Scenes
from the script are then used to audition a group
of actors to play the various parts. The actors breifly
rehearse then, a day or two later, the show is recorded.
Sound effects are created using various tricks from
the early days of radio, like using coconut shells
on cereal, kitty litter, and rocks to simulate the
sound of horses hooves, and blowing gently into an
unprotected microphone for the sound of a hot, blustery,
breeze (as opposed to cold whistling wind). Music
is added. The scenes are edited and then the elements
(dialogue, sound effects, and music) are mixed together
to give you the final “radio drama” style program.
As of today most of the Louis L’Amour audio books
are in the audio drama or “radio drama” format. However,
there are a group of stories from the collection “Yondering”
that have been read in a solo performance by actor
Richard Crenna and which feature in depth, biographical,
interviews with Louis, himself. There is also "Trap
of Gold and Hattan's Castle" and "Showdown
Trail" read by Richard Crenna and "The Trail
to Peach Meadow Canyon", read by Robert Stack.
More reciently, full length, un-abridged recordings
have been done of the Sackett Series and others will
become available on an on-going basis.
n
1985 Bantam Books decided to start an audio books
division and early on they came to Louis to discuss
including his material in the new project. In those
early days Bantam did not want to produce long unabridged
tapes and Louis did not want his work cut to fit their
three hour format so the discussion turned to short
stories. Louis was still retisent, this time because
he was afraid that his old pulp stories did not have
enough to offer when lent dramatic weight by a reader.
Together they came up with the unique idea of producing
them like an old time radio drama and thus created
what is now the longest running series of drama for
distribution on cassette. 
The
following is how a typical Louis L’Amour short story
is turned into an audio drama: A story is selected
and a writer chosen to adapt the story into the “radio
drama” medium. This is a process very much like writing
a movie script. A particular aspect of the story is
chosen as the focus of the script. Anything that does
not support that theme usually goes by the wayside.
Scenes are developed from ideas or situations in the
story and the sketchy “short hand” dialogue you find
in most novels or short stories is expanded into fully
fleshed scenes. There is often a lot of rewriting
and in the rewriting there is a lot of discovering
what the story was really about.
