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Just as there are different styles and types of movies, books and music, there are different styles, ranges and textures of voice that are best suited to particular roles, including narrative roles.
When picking a voice talent to narrate an audiobook, it is very important that you consider the genre of the story and do some research on the author's intent before sending out a casting call or contacting a voice talent to record for your project.
Let's say you have a contract to produce one of the Canadian award-winning author Margaret Atwood's books and need to pick a voice talent to record for "The Blind Assassin".
What you need to do at this point is start classifying the book by asking yourself a few questions:
1. What kind of book is this (drama, mystery, sci-fi, romance, comedy, etc.)?
2. How is the story told (first-person narrator, third-person omniscient narrator, etc.)?
3. Which type of voice best suits the narrator (gender, age, accent, voice type)?
When examining "The Blind Assassin", we can say that the book is a mystery that has a darker color to it exuding intrigue, passion and deceit.
The voice of the narrator is written in the first person. The narrator is in the midst of compiling memoirs for publication in her old age, traveling back in time and returning to the present to provide context for the memoirs. At times, other voices serve as first-person narrator to give perspective and add more layers to the story, but the dominant voice is that of the protagonist. What kind of voice best suits the narrator?
The protagonist, who also happens to be the principal narrator, is female. She is a wise, independent person, able to hold a grudge, who has lived a long life and has also lived through enough to make for some interesting memoirs.
The secondary narrative voice, the protagonist's late sister, is also female. Based upon those facts it makes sense to go with a strong, versatile female voice actress who can perform both as an aged, somewhat senile woman and as young, vivacious females. Their voice should also be capable of portraying a child and male voices as are required.
Now that the stage is set for what kind of narrator is needed, you can move on to find a voice that meets your requirements as are laid out by clues in the book presented to you by the author. If you are in the good fortune to be working with the author, ask them for their input on what they feel the "ideal" vocal qualities are that the voice of the narrator should possess.
When it comes down to it, the kind of voice that is chosen is truly dependent on the authentic voice of the narrator, however, certain voice types are more favorable when cast for particular genres just like certain actors are cast in movies and opera singers chosen for specific roles that play on their vocal strengths.
Know that by asking yourself these three simple questions, you can easily make a portrait of the voice you need and your audience would benefit by listening to that is true to the book and author's intent.
Stephanie Ciccarelli is the Vice President of Marketing and co-founder of Voices.com, the voice over marketplace. Stephanie translates years of classical music training, theory and performance into practical applications within the voice over industry. For more info on Audiobook Voice Narrators, and what makes them different, visit Audiobook Voice Talent
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