A Woman of Many Voices: Interview with an Audiobook Narrator

On the eve of the audiobook release for A River of Crows (produced by Tantor Media), I thought it would be fun to share a behind the scenes look at the recording process. I reached out to the extremely talented narrator Jessica Marchbank (AKA Lu Banks), and she agreed to be interviewed for my blog. ( You can find notes from me in the photo captions).

Let’s get started!

Can you share a little bit about your professional background?

While I’ve only been producing audiobooks for the past couple of years, I’ve been using my voice professionally, in one way or another, since I was a teenager. Fun fact – my first job was as a tour guide at the Jesse James Farm & Museum in my hometown, which was the first time I really felt what it was like to have an “audience.” Then I went to a performing arts high school that was modeled after the one in Fame. I double-majored in vocal music & creative writing, with a minor in piano. For a while, I was in serious pursuit of singing, and got a full scholarship to university for singing. Life has other plans though, as they say, so for much of my adult life I wasn’t as connected to that artistic background. 

For years and years, people would comment on my voice; I didn’t really have a direction, and other than singing internet karaoke, I was just really disconnected and discontent. Then in late 2019, I stumbled upon the wonderful world of erotic audio, via Reddit’s r/GoneWildAudio. It blew my mind. I heard about it on a podcast. That very same day, I started a new Reddit account, downloaded an erotic script, recorded it on my phone, and posted it. Turns out, I had a real knack for it; within 6 months, I had a huge fan following and performed live audio scripts via my Discord fan server, and began doing a deep dive into microphones, mic technique, sound treatment, audio editing … the works! Realizing there were different things I could do with my voice opened up a whole new world. 

I began seriously researching audiobooks in 2020 and spent a solid 18 months learning everything I could; coaching with some established pros, consulting with sound engineers to get the best possible sound, building a recording booth. My first audiobook went live in spring 2021 and I’ve never looked back – always learning & growing, but absolutely grateful to have finally found “the thing” that lets me fully engage my voice, creativity, heart, and mind.

What is the audition process like for an audiobook? 

It depends on a lot of factors. Most of my work these days comes from Tantor (I love them!) and so they’ll either send me a book that’s mine for the taking if I want it, or they’ll send me a request for a specific sample for a title they’re casting. I’ll scan the title, record a 3–5-minute sample, and send it off. Sometimes I hear back right away – yes, you’ve got it! Or no, we went in another direction, and sometimes months pass before I hear anything. Most narrators who are first starting out will go through ACX (Amazon Content Exchange), as I did, which is like a huge Wild West dating/match site to match narrators with authors & rights holders. It’s a great place to get started, and I still occasionally scan it for possible titles. 

How do you decide on the specific voice and tone to do for each character?

Great question! For me, it’s part art, part science, and part …just intuition/feeling. I read the book first, of course 🙂 cover to cover, and sometimes going back again to take notes. For A River of Crows, I read it at least a month before beginning recording; I wanted to let the story & characters really sink in. Then, I have a whole spreadsheet I use for each title I work on; it’s very nerdy <grin> – so on the data side, I track everything: how many pages per chapter, how long it took me at the mic to record that chapter, an average # of minutes per chapter, etc.… which probably seems like overkill, but I’m a data nerd and I love to see the trends over time. Then on the creative side, I make detailed notes about each character – even if it’s someone who only appears once or twice – and anything I want to watch out for at different points of the story. For instance, I note any characteristics that are written about the character, but then I also give it my own frame of reference: who in my life does this character remind me of? Who do I picture when this character is talking? (For whatever reason, I totally pictured Sloan as the actress Marin Ireland, although I don’t think Sloan actually looks anything like her. There was something about Sloan’s fortitude mixed with vulnerability that totally made me picture Marin). 

So, before ever getting behind the mic, I try to get a feel for each character. Then, I start recording! It’s really interesting to see how well the characters emerge right away, versus when I have to feel around for them a bit. Sometimes, the first time I open my mouth to speak as a character, I instantly hear that it’s just how I wanted it. Other times, I have to experiment a little until I feel like it’s just right. Once I have it kinda “locked in”, I make notes about the vocal characteristics (accent, pitch, timbre, etc.) and then save at least a few sound clips of just that character, so if I’m ever stuck, I can find it really quickly.  

How long did it take you to record A River of Crows?

I’m laughing at myself here because, even though it’s only been a couple of months since wrapping the recording, I’ve recorded a bunch of short romance books and it’s all in a haze. Luckily, I have my handy-dandy spreadsheet here, so ooph! I can see that, since the book was just a hair over 12 hours, my time at the mic was about 30 hours. I don’t really track how much time I spend on prep, just time in the booth, and usually I have about a 2:1 ratio of work time to finished time. This was a little longer because I wanted to really take my time with a few of the scenes, and I re-recorded a few sections. (If this makes anyone go “gasp!” – don’t worry; every single audiobook you’ve ever heard has had a TON of re-recorded sections. Narrators stop & start & go back all the time; God bless audio editors and engineers!) 

Was there any specific scene you just loved to narrate? Was there a scene that was especially difficult to narrate?

SO MANY scenes were just so rich and felt awesome to narrate! One of the early scenes with Jay’s night terror was both difficult and exciting to do. The way you wrote it felt so real so I recorded it a few times; it’s super tricky to give big emotion / drama without also getting way too loud for the microphone (I have some hilarious bloopers of trying to sound like a crow crying “Ridge! Ridge! Ridge!”)  The scene when Jay bursts in the door looking for Ridge, wild-eyed and panicked, felt almost effortless – the way you wrote the scene made it flow so easily. I love how easy you made for us, as reader, to connect with the characters and feel their pain, anger, despair, hope.

How do you come up with different voices and keep them all straight?

Oops! I pretty much covered this up ahead, but one thing I had to really give a lot of thought and attention to was the age of the characters. For instance, a 10-year-old boy can sound all sorts of different ways – like a little boy, or almost like a teenager, so I took care with Ridge’s 1988 character. Most of the characters will only have subtle changes between the 2-3 different timelines, but Caroline needed more care. Without giving too much of the book’s twists & turns away, I treated Caroline’s character differently throughout the book/timeline. I didn’t want to start the novel with her sounding like she did by the end, so her voice changed the most throughout the story.

What’s a typical recording session like?

I tend to record in big long chunks, since my life is really full with nonprofit day job and single parenting. So I have to carefully manage my time. Once I have cleared my schedule, I turn off everything in my house that can be turned off: furnace, any fans, most lights. I make sure I’m hydrated (ideally for a full day before a big recording session, I’ll have been drinking a lot of water), and free of distractions. Into the booth I go! Close the door, water & chapstick handy, and get down to work. Two monitors up – one with the manuscript, and the other with my recording software so I can monitor & edit on the fly. I’ll take a break every 45 minutes or so, to refill my water, check messages, and stretch – then back to it. For A River of Crows, the bulk of the recording was completed over a long Friday / Saturday / Sunday, then the last few hours were spaced out over the following week.

Are there special techniques you use to care for and condition your voice? 

Not really… from my singing days, I remember all my fellow singers going on about various remedies, sucking on lemons, ginger tea, throat sprays… but I mostly just focus on mind-body connection and hydration. I guess all the years of classical singing & formal lessons did make a lot of things just second-nature (posture, breathing, etc.) but it really comes down to hydration and focus, for me. I’ve had a few days where I recorded for 8ish hours and then finished the day by singing karaoke online for another couple of hours. Of course, I also listen to my body and don’t push it; if I’m feeling even a hint of vocal strain that doesn’t resolve with hydration, I take a break.

What do you love most about narrating audiobooks?

What’s not to love?! Modern narrators who record from home studios are not “just” narrating: we’re doing several jobs simultaneously: acting (which in itself entails hundreds of little decisions, every single page), self-directing, self-editing, monitoring, and audio engineering. It takes a huge amount of attention and stamina, and it’s the hardest work I’ve ever done, but I also love it more than anything. I love the constant challenge, the variety (I’ve narrated everything from erotica to nonfiction to young adult clean romance, to middle-grade fiction, and more) – I love that each book is a new adventure and that I learn something new from every single project, and each book is its own growth experience in itself. 

Where can we go to learn more about your work or contact you for our future voice talent needs?

My website is www.allusionsaudios.com or www.jessaudios.com – I haven’t been as active on social media in 2023, but that may change as 2024 progresses. For the last year, I’ve wanted to spend the bulk of my time and attention on just doing the work. I’ve also been coaching, always working on gaining new skills and deepening old ones, and loving this ever-developing adventure 🙂

Thanks, Jessica, for the interview and for taking so much care in narrating A River of Crows!

And thanks to everyone who took the time to read this interview. Be sure to head on over to the audiobook retailer of your choice and download A River of Crows to hear Jessica in action!