Jim Patton
Voice actor, Audiobook Narrator
jimbpatton2021@gmail.com
Jim Patton is a professional voice actor and audiobook narrator recording from his home studio in Las Vegas. He has acted in audio drama for over ten years and has narrated audiobooks for a few years. He has coached with veteran narrators, Joel Froomkin (15 weeks+), PJ Ochlan (5 weeks+), Paul Ruben, Joe Arden, and Jack de Golia.
His home studio audio quality has been approved by Penguin Random House audio engineers as a pre-requisite for PRH-directed recording sessions.
He has guided projects as a rights holder through ACX, Findaway/Spotify, and Spoken Realms and can help authors through the publication/distribution process.
Audiobook Samples
Dark fantasy – 3rd Person, M/M – Fantasy hero threatening his evil brother from Christopher Russell’s Divinities Twilight Rebirth. The full 45 minute podcast performance of the Rebirth Prologue is at this Youtube link.
Western drawl – M/F 3rd person – A short selection from TL Ryder’s Vella, “Angel at Large” about Billy Bob, a cowboy dark angel speaking to a young woman with a baby. The 5 minute version of this clip is at this Youtube link.
Horror, M/M/F, 1st person – A jowly, balding, middle-aged serial rapist/killer comes out to his wife, hoping she will assist or at least understand him. He is encouraged by the evil God/narrator.
Horror, M/F/F, 1st person – The haunted house, who is God, forces an inhabitant to self-mutilate with the help of a long-dead friend. The narrator/protagonist is the house itself – narcissistic, sarcastic evil personified, slowly inhabiting its inhabitants til they are dead and then owned completely.
Fiction, M/F, 3rd Person – 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.
Western M/M/F/M/M – 3rd person limited – an action-sequence, chase scene, from the protagonist perspective. Southern, general American, Scandinavian, and Irish accents
Romantic comedy 3rd person, British RP, and NY accents – Farcical 1915-ish romantic comedy, M/F protagonists + British M + NY M. See the Narrator Notes for Love Insurance
Chicago style Tony Soprano M/M/M mafia gangster, with Chicago accents, 3rd person, two separate clips, one grilling a mark, and the other discussing the situation with another gang member. This was an audition clip.
Comedy, Historical fiction – 1st person with Irish, Southern accents – M/M/M Two Irish soldiers in the Confederacy talking, one of whom has infiltrated Yankee lines, gotten drunk, and is pretending to be a Yankee soldier
Poignant M/M dialog and third person narration. Two old men reflect on their lives as one is dying
Variety of southern characters in a Civil War fictional memoir.
Nonfiction, 3rd person omniscient, humorous – 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”.
Nonfiction, First person narrative of a San Quentin prisoner relating the story of an attempted escape. The book was nominated for a SOVA award.
About - Jim Patton
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.
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 and with Joe Arden on romance narration.
I have attended Johnny Heller’s New England Retreat and will attend Joel Froomkin’s Audiobooks at Sea cruise in the spring of 24.
Let's connect!
Questions?
jimbpatton2021 ( at ) gmail ( dot ) com
(612) 208-6396