Best produced audiobooks?

[Brian G Turner]

I'm looking for suggestions of really well-produced audiobooks - whether it's the use of cast, sound effects, or background music.

As I'm not very familiar with audiobooks I thought I'd ask for suggestions.

 

[Dennis E. Taylor]

Most audiobooks on audible.com (at least in my experience) use one narrator, and no sound effects. I've seen the occasional book with multiple cast, but it advertises that.

A lot depends on the narrator. As it happens, my book We are Legion is being published by audible and will be out Sept 20th. The narrator that they've assigned, Ray Porter, is damned good. I've listened to a couple of other books with different narrators who didn't handle multiple voices as well, and it makes a huge difference.

BTW, as a total aside, if you are writing with audio publishing in mind, (this is strictly my opinion) beats are better than dialog tags. Or nothing, if at all possible. Listening to a narrator say "We will crush the green umbrella," Bob said gets painful after a while, if the narrator is using a character voice, then switching to the narrator voice for the "Bob said" part.

ETA: The Fold by Peter Clines is an example of well-done multiple voices.

 

[Brian G Turner]

Actually, thinking upon it - a second question.

Is there a preference for a single narrator? Do effects and music take away from the imagination?

beats are better than dialog tags

I've noticed this from reading aloud. I've removed a few, and replaced others with actions where I needed to underline who was speaking while keeping everything dynamic.

 

[hitmouse]

The Just William Stories by Richmal Crompton, narrated by Martin Jarvis

The Harry Potter books, read by Stephen Fry

The novels of Terry Pratchett read by Tony Robinson

 

[Teeny51]

Neverwhere......fantastic! Dramatisation, in my humble opinion amazing. Croup and Valdemar in particular!

 

[Ray McCarthy]

I think it's impossible to say as there are so many, standards are high and people are too influenced by the content.

I think anything more than a single reader is more an audio play, like radio play and not an audio book.
I've heard good "radio plays" on BBC R4. Disappointing how little decent stuff BBC sells and how it's often more expensive than any thing else.
I had a recording of the original HHGTTG once, made in BBC, as I was working there during 1st transmission of original series. Stuff like that is good, but it's not an "Audio Book".
The Beeb also has done great SF plays on R4, Alan Garner, Mrs Ollivant's Hester etc.

 

[hitmouse]

Heh. I heard the very first broadcast of the the first episode of HHGTTG. Remember it clearly.

 

[Ray McCarthy]

I wish I still had the tapes

 

[the_evil_ted]

Steven King reads some of his audibles, Bag of Bones, Carrie, and The Gunslinger are ones I can remember now. Maybe more, but I got a kick out of listening to him read it through.

 

[Kylara]

Audio books are generally one narrator.
Audio plays are ensembles. I love my hobbit radio play. Lots of actors, narrator and music as well it really is fab and one of the main reasons I still insist on tape players.

I like Stephen Fry's voice (if not HP books themselves).
Tony Robinson is outstanding for the disc world books, my only gripe is that they are abridged.

I got given the complete hobbit and Lord of the rings unabridged audio book a few years ago and it is wonderful on many levels.

I listen to lots due to using them as crutches to sleep, but miss being able to trial a bit in the bookshop. I also refuse to use audible as I need them on cd.

Some are very expensive to buy without being able to hear a sample.

I think I prefer male voices over female, except for things like Austen. There's a very good one (available on youtube) of her P&P that was made for librevox in '07.

ETA: the guy that reads the Darren Shan demon stealing series (present from a friend who knows I like comic horror type stuff and audiobooks) is amazing. Perfect choice for the books I must say (which aren't amazing but the audio versions are topclass) and he uses a crazy variety of voices. No good for going to sleep though, the voices are too different and distinctive.

 

[ralphkern]

It is definetly a case that in audiobooks, those invisible words from text become visible again - and quite annoying!

It does make writing a bit of a bizarre mix of scriptwriting and conventional, yet it has to still cater for both mediums independently.

Personally, I write mine with the view they will be produced as audio so up the actions and expunge as many invisible words as I can - This often means upping the speech actions.

In direct anwser to your post, my audiobook publisher tends to use one narrator and no voices. There is no backing music etc. I have listened to one in which sound effects are used... I wasn't a fan, but I'd suggest some like it.

In my board, I have a YouTube interview with Jacob Cooper who is both a writer and a narrator. He discusses aspects of both.

 

[Jo Zebedee]

Phew. By good luck, I tend to write more beats anyway - mostly due to my lean style than anything else.

I had an interview on my blog today with Travis Niesler who narrates Abendau and it was nice to hear his process. He is the narrator but uses a female narrator for the female voices.

Last night, I listened to a possible narrator for Inish Carraig and it flowed well, as I'd hoped - Northern Ireland voices should flow. I'd have written a poor book in the venacular if not (but I read it extensively aloud for that reason.)

 

[Brian G Turner]

This is the sort of thing I was thinking of:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B016E30JPM/?tag=brite-21

If you listen to the audio sample, it's clearly heavily produced with sound effects and music. Is this rare, though? And if anyone's listened to any audiobooks such as this, did you find the effects and music distract from the story?

 

[HareBrain]

And if anyone's listened to any audiobooks such as this, did you find the effects and music distract from the story?

If I were listening to that particular one in a car, I think I'd deliberately drive into oncoming traffic -- it might be quicker than trying to find the mute button.

 

[Droflet]

I enjoyed it. Very immediate and not distracting at all.

 

[Jo Zebedee]

If I were listening to that particular one in a car, I think I'd deliberately drive into oncoming traffic -- it might be quicker than trying to find the mute button.

I could meet you coming the other way. No innocents would be involved.

That's hideous. Like my kids' tv in the other room. I could not enjoy that at all.

 

[Pedro Del Mar]

The Song of Ice and Fire audiobooks read by Roy Dotrice are fabulous, they're won several awards and I've listened to them several times.

Another favourite is The Passage by Justin Cronin read by Scott Brick.

Others I can heartily recommend are Dracula and Jekyll and Hyde both read by Christopher Lee

 

[Kylara]

That sample was infuriating. Not quite radio play not quite audio book.

I want an audio book to read for me whilst I'm not able to do so (driving, sleeping, mucking out, poo picking, lounging in the sun). Something that let's you focus on the words and not be distracted by weird background noises. Either that or a proper radio play.

 

[MWagner]

Is there a preference for a single narrator? Do effects and music take away from the imagination?

For me, the narrator is very important. I'll often seek out audiobooks narrated by my favourites (Charlton Griffin, Simon Vance, John Lee). As for multiple narrators, it makes sense with audiobooks with prominent female and male characters. The audiobook of the Egyptian speeds up narrator Charlton Griffon's voice when he's speaking as a female character, and the effect is odd. While I don't have a preference for a single narrator, it seems rare to come across an audiobook with multiple narrators where the cast is uniformly strong. The audiobook of Hyperion is almost ruined by the cringe-worthy reading of the woman who does the female voices - her voice is completely unsuitable for the characters.

 

[sozme]

For me, the best narrator by far is Steven Pacey. The First Law books are amazing with this man. He has like 40 different distinct voices.