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I've long bemoaned the sorry state of English audiobooks in comparison to Russian audiobooks. Audiobook interpreters like Игорь Князев or Александр Клюквин are
by sam_lowry_ 6y ago
I've long bemoaned the sorry state of English audiobooks in comparison to Russian audiobooks.
Audiobook interpreters like Игорь Князев or Александр Клюквин are household names to Russian speakers. Can any English speaker remember the name of the interpreter of their favourite audiobook? Only when it's the author himself, I guess. And only because of the abysmal quality.
There were once radio plays, but with the demise of radio, audio plays barely exist nowadays in English while they still strive in Russian.
This largely due to the difference in markets. English-speaking market is dominated by corporations and is severely policed.
Russian-speaking market is grassroots, uncensored and abundant in small producers / new names.
P.S. Aside from the hard-to-find recordings from 1960..1990ies, French audiobooks are even worse.
- Wowfunhappy 6y agoMy favorite audiobook, The Golden Compass, does so happen to be narrated by the author (with a full cast of different actors reading dialogue), but Michael Kramer is my favorite single-narrator, and I do remember his name.
- TylerE 6y agoThere are absolutely "name" audio book recorders in English. Scott Brick being the most well known, probably, although there are several others.
- sam_lowry_ 6y agoThanks for the hint, Scott Brick is gorgeous, indeed.
- cpeterso 6y agoJohn Lee is another popular audio book narrator.
- technofiend 6y agoI defer to your expertise on Russian audiobooks, but present as a counter-example that at least in the litrpg subgenre of Fantasy there are well known voice actors making audio books. Here's an old reddit thread on the subject: https://www.reddit.com/r/litrpg/comments/8yr36z/best_audiobook_narrator/ https://www.reddit.com/r/litrpg/comments/8yr36z/best_audiobo...
- mdoms 6y agoThere are lots of well-known people who narrate audio books. I have listened to books narrated by Hugh Laurie, a household name by any definition of the term.
- murphyslab 6y agoI'll never forget listening to Jim Dale narrate the Harry Potter books.
- ses1984 6y agoI can't stand his Hermione voice.
- myself248 6y agoHah, I was just about to post this. (And, yeah, I'm not wild about his Hermione either, but everything else is alright.) We refer to him by name, it's not "Hey, you wanna pick up where we left off in Chamber of Secrets?", it's "Grab a snack and let's enjoy some Jim Dale, shall we?"
- Mediterraneo10 6y ago> Can any English speaker remember the name of the interpreter of their favourite audiobook? Loads of audiobooks of bestsellers in English are narrated by big-name actors. Often ones who also do a lot of theatre and bring that dramatic flair to their readings. Look at the Chronicles of Narnia, for instance: its narrators are Kenneth Branagh, Alex Jennings, Michael York, Lynn Redgrave, Derek Jacobi, Jeremy Northam and Patrick Stewart, all known from stage and screen for their powerful voices.
- abruzzi 6y agoEven the ones that aren't are frequently well know. I haven't consumed audiobooks since before Amazon bought Audible, but my father and his wife consume them avidly, and they know the names of their favorite readers, and will frequently listen to books by their favorite readers where they don't know the author at all, just because they like the reader.
- mrkstu 6y agoWill Wheaton, James Marsters, Bronson Pinchot, Michael Kramer and Kate Reading are all excellent narrators.
- brendoelfrendo 6y ago>>Can any English speaker remember the name of the interpreter of their favourite audiobook? Tim Gerard Reynolds and Moira Quirk have done really good work and I'm more likely to buy books that have their names attached. Some other commenters have mentioned other favorite narrator's of mine as well, so yes, this English speaker can.
- aasasd 6y agoI fell like you're kidding, since my experience is pretty much the opposite, and precisely for the reason that narrators in English are professionals. Some names: William Dufris, Wil Wheaton, Nigel Planer (namely his narrations of ‘Discworld’). Scott Brick, mentioned nearby, is good—but his narrations of Asimov have the spirit of 50s' over-the-top actors and TV announcers. Also narrators in the West are often voice actors by trade, or just actors of theatre and film doing voice work on the side. E.g. Steven Fry's narration of the ‘Harry Potter’ novels is gorgeous, Tim Curry's of ‘A Series Of Unfortunate Events’ is also very good, Jeremy Irons' voice and demeanor is a perfect fit for Nabokov's mood and writerly lyricism in ‘Lolita’. Generally, I went through quite a bunch of unknown-to-me narrators, and had few qualms—whereas in Russian it's a gamble whether a reading will be tolerable. ‘Grassroots’ narrators sometimes have quirks that they apparently consider charming, but in practice are off-putting. Or narrators break into stereotypical kitschy voices, especially with old-time material like Dostoevsky: e.g. for orthodox priest characters. Or the production is just crappy. Notably, best narrators in Russian seem to be either professionals hired by proper publishers, or straight up actors. Namely, Mikhail Gorevoy, Alexey Bagdasarov, Evgeny Ternovsky (Михаил Горевой, Алексей Багдасаров, Евгений Терновский). And for example, the magnificent many-voices narration of ‘The Good Soldier Švejk’ by Bagdasarov, Alexey Kortnev and others. Vladimir Samoilov's reading of ‘The Gulag Archipelago’ is incredibly good and touching on a whole different level, and he seems to be an old-time Soviet actor. Klukvin is also a treat to the ear, but again when the production quality is there, like with ‘Master and Margarita’.
- aasasd 6y agoP.S.: I actually do have a problem with “overproduction” of audiobooks in English—in that some non-fiction books, and especially self-help books, sound like caffeinated hyper-energetic breathless advertisements several hours in length. After a while, it's really annoying to hear the same bravado tone again and again. Of course, the source writing contributes to this: I'd like to hear someone attempt to read Nabokov or Vonnegut in this manner. A notable counterexample is Marshall Rosenberg's reading of his own ‘Nonviolent Communication’—regardless of the book's merit, his gentle and melancholy speech is a welcome break from the ‘in your face’ attitude tiring out my ears.
- 6y ago
- ponker 6y agoYou might not be listening to the best English audiobooks (that's distinct from the audiobook versions of the best books). They are exceptionally good. If Russian audiobook narrators are "household names" perhaps it's because reading/listening to audiobooks is more popular in Russia than in the US, but that has no impact on the quality of English audiobooks.
- StevePerkins 6y agoMark Boyett is one of Audible's in-house regulars. I've bought many an audiobook simply because he was performing it. In terms of "celebrity" narrators (other than those named Wil Whedon)... I enjoy James Marsters (Spike from "Buffy the Vampire Slayer")'s work on the Dresden Files series. I would listen to pretty much any book those two performed.
- Zelphyr 6y agoRoy Dotrice did, for the most part, a superb job of narrating the Song of Ice and Fire series (Game of Thrones). So much so that when he wasn't available to narrate A Feast for Crows, the publisher replaced him with John Lee who was so completely the wrong choice that the publisher relented to fan requests and had Roy Dotrice re-record the book. It's a shame he won't be around to finish narrating the series. Then again, at the rate George R. R. Martin is going, neither will he be around to finish writing them.
- retox 6y agoThis was very jarring going immediately from one book he narrated to one where he didn't. All the character voices I'd come to recognize were completely different (obviously) and I very quickly lost interest after struggling to follow along. I didn't know he re-recorded the later books, thanks for letting us know.
- dtparr 6y agoUnfortunately, Dotrice's recordings of the later books diverge so significantly from the first set that it's almost worse than a different person altogether. Character voices are drastically different, names are pronounced differently, etc.
- Zelphyr 6y agoThis is true. He was quite along in age by that point and was clearly having trouble. I'm sure it didn't help that he recorded A Feast for Crows at the same time as A Dance With Dragons and was probably pretty tired. I believe he set a world record for those sessions. Still, even in his advanced age by that point he was better than John Lee, in my opinion.
- vkou 6y agoI have never listened to the John Lee version, but Dotrice's Essos accents (Missundlei, 'Kuressy') were cringe-inducing, as was his take on 'Brayinne", and "Pee-tyre" Baelish. In the first two books, it also seemed like none of his characters could agree on how to pronounce Jeffry's name. In books 4 and 5, his voices for established characters, like Arya and Tyrion also went off the rails pretty frequently.
- brandoncordell 6y agoMichael Kramer and Kate Reading (husband and wife team) are some of the best fantasy narrators available (in my opinion). I would pick up a book I've never even heard of if they're attached to the narration.
- jscholes 6y ago> Can any English speaker remember the name of the interpreter of their favourite audiobook? I can, but that's probably because I partially rely on audiobooks (in addition to eBooks with text-to-speech) because of blindness. > There were once radio plays, but with the demise of radio, audio plays barely exist nowadays in English Agreed that unfortunately, the amount of radio plays being produced has dramatically decreased (excuse the pun). But I mostly notice this in English speaking nations other than the United Kingdom like Canada and the US. In the UK, radio drama is still very much alive, with the BBC and third parties like Big Finish producing a ton of great content.
- gcapell 6y ago> Can any English speaker remember the name of the interpreter of their favourite audiobook? Anne Hathaway for Wizard of Oz, David Tennant for How to Train Your Dragon, James Marsters for Dresden Files are all _amazing_.
- philsnow 6y ago> Can any English speaker remember the name of the interpreter of their favourite audiobook? Rob Inglis for Lord of the Rings
- hirundo 6y agoPatrick Tull, Aubrey/Maturin series. Stefan Rudnicki, scads of books.
- ycombinete 6y agoAnd The Hobbit! After listening to Rob Inglis, I'm honestly often embarrased for other narrators when I listen to them.
- Igelau 6y agoWhat a wacky, backhanded way to ask for some audiobook recommendations; like the humblebrag that puts a thin veneer of self-deprecation over a boast, but with the tables turned by asking for more of something by bemoaning the present inadequacy of the very thing. I'll take the bait of your disdainquiry though. Richard Poe's reading of "Blood Meridian" is a masterpiece.
- subpixel 6y ago“ audio plays barely exist nowadays in English” The BBC Radio iPlayer app I use almost daily is full of radio plays. It’s definitely a British thing.
- jasonlotito 6y agoMichael Kramer, Kate Redding, Ray Porter, and John Lee are narrators I've grown to love. I've followed them to other books they've done, discovering new authors. The mere fact that an author has them doing the narration is a big bonus for me.
- vertis 6y agoI have to agree with my sibling post. I seek out narrators like Wil Wheaton, Ray Porter and Luke Daniels. I will often look at the other work that a narrator has done in the hopes that it will be worth considering. There are also excellent cast based readings, like Cory Doctorow's last novel Walkaway (which had among other people Amanda Palmer in it). There are also some excellent cast based reading Audible. American Gods comes to mind.
- phillc73 6y ago> Can any English speaker remember the name of the interpreter of their favourite audiobook? I can't really say it's my favourite audiobook series, but the one I seem to be listening to relentlessly is Winnie the Pooh. The version I have is narrated by Dame Judi Dench, and the characters read by well known actors such as Stephen Fry, Geoffrey Palmer and Sandi Toksvig.
- irrational 6y agoBy interpreter, do you mean narrator (the person that reads the book)? If so, then yes, many people know the name of certain narrators. For instance, I will listen to any audiobook narrated by Jim Dale.
- afiori 6y agonot really addressing your point... but I am really liking the English audiobooks of the Monogatari Serie (if someone wants to start I suggest listening to Kizumonogatari first). the style is that of a light novel, so much more adapt to narration and internal monologues and even leitmotifs for supporting cast voices
- thom 6y agoI actively pick audiobooks based on the narrator (for example Peter Kenny who read the Culture books), and will avoid ones with bad narrators.