There are many many exciting and diverse paths that our students take after walking across the stage at graduation. For SAE Institute Miami alumni Donald Guzzi, what started as an interest in Live Sound evolved into a thriving career in voiceover acting where he brings some of your favorite anime characters to life.
Follow along as we connect with the Audio Engineer, Voice Actor, and Director, known for his work on hit anime series Gintama (2006) on Hulu, and My Deer Friend Nokotan (2024) available on Prime Video.
Who or what inspired you to pursue a career in Audio?
I had always loved music and concerts. I played guitar growing up but I had never really thought anything of making music a career. I was originally at FAU for Communications, but while I was working a part-time job with the City of West Palm Beach, we had the opportunity to work a lot of concerts. I ended up speaking with a few of the engineers who ran sound for those shows and started working with them periodically as a stage-hand. Once I started doing that was when I realized I really enjoyed audio work and could see myself pursuing a career in that field.
Given your experience across such a broad spectrum of audio work, how have your skills and perspectives evolved over time?
When it comes to Post-Production, I’ve worked through almost every position there is. Quality Control, Recording/Directing, Mixing (2.0 and 5.1), Mastering, Sound Design and of course, being a talent. Every new position felt like it built upon the foundations set by the position before it. Starting in Quality Control, I learned to identify what could pass and what could not in regards to dubbing (long/short lines, flubs, etc) as well as general engineering skills (moving audio to sync, TCE-usage, etc). With Recording, I carried the foundations from QC and built upon them. Knowing what works and what doesn’t, as well as what can be fixed and what can’t, enabled me to quickly move through sessions and being able to focus more on directing talent performance etc. At the end of the day, the general foundations are all very similar and build upon each other in different ways.
Voiceover work requires a unique set of skills compared to other audio disciplines. What aspects of voiceover performance do you find most challenging or rewarding?
What’s challenging is that you can never stop learning. There are different nuances to performances that can really raise the bar. Being able to identify and implement those subtle nuances is incredibly challenging, but also rewarding when successful. It always feels amazing when you nail a performance.
What was your experience like at SAE Institute Miami?
My SAE experience was a great one. The curriculum was in-depth enough to gather a foundational understanding of different facets of audio, while being shallow enough to allow students to dip their toes into many different audio career paths and not feel overly rushed.
What advice do you have for current students who may want to also explore different areas of Audio work after graduation?
I’ll say, experiment and play around with all the different audio paths. You never know what you may fall in love with. I started out planning on diving into Live Sound but discovered a love for Post-Production. You can always pivot, it’s never too late. Stay curious and never stop learning.
For more info on Donald, check out his website or connect with him on Instagram. For more information about our Audio programs, visit us online at usa.sae.edu.
