Performance Coaching
for Home Studio, First-Time or Novice Narrators
Home Studio Narrators
Audiobook publishers are employing more and more home studio narrators recording in makeshift booths. This can be a lonely business in which actors multitask as narrator, director and technician, as they edit audio files throughout the recording process to deliver a finished program to a publisher. May offers Skype directing services for the entire length of a book or will work with an actor in the initial stages of preparation and at the beginning of the recording process to assure that they are on the right track. She also offers a Director’s QC for those who want immediate feedback on performance, text accuracy and pronunciation, at the end of a day’s work.
Novice Narrators
For novice narrators, the recording experience, whether at home or in a state-of-the-art professional studio, can be daunting. For the former, developing a style of recording that is the most efficient possible, meaning with as few stumbles, clipped or mispronounced words and overall stops and starts, becomes a necessity. In this process, the novice actor may focus more on getting each word right, rather than on intimate storytelling and hitting the right emotional beats. Bringing May into your process can offer you an experienced professional’s perspective on that performance to ensure that you deliver the best possible product to the publisher. For in-studio recordings, engineers offer solid help with technical aspects of your recording, but in most cases have not read the book in advance so are not prepared to discuss approach or performance as a director would. May can Skype into these studio sessions to bring a director’s acumen and sensibility so that you deliver the most nuanced and polished performance possible.
First-time Narrators
More and more actors are looking to get into the business of audiobook narration. May can help guide first-time narrators in that process through one-on-one coaching sessions, directing their auditions, working with them on their preparation or through Skype direction.