We were lucky to catch up with Donald Guzzi recently and have shared our conversation below.
Donald, so great to have you with us and thanks for taking the time to share your thoughts with the community. So, let’s jump into something that stops so many people from going after their dreams – haters, nay-sayers, etc. We’d love to hear about how you dealt with that and persisted on your path.
Early on in my career, I really let words get to me. Reading negative reviews of projects I was a part of and dealing with negative criticism was a tough pill to swallow. No matter how awesome I felt a performance was, or how much a director/client had loved what I had given them, there was always negative feedback from the watchers of said content.
I started noticing that, no matter how well a performance was (from me, or anyone else), there was ALWAYS someone who had something negative to say. When I’d read into it a bit further, I noticed it was hate for the sake of hate. No actual criticism or feedback. Just hating. This was when it hit me.
No matter what, there will always be haters. Your performance could be flawless, the project could hit a 100% on Rotten Tomatoes and people will still find things to hate. For me, this realization made their words absolutely meaningless and it became very easy to filter out the hate. I still read reviews and check for any valid criticisms or for things I could have done differently, but when I see something like, “Man, Donald Guzzi just sucks and should’ve never been cast,” I just laugh and keep moving.
Once you realize that no matter what you do, there will be haters, their words don’t hold as much weight.
Great, so let’s take a few minutes and cover your story. What should folks know about you and what you do?
My name is Donald Guzzi and I am a voice actor, director and audio engineer.
I began my journey at SAE Institute in Miami, FL in 2013, studying Audio Technology. During this time, I was hell-bent on become a Live-Sound Engineer for concerts and shows. However, that all changed when we arrived at the “Post-Production” section of our curriculum. This was where I discovered my love for foley, sound design and ADR recording.
Once I graduated from SAE in 2014, I started working with Universal Cinergia Dubbing in Miami as a Quality Control Engineer for dubbed content. I would watch finished product and report on or fix issues like: Dialogue sync, long/short/flubbed lines, music/sfx being too loud or not correct.
I stayed with Universal Cinergia until 2022, holding many positions such as: Voice Actor, Recording Engineer, Directing Studio Engineer, 5.1 Surround Sound Mixer, Quality Control Lead, Head of English Quality Control and Media Services Supervisor. I became well versed on the production side of the dubbing industry and ultimately decided to leave Universal Cinergia to pursue freelance engineering/directing via my own company Action Audio LLC.
I worked with a few different clients thru my company between 2022 and 2024 before ultimately settling into a full-time position with Graphic Audio as a Creative Director. Graphic Audio is a company that produces full cast and full SFX audio books. It’s really cool!
After being in the dubbing industry for so long, moving into the audio book world has been a massive breath of fresh air. Sure, I’m still directing and working with talent (and as a talent), but there’s no lipsync and no performances to match. We get to really put our own twists into character performances to bring these characters to life. It’s been incredibly fulfilling and I’m very excited to see what the future holds!
There is so much advice out there about all the different skills and qualities folks need to develop in order to succeed in today’s highly competitive environment and often it can feel overwhelming. So, if we had to break it down to just the three that matter most, which three skills or qualities would you focus on?
1. I know I’ve broached this already, but learning to not let hateful words get to you is incredibly useful. In my field, there are a lot of massive egos and hurt feelings. Developing thick skin has helped me tremendously. Now, I’m not saying to just completely wall yourself off and to stop being sensitive. I mean that there’s a difference between constructive criticism and being a hater. Absorb constructive criticism, as you can always improve, but let the hate just bounce off you. None of it matters and everyone has an opinion.
2. Stay humble/never stop learning. Don’t get “comfortable” with your skillset. Always push and strive to learn more and do better. There will always be something to learn; whether it be new up-and-coming technology in your field or attending workshops with industry professionals. There’s always something to gain and learn from. No matter how amazing you think you are in your field, there will always be more you can learn. Don’t let that ego get too big.
3. Setting boundaries. Now, this one is huge. In a world where deadlines are king, you need to be able to maintain a healthy work/life balance, even when working in a high-stress field. You know yourself better than anyone else. You know what it takes to burn you out. Set respectable boundaries so this doesn’t happen. You need to be able to disconnect yourself from your work otherwise it will consume you and you will burnout, hard. Don’t work outside of your scheduled hours, don’t answer phone calls/emails when you aren’t working, completely disconnect when you’re on vacation. If you work a non-traditional job that requires an odd-schedule (like voice acting), you will unfortunately be working A LOT of late night hours for last minute auditions and things of that nature. Take frequent breaks, rest your voice and don’t push yourself too hard. Again, you know yourself better than anyone else, so make sure to set healthy boundaries for yourself to avoid burnout.
We’ve all got limited resources, time, energy, focus etc – so if you had to choose between going all in on your strengths or working on areas where you aren’t as strong, what would you choose?
This is a great question and everyone is going to have a different experience regarding this.
I personally think it would be something in the middle. Not going entirely all in on strengths, but also trying to improve upon our weaknesses. The unfortunate truth, is that some people just won’t be good at certain things. They can try and try and try and it just won’t click. This is normal and you shouldn’t let this eat away at you.
For me right now, I’m currently working on my writing and script adaptation skills. This was one of my weaker qualities and now that I am in a position where writing and adapting scripts is a massive part of my workload, I’m working on improving this.
However, if you’re in a position that works as part of a team, there can be a different approach. You’ve got your strengths and your weaknesses. You can always try to improve on things you’re not good at, but, when you’re a part of a team, it’s good to be able to identify those weaknesses so that another team member who may excel at something you’re bad at can cover that base, while you can cover something they may not be great at. It creates a balance and can hopefully diversify the workload and create a very strong connection between you and your team. You learn each others strengths and weaknesses, and create a workflow that works for everyone.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.donaldguzzi.com
- Instagram: @Action_Audio
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/donald-guzzi-2a7bb999/
- Twitter: @DonaldGuzzi
Image Credits
(Group Photo, Cast of Gintama) Paul Louis, Crystal Lopez, Roly Gutierrez, Christina Jopling, Clay Cartland, Christian Vandepas, Jason Kesser, Donald Guzzi
so if you or someone you know deserves recognition please let us know here.
