Sometimes I’m asked how many voices I do during a project.
When you listen to an audiobook with a full cast of characters, it’s easy to imagine the narrator sitting in a booth surrounded by index cards labeled Gruff Detective, World-Weary Aunt, and Guy Who Definitely Knows More Than He’s Saying. In reality, it’s just me. One microphone. One chair. One person quietly talking to people who are not there.
And somehow… it works.
Here’s the thing: I’m auditorily centered. Which is a fancy way of saying I notice how people sound before I notice what they’re wearing. Or what they’re doing. Or sometimes what they’re actually saying. I collect voices the way some people collect mugs or refrigerator magnets. A cadence here. A sigh there. The way someone might lift the last word of a sentence when they’re pretending not to care (but they really do).
Those voices don’t live in a filing cabinet. They live in my head. Rent-free.
When I’m narrating a book, I’m not inventing characters so much as recognizing them. The sharp-tongued sister sounds like someone I overheard in line at the grocery store. The soft-spoken villain reminds me of a man who once explained something unsettling while using impeccable manners. The weary protagonist? I’ve met her. Probably while waiting for a delayed flight.
None of this requires accents—though I do enjoy using them (after a good bit of intense study). What listeners really need is clarity: who’s speaking, what they want, and why this moment matters. Small shifts in pitch, pace, and placement do far more than big, showy voices. The goal isn’t for you to think, wow, listen to that narrator. The goal is for you to forget I’m here at all.
Until, of course, you realize halfway through a scene that you’re following a three-way conversation without effort and think, wait… that’s still the same person, isn’t it?
It is. I promise.
Being a “cast of one” means listening deeply—to the world and to the author’s tone. It means trusting that storytelling doesn’t need fireworks to be compelling. Sometimes all it takes is a voice that knows when to lean in, when to pull back, and when to let a pause do the talking.
One narrator. Many characters.
All very real.
Even if they don’t technically exist.
One voice, many stories — until next time.
Grateful Heart Voiceovers, owned and operated by Laura Lambert, offers voice narration services—from audiobooks and commercials to audio dubbing—all recorded and fully produced in her professional home studio. Her passion is using the warmth of the human voice to create magic for your project, ensuring every finished product exceeds your expectations. Book time to chat today!