Ed Liu has written a superb and detailed article about studying with Bob Bergen that’s now available on the Toon Zone site. Thank you, Ed for the terrific article and to Bob for posting the notice about it on Voiceover Universe.
General
A birthday visit from friends
My dear friend Rowell Gormon and his wife Lisa have come by today to help me celebrate my birthday. Of course, we had to capture the moment digitally.
It’s ever so delightful to spend a day with friends and family.
A tale from the road
My friend Mandy Nelson tells a fascinating story on VoiceOverXtra about her successful efforts to pack for a trip for a long trip and get everything including her recording gear into a single bag. If you ever need to record while traveling you’ll find a lot of valuable ideas in Mandy’s article.
Elfed on the Voiceover Universe
OK, this was just too good not to share. From my friend Zurek, the heart and soul behind the Voiceover Universe comes this bit of holiday madness.
Send your own ElfYourself eCards
Pat Fraley offers a greeting from Saint Nick
Or something like that. Check out the special page at Pat Fraley’s site for this message from Saint Jack Nick!
R.I.P. – Majel Barrett Roddenberry
Majel was seen on camera in both the original Star Trek series and in The Next Generation, but for us voice actors she will also be forever remembered as the voice of the Enterprise computer.
My thanks to my friend Dave Houston for posting the link to the article on the VO-BB.
Voiceover Isolation booth video – part 5
Michael Minetree emails this morning that has completed his voiceover booth project.
There are actually 2 videos this time.
You can read more about this project at Michael’s Minewurx Echos blog, here and here.
USB microphones
Loren Fry has done a superb job talking about USB microphones in an article published in Radio and Production Magazine.
Santa’s voiceover nightmare
I posted this last year, but it’s too good not to run again.
My favorite line? “That’s now how I wrote it.”
(update: My thanks to my friend Todd Ellis for posting the link to this video on the VO-BB.)
My first children’s audiobook is now available
I simply love recording audiobooks. Yes, they are a lot of work and usually at a rate of pay that’s well below what I earn for other kinds of long-form narrations. And far less than I get for commercials and other short-form work. But the thing I love best about being a voice actor is telling stories. For me, at least, many times the very best stories I get to tell are the audiobooks I read. So, I love recording audiobook.s
I’m especially delighted to tell you about my latest audiobook project, which is the first I’ve done for children. It’s from a wonderful company called Faith Audio Center and it’s called The Unbelievable (But True) Story of Moses. Maybe the most fun of all about this project is that I got to work with my youngest son, Brian. He has a small part at the very beginning of the audiobook. And I play three parts. You can hear two of them in the clip that’s available through the front page of the Faith Audio Center site.
Another peek behind the curtain
My friend and mentor Philip Banks uses YouTube to give us a glimpse into his world.
Voices That Motivate, Edition #3
The Voices That Motivate blog carnival edition 3 is now live. Thanks to Doc Philips for organizing and hosting this fine collection of articles that should be of interest to anyone who wishes to dig into voiceover work further.
Focus on the valuable
Tom Asacker’s latest blog post highlights real value in the context of marketing communications. The application of what he has to say applies to pretty much ever business category and every size organization, but there is much of value for us small business types.
I especially like this point.
People are rapidly adopting technologies, routines and mindsets that remove commercial messages from their visual and cognitive views.
Just “getting your name out there” has become essentially meaningless. Read the whole piece for some thoughts about how to move forward in this new world.
Rodney Saulsberry’s new album
Rodney has posted a YouTube video with a bit of a preview of his new music recording.
The album is called Better Than Before.
A trip to Boston, next morning
As I mentioned yesterday, we had a great time with whole group of 9 of us who meet up Saturday afternoon. But there were a few folks who wanted to be there and couldn’t because of schedule conflicts or other circumstances. Two of those guys were able to join me for breakfast this morning, Steve Anthony and Jeff Berlin.
This has been just a wonderful visit to New England, my first since 1992. I look forward to a return trip, maybe bringing my family with me next time. My thanks again to everyone who went out of their way to join our get-togethers and for those who were not there, for coming along on the trip virtually.
A Trip to Boston
Any time I get to visit with some of my voiceover friends is a good time. And I must say today was an exceptionally fine example of what I mean. I needed one more flight this year to make sure I kept my preferred status on US Airways and I was able to find an amazingly inexpensive ticket to and from Boston for this weekend. So I put the word out among my friends on the VO-BB that I would be coming up that direction. People came from far and wide across New England for our meet-up at the S&S Deli in Cambridge today.
From left to right, Don Goonan, Greg Littlefield, Mandy Nelson, CC Petersen, DB Cooper, me, Chris Fadala, Chris’ daughter Delana and Lee Gordon on December 13, 2008.
Greg wins the prize for the longest journey, traveling over 4 hours each way to make our little visit. (While it’s true that I came from North Carolina, I flew which took almost no effort on my part so that doesn’t really count. Besides this is my blog, I get to pick the winners here.)
In truth we were all winners because we all had a great time. As you might imagine in a group of this size, there were times when we all spoke in little clusters and other times where we had one big conversation around the whole table.
I wasn’t the only one with a camera.
DB Cooper brought her exceptionally nice camera. And Mandy Nelson had her Nikon at the ready as well.
Before we left I snapped this quick shot of DB Cooper and me.
It was a great joy to meet a number of voiceover friends in person for the first time, and to see DB again. It was truly a great delight to get to spend some time with each one who was there today.
(update: edited to fix typos)
And that has made all the difference
Tom Asacker posts a YouTube video that I found quite interesting. I hope you will too.
One immediate application for the voiceover world? Sometimes the best way to read a script isn’t the obvious choice. What are your thoughts? Comments are, as always, open.
A Google group for Voice Actors
Speaking of my friend Dave Courvoisier, he’s started a Google Group for voice actors.
A newsman interviews
Dave Courvoisier is not only a very talented voice actor, he’s also a television news anchor in Las Vegas, NV. On his voiceover blog he has an extensive interview with voice actor, coach and soon-to-be operator of an on-line casting service … Michael Minetree.
(Update: My thanks to my friend Brian Haymond for posting the link to this article.)
Peace and the home studio
My friend Anthony Mendez blogs about his voiceover journey and especially some of the changes he’s had to make now that he has his studio at home. Good stuff, Anthony. Thanks for taking us along on your journey.