Salami Studios Is Closing After 30 Years. Voice Actors Are Saying Goodbye to the Room Where Their Careers Began
Salami Studios, the North Hollywood recording house behind voice sessions for Avatar: The Last Airbender, Jackie Chan Adventures, Castlevania: Nocturne and Cyberpunk: Edgerunners, is closing after more than 30 years. The studio announced it on Instagram on Monday night. Since then its comments have filled with goodbyes from the actors, directors and engineers who worked there, many of whom say it’s where their careers began.
- The news. Salami Studios announced on Instagram on Monday that it’s “closing our doors” after 30+ years.
- No reason given. The post doesn’t say why it’s closing or what happens to work in progress.
- The credits. Anime News Network lists anime dubs from Monster to Cyberpunk: Edgerunners, plus King of the Hill, SpongeBob SquarePants and The Boondocks.
- The reaction. Voices including Maile Flanagan, Darin De Paul, Debi Derryberry and Michelle Ruff have posted tributes.
“We are sad to announce”
The studio posted the news to its Instagram account on Monday evening, Los Angeles time, with a set of old team photos.
“We are sad to announce that we are closing our doors and bringing this chapter to a close. We are endlessly grateful for all of you. How lucky are we to have worked with so many extraordinary people! Thank you for 30+ years of madness,” the post reads.
A second post followed with more photos of past staff: “Here’s to the people behind the madness. Thank you to everybody who has been part of our team over the years! You helped make this place what it was, we’ll always be grateful for you.”
Neither post gives a reason for the closure or a last day. The studio, at 10733 Magnolia Boulevard, describes itself on Instagram as an award-winning studio for “dialogue, ADR, editorial, full audio post production, and remote recording/mixing.” Anime News Network reported the closure on Tuesday. It noted that the studio’s most recent work was on Cyberpunk: Edgerunners and the upcoming Edgerunners 2.
Here’s the announcement as the studio posted it. The caption reads as quoted above.
A first studio for a lot of people
Read the comments and one phrase keeps coming back: “my first.” For a generation of Los Angeles voice actors, Salami was the room where a career turned real.
Maile Flanagan, the English voice of Naruto Uzumaki, wrote: “Thanks for helping me start my career in VO and all the amazing and lovely staff throughout the years. I will get a tear when I drive by, which is often.”
“One of the first studios I ever worked at. This is truly the end of an era and very sad news!” wrote Ellen Dubin. Scott Whyte said he worked his “very first voice job at salami,” adding that “the hang in the lobby was always just as fun as the sessions themselves.” Sie James called Salami “my first studio” and said Jackie Chan Adventures “was a turning point in my life.”
Marie Westbrook remembered classes there and a pivotal series, then something more personal: “the incredibly sweet experience of having my daughters first VO session when she was 6 years old.”
The room where the group records happened
Salami was known for ensemble sessions, where a cast records together in one room and plays off each other’s lines. Several tributes go straight to that.
“The best group record vo memories happened here…and the turkey bacon,” wrote Debi Derryberry, the voice of Jimmy Neutron, thanking “Gary and Joe.” Michelle Ruff, the English voice of Rukia in Bleach, agreed on both counts: “Omg it feels like the end of an era…thank you for all the best years of recording! And yes the turkey bacon!!”
VoiceEditSuiteRaw take in. Clean take out.Joe Ochman thanked the team “for always being such a great, safe, creative place to work.” Sean Kenin, who is a voice actor and also runs his own studio, praised the crew “both behind the mic and via source connect across the country.” Source-Connect is the remote link that lets an actor record from another city. “You all set a standard of friendliness and professionalism that I strive to emulate in life and with my business,” he wrote.
Voice director Collette Sunderman wrote that directing “Salami Studios’ first animated series, Powerpuff Girls” had been “one of the greatest honors of my career,” and called the place “a creative home, an extended family.”
Three decades of credits
The list of work tells you why this lands hard. Anime News Network’s credits run from Monster, Kekkaishi, The Prince of Tennis, Honey and Clover and Buso Renkin to Star Wars: Visions and Castlevania: Nocturne. On the western side they include King of the Hill, He-Man and the Masters of the Universe, SpongeBob SquarePants and The Boondocks.
Darin De Paul, whose voice work includes Reinhardt in Overwatch, put it simply: “Salami Studios was home. It changed lives. And it has a big place in the hearts of so many in the voice-over community.”
What a closing studio means for working voice actors
When a studio like this shuts, the loss isn’t only the booth. It’s the engineers who knew how you liked your headphone mix, the directors who cast from the lobby, and the room where newer actors sat beside veterans and learned by watching. Home studios and remote links have made it possible to work from anywhere. They haven’t replaced the group record, and they don’t replace the hang.
De Paul’s comment ended with a wish for the people behind the glass: “May all the staff find new homes. Thank you for sharing your home with us.” Doug Erholtz was glad he’d “had a chance to record one last time with you guys this summer.”
If you’ve got a session booked at Salami, check with your agent or the production today about where it’s moving. The studio’s posts don’t say how long it will stay open.
What happens next
Salami Studios hasn’t said what happens to its staff, its space on Magnolia Boulevard or projects still in production. Voice Over Herald will update this story as more is known.
For now, the last word belongs to the comments. Michelle Ruff’s comment sums up the mood of the thread: “You will all be missed!”
The two announcement posts and the comments quoted here are on Salami Studios’ Instagram.
Sources: Salami Studios on Instagram, announcement posts of September 28, 2026, and public comments on them by Maile Flanagan, Ellen Dubin, Scott Whyte, Sie James, Marie Westbrook, Debi Derryberry, Michelle Ruff, Joe Ochman, Sean Kenin, Collette Sunderman, Darin De Paul and Doug Erholtz; Anime News Network (September 29, 2026).
Lee este artículo en español: Salami Studios cierra tras 30 años. Los actores de voz despiden el lugar donde empezaron sus carreras
Know something about this story, or spotted an error? Tell the newsroom.