Nicholas and Nathaniel - Comm for Northern-Crosshair

Nicholas and Nathaniel work from home as a singer/voice actor and sound engineer respectively. They love their work and enjoy working together. (Not that working separately is really an option for them.) As children they’d spend hours with Nicholas singing into a garage sale microphone, recorded with a couple old tape recorders Nathaniel wired together for recording and mixing. Today, Nathaniel has the two of them setup with a sleek high end recording setup for Nicholas to put his voice to work.

Obviously, their home recording studio has special accommodations for them. Only able to control their own half of their shared body, each of them effectively only has one hand. Using foot-mice helps make up for this, leaving their hand free for other tasks.

When recording audiobooks, Nicholas focuses on reading and advancing the script. He’s marked the dialog with notes and color codes so he can consistently hit his marks on the first take. Nathaniel focuses on the audio levels, keeping track of different takes, and and bookmarking the recording files with chapter and page information. Documenting this while recording makes the post-production work go quickly.

This brotherly teamwork extends even to their breathing. The two of them inhale mostly through Nathaniel’s nose and mouth. The exhale of course goes all to Nicholas’s voice. This not only reduces the amount of breathing noise that gets picked up in the recording, but keeps Nicholas’s throat from drying out from hours of talking.

When the two of them are back at their editing desk, Nathaniel is cleaning up the recordings and stitching together the different takes while Nicholas marks the next script they will be recording with the necessary notes and color codes. With just a nudge of his head, Nicholas can grab Nathaniel’s attention and get a second opinion on possible tone and accent choices for characters. Nathaniel can do the same and get Nicholas’s opinion on different possible editing choices. While it may be Nicholas’s voice that the audience hears, both will say it’s really a combined effort.

With their growing popularity via audiobooks and other voice work, the two know they won’t be able to hide the fact they are conjoined for much longer. Nicholas is being approached for feature film voice acting that will need to be done in a studio with other voice actors. While the childish fun of hiding their condition will be over, both of them are ecstatic at the opportunity to meet and work in person with other voice actors.

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Comm for Northern-Crosshair
Short story written by Northern-Crosshair