Yvette Keller's Blog, page 25
June 30, 2017
Practicing (ONLY) Six Techniques
Warmups in the Booth Recording for The Body in The Bathtub is well underway. With each book I record, I sincerely try to get better at the process. Farther away from mediocre. More on that later.
As I’ve written, before I started this latest book, I asked for some coaching from Kathy Garver. From her feedback, I picked six (of a million possible) tools and techniques to practice:
Tip #1 – GESTURES assigned to each character (in addition to voice placement, physicality, etc.) The idea here is...
June 26, 2017
FILE NOT FOUND (Oh, FFS!)
My last post was too long ago, and in it, I bemoaned broken hardware. But my Ortho Surgeon friend fixed my microphone, and I was back at recording two weeks ago, not knowing more troubles were on the horizon.
While I was away at the Santa Barbara Writer’s Conference I allowed my IT Dept. (husband) to make a full backup of my machine, install the newest iOS, and schedule a trip to the Mac store. All this despite my fear that the learning curve of software updates would decrease my productivi...
June 7, 2017
All dressed down in my recording duds…
And nowhere to go tonight, because:
1. My hardware is broken.
This screw that holds the thingie that holds my shock mount that holds my mic is busticated. Unclear how that happened.
I *JUST* adjusted it, for the first time in…over a year…on Sunday. Hmmmm.
When I got into the studio today the mic was flopped down. I’m super bummed because I just finished spending my work hours over the last day updating my narrator notes.
I needed to incorporate all the AWESOME 1:1 coaching I got from Kath...
May 30, 2017
Tenacious Accountabillibuddies Build Empires
Say This Three Times Fast: “Tenacious Accountabillibuddies Build Empires!”
by Silver Webb
Yvette Keller (FLOF) and Angela Borda (Silver Webb)
They say, “do what you love and the money will follow.” Well, some people say that.
My mother says, “You should get a job at the bank and work your way up to manager.” I am here to affirm that it is perfectly possible to do what you love, pour your passion into your art, and find that no money follows, not even a penny.
But it is also possible to bec...
May 26, 2017
My Audiobook Producer Anniversary
It has been one year since I uploaded my first audiobook files:
I admit, I am tearing up with joy. You are all invited to celebrate with me as my dreams come true in real-time: I uploaded audiobook files I’m working on and received this feedback from my “rights holder”:
“OMG, that sounds GREAT! I love how you do NAME, especially during the drunk scene. So perfect. And you’ve really got NAME’s voice down. AWESOME!”
One year later, I have three audiobooks on the market. Truthfully, I thoug...
May 17, 2017
Recording (closet) Studio
Carpet Installation “Hot Ash” colored carpeting was installed in my closet and office on Monday morning. It is the thickest of the thick, the plushest of the plush. The store was having a deal on a free carpet pad upgrade, which will really be nice at my standing desk and when I stand to do my narration. That means under the plum pudding colored pile is the very best cushioning on offer in the carpeting world today.
So I put it on the wall. And the ceiling. As you do if you are an audiobook...
May 8, 2017
“What’s your favorite band?” How avoiding bullying made me an agnostic reader (and music listener)
“I don’t have one. I like all kinds of music.”
“What kinds of music, then?”
“All music.”
“Like what?”
“I don’t know any band names, I just sing along with whatever’s on the radio, the record player, the movie…”
“Do you know [ ] ?”
“Sure!” And they sang.
Nine out of ten times I can sing along with whatever music you throw at me. I have a great ear, practically perfect pitch, and am an accomplished mimic. But band names? Artist names? Preferences? Not so much.
...May 2, 2017
The Top 10 Things I Love About Viola Roberts
When you narrate multiple books–“play” a character over and over–you feel like you know them. It is different from just reading a novel and archiving it off your kindle. Some months (like say, April, May, June), I’m living with Viola Roberts during every waking moment: recording her voice, hearing her thoughts, embodying her attitude.
Best of all, when I am preparing, recording, and editing the Viola Roberts Cozy Mysteries, I find myself spending a lot of time laughing. What I love about Vio...
April 24, 2017
Team Momentum
Available now on Amazon, a book workshopped in my writing group!
If you enjoyed The Laundry Files novels by Charles Stross, you’ll enjoy this new book by Richard Hein. Richard’s work is darkly hilarious and his plot twists surprising. It was fun reading the draft and I’m impressed by his polishing.
Here’s the Blurb (I helped with that too!):
Samuel Walker loved being a Seneschal with the Ordo Felix Culpa, keeping the world safe from things that go bump in the night — especially when he got...
