1. Rest in Peace, Wally Phillips

    Posted March 30, 2008 by Bob

    When I first arrived in Chicago as a college freshman in 1971, Wally Phillips was already well established as the number one radio personality in the market, as WGN AM 720’s morning man. He died March 26, 2008 following a five year battle with Alzheimer’s Disease.

    Category: General, People | Comments (0)

  2. Do? Delegate? Don’t Do?

    Posted March 29, 2008 by Bob

    Some of you reading this note have plates that aren’t just full, they are overflowing. Given that, I hope you will take a few minutes to read these thought-provoking words from Richard Exley. And then put into practice what you’ve learned.

    Category: General | Comments (0)

  3. Marketing advice

    Posted by Bob

    One of the people I most admire in the voiceover world, especially in regard to marketing his voiceover business, is Peter O’Connell. I point you today to a post on his blog from a couple of days ago that relates to marketing and Search Engine Optimization. Really good stuff, Peter. Thank you for keeping our noses on the grindstone.

    Category: Career Advice, General, Getting started in Voiceover, People | Comments (0)

  4. Pat has a new free lesson for you

    Posted by Bob

    Pat Fraley emails this morning with news about a new free voiceover lesson that he’s posted.

    Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

    He writes…

    It’s about 6-7 minutes long. It’s covers some “Shameless Tricks” for voice over for performance and slating. I’m almost embarrassed. Almost.

    Thank you, Pat. Good stuff.

    Category: Career Advice, General, Getting started in Voiceover, People | Comments (0)

  5. Avoiding the Void

    Posted by Bob

    Mark Sikes has some really solid and valuable information in his Showfax column on March 17th about how to get your career moving when it seems like you’re at a standstill. He writes mainly for on-camera actors, but his advice applies just as well to voice talent or any entrepreneur.

    My thanks to my friend Rowell Gormon for sending me this link. Rowell also has some thoughts on his blog.

    Category: General | Comments (0)

  6. George Del Hoyo works from home

    Posted March 28, 2008 by Bob

    My friend Steve Stone emails today with a link to this interesting article in Variety about George Del Hoyo, who is doing his extremely high level of voiceover work from his home studio.

    Category: General, People | Comments (2)

  7. Rest in Peace, Hal Riney

    Posted March 27, 2008 by Bob

    There’s a report about Hal Riney, the advertising man behind the “It’s morning in America” campaign for Ronald Reagan among many others on NPR’s site. Mr. Riney died on Monday at the age of 75 at his home in San Francisco.

    My thanks to Nancy Wolfson for passing along the link to this story today.

    Update: I should note that Peter O’Connell was several days ahead of me on this story. Good for you, Peter. My very best to you.

    Category: General, People | Comments (1)

  8. A no-holds-barred look at VOICE 2008

    Posted March 26, 2008 by Bob

    Todd Schick, a professional voice talent and coach, has taken the time to review every announced speaker at VOICE 2008. VOICE 2008 is in Los Angeles in August 8 through 11. Very interesting stuff here. I don’t agree with every word Todd has written; but he clearly has a sharp eye for detail and an excellent ear. Lots of good stuff to chew on here, Todd. Thank you for taking the time to review, write and post this information.

    While you’re there, check out all of the other helpful and valuable material you’ll find on Todd’s site. There’s a ton of good stuff.

    (Update. My thanks to Connie Terwilliger for linking to Todd’s VOICE 2008 review page on the VO-BB.)

    Category: Career Advice, General, Getting started in Voiceover, People | Comments (8)

  9. Helping people find their voices

    Posted by Bob

    There’s a rather nice article about David Bourgeios and his company Voice Coaches in the Glens Falls, New York Post Star. David was nice enough to invite me to take part in a marketing workshop for Voice Coaches last year. I had a delightful time taking part in the day long activities. My thanks to my friend Dave Courvoisier for posting the link to this article on this blog, thus helping me find it.

    Category: General | Comments (2)

  10. A radio imaging session on video

    Posted March 25, 2008 by Bob

    If you’ve ever wondered what it looks like when someone is recording radio imaging voiceovers, Alan Bainbridge has been nice enough to provide a YouTube of one of his sessions.

    It’s fun to see, and hear, you work Alan. And thanks for posting this on your blog. I’d never have found it otherwise.

    Category: General, People | Comments (4)

  11. AnswersTV features …

    Posted by Bob

    The voice of my friend Jeffrey Kafer. Go to the Health Channel on AnswersTV and on the left choose “Say ahhh”. Then click any of the 30 second videos! Nice work, Jeffrey.

    Category: General, People | Comments (0)

  12. May 2008 Learning opportunity in Denver

    Posted by Bob

    M J Lallo’s headin’ to Denver to do A VO Seminar.
    She’ll be ridin’ in on a Mustang named Sally!
    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
    Tell your cowboy/girl friends to come on down an join in! Denver Center Theatre Academy: May 17th & 18th.

    Come get expert advice on all areas of voice over careers. MJ Lallo brings a host of important and pertinent information to the table, as she is a VO actor, director, producer and does casting from her talent roster.

    This two-day seminar will cover: breathing, voice placement, voice stretching and character development. In addition, each student will receive a unique technique of left and right brain character discovery, total physicalization of characters as they move, dance and even sing.

    Voice matching with actual audio clips of commercials and character voice matching with actual audio clips commercials and characters will be addressed
    as well as ten ways of expression for all types of reads. Participants will form groups and volunteers will come forward do a live 60 second pitch, which will be critiqued by MJ. A question and answer sessions about the business as well as discussion of how to make the killer demo are included.

    For more info on MJ Lallo and Mj Productions check out the website at www.creatingvoices.com.

    Registering for the Denver Seminar…partner!
    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
    Call Kenny Storms at 303-446-4892 to register or if you have any with any questions.

    Voice-Over Intensive Weekend with MJ Lallo
    Sat · 10am-5:30pm · 5/17/08 · $225 for Saturday alone
    Sun · 12-4pm · 5/18/08 · $300 for both day

    Category: General | Comments (0)

  13. When you need more than an audio interface

    Posted March 24, 2008 by Bob

    Check out the new toy Some Audio Guy is blogging about. A mixer and audio interface in one, and best of all for those of use who use Pro Tools, compatible with the M-powered version.

    Category: General, Tools | Comments (2)

  14. To the next level, and beyond

    Posted by Bob

    I’ve been remiss in not posting some additional thoughts about my weekend in Seattle, studying again with Marice Tobias, especially my reflections on my experiences on the second of the 2 days. Here are a couple of thoughts that I hope you’ll find helpful.

    One of the things I like best about these weekends with Marice is getting to study as part of a group, and in particular a group of really talented people. There’s something about being around really talented people that brings out the best…at least that’s the way it works for me. We all brought our A game to the weekend and every one of us went home with a new definition of our A game, a definition that’s in sharper focus than it was.

    The other thought I’d like you to chew on has to do with perspective. Maybe a brief story about a conversation I had with my daughter last week will help illustrate the point. Karen and I were talking about how we both know a lot of people here in North Carolina who don’t have stereotypical “Southern” accents. This is mainly because Charlotte, and the entire state for that matter, has become a destination for people from other parts of the country, especially the Northeast and the Midwest. As part of that conversation I mentioned in passing that there’s a difference in accents in different parts of the South. Folks who are natives of North Carolina have a distinctly different sound than do those from Alabama or Kentucky, etc. Karen commented that my ears must be more finely tuned than hers because she can’t distinguish those differences. Now, I’m not an expert on dialects, but I am beginning to hear these finely shaded gradations of difference from one regionalism to another.

    Those same kinds of finely shaded distinctions apply to the best voiceover work. Narration for a corporate marketing piece might bear a resemblance to a documentary narration, for example; but there are differences. Sometimes subtle. Sometimes considerable. Voiceover for a national television commercial has a different tone than work for national radio, even if the commercials are for the same client and about the same product.

    So, whether you do a lot of dialect and character work, or almost none, tuning your ear and your voice to these distinctions and differences will make a difference on whether you book work or not. Because the clients know what they’re looking for and if you adopt the wrong tone or style for your audition, they are just going to move on to the next talent. Working with Marice is like putting a finely honed edge to my instrument, and helps me tune my ears to the shadings and levels I have to be able to hear to do my best work.

    Update: Kitzie Stern has some wonderfully insightful thoughts about studying with Marice that she’s just posted on her blog. Well worth your time.

    Category: General, People | Comments (2)

  15. Optimize your site’s credibility

    Posted by Bob

    When someone finds your voiceover website, does that site inspire them to hire you? Or do they just keep moving? The brilliant people over at Future Now, and in this case specifically Jeff Sexton, offer some valuable advice about how to maximize the credibility of your site.

    Category: General | Comments (0)

  16. Getting things done

    Posted by Bob

    Mary McKitrick is both talented as a voiceover artist and as a writer. If you need some suggestions to help you get moving in your voiceover career, she’s written a brilliant post on her blog that’s loaded with solid and valuable information.

    Category: Career Advice, General, Getting started in Voiceover, People | Comments (2)

  17. VGA Dreams, Episode 2

    Posted March 23, 2008 by Bob

    I see from my friend who blogs under the name Some Audio Guy, that Ben Lepley’s VGA Dreams, Episode 2 is released.

    Good stuff, Ben.

    Category: General | Comments (0)

  18. A student of success

    Posted by Bob

    Stu Gray has tagged me, asking for some insights into success. Specifically he’s asked the following questions.

    1. What habits have enabled you to become successful?

    First, persistence. No one wins if they quit. Second, not being afraid to ask questions. While I was offering a small bit of advice to a friend the other day I started thinking about how I learned how to edit audio in a digital workstation. The single biggest answer is that I plunged in back when digital editing was new, but second to it is that I’ve asked a lot of questions of people who know more than I do.

    2. What habits have blocked you from success?

    The single biggest block to greater success, at least for me, is fear. I’m learning to turn my fear on its head and to use it as a motivator to move forward, but it’s not easy.

    3. What advice would you give a young VO professional?

    Read out loud every day. Record yourself as often as possible. Listen to what you’ve recorded. Compare the results to the kind of work you hear coming from the television. Even more importantly, study with a reputable coach. Don’t rush. Treat the voiceover business like the business it is. Recognize that the vast majority to people trying to make a living at voiceover not only fail, but never make any significant amount of money at it.

    4. Whats the best book(s) you have read to help you become successful at what you do?

    With all due respect to my several friends who have written books on voiceover, I don’t think this is something you can learn from a book. The books that have most influenced my voiceover work were The Bible, The Chronicles of Narnia, The Velveteen Rabbit, The Little Prince and the three Wizard of Ads books by Roy H. Williams.

    Category: General, People | Comments (2)

  19. Sometimes the right word is: no

    Posted March 22, 2008 by Bob

    On this voiceover blog, my friend Brian Haymond details an experience where that was the case. By the way, the fact that he handled things very well is clear from one of the comments left on this site, a comment from the client in question. It’s an interesting opportunity to read both sides of the story.

    Category: General, People | Comments (0)

  20. RP and much more

    Posted by Bob

    My friend James Lorenz has been digging into some of the various dialects of English as it’s practiced in its home country. That would be England, of course. It’s just the tip of the iceberg, but a very nice start.

    Category: General, People | Comments (2)

  21. Passionate workers

    Posted March 21, 2008 by Bob

    Seth Godin has brilliantly captured the essence of my life as a voiceover talent. Some days can be very long. For example, no voiceover project I’ve done has ever taken as much time as the work I’ve been doing while recording of the entire Bible. (We’re almost done. We have a few more corrections and we’re finished.) The amount of time a voiceover project takes or the times of day I have to do work are almost meaningless because doing things right, delivering a great performance, is such delight it hardly seems like work.

    The same applies to this blog. I love finding articles like this. I love passing along thoughts and ideas that I hope are helpful to you in your work, whether you do voiceovers or your hire voice talent. This isn’t work, it’s part of the fabric, the passion, of my life.

    My thanks to my friend Kitzie Stern for posting the link to Seth’s article. (Kitzie it was such a delight seeing you at Marice’s workshop in Seattle!)

    Category: Career Advice, General, People | Comments (0)

  22. A typical day for a promo voice

    Posted March 20, 2008 by Bob

    With my thanks to my friend Greg for posting the link on the VO-BB, and thus leading me to it, here’s an interesting story in the Boston Globe about life as a television promo voice. What I was really delighted to see is that my friend Frank Frederick is featured in this article, starting in the third paragraph.

    Category: General, People | Comments (0)

  23. Cost effective and quite effective

    Posted by Bob

    My buddy who blogs by the name Some Audio Guy has an interesting post up about how he helped a friend deal with some significant audio problems to the tune of only 30 dollars. Good stuff. Well worth a few minutes of your time.

    Category: General, Tools | Comments (0)

  24. A potent marketing message

    Posted March 19, 2008 by Bob

    Tom Asacker has posted a short but potent marketing message on his blog. Don’t miss it.

    Category: General | Comments (0)

  25. Skittles

    Posted March 18, 2008 by Bob

    Pat Fraley emails this evening with a YouTube link to this amazing bit of work by Sean Donnellan.

    Sean is a student of Pat’s. Really superb work, Sean. Really.

    Category: General, People | Comments (2)

  26. Part Two of the podcast interview is now available

    Posted by Bob

    Tracy Pattin has published the second part of her podcast interview with me on the VoiceRegistry blog. In case you’re interested and you missed it, you can still hear part one, too.

    Category: General, People | Comments (0)

  27. Voiceover job opportunity

    Posted March 17, 2008 by Bob

    Tracy Pattin posts on the VoiceRegistry blog that Literati Audio, Inc. is searching for a British female voice talent.

    Category: General | Comments (0)

  28. Industry Resources

    Posted by Bob

    Stephanie has posted a gold mine of links and valuable information on VoxDaily.

    I think this one is worth bookmarking on its own.

    Category: Career Advice, General, Getting started in Voiceover, Tools | Comments (6)

  29. When you need a stopwatch

    Posted March 16, 2008 by Bob

    Many times when you’re reading copy, you need to check the length of what you’ve just read. Especially for commercial or promo copy. My friend Charlie Glaize emailed me a few days ago with a terrific web site that might help you out the next time you need a stopwatch and don’t have one handy.

    Category: General, Tools | Comments (6)

  30. Honing the edge

    Posted March 15, 2008 by Bob

    Working at the very highest levels of voiceover involves being able to deliver performances that move in very tiny shades of adjustment. This is the reason why I love taking part in the weekend seminars that Marice Tobias holds. I’m taking part in my third such experience this weekend in Seattle, Washington. The focus, as it was in New York City last November, is on trailer and promo reads. What I find fascinating is that by learning about these subtle shades of difference and adjustment in a trailer or promo read, I also get much better at my work on commercials and narrations.

    So this time I didn’t find myself filled with anxiety about how I was going to do. Having been through that experience a few months ago I found it much easier to stay calm, centered and at peace. I volunteered to go second this time, which also gave me the opportunity to plunge right in. What I especially love is taking the game to the next higher level, and then the next and so on.

    It’s also a joy this weekend to meet Kitzie Stern in person. Such a talented lady. And to see Dave White and Jon Rivers again. They were both at the weekend in New York City. (That’s where I met Dave for the first time. Jon and I have known one another since sometime right after dirt was invented.) Plus lots of new friends as well. We’re at Bad Animals studio in Seattle, a great facility. I’ll write more tomorrow or at least as soon as I can.

    Category: General | Comments (0)

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