John Florian, the driving force behind the excellent VoiceOverXtra site, has (for reasons known only to him) decided to feature an interview with me (this is part1) on his site. And, Part 2 of my interview with John is now available.
I hope you enjoy. I’ll post a further update when part 3 is available. Or, subscribe to VoiceOverXtra and you’ll get an email as from John as soon as it’s published.
Harlan Hogan and Elaine Clark will present a voiceover weekend seminar for voiceover professionals November 15 and 16, 2008 in Bethesda, Maryland.
Get more information and Register at Harlan’s site.
My friend Juan, better known as Some Audio Guy, has an article on breathing at VoiceOverXtra that’s very much worth your time. We all know how to breathe, of course, or we wouldn’t be here on Planet Earth for long. But, do we really know how to breathe effectively while recording? That’s something else entirely.
Every now and then an audition will come along that is so perfect, you can almost tell in advance that you’re going to book the job. At least, I’ve had this happen a few times. Most recently it involved an audition for someone looking for the sound of HAL, the computer in the classic Science Fiction film 2001: A Space Odyssey.
The reason that I was so confident about this one goes back to an audition I’d all ready booked for that voice quite a few years ago when I lived in Pittsburgh. At the time, the Pittsburgh Symphony was doing a series of concerts attempting to introduce classical music to a wider audience than the usual crowd. So the put together these events that featured an interesting mix of pop culture references and great orchestral music. One of them featured music from the Kubrick film, and also featured an appearance by Keir Dullea, the actor who starred in the film in the role of Dr. Dave Bowman. With Mr. Dullea there, they naturally needed someone to play the role of his nemesis, HAL. I won the audition for that part, and thus got the remarkable joy of taking part in a life performance of the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra.
They’d created a wonderful image of the glowing red light that is the “face” of HAL for the performance, and at the end of the concert they actually gave me a pull over shirt with that light painted on, and then called me out for a bow. What an amazing, fun night that was.
So, when this audition came through a few weeks ago asking for that voice, I had it in my back pocket. And indeed, I booked the job.
How about you? Have you ever looked at an audition and knew that you would book?
With this blog post, Voice123.com announces that they have started a new set of forums available only to premium members of their service. The forums are now integrated into the Voice123.com site as a whole. Meanwhile, the Voiceover Savvy forums have been shut down.
The work continues on Michael Minetree’s new voiceover isolation booth. Here is the third in his on-going series of videos.
I’m looking forward to seeing the finished booth one of these days.
You have a couple of study opportunities coming up later this year with Rodney Saulsberry. On Saturday, September 20, 2008 Rodney will lead a one day Voiceover Workshop at Tree Falls Studio in Los Angeles, CA.
Or if you don’t live in Southern California, Rodney will conduct a Commercial Intensive Teleclass for three Thursday evenings in October, starting October 16, 2008.
Registration details are available on Rodney’s web site.
With thanks to my friend Liz de Nesnera for posting a link to this article on the VO-BB, there’s an excellent piece on the Digital Juice site by Viv T. Beason, Jr. about the technology shift that’s been going on for some time now in our culture. While his article is mostly for the video production crowd, not surprising given the focus at Digital Juice, there’s a solid application in the voiceover field.
Today, just about anyone with a few dollars to spare, and some desire, and set up shop as a voiceover talent. With USB microphones and free audio editing software, the cost of entry is very low. But, Viv points out that just as we’ve seen in the desktop publishing arena, so we’re now seeing in the video production (or, I’d add, the voiceover) arena.
Those who can produce truly high quality work are ever more in demand. So, if you want to get work in the voiceover field, I wish you well. Truly I do. And I hope you’ll find lots of ideas and resources here at the Voiceover Boblog and many other sites on the Internet to help you along your way. But, please, get some professional training. Learn your craft. Aim for excellence. Learn how to get there.
Because the alternative is going to be disappointment, at best.
My friend Anthony Mendez has posted video of a new NBA Summer League promo he’s voiced. Very cool stuff, Anthony.
As it happens, my friend Connie Terwilliger (who lives in San Diego, CA) is in upstate New York on family business at the moment, but that’s not the actual point of this blog post. The real point is that there’s yet another of those tasty, short, videos now available from The New Yorker, with Connie supplying both voices. Good stuff, Connie. I love these.
… has now been posted by Dan O’Day on his blog.
Voice Over Experts is a series of podcasts presented by Voices.com. There’s loads of good information available through the site, including a very tasty presentation by UK voice coach Gary Terzza called 5 Tips for Getting Voice Over Work.
(Update: When I put up this post a moment ago I neglected to thank Bill Smith for posting the link to this podcast in the Yahoo! Voiceover Group. Thank you, Bill.)
If you’re a Professional Member of Voice123.com, you probably have an opinion about the rating system they’ve had in place since SmartCast was launched just over a year ago. Most people I’ve heard from hated the system. Personally, I didn’t care all that much about it one way or another, because I saw it as having only a minor impact on my voiceover career.
But, I noticed this morning that there’s been a significant change in this system, and one I must say I rather like a lot. When I noticed this change, I popped over to the Voice123 blog to see if I could find some information, and sure enough, there’s something near the end of this entry, written by Omar Duque, Product Development Manager. Here’s the relevant bit …
…the rating system is being overhauled. It will not even be called that anymore. The original intent of it was to show how close one talent came to booking a job, but somewhere in between here and the ‘stars’, the true intention of it was lost in translation. The new version will be geared towards the original request of letting you know how you compared with talents who auditioned along side you, and will assist you more in knowing how close you came to getting hired.
As I said, I like this change, primarily because it gives me a much better handle on how the few auditions I do submit have been received by the clients. I’m interested in your thoughts, if you care of share them. Comments are open.
Award winning audiobook narrator Scott Brick will be hosting a workshop on how to read for audiobooks on Sunday, July 27, 2008 at Nakamoto Productions in Sacramento, CA. For more information check out this pdf on the Nakamoto Productions web site.
My thanks to Jon Morss for posting this information on the VO-BB.
Update: You can read more details on Scott Brick’s blog about this workshop.
Kristine Oller is brilliant, beautiful …
… and bold enough to tell the truth about herself, even when it means talking about times that she’s failed to take her own advice.
Case in point is this post on her blog from a few days ago, in which she admits this is the third time she’s started her blog and goes on to admit …
When I first plunged into the blogosphere in January 2007, I was still in the thick of writing my book. My decision to start the blog then was based on the fact that the latest restructuring of my website was complete and, since there was a section for a blog, there should be a blog! But did I really feel like writing a blog? No. Work on my book and my monthly column was completely filling my plate and, honestly, the blog commitment felt like a heavy ball and chain. My decision to do it is a perfect example of me ignoring my own good advice and trying to stuff something into my life just because I thought I “should†be doing it – even though my gut was clearly telling me otherwise.
And then …
There still wasn’t room for it six months later in June of 2007, when I decided to give it another go. This decision was even less sound – motivated entirely by the guilt and embarrassment I felt about “letting down†all of the well-wishers who greeted my posts in January. Here I was again, expending energy to paddle against the current of life instead of surrendering my will and going with the flow. Not surprisingly, the blog capsized again.
I’m confident that Kristine’s third time will be the charm. I look forward to reading every post. (And speaking of admitting, yes, the alliteration at the start of this post was intentional.)
Oh, and while you’re at her site, don’t miss the page devoted to her new audiobook Feeding Your Focus. I’m working my way through it right now. It is absolutely packed full of valuable insights and actionable ideas that, if you do take action, will transform your approach to your voiceover career. You can listen to free samples on the Feeding Your Focus page.
Joe Cipriano has posted his new Ask Joe Week 10 video to the Voiceover Universe.
Find more videos like this on voiceover universe presents…
And if this video doesn’t play for you, try clicking through to the Voiceover Universe site and see if you can get it to play from there.
(Edited to fix a coding problem.)
VoiceOverXtra has a superb article by Michele Cobb on audiobooks that’s just recently been published. Very good, very useful information.
Mel Blanc’s name rests in the highest echelons of voice talent, having given voice to the vast majority of the classic Warner Brother’s animated characters, along with many, many other great vocal performances. For example, I love his many contributions to the Jack Benny Show; though except for a few die-hard fans, not that many of us remember them.
My friend Rowell Gormon got a chance to meet Mel in person many years ago, and in honor of the anniversary (yesterday) of his passing, Rowell has posted some memories of his encounter on his blog. Happy reading.
John Florian, the driving force behind the excellent VoiceOverXtra site, has (for reasons known only to him) decided to feature an interview with me on his site. Seriously, I had a wonderful time chatting with John and I hope you enjoy reading as much as I did talking.
(edited to fix typo)
Tracy Pattin emails with news that while she’s been podcasting for a while, now she’s moved to a new level by posting on YouTube as well.
Very nice, Tracy and Doug. Good stuff.
By the way, you’ll find more info about Doug and the new voiceover opportunities in New Media at the VoiceRegistry Blog.