Why George Guidall Is the Undisputed King of Audiobooks(nytimes.com)
nytimes.com
Why George Guidall Is the Undisputed King of Audiobooks
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/08/17/books/george-guidall-audiobooks.html
14 comments
When I saw the title, I had similar thoughts. imo Ray Porter is the undisputed king of audiobook narration- one needs only to listen to Ray Porter narrate The Power of the Dog by Don Winslow of 14 by Peter Clines to know he is the best! Best narrator of all time.
I usually play him at 1.30 speed. Makes it much more enjoyable for me.
I like Carlin's cadence, but I really wish they would run everything through some compression. The volume range between his "speaking" voice and when he's quoting someone is HUGE and sometimes requires mucking around with the volume to keep it listenable.
I'm a big fan of Dick Hill, Peter Giles, Frank Mueller, Scott Brick and Michael Beck.
"There’s a rhythm to speech in terms of what’s implied. If it’s raining in the book, there’s got to be something about the voice that evokes the rain."
He really does provide great quality. I have listened to quite a few audiobooks read by him and I often feel like I am not doing them justice when I am doing something else besides listening. It has led me to realize that I should listen to good audiobooks more consciously, and to instead rely on podcasts or librivox* books for easy listening while cleaning or cooking.
* = Not to put down the efforts made by the hundreds of volunteers reading books for this great project, they have led to great audiobooks, but there are also quite a few that are not up to professional standards.
He really does provide great quality. I have listened to quite a few audiobooks read by him and I often feel like I am not doing them justice when I am doing something else besides listening. It has led me to realize that I should listen to good audiobooks more consciously, and to instead rely on podcasts or librivox* books for easy listening while cleaning or cooking.
* = Not to put down the efforts made by the hundreds of volunteers reading books for this great project, they have led to great audiobooks, but there are also quite a few that are not up to professional standards.
His voice reminds me of Geoffrey Palmer's, whose reading of The Man Who Was Thursday for the BBC is excellent.
My main problem with audiobooks are the narrators, especially in fiction; I give up on about 2/3 of the books for that reason. I have a similar problem with TV shows like The Walking Dead - the acting is just too mediocre. Maybe I'm a snob, but it literally yanks my suspension of disbelief away.
I don't think I ever listened to one read by Guidall, though; does anyone have a recommendation?
My main problem with audiobooks are the narrators, especially in fiction; I give up on about 2/3 of the books for that reason. I have a similar problem with TV shows like The Walking Dead - the acting is just too mediocre. Maybe I'm a snob, but it literally yanks my suspension of disbelief away.
I don't think I ever listened to one read by Guidall, though; does anyone have a recommendation?
I'm pretty sure when I listen to samples on Audible what I'm really evaluating is the voice of the narrator.
I just finished listening to his narration of Stephen King's The Dark Tower on Audible (the main books, 1-7), and was actually disappointed to find out that King himself has read the (optional?) 8th/4.5th book.
He read the first one, but 2 and 3 are Frank Muller, at least the versions I got from audible. Did you check?
Muller was in a motorcycle accident and was unable to complete the Dark Tower narration (he eventually passed away from the injuries I believe, tragic), so Guidall finishes out the series.
They are both fantastic narrators, but I did slightly prefer Muller in this series. His voice for Eddie is just perfect.
They are both fantastic narrators, but I did slightly prefer Muller in this series. His voice for Eddie is just perfect.
I loved how this wasn't a story about some twenty year old Hotshot CEO of some fad company I had never heard of that has just brought out an iPhone app for audio books, but about a real, old-school professional actor who is successful in an honest profession.
I also appreciated that he was not entirely humble about it, without being overly arrogant. I was prepared for a lot of "aww shucks, I guess I've been blessed" style of false modesty, but it was nice to see he is proud of the work he has put in to master a skill.
This is ofcourse just the journalists image conveyed in the text. But I too love books read by him.
I've enjoyed two books read by Guidall, but I spent several years of my commute listening to Patrick Tull read Patrick O'Brian's Master & Commander series, and I'm not sure any other narrator will ever match that for me. It feels like your British uncle is telling you stories about his time in the Royal Navy.
I went to youtube and looked up a clip of him reading, and indeed it was who I expected. My dad listened to a lot of books on tape when I was growing up, and this guy's voice was ubiquitous. It provided a nice moment of nostalgia.
As an adult now though, I much prefer Rob Inglis, whose recording of The Lord Of The Rings is more or less the authoritative way that work should sound, so far as I'm concerned. His volume of work, though, doesn't compare to Guidall so far as I can tell.
As an adult now though, I much prefer Rob Inglis, whose recording of The Lord Of The Rings is more or less the authoritative way that work should sound, so far as I'm concerned. His volume of work, though, doesn't compare to Guidall so far as I can tell.
Rob Inglis is also the fabulous narrator of the Earthsea trilogy audio books.
Recently I've become a fan of Patrick Tull, who did the Aubrey/Maturin series audiobooks extremely well.
Recently I've become a fan of Patrick Tull, who did the Aubrey/Maturin series audiobooks extremely well.
One of my favorites is David Clarke, who did a superb reading of The Count of Monte Cristo,[1] which is one of the most amazing books I've ever read.
[1] - https://librivox.org/the-count-of-monte-cristo-version-3-by-...
[1] - https://librivox.org/the-count-of-monte-cristo-version-3-by-...
I much prefer Tim Gerald Reynolds and Steven Pacey.
Listen to these previews for each of them respectively. They were able to bring the characters to life in a way that Guidall was never able to for me.
Steven Pacey: https://www.audible.com/pd/Sci-Fi-Fantasy/The-Blade-Itself-A...
Tim Gerald Reynolds: https://www.audible.com/pd/Sci-Fi-Fantasy/Age-of-Myth-Audiob...
Listen to these previews for each of them respectively. They were able to bring the characters to life in a way that Guidall was never able to for me.
Steven Pacey: https://www.audible.com/pd/Sci-Fi-Fantasy/The-Blade-Itself-A...
Tim Gerald Reynolds: https://www.audible.com/pd/Sci-Fi-Fantasy/Age-of-Myth-Audiob...
About 20 years ago I had a twice a week commute of about 3 hours. I worked my way through the bulk of Lillian Jackson Braun's "Cat Who ..." book as read by Mr. Guidall. Even when I was reading from the dead tree version I'd still hear it in his voice.
My favorite audio books, however, were of Roger Zelazny reading his own Amber books. He obviously wasn't a professional voice artist, but he really brought these non-standard fantasy novels to life with his, literally, authorial voice.
I only have them on actual cassette tapes, I suppose I should look around and see if they are available as digital files.
My favorite audio books, however, were of Roger Zelazny reading his own Amber books. He obviously wasn't a professional voice artist, but he really brought these non-standard fantasy novels to life with his, literally, authorial voice.
I only have them on actual cassette tapes, I suppose I should look around and see if they are available as digital files.
I'm quite fond of John Rafter Lee, personally:
http://www.audible.com/search?ref_=a_pd_Classi_c2_1_narr&sea...
I've been hooked on his voice ever since I heard him as Trevor Goodchild in the 90's MTV Aeon Flux cartoon.
http://www.audible.com/search?ref_=a_pd_Classi_c2_1_narr&sea...
I've been hooked on his voice ever since I heard him as Trevor Goodchild in the 90's MTV Aeon Flux cartoon.
Can anybody identify the PDF annotation app that G. Guidall is using in this picture?
https://static01.nyt.com/images/2017/08/15/arts/00AUDIOKING2...
https://static01.nyt.com/images/2017/08/15/arts/00AUDIOKING2...
I don't have an iOS device to confirm, but seems to be the latest version of iAnnotate.
iAnnotate
My vote would be for Richard Poe:
http://www.audible.com/search/ref=sr_1_1_nsrch?searchNarrato...
http://www.audible.com/search/ref=sr_1_1_nsrch?searchNarrato...
For me the best was Richard Matthews reading "A Short History Of Nearly Everything"
I don't know George Guidall, what I don't know too is why there's so little audiobooks in 2017, specially in French.
It's not exactly the same thing, but I much prefer the way that Dan Carlin (Hardcore History podcast) uses his voice to create atmosphere and draw me into the story.