0694 – Projection And Pace For The Audiobook Narrator

2022.11.25 – 0694 – Projection And Pace For The Audiobook Narrator

Projection – we have looked at loudness before, but as a quick reminder that with audiobooks especially, people will be listening alone perhaps through headphones, so talk to them with a one-to-one volume. A ‘big’ narration will be exhausting for everyone.

Pace – don’t read too fast. Allow the listener to ‘see’ the scene you are painting with the words. Obviously, the speed goes hand-in-hand with the content (you will read the description of a romantic landscape more slowly than that of a sports event that’s about to erupt into violence), but it’s a good rule of thumb to allow visual language to sink in. Also, make sure you vary your pace. We saw before how we vary our delivery speed, depending on the information we are giving (new or complex detail is slower, familiar or unimportant asides are more ‘thrown away’). So, if there’s a fight scene, your narration and dialogue need to be snappy and moving, maybe the tone is heavier too. And if it’s a sad or suspenseful scene take your time over the words and the pauses, to reflect the sense of the action. If the characters are creeping into a forest at night, then reflect that in your narration, speaking quietly too.

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