Meet Zara Ramm, narrator of Jodi Taylor's books on Audible
Hello all you lovely Jodi Taylor fans out there.. My name is Zara Ramm and I am the reader of all those wonderful tales from St. Mary’s.
Jodi has asked me to say a little about how I bring her brilliant words to your eyes and ears.
So where to start?
Well…..I have been an actor for twenty seven years doing mainly theatre and television. In the last ten years I have also been recording audio books as well which I sort of fell into and found I really enjoy. Which is lucky as I do quite a lot of them.
It’s a funny old job as you sit and prep the book (i.e make tons of notes and decisions about what voices and accents you are going to give all the different characters) and then spend two or three days sitting in a tiny studio with a producer in the next room making sure you don’t talk total rubbish and letting you out for a cup of tea every few hours.
You could of course risk not reading it before you record it and just wing it in the studio. Not a great idea though as you might get to the end of the recording and find out that all the characters were French!
I love a dialect so am very happy to give characters all manner of them but sometimes a change of pitch or pace is all that is needed to distinguish one character from another.
Unless specifically requested by the author I will always narrate in my own accent and then add different voices for lesser parts as I get to them, as sustaining a voice that isn’t your natural voice for a whole book is pretty demanding. I did do that with a Geordie accent once and also Glaswegian but it was quite hard work!
Reading and recording The Chronicles of St. Mary’s is always a treat...here’s to many more! Thanks Jodie for giving me the opportunity to record them and thank you readers and lovers of audio books for continuing to read and listen to them.
CLICK HERE to discover the full range of books on Audible
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Readers Q&A's
I love your narration Zara. I searched Audible for other books you narrate and have added them to my library. Love your comment – “and find out all the characters were French”. Davina Porter once commented that she did a whole book using a young voice for a character only to find out at the end that the character spoke in a weak old voice! Such is the life of a recorded books narrator!
Zara you ARE St Mary’s. You are definitely Max and all the others especially Markham! I don’t know how you do it, it’s so seamless and yet I have to keep reminding myself this is one voice doing all these characters. Please please always do Jodi’s St. Mary’s books it just wouldn’t be the same without you.
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