Second to the difficulty of writing a book, is narrating its audio version.
When the decision was made to use my voice to record this story, rather than a professional actor, I thought there would be some glamor in doing so. Far from it. There is little allure to sitting in a small room and reading aloud for hours upon hours, day after day, trying to enunciate perfectly. Maintaining appropriate pace, tone and emotion, are challenges that have instilled in me a new found respect for those who do this work professionally.
The microphone hears all, so minimizing bodily sounds, whether it is the pursing of lips, swallowing, movement on a stool, or clearing the throat, is difficult. Once the recording is complete, more than twice the amount of recording time is devoted to editing. In this case, that task is borne by Chuck Vosganian, of Empire Audio Recording and Sound.
Now that the project is close to completion though, I must confess to genuine excitement as we prepare to launch, She Called Him Raymond – A True Story of Love, Loss, Faith and Healing, as an audio book. In doing so, a voice and new life is given to a story of two ordinary people who led extraordinary lives during the most tumultuous period in history.
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