Sounds Good Audiobooks

Sounds Good is an audiobooks production studio run by New Writing North, based in Northumbria University in the heart of Newcastle upon Tyne.

With few dedicated audiobook production studios between Yorkshire and Scotland, Sounds Good Audio Studio offers publishers high-quality production, trusted by major publishers Hachette, Faber, PanMcMillan and Audible.

Sounds Good Audio offers pre-production guidance, full casting service from an array of locally-based talent, directed studio recordings, full QC& post-production and PR outreach, for your books in affiliation with New Writing North’s platforms.

Headed up by Lucie McNeil, the studio has produced audiobooks spanning all genres including commercial fiction, non-fiction, memoir, education, fantasy and literary translated work.

We have excellent narrator networks across all backgrounds, including standard British/RP, with a focus on authentic Northern, North East, Scottish and Yorkshire accents and we are always looking for new voices to offer our publishers.

The studio offers training and paid recording opportunities for new producers and has a strong track record of supporting new and diverse voices into audio.

The Sounds Good Audio Studio will expand as the new centre for writing and publishing, co-founded by New Writing North and Northumbria University, opens in Newcastle in 2029. This centre will establish Newcastle as a new publishing and creative hub for multiple ways of accessing reading and creating storytelling from the region, across the UK and internationally.

We offer competitive pricing so please contact us to discuss your project.
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“Working with Lucie and New Writing North has been a wonderful experience. Most recently I recorded Freezing Point, a translation from Dane Anders Bodelsen, published by Faber; lots of sci-fi based opportunity to delve into tone, character and play in vocal variety. These rich, well crafted titles make narration such a joy.”

“I’m a dyslexic reader and the team at NWN are brilliant at helping me to think of new ways to enable each recording to allow me to perform to the best of my ability. Cycling into the recording studio is also much better than a 3 hour train to London!”

Jonah York

“I absolutely love working with Lucie; it’s such a fun and nurturing environment and has allowed me to broaden my skills in narration and produce work I’m really proud of.”

“On Barrowbeck, I was thrilled to work on creating the right sound for such beautiful and eerie folk horror stories. Each chapter needed a slight change of tone and a completely new set of characters, and I enjoyed the research involved in figuring out who these characters were and what they might sound like. Lucie has a lot of experience, is brilliant with gentle, paced direction even down to knowing when to break with much-needed tea and snacks for onward energy!”

“We get loads of tips from the team. When you’re narrating an audiobook, there’s a lot of preparation involved on the morning, with vocal warm-ups, re-reading tricky sections and hydrating to make sure you sound and feel your best.”

“Having such a central Newcastle studio means you spend more time preparing, and less time travelling which relieves a lot of stress!”

Gaby Pond

More about Lucie

Lucie draws on 20 years of senior in-house and freelance creative engagement and advisor roles in multiple sectors and countries, including National Geographic, Harvard University, The Australian Museum and the UK Prime Minister’s Office.

Born and raised in Durham and Northumberland, she loves bringing disparate creative potential together into practical projects for communities focusing how and where our individual differences can be nurtured as strengths.