Production Styles
Options are great but sometimes overwhelming, right? Dual, duet, multicast – which type of production should you choose? How can you make your story stand out from the crowd? Is the added expense worth it? Will you get the return on investment you’re looking for? We’re here to guide you through the current choices available, maximizing the technical with the artistic to deliver the biggest impact. Below are some brief explanations of the different audiobook formats on offer and how they differ.
For a deeper dive, get in touch today and let’s chat!
Solo/Dual Narration
The classic and timeless way of recording audiobooks.
With solo/dual recordings, a narrator either assumes the POV of a particular protagonist or tells the story in a third person format, performing everything within their chapters. This includes the narrative and any and all characters within – male & female, young & old, whomever and whatever. One, two, or multiple narrators may be used depending on how many points of view a book has. This is still currently how the majority of audiobooks are recorded. Classic & timeless storytelling by expert narrators who know exactly how to bring a story to life.
Duet Narration
The popular format that takes us closer to radio drama.
Duet recordings employ two narrators to perform their respective POV chapters – as per solo/dual books. However, they’ll also perform all their character(s) dialogue throughout the entire book. With duet performances, you’ll hear an actor voice their character(s) wherever they appear in the book, regardless of chapter. Moving the experience toward a radio drama feel. Duet Narration can be especially effective in dialogue-heavy books featuring a lot of interaction between opposing characters.
Multicast Narration
A further extension of duet to really add to that immersive auditory feel.
Multicast takes things to a whole new level. Think duet but instead of just two actors, you get three, four, five – however many you want. For example, have two lead actors supported by a number of other actors performing dialogue-only roles. Or, if there are multiple character POVs, use a different actor for each role, having them voice that character everywhere throughout the entire book. The permutations of multicast are endless, and the use of multiple, contrasting voices within a book can really add that extra something to the right project.