Yesterday, my friend Mary McKitrick blogged about a day on a movie set. I found her story quite fascinating, especially so because like Mary I’m exclusively a voice actor and simply don’t audition for anything involving on camera work. Yet, the experience turned out to be quite delightful for her.
Update: Mary has received a very nice write-up in the Daily Hampshire Gazette about her day of filming.
Marc Cashman is writing a book about the silly and and stupid in the world of voiceover. If you have a story of something that fits, he’s promised to give full attribution. You’ll find contact information for him on his web site.
With thanks to my friend Willie Edwards for posting the link on the VO-BB, you’ll find a very interesting comparison comparing the MXL Mic Mate USB audio interface with a high end audio chain with quite fascinating results.
I received a very nice email today from Australian voice talent Mairead Curran, asking if I’d be willing to add her site to my blogroll. She was nice enough to mention that she’d be willing to add a link to me in return if I required that, which I do not. But, I do appreciate the kindness of a link back when anyone so chooses.
By the way, Mairead (which if you read her site you’ll discover is pronounced like “parade” but with an “m”) has also started a voiceover blog, so I’ve added a link to that part of her site as well.
Think again. Don’t want to click through to see what I mean? OK.
Now, having seen that remarkable and moving short film, take a few minutes to read Jeff Sexton’s superb analysis of what’s so powerful about the message in that film. It will open your eyes, I suspect, to some aspects of what’s there that you didn’t expect.
Harry Shearer, one of the voices of The Simpsons (including his role as Kent Brockman, the news reader on the animated series) reads a script called Stay Calm from the 1970s in the style of Walter Cronkite. The script was recently released from the BBC national archive.
My thanks to my friend Mary Serra for linking to this story on the VO-BB.
I StumbledUpon WikiRecording this evening. It appears to hold a load of good information, though as with any Wiki, it’s important to keep your brain engaged while you’re reading.
I StumbledUpon a site this evening called WhereIsTheMic.com. Very interesting. An online store for voice professionals.
And with my thanks to Jorge Velasco for his comment, another store with voiceover gear for voice actors is VoiceOverEssentials.com, created by the legendary Harlan Hogan.
(edited to fix typos and add a second link)
According to his website, Harlan and Elaine will do a double-team weekend voiceover workshop on November 15 and 16, 2008 in Bethesda, Maryland. My thanks to my friend Liz de Nesnera for posting the link to this on the VO-BB.
Update: Registration information is only on Harlan’s site.
One of my favorite writers and speakers on the subject of branding and marketing is Tom Asacker. I’ve quoted him here frequently, mainly because what he writes is so often right on the money. This blog post is yet another example of what I mean. While just about everyone around you is worried about how they are going to survive, could there be a better time to build enduring relationships with people by demonstrating that you are in business for them?
Take the opportunities that are right in front of you right now, some of which look like problems or obstacles, and see them for what they are. Then take action.
Or let me put it another way. Why is it that this year, while the whole world seems to be in a financial crisis, my voiceover business is up substantially over last year? Is it maybe because I’m not in the voiceover business, because I’m not really. I’m in the problem solving business. I’m not in business for me, I’m in business for my clients, to add value to their lives. It’s remarkable what happens.
Several of my friends and a whole bunch of other voice talent in the greater New York City area got together the other day for a meet-up. Since I’ve documented so many of my own gatherings here, I thought you might like to see a bunch of photos that don’t include me. So, click on through to Erik Sheppard’s blog where you’ll find his Flikr slideshow of the day’s events. Read the comments to get a listing of who’s who in each photo.
One of the packages I keep in my professional audio toolkit is Pro Tools. I originally started using it so that I could make use of Source Connect, but I’ve grown to really like working with Pro Tools for more complicated audio production projects. I don’t do a ton of them each year, but when I do, it’s a great piece of software.
So, if you are interested in Pro Tools at all, you’ll want to know that Pro Tools 8 is now officially announced.
Rodney Saulsberry isn’t just a great voiceover talent and coach, he’s also a wonderful, inspirational, singer. Check out his latest musical release Better Than Before.
With thanks to my friend Jeff Kafer for the link on his blog, there’s good news to report for fans of Transformers. Peter Cullen returns in Transformers 2.
My friend Craig Crumpton gives a delightful performance of Casey At The Bat by Earnest Lawrence Thayer, along with a few of his friends, as it were.
Craig is the founder and keeper of The Voice Actor Appreciation Society.
On Scott Brick’s blog, read the fascinating story of his past life working in the comic book industry and as a gumshoe. It’s well worth your time, especially if you have any affinity for comic books, Spiderman comics in particular.
The creative folks at Auralex have come up with something new to treat the walls of your recording space. SonicPrint. It’s not just sound treatment, but beautiful (and customizable) at the same time.
My thanks to my Sweetwater rep, Paul Rowan for sending me this link today.
At VoxDaily, Stephanie and the Voices.com Team provide a survey of the changes that are coming to their site soon.
Career Advice, General, Getting started in Voiceover, People
Nancy Wolfson and Anna Vocino have scheduled their next teleseminar for November 12, 2008. It’s the next installment in the on-going survey of Nancy’s core voice acting curriculum, part 7 in this case. I’ve taken part in each one of these teleseminars as they’ve come along and every one has been worth far more than the price of admission.
Recordings of the previous teleseminars are all available at their joint website BreakIntoVoiceOver.com. Sign up for their e-newsletter while you’re on the site and you’ll be among the first to know when registration opens for this next teleseminar in November.
My thanks to my friend Stephanie Cicarrelli for posting this info on VoxDaily.
The new voice of Yoda in Star Wars: The Clone Wars animated feature film and Cartoon Network series is Tom Kane. Tom is featured in this very interesting interview.
My thanks to my friend Dan Nachtrab for posting the link to this interview on the VO-BB.