Category Archives: Audio Book Recording & Production

Hurricane Amy Hits New Orleans

April 25, 2017 Micheal Leave a comment

AmyLandonRecordsAudiobooksAirliftProductionsNewOrleansMarch2017 — Amy Landon recording audio books at **Airlift Productions** New Orleans, March 2017

Hurricane season in NOLA arrived a bit early this year. Little did I realize when we first talked on the phone what a force of nature AMY LANDON was.

“Hurricane Amy” had found my website, innocently enough, through a referral and a Google search. She reached out to me in January with her initial inquiry, but nothing in that call had prepared me for the drive, intellect, talent and passion that blew into New Orleans in early March.

Idaho native, Los Angeles-Nashville transplant, actress, writer, audio book narrator, voice over talent – and self-described ‘motochick’ – Amy Landon was looking for a quality recording studio in N’awlins to help her record gigabytes of audio book work throughout March.

I said, ‘Why not?” And did we ever.

AmyLandonAudioBookNarratorAirliftProductionsNewOrleansMarch2017 — Los Angeles-based actress AMY LANDON records audio books at **Airlift Productions NOLA**

Working and recording together every afternoon, we created other worlds – from young-adult paranormal science fiction to dramatic whodunnit mystery thrillers.

And “Hurricane Amy” did all this with just the sound of her voice!

Creating believable character after character, painting scenic pictures, drawing the listener deeper with every ‘page’ of her iPad, Amy weaved audio book magic daily at the Airlift Productions microphones.

Having worked with many talents across many years – and with hundreds of sessions to compare hers with – I was struck by her dogged stamina and hyper-focus, especially after hours-long sessions at the mic.

** A very unique view of audio book production ~ with computer-generated wave files reflected off the studio glass **

For voice talents, no doubt, if the radio commercial or TV tag is the hundred yard dash, the audio book is the marathon!

And this woman is without question in for the long haul, a true hurricane force-of-nature talent, the real deal!

Case in point?

AmyLandonMotochickActress — AMY LANDON “motochick”, all decked-out for a date with her Harley

Amy’s now back in Los Angeles. Did she fly? Take Amtrak?

Uh-no.

She rode her Harley Davidson from New Orleans all the way home to the west coast.

Solo!

Thankfully, during her time here in New Orleans, she took me along for the ride.

For awhile.

And today, I still somehow find myself watching the weather channel, looking for strange hurricane-type activity boomeranging back towards New Orleans – from the west … instead of the Gulf.

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“Working with Airlift Mike in NOLA was an utter pleasure. I was in town for business for a month and needed to maintain my audiobook recording schedule. Mike was accommodating and a pure professional. He mastered the punch and roll technique in 24 hours to be ready for our first session, and over the course of the month we laid down 5 books and a number of auditions. His studio sounds great. The vibe & atmosphere can’t be beat. You’d be hard pressed to find a better recording studio in the southeast – no matter what your needs. I wish I could have stayed!” ~ Amy Landon

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Airlift Productions ~ telling America’s Great Stories from New Orleans since 1984

Airlift Productions Goes to the Dogs! Arf-Arf!

October 7, 2016 Micheal Leave a comment

ZakGeorgeRecordsAudioBookAtAirliftProductionsNOLA — Zak George records his audio book “Dog Training rEvolution” @ Airlift Productions New Orleans

The email came into the Airlift Studios, innocently enough, just a couple weeks back.

It was a referral (my favorite kind of email) from the Studio Director at Blackstone Audio, the largest independent audio book publisher in America.

Bryan had been referred to Airlift Productions & me by the same audio book producer who’d hired me to record James Carville for the first time. And the second time. And the third time.

The job?

Taking the words of America’s preeminent ‘dog whisperer’ and making them leap off the page in a new audio book treatment, in an effort to help dog lovers across the world wake up to a more ethical and nurturing approach to raising their little canine cuties.

ZakGeorgeMakesAudioBookTracksAtAirliftProductionsNOLA — Zak George articulates his humane – and human – approach to dog training at Airlift Productions NOLA

If you haven’t already, meet ZAK GEORGE!

Zak has simply stolen the dog training stage – from shows on the Animal Planet to the BBC, and from the late-night forums of Letterman to Fallon, Zak has 130, 895 Likes & Followers on his Facebook page and 1.5 million views PER MONTH on You Tube!

Whew!

Zak & I first met and went to work (?) on Thursday, October 6th, recording the audio book treatment of his destined-to-be bestseller for Blackstone, along with hot-shot producer Jared Garcia on the Airlift Studio’s phone-patch setup.

Together, we plowed through the introduction and chapter after chapter, while bonding and laughing, and creating the doggie lover’s ultimate tome – “Dog Training rEvolution”.

Sample just a taste of Zak’s genuine love & compassion for our favorite four footed furry friends in his most recent You Tube blast here ….

Monday and Tuesday we’ll be back at it – giving LIFE to words on paper… making Audio Book Magic!

Recording and mastering wave files into computers, and at the same time delivering sincere, honest emotion into headphones and speakers.

Don’t you just love people who’ve found a way to make life work?

I mean, a job is one thing … but when one has found a way to live life at the intersection of passion/compassion and opportunity/luck … well, that’s quite another.

I would say, “Zak, go fetch!”

But, apparently, he’s already caught it.

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JohnFMcElroyRecordsWithAirliftProductionsNOLA — New York-based Award-Winning Audio Book Producer records with Airlift Productions

“Micheal Ziants & I have worked on a number of celebrity productions together. He’s a cool head in tight spots, keeping the talent moving ahead happily. He has a wealth of experience at the controls and behind the mic, and knows what he can and can’t get — a valuable and rare sense of proportion. Working at Airlift Productions remotely via Skype or phone patch is seamless. It’s like being in the next room.”

— JOHN F. McELROY, New York based Grammy Award Winning Audio Book Producer

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Airlift Productions ~ Telling America’s Great Stories from New Orleans since 1984

Airlift Industrial & Documentary Work, Airlift Music Sessions, Airlift Productions RADIO work, Audio Book Recording & Production

2016 ~ Janus/January and NOLA Airlift Reflections

January 7, 2016 Micheal Leave a comment

January is the month for reflection. And prognostication! (u like that word?)

In legend, named after the Roman god Janus, who had two heads & faces, January gives us all pause & cause to look back (reflect) and forward (predict/prognosticate) at the same time.

So, let’s do that.

As a VoiceOver & Radio dude operating a full-blown recording studio & production business in the great city of New Orleans, LA for now-THIRTY years, I guess it would be safe to say that I’ve got some pretty fascinating stories to tell.

From working with – and RECORDING – everyone from Archie Manning to Dr. Morgus the Magnificent, Quvenzhane Wallis to James Carville, Ronnie Lamarque to Dr. John, Mayor Marc Morial to Mayor Mitch Landrieu, Reverend Avery Alexander to Congressman Bill Jefferson (I could go on and on, name dropping, but you get the idea) – what a RIDE!

When it comes time to reflect, it’s like, OK, so where do I start?!?

I sure do miss some old friends. How about we start there?

BuddyStallRecordedRadioSpotsWithAirliftProductionsNOLA — Buddy Stall made radio magic for YEARS with Airlift Productions NOLA

I miss my old buddy Buddy Stall. As Louisiana historian, writer & public speaker, Old “Gaspar J” sure could spin a yarn. And always about the people and the town he loved.

Buddy passed (dropped his body) in 2011 at the age of 81, but not before leaving quite the mark on the Crescent City.

His books and speeches about “The City That Care Forgot” are legendary, and were they ever fun!

We worked together for years. Ironically, one of his final gifts to me was the DVD of the special documentary he’d made of the great cemeteries of NOLA!

Give a LISTEN to just one of our radio gems that we cooked-up together through the years. This one is to sell our Louis Armstrong International Airport …

** The Late Buddy Stall making magic at Airlift Productions, NOLA **

Wow!

Reverend & State Rep Avery Alexander Recorded VoiceOver At Airlift Productions NOLA

Or, how about having the opportunity to record the late Reverend Avery C. Alexander for an Academy Award-winning documentary film, as I worked side-by-side with the legendary Charles Guggenheim?!?

(I mean, really. Who wrote this screenplay? And how many ever get a chance to live this kind of life?)

The Rev’s candid, honest & heartfelt sentiments resonate and reverberate from last century to this one.

** Avery Alexander talks of David Duke, the KKK, and anti-Catholic & anti-Jew bias for Guggenheim Documentary at Airlift 1992 **

January 2016, reflections on not only some of the great spirits who’ve spent time at the Airlift Productions microphones, but how about the BUSINESSES that have come and gone?

CosimoMatassaMichealZiantsAirliftProductions1988 — The late legendary & seminal NOLA Recording Engineer Cosimo Matassa sharing a table with Airlift Productions’ Micheal Ziants at the Big Easy Entertainment Awards Show, Fairmont Hotel, New Orleans, 1991

I spent 17 years with Ronnie Lamarque “Bridging the Gap” (remember when he had 7 dealerships on both sides of the river and lake?), I wrote and recorded many commercials for Archie Manning when he & his partner Steve Smith had the long-gone Gold’s Gym franchise on Veterans … and one of my fave old accounts (which has sentimental bearing here) was David Ervin’s “The Daiquiri Factory”!

Imagine using kids from a daycare to “reminisce” (really, can kids do that?) to sell an alcohol-fueled Eggnog Daiquiri on the radio to adults.

Crank up the speakers on your digital device and listen to the gang at Judy’s PlayCare in mid city NOLA make you all misty, so you’ll open up your wallet to buy a daiquiri … back in 1992 —–

** Daiquiri Factory 1992 “Eggnog” Campaign – Airlift Productions **

Yes, from radio spots to television voice-overs, industrial training narrations to comedy albums, music projects to website audio, educational software to documentary films … life around the old Airlift Productions campus is never boring!

Ever.

And gee, I didn’t get a chance to tell the stories about recording Anders Osborne & Theresa Andersson right after they landed in America & NOLA, or capturing two entire audio books with James Carville (and the wife), or tracking VoiceOver with Chef John Besh for TLC!

AirliftProductionsL-R.RichLenzBrianLandryNormanRobinsonDanMilhamHeathAllenMichealZiants.8-29-15 — “Katrina-versary Get-Together” on Saturday August 29th, 2015 (L-R) Rich Lenz, Brian Landry, Norman Robinson, Dan Milham, Heath Allen, Airlift Proprietor Micheal Ziants

But, hey, that’s what January is all about, right? Looking back – and forward.

Stories for another day, another blog, another time.

In the meantime, look us up at the Airlift Productions Studios. We’ll leave the mics hot and warmed-up for you.

As our old buddy James Taylor once reminded us – “The secret to Life is enjoying the passage of Time”.

So, let’s do that.

And allow me to be one of the last to say Happy New Year to you!

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JamesCarvilleRecordsAtAirliftProductionsNOLA — Airlift Productions Proprietor Micheal Ziants shoulder-to-shoulder with JAMES CARVILLE at the Airlift Studios

“I have been in studios from the Bayou to the Beltway, and I can say after recording my last two audio books with Mike, that there is no better place than Airlift Productions. The quality of the production, the studio, and frankly, the comfort, make it the only place I want to record now or in the future.”

— JAMES CARVILLE, Political Commentator, Tulane Professor, and Campaign Strategist behind the most dramatic political victories of our generation

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Airlift Productions ~ Audio Alchemy from New Orleans since 1984! And … what’s next?

Audio Book Recording & Production, Careful-They Might Be Ziants

Airlift Mike Closes-Out 2015 With A “Bang!”… Sort Of

December 31, 2015 Micheal Leave a comment

Perhaps it’s because it’s what brought us all here to the planet – the “horizontal hokey-pokey”, the “old in/out, in/out”, the “mattress mambo” – that SEX hangs us all up the most.

And intrigues us the most. And sells … everything from beer to burgers, cars to movies. Just ask E. L. James.

Yes, 2015 has been very good to old E. L. and her 50 Shades Phenomenon. And to the gang at Airlift Productions as well.

MichealZiantsNewOrleansVoiceTalentAndAudioProducer — New Orleans Voice Talent & All-around Audio Dude Micheal Ziants, Airlift Mike

So, as we wrap-up the old and prepare to unwrap the new (year), here at the Airlift Studios we’re, ah… well, unwrapping a few things too. Metaphorically speaking of course.

I’ve had quite the reaction from this audio file through the past months from both women and men, and after many requests to re-post it, I figured what the heck – let’s exit 2015 with a “bang”!

Or at least the prelude.

Unlike so many of Airlift’s Productions, this one is raw. Naked. No music. No sound effects. No reverberation. Nothing. Except the human voice. Softly cooing into the human ear.

MichealZiantsAkaMikeMcCannWQUEPhotoShoot1985 — Airlift Productions Proprietor Micheal Ziants, in a photo shoot for Q-93/WQUE-FM back in the day, to promote that afternoon M&M Mike McCann

While the reaction from the movie version was mixed at best, this audio book sample has been rather warmly received. OMG. Plug in the ear buds and send the kids out of the room.

Its Airlift Mike’s rendition of a couple sassy & seductive pages from E. L. James’ “Fifty Shades of Grey”.

Oh. My.

So, as we exit the old year with a bang tonight, so to speak, and with tongue firmly in cheek, allow the Airlift krewe and me to wish you & yours a most fulfilling, scintillating, and titillating 2016!

(did all that make it past the censors?)

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“Micheal is an amazing talent. We were faced with several issues on a recent project and he was incredibly proactive in finding the perfect solution. He worked tirelessly and at lightning speed to create music that not only made our client happy but also garnered industry recognition.” ~ Charlyne Fabi, Creative Director, Right Hat LLC, Chicago, Illinois

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Airlift Productions ~ Telling America’s Greatest Stories from America’s Greatest City since 1984

Audio Book Recording & Production, mystical micheal musings

Menasche, Ziants & Carell – Take #2

November 30, 2015 Micheal Leave a comment

DavidMenascheThePriorityListAirliftProductions — Educator-Author-Brain Cancer Activist-Major Mensch David Menasche before doctors and Life had their way with him… proud, defiant and topless – displaying his “I Decide” tattoo

Hard to believe, but this past Thanksgiving weekend 2015 marks one year since my pal David Menasche dropped his body … and moved on.

Oh, not that it was any surprise – diagnosed with terminal brain cancer in 2006, he/we often joked as he would come for recording sessions at the Airlift Productions Studios, that here came a “Dead Man Walking”. He knew he was on borrowed time for some time. We all did.

But it was the things, the issues, the subjects we talked of endlessly that continue to reverberate and resonate still today through all of my waking, and yes even sleeping, hours.

Emerson, Thoreau, Shakespeare, Gandhi, Buddha, Jesus of Nazareth, even Scot William Wallace from Mel’s “Braveheart” and the concept that “Everyone has to die … but not everyone truly LIVES.”

Case in point, pictured above, David even had his body tattooed with the words “I Decide”, so even while unconscious on an operating table, he was letting the attending doctors know who, indeed, was in charge of the flesh he carried around.

Cajones? Guts? Tenacity? Courage? I don’t think the average man walking around today in America even has a concept or a clue.

And to think that he dragged his body across America – SOLO – from south Florida … all the way to the Golden Gate bridge & Hollywood, then back east & north to New York City, before coming to crash in New Orleans for awhile – all in a quest to figure out if his life, his very existence, even ever mattered.

DavidMenascheRecordsThePriorityListAirliftProductions — David Menasche in the Airlift Productions Studios, November 2013, recording “The Priority List: A Teacher’s Final Quest to Discover Life’s Greatest Lessons”

Rest in Peace and rest assured, brother David, it certainly did.

As you scramble across the holidays to find that perfect stocking stuffer, and you’re looking for something to make a difference, consider “The Priority List: A Teacher’s Final Quest to Discover Life’s Greatest Lessons” from that wacky Amazon crowd.

Or, alternately, you can grab the AUDIO download for your ipod or digital device here – “The Priority List” Audiobook – in David’s own resilient words captured in November 2013 at the Airlift Studios.

A teaser from the Airlift-produced prologue is here ….

David’s take on working with Airlift and me? While I’m certainly gratified and humble regarding my contributions, the testimonial he gave me after days spent recording his audio book is a tad embarrassing, but very heartfelt and sincere —

“I would like to thank Micheal Ziants and Airlift Productions for making the recording of the audio version of my book such a pleasure. Not only is Micheal an incredible audio engineer, he is my new best friend. This guy is one of the coolest cats I have ever had the honor of meeting. He made me comfortable, he made me feel talented, and he actually made my book into a product I can actually imagine people enjoying listening to. So far, the opportunity to work with Michael on a future project is my best incentive to write another book.” ~ David Menasche

Meanwhile, Hollywood and Steve Carell are laying plans for their adaptation for a cinematic treatment. Having worked intimately with David, and being a fan of Steve’s work through the years, I feel he is the perfect choice for this heroic, poignant drama-dey in-progress.

SteveCarellToPortrayDavidMenascheThePriorityList — Warner Brothers selects Steve Carell to portray David Menasche in the movie version of “The Priority List”

Norma, if you’re reading this – stay strong and keep your faith. Paula, if you’re reading this – David understands. Jennifer, if you’re reading this – call me, let’s compare notes and catch-up.

SteveCarellTweetsReDavidMenaschePassing11-20-14 — Actor Steve Carell’s Tribute Tweet to David Menasche

In closing, just one of David’s and my favorite thoughts that we spoke of, meditated on, and laughed often about continues to reverberate and resonate – “You’re a ghost driving a meat-coated skeleton made from stardust. What do you have to be afraid of?”

MichealZiantsDavidMenascheThePriorityListAirliftProductions — Airlift’s Micheal Ziants & Author/Bud/Educator/Major Mensch David Menasche sharing recording studio stories and after-dinner laughs in the Airlift commissary, November 2013

Airlift Productions ~ Audio Alchemy from New Orleans since 1984

Audio Book Recording & Production

Audio Books Are Murder! But Only When Done Correctly.

April 30, 2015 Micheal Leave a comment

"Murder In Coweta County", the true crime drama that shocked Georgia - and America - from 1948, via Margaret Anne Barnes...and Pelican Publishing — “Murder In Coweta County”, the true 1948 crime drama that shocked America – Now in Audio from Airlift Productions , Micheal Ziants & Pelican Publishing

It really is true: To the VoiceOver guy, if the thirty second radio spot is the 100 yard dash, then the audio book recording process would have to be the marathon.

What a marathon – and what an audio book – “Murder In Coweta County” turned out to be. An autopsy on American Ideals and Dreams that mixes prejudice, racism, big money, pride, murder and southern justice all cast against the backdrop of 1948 Georgia – I lost count after 75 all the different characters I would have to portray by book’s end.

The courtroom scenes, which dominate the back half of the book, involve questioning from agenda-filled lawyers and testimony from terrified and frightened witnesses. For they have been called to help fill in all the details and build the state’s case against the villainous, feared, arrogant John Wallace.

AirliftProductionsRecordsAudioBookVersionOfMurderInCowetaCounty — Actual courtroom photograph from 1948 of a smiling, confident – and headed to the electric chair (“Old Sparky”) – John Wallace

Bringing LIFE to printed words on paper, painting mental pictures, taking the listener to front-stage center in the ‘theater of the mind’ are the challenges posed to the audio book narrator & actor.

In this excerpt from Chapter 21 of “Murder In Coweta County”, it was my task to, in effect, be the Judge, Jury & Executioner, as the saying goes … as I create antagonist, protagonist and everyone in between – from the prosecutor to the service station attendant cleaning up blood-stained car mats. Even the aged father of the poor, murdered victim.

~ Airlift Mike reads from Chapter 21 of “Murder In Coweta County”, courtesy of the krewe at Pelican Publishing ~

If a printed book can be referred to as a “page turner”, urging the reader ever-onward, it’s Pelican Publishing’s and my hope that this audio book will be a tough one to turn off.

Given the fact that the outcome, which is a long foregone conclusion having been based on a true crime drama (“he gets the chair”), the magic has to be in the story telling. Or as Billy Shakespeare used to say, “The play’s the thing”.

And play it I did. My heart, soul, blood, sweat & tears … metaphysical studies & philosophical leanings, coupled with my decades of on-mic experiences are all boiled down into the tracks of every chapter of this audio book. Truly.

So, as 2015 continues to grind on – with tensions from Ferguson to Baltimore – give a listen to this fascinating autopsy on America’s roots and ideals.

Available from the krewe across the river at Pelican Publishing, it will serve as a permanent reminder around the house and to all of America, that racism must be a thing of the past, that might does not make right … and that “crime does not pay”!

The late author Margaret Anne Barnes together with Johnny Cash, who portrayed her MICC hero Lamar Potts in the made-for-TV movie version

Airlift Productions ~ Telling America’s Great Stories since 1984

Airlift Productions RADIO work, Audio Book Recording & Production, New Orleans VoiceOvers

Spring Is Busting OUT All Over At Airlift Productions

April 18, 2015 Micheal Leave a comment

It would appear that seeds sown through countless past seasons have now rooted, grown and indeed blossomed. Too flowery? Too poetic? Not so much. Run with me here…

While Airlift Productions clients of last century found Airlift & me via the Yellow Pages (“let your fingers do the walking…”), this Spring’s flowers have all been delivered through SEO (Search Engine Optimization) and that wacky Internet of Things. Really.

Don Draper & Roger Sterling, those dashing Mad Men, would not even recognize the marketing landscape of today! And audio/video production crews of the 1970s and ’80s wouldn’t even have a clue as to what’s going down in 2015.

Through the Airlift Productions website and this blog, imagine the fascinating and interesting jobs produced already this Spring from the Airlift Productions studios here in NOLA —–

Jeorjina Tegel, the right-hand hands-on exec at Right Hat on this job. Thanks for your help, Jeorjina. To call this gig ‘interesting’ would be a gross understatement.

The call came just weeks ago from Elonide, the President of a Boston & Chicago-based Ad Agency, Right Hat, for some help – the job? A :30 radio ad, which would be overseen by the writer Andy, who lives in Manhattan… the spot would be voiced by four different voice actors (all working from their respective home studios), and yours truly was contracted to produce and engineer the finished spot (for a CPA firm) to air – in San Francisco!

All sound a bit confusing? Well, it certainly was ‘out there’ and different. The commercial involved EIGHTEEN cuts/edits – in a thirty second radio ad – and multiple attempts to find the just-right music.

And the entire job … from NOLA to Chicago to NYC to San Francisco began … with a Google/Bing search by Elonide at the helm of Right Hat.

AirliftProductionsRecordsAudioBooksforRecordedBooksNYC — Airlift Productions records “The Boys Who Challenged Hitler” for Recorded Books, New York

Just two weeks ago, the Airlift Studios were really buzzing, as we phone-patched between NOLA and NYC (from the Big Apple to the Big Easy) to record the Audio Book “The Boys Who Challenged Hitler: Knud Pedersen & the Churchill Club”.

Contracted by Recorded Books in NYC, the world’s largest independent distributor of audio books to libraries, schools & the retail market, Airlift Productions warmed-up the mics to record the book’s author Phil Hoose, as he interpreted the words of it’s hero.

Imagine, if you can, 1940s Danish teens, upset by Denmark’s neutral stance, who decide to take on the Gestapo, the Nazis and the 3rd Reich all by themselves … and spearhead Danish resistance. Wow! What a story.

AuthorPhilHooseAirliftProductionsMichealZiantsApril2015 — Author PHIL HOOSE records “The Boys Who Challenged Hitler” at Airlift Productions NOLA April 2015

The sessions ran nine hours across two days, and all the wave files were directed via the Airlift phone-patch and neatly dropped back into Manhattan via an FTP site for use by their editors.

And Andy & his gang at Recorded Books found Airlift and me via the internet and a Google search. As he let his ‘fingers do the walking’ – 21st century style.

Finally, just this past week, the call came into the Airlift Studios from Denver and a big post-production house called High Noon Entertainment. These guys are the driving force behind many of your fave shows from TLC, Discovery, HGTV, Animal Planet & …. well, you get the idea.

As it turns out, the hot new show on The Cooking Channel is a fun one called “Taco Trip”, and it’s star, another fun one himself, is a close buddy & business partner with our NOLA chef John Besh. And he needed to record VoiceOver tracks for the show.

AaronSanchezRecordsVoiceOversFromNOLAandAirliftProductions — The Cooking Channel’s AARON SANCHEZ cooks-up tasty VoiceOvers for TACO TRIP at Airlift Productions NOLA April 2015

Chef Aaron Sanchez blew in the Airlift Studio doors like a hurricane Wednesday morning, we set mic levels, then phone-patched between NOLA and Denver as producer Matt Walker walked the good chef through all his reads for the show.

Again, voila! Within the hour, all the big fat wave files were delivered to Denver, tagged & bagged and ready for air – on flat screens via cable & satellite on The Cooking Channel … all across America!

Yeah, I guess you could say that Spring is busting out all over at Airlift Productions. And if these are the April showers … what will May bring?

Stay tuned ….

Airlift Productions & Airlift Mike ~ delivering the Goods … from New Orleans since 1984

Airlift Productions RADIO work, Audio Book Recording & Production, New Orleans VoiceOvers, VoiceOver Marketing

Airlift Mike Tosses An Audio Potpourri!

March 5, 2015 Micheal Leave a comment

The life of a VoiceOver Recording Artist in 2015 is never boring. I mean, no sooner do you think you have all the answers, than they change all the questions!

In the early days of the craft we were all called ‘Announcers’, as we all tended to speak rather loudly, with perfectly pear-shaped, authoritative tones… think preachers, teachers, parents, carnival barkers and military sergeants.

In 2015 not so much.

Consumers today worldwide are more savvy. And the delivery method has become more personal. The big box styled TV set of the 1950s has given way to personal, pocket-sized screens … and the tinny, brittle speakers have given way to earbuds and headphones.

All that being said, today’s blog is all about mixing it up – as Airlift Productions and I toss an audio potpourri that helps to capture the changes, and runs the gamut from newly-produced radio ads and audio books … to a soliloquy!

This week, tasked to amp-up the crowds at a local night club, like the old radio days – where shock jocks would walk a fine line between good taste on the radio … and the unemployment line – the very first word out of my mouth is (OMG) “S-E-X!” (well, now that I have your attention….)

*** Airlift Mike talks (sort of) for “Legends Encore” ***

Like I said, never boring.

Back to the 1950s for a second. Not only were all TV sets huge pieces of furniture dominating your living room, all books were found doing a Dewey Decimal System search in a library, trees had to die to produce them, and they were read – page by flipped page.

Today, not so much.

In 2015, we google search and download to our personal digital device (mp3 player, I-Pod, I-Pad or phone) and LISTEN to the printed word – again read and cooed into our ears by a sympathetic, compassionate, yet dramatic voice.

My very first fully-Airlift-produced, narrated and read-by-yours-truly Audio Book is now on the market, and available for download on a digital device near you. But, fair warning, it is not for the faint of heart.

Murder in Coweta County, a true crime drama set in 1948 Georgia, well before Dr. King, Selma and the Civil Rights movement is indeed a shocker. It tackles racial prejudice, arrogant power and southern justice head-on. Give a listen to just a bit of Chapter 7 through the Airlift Productions microphones here ….

** Micheal Ziants interprets Chapter 7 of Murder in Coweta County ~ courtesy Pelican Publishing, NOLA **

Download the entire “Murder in Coweta County” Audio Book from the krewe at Pelican Publishing across the Mississippi River in Gretna by clicking either of these links. On sale for a mere $17.60, about the price of a good pizza. And this story will stay with you a lot longer. Truly.

But better strap yourself in for the ride first. And keep your hands and feet inside the car… and your 21st century sensitivities intact.

To wrap-up the Audio Potpourri, the VoiceOver Recording Artist of today is always sowing seeds for future work. We create demos to showcase our reach and talents wherein we cast ourselves in arenas within which we’d like to work.

Well, my favorite Rom-Com ever (and I’ve viewed many with the ladies through the years) would have to be ‘Love Actually’. In the opening sequence, Hugh Grant does this reflective monologue VoiceOver shortly after the events of 9-11, while we watch loved ones embracing at the airport.

Poetic license affords a name change from Heathrow to Louis Armstrong, and for demo purposes, re-casts the V-O with none other than yours truly, and it sounds like this ….

** Love Actually Soliloquy from Airlift & Micheal Ziants **

Airlift Productions & Airlift Mike ~ treating cold, metal microphones like warm human ears … from New Orleans … since 1984.

Audio Book Recording & Production, New Orleans VoiceOvers

50 Shades Of Grey … Matter, from Airlift Productions

February 12, 2015 Micheal 2 Comments

As Mardi Gras rumbles through the streets of NOLA yet again (bands, beads & boobs), and just ahead of the opening of “50 Shades of Grey” at a cineplex near you … a few thoughts from Airlift.

It’s kind of funny the way life works sometimes. The Chinese call it ‘wu wei’ …. living with the give and take, the flow of life, but the biggest industrial VoiceOver job I got all last year centered around an unbelievable set of circumstances.

The CEO of this major Chicago-based supply house needed VoiceOver work recorded for a huge upcoming convention in Dallas. As fate would have it, the CEO was female, and her request to the video producer was, “Have Micheal read it like he did ‘The Highwayman’ on his website.”

Now, the read in question came from an audio book on CD that I had finished recording in the mid-1990s, “Soft Words, Warm Nights“, and was a far cry from anything I’d been cast to record at that point. Not even close.

Passionate. Dramatic. Cinematic. As you may recall from high school or collegiate English classes, this epic poem tells the tale of highway robbery, torrid passion, star-crossed lovers, suicide & murder!

Certainly not what one would call ‘commercial fare’.

Yet across the decades, this recording of ‘The Highwayman’ was the clincher. This was the approach, the mic technique, the raw emotion that this woman – the corporate decision maker – based her final decision on.

All that being said, here comes another Airlift Mike stretch.

In her sizzling, poker-hot, best-seller “50 Shades of Grey”, E. L. James set fire to the smoldering libidos of women all across the planet.

And now, just ahead of it’s big box office release, Airlift Productions presents ’50 Shades of Grey ~ the Ziants way’ – no reverb, no special effects, no music. Naked. Raw. Real. Sensual. Oh, and fun!

Plug-in the headphones (no kids allowed) and give a LISTEN to Airlift’s audio book audition track here …

***** Micheal Ziants reads from ’50 Shades of Grey’ *****

To the uninitiated who’ve never heard an audio book, yes, the narrator/reader performs all the parts. It’s all about treating the microphone not as a cold piece of metal … but as a warm, human ear. Making sterile technology & internet downloads all warm … and fuzzy.

It has been said that the most important sexual organ is between the ears, not the legs … the human brain, the gray matter. So, let’s tickle it a bit.

Whether this read influences the next corporate narration VoiceOver job or not is purely an academic question at this point … but for now, let’s just consider this a bedtime story for the 21st century woman.

NOLAVoiceOverTalentMichealZiantsAirliftProductions2014 — Airlift Productions’ Micheal Ziants putting in another day at the office in 2015. “Ah, can I really say THAT on the microphone?”

Airlift Productions Recording Studio ~ Telling America’s Great Stories from New Orleans since 1984!

Audio Book Recording & Production

David Menasche (1973~2014) Requiem For A Hero

November 28, 2014 Micheal 3 Comments

DavidMenascheRecordsThePriorityListAtAirliftProductions — David Menasche Gives Up ‘The Fight’ at age 41, but not before recording his remarkable story at Airlift Productions

I first met David Menasche (pronounced ‘Men-AH-shay’) on November 7th, 2013 when he showed-up at the Airlift Productions Studios to begin recording his audio book version of “The Priority List: A Teacher’s Final Quest to Discover Life’s Greatest Lessons“.

Contracted by Penguin Audio out of Manhattan & Listen Up Audio Books in Atlanta to help work with David in the recording of this remarkable story, little did I then realize what I’d signed up for.

David Menasche, a gifted English teacher from Miami, Florida at Coral Reef Senior High was diagnosed in 2006 with gliablastoma multiforme cancer – he had a lemon-sized brain tumor in the right temporal lobe … and was given only months to live.

But blessed with a wicked sense of humor and the fearless courage of Hercules, David thumbed his nose defiantly at the grim reaper and proceeded to live nearly another EIGHT YEARS, defy all the odds, travel to hang with former students, write a best-selling book about his travels – and come to the Airlift Studios to record it with me.

DavidMenascheRecordsThePriorityListWithMichealZiantsNovember2013 — David Menasche in the Airlift Studios with Micheal Ziants recording “The Priority LIst”, November 2013

We quickly became fast and close pals. Together with his confidant and ride Jen Brewer, we drank scotch & Wild Turkey together, had dinners together, laughed and joked… talking life, philosophy, world religions, great literature and the hemorrhaging of the American Dream.

A lover. And a fighter. David’s amazing story is without a doubt the 21st century’s answer to Robin’s “Dead Poets Society”.

LISTEN to just a taste of our sessions together in this piece of audio I produced from his intro to “The Priority List: A Teacher’s Final Quest to Discover Life’s Greatest Lessons” here ….

~ Excerpted Intro to “The Priority List” with introduction by Micheal Ziants, courtesy Amazon.com, Audible.com & Listen Up Audio Books

Pause to consider what this dude pulled off – with only half a brain, half a body, and nearly zero vision (legally blind) he traveled via trains, buses, even hitching rides, across America to visit former students and landed a book deal based on his journal & writings.

Now, today in 2014, Warner Brothers out of Hollywood has bought and secured the movie rights … and cast none other than box office charmer Steve Carell to play him in the upcoming movie version of David’s “The Priority List”! Really.

DavidMenaschePostOpRecordsAtAiriliftProductions — Menasche post-op. He would later joke to frightened kids in airports & train stations that he’d been ‘kicked by a horse’. David finally gave up ‘the fight’ and dropped his body, surrounded by family & friends on November 20th, 2014 – one week before Thanksgiving.

After our last meal together, as I saw him out the studio doors and to the car, his final words as Jen drove him off were only to quote Maximus from “Gladiator” as he shouted to me “Strength & Honor, my friend. Strength & Honor!”

And his final text message to me – just last month – was “Hello friend, I hope this finds you ridiculously well and happy.”

I am indeed, brother David. To have known you. Now it’s eternal.

Airlift Productions ~ Telling America’s Great Stories from New Orleans since 1984

Airlift Productions Blog – VoiceOver, NOLA & Micheal Ziants

Category Archives: Audio Book Recording & Production

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David Menasche (1973~2014) Requiem For A Hero

VoiceOver Recording & Production … with a New Orleans twist