  Freedom is not always about changing our circumstances. Sometimes, it begins with choosing how we respond to them. Life brings adversity, sadness, grief, anger, and frustration. These are all real and valid emotions. We cannot simply ignore them. We need to acknowledge them, call them by their names, understand where they come from, and allow ourselves to move through them. But we also have the power to decide how long they will define us. One practice that has helped me is gratitude. I once heard that you cannot hold anger and gratitude in the same breath. So far, I have found that to be true. When I pause and think of something I am grateful for, my perspective begins to shift. Gratitude helps guide me back toward my higher mind, where I can make choices rooted in hope instead of fear. Choosing joy is not pretending everything is perfect. It is choosing freedom from the stories that keep us stuck. If you can change your mind, you can change your world. While we cannot control everything that happens around us, we always have the opportunity to choose how we respond.   If you are planning a trip to Oakland to record at the Hummingbird Hut Recording Studio, we highly recommend staying at B Love Guest House, owned by Traci Bartlow.  Beautiful, welcoming, and conveniently located, it is a wonderful place to relax while working on your creative project. We are proud to support fellow Oakland small businesses and love connecting our clients with members of our local community who share our commitment to hospitality and excellence.  You can learn more and book your stay here:  This month's featured audiobooks celebrate the themes of freedom, resilience, gratitude, and the courage to create a life filled with joy. Whether it is discovering joy after hardship, finding freedom through healing, or challenging conventional thinking to make more confident financial decisions, each of these books encourages listeners to think differently, grow intentionally, and embrace the possibilities that come with choosing their own path. This month's featured audiobooks include:
At ODDUA AUDIO, we believe there is something uniquely powerful about hearing these stories in the voices of the authors themselves. Their lived experiences, emotions, wisdom, and authenticity create meaningful listening experiences that inspire, educate, and connect us all.   Are you or someone you know looking for a quiet, comfortable, sound proofed and spacious place to record your audiobooks, your music ensemble, audio for your podcast, YouTube Channel Videos, TikTok Video or Voiceovers? Do you want to record with quality gear, and not worry about all the engineering issues? We can help! Come record at the Hummingbird Hut Studio! Our services to include:
LET US KNOW: If you, or someone you know is interested in narrating their own audiobook, please get in touch. We love being a resource for our literary and artistic communities. Fill out the contact form on the HUMMINGBIRD HUT Recording Studio page, and we’ll set up a time to help you plan the recording of your project.  AUDIOBOOKS | MUSIC | VOICEOVER
ODDUA’s Mission: We create and publish content that helps people make their world a more peaceful, equitable, and joyous place. We provide high quality productions of voice over, podcast production, and audiobooks in primarily non-fiction and personal development genres. We provide authentic "true voice" listening experiences by specializing in author-narrated audiobooks. Based in the San Francisco Bay Area, ODDUA AUDIO works with authors and publishers, musicians, companies and individuals, both nationally and internationally.
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 Author narrated non-fiction audiobooks. That’s what we do. That’s what we specialise in. That’s our sweet spot. That’s something A.I. will never replace. Hearing the author’s lived experience in their own voices is what connects us. Their joy, sadness, excitement, sense of humor, tragedy, and hope can all be heard in their voice, in their delivery of their narration. I am so proud to do this work. I am proud to do this work. And, I also get to work with authors who are amazing human beings. Each one of them have taught me something about being a better human. All the audiobooks in the ODDUA AUDIO library are focused on helping people make their lives and their world a better place. It is Year 15 of this work, and I am so proud to keep it going.   We will be recording him in our Hummingbird Hut Studio at the end of summer, so stay tuned for a release in October. In The Decision to Belong, psychotherapist Bart Golub introduces Relational Capacity Therapy-an Adlerian framework that moves beyond classification toward development. RCT identifies five measurable, buildable capacities that determine the health of every relationship in your life: Vulnerability, Emotional Intelligence, Compersion, Relational Confidence, and Agreements. Through eight intimate portraits of people you will recognize-the Guardian who never asks for help, the Analyst who can explain every feeling but cannot have one, the Sovereign who has perfected a life designed for one-Golub shows how patterns that once protected us become the walls we live behind, and what it actually takes to dismantle them. Drawing on Alfred Adler's century-old insight that human beings are built to belong, The Decision to Belong is written for anyone-therapist or not-who has wondered why insight has not been enough. It is a book for the partner exhausted by the same recurring fight, the reader who has come to suspect that real change is less about understanding what is wrong and more about building what has always been missing, and the clinician seeking a more developmental framework for relational work across the full spectrum of relationship structures. For more information about Bart Golub, visit https://sfcounselors.com/bartgolub 
June is Pride Month, a time to celebrate the LGBTQ+ community, honor its history, and recognize the ongoing work toward equality, visibility, and belonging. At ODDUA AUDIO, we believe that stories have the power to build understanding, foster empathy, and bring people together. This month, we are proud to feature audiobooks by authors Dossie Easton and Janet W. Hardy, whose groundbreaking work has helped generations of readers explore identity, relationships, communication, consent, self acceptance, and authentic living. Their books continue to inspire meaningful conversations and encourage people to build lives and relationships rooted in honesty, compassion, and mutual respect. One of the reasons we are so passionate about author narrated audiobooks is that they allow listeners to experience stories directly from the people who lived them. Authentic voices matter. Personal experiences matter. The opportunity to hear these stories in the authors' own voices creates a deeper connection and brings their wisdom, humor, and lived experience directly to listeners. To celebrate Pride Month, enjoy 25% off all featured audiobooks through June 30 with coupon code: PRIDE2026 Thank you for supporting independent authors and the diverse voices that help make our world a more understanding, equitable, and joyous place.   Are you or someone you know looking for a quiet, comfortable, sound proofed and spacious place to record your audiobooks, your music ensemble, audio for your podcast, YouTube Channel Videos, TikTok Video or Voiceovers? Do you want to record with quality gear, and not worry about all the engineering issues? We can help! Come record at the Hummingbird Hut Studio! Our services to include:
LET US KNOW: If you, or someone you know is interested in narrating their own audiobook, please get in touch. We love being a resource for our literary and artistic communities. Fill out the contact form on the HUMMINGBIRD HUT Recording Studio page, and we’ll set up a time to help you plan the recording of your project.  AUDIOBOOKS | MUSIC | VOICEOVER
ODDUA’s Mission: We create and publish content that helps people make their world a more peaceful, equitable, and joyous place. We provide high quality productions of voice over, podcast production, and audiobooks in primarily non-fiction and personal development genres. We provide authentic "true voice" listening experiences by specializing in author-narrated audiobooks. Based in the San Francisco Bay Area, ODDUA AUDIO works with authors and publishers, musicians, companies and individuals, both nationally and internationally.  I have an amazing Mom, and I feel so lucky to have had Dr. Jane Wright-Hayes, raise me and my brother. While we were growing up in San Francisco in the 80’s and 90’s, times before cell phones, she was a single mom raising two kiddos, and then pursuing her graduate degrees, while I was in college too, all while continuing to run the Department of Post Graduate Studies at the University of the Pacific School of Dentistry for 30 years… and then some… I feel like I should write a book about her. Maybe I will someday. She is THAT brilliant, elegant, hilarious, loving, supportive and inspiring woman. Thank you, Mom, for teaching me how to be a badass.  Allegra and Mom at Allegra’s 50th Birthday Party in April 
Use Code: MAMASMAY2026 for 50% Off selected audiobooks on the ODDUA AUDIO WEBSITE (code expires 5/31/2026)  Here is Riley Bandy (Allegra’s Brother) on alto saxophone, Morgan Jane Bandy (Riley’s Daughter) on vocals, Tomoko Funaki on Bass, Jameo Brown on drums, Nick Culp on piano. Some of the Bay Area’s and Hawaii’s best Jazz musicians jammin’ in the Hummingbird Hut. They all played like family.    Are you or someone you know looking for a quiet, comfortable, sound proofed and spacious place to record your audiobooks, your music ensemble, audio for your podcast, YouTube Channel Videos, TikTok Video or Voiceovers? Do you want to record with quality gear, and not worry about all the engineering issues? We can help! Come record at the Hummingbird Hut Studio! Our services to include:
LET US KNOW: If you, or someone you know is interested in narrating their own audiobook, please get in touch. We love being a resource for our literary and artistic communities. Fill out the contact form on the HUMMINGBIRD HUT Recording Studio page, and we’ll set up a time to help you plan the recording of your project.  AUDIOBOOKS | MUSIC | VOICEOVER
ODDUA’s Mission: We create and publish content that helps people make their world a more peaceful, equitable, and joyous place. We provide high quality productions of voice over, podcast production, and audiobooks in primarily non-fiction and personal development genres. We provide authentic "true voice" listening experiences by specializing in author-narrated audiobooks. Based in the San Francisco Bay Area, ODDUA AUDIO works with authors and publishers, musicians, companies and individuals, both nationally and internationally.   Because you WILL get it, and then some…so be specific! In continuing to think about being “Fearless” this year, I have also been pondering what my birthday wish will be. We all have hopes and fears. They are two sides of the same coin. What we hope for is also what we fear. It’s natural. Fear is inherent to all beings. Not only do we wish for and hope for things or a change, but sometimes we also fear how our lives will be changed once we get what we asked for. Change can be a little scary. But I’m not scared. I’m really excited and joyful and grateful for my life! I turn 50 years young this month. Maybe this means I’m a grown-up now? Maybe. Once a week, I go to a redwood forest, and feel so young, and little, in comparison to the giants towering over me. Young, old, big, small, It’s all relative. I’m just trying my best to stay present with who I am, right now, in this body suit, with this mind, these eyes, and how they see the world, and trust my heart and my gut in anything I decide to do, because I accept that this time will never happen twice. So, in celebration of my big 50th birthday, here’s a 50% discount on the following ODDUA AUDIOBOOKS:
Use Code: BIRTHDAY2026 for 50% off selected audiobooks (code expires 5/31/2026)   We are so excited to announce that “Joy Rising: Boundaries, Bravery and a Bit of Bliss” is now available in audiobook. The author, Carolyn Pistone, did a fabulous job narrating her second book, a sequel to her first personal memoir, “Open for Joy” Joy Rising is not a memoir about a perfect life. It’s a collection of stories from a real one. With humor, candor, and hard-won grace, Carolyn Pistone explores joy not as a personality trait or a spiritual bypass, but as a practice–one that can co-exist with trauma, grief, injustice, aging, anger, pleasure, and hope. In this audiobook, you’ll travel across continents and across decades. You’ll meet dancers and prisoners, foster children and veterans, strangers and lovers. You’ll encounter joy in hospital rooms, protest lines, bedrooms, boardrooms, and ordinary Tuesdays. You will see how joy can be reclaimed after loss, defended in the face of cruelty, and shared as an act of resistance. Joy Rising doesn’t promise easy answers or constant happiness. What it offers instead is companionship, perspective, laughter, and the reminder that joy is not something you earn–it’s something you are. A fierce, funny, and deeply human exploration of joy as survival, resistance, and birthright–told by someone who has lived it!   We worked with Nathan Weyland to shoot some video of Allegra Bandy laying down the lead vocals for Franco Nero Band. Nathan is a long time professional photographer, videographer and photojournalist who works with various news agencies, filmmakers, and companies, around the Bay Area and across the United States. He’s super talented and has a great eye for the camera. You can learn more about him on his Website, https://www.weylandphoto.com/.   Are you or someone you know looking for a quiet, comfortable, sound proofed and spacious place to record your audiobooks, your music ensemble, audio for your podcast, YouTube Channel Videos, TikTok Video or Voiceovers? Do you want to record with quality gear, and not worry about all the engineering issues? We can help! Come record at the Hummingbird Hut Studio! Our services to include:
LET US KNOW: If you, or someone you know is interested in narrating their own audiobook, please get in touch. We love being a resource for our literary and artistic communities. Fill out the contact form on the HUMMINGBIRD HUT Recording Studio page, and we’ll set up a time to help you plan the recording of your project.  AUDIOBOOKS | MUSIC | VOICEOVER
ODDUA’s Mission: We create and publish content that helps people make their world a more peaceful, equitable, and joyous place. We provide high quality productions of voice over, podcast production, and audiobooks in primarily non-fiction and personal development genres. We provide authentic "true voice" listening experiences by specializing in author-narrated audiobooks. Based in the San Francisco Bay Area, ODDUA AUDIO works with authors and publishers, musicians, companies and individuals, both nationally and internationally.  I had lunch with a friend in February, and she mentioned a guided meditation that she had enjoyed about “keeping the heart soft,” and it blew me away. Just the idea of it. February was a whirlwind of activity, and with all the war insanity that has just been happening lately, this message of having the courage to keep our hearts soft is a powerful one. I still can’t believe all that is happening, and it’s been a challenge to stay present for all of it, and not stick my head in the Netflix sand. “Fearless” is still the mantra this year, however, it is also necessary to keep my heart soft in all this mess. I’m still meditating on that, but what I have come up with so far of what it means to keep my heart soft is this: Love always wins. I will keep compassion, forgiveness, and patience close. I will stay present to all of the good, and the ugly. I will remember that everyone has stuff going on too, both challenges, and celebrations, and that being present for them is a blessing in itself. I will remember that LOVE is also a verb. I will remember to LOVE ON MYSELF everyday. So, LOVE ON everyone! Thank you for reading, and staying in the loop. - Allegra   We just recorded Scott’s and my band, FRANCO NERO, for a few tunes. I freakin’ love playing music with these guys! They are all amazing musicians, and I can’t wait to share this music with y’all, and also share it live. This was also the first time I got to mic drums in the studio (with 9 microphones and Scott’s instruction), and also tracking my scratch vocals remotely from within the house. There’s the picture of the mic set up in the house, with the band on the computer screen for me to see them, and they could see me on the big tv monitor in the studio. Good learning experience for us all.  Franco Nero is a project that was originally started by Scott Larson and John Finkbiner, many years ago, performing original ska and reggae music, and also vintage ska, reggae and soul music from the 1950’s to 1970’s. Current members for these recordings are Safa Shokrai on bass, Jason Levis on drums, Vic Wong on Guitar, Jay Sanders on keyboards and trumpet, Scott Larson on Trombone, and Allegra Bandy on lead and background vocals.  We also welcomed into the studio, Dean Santomieri, who recorded his collection of short stories which he has written, called “Alphabet.” Each story starts with inspiration from each letter of the alphabet. Very engaging and imaginative, Dean does a spectacular performance narrating his stories. Dean Santomieri composes and performs using electric resonator guitars in non-standard tunings. Stylistically his playing is most closely associated with the modern classical avant-garde, and is characterized by a loose compositional framework that allows for improvisatory explorations. Since 2011 he has been playing and recording with violinist Thea Farhadian, in the Santomieri-Farhadian Duo. He also regularly performs as a spoken word artist, usually with musical accompaniment. His stories and poems are inspired by music, dreams, the visual arts, word games and intentionally misheard / misread items from radio and newspapers. One fan described his self-accompanied narratives as: "Derek Bailey meets Italo Calvino!"   Are you or someone you know looking for a quiet, comfortable, sound proofed and spacious place to record your audiobooks, your music ensemble, audio for your podcast, YouTube Channel Videos, TikTok Video or Voiceovers? Do you want to record with quality gear, and not worry about all the engineering issues? We can help! Come record at the Hummingbird Hut Studio! Our services to include:
LET US KNOW: If you, or someone you know is interested in narrating their own audiobook, please get in touch. We love being a resource for our literary and artistic communities. Fill out the contact form on the HUMMINGBIRD HUT Recording Studio page, and we’ll set up a time to help you plan the recording of your project.  AUDIOBOOKS | MUSIC | VOICEOVER
ODDUA’s Mission: We create and publish content that helps people make their world a more peaceful, equitable, and joyous place. We provide high quality productions of voice over, podcast production, and audiobooks in primarily non-fiction and personal development genres. We provide authentic "true voice" listening experiences by specializing in author-narrated audiobooks. Based in the San Francisco Bay Area, ODDUA AUDIO works with authors and publishers, musicians, companies and individuals, both nationally and internationally.  So much of 2025 was shock and awe on a global scale. It was very difficult not to be a “deer in the headlights” with all of the insanity happening in this world. And this year has already proven a lot more of the same. But you know what? SO WHAT!!!! We’re going to keep doing our best, making more audiobooks, music, and fun in the Hummingbird Hut. We’re going to continue to fight back against what we know to be wrong, hateful, fake, fascist, and share only good vibes, love, support, integrity, joy and peace. This year our mantra is “FEARLESS.” We are boldly looking to the future knowing that the only thing that can really hold us back is our own self doubt. But we got this. You got this! And we are so excited to do it together. Thank you for keeping up with us, this newsletter, and there is so much more to come this year, so stay tuned!   This music and video was recorded in the Hummingbird Hut. Scott Larson engineered the recording and mixing of the Faultline Trio’s latest release, “Waterfall. It is now available on iTunes, Spotify, YouTube Music, and Amazon Music. We are so proud of these guys, and honored that they chose to record with us.  Another album that is now out, that Scott Larson recorded and mixed in the Hummingbird Hut Studio is “Jokes and Games” with Dobry Dobry. Jokes and Games is the creative output of Dobry Dobry when musicians rooted in the rich history and culture of klezmer and Yiddish song go into the studio to record emblematic songs and improvise a few of their own in the process. The album is out, and can now be listened to and downloaded at: https://tinyurl.com/4tvvs4c7 
We are super excited to announce that Carolyn Pistone will be recording her next audiobook with us, “Joy Rising, from Trauma to Triumph and Transformation.” We are getting ready for her to come record in March. The hard copy and ebook release will be available in April 2026, and the audiobook should be available by May 2026. You can check out her first book, “Open for Joy, A Journey of Healing and Business Success” which was published in 2024, which is the first part of her memoir. This book intends to help you see your challenges in a larger context. Open your mind to the many ways to measure your wild success and provide super-tips to bring yourself and your business to the level of your ambition and desired impact. This unique and powerful journey will help you find and celebrate every joyous step that brought you to the joy that is your life and the joy that you bring to the world.   Are you or someone you know looking for a quiet, comfortable, sound proofed and spacious place to record your audiobooks, audio for your podcast, YouTube Channel Videos, TikTok Video or Voiceovers? Do you want to record with quality gear, and not worry about all the engineering issues? We can help! Come record at the Hummingbird Hut Studio! Our services to include:
LET US KNOW: If you, or someone you know is interested in narrating their own audiobook, please get in touch. We love being a resource for our literary and artistic communities. Fill out the contact form on the HUMMINGBIRD HUT Recording Studio page, and we’ll set up a time to help you plan the recording of your project.  AUDIOBOOKS | MUSIC | VOICEOVER
ODDUA’s Mission: We create and publish content that helps people make their world a more peaceful, equitable, and joyous place. We provide high quality productions of voice over, podcast production, and audiobooks in primarily non-fiction and personal development genres. We provide authentic "true voice" listening experiences by specializing in author-narrated audiobooks. Based in the San Francisco Bay Area, ODDUA AUDIO works with authors and publishers, musicians, companies and individuals, both nationally and internationally.   Wrapping up the year like a beautiful present of memories for next year is how I’m trying to picture closing out 2025. What an amazing year! Here’s a picture of the wreath I made from the redwood tree we call “Charlie” which stands right next to the Hummingbird Hut Studio. In making this wreath, I am reminded of the wheel of life that turns endlessly for us all, taking us to the top, and finding us at the bottom again, only to keep turning, and taking us to new places. Winter is the time for reflection and meditation. Looking back on this year, I feel so honored that I got to produce one of the most moving audiobooks I’ve ever worked on, in partnership with Soulsparks Press, “A Promise Kept, Honoring His Wishes, Embracing Our Love” written and narrated by Erica Baccus.  “A Promise Kept, Honoring His Wishes, Embracing Our Love” is a personal memoire of Erica Baccus’ telling the story of the love of her life and his battle with advanced dementia and alzheimers disease, and the brave promise she kept to him to help him with his assisted suicide. Emotional and revelatory, Erica did an amazing job narrating this intense and heart wrenching journey. Look out for this audiobook at your favorite audiobook retailer, library, or at Erica Baccus (the author’s) Website. https://ericabaccus.com/  Wishing you and yours a joyous holiday season, and a peaceful new year! Allegra Bandy & Scott Larson   This November we welcomed Sasha Dobson and her band, at The Hummingbird Hut for their performance at The Ivy Room in El Cerrito, which Scott and I also performed that night with our Ska band, Franco Nero. Sasha is the sister from another mister to Scott, and has blessed us by letting us host the beautiful Yamaha grand piano that resides in the studio, which used to be her late parents’, Smith Dobson Sr. and Gail Dobson, both jazz musicians. Sasha Dobson has performed all over the world in diverse contexts as a leader and first-call collaborator. The singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist represents one-third of hit trio Puss n Boots, alongside Catherine Popper and Blue Note Artist Norah Jones, with whose band Sasha has toured fairly regularly for the past eight years. The picture above is of Sasha Dobson on guitar and vocals, Smith Dobson Jr. (her brother) on drums, and Joe Kyle Jr. on electric bass.   This year, Allegra Bandy also joined the board of directors of one of the premier choirs of the San Francisco Bay Area, the International Orange Chorale. She is also a member of the choir, and this past November performed with them the world premiere of “Dominion of Light”, a piece by Tarik O’Regan. This premiere was made possible in part by the National Endowment for the Arts and the Zellerbach Community Arts program. IOCSF is a non-profit organization, and Allegra is proud to be a part of this beautiful music community. Please help support us in continuing to bring new choral composers and compositions into the world. Join us for the live stream of “Dominion of Light” - Dec 6 at 6pm on YouTube Join IOCSF online for the livestream premiere of Tarik O’Regan’s Dominion of Light: A Requiem for the Estranged. This major new work weaves together stories of complex loss, grief, and estrangement into a powerful, contemporary modern “requiem” created especially for IOCSF. Subscribe to our YouTube channel to be notified when the livestream goes live, and experience this landmark premiere with us from wherever you are.   Are you or someone you know looking for a quiet, comfortable, sound proofed and spacious place to record your audiobooks, audio for your podcast, YouTube Channel Videos, TikTok Video or Voiceovers? Do you want to record with quality gear, and not worry about all the engineering issues? We can help! Come record at the Hummingbird Hut Studio! Our services to include:
LET US KNOW: If you, or someone you know is interested in narrating their own audiobook, please get in touch. We love being a resource for our literary and artistic communities. Fill out the contact form on the HUMMINGBIRD HUT Recording Studio page, and we’ll set up a time to help you plan the recording of your project.  AUDIOBOOKS | MUSIC | VOICEOVER
ODDUA’s Mission: We create and publish content that helps people make their world a more peaceful, equitable, and joyous place. We provide high quality productions of voice over, podcast production, and audiobooks in primarily non-fiction and personal development genres. We provide authentic "true voice" listening experiences by specializing in author-narrated audiobooks. Based in the San Francisco Bay Area, ODDUA AUDIO works with authors and publishers, musicians, companies and individuals, both nationally and internationally.  This month we are celebrating our partnership with Scott Larson of Tri-Tone Productions, whom we share the Hummingbird Hut Recording Studio with. Scott is a recording engineer, trombonist, and composer, and manages his own music ensembles. He is also Allegra Bandy’s husband. Last Saturday evening, Allegra came back from a gig, and Scott was working with Jay Sanders on tracking the piano part for one of Jay’s tunes with his modern jazz band, the Faultline Trio. You can find their music on Spotify and YouTube Music, all recorded at the Hummingbird Hut! Below are pictures of Jay and Scott, and the heavily mic’d piano. Scott had set up 8 microphones to track the piano part. Why so many microphones? Well, not only did he want to pick up the full spectrum of sound from the high, middle, and low ends of the piano, but he was also trying out new prototype microphones, which were leant to him by a microphone designer friend (more info on those microphones to come in a future newsletter). Very exciting to hear the whole instrument!  In the above photo: Scott and Jay  In the above photo: Scott Larson  Also, Happy 7th Wedding Anniversary Allegra & Scott!    In the above photo: Itzel and Allegra Today, through Attuned Living, Itzel supports organizations and individuals on their journeys toward personal and collective transformation. Her services are centered around facilitation, compassionate communication, healing, and equity. She also serves as an Adjunct Professor at UC Law San Francisco, where she teaches Facilitation for Attorneys, a course designed to help future legal professionals lead more inclusive, collaborative, and effective processes in the spaces they serve. She currently lives with her partner and kiddo in Oakland, California We welcomed Itzel Hayward in the Hummingbird Hut to record her guided mediation courses. She is a very kind, patient, and wise human, and we feel so blessed to have had her in the studio.   Are you or someone you know looking for a quiet, comfortable, sound proofed and spacious place to record your audiobooks, audio for your podcast, YouTube Channel Videos, TikTok Video or Voiceovers? Do you want to record with quality gear, and not worry about all the engineering issues? We can help! Come record at the Hummingbird Hut Studio! Our services to include:
LET US KNOW: If you, or someone you know is interested in narrating their own audiobook, please get in touch. We love being a resource for our literary and artistic communities. Fill out the contact form on the HUMMINGBIRD HUT Recording Studio page, and we’ll set up a time to help you plan the recording of your project.  AUDIOBOOKS | MUSIC | VOICEOVER
ODDUA’s Mission: We create and publish content that helps people make their world a more peaceful, equitable, and joyous place. We provide high quality productions of voice over, podcast production, and audiobooks in primarily non-fiction and personal development genres. We provide authentic "true voice" listening experiences by specializing in author-narrated audiobooks. Based in the San Francisco Bay Area, ODDUA AUDIO works with authors and publishers, musicians, companies and individuals, both nationally and internationally.   Audiobooks have rapidly transformed from a niche format into a major force in publishing. With people listening during commutes, workouts, or chores, the demand for spoken books is stronger than ever. 📘 What Is the Audiobook Industry?The audiobook industry involves producing and distributing audio versions of books. Listeners access them through platforms like Audible, Spotify, Apple Books, and Scribd. The format covers everything from novels to memoirs, and it is especially popular among busy professionals and younger audiences. 🚀 Growth That MattersThe global audiobook market is growing fast. It was worth around 5 billion dollars in 2020 and is expected to pass 20 billion by 2030. Annual growth continues to outpace print and ebooks, with rising demand in regions like Europe, India, and Latin America. 📚 Competing with PrintAudiobooks are no longer just an add-on to print releases. For some bestsellers, audio versions now outsell both print and ebook editions. Younger generations prefer the flexibility of listening, and publishers are responding by releasing books in all formats at once or even creating audio-only originals. 🎤 Why Listeners Keep Coming BackHigh-quality narration and celebrity readers make audiobooks feel personal and engaging. Performances by authors like Michelle Obama or actors like Tom Hanks add emotional depth that keeps audiences coming back. Final ThoughtAudiobooks are not replacing print, but they are standing beside it as a powerful, growing format. In a world that moves fast, audiobooks are becoming the preferred way to read.  - A Note by Ryl  Hello everyone! I am Ryl, and I am excited to share that this October marks my first year working as a Virtual Assistant for Oddua Audio. It all began last year while I was on a solo trip in Nagoya, Japan. I had my interview with Allegra during that trip, not knowing that it would be the start of such an incredible journey. Fast forward to today, I am still in Japan, but this time for a longer stay. I am currently living in Tokyo, studying Japanese at a language school in Shinjuku, while continuing to work with Oddua Audio. My work as a Virtual Assistant includes a variety of tasks such as:
Happy one year to me, and thank you to Oddua Audio for being part of my journey! Written by Ryl    Are you or someone you know looking for a quiet, comfortable, sound proofed and spacious place to record your audiobooks, audio for your podcast, YouTube Channel Videos, TikTok Video and Voiceovers? Do you want to record with quality gear, and not worry about all the engineering issues? We can help! Come record at the Hummingbird Hut Studio! Our services to include:
LET US KNOW: If you, or someone you know is interested in narrating their own audiobook, please get in touch. We love being a resource for our literary and artistic communities. Fill out the contact form on the HUMMINGBIRD HUT Recording Studio page, and we’ll set up a time to help you plan the recording of your project.  AUDIOBOOKS | MUSIC | VOICEOVER
ODDUA’s Mission: We create and publish content that helps people make their world a more peaceful, equitable, and joyous place. We provide high quality productions of voice over, podcast production, and audiobooks in primarily non-fiction and personal development genres. We provide authentic "true voice" listening experiences by specializing in author-narrated audiobooks. Based in the San Francisco Bay Area, ODDUA AUDIO works with authors and publishers, musicians, companies and individuals, both nationally and internationally.   I recently went over to my friend’s house, and her daughter said that they had “Chunky Monkey” Ben & Jerry’s ice cream in the freezer. She was super excited about having it for dessert, and had that gleam in her eye that only comes from knowing you’re gonna get your favorite thing. I knew she wanted me to be excited about it too. But, I told her that my favorite ice cream is vanilla. “Vanilla!?!?! That’s so boring,” rolling her eyes. “It goes with everything,” I told her. She just rolled her eyes some more. Teenagers. I did not want to “yuck her yum”, so I changed the subject. Everyone has the right to like what they like. Anyways, with the Folsom Street Fair in San Francisco coming up this September, I am reminded that everyone has their own kink. Everyone has their own favorite flavor of ice cream, favorite pair of underwear, favorite movie, favorite sex toy, etc, that special thing that makes them just so happy. So, in celebration of our unique favorite things, our audiobooks of the month are of three fabulous books by Janet W. Hardy and Dossie Easton. They are the New Topping Book, The Ethical Slut - Third Edition, and Radical Ecstasy.
 In August, we were very excited to welcome back our friends from the San Francisco Film Preserve, Kathy O’Reagan, and Rob Byrne. They also brought an author and historian of silent films with them, Thomas Gladysz. They came to the studio to record voiceover commentary bonus tracks for four silent films starring Louise Brooks, which they restored, and are putting on to a DVD. I really enjoyed listening to their conversations and commentary, (like a historical peanut gallery without the sarcasm). Overall, it was a fun and educational experience. Learn more about their publications on the San Francisco Film Preserve Website.    Are you or someone you know looking for a quiet, comfortable, sound proofed and spacious place to record your audiobooks, audio for your podcast, YouTube Channel Videos, TikTok Video or Voiceovers? Do you want to record with quality gear, and not worry about all the engineering issues? We can help! Come record at the Hummingbird Hut Studio! Our services to include:
LET US KNOW: If you, or someone you know is interested in narrating their own audiobook, please get in touch. We love being a resource for our literary and artistic communities. Fill out the contact form on the HUMMINGBIRD HUT Recording Studio page, and we’ll set up a time to help you plan the recording of your project.  AUDIOBOOKS | MUSIC | VOICEOVER
ODDUA’s Mission: We create and publish content that helps people make their world a more peaceful, equitable, and joyous place. We provide high quality productions of voice over, podcast production, and audiobooks in primarily non-fiction and personal development genres. We provide authentic "true voice" listening experiences by specializing in author-narrated audiobooks. Based in the San Francisco Bay Area, ODDUA AUDIO works with authors and publishers, musicians, companies and individuals, both nationally and internationally. |
