Re: New voice alex (was VO Leopard features)

[Travis Siegel]

Even if they do have other plans for Alex, and I'm sure they do, I  
can tell you nothing irritates me more when listening to a book than  
to hear the narrator breathing.  This includes the quick breaths  
between sentences.  The really good ones don't do this, and in my  
opinion, it makes the listening experience worlds better.  I actually  
had to can one book because the reader not only kept taking breaths,  
but was talking with so much breath, it sounded like they were trying  
to seduce you with every line of dialog, and it wasn't a romance  
book.  While I don't like the breathing, it is possible to ignore it  
to a point, but after a while if it continues, it just becomes too  
irritating for me.  I much prefer the readers who work breathing into  
the pauses between sentences and paragraphs such that I can't hear  
them, or perhaps the microphone doesn't pick them up.  This for me is  
by far more preferrable.
But again, I understand why they're including that, to make it sound  
more natural, but as I said, in my opinion, it's distracting and  
wholely unnecessary.
So, there's my two cents worth, for what it's worth to anyone who cares.
Just figured I'd toss out my take on the matter, since I've been  
listening to recorded books for more than 30 years.  Again, not that  
that means anything, only my personal view.