My friend LindZ Reiss is a talented voiceover artist in the New York market. She’s done a wonderful reading of Two Lips by Amber Vilate for the YA Literature Review site.
(UPDATE: After Valentine’s Day,
My friend Karen Commins has a voiceover blog you really should be reading regularly. I especially want to call your attention to her recent post about cold calling. Excellent stuff, Karen. Thank you.
Thanks to my manager, Stacey Stahl, today I discovered Drew’s Marketing Minute. As I was scrolling through the most recent posts, I was knocked out by this superb post that seems to have mostly to do with baseball and marketing and nothing about voiceover. But, think about for a minute.
Why do I have links to not only every voiceover blog, forum and discussion group I can find; but also to lots of other voice actors both women and men? Seth Godin provides the best response to this question I’ve ever seen. Here’s how he starts his blog post on October 29, 2008.
Actual conversation at a local shoe store: “Do you have dress shoes in a size 6?”
“No, I’m sorry we don’t.”
“We’re from out of town. Do you know any place we can get some?”
“I’m sorry I don’t. Perhaps you’d like some in a size 8?”
Now, what are the chances that someone who wants a size 6 is going to buy an 8? Zero. The game is over. You lost.
I’ve said this a number of times here and in conversations in person. I’m not in the voiceover business, I’m in the problem-solving business. When someone hires me to tell their story, my first obligation is to tell that story as effectively as I can. To deliver the recording of that story on time. And in the format they need. I don’t want to add to anyone’s problems. I want to help solve their problems. In so doing, I hope to build long-term relationships with companies that will need their stories told again, and again and again.
It’s always wonderful when things work out that way.
But, I’m not going to be the right voice every time. So, I want to provide lots of options. Because in the end, I want to keep solving my client’s problems even when I’m not the voice they need.
(edited to fix typos)
Bob Bergen and Pat Fraley are featured in an interview in Back Stage. My thanks to Craig Crumpton for posting the link to this article.
Tracy Pattin emailed this evening with a question about what I’m doing to keep my voiceover business going during the current economic season. Here’s what I wrote for her.
———————
I’m pretty sure there’s no such thing as “recession-proofing” one’s voiceover business. Everyone is going to have some ups and downs; but here’s a quick thought for you.
One critical key for doing well in the long term is to avoid putting all of one’s eggs in a single basket. If a voice actor is doing a ton of commercials and not much else, that’s maybe a voice actor who will go through some lean times in the next year or two.
Those of us who do some commercials, some documentaries, some imaging, some promos, some corporate, some eLearning, some audiobooks? I think we’ll all be OK as long as we continue to work hard at our craft. Work hard at exceeding the expectations of our clients. Work hard at always raising ourselves to the next level in our work.
———————
Be sure to check the Voicebank Blog to see the first entry in this series, from my friend Caryn Clark and to see what Tracy gleans from a wide variety of voice talent.
Matt McGlynn just introduced himself to me through a comment to a post from a few weeks ago about microphones, which led me to this fabulous site called RecordingHacks.com and specifically to this page with oodles of microphones that Matt got to check out at NAMM 2009.
With thanks to my friend Dan Nachtrab for sending me the link to this interesting little video, click through to see the Primacoustic Flexibooth, a collapsible, wall-mount vocal booth that opens up when needed, folds out of the way when unused and doubles as a wall acoustic treatment.
Maurice Tobias shares many more insights in the podcast (part 2) that’s featured today by Tracy Pattin on the Voicebank blog.
Robert J. Sciglimpaglia, Jr. is a lawyer and voiceover instructor. He offers some valuable thoughts for you about taxes and your voiceover business on VoiceOverXtra.
(edited to fix typo)
Harlan Hogan is one of the most successful voice actors in the world today. You may not recognize his name. And if you saw his photo, you almost certainly wouldn’t recognize his face. But, you’ve heard his voice thousands of times on national television and radio commercials.
A few days ago Harlan answered questions about starting a voiceover business in a teleseminar that was promised would last until all the questions were answered. Want to know how long that was? 3 hours and 24 minutes. Actually longer. 3 hours and 24 minutes is how long the finished MP3 audio file is after editing out the unnecessary bits about how to ask a question and so forth.
For just a few days, even though you missed the teleseminar, you can get the MP3 recording of those 3 hours and 24 minutes. Click through. Read the details about the questions that were asked of Harlan Hogan. And find all the details about how to order your copy of the MP3 file.
Oh, how few days? Just until Friday.
(edited to fix typos)
It it always a delight to get to meet nice people in the various places that I travel. In the last few weeks I’ve had 3 such encounters and tonight I’m finally getting around to posting about them.
First, I had the pleasure of seeing my good friend Willie Edwards again and of meeting Ed Gambill for the first time when the 3 of us shared a luncheon of genuine Lexington County Barbeque. Willie had been singing the praises of his adopted home’s culinary delights ever since I first met him and I have to say he was absolutely right. It is nothing short of fantastic.
When we paused for a photo at the end of our meal, the “chef” was nice enough to join us.
From the left, Willie Edwards, “chef Pig”, Ed Gambill and me after enjoying our Lexington County Barbecue lunch.
Then, a couple of days ago, while I’ve been in Nashville, TN I got a chance to hang out for a wonderful evening of food and conversation about all kinds of subjects, some of them even having to do with voiceover work, with the terrifically talented Stu Gray.
Our waiter, Tom, was kind enough to take our photo with both my camera and Stu’s. You can see Stu’s photo and read his thoughts about our time together in the post he’s written on his blog. (Stu, that glow you saw in the East this evening? That was me blushing about all the nice things you had to say.)
And then less than 12 hours later I had a truly wonderful 5 hours of visiting with my long time friend Brian Mason while he did his Sunday morning Christian music show on Mix 92.9 in Nashville.
Brian Mason and me in, what else, a radio studio after his show on Sunday morning.
Every one of these individuals fits in the category of nice. I so enjoy getting to spend time with my friends, old and new, when I have to travel.
My friend and mentor Philip Banks posts about The X Factor on his Voiceover Universe blog. It’s well worth a few minutes of your time.
My friend Liz de Nesnera has written a review of Word-2-Wav on her blog. Word-2-Wav is a recording application that can cut large eLearning projects down to size. Since I do a lot of eLearning work, I think I may just have to give this software a long, hard look. Thank you for the review, Liz.
OK. I admit my alliteration impulses took over there for a moment, but that doesn’t diminish the value of what Seth Godin posts today about the differences between putting on a show (expensive, time-consuming, fun) which rarely works as well as we hope it will and telling a story that sticks. Well worth a couple moments of your time.
(My thanks to Stacey Stahl, my manager, for passing along the link today.)
My friend Tom Test, a busy working professional voice actor in Chicago, has proposed an on-line voiceover practice group at the VO-BB. Since it’s in the public part of the board, you can see Tom’s original post and some of the member responses. Tom’s web site is linked there and you can find his contact information through his site. (Even if you’re not a member of the VO-BB, you’ll be able to take part; but since at least some of the action will be posted there, you might want to go ahead and join.)
I’m planning to play. I hope you will too.
My friend Frank Frederick has contributed to the Voice Over Experts podcast library once again, this time with a piece he’s called The Year of Personal Branding. You’ll find other podcast material from Frank on the site as well.
Marice Tobas truly is an amazing voiceover coach. You’ll hear something like that from almost everyone who studies with her, which doesn’t make it any less true a statement. You’ll get some wonderful insights into Marice, her approach to coaching and her life through the podcast by Tracy Pattin on the Voice Registry blog.
With thanks to my friend Craig Crumpton for posting this information to his Yahoo Group Voice Actor Appreciation, news has been released in the last 24 hours about a plan to honor Don LaFontaine along with Smokey Robinson, Vin Scully and Jeanne Cooper at the AFTRA Media and Entertainment Excellence Awards on March 9, 2009 in Los Angeles.
Then make a point to take Pat Fraley’s The Billion $ Read Audiobook Event February 28 and March 1, 2009. This is how I got started doing audiobooks and it was the smartest money I spent in 2006. I made back the cost of the seminar, the travel to and from Los Angeles and all of the rest of my expenses in less than 6 months. There is, of course, no guarantee that you will have an identical experience. (You might make all your money back in 3 months.)
Not only will Pat Fraley be leading the class, but he’s enlisted Scott Brick, Stefan Rudnicki, Kathe Mazur and Hillary Huber to help teach. It’s going to be an amazing experience. And you’ll get your audiobook demo produced. Normally I wouldn’t recommend taking a seminar that includes production of a demo, but having been through this experience myself, this is the exeption that proves the rule.
Pat provides you with this first free lesson.
[audio:https://bobsouer.com/pix/PF_AudiobookDemos.mp3]Complete information, including registration details, are on Pat Faley’s web site.