About David Sweeney-Bear

I was born in London in the late 1970s — officially a Cockney, having been born within earshot of Bow Bells in Whitechapel — before moving out of the city as a young child and growing up in the Cambridgeshire countryside.

From an early age, I was drawn to storytelling, performance, and the power of the human voice. As a teenager, I became heavily involved in youth theatre, acting groups, and improvisation, later attending castings and screen tests in London’s West End. Although acting opportunities never fully materialised at the time, the experience gave me something that would stay with me for life: a deep understanding of character, emotion, timing, and performance.

In my late teens, music became my obsession.

What began as songwriting and live performance evolved into a lifelong immersion in sound itself — recording, engineering, production, and sonic craftsmanship. Over the next 25 years, living in both Cambridgshire, UK and rural Northamptonshire, I worked extensively in music production, live performance, studio engineering, and audio design, developing both a trained ear and a deep technical understanding of professional audio production.

That combination of performance and production naturally led me to audiobooks.

I moved to the west of Ireland in 2008. In 2018, I founded DSB Audio and began working professionally as an audiobook narrator, producer, voice actor, and sound designer. Drawing on decades of experience in acting, music, and audio engineering, I specialise in creating immersive, character-driven audiobook productions with broadcast-quality sound and emotionally authentic performances.

Since then, I’ve narrated and produced more than 50 audiobook titles across fiction and non-fiction genres, working with independent authors, publishers, and production companies including Audible, HarperCollins, and Pro Audio Voices. My work has been recognised by the 2026 SOVAS Voice Arts Awards, and I am proud to be an Audible Approved Producer.

As a narrator, I’m particularly known for nuanced storytelling, strong character work, and versatility with accents and vocal styles — from warm contemporary narration and refined RP to gritty Cockney, Irish, Welsh, and General American voices. Whether voicing literary fiction, fantasy, horror, historical works, or thoughtful non-fiction, my focus is always the same: to serve the story honestly and draw the listener fully into the world of the book.

Beyond narration itself, my background in audio production and sound design allows me to oversee the entire creative and technical process from manuscript to finished master — ensuring every project meets the highest professional standards in both performance and sound quality.

At heart, though, it still comes down to the same thing that fascinated me as a child: great stories, well told.