How did you get into narrating books?
Dom: For us, when it happened, it seemed like it was meant to be. My flat in West Hampstead was a bit chilly that new year--this was just before Covid really hit, and I was in the States to warm up. My family keeps a small place in The Hamptons. Teena and I had met at a club and struck up a friendship.
Teena is an actress, working mostly in front of the camera. My background is in film and writing; behind the camera, if you will. But, while I was here, London locked down with Covid so I wasn’t going back home anytime soon. I thought about trying to join some family in California where I was born, but it was best to stay where I was and it also allowed Teena and I to spend a lot of time together.
Teena was listening to an audiobook one night, while she was in the tub, and we kind of looked at each other and--being creatives--said; I bet that would be fun to try. If we can’t go out, let’s have fantasy adventures together with these romance audiobooks.
Teena: I have a lot of actor friends who had done audiobooks, so after a little research, Dom and I started auditioning on ACX doing matched duets. We have chemistry and unlike other duet teams, sound like we’re in the same room, speaking with each other. It’s fun to create new realities and have the opportunity to become these other characters and bring fantastic stories to life.
Dom: We learned the technology as we went along and now we have a top quality professional sound. My experience as a video editor has made it an easy transition to record, edit, and produce audiobooks. In many ways, it’s like post-production on a movie. Teena was a great actress already, but also had experience with marketing bands.
Teena: I was a rock singer and at points had my own bands. That experience is so applicable to marketing yourself as a narrator.
Dom: Together, we just had fun and figured out a way to make the audiobook business make sense and work for us. Because Teena and I have been doing so well at this and the virus is still out there, I don’t see any reason to go back to London and leave this partnership. Teena--she’s my Angel.
Teena: ...and he’s my Dom.
Dom: We feel like the universe brought us together for a reason. Her voice; she’s so damn sexy! And with my big sound, our voices are perfect together.
What genres of books do you narrate? And why is this your preference?
Teena: We specifically wanted to do Romance duets.
Dom: So beautiful, her voice. And that led to more Erotica reads.
Teena: We both have very sensual vocal instruments which are suited to Romance and that genre often uses alternating POV in first person, which is best suited to duet narration. Dom has found he really enjoys acting and has a lot of natural ability and he’s put in a lot of work to become a really amazing narrator. Together, we get to bring to life these wonderful love stories, and become these other very different, very interesting, and very sensual characters. It’s an incredible acting challenge.
Dom: I like to think of it as getting to go off and have these sensual experiences and voice-sex affairs with other lovers without getting into trouble!
Teena: You’re not getting in trouble because they’re all still me. But I’ve never said you couldn’t narrate with anyone else.
Dom: Teena and I have a special chemistry between us that comes across in our audiobooks and would be hard to duplicate. Being partners and a team and, you know… that energy is reflected in our work. Our fans often mention our chemistry!
How many books have you narrated?
Teena: We've recently completed:
Lovers in the Rain by Eloise Vaughn. We’re working on a second title for her
The Alaska Shifters Complete Series (6 books), by Ashlee Sinn
Baby by Sapphire Knight -- a second title with her
Edge of Reason by Nikki Mays
Forsaken Control: Oath Keepers MC by Sapphire Knight
Teena: Forsaken Control, which is set in the MC (motorcycle club) universe, was our first book together. We both found we really, really enjoyed getting into these fascinating characters Sapphire Knight had written and just knew we wanted to keep doing this. It’s basically a MMF threesome love story that totally challenged us and captured our imaginations. Also, Dom calls me Angel because that’s what the hero called the heroine in that book. It’s always a special reminder of our first book together.
Dom: I was so into it, into them--these three main characters; Ares, 2-Piece, and Avery. Teena was too! But then, I’m in the middle of editing this love scene and I just automatically started adding in sound effects. I thought, I’ll just add some background ambience. But then that led to just a few motorcycle sounds. And inevitably, as this is a romance book, scenes start to get steamy. Ok, well, I’ll just add some heavy breathing, and maybe some ‘other’ sounds, to make things more voyeuristic for the listener--make them squirm, like they’re in the room with them. It became so cinematic, in a sense. It was like I was editing sound for a movie love scene. And now offering these soundscapes is a major part of our brand.
Are you able to read the books in advance to get their personalities? And how long do you have to prepare?
Teena: Yes. I read the book in advance. There's very little time to prepare and a large amount of material to cover and preparation to do. So we have to read and outline the work and make notes all at the same time. But it's important for me to get the personality of the women I narrate and find their voice before I start. Sometimes I wait a little bit to begin recording until I can hear their voices clearly in my head. Then there are others that I hear right away. The main character in Nikki Mays’ ‘Edge of Reason’ was so clear to me from the first chapter I read. It’s a great story. The heroine, Kealy, has escaped an abusive relationship and is able to gain herself and her confidence again through the unwavering love and patience of a tough biker named Edge. Such a great story.
Dom: Of course, you have to read the book in advance, so you know the story and what the character arcs are. But for me, I’m also looking at how sound can help tell the story, help build on the author's intent for emotions in the characters and the scenes. As for how long do we prepare… There’s a lot of preparation, yes, and a lot of post-production.
To answer your question: just on the reads alone, we typically spend about 4 hours per finished hour; that’s the pre-read, the actual recording, and then basic voice editing. Then on top of that we add in a few more hours for the multitrack mix for some “key” scenes.
Teena: By key scenes he means the sex scenes.
Dom: Well, they’re called Romance and Erotica for a reason.
Do you do anything special to get into character when you are narrating?
Teena: Not really. I do a few vocal warm ups. But it's hard to 'get into character' in this particular medium because, on any day, I could voice up to 6 or 7 different people.
Dom: Does Scotch count? For me, as I’m new to acting, compared to Teena--I mean, she’s trying to teach me--I try to forget everything and just channel my characters. I heard it said, and I believe it’s true--at least for me, that I don’t try and put on a costume to become a character, I reach inside myself to find that character already inside me. It’s scary, sometimes, to think that some of these characters’ traits are inside me. But I think we all have so many things we are--and are capable of being. Most things we keep under control (and rightly so). But they are still ‘in there’. As an actor, I get to explore some of these things about myself and be so much more than just me. Why be myself, when I can be so many other people!
Teena: One of my favorite phrases I learned from one of my acting teachers is “who do I get to be today”? That’s the best part of being an actor and especially doing audiobooks. You get to play every single role in the book!
Do you narrate in different dialects? If so, what do you find to be your best research tool for accents?
Teena: Oh yeah! Many. Youtube is great. Lots of accent training videos are there. Sometimes reality shows can be helpful to me. Usually the people on them have exaggerated local accents so you can hear the distinctive traits of an accent very clearly. But we never put accents on very thickly. The narration should always be clear enough to communicate the story. And sometimes you have to worry about more than one accent at once. There was one day this past summer where I had to do seven different accents in a single day.
Tell me something about yourself outside of narrating. Jobs, accomplishments, family, quirky trait...what led to you being you?
Teena: I'm also a rock vocalist and I love cherry dresses. And I think Dom’s favorite hobby right now is me.
Who have you partnered with in narrating?
Teena: Just my Dom.
Dom: Teena and I sound so rich and sexy together, I can’t imagine leaving the house in the morning and saying to her; bye Honey, I’m off to go have voice sex with someone else. Have a great day. We want to build a following based on our special sound together, for our style of mixing in voyeuristic cinematic sounds, and for making the listener feel like they are in the room with the characters--or, even better, to feel like it’s their POV, that the heavy breathing they’re hearing… is there lover!
You don’t have to have some other music on while you’re listening to one of our audiobooks; just lay back, chill, close your eyes, and enjoy having great audiobook.
Teena: ...Having great audiobook? Did you just make that up?
Dom: If I did, then I want full credit and attribution. Yeah, ‘have great audiobook’. I mean, I hear people say, “my book boyfriend”, right? Well, what do you want to do with your book boyfriend? Right! Our books help you connect to that and slip into the fantasy.
When you narrate a book, do you narrate with your book partner or do they record separately?
Dom: Hmm, “Book partner”, how honest do we want to be here?
Teena: We record some things separately and some things together. We’ll leave it to the listener to figure out which.
Dom: Either way, we record onto separate tracks, as part of the multitrack mix. Sometimes we take turns in the booth and track different sections. I mean, you can’t really record for hours on end. Your vocal cords need to rest, so we spell each other or get other things done. We have a full studio at home and because we live together, it makes our time very efficient.
Can you take us through your typical day at work? I would guess that you are in a sound studio. How does that work?
Dom: I’m an early riser, so I am up and at it first thing. Black tea and reading ahead while I format a Google Doc with the day’s manuscript. I set up the manuscript in a certain way so I can think less and perform more while reading greatly reducing flubs and the need to edit. Reducing editing is the single greatest time saver, for a narrator.
In the booth we read the formatted script off of an iPad. We each work to get about 90 minutes of ‘finished’ time done per day. That’s about ~13,000 words (@ 9,000 words PFH). That includes the ‘pre-read’, the ‘read/recording’, and the ‘editing’. Roughly this will translate to about 4 hours per each 1 hour of finished audio. But that’s without the sound effects.
My booth is really great, really quiet, but big enough that we can both fit in it. I have a Neumann U-87 mic and a Sennheiser 416 mic--depending on the sound needed, an Avalon M5 Preamp, Apollo Digital Interface, and then edit and post-process in Adobe Audition.
Then I build a multitrack session with the finished audio and make some magic. I call it magic, anyway, because of how much it can transform the listening experience. I always spend a little extra time on the key scenes.
How long does it typically take to narrate a novel?
Teena: It depends on the length of the novel. The six books we did, The Alaska Shifters: Complete Series by Ashlee Sinn, took about 6 weeks. It’s about 20 hours of listening, between all six books.
Dom: Fantastic series. Part of the Shifters universe. Really fun.
What advice would you give to an aspiring narrator?
Teena: Learn the tech part first. For most voice actors that’s the most challenging part and it won’t matter if you can narrate if you can’t record it properly.
How do you deal with and process negative reviews?
Teena: I don't think we've ever had any. But as an actor, dealing with rejection is just part of the journey. There are always more auditions than bookings.
Dom: I’ve been humbled by the reviews, they’re more than just positive--they’re glowing, many of them. To be a part of great stories and great characters from great authors, and to be able to put ourselves out there--creatively--and to have listeners respond so positively… Yeah.
What do you need to keep you focused?
Teena: A good script.
Dom: Yes, a good story; good characters, good writing. We’ve been lucky to have worked with some really great authors: Ashlee Sinn, Nikki Mays, Sapphire Knight, Eloise Vaughn. We’re also currently working on a fun Mafia universe Romance.
Teena: Dom is doing an Italian accent for the main character and my Dom will actually get to play a dom. I’m so looking forward to that.
Dom: Working with accents, definitely, helps keep you focused.
What is the most difficult part of narrating?
Teena: Editing. There's so much editing!
Dom: Editing. When you’re big, all the narrator has to do is; their preparation and the actual recording. Someone else--a real editor, does all the editing. Editing easily takes up two-thirds of our time--maybe more! We could record three times as much, if we didn’t do any of the editing.
But editing can also be really fun--it’s part of what sets Teena and I apart from the other duets out there. The soundscapes and sound effects that emrese you, as the listener, and bring you into the story--like it’s happening all around you.
Teena: When we did Lovers in the Rain, by Eloise Vaughn--such a great story, she’s such a great writer and author--the editing and building the soundscape for that audiobook was a labor of love for her characters to interact in. And you really experience it when you listen to it.
Dom: We don’t just narrate, we create worlds--audio worlds. Soundscapes for the story and the listener and the characters to connect in, deepening the fantasy. And with Lovers in the Rain, we also started playing with ASMR. It’s new and, I think, can be a big part of some audiobooks--especially for us and what we like to do.
Teena: If you’re not familiar with ASMR: it’s Autonomous Sensory Meridian Response. Anyway, it’s meditative, like the sound of waves at the beach, or leaves rustling, sounds that can literally give you feelings of joy or be relaxing.
Dom: Yeah, or make you bloody horny! Sounds can do that! Sounds of breathing, of cloth moving (like sheets), or of touching or rubbing skin!
If you could spend a day with a popular author, whom would you choose? And why?
Teena: You didn't say living or dead, so I would choose Jane Austen.
Dom: A story I can’t seem to forget about, like other books I’ve read, is ‘The French Lieutenant's Woman’ by John Fowels. The blending of the two stories and how the two story characters--and then the two actors that play them--interact keeps challenging me. Sorry, that’s not a contemporary author.
As for romance; anything written in Playboy before 1980 is fun; the writing styles of the 60’s and 70’s, the coded words to avoid the censors (so they wouldn’t lose advertisers) but still be erotic--it was an art form. Plus it was actually written for men. I collect old Playboys, when I can find them on Ebay.
As for contemporary authors; interestingly, I feel most anyone who is working and making a living as an author would be interesting to talk to; they would all have such varied and diverse stories about how they each figured out--in their own way--how to climb over the same damn wall. Their novels are great and all, but the mind that contained the imagination to write that story is--to me--maybe even more fascinating.
Is
there an author that you would love to narrate for?
Teena: All of them! lol
Dom: This goes back to your last question, in a way. I attended a romance book signing event recently, to get in front of and meet romance authors--you know, to introduce myself and Teena as duet voice actors they should consider for their next Romance audiobook. To my great surprise, of the 50 or so authors in the room, literally only 3 had any experience doing an audiobook, despite all of them having written multiple books. Their tables were full of all these great books, these great stories--so much time invested. They had done Print, they had done Kindle, but not as an audiobook!
The ballroom where the event was taking place was full of fans wanting books signed, wanting to meet their favorite authors! Why not have audiobooks?
So, not having a shy bone to my body, I started asking them why. And, (laughs) not too surprising, authors are very willing to talk. Anyway… To an author, I shit you not, they all said they just didn’t know that much about it--how to do it. They had heard this and that, all mostly incorrect!
So, yes, we would love to produce romance audiobooks for all of them; please, just reach out and I’ll explain everything. It’s not hard, it’s not expensive. It’s a recurring revenue stream you’re missing out on! All they need to do is email me at info@dom4teena.com. We’re always so happy to help answer questions about the process.
What is your kryptonite as a narrator? What totally puts you off your game?
Teena: Sinus congestion.
Dom: For me, it’s listening to other ‘popular’ male narrators from other genres; like thriller or mystery. No names, of course--but each book they do sounds just like their others. If you didn’t know what character they were reading, it could be from any other audiobook they’re ever done. These guys have to be really afraid of AI.
What Teena and I enjoy is bringing real acting to the characters. Bringing vocalizations and expressions to the words, to make the listening experience more like listening to a movie, not just... being read to.
Teena: Like ‘The Alaska Shifters’ books. You sounded like a Wolf--you actually had a kind of growl in your voice--it was so awesome. You were what: a Bear, a Tiger, a Cougar, a Coyote, a Wolf! Dom has a deep, strong baritone voice that really lends itself to Alpha-male characters.
Dom: Well, and Teena’s voice is the perfect counterbalance voice; youthful, sweet and sexy. Our voices ‘spoon’ well together!
Is there such a thing as a narrator’s blooper reel?
Teena: Ha! No, but there should be. I'll start making one immediately. It will probably have lots of body noises. Lol
Dom: I thought I did something wrong once, but I was mistaken.
Teena: I love my dom’s sense of humor the most.
Do you have a hard time keeping a straight face when you read? If so, what sets you off?
Teena: Sometimes I laugh at my own bloopers but I usually can control it.
Dom: For me, it’s not being able to keep a straight face, but sometimes I can get too into a steamy scene and, like, get too breathy and moany, that kind of thing. If things get too out of control, I just grab Teena and we take a long break.
When we were working on ‘Edge of Reason’, an MC (Motorcycle Club) audiobook we did for Nikki Mays, we had to take a lot of breaks. She’s such a good writer; her characters are so great, and these Alpha-male bikers are just incredible.
Teena: Nikki’s heroine, Kealy, is so well written. I really enjoyed giving her a voice and being a part of her character.
How do you keep your game face (voice lol)?
Teena: Narrate every day. The vocal cords are muscles and need constant exercise.
Dom: Narrate, or read out loud, every day. Yep. Work your vocal cords. But don’t start your day by doing auditions; you need to sound your best for an audition. Learn to play your instrument, like you learn to play a piano. The more you play, the better you will sound… even though you're playing on the same instrument!
And on that topic; aside from having a good work ethic and being disciplined with your time...
Teena: I love it when he says discipline.
Dom: You need to understand and really know your instrument too; your vocal cords. Every person is different. If you study your sound, you might start to hear that you sound different depending on the time of day. For me, mornings are better for softer voices, like a woman’s voice (like back when I did solo reads), afternoon is better for long consistent pages of prose (no dialogue), evening or night is best for deeper, huskier characters. But, again, everyone’s instrument--your voice--is different. Teena’s got such versatility as an actor, she can switch from voice to voice effortlessly any time of day.
I hope that you enjoyed this interview as much as I have!
This one is special to me because Teena and Dom are bringing someone else's work to life through their voices.
It may sound weird (well, not to those who know me LOL), but I can actually 'hear' the answers when preparing my interviews to post. This truly sounds like I was having a conversation with Teena and Dom. Their personalities come through. And Dom's deep sense of humor! He is such a guy LOL!
Connect w/ Teena and Dom:
Email:
info@dom4teena.com
Website:
www.dom4teena.com
Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/Dom4Teena/
Check out my reviews for the following books narrated by Teena & Dom!
BABY written by Sapphire Knight
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