On the BBC web site you can see a report on work at Ubisoft, a game company in Newcastle, UK.
(Update: My thanks to my friend David Monteath for posting the link on the VO-BB.)
Blog
Voice actor Charlie Bennett is featured …
… in an interview on Vox Daily. Charlie is the voice of the carnival barker in the Garnival Games release for the Wii.
Voiceover generosity
With thanks to my friend Jeff Kafer for posting about it, Dan O’Day has posted a brilliant essay on his blog about generosity in the voiceover world. Dan’s summary comment perfectly illustrates the whole post.
I learned this a long time ago:
If you have a dollar and I have a dollar, and we trade dollars…We each end up with one dollar.
But if you have an idea and I have an idea, and we trade ideas…We each end up with two ideas.
And while I agree with the thoughts Dan remembers from Steve Morris, I think there’s another layer to the story. It’s not just that the odds of booking the job are small, because that’s also true of film and television acting auditions; it’s because the voiceover talent is almost always not in the spotlight. Gigantic egos and intense self-interest are characteristic of performers who spend their time in (or striving to reach) the spotlight. The sort of folks who are drawn to voiceover work tend to be cut from a different cloth.
Solid advice on mic technique
My friend Juan, better known as Some Audio Guy, offers some thought-provoking comments on his blog about microphone technique … especially about the habit of some voice artists to work too close.
Firefox 3 download day
It’s Firefox 3 download day, though their servers are being hammered with all the folks helping them set a new world record for single day downloads. You might want to try a bit later.
(Update: There’s something not quite right yet with the ScribeFire plug-in and Firefox 3, hence my previous, empty post.)
(Further update: The page might still say Firefox 2 at the top, but if you look at the download button, it should now say 3.0 as the download.)
What was VOICE 2007 like?
If you’re still thinking about attending VOICE 2008, while it’s sure to be different that last year’s event, no doubt there will be some things that will be similar. This video features several of my friends along with lots of other folks I met in Las Vegas in March 2007.
I look forward to seeing you in Los Angeles in August.
Connie and the cartoons
My friend Connie Terwilliger is featured as the voice in several animated New Yorker cartoons now on the web. Here are direct links to 3 examples: Dial M for Mattress, The Portrait and Boys Club. Wonderful work, Connie.
Welcome to blogging, Dan O’Day
Dan O’Day emailed this morning to let me know that in spite of his determination not to, he’s started a blog. I know Dan to be an excellent writer, though he’s told me a number of times that it always takes him a long time to write something. He says it’s because he’s a slow writer and it takes him a while to correct the mistakes he made in his first draft. So, while the posts may not be all that frequent, I’m confident that what’s there will be choice material indeed.
Update: Edited to better reflect the reality that Dan notes in his comment below.
It’s smoooooth
Courvoisier is a famous brand of cognac. Having never tried it, I can’t personally vouch for how smooth it is. However, I have met Dave Courvoisier (no relation to the cognac family) and he is the real deal. He reminded me in a comment below that he has just rolled out a completely updated and redesigned website and it’s really well done.
Dave offers a brief glimpse into the background of how he connected with the designer of his new site on his blog.
Silence is golden …
… is a trite old phrase that’s largely fallen out of favor. Seth Godin reminds us that when it comes to marketing ourselves and our business (including our voiceover services) silence distinguishes between the the professional markets and the amateurs.
After reading Seth’s post I reminded of some advice I was given many years ago: “It’s better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to open one’s mouth and remove all doubt.”
Cruising and voiceover
My friend Karen Commins loves her work at a voiceover talent and she and her husband love going on cruises. On her A Voice Above the Crowd blog, Karen writes about some of the lessons she’s gained for her voiceover business from looking at the highly competitive cruise business. It’s not a short blog post, but well worth your time.
It’s my friend Darren’s first Father’s Day
A hearty congratulations to my friend and fellow voice actor, Darren Eliker. I highly commend Darren’s blog post on being a Dad on Father’s Day for the first time. Good stuff, Darren. Thank you.
Gaming podcast rolls out
My friend Jeff Kafer, along with his voiceovers, works in the video game industry. He notes on his blog that he and some of his friends have started a podcast about gaming. The first episode is now released and available at the podcast’s main page.
Houston, we have lift-off
OK. I know, that’s not the way the line actually goes, but sometimes my addiction to puns is just uncontrolable. Sorry.
More to the point, while my friend David Houston does in live in Texas, he’s actually in Austin, not his namesake city. I noticed this morning that Dave’s main web site has just undergone a rather lovely remodel. Very nice, Dave. I noticed this, by the way, because he blogged about it on his voiceover blog.
Joe Cipriano talks about Source Connect
On the I Rock the Mic VO.com group called Ask Joe, Joe Cipriano talks about Source Connect.
Find more videos like this on voiceover universe presents…
Great stuff, Joe. Thank you.
Take care of your voice
Voiceover coach Gary Terzza offers a number of valuable suggestions about how to take care of your voice in a guest post at Vox Daily.
Spread the word
With thanks to my friend Juan, I’ve just signed up with rssHugger.
Whatever else they have going for them, it’s a cute logo. The site is run by Collin LaHay and he explains the idea behind the site on his About page.
I have no idea if this site is going to generate a ton of new traffic to my blog. After all they don’t have a category on the site for voiceover; but like Juan, I thought it was work the few moments to sign up for this free service. And I’ve submitted a request to add “voiceover” as a category.
I’ll offer updates from time to time about my experience.
Revealing
The eyes, it is said, are the windows to the soul. Maybe so, but for me at least, it’s the human voice that is most revealing. I’ve just added Tavia Gilbert’s blog to my blogroll. Given my all ready stated intention to have every voiceover blog in the world linked here, that was a given when I was emailed a link to her site today by Nancy Wolfson.
But, I have to say that I would have linked to her regardless. Tavia’s brilliant post titled Revealing is breath-taking in it’s honesty. You need to take a few minutes to read. Really.
e-Learning Voices.com
I love telling stories. If you’ve done any digging in the archives of this blog or if you’ve ever met me in person, you probably already know that. It’s the single greatest reason I love doing voiceovers professionally. There are an endless number of stories to tell. Some are very short. Television and radio commercials, for example.
Some take longer. Narrations for documentaries, training films and e-Learning projects. I really enjoy working on long stories. Finding ways to bring a long, technical story to life is a genuine delight.
So, if you’re searching for a voice for your e-Learning (or do you spell it eLearning) project, I’d love to be part of what you do. And if I don’t have the voice you need, you can find a number of other highly professional men and women at the new e-Learning Voices.com site. It’s just launched and I’m delighted to be part of their talent roster.
VOICE 2008 site updated
I received an email today from Judy Steidl, letting me know that the site for VOICE 2008 has been updated, with the program schedule in place.