Audiobook & Audio Drama Director

I have spent the last sixteen years helping books and scripts become audio.

Most of that work has been with Black Library and Games Workshop, where I helped develop the audio programme from a small in-house operation into a major part of the publishing list. In that time, I produced and directed more than 400 audiobooks and over 50 full-cast audio dramas, working on some of the largest and most ambitious series in genre publishing.

The bulk of my work has been in the worlds of Warhammer 40,000, Warhammer Age of Sigmar, The Horus Heresy and Siege of Terra. These are stories with enormous scope and very committed listeners. They need to feel large while remaining clear. However vast the world becomes, the listener is still following one voice, one scene and one line at a time.

I have worked with actors including David Tennant, Billie Piper, Brian Blessed, Catherine Tate, Andrew Wincott, Emma Gregory, Toby Longworth, Jonathan Keeble, John Banks and Gareth Armstrong. Some came to the worlds already knowing the scale of them. Others arrived fresh, which can be just as useful. A good director has to know when to explain the lore, when to leave it alone, and when the only thing that matters is whether the line sounds true.

My work has included major Black Library titles and series such as The Horus Heresy, Siege of Terra, The Fall of Cadia, Saga of the Beast, Warhammer Horror and Warhammer Adventures. I have also worked on titles outside Warhammer, including Mark Lawrence’s King of Thorns, John Bishop’s How Did All This Happen?, and audiobooks by Stuart MacBride.

Audio drama brings a different kind of attention. A script may look clear on the page, then fall apart the moment an actor has to say it. I have worked on more than 50 audio drama scripts, checking dialogue, scene flow, character intention, pronunciation, continuity and whether the action can be understood without anyone seeing it. Sometimes the problem is performance. Sometimes it is the line. Often, it is the space between the two.

I like the practical side of audio production as much as the creative one. A good production depends on the performance and on every decision around it. The casting has to suit the material. The script has to be ready. The recording has to be properly directed. The edit has to respect the performance. The proofing has to catch what the ear might miss. The final master has to be clean, consistent and delivered correctly.

At Black Library, I worked across that whole process. I directed actors, produced sessions, prepared scripts, proof-listened, checked edits, reviewed masters and helped keep large numbers of titles moving through production. I also led a team of producers, built workflows, expanded studio capacity and helped maintain a release schedule where audio could sit alongside print as a serious part of the publishing plan.