This week's commercial note: The audiobook contest for a free copy of FOR WHOM THE MINIVAN ROLLS, A FAREWELL TO LEGS or AS DOG IS MY WITNESS from Books In Motion ends this Friday, so get your entry in now (here's how). And on to business:
Last week, I began an interview with Damon Abdallah, the terrific actor who reads the Aaron Tucker novels for the new Books In Motion audiobook editions (more on that later). But Damon's insights into how audiobooks are recorded and his process as an actor was too fascinating to cut down for one week's post, so here's part 2 of the interview:
Jeff Cohen: How do you get "assigned" a book? Is there an audition process, or does the audio publisher simply call and make the offer?
Damon Abdallah: My audio engineer, the wise and talented Myles Milliman, hands me a book and says, "I've got a book for you". Beyond that, I don't understand much about how they choose me specifically for a particular project, although I know that time is a factor on finishing books, and that it's in my best interest as a reader to get a book knocked out sooner rather than later.
Miles Milliman, the Studio Manager for Books In Motion, was kind enough to fill in the blanks:
MM: Essentially, when we are looking over our list of To-Do books that we have already contracted, I will read a bit of one to get a feel for the genre, protagonist, and mood of the book. If it is, say, a gritty western in which the main character is male, then I will think over my list of available male readers and decide which voice best suits the tone of that book. If it is a historical romance, I have some female voices that fit that perfectly and others that don't at all.
Sometimes I need a younger, hipper voice, sort of like for your books, and sometimes I need an older, grizzled guy for the main character in a hard boiled mystery or such.----so most of it just comes down to casting, the way you would cast a play or movie. Except in our business, you can look like Steve Buscemi in Con Air, and still play Matt Damon in The Bourne Supremacy. In fact, just last week I told Damon that he definitely has a face for radio. Now that I think of it, I haven't heard from him since then. Hmm. Just kidding, he's a great guy and funny as heck. We spend much studio time in stitches when we should be laying audio.
Anyway, the only time that I conduct an audition, is if I am looking for a brand new reader, and then it is never for a book that I need done. Usually I just go over the demo reel that someone has sent me and decide if they generally meet the standards I have for the talent. If so, I will make notes about their overall sound and keep them on file. If I'm ready for someone new, I go through my CD's and listen to a few that have made my short--list and then contact them about terms. If they are agreeable, we sign the contracts and I shoot out a book to them that I have already decided they would be a good match for based on what I've heard on their demo. However I will always ask them to send me a few recorded minutes of that book, just so that I can give them any direction that may be needed.
Now, most of the above applies to readers that have their own studios and work remotely.
For in house talent, like Damon, it was a case of him knowing some of my already on staff readers through theater, and expressing a desire to audition. I asked my readers if I should give him a shot (this is a good way to weed out the wanna--be's). They encouraged me to audition him and the rest is history.
But it really is a chosen few that we actually hire, because they have to have a natural ability to do several things at once in that booth (be a storyteller, develop and keep consistent characters, be mindful of diction, articulation and pacing, sound natural, read ahead a few lines while speaking the previous sentence etc) none of which can be taught, and very little of it directed. It's either there or it isn't really.
JC: When there's humor in the book--like hopefully there is in the Aaron Tucker series--does that add a level of difficulty? Do you concern yourself with where the joke is?
DA: There was humor in those books? (Kidding of course.) In the case of the 
Aaron Tucker Mysteries, there was something funny being thought or said or happening on just about every page, and that's an important thing to get right. It sure makes the job more pleasant for me, especially when a lot of murder mysteries can be downright humorless. But that's one of the things (maybe the biggest thing) that makes your series so unique, and again I thank you for that. Not sure how well that answers the question, but I guess the short answer would be "No, it doesnt' add a level of difficulty, it makes it easier" and that I think we have similar senses of humor, so there's no real concern about playing a joke, the funny seems to come pretty naturally.
JC: How difficult is it to develop female voices?
DA: How does a baritone voice female characters? Here I go beating the theatre-horse again--the poor thing--I have played female characters in plays like "Greater Tuna" and "The 39 Steps", and while those were always done to zany comedic effect, as a performer you're still trying to keep yourself grounded in being the character, and doing justice to the moment. Also, a lot of audiobook narration involves invoking tones-of-voice rather than actual voices. The sultry widow in 
"Legs" sounds sort of Kathleen-Turnerish, but it's not an impersonation, it's more a flavoring--further back in the throat than say, Abby's vocal intonation. It's hard to explain. I just do it. Damn Jeff, these are some great questions!
JC: How did you get into voice acting?
DA: I was contacted by Books In Motion due in part to my reputation in the theatre community in Spokane, and I've been doing the audiobook thing a little over a year now. Beyond that, I havent really done much voice work. I am involved in a web series thats in development called "Felt High", a potty-mouth show about high school kids which is done with puppets and green-screens and is really funny and I voice two of the main characters for that. I've always loved doing silly voices and impersonations of cartoon characters and SNL skits and quoting lines from movies, much to the chagrin of my wife. I hope to find new and exciting ways to put the voices in my head to some use.
JC:What do you find difficult and what do you find enjoyable about taking a book and creating a performance of it?
DA: I think some of the answer to that one I may have touched on previously, the general challenge just being that you're trying to simulate the anticipation and tension of a book with your voice. It's funny, I spend this weekend with my three-year-old niece, and while I was reading Dr.Seuss to her aloud, I was thinking about how it's just like what I do with narrating a book for grown ups; I'm trying to be clear and sincere until I get to dialogue, and then I'm trying to sound interesting and dynamic.
JC: How does the actual recording work? What are you reading from (we don't hear paper rustling)? How long does it take to record a book?
DA: The recording process works like this; I arrive at 9:30am and they put me into a small padded room and they don't let me out untill after noon. I usually keep a bottle of water on hand, and once I get into a rhythm with it, things go pretty smoothly until I find myself reading too fast and saying funny mush-mouthed stuff for the blooper reel. I'll stop, and then we'll go back to the last sentence I said correctly, and we'll begin again. Sometimes we have to stop because we hear a page-turn, which is why you don't hear that in the final product. I read the Hardcover editions of the Aaron Tucker mysteries, although the book I'm currently reading is in loose-leaf manuscript format, which makes it tougher to discreetly turn those pages. I should take this opportunity to mention Books In Motions' wonderful engineers, Myles and Elijah, who make me sound good, editing out my mistakes, stopping me when I don't catch something, or when I neglect to stop myself, and basically employing their technical prowess in ways I can only pretend to understand and making the finished audiobook you hear sound as good as it does. Major kudos to those guys. They're also just cool guys who don't mind if I get sidetracked between sentences and want to rant about Star Wars or 
The Avengers or do voices from The Simpsons, all of which is very essential to the process. In a three hour session I usually lay down about an hour and 15 minutes of finished material, usually forcing myself to read fifty pages in that time. At fifty pages per session, it takes me about a week and a half to knock out the average book.
JC: You did an amazing job with the Aaron Tucker series. Do you hear from listeners who appreciate your work?
DA: Jeff, you are not only the first author who has contacted me, you are the first listener! BIM has a new Facebook page, and there is some buzz developing for our work at large there, but as for me specifically, I get positive feedback from the engineers and fellow narrators at the studio, and that's enough for me. My wife has a friend who listens to a lot of audio books, and is a huge fan of mine. I can't complain, I guess.
JC: You have a background in theater and film. Aside from the obvious, how is the audiobook process different as an actor?
DA: The biggest difference is probably proximity to my audience. Kinda ties in with the last question's answer. There's less pressure when performing for a microphone and one or two people in a studio than a sold-out house, or even that terrifying camera lens. Also, I don't have to research. Hopefully the author of the book I'm reading has done that.
Many thanks to Damon Abdallah, not only for brilliantly voicing the Aaron Tucker series, but for patiently and completely answering my questions these past two weeks!
If you're interested in hearing Damon's work on the Aaron Tucker books, we're offering each of the three titles--FOR WHOM THE MINIVAN ROLLS, A FAREWELL TO LEGS and AS DOG IT MY WITNESS, one each to three winners of a contest you can enter by clicking here! Hope everybody enters, and best of luck!
