Ramon de Ocampo narrates it all for you
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Ramon De Ocampo
From the number of titles he has under his microphone—more than 200 titles ranging from children’s books to adult reading (and more than a dozen industry awards, including being named a Golden Voice, a lifetime achievement recognition from Audiofile Magazine)—you can tell he’s pretty seasoned.
He has narrated all 14 books of the Diary of a Wimpy Kid series by
“They're great fun to record and I have so many stories about people recognizing my voice from those.” He’s also the voice of Jughead in the Riverdale series as well as Marco in the Animorphs series.
It comes as no surprise that he’s also an actor for television and the stage. Viewers may recognize him from shows such as “The West Wing,” “Medium,” “12 Monkeys,” “Notorius,” and “Guidance,” among others.
He’s worked with theater groups such as Ma-Yi in New York where he was on productions such as “Romance of Magno Rubio,” based on a short story by Carlos Bulosan, and Han Ong’s “Middle Finger.” He’s been in Jessica Hegedorn’s “Dogeaters” (her stage adaptation of her own novel), done several Shakespeare productions, and played the title roles in world classics such as “Oedipus.”
Born in the Philippines
Though De Ocampo was born in the Philippines, his family moved to the US when he was one and he grew up just outside of Washington, DC.
He had been a painter in grade school and high school. Although visual art was a potential field of higher study, he started to feel that he was “on the wrong side of the canvas. I wanted to be in the stories I was seeing. I wanted to be the paint.”
When he caught a touring production of “Les Miserables,” he realized acting was his calling. “I trained super hard and was luckily accepted into Carnegie Mellon University, an extremely competitive acting conservatory.”
After graduation, “the brilliant head of Recorded Books Inc., Claudia Howard, auditioned me. She believed I was someone who people would listen to tell stories. She championed me and always made sure I had work.”
Skills
Ramon De Ocampo at work
His acting skills certainly came in handy. As well as the fact that he was familiar with the end product. “My parents loved audiobooks. We listened on long car trips and plane rides. There were no screens to play with at the time.”
De Ocampo also points out that the acting industry was very different when he was coming up. “At the time, in the on-camera acting business, having brown skin meant you were relegated to certain roles—which is not true in the world of audiobooks.”
His very first audiobook was “a beautiful Young Adult (YA) novel titled Life's a Funny Proposition, Horatio with Recorded Books. It won awards and launched my career.”
Books
De Ocampo says he prepares for an audiobook recording like he would any acting job. “Except an audiobook has dozens of other characters you're playing!” he adds.
He usually reads the "script" and marks down ideas, characters, storyline arcs, and other notes. “Of course, think of voices before I get into a recording booth.”
“Typically for every hour you hear on an audiobook, I've spent at least two or three in a booth recording it,” he explains. “Then an engineer and editor edit and master the file. That's another four to six hours. This does not include the preparation time such as meetings.”
“So, a 10-hour audiobook can need as many as 80 hours to produce. For my part, my recording sessions last about five to six hours a day, which will get you between an hour and a half to two hours of ‘finished recording.’”
Filipino Works
Throughout his career, De Ocampo has had the privilege of narrating titles by Filipino American and Filipino authors.
He’s narrated two children’s books by Filipino British author Candy Gourlay (Tall Story and Bone Talk) and an adult mystery by Filipino author FH Batacan (Smaller and Smaller Circles).
There’s America is in the Heart, the semi-autobiographical novel by Carlos Bulosan; Manila Noir, an anthology edited by Jessica Hagedorn; From the Memoirs of a Non-Enemy Combatant, satire by Alex Gilvarry.
For younger readers, there’s Outspan Foster’s The Crafter series; Randy Ribay’s After the Shot Drops and Patron Saints of Nothing; and Erin Entrada Kelly’s Hello, Universe and We Dream of Space.
“I love being the voice for Filipino and Filipino American writers and characters. I try to put a Filipino in every book I do, even if it's a small character. Representation is important, and I'm incredibly proud to be a flag bearer.”
One of the books De Ocampo has narrated, Erin Entrada Kelly’s “We Dream of Space”
Walter Ang
Walter Ang is the author of Barangay to Broadway: Filipino American Theater History. When he is not writing about Fil-Am theater, he delves into astrology and yoga. Visit http://amazon.com/author/walterang
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