Not only is Rodney Saulsberry a tremendously talented voice actor, he’s a superb marketer. Just check out his latest appearance on YouTube.
Not only is Rodney doing an excellent job in this video of helping you understand why you might want to buy a copy of his book Step Up to the Mic
Rodney, seriously, I’m deeply impressed. And I hope you don’t mind, but I’m taking notes all the time.
Bobbin Beam emailed me this morning to let me know that she and her husband Pete have finished their do-it-yourself voiceover both project. You’ll find the story and photos of their finished work on Bobbin’s blog.
I’m looking forward to the next post in the project with cost details, but in the meantime, everything looks terrific. Good for you, Bobbin. And thanks for letting me know it’s done.
I’m in upstate New York on a business trip for a week. Knowing that I would be here, I emailed Peter O’Connell to see if he might be willing to make a bit of a drive so we could have lunch together today. He was game, and since he knew the area well, suggested Dansville, NY as a spot that was about half-way between Buffalo (where Peter lives) and Binghamton, where I’m working this week.
We met up for an early lunch a nearly 2 hours of very pleasant conversation at the Sunrise Family Restaurant in beautiful, downtown Dansville.
As you can see, Peter was happy to be there.
And so was I.
I’m wearing my new VO-BB.com T-shirt, with a design in honor of the work both of us did (with help from a bunch of other folks) for our troops in Iraq, on the Memorial Day countdown for Freedom Radio. (And yes, my picture is more blurry than Peter’s. That’s because I have that effect on cameras, even my own.)
Peter is a very talented voiceover guy, and under the thin veneer of snark and sarcasm he sometimes shows to the world, he’s a very decent and generous guy. He even paid for today’s lunch. By the way, you can get Peter’s take on the day on his voiceover blog.
(edited to fix typo)
Our planned get-together in Winston-Salem is only 2 weeks away! We hope you see you at 11:00 AM on Saturday, June 23rd. Details are posted just a bit further into this blog. We’re inviting anyone involved in voiceover work, part-time, full-time, even just trying to get started, to join us…especially if you life in the Carolinas or one of our neighboring states. So, if you know anyone else living and voiceovering in the area, please pass the word.
My friend Bruce Miles has been picked up for a third year playing a genie in a television commercial. Since it’s on YouTube, you get to see it too.
One of the newest members of the VO-BB is Tom Test. Not only is Tom a talented voice actor (listen to his demos here to see what I mean); but he’s also a thoughtful and insightful writer.
He’s assembled six superb articles on this page under the general heading of “Tips on Getting the Most Out of Your Voice Talent.”
Thank you for this excellent stuff, Tom.
Peter Cullen, the original voice of Optimus Prime, is featured on a short clip in the Videos section of the official site for Transformers: The Game. A hat tip to Kristy for posting the link to this first, at her board VoiceChasers.
And thanks to my buddy Charlie Glaize, here’s the interview he’s linked below, from YouTube.
My friend David Houston, who actually lives in Austin, just landed a national (cable) television commercial narration. You can read about it on his blog, if you’d like to follow-up. And David, I love to see success stories like this. Good for you.
I’m making my first ever trip to Upstate New York this weekend, to attend what promises to be a fabulous day-long voiceover marketing conference in Albany, New York and sponsored by Voicecoaches. These folks run a first class operation, and I’m honored to be here and to have been invited to take part in the closing panel discussion this afternoon (Saturday, June 2nd), though the title of the panel should be several experts and one guy who wandered up here from Charlotte!
In any case, I know I’m going to learn a great deal from everyone here, including the presenters and the folks attending. We had a mixer this evening at which I had a chance to meet several of the attendees. It was great fun interacting with folks of various backgrounds, but all of whom have a strong desire to pursue voiceover work.
I’ll update this post after the event is done with some further reflections. But, I can already tell that I’m very glad I have Voicecoaches on my blog roll under Career. They work with folks here in the Northeast directly as well as over the phone with people all over.
First update: We’re on a lunch break now, half-way through the day at the Marketing Conference sponsored by Voicecoaches. I’m deeply impressed with the quality of the presentations. I’m very glad I came because I’ve picked up several valuable ideas on how to continue to grow my voiceover business.
The top ideas were:
I’m so glad I’m here. And I look forward to everything that’s still ahead this afternoon. More updates later.
Second update: The afternoon kicked off with a brilliant presentation on graphics, design and a solid dose of branding advice from Dan and Phil from OveritMedia. I was very impressed with the focused approach these guys demonstrated, and equally impressed with their passion for staying current and adapting to the winds of change that continue to blow through the voiceover business.
We then heard some of the life story of Billy Serow, commercial voiceover agent with Abrams Artist Agency in New York. (The agency has an office in Los Angeles as well.) As Stephanie Ciccarelli posted on Vox Daily, Billy is that rare sort of agent, a person with a genuine heart for people. It was a sheer delight to hear some of his life’s journey and especially how he feels about developing promising talent.
I made an uncharacteristically bold move during both of these presentations when the time came for questions, I asked Dan (President of OveritMedia) and Billy if they ever worked with guys outside their local markets (Albany, NY for Dan and NYC, NY for Billy) and they both responded with “yes.” So, being even more uncharacteristically bold, I asked each of them during their respective presentations if I could give them a business card. Again they each said “yes” so I got up from my seat near the back of the room, walked up and handed over one of my cards. Honestly, I surprised myself a bit when I did this, because I’m normally too shy to do something like that; but I think some of what I’d learned earlier in the day about marketing and networking actually penetrated my thick skull, so it was easier to step up and make a move like this when the opportunity presented itself.
The final session of the day was a panel featuring a number of brilliant contributors, including David Ciccarelli and Billy Serow, as well as actor and television personality Evan Farmer, Heather Frenz (a very talented actress and voiceover talent working full-time in Albany), Jim Sciancalepore of Media Logic, David Bourgeois (president of Voicecoaches) and me. We spent over an hour and a half answering questions from the 60 or so in attendance. It was great fun. I’m so very glad I was invited to be a part of this excellent day.
Marc Cashman blogs as the Voice Cat (at Ask the Voice Cat) and recently responded to a question about Talent Agencies. There is whole lot of solid and valuable information for you to explore. Take a few minutes and read the whole thing.
Voice123.com has posted two videos that are well worth some of your time, both focused on the updates they are currently creating and testing.
First is a 17 minute presentation at VOICE 2007 by Alex Torrenegra (President and co-founder of Voice123.com) introducing the updates Voice123.com Ver. 2.0. (NOTE: both of these videos are rather dark, but the audio is fairly clear.)
And second is the Q&A that followed the above presentation, which runs about 25 minutes.
My friend Joe Rodriguez was given a very nice write-up at Lit Between The Ears a few days ago. Good for you, Joe. By the way, Joe blogs about voiceover, too.
I’ve linked a couple of times previously to the very cool, build-it-yourself voiceover booth that my friend Bobbin Beam and her husband have been building. The latest progress report is on her blog, including photos. It’s looking great Bobbin.
My friend Elaine Singer has just learned first hand why I always give the same answer to everyone who asks me about how to get started recording audiobooks. That answer? Take Pat Fraley’s audiobook class. (If you don’t see an audiobook class listed at the link, send an email requesting to be added to his notification list.) You’ll learn everything you need to know. And if you make any kind of effort at pursuing audiobook work after you’ve completed the class, you’ll quickly make back what the class costs.
My friend Jeffrey Kafer has written a post for his blog that underscores something I’ve long believed: many times the best solutions are the simplest. In Jeffrey’s case, he was trying to figure out the best way to set up his home studio to do a phone patch. Our mutual friend Frank Frederick (yes, Jeffrey, he is a super nice guy) gave this exact advice about not picking an expensive and complicated solution when a simple one will do.
Good for you, Jeffrey. May there be many more.
Check out the brilliant post at Other Men’s Flowers, subtitled, A dozen tactful phrases used to intimidate voice-over artistes: (here are a couple of my favorites)
Didn’t you used to be an actor?
We’ve still got point three of a second to play with, actually. You can spread it over the whole read if you like.
A hat tip to Tim McLaughlin for linking to this post.
My friend Kara Edwards gives voice to Goten here in the USA. At an anime conference in Raleigh, NC this weekend, Kara and Takeshi Kusao (who voices Trunks in Japan) were captured in a special moment that’s on YouTube.
Kara provides some background on what’s happening in her post at the top of this thread on the VO-BB. And she speaks about how she got involved in Dragonball Z on this YouTube video from just a bit earlier at the same Raleigh, NC anime conference.
Update: Here’s another view, that includes the audience.
I mentioned previously that I was given the exceptional privilege of providing some volunteer voiceovers for a countdown of the Greatest Rock Songs of all time for this Memorial Day weekend 2007. Air Force Sgt Chris Eder, known to his radio audience as Kasbah, has posted some audio and photos on his blog.
(Update: You’ll find more audio and comments at my friend Peter O’Connell’s blog, here.)
What a delight and honor to be able to play a tiny role in this enterprise. Thanks for asking Chris. I’m hoping and praying that you and all of your brothers and sisters in arms there in Iraq come home safely and with the satisfaction of knowing your mission is complete.
(Further update: Chris has posted more pics to his blog as the Countdown continues.)
My friend Mary McKitrick writes consistently thought-provoking posts on her blog. Today’s post is no exception. The central point is the point. What? When you read, you’ll understand.
There’s a potent conclusion to be drawn if you need to hire voiceover talent as well. Especially when the project you’re working on has a budget of some substance, with the higher level of importance that comes with such budgets. Finding voice talent with specific skills and experience relevant to your project will save you a great deal of both time and money. Because paying more for an experienced professional is going to save recording time, editing time and final production time. And you already know what time equals.
My friend Karen Commins always gets my brain cells working with her blog posts. Her post How to lose friends and irritate people is a perfect example. While my experiences haven’t paralleled Karen’s exactly, I do see the dynamic of “keeping you the same” playing out in interesting ways. Thank you, Karen. And if you’ll take some time to read the whole thing, I think you’ll say “thank you” to Karen as well.