Allow me to introduce myself. I’m a 5′5” Jewish kid from Long Island, New York. But you may have heard me as a hulking African-American, ex-linebacker zombie killer. Or a seventy-year-old Massachusetts woman grieving the loss of her young daughter. Or a Polish teenager wandering the forests of Europe after World War II. Or that 6′4”, sexy Greek god who always wears leather pants and kills werewolves in his spare time. Yeah, you know the one.
Only in the world of audiobook narrating am I afforded the ability to escape that word that is so feared by actors: Type. I get a chance to perform so many roles I would never get a chance to even audition for normally. It’s really an actor’s dream, in many ways. Of course, it’s also slightly terrifying.
Usually an actor has one job: Convey the truth of ONE character as he or she pertains to the story that is being told. In an audiobook with multiple characters, you have to truthfully portray several characters of all varying sexes, ethnicities, ages, etc. So, it’s a fine line sometimes between telling the truth and individualizing each character in a distinct way so the listener can discern between the players….and just making funny voices. It’s always a fear of mine that, somewhere, a listener is thinking, Really? That’s how you think a woman sounds??? But all I can do is dive in, and try to make truthful choices and let the chips fall where they may.
Something I like to do when prepping a book with multiple characters is cast them all in my mind. It can be famous actors, friends, family members, the guy who works at the deli down the street, whomever. But when I’m first reading through a book to prep, I like to write down ideas for whom I would like to see play this character in the movie version. It’s not necessarily a matter of imitating that person, but it just informs me where I may pitch my voice, where the characters’ rhythms may land, etc. Most times I’ll jot down some ideas but I won’t actually try them out until I’m in the booth recording, and I’ll just see what happens and hope it works—keeps up the element of surprise for myself, which I feel is important when working on audiobooks. Many times the voice that comes out is nothing at all like the voice I had in my head, which can be really exciting if it works. Even if I’m recording a non-fiction book with no characters at all—say a business book—I still try and approach the narration from a performance standpoint. I’m not just reading the information off the page. I try and look at it as one person telling another person a story, giving them advice on how to do something, teaching them something new and exciting.
Again, audiobook narration is about trying to tell the truth in an interesting way and taking the listener on a journey with you and the author. Or at least, that’s the way I try to go in at it. And, if nothing else, at least I got to play a 6′4” sexy Greek god who kills werewolves at one point in my career. It’s the little things, right?
Fred Berman is an award winning narrator of over 100 books. He’s the recipient of two Audie Awards for the books Spy The Lie (Philip Houston) and The Intelligent Entrepreneur (Bill Murphy), as well as seven Audiofile Earphone Awards.
Only in the world of audiobook narrating am I afforded the ability to escape that word that is so feared by actors: Type. I get a chance to perform so many roles I would never get a chance to even audition for normally. It’s really an actor’s dream, in many ways. Of course, it’s also slightly terrifying.
Usually an actor has one job: Convey the truth of ONE character as he or she pertains to the story that is being told. In an audiobook with multiple characters, you have to truthfully portray several characters of all varying sexes, ethnicities, ages, etc. So, it’s a fine line sometimes between telling the truth and individualizing each character in a distinct way so the listener can discern between the players….and just making funny voices. It’s always a fear of mine that, somewhere, a listener is thinking, Really? That’s how you think a woman sounds??? But all I can do is dive in, and try to make truthful choices and let the chips fall where they may.
Something I like to do when prepping a book with multiple characters is cast them all in my mind. It can be famous actors, friends, family members, the guy who works at the deli down the street, whomever. But when I’m first reading through a book to prep, I like to write down ideas for whom I would like to see play this character in the movie version. It’s not necessarily a matter of imitating that person, but it just informs me where I may pitch my voice, where the characters’ rhythms may land, etc. Most times I’ll jot down some ideas but I won’t actually try them out until I’m in the booth recording, and I’ll just see what happens and hope it works—keeps up the element of surprise for myself, which I feel is important when working on audiobooks. Many times the voice that comes out is nothing at all like the voice I had in my head, which can be really exciting if it works. Even if I’m recording a non-fiction book with no characters at all—say a business book—I still try and approach the narration from a performance standpoint. I’m not just reading the information off the page. I try and look at it as one person telling another person a story, giving them advice on how to do something, teaching them something new and exciting.
Again, audiobook narration is about trying to tell the truth in an interesting way and taking the listener on a journey with you and the author. Or at least, that’s the way I try to go in at it. And, if nothing else, at least I got to play a 6′4” sexy Greek god who kills werewolves at one point in my career. It’s the little things, right?
Fred Berman is an award winning narrator of over 100 books. He’s the recipient of two Audie Awards for the books Spy The Lie (Philip Houston) and The Intelligent Entrepreneur (Bill Murphy), as well as seven Audiofile Earphone Awards.