There are only a few places left before registrations will close, so you should act immediately if you want to take advantage of a 3-Day Intensive on The Art of Voice Acting
People
Yes, it’s a lot of money…
If you look right now at the VOICE 2007 DVD-ROM, (click the “Order CD” on the left side of that page, near the bottom) you’ll see the price is $357.00 with shipping included. I received my copy a few days ago, and just finished listening to Rodney Saulsberry’s presentation.
If you’ve been reading this blog for a while, you know that I had to miss much of that presentation when Rodney gave it live in Las Vegas; because I was overcoming obstacles to serve one of my clients, putting into practice some of the very things Rodney was teaching. So, this was my first chance to hear the entire thing. As far as I’m concerned, this one seminar was worth the price of the entire DVD-ROM by itself. Great ideas. Great stories. Great encouragement. I’m looking forward to hearing every one of these presentations from beginning to end, including those I heard in person.
By the way, yes, even though that button on the VOICE site says “Order CD” it’s actually a DVD-ROM that you get, but one that will allow you to burn CD copies of all of the presentations or even copy the audio to your MP3 player.
So, $357.00 is a good bit of money. But, there’s way more value stored on this DVD-ROM. Highly recommended.
Freedom Radio and the Fourth
Freedom Radio, the radio station where my friend Chris Eder works in Iraq, is celebrating the Fourth of July with a marathon presentation of the top 500 songs of all time. You can read about the background at Peter O’Connell’s blog and get an update and hear some of the audio from Iraq at the Kasbah Radio blog.
Kristine is now audio blogging
Kristine Oller is one of the brightest ladies I know, and I know a lot of very bright ladies. What makes Kristine special? Her amazing ability to motivate and encourage folks to move forward in their pursuit of work in the arts: acting, writing, voiceover, and so forth. Her blog has had a couple of powerfully well written pieces, but both were written in January. Now, she’s started audio blogging and these audio snippets are very worth your time.
This is the introduction to her audio blog posts. And here is Showbiz Skills – Part 1.
Good stuff, Kristine. Really good.
A truly remarkable woman
Fran Capo, whose blog I’ve linked here on the left, is an amazing woman. Really. Just watch. You’ll see what I mean.
My thanks to Bill Smith for posting this link in the Yahoo Voiceover group.
Mel Blanc with David Letterman
My thanks to my buddy Charlie Glaize for emailing me this remarkable piece of television history. This is from 1981 or thereabouts.
Bobbin’s voiceover booth is complete
Bobbin Beam and her husband have completed the do-it-yourself voiceover booth as she’s documented on her blog, including photos. And she’s also posted a cost analysis of the project. 28 hours. And, even including the extras, a bit over 2 grand. Remarkable. Thanks for sharing all of this with us, as you’ve gone through the process, Bobbin.
Kudos to my friend Joe, part 2
Joe Rodriguez, a talented voice actor from New Jersey, has just provided the voice for a gripping little movie called 2/30. Really good work, Joe. Really good.
Words of wisdom from my friend Dave
Dave DeHart is a very talented voiceover guy in Houston, TX. He’s formulated a statement he calls Dave’s Law. I thought it well worth sharing with you, so I asked his permission, which he has kindly granted.
Dave’s Law: The degree to which anyone beats your price into the dirt should always be directly proportional to the speed at which you run away from the idiot!
A look at one of the truly great voices
With thanks to my friend Chuck Davis for posting the link on the VO-BB, here is an old television clip featuring the late, great Ernie Anderson.
Kudos to Pat Duke
Pat Duke, a friend from the VO-BB, has just received a really nice write-up in Screen Magazine. Good for you, Pat!
One rose and ten thorns
Would be one way of describing our time today in Winston-Salem, NC as 11 of us voiceover artists had a delightful time of lunch, conversation, bowling, conversation, listening to demos and more conversation. With us were a couple of guys just getting started in voiceover work, Neil Williams and Brett Mason. As well as working professionals Willie Edwards, Vance Elderkin, Bob Bair, George Washington III, Bill Campbell, Brian Hart, Donovan Corneetz, me and the rose of the bunch, Kara Edwards.
We had a great time both at the restaurant…
Where, after we finished a delightful meal together, Brian Hart demonstrated first his brilliance at solving word puzzles and then his technique with his prize for finishing first…a new microphone?
After lunch we traveled just a couple of miles to the AMF Bowling alley in Winston-Salem.
After bowling, during which Brian Hart got first place (there’s no end to this man’s talent!), we gathered in the quietest corner of the alley we could find and spent some delightful time listening to demos, talking about marketing, and sharing stories of lessons learned and ideas to try.
After nearly 7 hours of fun, which seemed to just fly by, we all headed back to our respective homes around the state of North Carolina…with plans to do this again in a few months!
A Learning Opportunity in Boston
If you live in or near Boston, and you’d like a solid grounding in the tools you need to do voiceover work, my friend DB Cooper will be teaching a set of classes on Saturdays, starting July 7th at C.P. Casting. Full details are available on the C.P. Casting web site. If you take advantage of this opportunity you’ll be studying with a great lady and a brilliant talent. You won’t regret the experience.
Do you voiceover in NC?
If you live in the Carolinas and either do voiceover work or are trying to get started doing voiceover work, you are invited to our lunch and bowling get-together this Saturday, June 23, 2007 in Winston-Salem. If you are just learning about this opportunity, please send an email to our meeting organizer, Donovan Corneetz, at success [at] doncopro.com. Do it right now while you’re thinking about it. Donovan will send you back an email with details about where and when, and how to find the Village Tavern restaurant in Winston-Salem, our starting point at 11:00 AM.
I look forward to seeing you there.
(Update: We’ve made the VOX Talk podcast again. It’s all the way at the end. Thank you, Stephanie!)
Moose and Squirrel
My good friend Charlie Glaize sent me this link today. I hope you enjoy this as much as I did.
A look behind the scenes
Karen Commins is a very talented voice actor living in the Atlanta area. She provides us with a peek at her studio, which I must say looks absolutely fabulous.
By the way, Karen blogs about her voiceover work and life as well. Very much worth your time.
One of those voices
He’s heard on movie trailers and television promos all over the place, and now you can learn more about him thanks to YouTube. Who? Ben Patrick Johnson.
My thanks to my friend Brian Haymond for posting this video on his blog and thus helping me find it.
Voiceover training for my Canadian friends
Deb Monro is not only a talented voiceover artist, she also teaches voiceover techniques. Her latest newsletter notes the following dates and locations for her Mic & Me workshop series:
Calgary – August 26/27 (Creating Voices 1) (Private/demo sessions Aug 24 or 28 near sold out)
Regina – Sept 8/9 (Audition Voice Over Workout) (private/demo sessions Sept 7th still room)
Edmonton – Sept 15/16 (Audition Voice Over Workout) (private/demo sessions Sept. 17th)
Vancouver – Sept. 22/23 (Audition Voice Over Workout)
London (UK) – Sept. 28,29,30 & Oct 1 (Audition Voice Workout, The Voice Biz & Private Sessions)
Toronto – October 13/14 (Audition Voice Workout) (Privates available Oct. 12)
Details about these classes are available at Deb’s website.
Questions, I get questions
Quite often in fact, I get questions about what it’s like to study privately with Nancy Wolfson, given that she’s in Los Angeles, CA and I’m in Charlotte, NC. Here are a couple of recent examples.
Johnny George wrote me a few days ago to ask:
Hi Bob,
I am interested in working with Nancy. I‘ve done a couple of Webinars with her and Anna and I’m trying to budget some $$ this summer for coaching with her. Please elaborate on her style, her caliber and any particulars that would help me in making the decision and how I can best get my most bang for my buck.
I appreciate your time and insight.
Here’s my reply:
Johnny,
Nancy is one of the most out-going, expressive and vivacious people I’ve ever encountered. At the same time, she’s very real and direct. Even though she has lived many years in California, Nancy is one of the most honest and unpretentious people I know.
So, if you want to study with someone who will tell you the truth, consistently; while filling your brain with almost too much information to process in one sitting, she’s the person for you. On the other hand, if you need to work with someone who will treat you with much gentleness and move through things very slowly, she’s probably not for you.
The other thing to know is that Nancy’s coaching is totally based in reality and practicality…stuff you can put to use now…not someday by and by when you’ve managed to internalize it enough.
While I don’t live in Southern California, I am friends with a number of working actors, voiceover folks and other professional talent out there. I know that among those (at least those I know) she has a sterling reputation as one of the very top of her field.
In my view, while I wish I could study with her in person, I’m thrilled with the phone patch experience. It’s worked great for me.
I hope that helps answer your questions. If you wish to send some follow-ups, please feel free.
And Cookie Colletti wrote to ask:
Bob:
Could you tell me more about studying with Nancy? Does she do classes over the internet? What exactly does she teach? I live in So. Florida and we have a “superstar” v/o artist/teacher here…but she’s very hard to get to commit to classes. I’ve studied with her on and off and she even produced my commercial demo, but I really want to learn more…including branding, what’s right for me, marketing myself, etc…..Anything you provide would be helpful. Thanks alot.
And my reply to Cookie:
Cookie,
I live in North Carolina and Nancy is in Los Angeles so we work over the phone. Here’s what studying with Nancy is like, at least for me:
She provides some copy and concepts a few days in advance of each time we’ve scheduled a class. Then, I call her at the appointment time and we talk through what she’s provided. Sometimes she wants me to work on the copy. Sometimes we spend more of our time talking through the specific concepts and ideas.
Nancy is a ball of energy and a wonderfully encouraging person. I’ve been a working voiceover professional since 1983, but she has helped me tremendously with practical, immediately useful ideas that I’ve been able to incorporate in the way I approach auditions and work from the very first lesson.
You can get a lot of good information at her website: http://www.braintracksaudio.com
Please let me know if you have additional questions.
I hope these questions and responses are helpful to you. And please remember, if you tell Nancy that you decided to study with her because I recommended her here, I get a free lesson from her. Whether you mention anything or not is, of course, entirely up to you.
Kudos to my friends Moe and Kara
On CNN.com today you’ll find an article featuring comments from two of my good friends, both of whom also happen to be brilliant voice talents. Kara Edwards and Moe Egan. Ladies, you rock!