Latest / The Scene Projects / Kris Keppler on Acting, Audiobook Narration, and Navigating AI in Creative Media

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Kris Keppler on Acting, Audiobook Narration, and Navigating AI in Creative Media · The Scene Projects

• 0:02
  Well, today, we're thrilled to be joined by Chris Koeppler, voice actor, narrator, writer,
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  and the creative mind behind the podcast Does This Happen To You.
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  Get ready for laughter, insight, and a behind the mic look at the art of storytelling.
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  Let's dive in.
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  This program is part of the Scene Projects podcast network.
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  Scene Project features interviews with independent musicians, comedians, and artists
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  from across the Midwest.
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  Become part of our community and support local art wherever you are.
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  Well, welcome in to another exciting episode of the scene.
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  I'm your host, Bubba Starts, and with me today is Chris Kepler.
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  Welcome to the show, Chris.
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  Hey.
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  Thanks for having me.
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  I'm I'm thrilled.
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  I think we got a lot to talk about.
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  So I'm gonna give you the floor and let you tell us a little bit about your backstory, and
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  we'll talk about all the exciting stuff that you're up to these days.
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  Oh, okay.
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  Great.
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  I'm an well, I started out as a singer, actually, in junior high choir and got bored
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  with that.
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  Had a chance to get into theater and the chorus and liked that a lot better.
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  It was more fun to dance around as a fairy than stand on a riser in a black dress.
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  And then to get to the front of the stage, I took acting lessons.
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  And then about ten, fifteen years ago, I found a voice over, which I get to combine my acting
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  and singing skills and really enjoyed that.
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  So that's been an area that I've been working in now for quite a while narrating audiobooks
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  and doing lots of character stuff.
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  Yeah.
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  How
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  interesting.
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  I I love I got to do a little bit of voice over work myself.
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  So, Chris, I lived in Mexico for a year on the run from some legal troubles here in The
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  States.
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  And one of the jobs that I held down there was for a company called Bookmart.
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  And what they did was they wrote English books for Spanish speaking students.
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  Oh.
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  And I was the accompanying voice to go with the bookwork.
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  So Uh-huh.
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  Right now, there are kids down in Mexico and around the world Spanish speaking that are
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  using my voice to learn English.
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  Oh, fun.
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  I love it.
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  Yeah.
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  I I often think about that moment, and I didn't do very much of it.
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  But it's it's a really gratifying thing to know that, you know, people are listening to your
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  voice.
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  And up until that point, I never thought about it.
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  I am a singer myself.
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  I say I've been singing since I could talk and as a musician still, songwriter.
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  But finding podcasting and finding the power of just conversations and the power of our voice
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  is really a quite gratifying thing for someone who likes to talk as much as I do.
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  Oh, yeah.
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  I I also, discovered, you know, podcasting too.
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  So that was a fun way to get stories out there.
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  My podcast, I specialize in stories that you won't hear anywhere else.
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  Yeah.
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  I love it.
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  What's the name of your podcast for all of our listeners?
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  Does this happen to you?
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  Yeah.
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  All the time.
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  Yes.
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  Yeah.
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  How fun.
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  So a long background in performing arts and doing all of those things.
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  How did you kind of find the voice acting?
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  That's a curious I feel like that's a much larger jump than, like, singing in a choir to
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  singing in the chorus.
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  What was the impetus, I guess, for moving into the voice acting?
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  Well, I was looking for more ways to do more acting stuff and and actually make some money
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  at it.
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  Because I don't live in an area where there's a lot of acting work.
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  There just isn't.
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  And so I was talking with, I think, another actor who said, well, have you ever thought
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  about voice over?
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  And I'm like, nope.
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  And they said, oh, I know someone who can coach you.
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  And so it was like, once I got started, it was love at first sight.
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  It was like, woah.
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  I get to combine my acting and my singing skills.
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  This is perfect.
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  Yeah.
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  And if you have a home studio, you don't have to leave to go to work.
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  Nope.
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  You just you know, I walk a few feet that way, and there I am.
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  Incredible.
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  So any notable works that some of our viewers would be familiar with?
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  As far as voice over, I don't I don't really do hardly any commercial stuff.
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  I'm a narrator.
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  So you're doing audiobook versions of other people's writing?
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  Yeah.
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  Yeah.
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  So I have voiced a few of my own writing projects.
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  Not very many, though.
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  Mostly, I'm I have done some I in an animated film called Losing Rose, It's part of my reel
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  out on IMDb, and I'm was really proud of that because it was actually I was working the
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  producer, writer, it was actually I played her grandmother.
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  So that was that was really a special project.
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  You can see it out there.
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  It was in a local film festival.
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  And
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  And you mentioned you're not around somewhere that is doing a lot of acting work and stuff
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  like that.
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  No.
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  I'm rural South Dakota.
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  So I feel you that where where are you based out without getting too specific, Chris?
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  We don't need your address.
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  But In Seattle.
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  Okay.
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  Okay.
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  Yeah.
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  Yeah.
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  Not not a ton of movies and stuff being made.
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  Movies being shopped there, but a lot of the production is done, obviously, in Los Angeles
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  for these things.
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  Maybe a little bit in New York City.
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  But
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  I would say the most fun I had as an actor, was cast in a local film that was actually produced
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  out of LA.
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  So it was a combination of a few LA actors and then mostly Washington actors.
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  But it was because it was produced out of LA, it was a union project.
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  And it was released as it's known as seven witches.
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  You can definitely watch it out there.
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  And that that was just really fun because it actually had a budget.
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  My costume was special made just for me, and we were filming in beautiful areas.
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  I
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  I have a heart for the for the Pacific Northwest, Chris.
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  I lived out in Bend, Oregon
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  Oh, yeah.
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  For for a period of two or three years.
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  But that was just kinda home based.
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  I was floating all over.
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  I didn't have a home per se.
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  I had a guitar and a skateboard, and I kinda went where I pleased, whatever moment it was.
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  So Yeah.
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  Spent a little time up there around the Pugen Sound and a little a little too cloudy on that
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  side of the Cascades for me.
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  I I much preferred the other side where it was open high desert and a lot more sunshine.
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  But
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  Oh, yeah.
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  It's it's much sunnier.
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  I don't mind clouds.
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  In fact, I like the weather here.
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  So
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  Well, it doesn't get too hot during the summers either when, you know, it's a 100 and some
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  degrees everywhere else out here in the Midwest and humid.
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  And
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  Yes.
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  fantastic.
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  So where is your time kinda split?
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  You said you had the podcast and you're doing the narration work.
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  Is it more narrating books and doing that kind of work and a little bit of podcasting, or is
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  it fifty fifty or what or kinda leaning the other way?
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  Actually, it's more podcasting right now because I'm working very hard.
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  My podcast is also the main part of my YouTube channel.
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  So I'm working hard to try to gain viewers and viewing hours to monetize my YouTube channel.
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  Oh, I know that game.
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  Which is my YouTube channels.
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  Sorry.
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  I'm getting over COVID.
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  We're just happy you're getting over it, Chris.
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  Yeah.
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  I am, yeah, working hard to monetize my YouTube channel, which is under my name, Chris Kupler.
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  And I also started a Substack publication.
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  Kris Talks About the Wisdom of Women, where I write and do some interviews.
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  So so, yeah, that's that's my main areas of concentration right now.
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  Although, I'm still, you know, auditioning for audiobook work.
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  I just did a sample recording for a possible client to narrate some children's stories for
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  them.
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  Can can you walk us through the audition process for an audiobook and kind of where to
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  find work like that.
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  I think we have a lot of now podcasters that are in our circle Oh, yeah.
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  Looking for other ways to monetize their lives as well.
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  Picking up one of these things, and and I don't know.
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  I I'm sure that the pay rate depends on the book and the project.
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  But explain explain the audiobook narration for us a little bit if you could go into depth for
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  us.
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  Yeah.
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  The one of the places to get started is a cx.com, which is the back office for Audible.
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  And they usually put up authors looking for auditions.
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  So thing with audiobooks is you they match audiobooks to your voice.
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  And so you need to know where you fit in the audiobook world where your voice fits best.
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  And if because if if you work with a coach who says you can do any kind of audiobook, no.
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  You can't.
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  Well, right.
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  You're not gonna go out and and read a David Baldacci book.
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  Right?
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  Like, probably not probably not coming in your wheelhouse.
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  So
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  No.
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  And neither are thrillers.
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  I just don't have that.
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  You know?
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  There's a certain voice they like for thrillers.
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  I have done horror.
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  For some reason, my voice is not a bad match for horror.
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  But, of course, because of my rather caring sound, health and fitness, spirituality, all
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  kinds of spirituality, children's, because I love comedy, and I can narrate comedy, also
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  comedy.
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  So that's that's where I concentrate.
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  I do most even though I'm an actor, I do mostly nonfiction.
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  I like nonfiction simply because I learn while I'm narrating.
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  It's really fun to do that for me.
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  Well, of course, you're reading the book as you're going along, so you get to you get to
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  educate yourself in the process.
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  Yeah.
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  What a what a great Yeah.
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  A great perk to the job there.
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  So so it's it's mostly look looking for auditions, ACX, Authors Republic has a
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  marketplace.
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  And I belong to the APA Audiobook Publishers Association, and they often hold ways that you
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  can meet producers out there that you can get on a narrator list.
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  So I'm currently on one narrator list, and I regularly get auditions sent to me.
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  You know?
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  This would be a good match or on our list, so please do this audition.
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  You do a short that's usually five minutes or less.
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  They shouldn't ask you for more than five minutes because any author hearing you is gonna
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  know within five minutes or less whether, like, your voice for that book or producer.
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  Maybe thirty seconds for some.
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  Yeah.
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  Maybe more like thirty seconds.
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  Yeah.
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  So you're out there just, you know, trying to get on lists or just out there looking like I
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  regularly go to Authors Republic.
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  So for you, having a podcast is almost like putting out constant audition tapes for people
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  to be hearing your voice and and knowing that that's out there.
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  It is.
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  Yeah.
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  Having having that out as a weekly, you know, coming out is definitely an advantage.
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  So what a great call.
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  And I just I just love podcasting so much.
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  Actually, the song you heard at the beginning here, I saw you kinda grooving out to it.
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  That's actually Yeah.
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  Yeah.
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  Oh, nice.
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  Yeah.
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  I liked it.
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  No.
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  Thank you very much.
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  Well, you can find it on YouTube and Apple Music.
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  Find find us around.
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  Starts and ends is the name of my band.
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  So It's
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  It's nice.
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  Thank you.
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  I I saw you dancing there as it was playing, so I appreciate that.
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  I appreciate that.
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  I'm very grateful for having StreamYard now to broadcast these things on.
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  So shout out to StreamYard.
• 14:56
  If you guys need it, you can use our affiliate link.
• 14:59
  Please please help us make some money.
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  Speaking of money, what kind of money is there in narrating?
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  If you finally get a gig and you've gone through the process of audition, obviously, it
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  varies.
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  But what kind of the range for some of our people that might be looking to get into this
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  type of work?
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  Audiobooks actually don't pay that well.
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  You're looking at lower ranges, $250 per finished hour.
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  So actually only getting paid for the narration, not for all the editing and stuff
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  that goes into it.
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  So you have to do your own editing as well?
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  Yeah.
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  We have to hire someone.
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  Yeah.
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  I have taught myself how to do my own editing.
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  So
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  Yeah.
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  Well, you know, spend a little bit of time instead of having to pay someone to do it and
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  then just watch that $250 fall away from
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  you.
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  Yeah.
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  Typically, long say you have a a book that's, you know, 300 pages.
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  How many narration hours would that come out to?
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  It depends on the word count.
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  300 pages is like, wow.
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  That's several hours.
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  That's wow.
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  Are you doing mostly books that are significantly less than that then?
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  Usually, nonfiction tends to be a little shorter than some of the longer.
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  A a book that's 20,000 words is going to take you at least two or three hours to narrate and
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  another at least probably six or so hours to edit.
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  So you have twice as much time essentially into the editing process.
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  Now, of course, you can shorten that curve by getting very good at editing.
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  And, you know, I'm sure there's AI programs out there that can assist with
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  this stuff as well.
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  A company called Positron, and they they're basically AI, and you can upload your
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  narration, and the AI goes through and says, oh, mistake here.
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  Mistake here.
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  Do yeah.
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  Change that.
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  Do you know?
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  And so it marks it.
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  So it makes editing go faster.
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  Yeah.
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  Well, fantastic.
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  I'm glad that we have programs out there that are making it easier to put more money back in
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  your pocket by getting more of your time back.
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  Because if you have more time, then you could spend more time reading and narrating what
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  you're getting paid for rather than editing.
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  So that's fantastic.
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  Yeah.
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  We use AI all the time in our editing process and in a lot of things that we do.
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  So, we're we're kinda behind it.
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  We get into the talk quite a bit of that.
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  Do you think that the AI narration, which I'm sure is out there already, and will continue,
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  do you feel like that's going to take even more away from you, or do you feel like there's
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  always going to be a human element to to your job that AI is not going to be able to replace?
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  I think it's gonna take some of the low rent stuff away from, you know, narrators.
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  The people that don't wanna pay now, it's like, oh, here's a cheap way to do But I think I
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  think at at a higher level that it will continue for someone who wants a better level
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  of narration.
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  Yeah.
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  And that's kind of what we talk about it a lot in our music scene, right, where it is Yeah.
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  You're never going to eliminate the human element to a lot of these things.
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  We talk a lot about AI music, and I think it's incredible because some people who would never
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  have a chance to express themselves musically that maybe have some words or a feeling that's
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  coming out of them that needs to be expressed in some way.
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  And now they have this outlet.
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  I think it's amazing.
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  The commercial side of it is, you know, nobody's making money.
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  Spotify has already stolen all the money out of music anyway, especially in plays and streams.
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  So what's the point?
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  I just recently pulled off all of my content from Spotify because of their new terms because
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  they're just going to use all the stuff that's uploaded in there to train their AI to make it
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  obsolete.
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  So why would I even contribute to them doing that?
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  I I see a lot of, jobs on my LinkedIn now that are looking for voice actors and musicians to
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  train their AI.
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  And it's like, I just I don't need to do that.
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  Y'all are going to find it anyway.
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  I don't need the money that bad.
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  I am much more concerned about my art and name and likeness.
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  Yeah.
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  They're not going to be able to replace.
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  You're you're not gonna be able to recreate this or that No.
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  Right No.
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  With an artificial intelligence.
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  No.
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  Even if you can get real close, it will never be that.
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  So well, fantastic.
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  Fantastic stuff, Chris.
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  Thanks for some insight into a a world I've never really, or at least I haven't been in for
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  quite a while now.
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  Yeah.
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  And I always think with AI, it's like, why would you want to replace that human element?
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  I I think it should be used only as a tool to make things easier, not replace.
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  You know?
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  Yeah.
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  Totally.
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  And I think that's how most creatives are starting to look at it now.
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  I think
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  there was
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  a lot of trepidation early, but you see where it's come, and it's not going anywhere.
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  Right?
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  Like, the the genie is out of the lamp.
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  The toothpaste is out of the room.
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  There it's not going So back you might as well learn how to use these things and to use them
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  to your greatest advantage.
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  And it's it's nice to hear that people with the same take as we have on here.
• 21:02
  Chris, loved having you on here.
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  I don't wanna keep you too much longer, but I do wanna give you a chance to promote your
• 21:07
  podcast again and tell everyone where they can find you if they're looking for a narrator.
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  Yeah.
• 21:14
  It's my podcast is does this happen to you?
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  You can find it on all the major podcast platforms, and you can find it on YouTube under
• 21:24
  Kris Kepler.
• 21:26
  That's k e p p e l e r.
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  And, I would love for you to hear these amazing stories.
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  And, also, I love to narrate your story.
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  You can find me at, chriskepler.com.
• 21:46
  Fantastic.
• 21:47
  Well, Chris, I wish you nothing but the best health.
• 21:50
  I'm glad you're getting over it, and I hope that you, ditched that nasty cough very soon.
• 21:55
  Yeah.
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  And, thank you.
• 21:56
  Thank you for being part of the scene.
• 21:59
  Thank you.