Today we’d like to introduce you to David Babich.
David, please share your story with us. How did you get to where you are today?
I started with acting and music at age 11, playing the role of a 40-year-old man in a musical, and playing the clarinet in the junior high band. I unknowingly was setting the stage for a life filled with both music and acting. When I attended UCLA, I started singing in choral groups and one day, it dawned on me that people actually major in music. By that time, I wasn’t really thinking out-of-the-box with majors. I was looking at majors like Psychology and Psychobiology – which of course are super interesting in their own ways. My sophomore year was coming to an end I was still undeclared. So, I trained vocally for my entrance audition into the voice major but did not get accepted. However, the school allowed me to start taking music prereqs because they heard my potential and said that I could audition again the following year.
Well, I fell in love with music so much during that year that I decided I was going to study music composition in addition to voice (IF I actually got accepted into the program!) So my entire 3rd year, I had to ‘act as if’ I was already in the program. For all you dreamers out there, this is a familiar theme, one that I have become adept at over the years – I guess it’s a version of ‘fake it til you make it’. Well, I did get accepted to both the voice program and the composition program, both of which didn’t start in earnest until my 4th year — hence I was on the ‘6-year plan’. But as someone who was really not ready for the ‘real world’ anyway, six years felt just right. The one other interesting thing to add is that while I was considering a music major, I briefly considered film.
Just a couple of years after graduating, I moved to the San Francisco Bay Area and worked as an actor, voice actor, musical director and voice teacher. I also got my start as a working composer and songwriter. My first voice-over jobs were for Sony Playstation games such as ‘Legend of the Dragoon’ and ‘Star Ocean’, playing the role of Ashton Anchors. Now you may wonder, why did I leave L.A. in the first place? Great question and there are two answers: 1) I was intimidated by Los Angeles – as a fairly immature artist with raw talent, I liked the idea of going somewhere else, being anonymous, and being in a smaller market while growing my craft. This decision led to entrance into Bennett Theater Lab in SF — a classical acting program, a lot of stage time in singer-songwriter coffee houses across the Bay, a good dose of experimental theater, and well…raves — none of which I regret and most of which I remember. Another great extension of the Bennett Theater Lab was my participation in a digital film collective called Bare Witness Films, which is still active. We created improvised dramatic and comedic shorts and filmed them renegade-style with handheld DV cameras. It was with this group that I had my directorial debut – a 35-minute experimental sci-fi fantasy called “The H-Tour”. I also starred in the Bare Witness-produced / Daniel Gamburg-directed feature, ‘I.P.O. ‘.which garnered several awards and entry into the Slamdance Film Festival.
I moved back to Los Angeles in 2005 and was immediately ‘called back’ to SF by my theater colleague, Director and writer, Mark Jackson to compose a score and musical direct a production of Caucasian Chalk Circle for the American Conservatory Theater’s M.F.A graduate performances. That project still remains one of my favorite creative projects because I had a chance to combine creativity and leadership in a concentrated period of time, in collaboration with one of the Bay Area’s best directors. My first five years back in Los Angeles were mainly focused on songwriting, recording, and teaching voice. I had been teaching singing since 1999 when I opened “David Babich Studio” in the Bay Area. But without an LA clientele, I decided to reach out to Santa Monica Music Academy, owned by my UCLA classmate, Buzz Gravelle. At the Academy, I taught voice and guitar for about four years, teaching mostly kids and the occasional adult – the most memorable being Conrad Bain — ‘Mr. Drummond’ in Different Strokes. Conrad, already in his 80s at the time when he studied with me, spent much of the lessons telling me stories about show business, which I, of course loved. He and his wife came to one of my band’s shows in Hollywood and for my birthday one year, he gave me a $100 check. Both of these gestures I will always remember. He passed away in 2013.
By 2010, I realized that I was successfully avoiding the reason I came back to LA in the first place – to take on the acting scene. I had some unfinished business with this town. So I began studying acting again as well as voice and musical theater performance. I have actually studied with a total of 11 voice teachers over the years and 5 acting teachers. I am a lifelong student of the arts. In 2012 I also sought out a career coach in J. Michael Dolan who helped me address my resistance around getting back into acting in Los Angeles. When I finally got myself into the room for my 2nd television audition in 2014 (not counting my appearance on the Pee Wee Herman’s Christmas Special in 1988), I booked it – Criminal Minds. Since then, I’ve performed in several network and cable shows in co-star and guest star roles. I’ve also been thrilled to keep my theater roots alive, doing a play or musical every couple of years. One of my first post-COVID desires is to get back on stage again!
Starting in about 2010, my voice over teaching began melding with voice over directing. I began directing v.o. commercials, animatics, radio plays narrations and live-action dubbing. Some have been co-produced at David Babich Studio, others with companies such as Enlightened Pictures, Benjamin Goldman Productions, Encore Voices, and Netflix.
By 2020, it was apparent to myself and anyone who knows me that I am not a ‘do one thing’ kind of guy, and I’ve come to accept and even embrace this. It doesn’t mean I am able to everything at the same time, but it does mean that I can choose projects in various artistic realms and allow my other skills and influences to lift up the quality of my work and ability to collaborate. My songwriting background has helped my screenwriting; my singing background is hugely important for my acting and voice acting, my voice-over directing has led me to embrace on-camera directing; and my experience with composing for film has made me a better film editor.
So, remember how I almost studied film in college? As I’ve gotten older, I’ve asked myself more often, “How can I most contribute?” and “What is area of art and entertainment that benefits most from all of my skills and passions?” The answer is filmmaking — specifically writing and directing for film and television. When this became very clear to me (possibly for the 5th or 6th time!), I decided to enroll in the film program at LACC, where I am currently working toward a Certificate in Film Directing. I am about halfway there and have already directed three projects. It’s a great time to be learning and creating.
In addition to my film studies, I am teaching fairly regularly via my online singing lessons and group voice-over classes, and I’m playing a lot of blues guitar.
But what do I REALLY love? Disc golf. Started playing about ten years ago and I played in first amateur tournament this last winter. Go check it out – it is the best sport. 🙂
We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
No way. I mean, life seems to get easier as time goes on because I’ve learned manage my internal world better and have become more well-versed at life in general. And simply through growing in craft, career, and communication, more opportunities present themselves. Aside from the various disappointments that can come from ‘rejection’ as an artist (I no longer see it this way), and the myriad growing pains I’ve had at various stages, there was one particularly challenging time – that was when I moved back to L.A. I was already in my mid-thirties and was basically starting over in a new market as an artist. I had essentially fled the city after the 1994 Northridge earthquake (that’s a time marker but I do sometimes wonder if I subconsciously ran from the prospect of more quakes in addition to the reasons I described earlier) and I maintained few relationships with my So. Cal peeps. My first job back was definitely not in acting – no – I was a waiter again. Not only that, but I was waiting on really famous people. I became really bitter really fast. I became deeply annoyed at customer asking me ‘what’s good on the menu’ or ‘what do you like’ or even ‘tell me about the specials’. I was able to get through that and quit waiting tables and get back to teaching, then composing and eventually acting over the course of the next handful of years.
We’d love to hear more about your work and what you are currently focused on. What else should we know?
I am a director (film and voice-over), writer, teacher and musician.
My film and TV writing and producing work can be found at David Babich Productions: http://www.davidbabich.com/david-babich-productions. To find out about my teaching, you can visit David Babich Studio (http://www.voicelosangeles.com) offering singing lessons, voice-over classes, voice direction and audio production. In my teaching, I instill students with artistic confidence and unleashed creativity. Technique is a huge part of this, but a safe and vibrant atmosphere is equally important.
My on-camera direction is influenced my years of teaching and directing voice actors, working as an on-camera actor, editor and composer. My music video directing debut was this last May and I have won Semi-Finalist in the Los Angeles Independent Film Festival for the video, “Lonely, Wayward”.
What were you like growing up?
I told my kindergarten teacher she sounded like a broken record. I thought it was pretty funny; she did not. I was quite brash and overconfident – but in a super-cute way I swear. Got ‘Best Sense of Humor’ in High School while slaying on the tennis team. My college and SF years were basically the ‘I can do whatever the hell I want now’ years and it took quite a while to actually grow up. I’m pretty close now.
Contact Info:
- Website: http://www.davidbabich.com
- Email: david@voicelosangeles.com
- Instagram: @voicelosangeles
- Twitter: @davidbabich
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