NEW YORK, May 11, 2020 — TransPerfect, the world’s largest provider of language and technology solutions for global business, today announced its increased audiobook production capabilities as well as the audiobook release of author David Shields’s critically acclaimed book, Black Planet: Facing Race During an NBA Season, produced in collaboration with TransPerfect Media.NEXT and now available for sale on iTunes, Audible, and Amazon.
Black Planet was a finalist for the 1999 National Book Critics Circle Award and the PEN USA Award. It was named one of the “10 Best Nonfiction Books of the Year” by Esquire, Newsday, LA Weekly, and Amazon.com. A. O. Scott called it “one of the best books ever written on the subject of sport in America, which is to say a book that is about a great deal more than sport.”
TransPerfect offers full audiobook creation capabilities with talent recording, either in company-owned studios or at approved remote or home-based facilities. Solutions include pre-flight, consulting, supervised recording, and collaborative editing in any language through its global network of expert voice talent. The company’s capabilities have grown significantly over the past year thanks to the recently announced mergers with Lylo Media Group, Lassostudios, Sublime Subtitling and Translation, Scheune München, AGM Factory, and Chulengo. The company has invested heavily in providing the most advanced dubbing, voiceover, narration, and subtitling services, such as its AI-powered Media.NEXT solution.
Black Planet was recorded by Donald Elivert, a longtime member of the TransPerfect family. The collaborative model that included Elivert and his home-based studio, TransPerfect production teams, and Shields is a compelling proof-of-concept that will serve as the blueprint to expand future audiobook production efforts.
On the newly released audiobook, Shields said, “I’m stunned by the brilliant work Donald Elivert did with the audiobook. It feels like the true culmination of the book. There’s not a nuance he missed.”
Elivert commented, “Voice actors—particularly those recording in home studios—often have to function as talent, director, and audio engineer simultaneously. It helps when you have a reliable and experienced partner like TransPerfect to handle some of the heavy lifting. Their flexible workflow model allows voiceover professionals who are capable of providing high-quality audio remotely to avoid studio availability challenges and other logistical concerns. Black Planet was completed more quickly and cost-effectively than work in a traditional studio would have allowed, all while maintaining the highest professional quality standards.”
TransPerfect President and CEO Phil Shawe stated, “The audiobook industry is growing rapidly, and that demand represents a significant opportunity for TransPerfect, especially given our newly released technologies that enable professional audio recording in the cloud.”
About Black Planet: Facing Race During an NBA Season, by David Shields (Publisher’s Summary)
The National Basketball Association is a place where white fans and black players enact virtually every racial issue and tension in US culture. Following the Seattle SuperSonics for an entire season, David Shields explores how, in a predominantly black sport, white fans—including especially himself—think about and talk about black heroes, black scapegoats, and black bodies. Critically acclaimed and highly controversial, Black Planet was a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award and the PEN USA Award, and was named one of the Top Ten Nonfiction Books of 1999 by Esquire, Newsday, Los Angeles Weekly, and Amazon.com.
About TransPerfect
TransPerfect is the world’s largest provider of language and technology solutions for global business. From offices in over 100 cities on six continents, TransPerfect offers a full range of services in 170+ languages to clients worldwide. More than 5,000 global organizations employ TransPerfect’s GlobalLink® Product Suite to simplify management of multilingual content. With an unparalleled commitment to quality and client service, TransPerfect is fully ISO 9001 and ISO 17100 certified. TransPerfect has global headquarters in New York, with regional headquarters in London and Hong Kong. For more information, please visit our website at www.transperfect.com.