I was thrilled when Dave agreed to produce the audio book version of my novel,
Ring of Lies. It's taken a little persuading, but Dave finally agreed to take some time out of his busy schedule to talk to me about his career and love of music.
1. In the
past, you’ve worked as a web developer, in video production and as
musician. How did you become involved in audiobook production?
I had actually started doing voice acting and audio
recording before I became a serious musician. When I was six years old, I was
doing John Wayne and Richard Nixon impersonations (thanks, Rich Little!) By
the time I got to high school, I had added Rodney Dangerfield, Archie Bunker
and Jackie Mason. I even performed a Rodney Dangerfield impersonation routine
during a talent show in high school. But having already developed significantly
as a musician, I stopped doing live comedy performances because I thought it
was "more cool" to be recognized as a musician.
I later did voiceover work and comedy recordings, such
as an interview with Woody Allen, Sean Connery, Rodney Dangerfield, Peter Faulk
and William Shatner. All the while, I had been working professionally as a
musician and (having built several audio recording studios) had been producing
talent in studios.
Being a writer, I'd had a love of the written word and
co-founded a book-publishing firm. We had decided to move into audio book
publishing and recording. It was a natural fit for me being that I had already
built half dozen studios, had been working producing talent, and was
experienced with voice recording. So there at last was the merging of my
experience with both the written and spoken word.
2. Audiobook
production is time consuming and I believe it requires a great deal of patience
and skill. Did you undertake any specific training?
Training-wise, I developed my audio engineering and
producing chops with years of work and experience. More specific to audio book
recording, I already had a background in engineering and producing, plus I had
great ears. So from there it was a feasible move towards specializing in audio
books. However, there was nothing that could have prepared me for the patience,
stamina and unflappability needed for audio book production! There is simply no
art form in the world that tests your will like audio book recording does. No
training can prepare for that. The only way to harden yourself to the rigors of
audio book recording is to do lots of long hours of audio book work. Only then
does it become a manageable practice.
3. Can you
give my readers and listeners a brief idea of what is entailed in making the
perfect audiobook recording?
The easiest parts of this answer are: Acoustically
tight room, Great Mic, Great Mic Preamp and Analogue-to-Digital Converter; plus
a reader with a nice voice. That's that part that people can easily see on the
surface. And it makes up only about 10% of the answer! The real keys are ears,
talent and know-how. Unfortunately, these are 90% of the answer yet are the
hardest of all aspects to acquire.
Audio editing is so important. But if you listen to
many of the books these days, really carefully, you can hear so much noise, bad
breathing and cracks, pops and whistles, that it's obvious that the producers
and editors of those books have no idea they are doing. Again, it all comes
down to having the ears and the know-how. That's one of the things I have made
a high priority with davebooks.com
4. What
kind of books do you enjoy reading?
Do you mean reading as in recording audio books or
pleasure reading? As far as recording books as a narrator, I like to read
fiction books. The more interesting the plot, the better. I also like it when
there are characters with specific dialects such as British, Russian, New York,
Southern U.S., etc., though I tend in general to not alter my voice too much
because listeners prefer a more straight read. As for pleasure reading, I am
reading Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (and the other 2 books of the Karla trilogy)
for about the 5th time, because I love LeCarre's work!
5. Do you
have your own studio? You’ve recorded books for a variety of publishers,
is there any particular genre you enjoy most?
Yes, I've got a great studio with top grade tools. My
studio is the perfect blending of workability for both audio books and music,
because I've got the high resolution that music demands, yet the desired room
sound and layout for audio books.
6. How do
you feel when you hear your own voice on a recording?
Like everyone else, years ago I hated it. I spent
about 10 years trying to get my voice to sound good (vocally). Different mics,
positions, styles, etc. It finally came together around 15 years ago while
recording a hard rock song. Voice over was the same. I listen to my early
recordings and cringe. But I've gotten to a point where I can accept the sound
of my voice most of the time :-)
7. You are
also a talented musician. What type of music do you like to play/sing? Do
you have a regular fan base, and what is the largest venue you have played in?
The music I like most to work on is my original
singer/songwriter material. That's the most fun. I've got a small fan base,
though one of my deficiencies is that, with my own music at least, I am almost
introverted when it comes to putting it out there. With other people's music
it's totally different. I've got two Gold records so far for my recording work,
and I have some new material that is unreleased that I think can be pretty
huge. The largest venue I've played was the Mann Music Center in Philadelphia,
about 20, 000 people. Lots of fun, that was!
For more information about Dave Giorgio and Dave Books, visit his website at: http://davebooks.com
