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General

I also meet talented people at training classes (updated)

Career Advice, General, People

And one of the most talented I’ve met in a long time is Connie Zimet, who was part of the Audiobook Master Class I took this weekend in California. (About which more shortly.)

Connie lives in Florida, so she and a young lady named Rachel (from New York) were the two who beat me out for the title of “traveled the farthest” to get to the class.

In any case, I was impressed with everyone I met, but Connie was head and shoulders above the rest of us. I’ve added her site to my “Voice Over” links on the left.

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Pat Fraley’s audio book master class

Career Advice, General, History, People

This evening I fly to Los Angeles and tomorrow all day I’m going to be attending Pat Fraley‘s audio book master class. There’s a second class the following day. Both are fully booked. (I’m sure there will be others in the future.)

I’ll post my thoughts about the class here once I’ve had a chance to absorb what I’ve learned. But, I’m sure it’s going to be a great experience. Janet Ault, a very talented lady I’ve met through Dan O’Day’s International Radio Creative and Production Summit, has attended a previous class and emails that she loved the experience. (It was at the Dan O’Day event two years ago that I also first met Pat Fraley.)

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DC Goode

General, People

I’ve just added a link to DC Goode’s web site in the Voice-over section of links on the left. He was kind enough to email some rather nice words this weekend about my post on competition versus selection which was triggered by a post from Stephanie on InteractiveVoices.com‘s blog. (Soon to be Voices.com‘s blog.)

DC wrote to say that he agreed completely with the point of my post. Naturally, as I did with Karen Commins just a couple of days earlier, I popped over the DC’s site. I was impressed with his demos and even more impressed with the work he’s done and the clients with whom he’s worked.

Thanks for the kind words, DC.

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Today’s the last day

Career Advice, General

As I write this post, today’s the last day for you to get the lowest registration rate for the International Radio Creative and Production Summit 2006 of $495.00. This link goes directly to the registration page.
If you write or produce radio commerials or voice for radio, television or the Internet you should seriously think about attending. I’ve attended every year since 1997 and it’s made a huge difference for me professionally.

This year, Dave Foxx of Z-100 in New York will present a seminar on station promo production. Harlan Hogan will speak on Advanced Voice-over Strategies and Techniques. And there’ll be a panel of voice-over agents and casting directors. Each of these will be worth the price of admission alone.

Even if you have to pay a bit more than the minimum, you’ll be glad you were there. Register today.

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Why do I have links to other male voice talents here on my blog?

Career Advice, General, People

The answer to the question posed in the title to this post can be found in large part in this post on the InteractiveVoices.com blog (soon to be the Voices.com blog). Read the whole thing, but here’s one key thought.

Competing means that you are jockeying for the top position, and that there can only be one winner.
The term “Competing” gives permission to the client to treat voice talent like dirt, and to be frank, abuse you, your time, and your skills. For the client, it’s a passive experience. For you, it can be demeaning and stressful.
It doesn’t help anyone, clients or talents, to be in the mindset that this is a competition where it is okay to ‘let talent compete’ for voice-over work…

Exactly. I don’t see Charlie Glaize, Ross Bagley or any other voice talent (male or female) as my competition. There’s plenty of work for all of us. Plenty. Thousand and thousands of opportunities for professional voices. My voice and my interpretive ability is right for some of those jobs. But I’m not right for many, many others. And somone else should be cast for those jobs.
I find it fascinating that much of the time when I’ve been cast from an audition, the person who hires me says something like, “When we heard your voice, we knew you were the right one for the job.” Now that rings my chimes.

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Improving quality

General

One of the few drawbacks of the Voice123.com service in the past was the poor quality of the audio playback of demos; both those posted at our custom pages and those we submitted for auditions.

But, I’m delighted to note as of a couple of days ago, Voice123.com has doubled the bit rate of their files from 32 to 64Kbps. I’ve re-uploaded all of my demos to take advantage of the improved quality. If you use their site, you ought to do the same.

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If you manage your own website

Blogging, General, Tools

If you manage your own website, I recommend CoffeeCup Software. I’ve paid for and use their tools. Right now, CoffeeCup Software is celebrating their Tenth Anniversary by giving away 10 diamonds, one to each of 10 randomly selected customers. Read the details here. Then go here to buy their software on CD.

And, if you end up winning one of the diamonds, I hope you’ll write and let me know.

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A new demo

General, People

I’ve edited and posted a new demo to my InteractiveVoices.com and Voice123.com pages. I don’t do a whole lot of movie trailers (obviously, since only about 5 guys in Hollywood do nearly all of them), but for smaller projects being done outside the Hollywood establisment, I do pick up a few things here and there.

And while I’m on the subject of a new demo, I’m going to have yet another new demo to upload about 3 weeks. I’m going to an audiobook master class from Pat Fraley in Los Angeles on June 17, 2006. And while I’m there we’re producing my audiobook demo. When I get back, I’ll upload that one as well.

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A change, the good kind, is coming

Blogging, General, People

A change, the good kind, is coming to InteractiveVoices.com. They are changing their name to Voices.com. You can read all about it through this post on their voice-over blog. There’s also information online through this press release.

As I’ve mentioned in other posts on this blog, I like this service. I’ve made back my $200 investment several times over in the months since I signed up for their service. I like about these guys, especially the fact that they don’t post jobs with a rate of less than $100.

In the interests of full disclosure, I’ve made more money through Voice123.com; but I’ve also had to sort through and delete many more marginal or low-paying job leads from Voice123.com, so working with both of these services has on balance been beneficial and positive.

Further, I should note that I learned about this name change in an email from Stephanie Ciccarelli as well as seeing it in a press release and in her blog post, linked above.

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A high compliment

General, People

As I’ve previously written, the Office of Science and Technology of the Embassy of Austria in Washington, DC has hired me as narrator for their podcast called “bridges.” Vol. 9, the current release as of this writing, can be heard here.

One of the articles I narrated was written by Roger Pielke, Jr., an Associate Professor at the University of Colorado. Roger has posted a comment on a blog called Prometheus about his article. And in the comments below his post you’ll find a very kind comment (third one down) by Roger about my narration work. Thank you, Professor Pielke.

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It’s that time again

Career Advice, General, People

The 11th Annual International Radio Creative and Production Summit is coming August 18 and 19, 2006. It’s presented by Dan O’Day and features a stellar line-up of presenters, as it does every year. Sign up to attend before June 9, 2006 for the best deal. But, whatever you do, sign up.

And if you decide to attend, please say “hello” to me while you’re there. I’ve been every year since 1997. Look for the large guy in the long-sleeved white shirt and tie. That will be me.

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A real deal

Career Advice, General

I’ve written about my very positive experiences with both InteractiveVoices.com and Voice123.com a number of times. As far as I’m concerned, the $200 per year I pay to each of these services for a premium membership is some of the best money I spend.

So, you should know that right now, Voice123.com has a deal going that they will provide you with some Search Engine Optimization consulting, free, if you sign up for (or renew if you already have) a premium membership.

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The Game is afoot

Career Advice, General, Getting started in Voiceover

To quote Shakespeare and Sherlock Holmes, the game is afoot!
The MineWurx Studio voice-over contest I wrote about a few days ago has begun. Full details are available here. And, Michael Minetree’s blog post about the contest is here.
If you want to get into voice-over, enter this contest. Even if you don’t win, you’ll learn something valuable. And if you do, you’ll have a great start on your voice-over career.

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If you are just getting started

Career Advice, General, Getting started in Voiceover, People

If you are just getting started in the voice-over business, you will want to watch for the start of a contest sponsored and hosted by MineWurx Studio. I’ve written about Michael Minetree, the owner of MineWurx Studio previously, in a post title A Kick in the Pants.

As I write this, Michael is in the preparation stages of a contest that will be open only to folks who are just getting started in voice-over, or who’ve been trying for a while with no real success. You’ll find his blog post about the contest, here. Just look for the post(s) about the contest.

In the interests of full disclosure, you should know that Michael has asked me to be one of the contest judges. I’ve agreed to be one and in fact told him I’d be honored to do so.

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Bridges podcast (updated)

General, History

Some weeks ago I auditioned to become the voice of a podcast through Voice123.com thinking it might be an interesting thing to work on. I also figured that, if the producers of this podcast liked my work, they would keep using me and that leads to one of the most important keys to making a living as a voice-over talent: steady work, or clients who keep sending you work.

Well, I was cast for the job, and have been recording the narrations for them now for a couple of weeks. The podcast is called “bridges“, and is published along with a text version by the Office of Science and Technology of the Embassy of Austria in Washington, DC.

The, first thing we worked on were some previous issues. If you explore those issues, you’ll find my narrations on several of the articles. One thing I really like about the way the “bridges” site is designed is that there’s a flash player embedded in the page, so you don’t have to download the sound file unless you want to. You can just listen right on the spot. And there’s a download link too, if you’d rather do that.

(Update) I’ve updated this post now with a link to Vol. 9, which is the newest issue as of this posting. But, in the meantime, the one thing I think you’ll notice if you explore some of the articles, is that each article, no matter what the topic, is well-written and interesting to read.

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Another quiz I enjoyed

General

English Genius
You scored 100% Beginner, 100% Intermediate, 86% Advanced, and 86% Expert!
You did so extremely well, even I can’t find a word to describe your excellence! You have the uncommon intelligence necessary to understand things that most people don’t. You have an extensive vocabulary, and you’re not afraid to use it properly! Way to go!Thank you so much for taking my test. I hope you enjoyed it!For the complete Answer Key, visit my blog: http://shortredhead78.blogspot.com/.
Link: The Commonly Confused Words Test written by shortredhead78 on OkCupid Free Online Dating, home of the 32-Type Dating Test
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The really big one is basically done

General

Several weeks ago I posted a quick note about a massive voice-over project I was involved with. The lion’s share of that work has been done and submitted for several days now; but the “clean-up” work is still under-way.

On top of that, I’ve had the great delight of being cast as the voice for a podcast. I’ll say more about that next week, but it’s also been a lot of work.

Both of these projects, though, have been a tremendous amount of fun. Why? Because I love words. I love knowing how to say things correctly…even if it takes a lot of practice…even if it’s in a language I don’t speak. About which, more later.

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