While Mack takes a summer break, we bring you this treat from the archives: the full-members-only version of his 2024 interview with beloved audiobook narrator Robin Miles. This episode features almost an hour of additional content, including our What’s Good segment where Robin unsurprisingly makes some really great book recommendations! To get access to all our members’ content, past and future, become a member at mackhagood.com.

This episode is a masterclass in audiobook narration and acting with an acclaimed actor, casting director, audiobook narrator and audiobook director. Miles has narrated over 500 audiobooks, collecting numerous industry awards and, in 2017, was added to the Audible Narrator Hall of Fame. She’s the most recognizable voice in literary Afrofuturism, having interpreted books by Octavia E. Butler, Nalo Hopkinson, N.K. Jemisin, and Nnedi Okorafor. 

Miles holds a BA and an MFA from Yale. She has taught young actors and narrators at conservatories across the country and she has an amazing talent for doing accents—something we really dig deep into on this podcast. In this conversation we talk about technique, the audiobook industry, and the politics of vocal representation. How do we avoid the misrepresentation of marginalized people on the one hand and vocal typecasting on the other?

Cited Media:

Books:

Plays:

0:00 Intro & preamble
4:51 Guest intro: Robin Miles
11:03 Teaching acting
17:00 Script marking technique
20:48 Character switching & IPA
24:08 The IPA explained
25:19 Vocal colors & authorship
27:53 Physical embodiment of text
35:54 Nalo Hopkinson deep dive
40:56 Roles in audiobook production
51:44 Broken Earth & sci-fi voicing
1:12:09 Politics of representation
1:16:33 Recording gear & software
1:19:44 AI vs. human narration
1:30:08 Writing & narrator matching
1:45:16 What's Good

Click here to read the full transcript

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