June » 2009 » The Voiceover Boblog

Another nice encounter in Minnesota

Posted June 30, 2009 by Bob

I had the delight of visiting for a short while today with Laura Lynn of Redfire Creative Services today.

Laura is such a delightful and creative lady and was a very gracious host during our visit today. I look forward to next time.

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Today is very good day to register for The Summit

Posted by Bob

Dan O’Day’s International Radio Creative and Production Summit is a fabulous annual event in Los Angeles that I’m attending this year for the 13th time. I haven’t missed a single time since I starting going the second year it was held in 1997. I highly recommend this event to anyone serious about improving skills in voiceover, copy writing or production. All 3 elements are part of every year and everyone, regardless of specialization will benefit from what’s taught in every segment.

Today is a really good day to register, if you haven’t all ready done so, because the registration fee goes up tomorrow. Registation and full details are on the Summit pages at Dan O’Day’s web site.

If you decide to register, and you put my name in the comment box at the bottom of the registration page, I’ll receive a commission. Or if you don’t want me to get the commission, don’t put my name in the comment box. Either way, your registration price is the same. Of course, I’d be grateful if you would. And I hope you’ll take a moment to say “hello” while we’re there.

Category: Career Advice, General | Comments (2)
Very nice people in Minnesota

Posted June 29, 2009 by Bob

I had a delightful visit today with two very talented and very nice people while I was in New Hope, Minnesota. Veronica March and Terry Daniel are both based in Minnesota with their voice acting careers. Both were willing to carve a bit of time from their busy schedules so we could meet together.

I’m so glad we were able to work out some time together.

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VOICE 2010

Posted June 28, 2009 by Bob

My information is now available about VOICE 2010.

My thanks to Erik Sheppard for alerting me to this video.

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If you’re good with video

Posted by Bob

You might want to check out the contest at Amazon.com if you have some skill in video. (My thanks to my friend Karen Commins for tweeting this link.)

Category: General | Comments (2)
Audiobooks – hire a professional

Posted June 27, 2009 by Bob

My friend Jeffrey Kafer has written an excellent blog post about why you should hire a professional to narrate your audiobook.

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Voice actors in Minnesota meet up

Posted June 25, 2009 by Bob

My thanks to Terry Daniel for tweeting the link to this video.

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Solid networking guidance

Posted June 24, 2009 by Bob

Kristine Oller is a truly gifted lady. She’s helped me and many other people move forward with our professional lives and work. She emailed me (and I’m sure a whole lot of other people) today with news of a time senstive announcement. If you wish you could be more effective and comfortable with networking, you should probably take a few minutes to check out this page on her site Kristine Can Help Me.

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

Posted by Bob

My thanks to Stacey Stahl, my manager and friend, for the link to this superb blog post today from Drew McLellan called Keep topping it off

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Ask Dave Foxx

Posted by Bob

Dave Foxx is doing a teleseminar with Dan O’Day on radio imaging. Registration closes tomorrow evening so if you do or want to do radio imaging voiceover work and/or production, you might want to click through to the official registration page to sign up sometime today.

Category: Career Advice, General | Comments (0)
It’s not about …

Posted June 23, 2009 by Bob

It’s not about how you sound … it’s about how you make the listener feel … a great quote from … Harlan Hogan

Category: General, People | Comments (4)
An update to the blogroll

Posted by Bob

My friend Connie Terwilliger is not only a very gifted voiceover talent, she’s also a terrific teacher. She has a blog now for her class at San Diego City Colege on voice acting.

Category: General, Getting started in Voiceover, People | Comments (0)
Ad award judging based on results?

Posted by Bob

Yes! With my thanks to the folks at Krash Creative for tweeting the link, check out the story in USA Today about the Cannes ad competition. Awards are given on the basis of both business results and creative ideas. What a novel concept!

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Big Money and small money

Posted by Bob

Kevin Delaney has recorded a new audio post on his Voiceover Ninja blog about the difference between earning big money and small money.

Category: Career Advice, General | Comments (0)
Only a little more than one week to go

Posted by Bob

Things (my main site and the blog) are going to look a whole lot different right around Independence Day. At least that looks like when everything will be in place. I’ll post another update when I know for sure.

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How to be mediocre?

Posted by Bob

One step at a time. Set Godin provides the road map. Just one other question. Which road are you taking?

Category: Career Advice, General | Comments (0)
Stand quilts

Posted by Bob

If you use a music stand in your recording booth, you know the challenge of finding something to dampen the metalic ring from the stand while also giving you a good surface on which to put your copy. Dad Popp has alerted me to a wonderful product that his Mom has developed called a Stand Quilt.

Category: General, Tools | Comments (5)
Accent on Dialects Masters Event

Posted June 22, 2009 by Bob

Pat Fraley, as I’ve mentioned many times, is a very gifted teacher and voice coach. (Not too shabby as a performer either!) He is especially good at helping you break down something complicated into its component parts so you can grasp, one step at a time, how to do your work at a much higher level. He has a new class called Accent on Dialects Masters Event coming up in Los Angeles on Saturday, July 11, 2009 in Los Angeles. Pat has your first lesson ready, free, in a player on the page. Look for all the details and registration information on Pat’s site.

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Audition thoughts

Posted by Bob

Michael Rankins offers some interesting reflections about his experience with any audition today. (Thanks for tweeting the link, Michael.)

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Marice Tobias in NYC, day 2

Posted June 21, 2009 by Bob

I don’t have any new photographs to add to my post today, but it has been another extremely valuable day of study with Marice. While the specific techniques Marice Tobias teaches are really valuable; I am convinced the key thing about studying with her are the insights she provides that are specific to what is holding you back.

For example, today was the “Promo” day of the Promo/Trailer workshop. I was more nervous about today than I was yesterday. I suppose part of the reason for that is because while I’ve done a couple of “trailers” for every small, independent projects … the world of promo work is much closer to where I live and work. The risk or danger of making a fool of myself while working on trailer copy is pretty small, because I’m not a serious contender in that field. But, I am the promo voice for the History Detectives program and have done other national promo work, so there is a heightened sense of wanting to sound like I know what I’m doing in this area.

Thankfully, I realized pretty early today that I was feeling this anxiety. Just being aware of it helped a great deal in letting go of it, because instead of dwelling on it, I could turn my attention to the actual matters at hand. I also was among the first to volunteer to go into the booth today. That, too, was very helpful because as a result I was able to get past the jitters and concentrate on the copy for the rest of the day.

It seemed like I made a lot of good progress, as the day went along. I continued what started yesterday with learning how to get out of my own way.

Sidebar for those of you still wearing head phones: lose the cans. You can’t believe what a difference it will make in the quality of your reads. If you’re in an ISDN or phone patch session and have to be able to hear the director/producer, leave one ear uncovered. You’ll gain most of the benefit and will still be able to hear the direction just fine. We saw this illustrated more than once again this weekend. Huge improvement essentially every time someone took off the headphones.

The single more valuable thing about taking part in these weekends with Marice is the group dynamic. By the time the weekend is through we’ve bonded together. It’s such a powerful, mind and heart-opening experience. I’m so glad Marice is still doing these events.

Category: General | Comments (5)
Marice Tobias in NYC, day 1

Posted June 20, 2009 by Bob

When Marice Tobias teaches a weekend on promo and trailer reads, she starts with the trailer reads because that sound informs so much of what else happens in the voiceover world. I will freely admit that I find these weekends of studying with her both terrifying and incredibly invigorating. Terrifying because I’m performing in front of a group of really top notch peers. Invigorating for exactly the same reason.

Today I experienced an exceptionally transformative experience. Now, as you read about it, you may think “thats no big deal” and you’re certainly welcome to your opinion; but each of us walk our journeys at our own pace and for me what took place today was life-changing. I was in the booth reading through my chosen piece of trailer copy. After a couple of takes, Marice says “hold on, I’m coming in.” Now, if you’ve ever taken part in one of Marice’s weekends, you know she’s not shy about coming in to the booth with people and guiding and coaching up close and personal.

The break through came as a direct result of her walking into the booth with me, because she was able to help me truly get out of my own way and just cut loose. Now, that sounds like I suddenly got louder or something but that’s not at all what it was like. The cutting loose in this case was letting go of my fear of ego. For a very long time I’ve been afraid that if I let myself just rest on a foundation of really solid confidence in my ability to deliver that I would turn into some kind of self-abosorbed ego maniac. And that fear was tied, at the same time, for a fear of sounding or looking foolish. Today I realized that I can stand up straight, confident that I am enough. (Not perfect. Not the “be all and end all.” Just “enough.”)

I’m very much looking forward to listening to the audio from today’s session because I think I will learn even more from listening back to what happened.

This is a shot of the group, minus Marice and our wonderful engineer Hollis. It was in fact Hollis, who was taking the photo.

After the day was done, several of us walked a couple of blocks to Pete’s Tavern, a landmark institution in New York. In fact, I noticed a sign near the door announcing that they have been in business since Abraham Lincoln was in the White House.

After dinner, Melissa Exelberth and I and Patrick O’Connor shared some wonderful conversation.

Truly a delightful time, capped off by a chance to met Patrick’s Portuguese Water Dog, Bailey.

Truly a wonderful day and evening. Now, to get some rest (after I finish my assignment for the evening), knowing that tomorrow is going to be another fabulous day of learning and play.

(Edited to fix typos)

Category: General, People | Comments (8)
A wonderful time with friends around New York

Posted June 19, 2009 by Bob

I’m in New York this weekend for some more training with Marice Tobias. I’ll write more about that as the weekend goes on. However this afternoon I was able to spend some very pleasant with friends.

Here I am with the lovely and talented Liz de Nesnera and new voice talent Mark Stewart.

After my pleasant visit with Liz and Mark, I was picked up by Melissa Exelberth.

Melissa used her great driving skills to get us into Manhattan with a minimum of fuss and bother in spite of the heavy Friday evening traffic and a wonderful dinner of pizza with Michael Schoen and his wife Diane Diamond.

After dinner Michael, Diane and Melissa walked me around the West Village, a part of New York City that I’d never visited before. It was great fun and we were able to find a by-stander who was nice enough to snap a photo of us.

I’m standing here with Melissa Exelberth, Diane Diamond and Michael Schoen in the West Village on a lovely night in June. Now, some rest and tomorrow and Sunday we’re going to play full out with Marice.

Category: General, People | Comments (2)
A radio commercial in 6 minutes

Posted by Bob

My friend John Taylor demonstrates his mad skills behind the mic and at his workstation in this video.

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Nolan North is Mr. Video Game Voiceover

Posted June 18, 2009 by Bob

Kotaku has a video interview posted with Nolan North.

My thanks to Erik Sheppard for tweeting the link to this video.

Category: General, People | Comments (1)
It’s not the size of your farm

Posted by Bob

I’v written here before about how for me the voiceover business can often be compared to farming. We need to plant, nurture and harvest the work opportunities effectively to grow our business. Today I noticed an interesting blog post from Seth Godin in which he too draws on the farm metaphor. How big is your farm? Good stuff. Well worth a couple of minutes of your time.

Category: Career Advice, General | Comments (0)
Convenience isn’t always the best choice

Posted by Bob

Many years ago I made a comment to a supervisor about how I was trying to find the most efficient way to get something done. He paused and looked me for a few minutes and then gently pointed out that sometimes “efficient” isn’t the right goal. More often, “excellence” is the right goal, even if it’s not the most “efficient” path. Seth Godin makes a similiar point today in his blog post called Circles of Convenience.

Oh how easy it is for me to make the convenient choice, even though much of the time it’s not the best choice. Or, for that matter, even just one of the better choices. Pursuing excellence in your voiceover work means not taking the convenient option much of the time.

My thanks to Stacey Stahl, my manager and more importantly my friend, for sending the link to Seth’s blog post today.

Category: Career Advice, General | Comments (2)
Added to the blogroll today

Posted June 17, 2009 by Bob

James Alburger and Penny Abshire have provided training for voice actors of all levels from beginngers to working pros for a number of years out of their studios in San Diego, California called VoiceActing Academy; and here and there when they travel. They’ve now moved their former newsletter to a blog called, surprise, VoiceActing Academy blog. Welcome to the blogosphere, James and Penny!

Update: Also added today the blog from Krash Creative Solutions.

Category: Blogging, General, People | Comments (2)
The pen and the voice

Posted by Bob

Some thought-provoking comments at Taji’s Voice Emporium today about our work as voice actors and accountability.

Category: General | Comments (0)
A fabulous new look for Mary

Posted June 16, 2009 by Bob

My friend Mary McKitrick has launched a fabulous new look for her web site today. Wow!

Category: General, People | Comments (0)
Flash and SEO

Posted by Bob

Mahmoud Taji has a superb post on Voiceover Universe about the use of Flash to build your voiceover web site.

Category: General, Tools | Comments (0)

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