Tim has produced thousands of audio projects for a diversified base of clients including automotive, medical, financial, food service and advertising industries. He heads a team of experienced audio professionals and manages a two-studio facility in Cypress. Tim has helped clients gain national recognition by producing award winning audio on hundreds of programs and commercials. Clients include Honda, Nutrilite, Toyota and Beckman Coulter.
Tim began his audio career by working in radio broadcasting in Southern California in the mid-70s after receiving a B.A. in Radio-TV-Film-Communications from Cal State Long Beach. His own voice has been heard on hundreds of radio and TV commercials over the past 3 decades. Tim also lends his voice to corporate projects for training and marketing for clients like Kawasaki Motors, Honda, Kaiser Permanente, and Panasonic.
Tim currently serves on the Board of The Media Alliance of Orange County (MAOC), and the Board of Directors of the Cypress Chamber of Commerce. He resides and has his business in Cypress. Tim was elected to the Cypress City Council and served for 8 years, including two one year terms as mayor. During his stint on the city council, Tim was chosen to serve on the Orange County Transportation Authority Board of Directors for 6 years including one year as chairman of that regional transportation agency.
OCS Do you remember when you were first “hooked” on your business?
Tim Keenan I was hooked in high school. A teacher had talked the school into letting him develop a radio production curriculum and each day the students created the content for an hour long news, music & information program that ran in the cafeteria during lunch. I helped program the campus radio station at Cal State Long Beach as part of my major and then found the world of non-broadcast corporate production. Here I am over 3 decades later. the technology has changed but audio production is still very much “theater of the mind.”
OCS Do one (or two) projects you’ve done stick out or that you are particularly proud of?
Tim Keenan - The most recent “fun” project was sweetening a documentary that aired just before the first of the year for Natural Balance Pet Foods about the making of the “Worlds Heaviest Float’ for this year’s Rose Parade. The show featured Tillman the skateboarding dog and a bevy of show dogs that vied to appear on this year’s float. We got to draw from our sound effects collection and add in water splashes, dog panting and barking, crowd sounds and so forth and really flesh out the audio of this fun, half hour show. The program aired all over the U.S. on the C.W. Network.
Another project I am extremely proud of was a labor of love - another documentary - on the building of the blimp hangars at the Tustin Airbase during World War II right here in Orange County. This piece started out as a simple project documenting of the process for the City of Tustin as part of the requirements of the base closure process. It grew into a very well researched and filmed program worthy of airing on PBS. The producer, award winning documentarian Peter Buffa, has been a client and friend for decades and he gave us free reign to help find the music from our libraries and craft sounds needed to bring to life old historical footage that had no audio at all. We also got to record the voiceover to help fill in the back-story between interview segments.
OCS What kind of projects do you enjoy most?
Tim Keenan I like short projects that are in and out in a day. Sweetening audio for video of any kind is great to do. I’ve had producers describe that the sweetening process as the “icing on the cake.” They’ve agonized over their project from inception, through scripting, client meetings, shooting, editing, graphics and usually audio is the very last step in the process. My goal is to bring the whole collaboration to life with the final voice-over, music and sound effects.
I still go back to my radio roots and love to do radio spots, too. Sometimes these are little stories told in :60 seconds or less and are always a lot fun to do.
OCS What is your favorite part of working in production and/or audio production.
Tim Keenan Every day is something different. We work in a lot of “short form” projects for a variety of clients. Each day brings a different job for a different client. I am constantly learning because of the huge variety of subject matter of the projects we work on. One day it might be a food service training project and the next an audio interview with a business management skills expert. The other favorite part is getting to know the voices who manage to take someone else’s words and make them their own. It has been great working with some of the best voices in the business over the past 30 years and each one has a unique gift they bring to the table.
Editor’s Note: Tim Keenan is one of the dozens of entertainment arts professionals in Orange County who have done, and continue to do, quality work but, in addition to providing his time and leadership to help promote the local entertainment industry and he has been a mentor to others in various crafts, especially those with audio and voiceover interests. It continues to be an honor to work with him.
Tim resides and has his business in Cypress. Tim was elected to the Cypress City Council and served for 8 years, including two one year terms as mayor. During his stint on the city council, Tim was chosen to serve on the Orange County Transportation Authority Board of Directors for 6 years including one year as chairman of that regional transportation agency.
