Pace in Audiobook Narration

[@cheshirevapor618]

Man you are both seriously talented and underappreciated. I've gone through most of what you have on audible, and you have truly helped me appreciate how a narrator can bring a book alive. Keep it up my dude

[@acoga]

"For a variety of reasons it's been top of mind lately." Heh.

[@davidhedlund3888]

I'll never narrate an audio book but this was still interesting. I admire how much effort you put into your work and it really shows in the performance. I've listened to many of your recordings and I just wanted to say thank you for doing what you do!

[@savethefails]

I'm a simple man...I see a video by Travis...I watch a video by Travis....thank you

[@LemonyBello]

Honestly, I think audiobook narration is one of the most noble professions to ever exist. We've been telling each other stories longer than we've had fire.

[@travisbaldree]

Honestly, it's such a fun job that it feels like cheating that I get to do it.

[@marlashaw]

OMG seriously.. I absolutely loved this explanation/ discussion.. I am a relatively new narrator and was worried about this .. I love audiobooks and have listened to them for over ten years, now as a narrator, I have tried to mimic my favorite narrators and was worried I was going too slow.. I love that you explained this so thoroughly and clearly !!!! I absolutely love being a narrator.. and the art of bringing a story to life... and will continue to follow your channel... help me obi wan kanobi :-)

[@brigidandair]

I have to say that I love these videos. Audiobook narration is something I'm seriously looking into getting started. You're one of my favorite narrators I've encountered so far, and your videos have been excellent for helping me organize and practice. Thank you for all your hard work, and for taking the time to make these.

[@WebsterFamily4]

Also - requesting an in depth follow up going more into all the things you listed at the end. 😁

[@sststr]

Question unrelated to the video, but one that I have been struggling with, since I'm doing public domain works from long-dead authors whom I have not the luxury to inquire with: how do you handle names with no obvious pronunciation? For example, I recently came across the name Tomeron. It's from a Clark Ashton Smith story, so we know he's an American author. The story is set in a city with an ancient Greek name (Ptolemides), and the only other name we get in the entire piece is Theolus, for the story's narrator. That's all the hints we get. To begin with, I don't know how to even break that name up into syllables. Tom-e-ron? To-me-ron? To-mer-on? Tome-ron? Tom-er-on? Other? Then there's the stress for the syllables, and then whether vowels are long or short. There are so many possible permutations of the name, how do you go about deciding which one? Or should we even care, so long as we are consistent in pronunciation throughout? And that's a fairly easy example, names in Smith's stories range all the way through to Hziulquoigmnzhah. Which, mercifully, we are told even the main character, who is the only person in the story to utter the name (but unfortunately, he says it many times), struggles with the pronunciation, so I'd like to think we are excused in our reading if we also stumble over it and are not perfectly consistent in the pronunciation used. Struggling with names from these deceased authors who cannot be asked about pronunciation has lead me on a crusade to beg all authors to include some sort of indicator of pronunciations of non-obvious names, be it in footnotes, or a glossary, or anything at all. Even just FAQs on a website. Give us *something* to work with! I am currently working on Smith's Averoigne series, and mercifully the editor of the collection I'm reading from had the same thought I did, and consulted with a French language scholar about pronunciations of the various fictional French names used in the text and included a pronunciation guide in the introduction. That is the one and only instance I have seen where anybody has done such a thing. But it's not from the author, so we can't be 100% certain it's what Smith had in mind, but it's at least better than I would manage on my own, given I have no faculty whatsoever with the French language. Lovecraft did us the favor of saying the names of his Old Ones were such that they couldn't be correctly pronounced by human beings as we lack the necessary physical means of vocalizing them, so it didn't matter how you pronounced the names, you could never get them right regardless. HA! But seriously though, authors should put something in their texts to indicate the intended pronunciations. It's bloody murder on narrators to be confronted with names like Tomeron or Pharpetron, or even Zeiros or Eibon, given in English that the pronunciation of 'ei' (and 'ie') is inconsistent and unpredictable. (I go with the German style of ei and ie, because I learned German from a very young age so it just comes naturally to me, but most other narrations of these texts I listen to do not.) Even something as simple as the family name of Typer, is that as in the verb 'to type'? Or since most of the names in that story are Dutch, is it pronounced in the Dutch style like 'tip'? Who knows! The author knows, but when he's dead that does you no good. The Typer example is particularly notable, since the other, Dutch, names are all the ancestors of the main character named Typer, so those ancestral names from hundreds of years ago would require proper Dutch pronunciation, but Typer is a modern (as of when the story was written in 1938) American, and Americans have a tendency to change how names are pronounced, so it seems either pronunciation could potentially be valid and we have no way of knowing what the author intended. So tell us in the text what you have in mind, so you won't have to worry that people 50 or 100 or 200 years later are saying it wrong!

[@davemccord170]

7:32 They just never get a chance to catch their breath. - Best explanation for pacing, ever! Thanks Travis.

[@brodofagins]

Love your narration in the cradle series. I've wanted to be an audiobook reader for awhile but it seems like a difficult thing to break into

[@monty671]

Travis, You once again taught another part of your Master Class. From you, others are being made better at recording the long-form narration.

[@kronik907]

I loved being able to imagine your orthos face for his lines in bloodline. 👌💯 Another excellent performance 🥳

[@Wasabi37a]

In regards to slowing down I think I can add some sort of an outsider perspective. I'm not a native English speaker. For that reason I often (especially with books) like to listen at 1.0 speed just so that I have enough time to notice all the nuance in the text. I even know of some people who listen at 0.9x. That said it is pretty much impossible to go slower because speech just starts to sound very wired if you slow it down too much.

[@WebsterFamily4]

Man, this was really great. I’ve actually been binge watching your videos for the last two hours. I have been narrating for over a year now and I love it. But it’s hard because I have all these questions and ideas, but no one to bounce them off of. I don’t know any other narrators. It was nice to hear someone else’s take and tips. I’m going to watch all your videos now and learn a lot. Thanks, really helpful!

[@travisbaldree]

Glad they're helpful! There are also some narrator groups on Facebook - facebook.com/groups/booknarrators and facebook.com/groups/ACXNarratorsProducers if you'd like to hang out with more of us :)

[@WebsterFamily4]

@@travisbaldree I will look at both! Thanks for the links.

[@jacoreyupshaw4508]

Best damn narrator. I find myself listening to audiobooks I have no interest in because you narrate them. We need you in an anime or 6.

[@MrNub-bt4uq]

I think your the best narrator ever, my dad isn’t really into the book but he agrees that you are a very good narrator.

[@cathbilson]

"My increasingly disheveled series" well, you had me laughing right off the bat!

[@lindasonrisajones8310]

Perfect timing ;-) on this tutorial, thank you!

[@Jordarr8994]

If cradle were to be adapted into a cartoon, which character would you want to voice the most?

[@travisbaldree]

My answer is different on any given day, but today I'll say "Orthos"

[@amazonorchid1321]

This is great! Thanks! 💖

[@MrNub-bt4uq]

Do you know when the tenth book is coming out or the average time or the scheduled time?

[@aprilhalstead9749]

You need to work on this "day off" thing. I don't think you get how that works.

[@rbenhameda]

haha, I'm that 1.9 - 2.0 guy.

[@travisbaldree]

*hisses and retreats from the sunlight*

[@rbenhameda]

@@travisbaldree in my defense (and with major kudos to you), that's the speed at which my brain engages and specifically the speed where I am fully focused on language. Slower than that and i run down every mental rabbit hole in a square mile and end up zoning out and missing whole chapters. What makes doing this with books you voice possible and enjoyable, though, is your skill at voicing and pacing the author's words.

[@tealiensalaris8897]

What are your thoughts on the mage breakers book

[@travisbaldree]

I really enjoyed them! :)

[@darwinbetances4195]

Arthur this is not your war omg!! Love that part from tbate audiobook