Audio-Bibliophiles discussion

I often listen to audiobooks after I've turned the lights out in the evening. It's very relaxing to listen to someone read to me as I'm drifting off. But last night, I had an experience that left me laughing and pretty much wide awake... I was listening to Prehistory: The Making Of The Human Mind and the narrator had a very proper, stuffy, uppercrust English accent...he was reading along, then all of the sudden, he stumbled over some words and said "OH DEAR! Clumsy, clumsy, clumsy!"

What do you think when you have things like this happen? Does it make you laugh or ruin the mood? I was listening to an Andre Norton book and the narrator went through about 15 minutes where he just couldn't seem to get anything right...

I guess I think it's just human nature and don't mind...as long as it doesn't happen too often.

Yikes! That is unacceptable and would cause me to never get another book from that company. That would never happen with a professional book from a company like Recorded Books. I wonder if that was a volunteer production such as Recording for the Blind or some kind of program recording textbooks for students?

I don't even like it when they mispronounce names of towns or people because they didn't do the research to find out the correct way to say it (for example the town of Cairo in Illinois is pronounced Caro, rather than Chiro, as in Egypt.)

I think it is worth it to have professional actors/readers narrate a book, even the authors themselves often aren't very good at it.

Actually, this is a Recorded Books title. The narrator is Robert Ian McKenzie. He's an accomplished actor and narrator. I believe it was just missed in the editing. Like I said, it didn't bother me.

I too hate to hear words mispronounced, although with British narrators, it's more likely just the difference in dialect.

Cairo, Illinois is not...Kie-Roe Ill-in-noise. As far as I'm concerned, there is no excuse for mispronouncing the name of a STATE!

Wow!! I've never heard any narrator flubs either. I guess my reaction would depend on what the flub was & how often they happened. If it was just once & was kind of funny (like what you described) then I could probably deal with it. I agree with Robin that if it's a well known audiobook publisher, then they need to pull the title & fix the mistakes. It's really not doing the author's work any justice when a narrator flubs the reading either.

I agree with Nikki completely. I haven't heard any flubs before but what you described would have had me bursting at the seams with laughter. :)

I never heard an audio narrator step out of the text, but when I listened to The Joy Luck Club on audio, the narrator messed up in at least one place by giving a Chinese accent to a non-Chinese character.

Cairo, Illinois is not...Kie-Roe Ill-in-noise. As far as I'm concerned, there is no excuse for mispronouncing the name of a STATE!
When I was in London several years ago, everybody seemed to think my home state of Michigan was pronounced Mitch-igan. The British definitely have some eccentricities in their pronunications.

Erin...I have heard quite a few "flubs" where the narrator used the wrong "voice" for a character. I'm really surprised that doesn't happen more often. I'd love to know how they record the reading. Is it all one big take or do they do each voice separately?? If it's all at once, I think I would be very confused if I was a narrator and the book had many different characters per scene.

Since I listen late at night with earbuds, I occasionally hear, what I believe to be, stops and starts in the recordings. I can't believe they are able to record without them. I too would love to know how the process works.

I've never heard any flubs such as described above. The narrators are usually very good and professional. I do enjoy hearing them turn the pages - I can imagine them "at work". Also, I've heard the voice change a little, so imagine it's a new day or after a break in recording. What a great way to make a living!

I have also heard the nuances in the voice and thought the same thing Lorraine - that it was a new day or just back from a break. I have never heard them turn the page but if I did I would enjoy that too. Its like being at a script read through at the beginning of rehearsals for a play. How cool. :)

I once read something about how they record. The professionals do have directors, and they may record something over and over till they get it right. The recording is supposed to be seamless but of course it is made up of many different pieces.

I have heard them turn the page or swallow (which is icky) or pause at the wrong point, but I can overlock that... What I can't stand is when someone reads a book 'wrong'. For example a fiction story with a clinical scientific non fiction reader. Or if each character has no change, so instead of listening to the story, you find yourself wondering why did they pick this reader...

I have heard some of the flubs and can't recall the book but do recall one that I thought I could hear background noise in the studio. I find it amusing when they mispronounce words as in Wild (a book I didn't like but was narrated very well) she would say the road winds or is winding like a noun and not as the verb as it was meant. But that is no big deal to me. There are occasionally some narrators that I just can't listen to for a long time. I loved the lady who did the Outlander series and had an English accent. I recall one book where they had a strong NY accent and it was just annoying to listen to for very long at a time. So I always listen to the little bit they allow at audible to make sure I will enjoy the narrator.

Nikki, as a narrator I record the book in sequence. Recording each character separately would be an editing nightmare, I would think, trying to piece the dialogue together.

It can be really confusing and funny, especially when you're reading a scene/chapter with several different characters. I've actually read dialogue in accents that weren't even in the book. But this should all be caught and fixed in quality control. Just like outtakes are edited out of a film, they don't belong in a professional audiobook either.

Robin wrote: "I once read something about how they record. The professionals do have directors, and they may record something over and over till they get it right. The recording is supposed to be seamless but of course it is made up of many different pieces."

That's completely right. And, since it's relatively easy to splice in a correction - you just record the corrected sequence, cut the sequence with the error, and then paste in the corrected sequence - there's no excuse for an audiobook with errors.

Paul wrote: "Robin wrote: "I once read something about how they record. The professionals do have directors, and they may record something over and over till they get it right. The recording is supposed to be s..."

It's even more distressing when the author LOVES the narration and the 'voice' is completely offputting - whether the accent is bad, or the flow gets tweaked and fuzzy... or worse - when a voice has NO Business in trying to reach the pitch or octave levels they feel the voice needs. I had one male narrator who did a romance - perfectly acceptable until he put on a 'voice' to do a female character - I swear it was like listening to a bad drag queen. COMPLETELY offputting and totally pulled me out of the story.
And - if I had purchased it - it would have been returned -but it was a review title - and I don't do DNF's on review titles. I will not, however, listen to another title with that particular narrator.

Why no one even raised an eyebrow - or the author went and questioned the choices during edits is beyond me.

And - for the record - this was a professional production, not a selfie.

Absolutely. Speaking as an author, I'm probably even more critical than readers about the narrator getting the sense of my characters right.

I was reading a Terry Pratchett novel narrated by Nigel Planer once, and in the middle of it he repeated a line of dialogue several times, and then said something like, "Blast! I can't get this right!" They must have missed it in the editing. I thought it was hilarious actually, and I liked the way it humanised the recording - much more like having someone read a book to you in real life!

Robin wrote: "I once read something about how they record. The professionals do have directors, and they may record something over and over till they get it right. The recording is supposed to be seamless but of course it is made up of many different pieces."

I believe some narrators record all the different bits of dialogue for each character all in one go. It's easier for them to be consistent with their accents and characterisation that way.