Why are Audiobook Narrators so Important?
By Tyler
A narrator’s job is to bring life into a novel. Narrators can often portray things through tone, inflection pitch and range that are very hard to create when reading alone. These are experts in the field. With this one point alone, you can already see the value. I bet you’re saying to yourself, “that’s what my imagination is for”, and you’re quite right, the limits in the mind are fairly incomprehensible, however an expert narration can often give you a best practice benchmark.
However, as a test, listen to Stephen Fry narrate the final scene (SPOILER) between Harry Potter and Voldemort in the Deathly Hallows and tell me you could imagine better? It is amazing how eerily similar his version of characters voices are to those in the movies. Harry Potter has the smooth, but sometimes-rough voice of a maturing teenager, while Voldemort is just as maniacal and demented as you would hope.
Furthermore lets, check out the sample from this link for The Blade itself, written by Joe Ambercrombie and narrated by Steven Pacey. Steven Pacey has done such an amazing job with this epic series (the First Law series), and just adds further proof to the value an expert narrator can add to the immersion experience of audiobooks.
Broadly speaking, one could say the success of an Audiobook is strongly correlated with the skill of the narrator. Although particular styles fit different people and there is no ‘best fit’, there is definitely a general consensus out there in relation to the gods of narration!
Lets explore this further; follow my train of thought in reviewing this strong relationship, with the Harry Potter series ‘Stephen Fry v Jim Dale comparison’.
Seviedean
you’re absolutely right, the skill and talent of the narrator is absolutely essential to creating the right mood and mental stage for the story unfold…I’ve heard some really good audio books and some really bad as well…just listened to Stephen Fry link you posted…2 very different styles! so many books to listen to, so little time!
Chris
You make a great point here and Im all for narrators. I struggle to find novels especially with narrators or cds to go with them but for a different reason. For me its great for language learning being able to practise listening comprehension and reading at the same time. Its basically what ive found to be the best way.
Ty and Gab
That is such a good point Chris, i think i’ll make note of that an update the article!
Cheers,
Holly
I love reading and always have from a very young age – I just listened to the Harry Potter link and was amazed at how good it was. The audio books I have heard before have always sounded corny and to be honest, simply awful. However, you have opened my eyes – I will definitely consider this an option now on my next trip to the library! At night I am so tired that reading can be an effort so I usually don’t bother but now I think I have found a solution 🙂 Thank you
Shannon
You are absolutely right about the narrator of an audio book being so important. Just the other day my sister mentioned to me that she was listening to an audio book on the way to work every day, and was raving about how good the narrator was and that he made her feel like she was in the story. Someone with a mastery of accents can make a story way more interesting to listen to, as well. Thanks for your insight on this. 🙂