Audiobooks discussion

I started a series about my own shortcomings as a beginning narrator; taking a candid look at my own failures, along with some of the extreme and hilarious narrations that I have found on Audible. I assure you, it's all in good fun. I'm not trying to attack or be mean-spirited towards narrators or listeners- this is for my own amusement and reflection. I mostly take shots at myself.

There is a passionate community of audiobook fans on Goodreads, so I thought it might be of interest to some of you. I take stand-up comedy very serious and when I see someone on stage that I think is wasting everyone's time, I get seriously pissed off. I imagine audiobook listeners get fired up the same way when someone is ruining a story with a horrible squeaky female voice, or a lousy accent. I'm guilty on both of those counts already, and I've only done two books! Like stand-up comedy, I just have to do it over and over, but the process comes with a lot of failure. I'm sure the best narrators had their shaky starts too. One could argue if you have no vocal training or acting experience then you have no business doing this. Well, I guess have the audacity to do it anyway. Sorry about that. You can read about my mistakes here:

http://martywurst.tumblr.com/

Well, apart from bad quality recordings, which can't really be argued about, I'm always surprised at the quantity of narrations that some love and others hate.
One example comes to mind, Katherine kellgren of the Royal Spyness series - and many, many others. Listeners seem to really love or dislike her narrations. Just a matter of opinion really,

I'm not sure about it being necessary to be a trained actor, but I would think voice training would be a good idea if only to keep those vocal cords healthy for years to come
Good luck!

I'd like to shoot the person picks NARRATORS for our favorite authors and the story is ruined because of the narrator.

I also dislike it when narrators are changed in a series I happen to like.

I don't like narrators that use the same amount of emotion for every situation. There is one I can think of think of that reads a scene of ordinary happenings with the same over wrought tone he reads the dramatic conclusion of events. I don't know why this annoys me, but it does.

Audiothing wrote: "Well, apart from bad quality recordings, which can't really be argued about, I'm always surprised at the quantity of narrations that some love and others hate.
One example comes to mind, Katherine ..."

It surprises me too. Seen a lot of the true professionals take a lot of shots on the forums, but I guess everyone has their preference. Too much emotion, not enough, or whatever.

Penelope wrote: "I don't like narrators that use the same amount of emotion for every situation. There is one I can think of think of that reads a scene of ordinary happenings with the same over wrought tone he rea..."

That would definitely bother me too. Just a little indication or excitement please- it's the 3rd act!

Mara wrote: "I'd like to shoot the person picks NARRATORS for our favorite authors and the story is ruined because of the narrator.

I also dislike it when narrators are changed in a series I happen to like."

I actually got in a conversation with a friend about that last night! Especially if the reviews are glowing, listeners love the narrator, and the audiobook sells really well, why not stick with the same narrator? Seems weird.

Penelope wrote: "I don't like narrators that use the same amount of emotion for every situation. There is one I can think of think of that reads a scene of ordinary happenings with the same over wrought tone he rea..."

It's better for me than whip-lash narrators that seem to stress random words and sentences throughout the text without any concern for their content. If I have to ask "Why are you getting so excited over (insert mundane sentence here)," there is a problem with the narration.

Martin wrote: "Mara wrote: "I'd like to shoot the person picks NARRATORS for our favorite authors and the story is ruined because of the narrator.

I also dislike it when narrators are changed in a series I happe..."

This is a pet peave of mine to however a lot of it has to do with changing publishers, if an author changes publishers mid series that is usually the reason behind a new narrator. or like in the case of the one Dresden book Marsters was busy with other projects so they had a different narrator and it was panned so bad that they had Marsters go back and re-record the book.

I went and looked at your tumbler and must say that not reading the book ahead of time and writing some notes would be your first mistake from what I've seen and heard in the audiobook world that is just narrating 101.

The worst review I have ever left --her voice is fine but for the love of god she needs to learn to control her breathing better there were times she sounded like a fish out of water gulping for breath and it was very off-putting. If she learns that, I would listen to her again because her voice and characters were well done but I had a hard time getting over the gulps of breath she was taking.

My personal "nails-on-a-chalkboard" is mispronunciations! And I do know that I read a tremendous amount and sometimes I read words I've never actually heard anyone say...so perhaps my "inner pronunciation" is wrong, but if I have ANY doubt, I look it up! The last book I listened to had heros who were "bed raggled", staging "coops" against the bad guys, and being followed by a "Jag-wire"!
Ugh.Where are the proofers and screeners here???!!!

Pamela I agree with you!!! I just finished listening to a narrator who was mispronouncing words in one of my favourite author's books.

MissSusie wrote: "Martin wrote: "Mara wrote: "I'd like to shoot the person picks NARRATORS for our favorite authors and the story is ruined because of the narrator.

I also dislike it when narrators are changed in a..."

OMG the mouth breathing makes me wanna hurl.

I personally dislike Sandra Burr. I have some Nora Roberts's book I love to listen to, but since Sandra Burr is the narrator I choose not to listen to them.

LOL @CrimsonTyd! Now I know for sure all that post production work is worth it, no doubt. If it just keeps one person from hurling...

There have been many a book I have not finished because of the narrator.

Thank Audible, and other digital audiobook apps that allow you to listen to book to see if you want to get the book.

I have some hearing issues, and as I've gotten older, high-pitched (female) voices have become harder for me to listen to. So there are some female narrators who I can't stand to hear, but it's at least partly my personal hearing problem.

Having said that, male narrators who use squeaky or high-pitched or thin voices for female characters annoy the heck out of me. If a narrator has read the book or found out enough to know something of the characters, then I think the voices they choose should reflect some of the character's, um, character.

A couple of years ago a couple of trilogies from a favorite author were finally done as audiobooks, and I was very excited. But the narrator chose voices for the various characters that were all wrong, not just for the voices I had in my head for them, but for the most basic of their traits, e.g., a smart street-raised guy who sounded like a hillbilly, a main-character young man with an old-man quavery voice. I kept the first book and listened to the whole thing, and then wrote a long review explaining my objections and why I wasn't buying the rest of the trilogy or its sequels.

Casey Affleck. Worst of all time. Classic example of getting someone because of their name rather than skill. Didn't know it was him until I googled, had to find out who this prepubescent-always on the verge of crying or coughing - narrator was...

The worst is when a narrator can't pronounce words correctly. An occasional mispronunciation is one thing. Pronouncing a single word incorrectly multiple times is forgivable as long as it's consistent. But pronouncing many words incorrectly throughout a book or series is not acceptable.

I'm thinking of Elizabeth Moon's Vatta's War series where the narrator mispronounced Rafe, Ciudad, betrothed and many, many more words. In fact, the further the series went, the more words she mispronounce.

I agree wholeheartedly about mispronunciations, drives me batty. I also hate when the narrator uses voices for characters that are so far away from their character descriptions. I also have to admit that certain high pitched voices will drive me far away from a book. I'm currently muddling my way through an audiobook that I promised to review for a friend but it's very slow going because the narrator is terrible.

Sandi wrote: "The worst is when a narrator can't pronounce words correctly. An occasional mispronunciation is one thing. Pronouncing a single word incorrectly multiple times is forgivable as long as it's consist..."

Why I wound up buying the multi-voice editions from Graphic Audio.

Mispronunciations are annoying, but if they're sporadic, I can ignore (and even chuckle at) them. I have a harder time with tone. Yes, there's such a thing as too much emotion in reading, but I've listened to a few too many robots. I'm like, "THE BOOK IS EXCITING!!! DO YOU NOT HAVE FEELINGS?????" Also, narrators who can't do voices need to get out of the business. The book needs to be PERFORMED with appropriate emotion, not just read. Getting the words right is not sufficient.

Another book I couldn't bring myself to listen to for more than 10 minutes... the narrator paused for like 5 seconds between every sentence. A 5 second pause between CHAPTERS is pushing it! I'm the sort who speeds up slow narrators to like 1.1x or 1.2x, so it was UNENDURABLE. (Have I mentioned that I'm in LOVE with the Smart AudioBook Player app? It's one of TWO apps I've actually paid for ($0.99 or $1.99, I can't remember), and I haven't regretted it for a second. I actually returned a replacement MP3 player because the app was just so much better!)

I also listened to this one book where the narrator gave this (horrific) Texan drawl to a character from Dallas.... I wanted to murder her. People in Dallas might use the term "y'all" (maybe), but NOT with any appreciable accent. It's the city. We're like... semi-cultured here. You have to travel a good 20 minutes outside the city before the accent creeps in. Srsly. *shudder*

CatBookMom wrote: "I have some hearing issues, and as I've gotten older, high-pitched (female) voices have become harder for me to listen to. So there are some female narrators who I can't stand to hear, but it's at ..."
You're the kind of listener I like, CatBookMom (possibly because I have a low-pitched voice for a female narrator!) :-) So shoot me an email at Pam@TheCaptainsVoice.com and I'll send you a free download of one of my audiobook since you've made me smile today!

BTW, I, too, have some hearing issues after 25 years piloting 747s!

Well, I could submit an entry for this category, but I have a sneaking suspicion that I "met" her here...

Her narrations of minority characters were borderline racist. Very stereotypical. Mildly enjoyed the book, loathed her narration. First time that has ever happened to me.