You want to get hit in the head with this Brick

Brad Meltzer and Scott Brick

I finally got to talk back to the voice in my head. The conversation we had was extraordinary. 
The voice belongs to Scott Brick. He is a professional audiobook narrator from Southern California. For the last seven years I have had lengthy commutes to work. I pass the time listening to audiobooks. He has narrated about half or more of the books I’ve listened to. When he’s not the narrator, more often than not it’s his voice announcing the end of one disc and the beginning of the next.
I probably “read” an average of 30-40 books a year while driving my car. In seven years I’ve probably listened to 250 books. Brick has probably read over 125 of those to me. That’s only a fraction of the estimated 700 books he has narrated since 1999. I doubt I’ll ever catch up because he records an average 50 audiobooks a year.
Although audiobook narration is not a new profession, Brick has elevated it as an art form and is really a pioneering giant in the field. In addition to being one of the preeminent book narrators in the country, he is also the first one to teach the subject in college. 
“I am teaching the nation’s first fully accredited university course in audiobook narration to the graduate students of UCLA’s School of Theater, Film and Television,” he said in a recent Facebook post.
This is 26 years after dropping out of the University of California – Los Angeles when his student aid ran dry.
The nerdy fanboy in me knew I needed to finally meet Brick, even if it was just a phone conversation. We talked and what I discovered was a fellow fanboy geek who gets excited about meeting authors and being honored with the privilege of giving voice to their words.
Brick’s interest in the profession stems from a love of old time radio dramas.
“It instilled in me such a sense of appreciation for the spoken word,” he said.
He parlayed voice acting to book narration and raised the bar for book readers everywhere. The first book of his I listened to was “It’s Superman” by Tom De Haven. I picked it up because I wanted to hear a Superman story. I came away amazed at how the reader used so many different accents and made identifiable characters with his voice. He just drew you into the story with his enthusiasm and charisma.
“I still talk about that book all the time,” he said, adding that he uses it as an example in the course he teaches at UCLA. “From the opening credits I was indulging my love of old time radio,” he said.
Realizing that I could use my commute as a time to catch up on books by my favorite author, Clive Cussler, I was astonished to hear that familiar voice again. “I’ve done 37 or 38 Cusslers,” he said. I even went back and listened to books I had already read just to hear Brick read them.
I also started expanding my literary interests and discovering other authors. I was pleasantly surprised to find Brick’s voice back in my head as I explored new and fantastic adventures. From Brad Meltzer’s thrillers to the Jason Bourne series by Robert Ludlum and Orson Scott Card’s Ender series, Brick has been there all the way. 
One of the things that make Brick’s works stand out is his mastery of accents and inflections. He studied by listening to tapes about learning to speak different languages and figuring out where the emphasis should be placed in a sentence. Some of it just comes naturally, such as German and Russian, which helps in the international thrillers he reads.
In 2008 he founded Brick by Brick Audiobooks, his own audiobook recording studio and publishing company. 
Brick is inevitably asked about his favorite book or author and he is reluctant to answer because there are so many. 
“After 700 books it’s tough to narrow it down,” he said.
The name that surfaces the most is Nelson DeMille, another adventure/suspense writer. He also talks highly about the Dune series by Frank Herbert and Brian Herbert and recording such greats as “Fahrenheit 451” by Ray Bradbury (“I thought I’d died and gone to heaven,” he said), “In Cold Blood” by Truman Capote and various books by Isaac Asimov. 
Gabrielle Zevin’s “The Storied Life of A. J. Fikry” really got to Brick.
“I just wept when I read that one,” he said.
Brick just recently finished recording Tom Clancy’s “Commander In Chief.” 
“It was massive – 30 hours long,” he said.
Brick is haunted by one favorite author whose works he has not recorded yet.
“I’m a huge Stephen King fan,” he said.
He said he doesn’t always get to meet the authors he records, but he has met many of them at different workshops, seminars and other book events around the country. Some time ago he posted a picture of himself with Brad Meltzer each wearing secret decoder rings that Meltzer was giving out in support of his book “Decoded.”
“Brad is a lot of fun. He’s hysterical and a very generous soul,” Brick said.
Although Brick has done some writing and acting on stage and screen, he is content to keep turning the pages on his audiobook career.
“They’ll keep writing them and I’ll keep recording them,” he said.
You can connect with Brick on Facebook or on his website at scottbrick.net. But be sure to listen to some of the books he reads. His a very pleasant voice to have in your head.