- Khaya Fraites is a New York City -based voice actor.
- It works on audiobooks, including dramatic adaptations of titles known as “Fourth Wing”.
- Fraites records in a studio she did in an Alcove of her apartment.
This strong essay is based on a conversation with Khaya Fraites, a 27-year-old voice actor living in New York City. Been edited for length and clarity.
I’ve always loved acting. I acted at the show and showed the choir in high school and high school. I went to school for theater at George Mason University and graduated in 2019.
I moved to New York in January 2020 to watch theater and film, and then the Pandemic hit.
I had always been interested in voice, but I had not had any experience. I had received a voice class and speech at college, so I had a one-minute wrapper that I would unite for a homework. I used it, got a microphone during Covid, and started audition for projects in Backstage, Casting Call Club and Actors Access.
I have been loudly acting full time for five years now, making animation, narrative and advertising.
Expressing sorrengail purple of ‘fourth arm’
I started working with Graphicaudio about three years ago. In 2025, I also began to show novels about Penguin Random House and Macmillan.
Graphicaudio’s label is “a movie in your mind.” The company hires a complete cast of actors to play every role in a book. It has sound effects and music, and is a comprehensive experience.
Graphicaudio was looking for someone to add his list that could make children’s voices. I auditioned for a specific book and reserved a small part.
The company kept me on its list, and I made small pieces in different books for about a year before taking the audition for “Fourth Wing”.
Now, I play Violet Sorrengail in the series and I am currently enrolling “Onyx Storm”. The first part of the audiobook will be released on April 30, and the second part will be released on May 30.
Khaya Fraites plays Violet Sorrengail. Fraite Khaya
For the “Fourth Wing”, I have to play by my Costa, Gabriel Michael, who says Xaden Riureson. It is a pleasure to hear and react the moment we are registering together.
Also interesting to record steam scenes. Sometimes, there are some moments of deceit, especially listening to Gabriel’s voice in my ear while I’m registering, I’m like “How can you not laugh?”
I record in what I think is a pantry of a butler converted to my railroad apartment in New York.
There is only this little Alcove that I have hanged some sound blankets forward to close it. Then, I filled the walls with foam and covered my desktop and floor with carpets.
I record on my laptop with my microphone and read my scenario from my iPad.
Making an Audiobook Adaptation
The entry into character is previously based on preparation. I make sure I know the story inside and outside by reading it several times before I register it.
We usually tear the books into two parts for graphicaudio as they are so many hours.
My work days are pretty flexible. I have to make the narrative in my time. It takes me about an hour to record 40 pages. The first half of the book we are recording is 360 pages, so it will take me about nine to 10 hours to record the narrative.
Moreover, we will need another nine hours to record all the dialogue separately. When we register dialogue, I am live with my director and costume.
Typically, audiobook rates for publishers are between $ 200 and $ 300 per hour of finished product, and Graphicaudio has separate dialogue and narrative rates.
The story can be emotional
The most difficult part of my work is time management, especially in terms of accepting projects.
In January, I recorded from 8am to 6am, 7, or even 8am, and then read and prepared for the next day from 8am to midnight. Then, I just got up and did it again.
Sometimes, I have to leave the source material, not only with the “fourth arm”, but also with other titles.
The confession requires a lot of endurance and can be exhausting emotionally and physically. I have had sessions, especially those for animation and audiobooks, where fighting scenes and all these effects can be taxed.
Some days, I just leave the stand crying because some scenes are emotionally difficult to register.
Money should not be an obstacle
When I first started acting voice, I was a last college rank in the middle of a pandemia. I had no money, and the biggest thing I saw when I watched how to get into voice acting was that I had to invest all this money in myself to do this job.
I would have to spend money on a stand, a fancy microphone, a wrapping, marketing materials, new heads and everything else.
It is very easy to allow the money to be an obstacle, but it should not be.
Khaya Fraites is a voice actor. Fraite Khaya
Put your wrapper together and get your friends to hear it and give you impression. Submit to online projects. Just put it there because I think this is what keeps people again.
Many publishers are waiting for free annual seminars or classes, and so I was done to work on Penguin Random House and Macmillan. They both had free zoom seminars, where I was able to hear auditions for manufacturers and make a presentation.
Connect with other voice actors and don’t be afraid to ask questions. I have a friend who was telling when I first started, and asked her a million questions during the pandemic, just trying to understand everything and how to start. Don’t be afraid to reach.