Ko-don Chronicles | Voices of the Dire Universe

An in-depth breakdown of my homemade recording studio

HELLSTONE CAPTURE | SECOND ENTITY.
And then, she felt it, felt that beautiful, twisted darkness … and she crawled toward it.

Let’s jump into the deep end and what it took to build a homemade recording studio, the costs, what I’ve learned, and most importantly, who almost did Maro’s Red Creek audiobook. The brimstones are calling for ‘no mercy, just blood.’ And I’m going to give it to you.

I know you’re curious who almost did Red Creek, so we’ll start there. Steven Pacey: the incredible narrator behind renowned books like Joe Abercrombie’s First Law Trilogy. The man’s a legend with his voice work, and as far as I’m concerned, he could narrate all the books in the world, and I’d never grow tired of it.!

When I considered doing an audiobook for Maro, he was the first person—and quite frankly, the only person—I considered. Maybe, for a span of seconds, I considered Michael Kramer, one-half of the power duo of Kate Reading and Michael Kramer—you know, the duo that did the Wheel of Time and a lot of Brandon Sanderson books?

Once, in a land far, far away—Hawaii—I almost booked Mr. Kramer to do The Dark Portal, and at the time, it wasn’t financially feasible. Hawaii’s the most expensive place I’ve ever lived, and I worked three weeks out of the month for my rent, and living off a week’s worth of wages for bills, food, and everything else.

Fast forward to Red Creek, looking up Steven Pacey and the studio, I thought surely this time, it’d be a dream coming true! Alas, like Mr. Kramer, the price was out of reach. And when I tell you how much, you’ll understand why I had to build the damn thing myself!