September » 2009 » The Voiceover Boblog

A quote for today

Posted September 16, 2009 by Bob

From my manager and friend Stacey Stahl comes this gem this morning.

Blessed are those who are so naive that they

do not know what they cannot do.

– Alan Cohen

Category: General | Comments (0)
But soft, what light through yonder window breaks

Posted September 15, 2009 by Bob

My friend and mentor Philip Banks holds forth as a voiceoverist, in the manner of the Bard.

Category: General | Comments (0)
Show what you know

Posted September 14, 2009 by Bob

My friend Rowell Gormon‘s latest blog post is titled A Day at the Museum, and it recounts his experience helping demonstrate how live and recorded sound effects make visual entertainment more fun. Well worth a few minutes of your time and pretty much guaranteed to put a smile on your face.

By the way, I’m just returned from a weekend of study with Marice Tobias. I have photos and observations galore to share, but no time yet to do so. However, I hope to make up for my quietude over the weekend very shortly.

Category: General, People | Comments (0)
How to get good voiceover sound

Posted by Bob

With my thanks to my friend Kevin Genus for posting the link to the video on the VO-BB, check out this very interesting video, both a tutorial and demonstration of various microphones and recording techniques.

Category: General, Tools | Comments (0)
Mic positionizing from the Voiceoverist

Posted September 12, 2009 by Bob

My friend and mentor Philip Banks has posted the first of what promised to be an on-going series of instructional videos from the “Number One Voice Overism coach in Portgordon.”

Philip has a unique sense of humour (I’m using the UK spelling intentionally here as Philip is a citizen of the UK) and certainly isn’t everyone’s cup of tea.

Category: General, People | Comments (11)
There’s cheap and then there’s …

Posted September 11, 2009 by Bob

Stupid Cheap. That’s what my friend Pam calls it anyway and I have to admit I rather like that. I’m adding Pam’s blog to my blogroll today, and I’m doing so with considerable joy since I’ve been encouraging her to write a blog for some time now. Good for you Pam and I look forward to reading what you have to say. Oh, and the very best to you and your voiceover business. (That last comment applies to you even if your name isn’t Pam and even if you’ve been doing voiceovers for years.)

Category: General, People | Comments (1)
New Scott Brick audiobook workshops and contest update

Posted September 10, 2009 by Bob

Scott Brick has posted an update on his audiobook narrator contest and has added information about upcoming audiobook workshops to his blog.

Category: General, People | Comments (1)
Acting for Advertisting part 9 teleseminar is announced!

Posted by Bob
Nancy Wolfson and Anna Vocino have emailed with news that their next teleseminar, Acting for Advertising Part 9, is coming up on Wednesday, October 14, 2009, starting at 6:00 PM Pacific/9:00 PM Eastern.

So what’s in store?
- If Only…Know Your Buried Promise
How to ferret out the insidious & possibly unsupportable Sneaky Ad Strategy Subtext.

Learn where they bury it and how to tease it properly.

Miss it, and you miss a paycheck.
- Behind The Agent Curtain
Managers: What are they, and what do they do? Why are people paying
so much for them? Do I need a manager for voiceover?

Be careful what you Twitter!

How to adjust rates “in this economy.” Should you be lowering yours?
- Actor to Actor
The one piece of equipment that will keep you from losing jobs.

Give your job to a friend if you’re not available.

What to do when you are sick.
- And as always, a Killer Q & A!
Registration is simple. Click here to visit Break Into Voice Over. All the details you need are right there on the page.
Category: Career Advice, General, Getting started in Voiceover | Comments (0)
The spotlight goes back on Justin

Posted by Bob

My friend Justin Barrett is featured as the voice of Pterry in this video.

And in this one.

Very nice work, Justin!

Category: General | Comments (0)
Do you voice in more than one language?

Posted by Bob

You might want to check out the article on VoiceOverXtra by Rosi and Brian Amador on being Bilingual Talent. My thanks to John Florian for the email with a link to this article.

Category: General, People | Comments (4)
Quote for the day

Posted September 9, 2009 by Bob

From my manager and friend Stacey Stahl comes this wonderful quote today:

“It takes as much energy to wish as it does to plan.”

– Eleanor Roosevelt

Category: General | Comments (1)
Would you like to know more about Bodalgo.com?

Posted by Bob

My friend Mahmoud Taji has done an interview with Armin Hierstetter CEO and Founder of Europe’s First Voice Over Marketplace Bodalgo.com. Quite interesting reading, and at the bottom of the post you’ll find an audio link if you’d rather listen to the interview.

Category: General, People | Comments (0)
Winning more voiceover auditions

Posted September 8, 2009 by Bob

For many voice actors today, especially here in North America, much of our work comes through auditions. So winning more auditions means more work. During 2007 when I was studying with Nancy Wolfson, my ability to win auditions went up dramatically because of what I learned from her. Which is why I’m delighted to say that Nancy is going to hold a teleseminar about winning more voiceover auditions.

Category: Career Advice, General, People | Comments (2)
Quote for the day

Posted by Bob

From my manager and friend Stacey Stahl comes this wonderful quote today:

“And in the end, it’s not the years in your life that count. It’s the life in your years.”

– Abraham Lincoln

Category: General | Comments (0)
Conjuring the Villian

Posted September 7, 2009 by Bob

The Princess and the Frog is the new hand-drawn animated film coming from Disney. In this video we get to see actor Keith David working on his part, the villian in the film, Dr. Facillier.

My thanks to my friend Justin Barrett for posting the link to this video on the VO-BB.

Category: General, People | Comments (4)
Harlan Hogan’s advice on starting your own Voiceover Business

Posted September 6, 2009 by Bob

Recently Harlan Hogan hosted a teleseminar during which he fielded questions “live” from voiceover people around the world.

The topic? “Should I Start My Own Voiceover Business?”

He expected it to last 90 minutes. Two hours, tops.

Instead, he answered questions nonstop for 3 hours, 24 minutes.

The entire mp3 recording available for download. Lots of invaluable information from one of the industry’s top pros.

You’ll find a complete list of questions here.

Category: General, Getting started in Voiceover | Comments (1)
Inside the Boston accent

Posted by Bob

With my thanks to my friend DB Cooper for posting the link to this video on the VO-BB, check out this amazing college professor as he teaches a reporter about the accent in Boston.

Category: General | Comments (2)
As if you needed another reason to be nice

Posted September 5, 2009 by Bob

My thanks to be nice, Ed Hunter emails with the link to this video. It’s an episode of the Kevin Pollak Chat Show, featuring an interview with Hank Azaria. Note, there is some “Not Safe For Work” language in here, but I think the interview is well worth your time.

Here’s what Ed wrote about why you might want to watch this long (over 2 hours) interview.

Of particular interest to voice actors comes about 50 min. or so into the show where Azaria tells how he was originally cast in The Simpson’s. It seems that someone else was already doing the voice of Moe, and there was apparently no complaint with this actor’s performance. However, the guy had a really bad attitude. “He was very rude to everyone,” said Azaria. He got annoyed at the amount of takes and blew a gasket … “threw a tirade.” Fox decided to let him go, and hired Hank. The line that stuck with me is when Azaria said, “If this guy was a nice guy, I wouldn’t be sitting here right now.”

Thank you for sending the link to the video, Ed.

(edited to fix link and typos)

Category: General, People | Comments (0)
Zurek in LA

Posted September 4, 2009 by Bob

My friend Zurek, founder of Voiceover Universe, blogs about his experiences at the Voices.com mixer in Los Angeles this week. Cool photos, Zurek. Wish I could have been there with you.

Category: General, People | Comments (0)
Spotlight on Jim Cummings

Posted September 3, 2009 by Bob

My friend Craig Crumpton features an interview he did with voice actor Jim Cummings on his blog.

Category: General, People | Comments (2)
Scott Brick audiobook contest update

Posted by Bob

You’ll find an extensive update on what’s been happening with Scott Brick’s Share the Experience audiobook contest on his blog.

Category: General, People | Comments (1)
A small voiceover get-together in the Carolinas

Posted September 2, 2009 by Bob

Yesterday for lunch I had the great joy of spending some time with three really nice people. Diane Merritt, Ted Stewart and my oldest son Eric. Ted, Eric and I all live in the Charlotte area and Diane is a couple of hours a way in South Carolina. We’d been working on a voiceover get-together for some time and finally managed to pull it off.

Spending time with other voice actors is one of my favorite things, right after spending time with my family. In this case, I was able to combine the two, which was even better. We’re starting to make plans to do this again in about a month. If you are a voice actor in the Carolinas, leave a comment and I’ll be sure to give you some advance notice.

Category: General, People | Comments (5)
Insights from voiceover coach Peter Rofé

Posted by Bob

Tracy Pattin has done a three part podcast series with Peter Rofé on the VideoVoicebank Blog. Part one. Part two. Part three.

Category: General, People | Comments (0)
The mistake chart grows

Posted by Bob

Each week Edge Studio adds to their Voice Over Mistake Chart. This week’s additions have to do with “How not to set the mood” for a session in the section called Tone Mistakes.

Category: General | Comments (0)
Lose the cans

Posted by Bob

I first heard headphones called “cans” when I worked at a radio station in Chicago back the early 80s. Like a lot of people who have worked in radio for a while, I used to wear headphones all the time when I did voiceover work. It wasn’t until around 1993 that I started moving away from them.

The first push in that direction came during a Marice Tobias seminar I attended. She spoke about the value of being able to concentrate on the story being told rather than on hearing myself. More recently, now that I’m studying with Marice, I’ve heard her explain the value of working without headphones with even greater clarity. The essence of the matter is that when you’re wearing headphones, it’s as if you are having lunch with yourself. (I made the transition completely away from wearing headphones around 1997.)

You may think that being able to hear yourself more clearly is helpful. I used to think the same way, but if your goal is to sound real (you know … natural, conversational) then you need to take the headphones off and leave them off. OK. Wear them when you’re editing if you need, but don’t wear them when you’re voice acting.

But, Bob, what about during an ISDN or Phone patch session? Clearly, you have to be able to hear the director; so, in that situation, wear one of the cans over one ear.

Look, do you walk around in real life (that place outside your studio) with a microphone, mixer and headphones? Then, if you want to be able to sound more like a real person inside your studio, leave the headphones off.

My thanks, by the way, to my friend Justin Barrett for emailing me the other day, prompting me to write this blog post.

Category: General | Comments (12)
Adding delight to the equation

Posted September 1, 2009 by Bob

Late last week, I started working with a new client, an eLearning company, thanks to a referral provided to me by my friend Janet Ault. (I love eLearning narration work. I always learn something interesting with each project.)

Less than 24 hours after my initial email exchange with the folks at this company, I was provided with my first project to work on. They gave me 5 days to get it done and asked if that would be enough. It was not a gigantic project, so I knew meeting their deadline would not be a great problem.

Instead, I jumped right in to the project. My oldest son Eric, who provides script direction for me as part of his apprenticeship with me in my voiceover business, helped to make sure I recorded everything clean. We finished before the first day was finished. I started editing that evening and completed the editing, file-naming and format conversions the following afternoon. I was then able to deliver the finished audio 3 days ahead of schedule.

Will this ensure this company keeps hiring me? No, of course not. But delighting your clients is always a good idea, regardless of any other factors.

Category: General | Comments (2)
Quote for the day

Posted by Bob

From my friend and manager Stacey Stahl comes this quote today …

The intuitive mind is a sacred gift and the rational mind is a faithful servant.

– Albert Einstein

Category: General | Comments (1)

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