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Yesterday, we heard from Dena Dahilig, the woman who \u201cvoiced\u201d the characters in the first Klepto Cat Mysteries to go audible. Today, Dena talks about some of her techniques for voicing a variety of characters and how she pulls the recording all together. Here she talks about the Aunt Margaret character:<\/p>\n
What do we know about her? \u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n She\u2019s Savannah\u2019s aunt (her mother\u2019s sister), 57-years old, broken foot, needs glasses to read, loves cats, passionate about cat rescue, volunteers at Max\u2019s shelter, might have a thing for Max, often exaggerates to make a point (\u201ca wild boar\u201d!!)\u00a0or get her way, impulsive, community-oriented,\u00a0danger-excitement<\/p>\n What adjectives does the author use to describe her?\u00a0 <\/em>playful, spunky, capable, courageous, \u201ccurvy\u201d<\/p>\n How does she describe her: <\/em>\u201cI\u2019m not an invalid, you know!\u201d \u201cI would have done OK by myself this whole time”<\/p>\n But is she:<\/em> \u201cfoolish, self-centered, stubborn\u201d? If not, why does she describe herself that way?<\/em><\/p>\n So what does Margaret sound like? Does she remind me of anyone? (Yes! My dear friend Anne!) Can I pull in any of Anne\u2019s vocal qualities for Margaret? Oh, yes.<\/em> Much of Margaret\u2019s vocal exuberance is based on Anne\u2019s infectious laugh, and on the pure joie de vivre<\/em> I hear in each wild story she tells. So the connection I feel for Margaret as a character is driven by her familiarity.<\/p>\n All of these elements inform the voicing of Margaret, and, by extension, all other characters.<\/p>\n Creating and Completing<\/strong><\/p>\n Once all of the prep work is done, it\u2019s time to record! I typically record only as much as I can completely edit per day. Some people record a whole book first, then go back to edit, but that seems so daunting! I like checking items off my lists (thank you\u00a0David Allen and GTD<\/a>\u00a0), so smaller, bite-sized chunks give me daily completions\u2026 and a good night\u2019s sleep.<\/p>\n One of the most challenging criteria for producing audiobooks is being word-perfect. In Once recording, editing and quality control are all finished, I send my edited files off for mastering. For Catnapped<\/em> I used the awesome people at\u00a0Deyan Audio<\/a>\u00a0in Tarzana, CA to create the final ready-for-amazon files.<\/p>\n Wrangling the Feline<\/strong><\/p>\n It\u2019s very rewarding to have lived with these characters in their world for so many days. Thanks to Patricia and Catnapped<\/em> I learned an awful lot about cat rescues and cat-lovers, and I even got to record my own cat, Stanley. What you hear of him in the book is about 1% of what I recorded\u2026 the other 99% is the sound of him decidedly not meowing, but instead, purring and rubbing his head on the microphone\u2026 which he also drooled all over. If you need to know what a drooling cat sounds like, I\u2019m your gal.<\/p>\n Dena Dahilig<\/em><\/strong> is a voice actor in Los Angeles, California. http:\/\/www.denadahilig.com <\/a><\/em><\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Yesterday, we heard from Dena Dahilig, the woman who \u201cvoiced\u201d the characters in the first Klepto Cat Mysteries to go audible. Today, Dena talks about some of her techniques for voicing a variety of characters and how she pulls the … Continue reading ![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.matilijapress.com\/catscapades\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/06\/stanley-221x300.jpeg\")
the same way that I was taught as an actor to never alter a playwright\u2019s words, the necessity for accuracy in audiobooks was trained into me as a volunteer reader for the Braille Institute. It\u2019s always best to have a second set of eyes follow along, and this process has reminded me that it\u2019s a necessity, not a luxury!<\/p>\n