So, I did a thing. I recorded an audiobook version of Ten Dysfunctions of My Teams. Long ago, I used to say that if you worked at Disney long enough, you'd know people in all parks, resorts, and disciplines all across the world. Turns out, if you just live long enough, you can build a friend list across all sorts of industries - people who have channeled their talents and passions in directions that spread out like a creative circulatory system of the planet.
It turns out that one of them is now a professional voice actor with his own studio.
A normal person would have stopped there, I suppose, turning the words over to the pro, but that's not how it plays out. After some encouragement, I agreed to narrated the stories myself. Who knows them better than I do? Of course, I was gripped with anxiety about this, but Paul talked me through the process, helped me to select a decent microphone, and set up our sessions so that I could record from my own office while connected to his studio over the internet.
It took a while. Turns out I can read two stories out loud before I get crackly and fuzzy-headed. I made plenty of errors. Each time, Paul stopped me, took out the bad section and told me where to pick it up again. We worked in blocks of an hour to 90 minutes or so, either recording two stories or three, until all ten were done. I learned a few things:
1. Don't drink cold (especially iced) drinks. Turns out this is bad for the vocal cords.
2. Don't drink hot liquids, like coffee, which honestly would have been my inclination. A nice hot cup o' joe feels like it clears my throat and my head. And the caffeine...well, yeah. Also bad.
3. Carbonated drinks are not good either - burping. Back in my Disney days, when the energy flagged and I needed to push through gangster or bandit shifts at The Great Movie Ride (#onceamovierider) I went for an icy cold Vanilla Coke - full sugar. The combination got me through many a ten hour day of theatrical tour vehicle hijacking and forbidden jewel stealing.
4. Room temperature water. Boring, but it's what's for dinner.
I also learned that I am not a good talker/breather when those two things have to happen together. I was out of breath a lot. It seems that I was taking in a big breath and talking for as longs as I had air. Like a freediver, only for no good reason. I still don't really get how to balance my breath with a "natural speaking voice" when I'm the only one talking.
So, obviously, I decided to try podcasting.
What do I know about this? Not a thing, but I did get myself a new book, Audio for Authors, by Joanna Penn. It arrived today, so I'm hopeful that I will pick up a few things.
Stay tuned! I think my first podcast will be about the journey of recording my first audiobook. You'll be able to hear what I mean, and I hope to ask some people who know all about this to provide some guidance in case any of you decide to dabble with recording your stories.
Because of the whole living a long time thing, I have many in my network who have plenty of performance experience, theater, music, public speaking, and so on. If you have advice, please share!
