In the business world, being a “One-Trick Pony” can be risky, and diversification becomes necessary for continued growth. Sometimes that happens as a natural process of evolution. When someone asks me, “What do you do at your studio?” my usual answer is, “What do you want?”

• The business started in 1967 as a location recording service for musicians, capturing their performances “live” as they happened.

• Then, when someone asked about an actual studio, I had to create one.

• Requests for recording larger groups led to moving to larger quarters.

• When someone asked about a video interview with a parent, lights, camera and tripod were added.

• An advertising executive heard me emceeing at a club, liked my voice, and asked me to narrate the script for a radio commercial.

• Someone else heard the commercial on the air, recognized my voice, and asked me to narrate an instructional corporate audiovisual presentation. Since then, working with other voiceover artists, we’ve produced a broad selection of commercials and corporate training programs for companies such as DuPont, A T & T, WAWA and Atra Zeneca

• A request for instruction led me to offer private coaching in the effective use of the voice – for speaking or for singing.

• A postcard request on a community bulletin board led to creating character voices, original music and sound effects for puppet shows.

• When a neighbor asked about converting a vintage audiotape to disk, a new line of related services was born. CDs (or flash drives) are now made from open-reel tapes, audiocassettes, microcassettes and all forms of phonograph records.

• When someone asked about restoring a damaged photograph, another workstation was installed to handle the request. Developing that process led to restoring and preserving vintage photos, documents, certificates, hand-written letters, etc. One thing leads to another.

• In response to a request to restore and preserve a vintage video, some new equipment – and an extra computer – added yet another new service.

Thanks to the company website and the Internet, people now call from out of state and send work by mail. This has led to clients in Arizona, California, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Maryland, Minnesota, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Tennessee, Texas, Vermont, Virginia, Washington,

West Virginia, Hawaii and Munich, Germany.

This natural evolution, based entirely on requests, has allowed this small business to become the longest continuously operating sound studio on the Main Line – beginning year Number 56 as of this writing.

While there continue to be occasional variations in the menu of services, the bulk of the work currently consists of:

• Restoration of vintage sound recordings, videos and photographs

• Narration and audio production for instructional video

• Recording of acoustic (unplugged) voice and music

All of these extensions on the original business occurred because someone asked for them. What do you want? Ask. You might get it!

Now then, what’s been going on since last we met?

Joe’s been back recently to record yet another new song, a romantic ballad titled, “Til the End of Time.” His smooth baritone voice and rich guitar accompaniment combined to make a truly pleasant listening experience as well as a most enjoyable recording session. I hope to work with him again soon.

Responding to a special request, I tuned up my guitar, warmed up my voice and recorded a number of well-known tunes from the coffeehouse era of the 1960s along with several more contemporary tunes. A particular favorite of mine was Londonderry Air, more popularly known as Danny Boy. The song is a delightful combination of a traditional melody with lyrics by English songwriter Frederic E. Weatherly. Another was a poignant song by Craig Bickhardt and Tom Schuyler called This Old House. I describe it this way:

Imagine that you’ve just completed the purchase of your new home, and really excited about moving in. You’ve made one last tour of your old home to make sure that you haven’t missed anything. After tucking a few odds and ends away in the back of the car, you’re ready to pull out of the driveway and thinking of the many memories so firmly bonded with the familiar house you’re leaving behind. You’re going to miss your old house, at least for a while. Do you wonder if, maybe, your old house might miss you? This is a song about moving day – from the viewpoint of the house.

What a treat it was to work with a talented narrator who could put life and meaning to the words she read. I don’t remember what she said; I just remember that I believed every word. That’s important, this is why.

In voiceover work entirely too much attention is paid to vocal quality and tone of voice: “Don has a great voice – he’d make a wonderful narrator!”

Not necessarily. The most important aspect of voiceover work is believability. At the microphone, it’s really an acting job. Make it real.

Seeking an exciting new career in voiceover work and don’t know how to “make it real?” Call here for instruction.

Over the years I’ve worked with several puppeteers in producing recorded sound tracks for their performances. One puppeteer in particular developed a national following and I’ve just finished converting most of the original tapes to compact disk in order to preserve the original recordings. I say most because time, temperature and humidity had rendered a few of them unplayable.

Produced here more than 40 years ago, they were clever adaptations of traditional childrens’ tales. I remember the recording sessions especially well because I was in them.

Responding to a notice, Voices Wanted for Puppet Shows, I found myself hired as both voiceover artist and recording engineer. With the client serving as director, just one other actor and I were able to do all of the voices. When music was needed for scene changes, we used some of my original tunes. When sound effects were needed, we invented them. All in all, that wildly creative collaboration remains one of my favorite memories.

Because I love educational videos, it was a pleasure to capture and preserve an old VHS tape on DVD. The content was a professional presentation to the management and staff of Manufacturer’s Mall in Morgantown, PA. The speaker was able to combine solid information, common sense and humor in an energetic presentation that held everyone’s attention. Along the way, I learned a point or two myself.

As a child, she’d always been clever with pencil or pen on paper. Back in 1940 while living in Switzerland she’d drawn a series of images on a single sheet of paper. Neatly and skillfully drawn, they were pleasant scenes of domestic activities. My favorite was of a female figure descending a flight of stairs. The image was so skillfully drawn that I could actually sense movement. Because the images had begun to fade over the last 80 years, my assignment was to increase their contrast. All went well with just one exception: a single image had faded more than the rest and needed individual touchup. As an adult, the child artist ultimately became a highly skilled interior decorator.

Writer Jim McCusker has just completed Chapter 10 in his latest exciting novel, The Edge. Working in close collaboration, Jim sends me the chapters as they’re completed. I review them, inserting minor suggestions along the way. When I complete my review, I send hard copy back to Jim in three versions: first, the original, uncut version. Second, a version with my suggestions offered in red. Then finally a third version with all suggestions included. Later, we review the entire chapter by phone and decide which suggestions to include and which to discard. It’s Jim’s story, so it has to be told in his words.

The Edge is an exciting story! In an earlier chapter, Jim described two large trucks mysteriously arriving and parking behind the lead character’s workplace. No explanation has been offered as to their contents or purpose and Jim won’t tell me. “Wait for it,” he says. When finished, The Edge will be a story worth reading!

In the meantime you might enjoy Atlantic City Nights in either print or

audio book format – narration by yours truly. All of Jim’s books are available on Amazon.

One of my favorite writers is working on a new novel that includes one character from the Deep South. In writing dialogue, she found expressing the southern accent in print to be a bit challenging. Luckily, I was able to help.

In an unusual way, I’m bilingual – fluent in both English and Yankee. Dad was from West Virginia, and I lived and worked in southern states for a number of years. I remember clearly how folks from Georgia, Tennessee, Virginia, Texas and other southern states sound in conversation. I found arranging the characters on the page to represent those sounds to be most enjoyable.

(What we in the North think of as the Southern accent actually originated in England and Scotland long, long ago.)

After writing for the small business market for more than forty years, I’ve turned my hand to fiction – just makin’ stuff up! Oh, my, this is fun!

Harry’s Adventure is the story of a shy man finding true love by adopting an entirely new philosophy and approach. Initial reviews have been most encouraging. Autographed copies of the complete story are available for $4.95. Contact me the old-fashioned way: 610-647-4341. Here’s a sample:

(An excerpt)

Copyright © 2022 Emmet L Robinson

All Rights Reserved

Basically a shy man, Harry had trouble meeting people. Well, that’s not really the whole story. Harry had trouble meeting women, and hadn’t been on a real date in three years. Following the advice he found in magazines and newspaper columns had never worked very well. The traditional greeting lines like, “What’s your sign?” and “Do you come here often?” would usually result in the target of his intentions turning away in annoyance. One woman actually laughed at him. Massive trauma! That wounded him so badly that he went right home, crawled into bed and sucked his thumb for the rest of the weekend. To develop his social skills, he’d once taken a course in ballroom dancing – and failed the course. The instructor told him that he held her much too tightly. “I don’t want to get married,” she said. “I just want to teach you some steps.” Another tragic assault on his fragile ego. Of course he’d held her tightly – he was that desperate for female contact. His need was weighing him down, and he needed help.

One Friday after work Harry happened to run into his friend, Chuck, at Flanagan’s Saloon, a local watering hole. Seated at a table in the back, Chuck smiled, pushed out a chair with his foot and said, “Park it, pardner!” After a couple of drinks, and a review of the latest political debacle in the news, Harry decided to tell his friend about his little problem. After listening to Harry’s sad story, Chuck grew thoughtful for a moment, then asked, “What’s your real interest in meeting women, Harry? Do y’just wanna get laid? Or would you rather develop a real relationship – something that might last?”

Looking intently into his drink as though it might hold the answer, Harry mumbled, “Um, well, both, I guess.”

“Okay then, on a scale of ten, what’s your level of interest in making it happen?

Harry stammered in embarrassment. “Um, eleven?”

“Okay. I think I see your problem. Like with the dance lady, you’re too hungry, too needy.  You come across as desperate. That’ll turn a woman off quicker than buzzard breath and argyle socks.

In self-defense, Harry said, “Well, I-I can’t help it, Chuck, I am desperate! I’ll be thirty-seven next Tuesday and I feel like I’m running out of time. My sister’s tried to fix me up with some of her friends, but it’s never worked out. I don’t want to be one of those lonely old farts that the neighbors feel sorry for. Y’know?”

Chuck was fully sympathetic. “Yeah, I get that. The stock pickup lines guys use are so old and tired that they should have been consigned to the Smithsonian a century ago. You need a better approach, that’s for sure. But before that, you need a better attitude.

“Attitude?” Harry’s eyebrows rose toward his hairline.

“Yeah. You have hopes; you have expectations. That’s risky! Meeting a woman is too important to you. A woman senses that and you’re outta the race before you can even put on your track shoes. Y’gotta give that up, man. Don’t expect anything, and abandon all hope. Just do the best you can and take whatever happens. Expecting and hoping don’t do anything but lead to disappointment. Throw all of that stuff away and get . . . curious.”

“Curious?” Harry wondered where this was going.

“Yeah. Treat every single opportunity to meet a woman as an exercise in scientific inquiry – an experiment where you don’t care about the results you get; you just want to know what they are.”

As his blood pressure rose with his frustration, Harry became more outspoken. “Okay, then, mister Man-of-the World, what the hell do I do?”

“It’s simple. When you make contact with a woman for the first time, learn not to care so much how that contact goes. No, that’s not it. Learn not to care at all. If you just don’t give a shit, rejection won’t hurt you so much. And, believe it or not, you may seem even more appealing.

Eyes wide in amazement, Harry said, “Don’t care? Man, you’re askin’ the impossible!”

“No, I’m not. And, while we’re at it, let’s adjust your perspective. Have you ever asked a woman for a date and been turned down?

“Well, yeah. Of course.”

“It may have hurt, but it didn’t kill you, did it?”

“Um, well, no. It just felt like it.”

“If you’re rejected again, will you die?”

Harry laughed. “Okay, Chuck, you’ve made your point.”

“Good,” said Chuck, nodding in agreement. “Now, where do you meet women?”

“Uh, in bars, mostly.”

“Okay, y’gotta quit that. Stay outta bars. They’re nothin’ but meat markets full of horny people. And, yes, women get horny, too.”

Warming to his subject, Chuck continued. “So tell me, Harry, besides warm, breathing and able to fog a mirror, what is there about a woman that attracts you ­– that gets your attention? Oh, wait! I know! You’re in checkout line three at the market and you happen to glance over at line five and there she is! And you know – intuitively – that she’s highly intelligent, has a keen sense of humor and really loves poetry. Right?”

Chuck answered his own question. “Naah, that’s stupid. The first thing you notice about her is her appearance – what she looks like. Right?”

Not wanting to seem shallow, Harry hesitates, then, “Well . . . yeah. Of course.”

“Okay then, what looks good to you? Since you haven’t even seen this woman of the future yet, you can decide now on what’s important to you about a woman’s appearance. If you made a list of qualities, what would be first on that list, Harry? “

Still shy about revealing too much of his extraordinary need – and seeming shallow as well – Harry hesitated for a few moments then blurted it out in a single, breathless, run-on sentence:

“About five-foot-five, fit but not flat, one-twenty-five to one-forty, brown hair, blue eyes, a nice smile, a pleasant appearance but not necessarily pretty.”

There was more. “Oh, and I prefer alto voice to soprano.”

Chuck reared back in his chair, amazed at his friend’s sudden heartfelt revelation. “Wow! You didn’t just make that up, did you? You’ve been thinkin’ about this for a long time, haven’t you?”

“Um, well . . . yeah. What the hell – I can dream, can’t I?

“Chuck laughed. “Hell yes  – and dream big while you’re at it!”

Feeling that he was really being listened to, Harry began to relax a little. His shoulders came down from around his ears, and he hitched up a little in his chair. Pleased by Harry’s willingness to listen, Chuck pressed forward. “Harry, where do you see women who appeal to you?”

“Oh, they’re everywhere, man. You know that.”

Clapping hands together in a brief burst of applause, Chuck laughed out loud.

“Congratulations, my friend. You’ve just expanded your field of inquiry from Flanagan’s Saloon to the entire world!”

Feeling a slight tingle of excitement at that remark, Harry’s angular face showed a trace of a smile as his grinning friend continued: “A wise old man once told me that organizational skills can take you farther than talent. You seem to know exactly what you’re looking for. That increases your chances of finding it.”

Harry’ s frustration could be heard in his voice. “Yeah, Chuck, I see ‘em but I still don’t know how to approach ’em!” Leaning forward over the table, Chuck spoke softly in a conspiratorial tone. “Harry, m’boy, I’m gonna tell you a secret that very few men know: Real men don’t “pick up” women – we develop relationships with them.”

Leaning forward also, Harry asked, “Okay, how in hell do I do that?”

Continuing, Chuck said, “First, you have to become known to women. You do that by . . .”

Okay, that’s all you get for free. For the rest of the story, please send $4.95 to King Street Recording Company at the above street address. You’ll receive a 13,758 word 39 page printout mailed to your home.

“Thank you for the wonderful job you did editing material on the DVD and transferring to CD. It’s SO much better as a recording.”

            “Thanks so much for your help converting my old 1960s tape to CD. What a lifesaver!

We were able to put the CD in our family Time Capsule to be opened in 2030. Again, thanks so much for all you did to make our Christmas memorable!”

            “I appreciated your service copying my mom’s stories to CD. Got lots of thanks and compliments from family and cousins. Thanks again!”