'Nobody sees how young you are!' Meet Voice Actor Jake Urry

Jake Urry 
is a British actor, voice artist and narrator of audiobooks, who already has an impressive list of 30+ audiobooks, and testimonials to make any author hope he'll accept a book for narration. When Jake said 'Yes' to me, I fastened my seatbelt, ready for a new way of living my own novel. I was not disappointed! How could I be when Jake attracts comments like, 'I have listened to thousands of audio books through the years, and rarely have I heard such a versatile talent as Jake Urry.' John D Mimms 

I really appreciate Jake taking the time to visit my blog and record this interview as I know he's a very private person when not being somebody else.

Photo: Tom Barker Photography

Welcome to my blog, Jake! 

Tell me a bit about yourself - what do you do when you’re not recording a book?
I co-run Just Some Theatre, a theatre company, and spend most of my time working. I share a studio with Tom Barker Photography so have access to this lovely screen, space and lighting. In my spare time, I like peaceful things like walking, the countryside, and eating salmon.

You can watch Jake's interview live, with more detail than on the blog post, here

Watch Jake's interview on youtube

Tell me about your journey as a Voice Actor
I did a couple of commercial voice-overs but wasn't inspired by reading phone messages for big companies and such-like. Then audiobooks came along and I've had a real passion for them since I started listening about twelve years ago. So, in 2016, my own narrating journey started.

You produce a lot of thrillers and suspense books. Do you see yourself branching out into other genres in the future?
I have worked on thriller, suspense, mystery, horror - dark themes. I was drawn to them because I like the narration voice I use, which is nothing like my natural speaking voice. I love the 'Vincent Price' way of creating suspense, building on it and keeping that energy going. I love that atmosphere.

Recently I have started doing other genres, fantasy and sc-fi, doing things in a completely different accent. I did a book called The Tesla Gate, by John D Mimms, in a sort of American drawl. I really enjoyed it and it's doing very well! 

I do feel like branching out more. This is the first book I've done with as much romance in it. It's not all romance as a story but Song at Dawn has more romantic elements than anything I've done before. I would certainly consider doing more in that vein in the future.

How do you prepare for recording an audiobook?
When I get the script, I look for moments of tension, big changes in the script, how that should push the story along and what the narrative voice should be like. Then, I'll go through looking for main characters, deciding their voices, before recording anything. Then I start reading and see how it evolves.

For what reasons do you turn books down?
If the story doesn't grab me or if I'm not right person for the book. I have to personally want to do it. Financially I can't do it if it won't sell. For instance, if the cover is bad, it won't pay off.

How can an author help the Voice Actor/ Producer of his/her book?
I've been lucky and worked with some great authors. On the whole, they tend to give me free rein. Some specify how they want a particular character to sound, which is fine. I usually ask for a list of main characters, and if the author can tell me anything to help me find a voice, that's helpful. Authors can give me any ideas they have but if they're happy for me to interpret for them, that's fine too.

Are there ways in which an author can hinder or even spoil the Voice Actor’s recording of a book?
What would be annoying would be an author not giving me anything at the beginning, saying, 'Do what you want,' and then came back to me after I'd recorded the whole thing with criticisms such as 'I thought the character would sound more like....' If you've got ideas, let me know at the beginning.

If you could wave a magic wand and change something about your career what would it be?
I'd make more time or get a robot to do my editing, which takes up so much time that i'd rather be recording.

Tell me about your working day. Do you work to a routine? Do you use a recording studio? Endless cups of coffee or tea?
My days starts with computer stuff. I need time for my voice to warm up so I do editing or paperwork or theatre company work first. I do some warm-ups, then go into my booth. I do drink a lot of coffee, and water as well. I try to relax as that's important. The worst thing is a deadline. You can't rush narrating.

Who or what has been the greatest help to you as a Voice Actor?
It's hard to choose. The person who put the spark in me to do narrating was Samuel West, when I heard him doing 1984 by George Orwell. I was on an acting degree and I thought, 'I want to do that!' I always thought I would have to wait until I was older, more seasoned, but the great thing about audiobooks is that they can't see how young you are. I sound about seventy-two when I'm recording but when people see me, they say, 'That's not the guy who read that!' I started doing it a lot sooner than I thought I could, and that's all down to Samuel West.

Jean: Jake made me laugh when we working on Song at Dawn because he enjoyed himself most when portraying old, male villains! NOT what I'd expected!

Jake on stage. Photo: Tom Barker Photography

What has been the hardest thing for you to overcome in becoming a Voice Actor?

Technical difficulties. I've had so many problems with microphones and software, spent so much time fixing them. Asking online for help would have saved me a lot of problems but I didn't know that was an option at the time!

If you could pick one character in one of your audiobooks, to spend some time with, who would it be and why?
I would love to spend some time with Harlan Ulrich, who is the P.I. in the The Ulrich Files by Ambrose Ibson because he spends so much time around abandoned buildings, trying to use his phone torch, and I think if he had someone there to shine a light, it would all be less scary. I could keep him company. He loves good coffee so I could learn coffee-brewing skills from him. I think he'd be pretty chilled to hang out with.

Jean: Now I've checked out The Ulrich Files, I think 'chilling' is a better description than 'chilled'!

Tell me about your latest audiobook and why we should all buy it?
My latest audiobook is of course Song at Dawn by Jean Gill. It's wonderful! I had such a blast narrating it. It has so many different layers, so many spectacular scenes. You can really imagine yourself being in those places. So much historical research has gone into it. I used to think historical fiction might not be as engaging but Song at Dawn shattered that illusion for me. It wasn't difficult to come up with different voices for the different characters because they are so detailed. the whole thing was a joy to narrate - and even to edit, which I don't usually say!

Jean: I had a blast too, Jake, and even enjoyed editing :) I don't usually like that either! Congratulations on a wonderful first review! 

5* review on audible from Melanie Preston Lewis
'Jake Urry provides exquisite narration, and what a task he had, providing voices for female singers as well as the troubadours, French aristocracy and the Jewish and Muslim characters. What an enormous and overwhelming challenge this must have been. Mr Urry rose to the occasion and must be congratulated on his success with so many difficult roles. '

Where can we find you? 
I want to add to my youtube channel so if you have any audiobook-related ideas for videos, anything you'd like to hear about, please post below or get in touch, through any of these links.

Contact Jake via his website
Twitter 
Facebook 
Youtube 

Thank you, Jake, for letting us behind the scenes and for bringing my book to life! 


The ebook of Song at Dawn is FREE from 7th-31st May 2018 - get it here!  
If you own the kindle version of Song at Dawn, you can get a BIG discount on amazon for your copy of Jake Urry reading Song at Dawn  from
amazon.com
amazon.co.uk
Or join audible and get a FREE copy of Song at Dawn audiobook here.

Listen to Jake reading Chapter 1 of Song at Dawn

Discover the award-winning Troubadours Quartet FREE! 

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El Rey Lobo, the Wolf King of 12thC Murcia

During the 12th Century, there were two crusades which pitted Christian armies against Muslims and Jews in 'the Holy Land' and in continental Europe. However, it would be as naive to think that these faith communities were 'enemies' throughout the 12th Century as to think that Germany was an enemy to  the U.K. or to France throughout the 20th Century. Wars and political alliances have never been simple, and the true story of El Rey Lobo, the Wolf King, sheds light on real politics in 1153.  

Romantic 19th C painting of a Caliph and his escort, often used to depict El Rey Lobo but NOT of him

Not a fantasy invention but a real historical figure, the man nicknamed 'El Rey Lobo' in Spanish ('The Wolf King'), ruled the kingdom of Murcia from 1147, when he was twenty-three years old, until his death in 1172. He was crucial in the defence of the Christian kingdoms in the north of the Iberian Peninsula, against the Almohad Muslims in the south - and he was a Muslim. 

Typical of the complications in real history, his ancestors had converted to the Muslim faith, so he was described as 'muwallad', an Arabic term for 'of mixed background'. Some say his nickname came from the family name Lope, which was abandoned when his Christian forebears converted to Islam.

The Spanish Kingdoms in 1210

In 1153, Abu ʿAbd Allāh Muḥammad ibn Mardanīš (to give the Wolf King his full name) was the King of Valencia and Murcia. For the more romantically inclined, his wolf nickname could have arisen from stories such as his treatment of a relative, Yūsuf, who challenged his authority. Having won a battle against Yūsuf, El Rey Lobo threatened to gouge out his eyes unless he gave the order to surrender. Yūsuf refused and lost his right eye. El Rey Lobo then ordered Yūsuf's wife to surrender the castle or else watch her husband blinded. She refused and Yūsuf's other eye was removed. He was then imprisoned. Such was the mercy of the Wolf King. 

His kingdoms were sandwiched between the Christian realms of Barcelona and Aragon (both ruled by the Count of Barcelona, thanks to the marriage coup of the century) and the southern taifas of Al-Andalus (Muslim Spain). Relationships were amicable between El Rey Lobo and his Christian neighbours, with trade links and tolerance of mixed-faith communities. 

Tolerance did not mean equality and the laws favoured the faith group in power, whether in Muslim Murcia or Christian Aragon. Jews held positions of high status in both Muslim and Christian kingdoms but were expected to keep to their own community for accommodation, social occasions and - a big cultural division - eating.

The medieval arms of Aragon showing a moor's head in the lower left quadrant

One example of a Christian ruler's laws: 'I likewise grant to all settlers this prerogative... whether Christian, Moor or Jew, free or servile, [they] should come in safety' 

[In a court case] the Christian should swear on the cross and the Jew on the Torah. And if the Jew or Christian does not want to swear, he should lose the case. 

(from The Code of Cuença, late 12th Century)

Relationships were not amicable between El Rey Lobo and his fanatical southern neighbours, the Almohad Muslims. These invaders brought extremist views with them from North Africa and, even more than they hated Christians, they hated their fellow-Muslims. They hated the Almoravids, Muslims who'd been lords of Al-Andalus for centuries until the Almohads arrived. And they hated those like El Rey Lobo, of 'mixed' background.

In short, Muslims who'd been settled a long time on the Iberian Peninsula, and who now governed peaceful mixed-faith communities, betrayed their own faith, from the Almohad point of view, and were worse than Christians. 

There was no doubt that the Almohads' conquest of southern Spain and advance northwards was El Rey Lobo's biggest threat. An alliance with his northern, Christian neighbours was in both their interests. How was that alliance secured? Did Ramon Berengeur IV of Barcelona and Aragon perhaps take a party of his men to El Rey Lobo's stronghold of Monteagudo? What did Berengeur offer to gain Murcia's defence of his southern border? 

El Rey Lobo's Castle of Monteagudo with the more modern addition of a statue of Christ

That meeting is the starting-point for my historical novel 'Song Hereafter', in the court of El Rey Lobo, where Ramon Berengeur and his two commanders seek an alliance with Murcia. One of those commanders is Malik, the Muslim from Zaragoza, and one is his friend, the Christian warrior and troubadour, Dragonetz los Pros, fictional hero of The Troubadours Quartet.

Song Hereafter
1153 in Hispania and the Isles of Albion

Chapter 1

'Usually when El Rey Lobo bared his teeth, everyone in his line of sight wondered whether to do likewise and call it smiling, or to wait and pray for invisibility. Men had been killed for doing either. He had earned his nickname ‘the Wolf King’. The men in front of the king today were not, however, his courtiers but his Christian neighbours of Barcelone: Ramon Berenguer and two of his commanders. They were not currying favour but seeking an alliance.

Ramon was sombre. ‘Without the King of Murcia, we would have the Almohads in our gardens. I hear they make a virtue of killing.’

‘And of dying, too. In order to ‘purge’ this land.’ the king replied. At the mention of the Almohads, El Rey Lobo’s face darkened beneath his turban, and his mouth pursed as if accustomed to spit at the name. His swarthy features, oiled beard and flowing robes gave no sign of his Christian ancestry and it had been many generations since his family had converted to the Muslim faith of their overlords.

 He continued, ‘They will not rest until all our people are dead. All of our faith who have made this country our home for generations. We have ‘sinned’, we are ‘unbelievers’ and the penalty is death for me, for our wives, for our children, for men like your commander Malik. They will make slaves of Jews and Christians but us, they will kill.

They are superstitious barbarians from the hills of Africa! They shave their heads before battle. What pious man would do such a thing? And their black slaves thump on great drums the size of cartwheels. When you hear the beat of their war-drums, you hear your own death. This is what my men must face! Their own hearts beating in fear!’

Dragonetz listened intently to his Liege and the Wolf King, sifting courtesies from nuggets of information. They were all waiting for the king’s terms.

El Rey Lobo dismissed the Almohads with a defiant gesture and began the bargaining. ‘The Almohads are not causing me a problem today. If you want to solve the problems I have today, go and find me a mintmaster and an expert in siege warfare.’ He paused for thought, then held up a third finger. ‘And somebody who will repair a paper mill. These are the problems that take up a king’s time! When you take away these headaches, we can talk about protecting boundaries and Almohads!’

To continue reading, for more details and buy links for Song Hereafter (the last book in the award-winning Troubadours Quartet) please visit my website . Book 1 Song at Dawn is on promotion at 99c / 99p if you wish to start this epic saga at the beginning but Song Hereafter can be read as a standalone.

Further Reading
Medieval Iberia, Readings from Christian, Jewish and Muslim sources, edited by Olivia Remie Constable

Photo credits

Map of the Spanish Kingdoms, courtesy of the University of Texas Libraries, The University of Texas at Austin. Castle of Monteagudo By SergioHC (Own work) [CC BY-SA 3.0 es (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/es/deed.en)], via Wikimedia Commons

Arms of Aragon, the Aljaferia, Zaragoza - Jean Gill

Song Hereafter - cover design Jessica Bell
Painting by Theodore Chaserieu of Caliph Ali Ben-Hamet, public domain