Earlier in June Zeke Pipher came to Tesco Productions to record his audiobook The Far Bank. The book is being published by David C. Cook Publishers. The Far Bank is a 40-day collection of devotionals (Christian spiritual thoughts and lessons) for anglers. When I received the script from the publisher and discovered its subject, I sent a reply email advising them we’d try to limit swapping fishing stories so we could actually get the recording done. My contact got back with, “hope you guys have a blast”. We did. In addition to sharing a common interest in fishing, we also discovered Zeke knows relatives of mine and has regular contact with them. He would have pastored my late aunt as well.

The 40-day read/listen covers a number of years of life and fishing experiences that have shaped who Zeke is today. They’ve also inspired him to pass on those lessons (and a fly or two – or more) to others he comes into contact with, and many he’ll never meet in person – at least not in this life. As is my normal practice, once we chose the microphone and setup for recording Zeke’s audiobook, I settled into my primary role of “listening as a listener”. There’s the necessary requirement of catching mistakes in the read, but aside from that I try to assume how I would perceive listening to the book without the benefit of print in front of me. This includes following how my mind is processing the thoughts presented, and suggesting at times an alternate way to read some content. Zeke and I connected well on those ideas and David C. Cook Publishers endorsed having Zeke’s material represented as closely as possible to the author’s wishes. The content is all in the publisher’s hands and will be released soon. I know I for one will never view my fishing outings in quite the same way again. Thank you Zeke.

There are certain givens about all our “stuff”. In that list is: 1) some of it is necessary, and 2) it will all require constant maintenance – especially if exposed to weather elements. In that regard it was time to replace some boards that had succumbed to decay in our rear studio entrance stairway. None of the needed repairs were presenting safety issues, but if not dealt with eventually one bad piece affects the next. Yesterday I and my brother-in-law tackled the repairs and got everything needing attention taken care of.

As I was cutting and fastening away I mulled over the very tangible illustration of the Scriptural admonition to remember that everything we see is temporal, and everything unseen is eternal. The temporal decays, rusts, fails and fades away. The eternal is just the opposite. So where’s our focus?

As the popularity trend for audiobooks continues, Tesco Productions has been contacted to record two more audiobooks in June. While a friend was here this month we worked together installing the final two acoustic panels to optimize the sound of the voice recording space. With the addition of these panels the goal of reducing some lower mid frequencies that would sometimes pop up with certain voices is being targeted. We had already addressed the broader frequency spectrum above the problem area. While most of the women who recorded their audiobooks during the past several months didn’t activate those frequencies, both of the upcoming authors/readers are men and so it should be a good test. I’m hoping the research and chosen solution will be the proper fit.

There’ll be more information on the upcoming books as they’re recorded, but I’m excited to hear and be engaged with them both. The first is a devotional book around the theme of fishing (we’ll have to minimize our fish stories so we can actually get the recording done), and the other is a credibility overview of the Bible and why that matters – written and read by one of my nephews.