December 18, 2019 • 17 mins
Movie star, West End star, and champion audiobook-reader Kobna Holdbrook-Smith joins us for the last in this series of the Squadcast. Listen now to hear him talk Nicolas Nickleby, power-naps, and audiobook-reading in the dark...
Presenter: David John
Producer and editor: Emma Samuel
Created by: Neil Conrich
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
David (00:00):
So hi everyone.
Welcome back- if you re-joiningus- to the Squadcast.
If you're new, welcome! Thereare some other earlier episodes
that you'll be able to listento.
This is the podcast of Londonvoice agent Voice Squad.
So whatever your connection tothe audio world, or if it's just
an interest, we're trying togive you an insight of what it's
like to work in the industry,what it's like at the agency,
(00:22):
all the kind of inner workingsof the office and what skills
you need to be an actor, a VoiceSquad a rtist.
I'm David John.
I'm a voice artist at the agencyand also work as an A DR casting
director and director anddubbing director.
And I'm on the Equity council asthe audio representative.
This week we have a very specialguest.
(00:45):
I'm delighted to welcome Kobna Holbrook-Smith.
Welcome.
Kobna (00:49):
Hello.
Thank you- it's great to behere.
David (00:50):
So Kobna is with Voice Squad- has been for some time.
We'll be talking about that.
He's an Olivier award-winningWest End star.
How does that sound?! Yeah.
Great.
And that's, that was recent.
That was in Tina the Musical.
That was playing Ike Turner.
Also Kobna has worked in movies.
He's been in Doctor Strange,Paddington 2 and Mary Poppins
(01:14):
Returns, which was, that wasjust last year, wasn't it?
Kobna (01:18):
Christmas last year.
David (01:20):
But in the audio world, he's a very experienced
audiobook reader.
So you read the Rivers of Londonseries-
Kobna (01:28):
I have done yeah.
David (01:28):
And this- I mean- Nicholas Nickleby- I mean, that
must've been amazing.
A Dickens! I mean, it must'vebeen a hell of a task because
those long sentences and the wayyou-
Kobna (01:38):
Yeah.
Herculean.
It was immense.
I did some research when I didit.
And Hamlet is about 30,000 wordsmostly.
Obviously it's a play- but still- it's about 30,000 words.
And um, Nicholas Nickleby isabout 300,000.
David (01:52):
Wow! And that's all yours.
Every single word!
Kobna (01:57):
All yours.
Every single syllable! And alsobecause it was serialised when
it was written, it doesn't flowin the same way a contemporary
novel would.
So[laughs] I found the sentences- they're delicious to read, but
grueling to speak.
(02:17):
If you're sitting in a chair-
David (02:17):
Reading them to yourself-
Kobna (02:17):
Yeah.
That's great.
They're very absorbing.
But I had to keep tracking backto go, okay, wait, there's a
clause, sub- clause.
Oh, that's what he meant! Okay.
Yeah, yeah.
Okay.
Okay.
Let's go again.
David (02:34):
The amount of preparation, I mean you just got
to know it inside out.
Kobna (02:36):
Yeah, that's it.
David (02:38):
Well, we'll come to audiobooks later'cause that's
kind of the main subject in thisepisode really.
But let's start with you and goback to the beginning.
Where did it begin for you-acting- and how did you get
involved and when did you feelyou wanted to become an actor?
Kobna (02:51):
So the loose story is when I was about sixteen-
fifteen- I would have been- I, Ithought ooh, can I be an actor?
It didn't, it just hadn'toccurred to me as I'm a
realistic job.
David (03:04):
That's what everyone says .
Kobna (03:05):
Yeah.
Like an Astronaut or something.
It's just not a realistic job.
It's something, something that'sdone but not, not, not a job,
job.
So, yeah, I didn't think it wassomething I could do or was
allowed to do.
And then I thought, oh, let metry it.
Yeah.
Um, but it wasn't, it wasn'tuntil I was about eighteen or
nineteen that I think theswitch, a switch flipped in my
(03:26):
head and I went from wanting tobe famous to wanting to be an
actual actor.
Actually acting- that's thedifference.
That's been the difference thatI've cherished the most.
I think when I was abouteighteen or nineteen, I was
seeing things that I foundcaptivating and absorbing and,
(03:47):
and I realised like that's partof what I've enjoyed and what
made me want to be an actor wasinitially something about, um,
being applauded and popular.
But also something about sharingthe experiences I've enjoyed,
sharing the made up magics thatI had gone to see in cinemas or
(04:12):
in plays.
I didn't go to the theatre thatmuch as a kid.
David (04:14):
It was cinema, I guess?
Kobna (04:14):
Cinema, yes.
Films.
It was films to me, like in avideo shop at the end of the
high street.
Uh, then voice wise, I thinkbecoming a voice actor...
I've always liked accents andwords and I suppose we could say
communication, but verbalcommunication, and that's fed
(04:37):
into me as an actor, what I doas an actor, what I put into my
work as an actor.
As a conventional actor.
But as a voice actor, that'swhere I by far have the most
detail and complexity and funand range.
In my whole career.
I can play anybody and nobodycan say otherwise.
David (04:55):
That's exactly how I feel about it.
'Cause it doesn't matter ifyou're too small or too tall or
whatever you are- you can sounddifferent, more than you can
look.
Kobna (05:00):
You can sound older, younger.
Yeah.
Yeah, yeah.
It's quite thrilling.
David (05:05):
So we spoke to James Faulkner a couple of weeks ago
who is also on the books.
He was talking a little bitabout the control-'cause he went
to RADA.
Did you do any kind of specificvocal training or is it just
something that came with theacting training?
Kobna (05:21):
Well, I had a really good , uh, voice teacher.
Um, there's guy called JoeWindley who I really dug.
I think I've had a few teacherson along the way that I've
really- I've never had like amentor or anything, you know,
never had any one person that Icould say ah, this person guided
me through, as it were, but somereally critical people.
(05:44):
There's Steve Buckwald whotaught me acting, Joe Blowers
who taught me to move and todance.
I mentioned them because theyall come into voice.
When I got to drama school andmet Joe and we started, we were
working with him and his teamand the various teachers we had,
there were so many lessons tolearn about- well, no, not even
(06:05):
learn, unlearn- about how youuse a voice, how you relax and
what people call project andmodulating.
Chances to play with things andhow you apply them to text.
That was really, reallyexciting.
Understanding how storytellingworks and why you might do
something one way and notanother that isn't, it's not,
(06:27):
it's not immediately availableto people who aren't in the
industry.
Ideally that's the best wayaround, isn't it?
You want all the technique to beinvisible.
David (06:37):
Yeah, yeah, absolutely.
Just want to listen and have itsound great and you're totally
enraptured by listening to thestory.
That's, I mean, that's theinteresting thing about audio
books, isn't it?
It's not about the actor givinga performance on the book.
It's just, you know, reading itso that people are going to
listen and listen to the actualstory.
Kobna (06:55):
Yeah.
That's certainly my take on it.
But that also it lends itself toquite detailed performance quite
- you can take some risks,especially if the book is
fantastical or if it's got somekind of punch to it.
You can really lean in.
Yeah.
David (07:13):
So audiobooks as a, as a thing.
Did that come later?
Did you ever think?
Because I mean it's, it'sexploded, hasn't it?
The last ten years?
Years ago no one listened toaudiobooks, and now everyone
does.
Kobna (07:24):
It's true.
I listened to them at dramaschool.
I remember Bill Bryson had- hewas especially amusing.
No- not him- it was Kerry Shale,I think it was.
I remember they were especiallyamusing.
My friend didn't like readingbooks and she used to listen to
audiobooks.
So I kind of got into them and Iused to drive a lot and I used
to have them in my car and so Ilistened to a few.
But as you say, it was a bit ofa farce.
(07:47):
Finding them and ordering themand their on cassettes and then
they were on CDs but noweverything's digitalized.
It's so much better.
And most of the books I consume,I have to read a lot for work.
So between like reading scriptsand you know, books for, I don't
know, research or theory orwhatever.
Anything else.
And then for my recreationalreading, the vast majority of it
(08:08):
is on Audible.
David (08:10):
So you're a listener as well?
Kobna (08:11):
Oh yeah, yeah, yeah.
Avid.
David (08:13):
When you prepare people generally have their own way of
prepping.
I mean probably as a listener,people don't understand the
hours that go in before you evenset foot in the studio.
Are you an iPad man and you markeverything up and you read the
book a couple of times?
Kobna (08:30):
I used to be a paper man, but I don't mark up as much
anymore- I only tend to mark upif I haven't much time at all.
Or, if it's a particularlyknotty book, but generally
speaking I do a read and then Ijump in.
Which is pretty basic, but yeah.
But I feel confident- like thepunctuation- it's usually been
(08:51):
edited.
I can track it.
The Dickens was an interesting,the only thing that was
difficult about the Dickens, ittook so long that there were
characters that re-emerge.
He likes to whip the covers offsomeone and bring someone back
from, you know, from perdition.
David (09:06):
So you have to remember the voice!
Kobna (09:06):
Yeah'oh maaan, what did so-and-so sound like?' Rivers of
London has a similar thing whereI'll sit there with the- it was
Peter Rooney before, but nowit's Leo Wesser and Ben
Carpenter.
They're the other engineers I'veworked with.
'How did so-and-so sound again?
What did we-?
Oh, what did I do...?' and thenwe have to think back or see if
(09:28):
we have samples.
They're the main problems, butthe actual expression of it is
usually I usually do it quitefeelingly, which is precarious,
but it really works for me.
It seems like a peculiar habit,but it seems fine to me- but to
others- I read in the dark, sowhen I go into a studio, I ask
to turn all the lights off.
I don't like the air-con oneither- dries me out- and I have
(09:51):
my iPad in dark mode, so I canonly see the words, just the
words.
I am not distracted by the sortof visual noise around anything
else.
David (10:02):
Yeah, yeah.
It gives you that level offocus.
Yeah.
Important, isn't it?
If you're in it a hundredpercent.
Kobna (10:07):
That's it.
Yeah.
And I breathe as well.
I'm really careful aboutbreathing.
I take huge, huge draughts ofbreath before I begin.
And then, just top them up, topthem up, top them up, which is
quite wearing.
So then- and it's all coming outnow- I then also have these
power naps as well.
So I go when it's lunch-time, Ilike to take the full hour, go
(10:28):
and have a bite and then I laydown- crash.
David (10:32):
So often you find, you get, you know, many different
characters, accents.
Kobna (10:38):
Love them, love it.
David (10:39):
Yeah.
I mean that's another thing,isn't it?
If you're scared of that,audiobooks aren't for you to do,
but if you love doing that- andyou do.
So it must be a challengesometimes, isn't it?
Kobna (10:48):
Say someone says, oh, you've got to do a, I don't
know, whatever accent now.
I look them up on whateversource, YouTube, Forvo.
Anything I can find a decentsample of, if it's somewhere
international, try and find anEnglish speaking version of that
person.
And then I transcribe one or twothings they say or maybe a line
(11:09):
of the text into phonetics andthat's my trigger sentence.
Then I have a sentence that getsme in and then I'm in.
Yeah.
And then I have what's called avowel rack where I know how I, I
transpose the way that they saycertain vowels or sounds.
David (11:24):
Which are key! If you get your vowels right, you're there!
So a couple of other areas we'vebeen talking about that you also
work in quite a lot- ADR andgames as well.
Which again is almost likeaudiobooks- in just the last 10
years it's suddenly started toexplode.
(11:44):
You know, they both require thespeed of thought.
And often improvisation, Isuppose ADR maybe more than
games, but sometimes games.
You're an improviser?
Kobna (11:55):
Yeah.
Yeah.
So the ADR is especially subtlebecause the games they'll have a
script obviously, but you canimprovise some things and some
sounds.
And some of the experience.
David (12:05):
Mainly scripted though.
Kobna (12:05):
The main thing with games is a, it's almost invariably
like high-intensity screaming orshouting or something.
You know, almost- sometimes not.
But with ADR you can't suddenlysay'What?
There's been a fire?!' Itbecomes too attractive-
David (12:23):
And you have to avoid the plot a lot of the time- can't
give anything away!
Kobna (12:24):
And you have to avoid things like brand names.
Then if you're doing somethingperiod, you have to avoid saying
things like'okay' or idioms-
David (12:31):
Don't mention mobile phones, we're in the sixties!
Kobna (12:31):
It's really, really, yeah , it's engaging.
It's a great little side hustle.
David (12:41):
Fascinating.
So before we go, we've got fivelittle quick questions that we
ask everyone just to getbackground.
So I see what you come up with.
Instinct.
Are you a cat person or a dogperson?
Kobna (12:53):
Dog person.
David (12:54):
Own a dog?
Kobna (12:55):
No, I don't.
David (12:56):
Yeah.
Fair enough.
Um, favourite ice cream flavor?
Kobna (13:00):
I don't eat ice cream but pistachio is by far the best!
(13:05):
If you had to be forced to eat ice-cream..
Oh I adore pistachio! Okay.
Movies.
Have you got a favourite or acouple of favourite movies?
Kobna (13:17):
I don't think anybody is allowed to ever have a favourite
movie ever.
It's been decreed here.
Stop it.
But I think, let's see...
movies I've enjoyed recently.
Movies I'm looking forward toseeing.
How's that?
The favourite movies I want tosee...
I want to see something calledQueenie& Slim.
That looks amazing.
It's got Daniel Kaluuya in it.
I want to see Booksmart.
(13:39):
Uh, I wanna see Brightburn.
They are things I haven't seenthat are out now.
Miracle At St Anna, which is anold film by Spike Lee.
That came into my head when youasked, because I found it just
very, I found it had a balanceof sort of spirituality and
magic that surprised me'causeit's a war film.
(13:59):
Uh, and it's set in, there's allthe like bombs going off and
it's detailed, but there's likethese soldiers, the fraternity
between them and they'rerescuing art and it's great.
But obviously the obvious, theobvious ones like your
Godfathers and your Star Wars...
David (14:14):
The classics.
Kobna (14:14):
You get those for free!
David (14:15):
Okay.
Theatre.
Have you been recently, what'sthe last thing you saw?
Kobna (14:20):
I saw Rosmersholm last night.
I go quite a lot.
Yeah, I go quite bit.
Yeah.
Saw Rosmersholm last night and Iwas really impressed.
The adaptation is by a guycalled Duncan Macmillan.
It is so good.
So, it's Ibsen, it's an Ibsenplay- perfectly plotted
obviously.
And the relationships are reallycomplex and it's like, it must
(14:41):
have been wildly outrageous inits time, but what Duncan's
translations and he's got thisamazing, very, very believable,
very fresh language that isbursting with detail.
It's such, it's such a feat.
People say things to each otherand all the subtext is there,
but he, he hasn't, we can'tcatch him crow-barring detail in
(15:02):
anywhere.
Seamless.
David (15:04):
Funny.
You're not the first person tomention that! So last one is,
have you got a favourite placein London?
Kobna (15:14):
Oh, that's a good question.
Yeah.
Um, favourite place in London atthe moment- it changes, don't@
me!- Brockwell Park.
Yeah, I like it.
It does feel like they just,they just stopped developing
around the rim of it and it'sstill got a kind of like
(15:34):
windswept, you know, tree cropsup here and bushes.
It's great.
It feels natural.
It doesn't feel like a park thatwas landscaped.
It probably is, I don't knowanything about its history, but
Brockwell Park.
And I quite like, I like parksgenerally.
I quite like Hyde, butBrockwell's amazing.
David (15:49):
Yeah.
Cool.
Okay.
Kobs.
Thank you!
Kobna (15:52):
Thank you very much, Dave.
David (15:53):
Great to have a chat with you.
So we have finished with thislittle series.
This is our last episode.
We just wanted to say thanks toall our guests for giving us a
bit of time, having a chat aboutthe industry, letting us learn a
little bit about them and theirwork.
Keep your ears open if you'reinterested.
There'll be more soon, hopefullycoming up and keep an eye on our
(16:17):
social media accounts.
You can listen to the reels ofall the actors that we've
interviewed.
So you can hear James Faulkner,Alison Dowling, David Rintoul,
and of course Kobna HoldbrookSmith.
(16:40):
The Squadcast is a voice squadlimited production.
It's hosted by me, David John,devised by Neil Conrich and
produced and edited by EmmaSamuel.
We'd just like say a specialthanks to The Sound Company,
which is where we are today forkindly letting us use a lovely
quiet room here for a couple ofour recordings.
Very kind of them.
Thanks for listening andhopefully you'll hear more from
(17:10):
us very soon.
So hi everyone.
Welcome back- if you re-joiningus- to the Squadcast.
If you're new, welcome! Thereare some other earlier episodes
that you'll be able to listento.
This is the podcast of Londonvoice agent Voice Squad.
So whatever your connection tothe audio world, or if it's just
an interest, we're trying togive you an insight of what it's
like to work in the industry,what it's like at the agency,
(00:22):
all the kind of inner workingsof the office and what skills
you need to be an actor, a VoiceSquad a rtist.
I'm David John.
I'm a voice artist at the agencyand also work as an A DR casting
director and director anddubbing director.
And I'm on the Equity council asthe audio representative.
This week we have a very specialguest.
(00:45):
I'm delighted to welcome Kobna Holbrook-Smith.
Welcome.
Kobna (00:49):
Hello.
Thank you- it's great to behere.
David (00:50):
So Kobna is with Voice Squad- has been for some time.
We'll be talking about that.
He's an Olivier award-winningWest End star.
How does that sound?! Yeah.
Great.
And that's, that was recent.
That was in Tina the Musical.
That was playing Ike Turner.
Also Kobna has worked in movies.
He's been in Doctor Strange,Paddington 2 and Mary Poppins
(01:14):
Returns, which was, that wasjust last year, wasn't it?
Kobna (01:18):
Christmas last year.
David (01:20):
But in the audio world, he's a very experienced
audiobook reader.
So you read the Rivers of Londonseries-
Kobna (01:28):
I have done yeah.
David (01:28):
And this- I mean- Nicholas Nickleby- I mean, that
must've been amazing.
A Dickens! I mean, it must'vebeen a hell of a task because
those long sentences and the wayyou-
Kobna (01:38):
Yeah.
Herculean.
It was immense.
I did some research when I didit.
And Hamlet is about 30,000 wordsmostly.
Obviously it's a play- but still- it's about 30,000 words.
And um, Nicholas Nickleby isabout 300,000.
David (01:52):
Wow! And that's all yours.
Every single word!
Kobna (01:57):
All yours.
Every single syllable! And alsobecause it was serialised when
it was written, it doesn't flowin the same way a contemporary
novel would.
So[laughs] I found the sentences- they're delicious to read, but
grueling to speak.
(02:17):
If you're sitting in a chair-
David (02:17):
Reading them to yourself-
Kobna (02:17):
Yeah.
That's great.
They're very absorbing.
But I had to keep tracking backto go, okay, wait, there's a
clause, sub- clause.
Oh, that's what he meant! Okay.
Yeah, yeah.
Okay.
Okay.
Let's go again.
David (02:34):
The amount of preparation, I mean you just got
to know it inside out.
Kobna (02:36):
Yeah, that's it.
David (02:38):
Well, we'll come to audiobooks later'cause that's
kind of the main subject in thisepisode really.
But let's start with you and goback to the beginning.
Where did it begin for you-acting- and how did you get
involved and when did you feelyou wanted to become an actor?
Kobna (02:51):
So the loose story is when I was about sixteen-
fifteen- I would have been- I, Ithought ooh, can I be an actor?
It didn't, it just hadn'toccurred to me as I'm a
realistic job.
David (03:04):
That's what everyone says .
Kobna (03:05):
Yeah.
Like an Astronaut or something.
It's just not a realistic job.
It's something, something that'sdone but not, not, not a job,
job.
So, yeah, I didn't think it wassomething I could do or was
allowed to do.
And then I thought, oh, let metry it.
Yeah.
Um, but it wasn't, it wasn'tuntil I was about eighteen or
nineteen that I think theswitch, a switch flipped in my
(03:26):
head and I went from wanting tobe famous to wanting to be an
actual actor.
Actually acting- that's thedifference.
That's been the difference thatI've cherished the most.
I think when I was abouteighteen or nineteen, I was
seeing things that I foundcaptivating and absorbing and,
(03:47):
and I realised like that's partof what I've enjoyed and what
made me want to be an actor wasinitially something about, um,
being applauded and popular.
But also something about sharingthe experiences I've enjoyed,
sharing the made up magics thatI had gone to see in cinemas or
(04:12):
in plays.
I didn't go to the theatre thatmuch as a kid.
David (04:14):
It was cinema, I guess?
Kobna (04:14):
Cinema, yes.
Films.
It was films to me, like in avideo shop at the end of the
high street.
Uh, then voice wise, I thinkbecoming a voice actor...
I've always liked accents andwords and I suppose we could say
communication, but verbalcommunication, and that's fed
(04:37):
into me as an actor, what I doas an actor, what I put into my
work as an actor.
As a conventional actor.
But as a voice actor, that'swhere I by far have the most
detail and complexity and funand range.
In my whole career.
I can play anybody and nobodycan say otherwise.
David (04:55):
That's exactly how I feel about it.
'Cause it doesn't matter ifyou're too small or too tall or
whatever you are- you can sounddifferent, more than you can
look.
Kobna (05:00):
You can sound older, younger.
Yeah.
Yeah, yeah.
It's quite thrilling.
David (05:05):
So we spoke to James Faulkner a couple of weeks ago
who is also on the books.
He was talking a little bitabout the control-'cause he went
to RADA.
Did you do any kind of specificvocal training or is it just
something that came with theacting training?
Kobna (05:21):
Well, I had a really good , uh, voice teacher.
Um, there's guy called JoeWindley who I really dug.
I think I've had a few teacherson along the way that I've
really- I've never had like amentor or anything, you know,
never had any one person that Icould say ah, this person guided
me through, as it were, but somereally critical people.
(05:44):
There's Steve Buckwald whotaught me acting, Joe Blowers
who taught me to move and todance.
I mentioned them because theyall come into voice.
When I got to drama school andmet Joe and we started, we were
working with him and his teamand the various teachers we had,
there were so many lessons tolearn about- well, no, not even
(06:05):
learn, unlearn- about how youuse a voice, how you relax and
what people call project andmodulating.
Chances to play with things andhow you apply them to text.
That was really, reallyexciting.
Understanding how storytellingworks and why you might do
something one way and notanother that isn't, it's not,
(06:27):
it's not immediately availableto people who aren't in the
industry.
Ideally that's the best wayaround, isn't it?
You want all the technique to beinvisible.
David (06:37):
Yeah, yeah, absolutely.
Just want to listen and have itsound great and you're totally
enraptured by listening to thestory.
That's, I mean, that's theinteresting thing about audio
books, isn't it?
It's not about the actor givinga performance on the book.
It's just, you know, reading itso that people are going to
listen and listen to the actualstory.
Kobna (06:55):
Yeah.
That's certainly my take on it.
But that also it lends itself toquite detailed performance quite
- you can take some risks,especially if the book is
fantastical or if it's got somekind of punch to it.
You can really lean in.
Yeah.
David (07:13):
So audiobooks as a, as a thing.
Did that come later?
Did you ever think?
Because I mean it's, it'sexploded, hasn't it?
The last ten years?
Years ago no one listened toaudiobooks, and now everyone
does.
Kobna (07:24):
It's true.
I listened to them at dramaschool.
I remember Bill Bryson had- hewas especially amusing.
No- not him- it was Kerry Shale,I think it was.
I remember they were especiallyamusing.
My friend didn't like readingbooks and she used to listen to
audiobooks.
So I kind of got into them and Iused to drive a lot and I used
to have them in my car and so Ilistened to a few.
But as you say, it was a bit ofa farce.
(07:47):
Finding them and ordering themand their on cassettes and then
they were on CDs but noweverything's digitalized.
It's so much better.
And most of the books I consume,I have to read a lot for work.
So between like reading scriptsand you know, books for, I don't
know, research or theory orwhatever.
Anything else.
And then for my recreationalreading, the vast majority of it
(08:08):
is on Audible.
David (08:10):
So you're a listener as well?
Kobna (08:11):
Oh yeah, yeah, yeah.
Avid.
David (08:13):
When you prepare people generally have their own way of
prepping.
I mean probably as a listener,people don't understand the
hours that go in before you evenset foot in the studio.
Are you an iPad man and you markeverything up and you read the
book a couple of times?
Kobna (08:30):
I used to be a paper man, but I don't mark up as much
anymore- I only tend to mark upif I haven't much time at all.
Or, if it's a particularlyknotty book, but generally
speaking I do a read and then Ijump in.
Which is pretty basic, but yeah.
But I feel confident- like thepunctuation- it's usually been
(08:51):
edited.
I can track it.
The Dickens was an interesting,the only thing that was
difficult about the Dickens, ittook so long that there were
characters that re-emerge.
He likes to whip the covers offsomeone and bring someone back
from, you know, from perdition.
David (09:06):
So you have to remember the voice!
Kobna (09:06):
Yeah'oh maaan, what did so-and-so sound like?' Rivers of
London has a similar thing whereI'll sit there with the- it was
Peter Rooney before, but nowit's Leo Wesser and Ben
Carpenter.
They're the other engineers I'veworked with.
'How did so-and-so sound again?
What did we-?
Oh, what did I do...?' and thenwe have to think back or see if
(09:28):
we have samples.
They're the main problems, butthe actual expression of it is
usually I usually do it quitefeelingly, which is precarious,
but it really works for me.
It seems like a peculiar habit,but it seems fine to me- but to
others- I read in the dark, sowhen I go into a studio, I ask
to turn all the lights off.
I don't like the air-con oneither- dries me out- and I have
(09:51):
my iPad in dark mode, so I canonly see the words, just the
words.
I am not distracted by the sortof visual noise around anything
else.
David (10:02):
Yeah, yeah.
It gives you that level offocus.
Yeah.
Important, isn't it?
If you're in it a hundredpercent.
Kobna (10:07):
That's it.
Yeah.
And I breathe as well.
I'm really careful aboutbreathing.
I take huge, huge draughts ofbreath before I begin.
And then, just top them up, topthem up, top them up, which is
quite wearing.
So then- and it's all coming outnow- I then also have these
power naps as well.
So I go when it's lunch-time, Ilike to take the full hour, go
(10:28):
and have a bite and then I laydown- crash.
David (10:32):
So often you find, you get, you know, many different
characters, accents.
Kobna (10:38):
Love them, love it.
David (10:39):
Yeah.
I mean that's another thing,isn't it?
If you're scared of that,audiobooks aren't for you to do,
but if you love doing that- andyou do.
So it must be a challengesometimes, isn't it?
Kobna (10:48):
Say someone says, oh, you've got to do a, I don't
know, whatever accent now.
I look them up on whateversource, YouTube, Forvo.
Anything I can find a decentsample of, if it's somewhere
international, try and find anEnglish speaking version of that
person.
And then I transcribe one or twothings they say or maybe a line
(11:09):
of the text into phonetics andthat's my trigger sentence.
Then I have a sentence that getsme in and then I'm in.
Yeah.
And then I have what's called avowel rack where I know how I, I
transpose the way that they saycertain vowels or sounds.
David (11:24):
Which are key! If you get your vowels right, you're there!
So a couple of other areas we'vebeen talking about that you also
work in quite a lot- ADR andgames as well.
Which again is almost likeaudiobooks- in just the last 10
years it's suddenly started toexplode.
(11:44):
You know, they both require thespeed of thought.
And often improvisation, Isuppose ADR maybe more than
games, but sometimes games.
You're an improviser?
Kobna (11:55):
Yeah.
Yeah.
So the ADR is especially subtlebecause the games they'll have a
script obviously, but you canimprovise some things and some
sounds.
And some of the experience.
David (12:05):
Mainly scripted though.
Kobna (12:05):
The main thing with games is a, it's almost invariably
like high-intensity screaming orshouting or something.
You know, almost- sometimes not.
But with ADR you can't suddenlysay'What?
There's been a fire?!' Itbecomes too attractive-
David (12:23):
And you have to avoid the plot a lot of the time- can't
give anything away!
Kobna (12:24):
And you have to avoid things like brand names.
Then if you're doing somethingperiod, you have to avoid saying
things like'okay' or idioms-
David (12:31):
Don't mention mobile phones, we're in the sixties!
Kobna (12:31):
It's really, really, yeah , it's engaging.
It's a great little side hustle.
David (12:41):
Fascinating.
So before we go, we've got fivelittle quick questions that we
ask everyone just to getbackground.
So I see what you come up with.
Instinct.
Are you a cat person or a dogperson?
Kobna (12:53):
Dog person.
David (12:54):
Own a dog?
Kobna (12:55):
No, I don't.
David (12:56):
Yeah.
Fair enough.
Um, favourite ice cream flavor?
Kobna (13:00):
I don't eat ice cream but pistachio is by far the best!
(13:05):
If you had to be forced to eat ice-cream..
Oh I adore pistachio! Okay.
Movies.
Have you got a favourite or acouple of favourite movies?
Kobna (13:17):
I don't think anybody is allowed to ever have a favourite
movie ever.
It's been decreed here.
Stop it.
But I think, let's see...
movies I've enjoyed recently.
Movies I'm looking forward toseeing.
How's that?
The favourite movies I want tosee...
I want to see something calledQueenie& Slim.
That looks amazing.
It's got Daniel Kaluuya in it.
I want to see Booksmart.
(13:39):
Uh, I wanna see Brightburn.
They are things I haven't seenthat are out now.
Miracle At St Anna, which is anold film by Spike Lee.
That came into my head when youasked, because I found it just
very, I found it had a balanceof sort of spirituality and
magic that surprised me'causeit's a war film.
(13:59):
Uh, and it's set in, there's allthe like bombs going off and
it's detailed, but there's likethese soldiers, the fraternity
between them and they'rerescuing art and it's great.
But obviously the obvious, theobvious ones like your
Godfathers and your Star Wars...
David (14:14):
The classics.
Kobna (14:14):
You get those for free!
David (14:15):
Okay.
Theatre.
Have you been recently, what'sthe last thing you saw?
Kobna (14:20):
I saw Rosmersholm last night.
I go quite a lot.
Yeah, I go quite bit.
Yeah.
Saw Rosmersholm last night and Iwas really impressed.
The adaptation is by a guycalled Duncan Macmillan.
It is so good.
So, it's Ibsen, it's an Ibsenplay- perfectly plotted
obviously.
And the relationships are reallycomplex and it's like, it must
(14:41):
have been wildly outrageous inits time, but what Duncan's
translations and he's got thisamazing, very, very believable,
very fresh language that isbursting with detail.
It's such, it's such a feat.
People say things to each otherand all the subtext is there,
but he, he hasn't, we can'tcatch him crow-barring detail in
(15:02):
anywhere.
Seamless.
David (15:04):
Funny.
You're not the first person tomention that! So last one is,
have you got a favourite placein London?
Kobna (15:14):
Oh, that's a good question.
Yeah.
Um, favourite place in London atthe moment- it changes, don't@
me!- Brockwell Park.
Yeah, I like it.
It does feel like they just,they just stopped developing
around the rim of it and it'sstill got a kind of like
(15:34):
windswept, you know, tree cropsup here and bushes.
It's great.
It feels natural.
It doesn't feel like a park thatwas landscaped.
It probably is, I don't knowanything about its history, but
Brockwell Park.
And I quite like, I like parksgenerally.
I quite like Hyde, butBrockwell's amazing.
David (15:49):
Yeah.
Cool.
Okay.
Kobs.
Thank you!
Kobna (15:52):
Thank you very much, Dave.
David (15:53):
Great to have a chat with you.
So we have finished with thislittle series.
This is our last episode.
We just wanted to say thanks toall our guests for giving us a
bit of time, having a chat aboutthe industry, letting us learn a
little bit about them and theirwork.
Keep your ears open if you'reinterested.
There'll be more soon, hopefullycoming up and keep an eye on our
(16:17):
social media accounts.
You can listen to the reels ofall the actors that we've
interviewed.
So you can hear James Faulkner,Alison Dowling, David Rintoul,
and of course Kobna HoldbrookSmith.
(16:40):
The Squadcast is a voice squadlimited production.
It's hosted by me, David John,devised by Neil Conrich and
produced and edited by EmmaSamuel.
We'd just like say a specialthanks to The Sound Company,
which is where we are today forkindly letting us use a lovely
quiet room here for a couple ofour recordings.
Very kind of them.
Thanks for listening andhopefully you'll hear more from
(17:10):
us very soon.
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