Dern and Ladd’s recordings took place at 48 Windows, the Santa Monica studio owned by Garcia that caters to high-end clientele. “We’re sort of fancy-
Dern and Ladd’s recordings took place at 48 Windows, the Santa Monica studio owned by Garcia that caters to high-end clientele. “We’re sort of fancy-schmancy,” he says. “We have natural light. And we have incredible client services, so if someone wants sushi from a particular place, we can get it for them.”
Even with those amenities, however, many authors prefer nowadays to work outside of the studio. Stephen Curry’s schedule allowed him to record part of Shot Ready from a hotel room. Pacino, Sharon Stone, and Arnold Schwarzenegger all worked with Garcia from their homes—as did Streisand, who spent three months narrating My Name Is Barbra.
“I went out to her house and found the quietest location,” says Garcia, who was patched in for the sessions, along with the rest of the inventive team. “She worked when she could, so we were on call all the time. She’s brilliant, and her brain is moving a mile a minute, so she’s constantly refining. She’ll write something, but she wants to say it better.”
Improvements in portable tech, not to mention many performers’ post-Covid preference to work remotely, means some celeb audiobooks are now produced with little more than a microphone, a laptop and iPad, and a good Wi-Fi connection. That’s how Don Johnson narrated Jimmy Buffet’s A Pirate Looks at Fifty from the actor’s Montecito home (a process that took a year, due to Johnson’s schedule).
No matter where the recording takes place, Garcia is always hoping for the same results: “I want them to sound like they’re talking in your ear—that you can touch them.”
Like many in Hollywood, Garcia has watched AI technology redefine or replace several steps in the recording process. And given that several celebrities—including Gwyneth Paltrow and Michael Caine—have granted AI companies the apply of their voices, a synthetically created showbiz memoir seems inevitable.
