Jeb Harrison interviews Simon Vance, the prize-winning audiobook narrator who has lent his voice to over 450 recordings:
JH: What is your process for determining the voice for any given character?
SV: My first anchor will be the information given in the text by the author — Dickens is particularly good at painting the picture of a character, giving me some idea of his/her physical characteristics and social status even before they open their mouth. Often, if there’s nothing spelled out I use my intuition based on who the person is, what they want and how they interact with the other characters. There’s usually something I can hook onto. …
JH: What advice would you give to folks just getting started in audiobook narration?
SV: Really, you want to sit in a dark closet sized space for hours on end reading to yourself? Are you crazy? You’re going to have to really love reading….
Seriously, it’s become a very crowded profession recently and I’m lucky to have established myself some time ago. One must bear in mind that it’s not just the hours spent behind the microphone… I spend a lot of time pre-reading and researching pronunciations, plus their are the technical aspects of running a home studio. But if you’re dedicated, who knows? Plug yourself into all the audiobook groups in social media and absorb as much as you can. Listen to the respected readers and try to discover what it is they bring to a narration that the less successful clearly do not. I think, as a very basic requirement, you need an actor’s sensibility… it’s not just about a pretty voice.
The Dish 