COACHING

With 30 years of experience directing hundreds of best-selling authors and talented professional narrators, I’ve enjoyed a unique vantage point from my side of the glass in recording studios all over the world. I’ve learned that every audiobook recording requires certain fixed skills from its narrator—skills which can be taught—but, depending on the genre and the writing itself, there are also more nuanced approaches to written material and a level of literary comprehension that any narrator ought to be aware of if they want their performance, and therefore the overall production, to stand out in the industry. And as a producer who hires directors, I also have a deep understanding of what skills and techniques are necessary for a director to possess in order to procure a stellar performance from a narrator. 

NARRATION

There is so much more to audiobook narration than simply reading a book out loud. Sitting nearly stock still in a small, padded room and speaking with pitch-perfect elocution for six hours a day for several days takes physical, intellectual, and emotional stamina, not to mention robust vocal health. But there are more nuanced skills at play in a solid narrator:

• Understanding the material: Manuscript interpretation and honoring the author’s voice and intent. 

• Character development and differentiation: Varying dynamic range, cadence and vocal demeanor to bring characters to life; transforming written dialogue into fluid conversation; using accent and dialect effectively and credibly.

• Reading vs performance: Employing diction, tone, pace, breath, and other vocal skills to lift prose off the page.

DIRECTING 

Prepping manuscripts for recording; maximizing creativity and efficiency in the studio with engineers and narrators; helping actors and authors deliver eloquent, intelligent, inspired narration.

For private or group sessions with in-depth feedback, we are available remotely or on-site, at your space or at Prose Garden Productions’ Hudson Valley studio.