Posted July 31, 2009 by Bob
How often do you take a few minutes to think about what you’re grateful for? I try to do this every day, though some days I spend much less time doing so than others. It’s startling what a difference even a few minutes of gratitude can make in your day. Your week. Your year.
For a cogent and thoughtful discussion about how to really say “thank you” in a powerful way, take few minutes to read through my friend Peter O’Connell’s blog post Saying Thanks? Write It Down!
Category: General | Comments (4)
Posted July 30, 2009 by Bob
100 years ago, during a recession, Henry Ford said “The man who stops advertising to save money is as foolish as the man who stops his clock to save time.”
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Posted by Bob
I received this today from my manager and friend, Stacey Stahl.
Do not resist events that move you out of your comfort zone, especially when your comfort zone was not all that comfortable.
— Alan Cohen
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Posted July 29, 2009 by Bob
My friend Jeffrey Kafer is interviewed on the Working Writers blog. Very nice Jeff.
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Posted by Bob
If you’re in the voiceover business you’re running a small business. Take a moment to read Samir Balwani’s 5 Easy Social Media Wins for Your Small Business. Good stuff.
(Updated to thank my friend Joel Smith for tweeting this link earlier today.)
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Posted July 27, 2009 by Bob
My friend Anthony Mendez is featured as the promo voice for the CNN programming Latino in America. Good stuff, Anthony!
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Posted by Bob
My manager and friend Stacey Stahl sends out an encouraging quote every day. I always enjoy getting them. Here’s today’s which I thought well worth sharing.
“If you lose your wealth, you have lost nothing, If you lose your health,
you have lost something, But if you lose your character,
you have lost everything.”– Woodrow Wilson
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Posted by Bob
… Tweet and you …? OK. I’m twisting the old saying to a different purpose than the original. Regardless of what you think of my weak humor, I do hope you’ll take a moment to click through to this excellent commentary by Jeff Sexton about Twitter.
Category: Blogging, General | Comments (0)
Posted July 25, 2009 by Bob
M.S. Taji, a voice actor based in Egypt, blogs about voiceover at Taji’s Voice Emporium. He has written an excellent article about SaVoa on his blog. Well worth your time, especially if you’d like to get a point of view from someone outside North America.
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Posted by Bob
Craig Crumpton is doing a great job of covering Comic-Con 2009 on his Voice Actors in the News blog.
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Posted July 24, 2009 by Bob
A voiceover blog by Justin Shenkarow called JustIn Time. My thanks to Craig Crumpton for posting the link on his Voice Actors in the News blog.
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Posted July 23, 2009 by Bob
Take a few minutes to click through to this lovely blog post by the lovely Kara Edwards: 11 Reasons Your Voice Over Business Will Be A Success.
Category: Career Advice, General, Getting started in Voiceover, People | Comments (2)
Posted July 22, 2009 by Bob
My friend Connie Terwilliger has launched a voiceover blog so I’ve updated the link on my blogroll with that site. Very nice stuff, Connie. I look forward to reading more of what you have to say.
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Posted by Bob
My friend Tom Ackerman is the voice talent featured in this television ad for Cleveland State University.
Nice work, Tom.
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Posted July 21, 2009 by Bob
Both parts of Tracy Pattin’s podcast with commercial copywriter Colleen Wainwright are now available on the Voicebank Blog. Part one. Part two. Great stuff! Thank you Colleen and Tracy!
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Posted by Bob
My friend Caryn Clark has some powerful comments about Integrity on her blog today.
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Posted July 20, 2009 by Bob
Tracy Pattin always has something interesting on her blog. Her current podcasts are with commercial copywriter Colleen Wainwright. You’ll find a summary and links on the Voicebank Blog.
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Posted July 19, 2009 by Bob
Most often when a voiceover recording session begins I will get very clear direction about a specific kind of delivery style that the client wants to hear. One such session took place just a couple of days ago. I’d booked a job through In Both Ears, my agent in Portland, OR. Right from the start of the session the direction was clear and easy to follow. We did a couple of reads that way, then there was a short pause in the action while the producers (there were 4 involved, I beleive) talked with one another with the line to me turned off. (This was an ISDN session, so I was in my studio in Charlotte, NC while the clients were at a studio in Portland, OR.)
After that short pause they came back on the line and asked to go in a rather different direction. Again, this new direction was clear and easy to follow so off we went. After the first take with this new style, it was obvious from the reactions on the other end of the line that everyone was much happier with what we were now doing.
It’s true, sometimes the direction you get isn’t all that clear, or maybe it’s framed in a way that’s outside your experience. If you need clarification, be polite but ask. Don’t faff around. Get to the point. Let your director know you’re not quite sure how to do what’s been asked.
This is different from misunderstanding direction. If you think you’ve got what’s been asked, head off in that direction. Don’t worry. The director will let you know if you’ve missed the mark. Make corrections based on the new direction and then launch in again. But, by all means, follow the directions you’ve been given, even if you think they’re all wrong. Voiceover work isn’t about you, your voice or what you want. It’s about what your client wants, telling his or her story in the style and manner he or she has requested.
(edited to fix typos)
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Posted July 18, 2009 by Bob
One of my favorite, on-going projects is recording the podcasts for the online journal “bridges” from the Office of Science and Technology at the Embassy of Austria. The latest edition is Volume 22 and it has just gone live. You can find all of the podcast articles on one page.
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Posted by Bob
You may have seen the announcement during E3 that Star Wars: The Old Republic(tm)will be fully voiced. My son Eric passed along to me this morning the link to this site which provides a lot of detail about how the producers are doing this project in the documentary video there.
(updated to remove auto-play video)
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Posted July 17, 2009 by Bob
Kevin Delaney has details over at his Voiceover Ninja blog about the live Voiceover for Video Games video chat he’s doing on Sunday, July 19, 2009 at 10:15 PM Eastern/7:15 PM Pacific.
Category: Career Advice, General, Getting started in Voiceover | Comments (2)
Posted by Bob
In case you haven’t heard, there’s a casting notice up for the now revived animated program Futurama. My friend DB Cooper, Grand mistress of the VO-BB, has started a thread there about this mess. I hope you’ll pop over to take a look.
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Posted July 16, 2009 by Bob
My friend Bryan Cox has blogged about some of the voices he grew up with on the radio. Part one. Part two. Good stuff, Bryan.
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Posted by Bob
My friend Caryn Clark writes about her lessons in patience, in a blog post called Patience is a Virtue.
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Posted July 15, 2009 by Bob
Check out this voiceover session from earlier today by my friend John Taylor.
And you’ll find the finished cartoon on Mark Fiore’s site.
(edited to add link to cartoon)
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Posted by Bob
Here’s a video that puts you behind the scenes of the Adult Swim show.
My thanks to Smith Harrison for tweeting this link.
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Posted by Bob
Released just a few days ago is a pointed video about the life of an actor called Skipper Dan. (Embedding is disabled on this one so to see it you’ll need to click through on the link.)
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Posted by Bob
I just learned through a posting on the VO-BB by my friend Justin Barrett that Dallas McKennon has died.
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Posted July 14, 2009 by Bob
Josh Bernoff interviews Seth Godin about his blogging in an article published on the Ad Age site. If you would like to know how to blog better, you might want to click through and read the interview. On the other hand, if you only want to know how to build a better relationship with you clients, you might want to click through and read the interview. Or not, it’s your call.
My thanks to my friend Pam Tierney for sending me the link to this interview today.
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Posted by Bob
Last night Joe Cipriano, Zurek and George Whittam did a live webcast last night. The video is now posted at Voiceover Universe, in case you can’t see the video here.
My thanks to Justin Kaiser for providing me with the link.
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