Editor’s Note: all giveaways in this are now closed
Ahhh, the versatility of Renee Raudman. When listening to her narrations, you can’t help but be aware that this woman can tackle any genre and deliver it with style.
If you have been listening to romance for long, it’s likely you have listened to at least one Raudman narration. With close to 300 narrations to her name, 137 of those titles are categorized romance (or have strong romantic elements). If you have experienced one of Renee’s performances in the past, you’re probably wanting to listen to even more. Or, if you are new to her narrations, we think there is a good chance you will be hooked once you give her a try. With this in mind, we have an overview of her romance backlist for you today. It’s not a full list of her romance titles – you can find that on Renee’s AudioGals’ Narrator Friend page.
Our Second Giveaway of the Week – now closed
It’s our second giveaway of the week. So if you entered the four book giveaway, it’s time to enter again. This time we’re giving away to TWO WINNERS their choice of Marina Adair’s St. Helena Vineyard series (three audiobooks) or Julia London’s Over the Edge series (three audiobooks) or the first three audiobooks in Deborah Coonts’ Lucky series in MP3-CD format courtesy of Brilliance Audio.
Entry is simple. Just complete the easy entry form at the bottom of the page by midnight (CST) Saturday, January 11th. No comments are necessary. We’ll contact you the morning of January 12th so watch your email as we must have acknowledgement of your win within 24 hours. If we don’t hear from you, we’ll select another winner. Bloggers and reviewers, we welcome your entry. Entry is restricted to the U.S. and Canada.
For a taste of each of these series, you can find reviews of the first in each series at AudioGals. Today, Victoria is reviewing the first in Marina Adair’s St. Helena Vineyard series, Kissing Under the Mistletoe
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A Look at Renee’s Romance Titles
Renee’s first romance narrations came in 2006 and 2007 with books penned by Dorothy Garlock, Janet Dailey, and Debbie Macomber. But 2008 was the year Renee really hit her romance stride with her performances of Lisa Kleypas’ Blue-Eyed Devil, Jennifer Crusie’s Manhunting, Suzanne Brockmann’s Into the Fire, and Carly Phillips’ Lucky Charm. In addition, Renee started recording Allie Carter’s Gallagher Girl series in 2008, a tremendously popular YA series.
Renee seemed to explode on the romance audio scene in 2009 with more Jennifer Crusie, Suzanne Brockmann, and Carly Phillips and the addition of Christine Feehan, Fern Michaels, Ilona Andrews’ Kate Daniels series, and the beginning of her narration of Catherine Coulter’s FBI Thriller series with Paul Costanzo.
2010 brought us additional titles from Suzanne Brockmann and Catherine Coulter plus works from Jessa Slade, Jill Marie Landis, Sandra Brown, Susan Mallery, MaryJanice Davidson, and Ilona Andrews’ The Edge series.
With 2011, we saw Jane Peart’s Bride of Montclair series (11 of the 15 series books were released that year alone) and titles from Larissa Ione and Iris Johansen as well as more from Suzanne Brockman, Sandra Brown, Ilona Andrews, and Catherine Coulter.
2012 and 2013 were filled with more narrations from a number of the authors listed above as well as Tracie Peterson, Lisa Jackson, Deborah Coonts, Marina Adair, and Julia London.
Renee’s Romance Series Narrations
In the spirit of our series giveaway today, following is a list of those romance series (or series with strong romance elements), Renee has narrated in full:
Marina Adair – St. Helena Vineyard series
Ilona Andrews – The Edge series
Ilona Andrews – Kate Daniels series
Terri Blackstock – Cape Refuge Series
Ally Carter – Gallagher Girls series
Elizabeth Chandler – Kissed by an Angel series
Anita Clenney – The Relic Seekers series
Deborah Coonts – Lucky O’Toole Series
Cheryl Crane – Nikki Harper series
Mary E. DeMuth – Defiance Texas trilogy
Jill Marie Landis – Irish Angel series
Julia London – Over the Edge series
Jane Peart – Brides of Montclair serie
Tracie Peterson – Land of the Lone Star series
Carly Phillips – Lucky series
Jessa Slade – Marked Souls series
Kate White – The Bailey Weggins series
Tina Whittle – Tai Randolph/Trey Seaver series
Now I bet you can see my reason for starting today with the word versatility. Although this is only a partial listing of her romance titles, we hope it will encourage you to listen to more Raudman narrations. And since she has narrated in almost every romance sub-genre, it’s likely you will find something to fit your listening tastes.
More from Renee
To keep up with Renee’s latest projects and upcoming works, like her Facebook page. I’m sure there will always be something interesting just around the corner.
Renee will be checking in today to answer questions or offer thoughts so we’re hoping you will take this opportunity to chat a bit with Renee Raudman!
Time to Enter
Contest is closed.
Lea Hensley
Hi Renee!
Lea and I are doing a joint listen of Ilona Andrews’ Edge series – I’m loving my re-listens as much as the first time(s) I heard them. :)
A question I always wonder about when I see an audiobook in abridged and unabridged formats. How is that done? Do you cut parts from the finished unabridged version and work them together with bridges the publisher gives you to tie the story together in its shortened form? Or do you completely re- record the abridged version?
And while on the topic are you seeing fewer abridgements done as the audiobook market grows?
Hi Brenda!
The Edge series is so much fun, and with great romance as well! I wonder if you find new details re-listening? Ilona Andrews does SUCH a great job of detailing their characters.
I think with the onset of digital downloads, and thereby leading to a lower purchase price of audiobooks, we are seeing less and less of the abridgments done. When you purchased an audiobook on CD or cassette tape, and there were, let’s say 11 cd’s for the unabridged version, versus 3-5 cd’s for an abridgment — that cost for the UBR (unabridged) would be higher than the ABR (abridgment), because you were essentially getting twice the physical book. I believe that some retailers wouldn’t carry audiobooks over a certain price point, because it wasn’t meeting the needs of their clientele. So the audio publishers would create product that could be carried in these stores, by finding a way to lower the price. But all that’s changed with digital downloads!
Personally, I think less ABR’s are a good thing! ABR’s are created by taking the original book/manuscript, and giving it to an editor on staff. (Sometimes the authors would get to do their own ABR’s). They essentially, have to cut out about 1/2 the story! To do that, they would sometimes eliminate a character or sub-plot entirely.
As narrators we record the books completely separately. As tho they are completely individual books. Often, during the recording of the ABR, AFTER the UBR, we would find details that wouldn’t make sense, because much of the storyline regarding said detail was longer there!
Wow – I was surprised that the abridged versions were completely new narrations! But it makes sense the way you’ve explained it – thanks for all the details. Understanding the publishers reasoning helps but I for one would still be happy to see abridged versions go the way of the dinosaur. :D
I am a recent convert, but I love Renee’s work. I have a question for her. In Kissing under the Mistletoe, she does a great job narrating a little child’s voice. At one point, the voice overlaps with another (I think her mom’s) voice. Is that two people? Editing? And (second question), how do you prepare for the different voices and not have them sound “fake”. For example, a lot of narrators sound really artificial when they do children’s voices, and yours sounded…well…like a child. Do you practice, record, listen? Do you record kids around you and copy? Do you ask your significant other to listen?
Thank you Katherine for your kind words! Creating children’s voices for me can be intimidating for sure! So your compliment means a great deal to me.
Regarding the overlap: (I’m SO impressed you noticed!) — those are both me. Some publishers will give me a little lee-way on these types of scenarios (e.g., where two ppl speak at once). When recording, we have multiple tracks available to us. Tho typically, we as narrators only use one. Essentially, we use the same recording software that they use to make a song. They use the many different tracks to layer the various instruments and vocals. (Recording one at a time).
When I have 2 voices that overlap, and if I feel it can enhance the story without pulling the listener out, I will record the one voice. Then ask my engineer to drop down to track 2. I can still hear the original recording on track 1, but will jump in with the second voice.
As far as ‘narrating’ young adults or children, I will practice on my own (I would hate to drive my fiance crazy talking in kids voices! LOL). But I also try to listen to children speak, HOW they talk. I realize, they have smaller lungs, so they take more breaths. Sometimes they find it hard to figure out what their next word is going to be. And they never wanna SOUND like babies.. they wanna sound all grown up. So those are some of the details I will try to take in the booth with me. Thanks again, Katherine!
How did you get started? Are you an actress first and foremost? A reader? did you read some kids nighttime stories?
I tried to answer this on the wrong page I think! I’m pasting my whole answer hear! Forgive me for the duplicate, as I answered this one first. :)
Hello! What an amazing week’s it’s been! How do I even begin to thank everyone at Audiogals who have so graciously put together this week’s event. I can’t tell you how truly touching this is for me. In addition, I am humbled beyond words at the amount of work that has gone into making this week both exciting and special!
I too, am moved by your support and positive comments about my work. Thank you all, from the bottom of my heart.
Linda: I loved your comment about the pets! Thank you!
Katherine/Vic: I found myself really enjoying audio-style performances at a fairly young age. I would then enjoy trying to replicate them on my own little tape recorder. But I never thought about doing it professionally. Even when I began an acting career! However, I got a chance to audition for a voice over job, and booked it! What fun it was to record that very first commercial. And then a few more followed, and I continued to pursue this new avenue of entertainment. Eventually, I branched out into cartoons and video-games. And while I loved my theatrical on-camera work, it was exciting to get to be dozens of different characters behind the mic, that I’d never get to be in front of the camera.
I would say (and I think most narrators would agree) that we consider ourselves actors and actresses first. And then we adjust our performances depending on the medium we perform in. Whether that’s a prime time television show, a radio commercial, a soap opera… or a narrator of audiobooks. Great question!
Okay Renee – mine is more of a request.
Lisa Kleypas is releasing the fourth book in her Travis Family series (Blue-Eyed Devil was the second) in September 2014. The title is Brown-Eyed Girl. I know all of us fans of Blue-Eyed Devil would love to see you narrating Brown-Eyed Girl. How can we let the publisher know that we would love to see you as narrator? In a situation such as this, can you as a narrator, indicate interest to the publisher? We’d love it if you would!!
Thank you Lea! I would LOVE to narrate Brown-Eyed Girl. (I really loved narrating Blue-Eyed Devil.). And yes, it is the only one thus far in the series I have narrated. I believe the reason for that is that Ms. Kleypas told each book from a different POV. And I believe that the audio publisher was attempting to match the specific POV character and the narrator.
Do any of you know whose POV Brown-eyed Girl is from?
There a few ways that narrators can be granted a project. One, is by going directly to the Audio Publisher. They are often the final decision in these matters. In the case of Blue-Eyed Devil, Brilliance Audio was the publisher. (I’m not sure who the publisher is for Brown-Eyed Girl. I suppose there’s probably a good chance it’s still Brilliance Audio. (Tho, it certainly can change, as we saw w/ the Ilona Andrews books). In some cases, the author can make a request as well.
I am thrilled that you would think of me to do book 4. I can tell you that if I was offered the title, I would almost certainly take the project with a skip and a jump! :-))))
I second Lea’s vote for you to narrate book 4 of the series. It’s more than just continuity; you end up owning each of these Travis men and I’d hate to have that upended.
On Lea’s same note, looking at the diversity and extent of books you’ve narrated, how do narrators gets matched to books/authors? Do you get say, first dibs, if you’ve narrated previous books in the series?
If you got to choose, why did you choose to narrate certain books in particular? Do you read the book first before saying `yes’ to a potential project?
I believe that Blue-Eyed Devil is the only book in the series that Renee narrated.
I have a question for Renee please; Why was the short story at the end of Gunmetal Magic not recorded along with the book. It has been driving me crazy! Thank you.
Megan: I would say that more often than not, publishers try to keep the same narrator for a series. For fans and followers of the series, they are used to that voice. Its jarring anytime there’s a replacement. Whether TV, film, or narration, when the listener has to ‘start over’ again with a new actor.
In terms of narrators getting attached to authors; It seems there is no one formula. Sometimes, a narrator will be continually paired with an author, regardless if it a series or not. Danielle Steel, for example, typically uses men for her fiction (and not always the same men). But if the story calls for it, I know she will use a female. I did a fiction novel for her last year called: Betrayal. And I believe Cassandra Campbell did one this year for her as well.
When I first began in this business, I think I was one of just a few female narrators with their own home studio. I was definitely in the right place/right time, because the industry was just moving to using more home studios. This opportunity allowed me to narrate a wide genre of books. Everything from fiction; YA (young adult), romance, mystery, paranormal, etc., as well as non-fiction, including history, memoirs, how to, scientific, etc. It was amazing! I took every job I was offered at that time. I couldn’t believe how lucky I was to be getting all these wonderful morsels of work! Eventually, however, I wasn’t able to keep up with the pace of books I was recording each month, and had to become more selective in which books I would accept. (so hard to choose!).
I ended up choosing more and more titles of the kind I would like to read on vacation! (Smart, right!?) So when I would record, I’d feel like I was on a beach reading somewhere! Without a doubt, I love romance, mystery, and suspense. But one can’t live on dessert all the time! And I’ll get an itch for a memoir, biography and the like. (I know what a lucky, lucky gal I am, FO SHO!).
Oh! And we do NOT get to read the book in advance. We get a synopsis. (Just like you would read on Amazon). And we choose whether or not to accept it based on this alone.
Wow! Thanks so much for your thorough reply, Renee!
And most of all, thank you for the many hours of enjoyment
your performances have given us readers!
Mel:
Regarding Gunmetal Magic — I can’t remember for sure. But I think it had something to do with a ‘rights’ issue? Don’t quote me on that. :)
Hi Renee. I’m a big fan of your work too. I adore the Ilona Andrews books you’ve narrated, as well as Blue-Eyed Devil of course (of course!). You are one of the handful of narrators where if I haven’t heard of the book or the author but you are narrating I will give it a go.
My question is, what happens if you don’t like a book much? Is it more of a challenge to record? How do you manage to not convey that in the narration? (Because I’m sure it doesn’t come across in the narration.) I would never ask you to name a particular book – we all have different tastes after all – but are there days when the outtakes from the recording booth are full of “what???” :D
Hi Kaetrin!
First, thank you for your kind words. It really means a lot to me that you take time to share that.
OK, I’m totally giggling at your question. Good one!
Yes, there are some books I like more than others. LIke anything in life, right? :-)
However, if I find one that I’m having a particularly tough time with one, I will try to find something I like about it. And I focus on that. Usually, if there is a book I find challenging, it’s because it’s challenging something deep within me. Perhaps it’s dealing with something contrary to what my heart might believes. I think that’s the toughest. But, as I mentioned in one of the recorded interviews, I try to find the back door as to why the author feels different. Or perhaps, I will ask myself if I need to open my own door (heart) and be open to something that makes me uncomfortable or reflect on a new idea.
I believe that narrating books that I find challenging, uncomfortable or might not agree with, has helped me grow as a individual. Not naming any titles — there was one such book– boy, I had a tough time with the message it was sending. I won an award for it. No one was more shocked then me.
Thanks again Kaetrin!