Turning my first published book, The Mystery of Glengarron, into an audio book was easy and fun for me. But for the talented young narrator, it was a lot of work. As I mentioned in my last post, Patrick Peterson is the narrator and we collaborated via the tools available online at acx.com (an Amazon company) and email. But I was curious to learn more about him and how he works. In this interview, Patrick answers some questions about what inspires him and what it takes to be a narrator of audio books.
Sallee: How did you get interested in narrating audiobooks?
Patrick: Ever since I was a child I have loved cartoons. Even into adulthood I am still a fan and am working toward my dream of voicing a cartoon one of these days. I have two bachelors degrees in English and Theatre so narrating audiobooks was something that would allow me to use both of my talents. Though my love of voice over and cartoons is what got me started. My teacher worked with me in setting up a demo and introduced me to various audiobook websites that I could work to be a part of.
Sallee: Do you have a dedicated studio? and, Was it hard/expensive to set up?
Patrick: I do have a studio that I built in my basement. It was fairly expensive spanning roughly $2,000 once complete for work, though I still add new things here and there for better quality. Setting up was not hard at all. Just a matter of finding a sizable room to sit in comfortably. I have a deep side closet. The room is laced with quiet brace, a material that helps to keep in sound, that I found a Home Depot. So with some dedication I raised the money and bought the materials and now I have my own private studio.
Patrick: I do have a studio that I built in my basement. It was fairly expensive spanning roughly $2,000 once complete for work, though I still add new things here and there for better quality. Setting up was not hard at all. Just a matter of finding a sizable room to sit in comfortably. I have a deep side closet. The room is laced with quiet brace, a material that helps to keep in sound, that I found a Home Depot. So with some dedication I raised the money and bought the materials and now I have my own private studio.
Patrick: Well as a narrator you have to get comfortable with rejection. I'm still working on that, but I digress, for every book I land I probably have about 15-20 auditions lost. Mostly I look around in categories that interest me, fantasy, sci fi, children's, then there are some that I learn about. I work at a library as my day job and so I have a first hand kind of cheat when it comes to seeing what people are reading. Mystery, Romance and Nonfiction are the big audiobooks, those are usually the ones that will sell. So from all those categories I pick a few from each and see if someone likes me enough to offer me the job.
Sallee: What's the hardest part of narrating a book?
Patrick: EDITING!!! Most people ask me how I change voices and if i do it all together, and the answer is yes, I do switch immediately between voices, it has always been fairly easy for me, ever since I would imitate Red Skelton as a child i have been good at imitation. The theatrical aspect of standing in a room by myself and talking to my self in 20-30 different voices is the most fun I have, especially when there is a character that you just love the voice you have for him/her and whenever you do that voice you smile. (For me that character was Harry in your novel) He was just so Billy Connelly over the top!!! Editing on the other hand is terrible, my least favorite part. Aside from being only ok at it which is not fun because it then affects your performance, it takes forever. For every hour you listen to this book I listened to that hour a minimum of 6 times and editing it took at least 8 hours. Sometimes it is just very tedious. You get better as you go, but my dream is to leave the editing to someone else, walk into my or someone's studio and recording and get paid and leave. HAHA that would be awesome.
Patrick: EDITING!!! Most people ask me how I change voices and if i do it all together, and the answer is yes, I do switch immediately between voices, it has always been fairly easy for me, ever since I would imitate Red Skelton as a child i have been good at imitation. The theatrical aspect of standing in a room by myself and talking to my self in 20-30 different voices is the most fun I have, especially when there is a character that you just love the voice you have for him/her and whenever you do that voice you smile. (For me that character was Harry in your novel) He was just so Billy Connelly over the top!!! Editing on the other hand is terrible, my least favorite part. Aside from being only ok at it which is not fun because it then affects your performance, it takes forever. For every hour you listen to this book I listened to that hour a minimum of 6 times and editing it took at least 8 hours. Sometimes it is just very tedious. You get better as you go, but my dream is to leave the editing to someone else, walk into my or someone's studio and recording and get paid and leave. HAHA that would be awesome.
Patrick: Well to be a cartoon voice someday is a big one. Also I would have to say work with the greats like Tom Kane, John Dimaggio, James Arnold Taylor, Jim Cummings, and Tara Strong, and if I kept going it would take forever, so many great talents out there that I idolize. Outside of audiobooks I can't wait to start a family and if my voiceover career takes off perhaps try to be a stay at home parent. If none of that pans out, or if it does I would like to do something with Shakespeare, his work is awesome!!
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