Issue

Sound effects and onomatopoeia

Guidelines

Narrating an audiobook is not the same as doing a dramatization. Avoid the temptation to use sound effects.

The first minutes of the listening experience sets the tone of the audiobook. If there are no sound effects early, the sound of a doorbell ringing later on will jar your listener. The listener will stop listening and instead start asking "Why the doorbell, but not the screeching tires?"

Onomatopoeia ("tick tock", "woosh", "boom!", "wham!")

If it is spoken by a character, then give it an interpretation (how you think that character would say it). If it is outside of spoken speech, then it is descriptive, blend it into the context of the paragraph. Remember to keep your volume within the dynamic recording range of the microphone.