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Music at beginning/end of entire book...
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Vic
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Mar 08, 2013 10:23PM
I think we've had this discussion before, but I know that Lea has some contacts now in some of the publishing houses. Can you PLEASE ask that if they INSIST on having music close out or open a book, REDUCE the volume of the music by about 1/2 what they currently use. Just finished listening to audio for Anne Bishop's Written in Red (Penguin) and I can HARDLY hear the last 1 minute of narration over the music. I think I'm particularly cranky at this point after listening to narration sample of the Lauren Dane Brown Sibling Series (Tantor) and it's getting late but do these publishing houses even care? Why even PUT the music in there OVER the narration? If they really want it, put it over the "thanks for listening.... blah blah blah" but not over the author's actual text. I apologize if this is coming across as just a grumpy rant.
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I might not be able to do anything about it, but I wanted to say, "Amen" to your grumpy rant! I hate the addition of music at the beginning and end of audiobooks! It makes me a cranky-pants.
While agree I think it is worse when music is thrown in in various parts of the book as "background" but you can barely hear the narration over it...drives me crazy
Nichole ~Bookaholic~ wrote: "While agree I think it is worse when music is thrown in in various parts of the book as "background" but you can barely hear the narration over it...drives me crazy"Agreed. Suffice to say music isn't needed in any part of an audiobook unless the text has a character singing a song, or something like that.
I've never had music occur randomly during a book but I have to say I hate the music at the end of the CD if you are listening to them that way. Shadowfever has them and it annoys the heck of out of me. I don't even like them telling me what disc I'm listening to at the beginning since I download it and run them together. It's just jarring.
LOL, I must be different. I love the music at the beginning and the end of sections! It's more enjoyable than 'Audible hope you have enjoyed this program.'But I agree that it shouldn't cover the narration.
I have a terrible tendency to fall asleep listening to my books and that "Audible hopes you have enjoyed this program" or "This Audiobook has been broken into two parts to make the download faster. Please go to the next part of this audiobook" is often enough of a shock to wake me up. But I do not like the whole "This the end of Disc 5. Please insert disc 6." Like I wouldn't know that 6 follows 5? I'd personally rather it just flowed from disc to disc but as I said I tend to upload it and then create a playlist not listen to them one disc at a time. If I was in the car or something I might appreciate the reminder.
I don't really like any distractions personally.
I wonder: If a book has singing as part of the narration should the reader sing? I've never listen to an audio of the Lord of the Rings. Do they sing the Elf and Hobbit songs?
Yes rob inglis sings the elf songs in both the hobbit and fellowship ( I haven't listened to the other 2 yet)
I imagine that LOTR could end up sounding a bit like an episode of Glee.I wonder if any narrators would avoid doing a book if they knew they had to sing in it.
There was a book recently (can't remember which one, there are so many) that there was a lot of singing. Oh, wait, Carnal Innocence, Nora Roberts. Anyway, there is a woman who "sings" and it's integral to the story, but I literally cringe every time the narrator sings. I don't knw if that is their singing voice or if it was the singing voice particular to that character, chosen for that character.Sometimes I want to tell narrators "Just talk through the song in a sing-songy way. Don't sing!"
Singing in Carnal Innocence?? I don't remember that at all. Which character sings? And who was the narrator? Somehow I don't remember Tom Stecheschulte singing through this.
Carrie wrote: "Singing in Carnal Innocence?? I don't remember that at all. Which character sings? And who was the narrator? Somehow I don't remember Tom Stecheschulte singing through this."Carrie, I was coming on here to correct the book. It is Divine Evil. Annie sings songs a number of times. I kept thinking the same thing you did about Tom, so I checked it out. Kimberly Farr narrates Divine Evil. I am not a fan generally of her narration, so part of it might be my issues with her voice changes period.
I am in a glom of Roberts' older stuff right now and it is all running together. Sorry.
Ancientpeas wrote: "...I wonder: If a book has singing as part of the narration should the reader sing? I've never listen to an audio of the Lord of the Rings. Do they sing the Elf and Hobbit songs?"Funny you should ask this question. In the Audiobooks here at GoodReads, a narrator made mention that if the song is a popular/well-known song by today's standards (opposed to something not in public domain or made up for the book), narrators are commonly told to speak the lyrics for copyright purposes.
Ellen~~ No problem at all! I have such a faulty memory these days i thought I'd just forgotten. ;-) I haven't listened to Divine Evil (I read it years ago) but I may just avoid it. I don't like the idea of narrators singing unless they happen to be able to hold a tune! Have you listened to Carnal Innocence? I love that book! ;-) Or I should say, I love the narrator, especially his voice for Tucker Longstreet.
Carrie wrote: "Ellen~~ No problem at all! I have such a faulty memory these days i thought I'd just forgotten. ;-) I haven't listened to Divine Evil (I read it years ago) but I may just avoid it. I don't like the..."Yes. I listened to it immediately before Divine Evil. That's why I had them mixed together. The narrator is great. And Tucker is a wonderful character.
Don't let my critique of the singing stop you from listening. It is good. There are just a few times she uses the wrong voice for a character.
And I will say at 17 plus hours it would benefit fom a bit of editing.
Nice rant. And DON'T put music in the chapter changes!
Maybe it's just me, but the quality of the music is one of my gripes. These are written word audio files, and in my opinion, aren't intended to reproduce music audio in a high quality manner. It ALWAYS sounds amateur and silly. And I listen on good equipment ... usually an iPhone 5 or iPad or MacBook, all items play iTunes music beautifully. But the Audible.com music audio always sounds stupid.
