Clay Lomakayu, Narrator of the Dream Bucket, Part 2

Even as a young boy with a reel to reel tape recorder I would create stories and sometimes pretend I was a radio broadcaster. I competed in speech competitions and won a trophy for second place. I also competed to give a speech for my graduating class which I won. At a young age, I wanted to be a writer, so words have always spoken to me as a way of translating what is beyond the word. At a young age, I played the guitar and wrote songs. I later studied acting in New York, San Francisco and Los Angeles. I also taught my own classes for a time.

Later I moved to Arizona and began a new chapter in my life. I discovered I had the ability to actively enter a person's soul history and channel a journey through the spoken word, sounds, and emotions to help liberation them from stories they were stuck in. This probably more than anything gives a subtlety to my spoken word, shifts in tone, volume, and quality. When I narrate, the book itself draws this out of me as I commit myself to the spine of the book, its many thrusts that to me are akin to music.

I have also been an archaeological and sacred places guide on the land that surrounds Sedona, Arizona. Here I bring the land and its ancient people to life vibrantly so that I entertains while educating also. I spent five and a half years as the narrator/entertainer for the Verde Canyon Railroad as a storyteller and singer.

I am now channeling my gifts and skills into the narration of books such as The Dream Bucket, whose message I believe in and where the art of storytelling is a poetry that is the driving voice beneath the words. That's what I grab ahold of when I begin to speak.

I probably have one of the most unique manners of recording. I sit in a half-lotus position with the text 12 feet away on a large flat screen monitor. This gives me the feeling of spaciousness. It broadens the experience, rather than staring at text a few feet from me. It also forces me to sit properly, which encourages speaking correctly. The most important investment for the narrator/producer, other than a good computer, is the mic. I bought one of the best mics around suitable to my voice, an AKG. They have been around for many many years. The other piece of equipment whose quality is important is what is called an interface. This is between your mic and your computer. But finally you must have the right acoustics in the room you are recording in. You can do wonders with the editing software these days, but it's pretty hard to fake good acoustics.

I have completed almost thirty projects this year. You can view my titles by going to Audible and searching for Lomakayu. You will see that the titles and stories are what I consider meaningful and not just pure entertainment. These are the books I enjoy narrating. You will also find there my own recently published book Medicine of One and can see something of the other things I do at www.medicineofone.com