Jim Patton
Voice actor, Audiobook Narrator
jim@jimbpatton.com
Jim Patton is a professional voice actor and audiobook narrator recording from his home studio in Las Vegas. He has extensive experience in audio drama, loves voicing a variety of characters, and takes pride in the oral tradition of narrator as story teller versus narrator as copy reader.
His home studio audio quality has been approved by Penguin Random House audio engineers as a pre-requisite for PRH-directed recording sessions.

Audiobook Samples
The narrator relates a scene in Heaven where judgment is pronounced on a soul from O. Henry’s “The Guilty Party”
This is a short 3rd person character narrator followed by F/M/F dialog, then 3rd person non-character comment on the story. It is the ending of “The Last Leaf” with a dominant female voice at mid-clip explaining her friend’s survival from an illness.
Farcical 1915-ish romantic comedy, M/F protagonists + British M + NY M. See the Narrator Notes for Love Insurance
Two Irish soldiers in the Confederacy talking, one of whom has infiltrated Yankee lines, gotten drunk, and is pretending to be a Yankee soldier
M/M dialog and third person narration. Two old men reflect on their lives as one is dying
Shows a variety of southern characters in a Civil War fictional memoir.
A third person nonfiction narrative is expressed like fiction with character voices. This nonfiction story telling style is possible because the subject is larger than life with copious humor. I call this “Paul Bunyan nonfiction”.
First person narrative of a San Quentin prisoner
This is an example of a first person narrator dialect sustained through the book.
Walking to Hell
Reviews
This is the first time that I listened to Mr. Patton and I must say that I am impressed with his narration. I especially loved the seamless way with which he can switch between the older and the younger protagonists. Also, he has a clear talent for storytelling, infusing the events with emotion at every step. I hope to see more and more audiobooks narrated by Jim Patton released in the future. Victor Dima, Audiobook Blog
lol, Jim Patton does a great job of narrating this book. He will keep you listening from beginning to end with the snooty tone of a soldier that has way too much stuff, to the Sergeant Major you don’t want to mess with. While listening you can picture what’s going on as Jim reads. May Marie Anderson, Goodreads
Audiobook Trailer
Walking to Hell, Story of a Confederate Soldier
I’d be happy to create an audiobook trailer for any indie author I work with.
About - Jim Patton
Story Telling vs Narrating
I love voicing characters. The hard part is narration. But everyone is a character, including the narrator! Characters tell stories. They don’t read books. It’s important to me that I “tell” your story, not “read” your book.

I am an audiobook narrator recording from my professional home studio near Las Vegas. I’ve been interested in theater my whole life, but the occupation that fed my family precluded a full time acting effort. As a result, I became an audio drama actor, allowing me to exercise my acting creativity from the confines of my home studio at a time of my choosing. Having spent hours auditioning, acting, editing, and performing in this manner convinced me that audiobook narration is a reasonable and desired goal.
I acted in high school, but I became hooked when I played Hamlet in a college production. I have since acted in community theater when I had the opportunity, but eventually, I found that remote audio acting was the most convenient.
I have a doctoral degree in electrical engineering. I worked as an international power system field engineer, located in the Middle East, South America, and Africa where I spoke French and Spanish. I then became a tenured university EE professor and a university administrator before retiring a few years ago.
My strengths as a voice actor are characterization and story telling. When I say “story telling” I am very conscious of and sensitive to vocalization that sounds like someone reading from a script. I have been told the extended narration I vocalize consistently represents the emotion and texture of someone relating a personal experience – a “story”
Accents
Narrator Accents: I am comfortable speaking in a western US accent or a number of southern US accents and feel confident I could maintain them through an entire book.
Character Accents: I am a relatively quick study at a variety of accents. I have voiced several British accents, along with German, French, and generic Spanish accents quite frequently and could maintain them through a major character role. I can, with study, voice a wide variety of other accents for relatively minor roles.
Coaching
I have completed PJ Ochlan’s six-class Masterclass Series and have had private coaching with him. I will continue to seek out high-level coaching whenever possible.
I am also an alumnus of PJ’s workshops on ‘Character Voice Toolbox’ and ‘How To Be Your Own Dialect Coach’.
I was pleased to attend Jack de Golia’s, ‘Character Voices 101’, offered by the Las Vegas-based Voice Actors Studio.
I have completed Don Baarns’ complete courses on Studio One and Rx and enjoy editing/mastering my own work.
I have completed Acting for Audiobooks, a 15 week acting course delivered by award-winning narrator and director, Joel Froomkin,
I have privately coached with Paul Ruben on mystery/thriller narration.
Let's connect!
Questions?
jim( at ) jimbpatton( dot )com
(612) 208-6396