch patterns must be avoided at all costs. Each sentence needs to be varied slightly, so as not to become predictable. Listeners may not know what you’re going to say next, but if you’re constantly starting and ending sentences the same way all the time, they’ll know how you’re going to say what you’re going to say. Listening to yourself, remembering what you did, listening to your director (if you have one) and making adjustments are other must-have delivery skills.
Over the next few months, I’ll lay out the rest of the skills necessary for professional audiobook narration. Stay tuned! Cashman Commercials © 2011
Marc Cashman creates and produces copy and music advertising for radio and television, was named one of the “Best Voices of the Year” by AudioFile Magazine, and was the Keynote Speaker and Master Class instructor at the international voiceover conventions VOICE 2008 and 2010 in Los Angeles. Winner of over 150 advertising awards, and a working voice actor as well, he teaches voiceover technique at California Institute of the Arts and instructs voice acting of all levels through his classes, The Cashman Cache of Voice-Acting Techniques in Los Angeles, California.
Marc can be contacted at cashcomm@earthlink.net or his website, www.cashmancommercials.com.