About Richard Salem

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 I started recording Audiobooks in December of 2020 as the realization of a lifelong dream. A deep, resonant, expressive voice with an excellent sense of timing are my hallmarks. 15 years of performance Improv have shaped my acting acumen. I've had audiobook coaching sessions with Jeffrey Kafer, Johnny Heller and Jesse Bickford. My tech has been fine-tuned by Don Baarns. 

My past: I've been a self-employed precision digital imaging consultant since the early 80's, at first specializing in teaching and applications development using AutoCAD. I pioneered high-quality graphics for map publishing on the PC, then applied those techniques to the security graphics field for a number of banknote companies. The skills and software I developed for accurately digitizing and publishing maps could be directly applied to what the banknote companies called 'second origination', colloquially known as counterfeiting - if you wanted to scoop your competitors' clients, you first had to exactly reproduce what they were printing. When the Euro was introduced, most of the banknote companies I worked with were bought up to print Euros, so I shifted to ID cards, producing graphics for hundreds of countries and companies world wide. I wrote a suite of design tools, teaching myself how to program as I went. If you're interested, my security graphics website is still up at hcc-graphics.com. Alas, chip-based security, the advancement of commercial graphics software, and the 'moving on' of my mentors meant producing graphics was no longer viable for me.

Time shift segue: As a young teenager I became obsessed with powerlifting. I was ridiculously strong and my over-zealous training resulted in torn retinas. The surgeries to repair the tears left me legally blind for the better part of a year. I went from deadlifting my teachers' cars to show off at recess to not being allowed to sit up on my own lest I tear the delicate stitches holding my retinas in place. I wasn't allowed to use my eyes for anything - no reading, no TV, nothing. Audiobooks saved my sanity. I listened to every audiobook the library had available that my parents would let me listen to, and I fell in love with them. Now that I have the time, I am revisiting my teen love affair in the hopes that I can be for someone else what audiobooks were for me - a lifeline.