Posted August 31, 2011 by Bob
My friends Pam Tierney and Maritza Cabrera have released Episode five of their webisode series Mags n Mel. The earlier episodes are there on the same page, so you can enjoy all of the releases in order if you like.
Or, go to Pam’s Vimeo page to watch.
Wonderful stuff, Maritza and Pam. I think this is my favorite episode so far.
Category: General, People | Comments (0)
Posted August 30, 2011 by Bob
My friend Doug Turkel has started blogging about voiceover. I’m thrilled to add him to my blogroll today. Welcome to the blogosphere, Doug!
Category: Blogging, General, People | Comments (0)
Posted by Bob
One of Seth Godin’s newest enterprises is The Domino Project. Several days ago Seth posted on their blog this question: Are you feeling lucky? Now, because The Domino Project is an effort to reinvent publishing, the most obvious point of that blog post about feeling lucky has to do with publishing. But the application to voiceover is equally important and valid.
In voiceover, the obvious parallel to the publishing model is auditioning for a job. Just like there would have to be a bestseller every week, there is going to be someone who books the job when auditions are sent out.
Now, this is not a rant against auditioning. I’ll leave such literary explorations to others. The point I’m trying to make here is that if you build your voiceover business on the basis of auditioning for work, then you’re always operating from the position of being “one of many” and only some of the time are you going to end up as the one who books the job. Sure, in an ideal world, auditions are only sent to a select number of talent; but in the real world where we all live and work, that’s not how it always happens.
There are lots of factors that contribute to the way things are. Again, I’ll leave the enumeration of those factors to others. What I’m hoping to persuade you to see is that auditioning isn’t the only way to book work.
Last year was a good year for me. And over 80% of my income came to me directly. An email or a phone call arrived with a message to the effect of: “Dear Bob, we’d like to send you a significant sum of money. Would you record the attached script for us?” This experience isn’t unique to me. Many working professionals in voiceover have learned the value of building relationships with people who want to work with them.
It takes time, a deep commitment to excellent service, and hard work. Put in the time and effort and you, too, can get those kinds of calls or emails. As you do, I’d love to hear from you.
Category: Career Advice, General, Getting started in Voiceover | Comments (3)
Posted August 29, 2011 by Bob
Well, it’s been over a week now that I’ve been thinking about what to write here. Over a week since I attended my last International Radio Creative and Production Summit. After a run of 15 straight years, this event is no more. Every year in the last summer starting in 1997 I’ve attended this event. I’ve learned at ton. Built many good friendships. Kept my toolkit sharp and up-to-date.
It was at the Summit that I first learned about Voice123.com. It was at the Summit where I first learned about Nancy Wolfson. I encouraged many of my friends in voiceover to attend the Summit, at least some of whom came including Rowell Gormon, Pam Tierney, Melissa Exelberth, and Liz de Nesnera. A couple of times I brought my son Eric with me as he began working with me, doing a lot of my audio editing.
It truly has been a great experience. Of those 15 years, I paid my own way in whole or in part for 8 of them. Yes, it was that valuable.
This amazing run of years has seen me go from being a so-so radio production director through a number of transitions to today when I’m working full-time and exclusively in voiceover. I’m profoundly grateful to the hundreds of people who have touched my life during and between the Summits, and especially to Dan O’Day for being the fireplug that made it happen, and made it happen in a way that was fun and effortless to us who attended, every year. (Special thanks also go to Dick Orkin who was Dan’s partner in the Summit for the first several years.)
What a wonderful set of memories!
Category: General, People | Comments (1)
Posted August 25, 2011 by Bob
Voice actor Xavier Paul offers some insights into his approach to voice acting in a guest blog published at VoxDaily.
Category: General, People | Comments (0)
Posted August 19, 2011 by Bob
It’s not always the case, but sometimes in our world of voiceover the brightest people are also the most generous. Case in point? Pat Fraley, who is one of the brightest and most talented people I know. He has just updated his “Free Lessons” page. It’s a treasure trove of good stuff and I warmly commend Pat to you.
Category: Career Advice, General, Getting started in Voiceover, People | Comments (0)
Posted August 18, 2011 by Bob
My friend Rowell Gormon, who has been doing voiceovers professionally for 30 years, shares a recent experience with “first time jitters” on his blog. Well worth your time, no matter where you are on your voiceover journey.
Category: General, People | Comments (0)
Posted August 17, 2011 by Bob
Jeff Hixon, CEO of Voicebank writes about some of the myths about and mistakes made by voiceover people, that’s published at Back Stage. My thanks to Bobbin Beam for mentioning this article on her blog.
Category: Career Advice, General, Getting started in Voiceover | Comments (0)
Posted August 16, 2011 by Bob
The folks at Recording Hacks have posted a fascinating shootout of ribbon microphones in a voiceover session. Excellent stuff. My thanks to Matthew McGynn for the heads up via email.
Category: General, Tools | Comments (0)
Posted August 14, 2011 by Bob
My friend Dan Friedman writes a compelling blog post about the connection between using quality gear and charging professional rates for voiceover work. Well worth your time.
Category: Career Advice, General | Comments (1)
Posted August 10, 2011 by Bob
… you need to be better at listening. I know, it’s counter-intuitive, but true. So, without further ado, Julian Treasure’s TED talk, 5 ways to listen better.
Category: General | Comments (2)
Posted August 8, 2011 by Bob
My friend Anthony Mendez has a great deal of talent and a great mind. His talent is on display in the demos available on his website. Just one example of his thinking is “Don’t kill my ideas …“, a recent post on his Posterous blog. My thanks to my manager and friend Stacey Stahl for passing along the link to Anthony’s blog this morning.
Category: General, People | Comments (0)
Posted August 7, 2011 by Bob
From The Simple Dollar come’s this quote:
“Don’t judge each day by the harvest you reap, but by the seeds you plant.”
– Robert Louis Stevenson
Category: General | Comments (2)
Posted August 5, 2011 by Bob
My friend DB Cooper is one of the very best video game voice actors. (She’s also very good at all kinds of voice actory things, but this blog post isn’t about those things.) She’s going to be teaching a class on doing exertion sounds for video games and ADR on Saturday, September 10, 2011 in Studio City, CA. Details are on this page of her website.
Category: Career Advice, General, People | Comments (1)
Posted by Bob
My friend Roy Yokelson is featured in an interview published in the Bloomfield (NJ) Navigator.
Category: General, People | Comments (0)
Posted August 4, 2011 by Bob
Then check our my friend Kara Edwards and her excellent blog post about how she is using her new iPad for her voiceover work.
Category: General, People, Tools | Comments (0)
Posted by Bob
Mark Evanier is interviewed at Internet Voice Coach by David Rosenthal. In case you’re not familiar with Mark, he’s worn many different hats for Garfield and Friends and now The Garfield Show, which when taken together is one of the longest running cartoon shows. My thanks go to my friend Charlie Glaize for sending me the link to this excellent interview series.
Category: General, People | Comments (0)
Posted August 3, 2011 by Bob
My friend Jeff Tobin is a really bright guy with a lot of valuable insight into making your business better. You do understand that as a voiceover talent you’re in business, right? No matter how small or big your business is right now, it can be bigger and better. Spending some time reading my friend Jeff’s stuff (along with a number of other places on this wonderful world wide web) will help you get there. I’d strongly suggest you start with How To Be Better Than Perfect.
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Posted August 2, 2011 by Bob
The folks over at Fame Foundry have written a couple of articles addressing 20 Questions to Determine If It’s Time to Redesign Your Website. (The first 10 questions. The second 10 questions.) Insightful and thought-provoking as always, and I would suggest, well worth your time.
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