The Familiars Audio Book

Adam and I had the unique opportunity to see the making of The Familiars audiobook this week. Not far from where we live in Los Angeles, in nearby Tarzana, resides Deyan Audio. We pulled up to a nondescript white house on the corner and were met by Bob Deyan, the enthusiastic, book-loving founder of the company. He brought us inside, and to our surprise, we found a dozen editors and engineers working behind Mac Pro Tool workstations. They were all doing quality control on the eight hours and four days of audio recording of Lincoln Hoppe, the fantastic narrator who is the voice of The Familiars and recently read aloud the 360 page book. They were making sure that not one of the 60,000 words was accidentally skipped or mispronounced, and listening to ensure that his diction was clear and well-paced. Upstairs was a state of the art sound studio and recording booth where the recordings take place. I honestly imagined that books on tape were produced by a guy in a garage with a Mac computer. But this was serious! What a great feeling to know that the same care and passion goes into the production of this audio experience as went into the writing of the book. I'm a big fan of listening to books on tape -- or on CD or my iPod -- and I can't wait until a long Los Angeles commute in the fall when I can sit back, relax, and listen to The Familiars.