How to train for recording audiobooks: voice-over talents sharpen their skills as industry takes off
- Downloads of audiobooks have tripled in the past five years, and voice-over artists are in demand
- Renowned voice-over artist Johnny Heller teaches hopefuls the finer points of audiobook recording
David McKeel pauses. The romance genre is unfamiliar territory for him.
He’s reading a selection from Cheris Hodges’s steamy novel, Recipe for Desire. Where McKeel picks up, the protagonist, Marie, has sprained her ankle, and a millionaire hunk named Devon is driving her to Presbyterian Hospital in his red Ford Mustang. A perfect time for some flirting.
“I will say one thing,” McKeel says, as Marie, “I never took you for a Ford man.” He keeps his voice near its normal pitch; in the world of audiobook narration, modulating too much from one character to another is bad practice.
His coach, Johnny Heller, cuts him off. He wants McKeel to put the emphasis on “you” instead of “Ford.”
“You can’t dance around what’s going on,” Heller urges him. “There’s an electricity we’re missing right now!”
