Meet Gerard Doyle, the Voice Behind the Books

DEBORAH CROMBIE: What a treat it is today to introduce you to Gerard Doyle, who has narrated most of my Duncan Kincaid/Gemma James books since the very beginning of the series! Here's the audio cover of A SHARE IN DEATH, Kincaid/James #1. (Due to contractual obligations, Gerard read the early books as Michael Deehy, but it's still Gerard!)

As you can see, we've been friends for a long time, and I love the way Gerard reads my characters, especially Gemma. She sounds just the way I imagine when I'm writing her!

I thought it would be fun to ask Gerard to give us the scoop on what it's like to narrate audio books, and he very kindly obliged. Welcome, Gerard!

DEBS: Hi Gerard! Thanks so much for agreeing to vist with us. We have so many big audiobook fans here on the blog, and every day there are more new converts.

Can you tell us how you got started narrating books?

GERARD: I sort of fell into it. I completely blew my first audition but, 3 years later, I auditioned for the same producer (who didn’t remember me, thank goodness), and I was offered my first audiobook. I received an “Earphones” award from AudioFile magazine for that book and the ball started rolling from there. My background experience as an actor has been invaluable during my years as an audiobook narrator.

 

DEBS: Do you record at home or do you have to go into a studio?

GERARD: I’ve been recording at home and self-directing for about 20 years. I have a soundproof recording booth in my basement.

 

DEBS: I love seeing that. Now I will imagine you recording.

Do you have a regular producer you work with, or is it different for every book?

GERARD: I rarely meet the producer who offers me a book to record. I record for all the leading publishers and several independent ones, but they are not involved in the recording process. The only time I work with a director is when I’m recording Christopher Paolini’s fantasy series, “The Inheritance Cycle (The World of Eragon)”, which are sweeping, epic stories about a young warrior and his dragon, and the complexity is such that two heads are better than one during the recording process.

 

DEBS: How do you prepare for reading a book? Do you have any special tricks for getting into the characters? And how do you remember the characters in a series from book to book?

GERARD: Prepping a book is a very pleasurable experience for me. Ideally, I like to sit in a chair on the beach, under an umbrella (with some liquid refreshment to hand!) and immerse myself in the exploration of a new project.

Of course, one has to read the entire book before beginning to record! People are often surprised by this, but the narrator needs to be as familiar as possible with the overall story, as well as the journey through it of each individual character.

I make note of everything the author reveals about each character’s background and relationships in the narrative, as well as what others say about them and what they say about themselves. I then try to create a voice that would truly reflect each character as I perceive them.

When recording a book in a series, I refer to my archived manuscripts and I can cross refer from the text to my archived audio files to access previous character voices, in order to maintain consistency.

 

DEBS: That sounds like a lot to keep up with. Can you walk us through your actual recording process?

GERARD: I’d be happy to answer specific questions about that. 

 

DEBS: I will bug you in the comments for some of those process things. Meanwhile, do you have a favorite accent? What about favorite genre?

GERARD: I love murder mysteries and have been fortunate enough to record many of them over the years, including Deborah’s Kincaid and James mysteries.

I very much enjoy having a stab at various accents, particularly the broad spectrum of accents still prevalent in the UK and Ireland. My background is Irish so, although my everyday accent is a sort of bland English, I’m lucky enough to have an Irish accent to drop into without it sounding fake.

I was once recording a book in a Manhattan studio and the producer pinpointed my Irish accent to the very town that my family came from. (He had just returned from there a few days previously.) I wasn’t using the accent for the book I was recording, I just happened to curse in that accent because I kept repeating the same mistake. He pinpointed the accent from those two single-syllable words of Anglo Saxon!  I was absolutely gobsmacked!

 

DEBS: That is amazing! 

I know some of your authors like to give you really difficult to pronounce passages just for fun. What’s the hardest thing you’ve ever had to read? (I gave Gerard a lot of Scottish accents in NOW MAY YOU WEEP  and it’s still one of my favorites to listen to. And I love his Irish accent reading Fergus O'Reilly in A BITTER FEAST.)  

GERARD: Don’t you start getting any ideas, madam!

In a recent book a mischievous Irish author, who shall remain nameless (Adrian McKinty), gave me chunks of Greek, Latin and Icelandic to articulate! I can navigate Latin but the Greek and Icelandic were very tricky. He, of course, was absolutely useless with all three languages (he and I are on very friendly terms, so I can say that (and worse!) about him) so I had to be very resourceful; contacting a Greek Orthodox priest, as well as the Greek and Icelandic consulates in DC. I eventually got the Icelandic through a chance referral to an Icelandic person in New Zealand, resulting in a midnight Zoom meeting, with me recording her speaking the Icelandic phrases and repeating them back to her until she was satisfied with my accuracy. I finally recorded and sent those pronunciation clips to the audio editor three weeks after I had submitted the rest of the finished audio for the book. Such fun! Over the years, in the process of pronunciation research, I’ve had some incredible luck and spoken to many wonderful and helpful people.

DEBS: Can you tell us what you’re working on now?

GERARD: I’ve just finished recording “Clown Town”, book nine of British author Mick Herron’s wonderful “Slow Horses” series (on which the Apple TV series is based). I’m recording some final corrections (I don’t always get it right first time!) on a delightful book called “The Last Hummingbird West of Chile”, a book my recording engineer son, Adin, and I have produced for Canadian author Nicholas Ruddock and I’m about to begin character research for a new and exciting children’s book, “The Society of Incredible Stories”, by British author, Mike Oakley. After that, I’m contributing to an audiobook of short stories by Alexander McCall Smith and Charles Todd. All while dealing with our newly acquired, rambunctious labradoodle puppy!

 

DEBS: That is Josie. Isn't she adorable??? I don't know how you get anything done, Gerard. Thanks so much for taking the time to answer my questions, and I hope you'll hang out and chat with our readers a bit this morning!

You can check out Gerard's Audible catalogue here. It runs to nearly a dozen pages and that's not including books read as Michael Deehy! There are terrific choices including crime fiction, fantasy, history, children's books, and classics. (I've added his narration of James Joyce's Dubliners to my list.) Among my favorites are his narration of Adrian McKinty's Sean Duffy novels, and of course Mick Herron's Slow Horses books. I can't wait to listen to Clown Town!

(I'm thinking I should put in something challenging for Gerard in the book-in-progress. Hmm. Any suggestions?)

P.S. If you're interested in a fictional portrayal of an audiobook narrator, I have a couple of suggestions. THANK YOU FOR LISTENING by Julia Whelan, narrated by Julia Whelan, is one of my favorite audiobooks AND one of my favorite novels. Whelan is probably my favorite female narrator. She, along with Kristen DiMercurio, narrates ATMOSPHERE: A LOVE STORY, the new novel from Taylor Jenkins Reid, and it will knock your socks off.

Also fun is HIDEAWAY by Nora Roberts, narrated by January LaVoy, another top-notch voice talent.