A reader of The Magazine of Santa Clarita prompts this month’s answer to the question of what skills are necessary for audiobook narration.
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 information – Selina H., Westlake Village, CA
A: Narrating an audiobook is the most challenging work in voiceover, and it 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.
1. Articulation: This involves enunciating words and phrases correctly, clearly and cleanly; there should be no over-or-under-articulation (unless it’s a character); there should be no sibilance or whistling (most commonly heard on “s’s” or soft “c’s”) or lisping. The best narrators find that “Goldilocks” area of articulation, where their speaking is relaxed, but clear.
2. Breathing: You must have enough breath so that you don’t run out of air at the end of sentences, or gasp for breath between sentences or inside them. There should be no fading, swallowing or gulping. Breath control also involves controlling plosives (popping “p’s” or hard consonants), keeping your volume consistent and projecting appropriately. It involves managing mouth noise and throat clearing. Too much will require a lot of editing, and subsequently, audiobook companies will not hire talent who engender a lot of post-production attention. Narrators also keep their mouths open so they don’t make mouth noise.
Over the next few months, I’ll lay out the rest of the skills necessary for professional audiobook narration. Stay tuned!
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. Cashman Commercials © 2011
Marc can be contacted at cashcomm@earthlink.net or his website, www.cashmancommercials.com.