The 'Turons of Tellsburg' - Jonathan Davis' Fiery Trial

IBRAM wrote:

aurabass wrote:
I don't understand it, Mr. Weber. Is it Mcmillan Audio that sticks you with a narrator like Collins or Davis? Is it ARROGANCE or IGNORANCE that gives us performances like these?

I saw this in another thread (change in narrators) and thought it might answer some questions. From the below i guess they didn't discuss pronunciations.

runsforcelery wrote:While I'm thinking about it, at my request, Oliver Wyman will not be narrating any more of my titles from Macmillan Audio. The new narrator for TFT will be Jonathan Davis. I've told Macmillan that I'll be happy to discuss pronunciations and stuff with Mr. Davis if he decides that would be a good thing for him to do.

Heck, Terran isn't a Weber-word. It is English.

http://bfy.tw/LjLm

Many very negative reviews of Davis's narration have been posted on the AUDIBLE Amazon site for Firey Trials. A few of them mention seeing something where Weber was miffed at Wyman for changing or adding a sentence in HFQ or Sign of Triumph.
"**UPDATE: I will be returning this book. Narrator has ruined this book. Also read on Weber forums that Oliver Wyman will not be narrating any more of Webers books because of a added line in the 9th book. Weber got mad and picked this new guy." A quote from one review
90% of the reviews on Amazon Audible are negative on the narration: Quotes
"This reader KILLS, MURDERS, DESTROYS this story."
"This narrator killed the story dead "
"you might wonder why the narrator didn't bother to listen to at least book 9. If he had he might not have changed every single character's personality, speech mannerisms, pausing, voice stresses and any other way possible I can think of"
"i am feeling betrayed yet again by below average narration. Oliver Wyman was nothing short of brilliant then we get the Johnathan Davis hot mess.."
"voice actor sucked, where is Mr. Oliver Wyman?"
"Can someone explain to Jonathan Davis how to pronounce Terran. After hearing his pronunciation the 1st time i couldn't work out what Teran federation he was talking about"
"Good story but disappointed in the narration."
The quotes go on and on like that.

It amazes me that Weber does not INSIST on editing pronunciations of key character names and Safehold places
It astounds me that McMillan does not insist on the same thing
and
It depresses me that a professional narrator like Davis would not wish to establish continuity with previous readers - at minimum with name/place pronunciation but also with character voicing.

THIS A SERIES - in effect one continuous work where continuity should be a priority.

aurabass wrote:Many very negative reviews of Davis's narration have been posted on the AUDIBLE Amazon site for Firey Trials. A few of them mention seeing something where Weber was miffed at Wyman for changing or adding a sentence in HFQ or Sign of Triumph.
"**UPDATE: I will be returning this book. Narrator has ruined this book. Also read on Weber forums that Oliver Wyman will not be narrating any more of Webers books because of a added line in the 9th book. Weber got mad and picked this new guy." A quote from one review
90% of the reviews on Amazon Audible are negative on the narration: Quotes
"This reader KILLS, MURDERS, DESTROYS this story."
"This narrator killed the story dead "
"you might wonder why the narrator didn't bother to listen to at least book 9. If he had he might not have changed every single character's personality, speech mannerisms, pausing, voice stresses and any other way possible I can think of"
"i am feeling betrayed yet again by below average narration. Oliver Wyman was nothing short of brilliant then we get the Johnathan Davis hot mess.."
"voice actor sucked, where is Mr. Oliver Wyman?"
"Can someone explain to Jonathan Davis how to pronounce Terran. After hearing his pronunciation the 1st time i couldn't work out what Teran federation he was talking about"
"Good story but disappointed in the narration."
The quotes go on and on like that.

It amazes me that Weber does not INSIST on editing pronunciations of key character names and Safehold places
It astounds me that McMillan does not insist on the same thing
and
It depresses me that a professional narrator like Davis would not wish to establish continuity with previous readers - at minimum with name/place pronunciation but also with character voicing.

THIS A SERIES - in effect one continuous work where continuity should be a priority.

It amazes me that McMillan doesn't do a find and replace on all the Safeholdian spellings replacing them with the actual english or phonetic pronunciations before the narrator is provided with the opportunity to mangle them. It's not like there aren't character lists to provide guidance or technology available to perform the action.

Sure, lots of vocal people have left "bad" reviews about Davis but his performance still has 26 5s and 9 4s. Some are just leaving ratings.

Even adding up the 3 and under scores: 16-7-8

35 vs 31, so its either people really like him vs don't really like.

The only time I really leave any reviews is if something was really good or if I feel a book is preaching rather then entertaining.

There's a reason why indies and usually baen are the "go to" people for my book entertainment.

Why give the narrators a hard time over narration. Its like comparing color to colour.

Either way, Ill keep on buying the audiobooks, even if the narration changes every time.

Finnawolf - sorry if it seems I'm picking on you. I have no argument with DAVIS as a narrator - in fact, his reading of SNOW CRASH is still a favorite among my Audible collection. And certainly, I would continue to purchase every book in this series even if it were read by Porky Pig or Sylvester.

That's not the point here.

I would love to know what Wyman added to Sign of Triumph that got Weber so upset. I wonder how he knew something was added?
It seems to me Wyman is a huge fan of Safehold. He has added his considerable talent to 5 of the 10 books so far and seems to revered by a vast majority of Safehold Audible Fans. I doubt Wyman would add anything detrimental and imagine anything he did was intended to clarify or improve something he found unclear. He certainly would not have tried to mess up the text.

So if Weber found a few words in Wymans narration how has he missed the butchered pronunciations by Collins and Davis? Why would he be more upset by a few words I imagine no one but Weber would notice, than horrible pronunciations that any listener can hear?
Really wish Weber would comment on why that is.

origianl Audible version wrote:
“If you can think of another reason for those pissant little boats to run around in the middle of a Shan-wei-damned artillery duel, I’m all ears,” Mahntayl replied.

He and Kortez looked at each other for a moment. Then they kissed.*

“No, Sir, I can’t. The question is whether or not they can really do it, and I wouldn't think ---"

Aurabass- The bold and underlined was added. 3 words.

If he hadn't changed narrators i would have never known. I think he just threw it in at the end of recording and planed to edit it out. But who knows.

aurabass wrote:...I wonder how he knew something was added?...

Forumites asked about those three words.

Hello everyone,
This is Jonathan Davis, the narrator of Through Fiery Trials.
As in many industries, it is always difficult to replace someone, in this case an admired narrator of a very popular series. I have been on both ends of the spectrum before. Though this may be the final time I accept the offer, no matter how popular the series may be! Oliver Wyman is a friend of mine, and I am a big fan of his work; we started out in this medium around the same time and are both veterans of our industry. I hope I can clarify the process of recording an audiobook, and if any of you have any questions, I will do my best to answer them.

First, regarding the pronunciation of names and places in the Safehold universe, it is regrettable that there were mispronunciations. Before we began production, I inquired about being true to Mr Weber's work, and to Ollie's narration, and I was provided with an extensive vocabulary/pronunciation list.
Unfortunatedly, the compilation was incorrect, including the word Terran, which I questioned numerous times during the recording sessions. In the end, I followed my director's advice, and the word list provided. PIKA, Tellesburg, Nimue: I pronounced them as phonetically written on the word list. On my behalf, I apologize for the errors. It was not "arrogance" or "ignorance". If I am chose to continue as narrator of this series, I am certain it will be corrected, hopefully with direct input from Mr. Weber.

As far as listening to previous audiobooks, I was provided with a few character samples of Ollie's renditions of major characters, and I was given leeway to proceed with my own choices,my own interpretations. No, forgive me, but I did not listen to a 34 hour audiobook to perfect every single character impression. My focus is always on the story first,and telling the story, not mimicry of a previous narrator.

I hope this is helpful, and as I stated before, I will answer questions, if anyone has any.

Best wishes,
Jonathan

I am also in agreement with Nolte’s assessment of the process. And Fiannawolf, thank you for your kind words and your support!

BTW, though Ollie and I have home studios, we frequently record at the publishing houses and other professional studios for our recording sessions. We are narrators; we are not in charge of editing, mastering, or quality control. Those expertises are handled by other departments.