sarahlin
patreon
The New Game Minus audiobooks need your votes! (and maybe more)
🕑 Added 2022-04-12 17:08:23 +0000 UTCComing to you mid-week with something different, so that it doesn't distract from the regular ongoing chapters. Anybody with an opinion on audiobooks can jump in with their opinion, and I could potentially use one or two volunteers with more time/interest.
For those who don't know, New Game Minus was my first trilogy. The narrator chosen for the series did a solid job on the first book, but then began a long process of making promises and not meeting them. Years passed, and I've only now taken the official steps with Audible to fire him and get someone new. This has never been a high priority, but there are consistently requests to finish the series in audio, and I want to give those fans what they want.
So that brings us to now, and the top three nominations. You can download the auditions via this link:
https://mega.nz/file/6gtkwBZA#rGJX4EsEqnFW0tLYb2fIHNvPPpliNRxjPLAHqjO92UQ
Please feel free to vote for whoever you think is the best match. I have my own opinions, but audiobooks are not really for my sake, so I figured I should draw patrons into the process. (Some of the audition text is sort of a spoiler for the books, FYI.)
Finally, something different: I will also need a volunteer or two for the final ebook later. None of these narrators will be running as professional an operation as someone like Travis Baldree, so the audio files need to be checked. I'm imagining this as an exchange: you get a free early copy, and in return you'll help me check for quality issues. Please comment if you're interested, though the actual checking will likely occur much later.
Comments
Sarah Lin
Too late for the initial voting or sample, but I'll keep you in mind once more of the audiobook comes in!
Keid
I'm kind of late to the party here, but I would also like to volunteer as a checker. I've done audio proofing in the past and NGM is one of my favorite series.
Sarah Lin
Great! Keep it in mind and keep an eye for when we get to the next phase.
Sarah Lin
Well, the picky listeners are most sensitive to these decisions, so your input is welcome!
Jeff Petkau
Oh also: I can volunteer to be a draft audio checker. (I was surprised how much I enjoyed the audio versions of TWC.)
Jeff Petkau
I voted for Zach but they all had pluses and minuses. Tom was easy to listen to and the characters were reasonably distinct. But his "narrator" voice seemed to change to follow the voice of whoever most recently spoke. (Maybe he was using the viewpoint character's voice? Didn't seem that way though.) He also has a very masculine voice which was hard to ignore when he was doing women's parts. Matt has a pleasant voice, but his enunciation wasn't clear, especially on character names, and the voices weren't that distinct. I don't know if I could follow a whole book; I feel like I'd have to constantly hit rewind to know who was speaking. I thought Zach had the best women's voices, and nice clear distinctions between the various character voices and the narrator. He often puts emphasis in strange places though.
I liked Matt the best. His delivery is the easiest to listen to. I felt almost jarred out of the experience at times with the other narrators. Just little things they did annoyed me. I am kind of picky when it comes to narrators though so take it's with a grain of salt
Robin
Matt was far easier on the ears than the other head and shoulders. Zach is also ok, but I don't like his alternative voices. don't like Tom's pronunciation.
D
I liked Matt's overall rendition but Zach's female was voice better than Matt's. Also glad that you shared a higher bit rate(192kbps) samples.
Sarah Lin
Glad to know that there will be some volunteers! Keep an eye out for future updates in that regard.
Sarah Lin
Thanks for sharing your thoughts!
I agree with Glaurung about Matt Weight being the strongest of these three choices. I would also be interested in QCing the audio files.
Glaurung
Tom Taverna's voice doesn't feel right for the series to me. Zachary Zaba's delivery is a bit stilted in my opinion. Matt Weight is the best of the three for new game minus in my opinion.
