Steven Jay Cohen @stevenjaycohen - Tumblr Blog

gazing at an autumnal sunset after finishing work on a wonderful audiobook

Just a walk through town after finishing up a project. Love and War in the Jewish Quarter by Dora Levy Mossanen This was such an amazing audiobook to work on, historical/magical fiction. That doesn’t come up very often. This one really fed my soul. Typically, when one hears the words Jewish Literature, the stories originate within European Ashkenazi Jewry. But, that is far from the entirety of…

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#acting #audiobooks #photography #thoughts

find some silence

find some silence @audiobooks #narratorLife A thread ⬇️

Find some silence. Get away from the mic for a while, get some distance, some clarity. Are you still in the moment? I’m not sure (not usually a good sign). Think back through the story a bit… When do you feel it? Okay… there it is. Yeah, you feel that? So stop now. Don’t try to figure out why you went off the rails. You can worry about that later. Whatever you do, just don’t lose that…

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#acting #audiobooks #postaday

pacing myself

pacing myself @audiobooks #narratorLife A thread ⬇️

One hundred pages, today. Not impossible, just not typical. Definitely possible. Up early, silently, moving through my morning routine. Bathroom, feed the cat, make the coffee, start up the booth computer, open the windows curtains, drink the coffee, watch the sun rise… And then, into the booth. Remember, don’t push. Don’t stress. Don’t Strain. If you get thirsty, take a break. If you get…

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#acting #audiobooks #postaday

day 1, room tone, morning session...

day 1, room tone, morning session…

For me, it’s always hardest on the first day back in the booth after any kind of a break. The longer the break, the harder that first day tends to be. A fear seems to build up within me that has weight and mass. It feels so very solid. Ominous. Impenetrable. The worst thing about that fear is that it is wordless, irrational. There is no logic to it. Just because life conspired to keep me out of…

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#acting #audiobook #postaday

learning in the silence

Since my birthday is close to the end of January, it — more than the official new year — has often been a starting point for me. Yes, I did just make a post about not liking resolutions, but sometimes life makes a commitment to formal change necessary. You see, my daughter grew up. For over twenty years, a key factor in every decision that I made was affected by the fact that I was (and still…

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#postaday

Not a fan of New Year's Resolutions

Not a fan of New Year’s Resolutions

When you suddenly remember that your website is run by blogging software and the last blog post was about 9 months ago, what do you do? I sit here and sigh for a moment. That exhale contains an attempt to let go of all the standard “noise” that fills my head when something like that happens; or more precisely, when I come face to face with any form of self-created neglect… Can I give myself a…

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#musings #writing

Coffee Is My Ritual

#Coffee Is My Ritual

It takes a firm twist to make the top of the pot come free. Once it starts to move, it turns smoothly in its groove until it comes away in the hand and is placed upon the counter. A lift of the tray filled with grains hardened by pressure from the last time. It gets turned over, grains facing down into the sink below. Gently, warm water trickles from above and slowly saturates the used paste…

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My REAPER setup for Audiobooks

My #REAPER setup for @Audiobooks

Like ProTools, REAPER is a professional grade DAW (Digital Audio Workstation). It runs on Windows, macOS, and Linux, and a license can be purchased for as little as $60. Like most true DAWs, REAPER is designed first and foremost around music production. So, some configuring is needed to optimize it for audiobooks and other voiceover work. You can watch the video below to preview the workflow…

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#audio #audiobook #daw #linux #os x #reaper #software

I Escaped from Auschwitz

I Escaped from Auschwitz The Shocking True Story of the World War II Hero Who Escaped the Nazis and Helped Save Over 200,000 Jews by Rudolf Vrba, Alan Bestic, Sir Martin Gilbert – foreword, Robin Vrba – editor, Nikola Zimring – editor

Amazon/Audible • iTunes

The Stunning and Emotional Autobiography of an Auschwitz Survivor

April 7, 1944 – This date marks the successful escape of two…

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Under the Open Skies

Under the Open Skies Finding Peace and Health Through Nature by Markus Torgeby, Frida Torgeby

Amazon/Audible • iTunes

The international best seller

A guide for living outdoors and communing with the natural world – under the open skies.

“I believe in sleeping outdoors, surrounded by tall fir trees, darkness and cold. Lying on my back and looking up at the stars, watching my breath…

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Kabbalah for Beginners

Kabbalah for Beginners Understanding and Applying Kabbalistic History, Concepts, and Practices by Brian Yosef Schachter-Brooks

Amazon/Audible • iTunes

Coming from the Hebrew root that means “to receive”, Kabbalah is known as the “inner” or “esoteric” dimension of Judaism. Kabbalah for Beginners is your introduction to a great spiritual tradition that will help you deepen your experience…

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The Blessing and the Curse

The Blessing and the Curse The Jewish People and Their Books in the Twentieth Century by Adam Kirsch

Amazon/Audible • iTunes

From the vast emigration of Jews out of Eastern Europe to the Holocaust to the creation of Israel, the 20th century transformed Jewish life. The same was true of Jewish writing: the novels, plays, poems, and memoirs of Jewish writers provided intimate access to…

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The Lost Shtetl

The Lost Shtetl A Novel by Max Gross

Amazon/Audible • iTunes

A remarkable debut novel – written with the fearless imagination of Michael Chabon and the piercing humor of Gary Shteyngart – about a small Jewish village in the Polish forest that is so secluded no one knows it exists…until now.

What if there was a town that history missed?

For decades, the tiny Jewish shtetl of…

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The Feedback Fix

The Feedback Fix Dump the Past, Embrace the Future, and Lead the Way to Change by Joe Hirsch, Marshall Goldsmith – foreword

Amazon/Audible • iTunes

The secret to giving better feedback isn’t what we say – it’s what others hear. Too often, people hear about a past they can’t control, not a future they can. That changes with “feedforward” – a radical approach to sharing feedback that…

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The Night Archer

The Night Archer And Other Stories by Michael Oren

Amazon/Audible • iTunes

The Night Archer and Other Stories is a collection of startling short fiction by New York Times best-selling author and international statesman, Michael Oren.

A medieval slave-turned-sultan, an alien who declines to visit Earth, a prophet who dares to ask “is God funny?” and a ghost who fears the living –…

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How Yiddish Changed America and How America Changed Yiddish

How Yiddish Changed America and How America Changed Yiddish by Ilan Stavans – editor, Josh Lambert – editor

Amazon/Audible • iTunes

Is it possible to conceive of the American diet without bagels? Or Star Trek without Mr. Spock? Are the creatures in Maurice Sendak’s Where the Wild Things Are based on Holocaust survivors? And how has Yiddish, a language without a country, influenced…

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Stanley Kubrick

Stanley Kubrick American Filmmaker (Jewish Lives Series) by David Mikics

Amazon/Audible • iTunes

Stanley Kubrick revolutionized Hollywood with movies like Dr. Strangelove, 2001: A Space Odyssey, and A Clockwork Orange, and electrified audiences with The Shining and Full Metal Jacket. David Mikics takes listeners on a deep dive into Kubrick’s life and work, illustrating his intense…

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