Audiobook Narrator Noah James Butler

Welcome, everyone. I have been looking forward to this! Today we are talking to the man I call “Man of a Thousand Voices.” And I’m not kidding. I “met” Noah when I decided to create some audiobooks from my self-published books; the Enchanter Chronicles Trilogy, and then a spin-off from the Booke of the Hidden series, the Moonriser Werewolf Mysteries, and then I was happy to get him for my next books with an audiobook publisher or two, and I have been overwhelmed by his work. So many voices. So clearly differentiated. And so well acted. Please, meet Noah James Butler!

JERI: Noah, could you start by giving us a little background on your life? Where are you from, what shows have you been in, and how did you get into voiceover work?

NOAH: Well, I moved to New Mexico when I was 8 yrs old. I was always a shy, nerdy kid, so my only real friends were the ones I created. I’ve always been a voracious reader, and books were my escape. When I would read, the characters were always voiced as I thought they should be in my mind, and eventually, I began to read out loud to myself. I remember one teacher, I think it was in 7th grade, who would ask someone to read to the class on Fridays. If no one volunteered, we’d have to do an assignment. I always volunteered. It was my chance to be seen by my classmates, and to perform. My mom made me audition for The Music Man when I was twelve, and that’s when I learned I could actually be an actor. Got my first taste of television when I was fourteen, when Unsolved Mysteries filmed an episode in our small town of Socorro. In 1993 I graduated from The American Music and Dramatic Academy, then went back to New Mexico to attend The College of Santa Fe. I’ve been a professional actor for thirty years, with lots of theatre, which is where you really learn to act. There is no better acting teacher than the theatre.

As an actor you need to be versatile, never limit yourself. I’ve always had a good ear for voices, and especially dialects, so VO work was a total fit for me, and audiobooks just fell into my lap.

JERI: That is awesome! I wonder if your Unsolved Mystery was ever…solved.

I have auditioned and worked with a number of narrators in the past. And I have to tell you, the auditioning process is no fun from the production end of it either. I don’t know how casting directors do it. It hasn’t always been easy finding someone with a voice and with acting chops. But thank goodness, there you were. Now there’s all sorts of ways to narrate. One way is simply READING the book out loud into the microphone (rather like Peter Coyote when he narrates documentaries). But that’s never what I want. I want ACTING. I want an experience for my audience. A performance. You’ve done a few audiobooks at this point. How many different ways are there to approach reading a book? And does it depend on the genre? The author? The publisher of audiobooks?

NOAH: Hey, I dig Mr. Coyote’s style. I won’t speak for everyone, but the way I work is to get a feel for the book. A good author will give you that in the first chapter. I absolutely agree with you about performance. You must bring the work to life. An audiobook is like a one person show. The onus is on you, and that goes for non-fiction as well. What I mean is, You want to keep the listener’s attention, so you find those moments that really hit, whether it be a joke, or a truly serious part of the read. I have had some truly dreadful experiences with self-publishing authors who don’t use an editor, or try to edit their own work. It’s no picnic trying to narrate work that is full of run-on sentences, or just atrocious grammar.

 

JERI: With audiobook recording, it’s the technical stuff that throws me. There’s a lot of equipment one has to have to be a narrator/producer. Most readers don’t know all the intricacies that go into it. And I know a few narrators who have their set-up in their closets at home because it’s easier to soundproof such a small space. Can you walk us through the process from getting the contract to the finished product? And how long does it generally take to narrate an audiobook?

NOAH: The first book I narrated was WHERE LAW ENDS by Kevin Emmit Foley. I had no idea what I was doing. We were in a second story apartment, near Downtown L.A. and I was recording at the desk in our living room. I still have those files, and you can hear every ounce of background noise. There was a dialysis clinic around the corner, and ambulances would sit below our window with engines running. Not the best way to immerse oneself into a western. I finally took a class, and realized the closet is absolutely the best place for your first studio setup. My first closet was really small, and claustrophobia became a thing.

I discovered ACX (Audiobook Creation Exchange), made my first demo, and started to audition. That’s where we met. There isn’t much of a contract system with ACX, but now, thanks to your brilliant work, I actually do get a contract. There are many who narrate that can get a book done in two weeks, or there about. I don’t work that way. I need about a month, sometimes longer depending on the length of the book. Plus, there’s life that happens and I can’t be cooped up in my studio all day.

JERI: My son is in the biz, on the writing end of it, and has had a few gigs, but has mostly served as a PA, that is, a Production Assistant for several television shows. We told him. Why didn’t your parents tell you to get a “real job”? (Though, to be clear, we actually supported his choice, because we’ve always told him that whatever he decided to do, he’d better love it no matter how it pays because he will be doing it for the rest of his life.)

NOAH:  Well, your son does have a real job. Anyone in the business has a real job. Acting is a job, a fun job, but a job none the less.

JERI: Is there any gig you’d rather not do?

NOAH: I refuse to have my name attached to anything political, especially right-wing nonsense, and I won’t narrate anything religious. Human beings are allowed to believe whatever they wish, I just don’t need, or want, to be involved with it.

JERI: I just love the little clip (above) you gave us for the upcoming TROUBLED BONES, a Crispin Guest Medieval Noir from years ago for Tantor Media. There is just the subtlest change in your body language when you switch back and forth to each character. Do you feel yourself briefly having to BE each character when you do your narration?

NOAH: Ah, yeah that was fun. The answer here is a hearty YES! Narration is performance, so yeah, I get into character. Here I go singing your praises again, but your writing makes it easy, and fun. There are plenty of authors out there who don’t. Trust.

JERI: What have you been the most proud of in your work to date?

NOAH: I’m really proud of my work with the first six Crispin Guest novels. Fingers crossed I get to do more. I narrated a fantastic piece of non-fiction called FROM ONE CELL: A JOURNEY INTO LIFE’S ORIGINS AND THE FUTURE OF MEDICINE by Dr. Ben Stanger, which was a crash course in genomic biology. That one is one of my best.

JERI: I am showing my age here, but your FROM ONE CELL makes me think about Paul Frees narrating the Disneyland ride Adventures Through Inner Space, and you shrank and shrank to be only visible through a microscope. It was really cool. But Star Tours replaced it. Which is also really cool. How do I know about Paul Frees? Because I am a voice nerd. So, as for voices, how do you keep track of all the voices when you do a recording?

NOAH: Keeping track of each voice can be daunting, but once I’m about a quarter of the way in, I’m good. I take notes sometimes, and my process takes a bit of time too. I’ll read through the section first. Figure out who’s speaking, what’s at stake. Always figure out the stakes. Then record the section and move on.

JERI: What’s funny is, we’ve never actually talked, like on the phone or in-person. It’s all been over email. It’s as if neither of us really exist. You have a degree in philosophy. Do we?

NOAH: There was a country folk singer I listened to as a kid, Jim Stafford. One of his lyrics has stuck with me to this day, “Someone, somewhere went to sleep, and dreamed us all alive. Dreams get pushed around a lot, and I doubt if we’ll survive. We won’t get to wake up. Dreams were born to disappear…and I’m sure that neither one of us are here.”

JERI: Okay, adequately creepy. I’m sure your agent must be getting you auditions. What’s next? Are you allowed to tell us?

NOAH: What’s next? Well, our daughter will be attending UCLA in the Fall. We’re over the moon about that. My spouse and I are going to Portugal and Spain for two weeks, and I’m pretty excited for that too. As far as auditions go, like any actor, I await the next one, and hope I get it.  I do know that end of May, I begin recording your latest addition to the Baker Street Irregular series, THE MISPLACED PHYSICIAN which I am wholeheartedly looking forward to.

JERI: Go Bruins! Good luck to your daughter! Oh, and there are more books from me for you, you can bet on that! Noah, I want to thank you for talking with me and sharing your time. I know how busy you are. It’s such an interesting process. Do you have a list of films, TV shows, and audiobooks where fans can find your work? I know that reader/listeners sometimes just follow the narrator no matter what they read.

NOAH: Thanks for having me, and maybe someday we’ll get to have that face-to-face meeting. I would enjoy that. If anyone is interested in seeing what it is I’ve actually been in, you can find me on IMDB. I had a website, but that didn’t work out. I’m also on Audible.com, or any other of your favorite audiobook sites. Cheers!