Two weeks ago Ken Mitchroney and I drove out to Deyan Audio in Tarzana to meet with MacLeod Andrews, who narrates the upcoming Fata Morgana audiobook. I’d been to Deyan previously, for the Ariel and Elegy Beach audiobooks, which I blogged about here. Suffice to say the staff and facility are made of pure awesome.
MacLeod is a hugely talented, ridiculously handsome, up-and-coming actor who has narrated a ton of books and won several awards. Ken and I picked him instantly after hearing his audition; his reading was perfect.
The audiobook’s producer, Bryan Barney, was great about working with us to solve some problems in translation from print to audio. (For example, Chapters 4, 5, & 6 end and resume in midsentence to indicate an abrupt transition from one place to another, which wouldn’t work for an audiobook because [a] the narrator announces the new chapter, which would ruin the effect, and [b] the mp3 version would contain separate chapter files that would stop and start midsentence, likely making a listener think something had screwed up. The solution: combining those chapters into one. Ta-da.)
I’m in the midst of sound-treating my office/studio with a view to record an audiobook of Mortality Bridge, so for me the recording rooms at Deyan are pure sound-engineer porn: Efficient, acoustically flat, with vocal booths bought from an audiologist and repurposed for recording (genius!). And Genelec monitors — ka-ching!
Ken and I joked around a lot, and sat in on the beginning of the session, but we cleared out soon afterward. We didn’t want to loom, and it was pretty obvious the production was in good hands.
I have to say, I’ve been pretty lucky. It’s not that common for writers to meet with the narrators of their books or show up for the recording session.
Even luckier, I’m getting a shot at composing the audiobook’s theme music. Maybe it’ll sound like chickens in a blender, but it’s an opportunity I can’t pass up. I’ll blog about that & post the audio file when it’s done, probably in a couple of months.
Tune in next time for the truly awesome production that was our Author Shot in a B-17 bomber!