Earselect Around The Globe: Finland
In our series introduction, we highlighted how vastly listener expectations vary from country to country. When it comes to Finland, producing a standout audiobook requires a fine balance: an ear for authentic, natural performance paired with an uncompromising standard for in-studio engineering.
While Earselect offers assisted recording sessions across several of our international markets, Finland stands out for a very specific reason: we are the only production company in the Finnish market that provides engineer-assisted recordings as our core standard. Every session benefits from hands-on technical and directorial support right inside the booth, ensuring non-professional narrators feel supported and experienced talent deliver their absolute best.
To take a closer look at how we navigate the Finnish audio landscape, we sat down with two key members of our team:
- Antti Yrtti, Production Manager:
Leading our Finnish operations, Antti acts as the strategic bridge - between publishers, authors, and talent, guiding casting choices, production pipelines, and market growth.
- Miki Brunou, Studio Manager & Audio Design Expert:
The creative authority in our Finnish studio, Miki leads studio operations and engineers our most ambitious projects, including immersive audio dramas, multi-voice productions, and commercial campaigns.
Casting & The Natural Finnish Tone
Finnish listening preferences have remained remarkably consistent even as the audiobook market has rapidly expanded. Many of the narrators listeners love today were already favorites a decade ago. As Antti observes, people are not simply choosing a voice, they are building a long-term relationship.
Finnish listeners generally appreciate a measured, natural delivery that serves the story without drawing unnecessary attention to the performance. The skill lies in conveying emotion subtly, leaving room for the listener’s own imagination.
"I often think of it this way: the narrator should open the door to the story, not stand in the doorway." – Antti Yrtti
When approaching casting with publishers, the evaluation goes beyond finding a pleasant-sounding voice. By exploring our extensive narrator pool together, we match the voice to the book’s tone, perspective, and intended audience, asking a fundamental question: Whose voice will feel right for this particular story over several hours?
Inside the Booth: The Power of Assisted Recordings
Modern technology has made remote and self-recording setups far more capable, and it is a path we continuously monitor and evaluate as tools mature. However, performing a script remains a demanding interpretive task. In our Finnish studio, engineer-assisted recording remains our default baseline because it allows talent to focus entirely on their performance without being distracted by technical controls.
As Miki explains, maintaining that level of immersion is key, though having a dedicated engineer in the session provides a unique advantage today:
"With contemporary technology, it’s becoming easier to build interfaces for self-recording, and while it's an approach we keep an eye on, doing it without support can disrupt a narrator's flow if they're constantly managing technical matters. Having an engineer present gives talent a living, breathing audience in the session, which makes a huge difference in sharpening and energizing the performance."
On a practical level, our engineers manage pronunciation consistency, such as verifying foreign names across the entire manuscript, and help narrators maintain seamless vocal continuity across multiple daily sessions.
This hands-on presence also creates space for deep collaboration. When an author working with publisher Gummerus recently described our engineer Pirkka as a "sound engineer, philosopher, and therapist all in one package," it highlighted what sets great studio engineering apart. While managing technical setups is mandatory, being fully present as an empathetic partner is what separates a routine technician from a master engineer.
Expanding Choice: AI & Scalable Listening
Interest in AI-assisted productions and tools like VoiceSwitcher is steadily growing, but the technology must ultimately be judged by the overall listening experience rather than a short demonstration clip. Sustaining narrative meaning, rhythm, and emotional continuity over an entire book presents a different challenge altogether.
In Finland, listeners place high value on original human performances. However, voice preferences are inherently personal—one listener's favorite narrator might be the exact reason another struggles to finish a book.
"This is where VoiceSwitcher offers a particularly useful addition”, Antti says. “It gives listeners another way into the same story. If the original voice does not resonate with them, they have an alternative rather than having to abandon the book altogether."
For publishers, AI offers a scalable way to broaden listener choice without replacing human narration. The goal is not simply generating more audio, but helping more listeners find a version of a story they genuinely want to finish.
Building Cinematic Audio Landscapes
Beyond traditional single-voice audiobooks, our Finnish studio regularly produces Storytel commercials, multi-voice productions, and complex audio dramas. Managing these ambitious formats keeps our daily workflows sharp, allowing us to adopt new tools and studio setups – whether evaluating advanced self-recording interfaces or testing new AI tools – without falling into rigid production habits.
Creating a full audio drama or soundscape requires a deep understanding of the script, its characters, and the core principles of dramaturgy. It takes restraint to know when to use subtle atmospheric details versus high-impact sound design.
"It’s easy to drown the soundstage in cinematic bells and whistles, but it’s exactly in doing the opposite that the craft of sound design is measured: in defining what is truly essential to convey the desired message.", Miki states.
Because cognitive bandwidth is limited, stacking sounds endlessly can overwhelm the listener. Successful sound design relies on close, intimate collaboration between the sound designer, author, and dramaturg to identify what each scene truly requires.
Unlocking Accessibility with Celia
A major milestone for our Finnish team is our signed agreement with Celia, Finland’s national library for accessible literature. Operating under the National Archives of Finland, Celia has made literature accessible to individuals affected by disabilities, illnesses, or reading difficulties since 1890.
Stories connect us to shared ideas and cultural conversations, and readers with less visible needs deserve the same breadth of choice and production quality as any other audience.
Our partnership with Celia connects this mission directly to our daily work. Publishers producing audio with Earselect can participate in co-productions that support accessible listening, with Celia contributing to production costs. It represents a practical model where publishers, production teams, and public cultural institutions work toward a shared goal of universal access.
Advice for Entering the Finnish Market
For international publishers and content providers entering the Finnish market for the first time, success comes down to understanding what local audiences want to listen to, not just what they want to read.
Real-life stories, biographies, and memoirs with genuine emotional honesty resonate strongly with Finnish listeners, creating an intimate sense of direct connection. Regardless of whether a title is fiction or non-fiction, the writing, translation, and narration must sound completely believable together.
Involving local editorial and production expertise early in the process ensures casting and delivery shape the book effectively from day one. When authenticity, studio engineering, and strategic casting align, even familiar subjects find fresh life with new audiences. As Antti puts it:
"What keeps me optimistic is how often a story still manages to surprise me. We sometimes talk as though everything has already been told, yet people, lives and cultures keep changing. Familiar subjects acquire new meaning through a different person’s experience. There is no shortage of stories. I like to think that some of the greatest ones are still waiting to be written – and heard."