My friend Rick Riley is the narrator of this video about the St. Louis Cardinals, winners of the 2011 World Series.
St. Louis Cardinals Program Open from Rick Riley on Vimeo.
Well done, Rick!
People
Spotlight on Matt
My friend Matt Cowlrick is the voice of this charming video.
Thoughts about voiceover demos from Some Audio Guy
The Actors Library
While it’s not just for voice actors, there’s a ton of valuable information available for us voiceover types at Kristine Oller’s The Actor’s Library. Highly recommended. As is Kristine herself. Oh, The Actor’s Library is completely free!
Spotlight on Debbie
Last night was the premiere of a new documentary called “Incessant Visions -Letters from an Architect”, narrated by my friend Debbie Irwin. Debbie tells the story of how she booked this job on the Voice123.com blog Voice the Dream. Congratulations, Debbie!
Mission, no actually MoHos: Impossible
If you happen to be in Southern California on Tuesday, January 31st, check out MoHos: Impossible Joke Protocol. My thanks to Kevin Delaney (one of the performers) for letting me know about this event. Others featured during the evening are Bill Farmer, Richard Horvitz and the legendary Fred Williard.
Spotlight on Elisa
Here is my friend Elisa Cañas, shining brightly (vocally) on YouTube.
Spotlight on Lauren
My friend Lauren McCullough does a wonderful job voicing this book trailer.
New additions to Pat Fraley’s Free Lessons
Pat Fraley is a top flight voiceover talent, a superb and thoughtful coach, and a friend. He’s also prepared a number of free voiceover lessons on a page at his website called, originally enough, Free Lessons. He’s just recently posted 3 new lessons on demos, confidence and flow, but really if you haven’t visited the page in a while, it’s well worth exploring.
A spotlight on my daughter Karen
My daughter Karen is a virtual assistant to not only me, but a number of other voiceover professionals around the planet. She’s been interviewed by Lisa Biggs for the Voxy Ladies blog. What a kick to see my daughter in the spotlight for a change!
Live Sketch Comedy Show with VO guys
Fred Willard will be joined by Kevin Delaney, Richard Horvitz and Bill Farmer this coming Tuesday at Second City in Hollywood.
Details are at Kevin Delaney’s blog.
Spotlight on Dan
A life-changing book
There are lots of voiceover people who worked in radio at one time for whom dealing with the basics of the “technical bits” of voiceover (how to connect the cables, how to record and edit the audio, etc.) isn’t terribly difficult or terrifying. But, for lots of people working in voiceover, without any technical background at all, it can be a real challenge to figure out these “technical bits”; which is why I warmly recommend Dan Friedman’s book Sound Advice.
I also highly recommend you read Dan’s blog post about the writing of Sound Advice. Good stuff, Dan. Your book has been a real help to me, too.
Mags n Mel Episode 5 is released
My friends Pam Tierney and Maritza Cabrera have released Episode five of their webisode series Mags n Mel. The earlier episodes are there on the same page, so you can enjoy all of the releases in order if you like.
Or, go to Pam’s Vimeo page to watch.
Wonderful stuff, Maritza and Pam. I think this is my favorite episode so far.
Added to the blogroll
My friend Doug Turkel has started blogging about voiceover. I’m thrilled to add him to my blogroll today. Welcome to the blogosphere, Doug!
So long
Well, it’s been over a week now that I’ve been thinking about what to write here. Over a week since I attended my last International Radio Creative and Production Summit. After a run of 15 straight years, this event is no more. Every year in the last summer starting in 1997 I’ve attended this event. I’ve learned at ton. Built many good friendships. Kept my toolkit sharp and up-to-date.
It was at the Summit that I first learned about Voice123.com. It was at the Summit where I first learned about Nancy Wolfson. I encouraged many of my friends in voiceover to attend the Summit, at least some of whom came including Rowell Gormon, Pam Tierney, Melissa Exelberth, and Liz de Nesnera. A couple of times I brought my son Eric with me as he began working with me, doing a lot of my audio editing.
It truly has been a great experience. Of those 15 years, I paid my own way in whole or in part for 8 of them. Yes, it was that valuable.
This amazing run of years has seen me go from being a so-so radio production director through a number of transitions to today when I’m working full-time and exclusively in voiceover. I’m profoundly grateful to the hundreds of people who have touched my life during and between the Summits, and especially to Dan O’Day for being the fireplug that made it happen, and made it happen in a way that was fun and effortless to us who attended, every year. (Special thanks also go to Dick Orkin who was Dan’s partner in the Summit for the first several years.)
What a wonderful set of memories!
Acting and telling stories
Voice actor Xavier Paul offers some insights into his approach to voice acting in a guest blog published at VoxDaily.
Generosity and genius
It’s not always the case, but sometimes in our world of voiceover the brightest people are also the most generous. Case in point? Pat Fraley, who is one of the brightest and most talented people I know. He has just updated his “Free Lessons” page. It’s a treasure trove of good stuff and I warmly commend Pat to you.
Ever get the jitters?
My friend Rowell Gormon, who has been doing voiceovers professionally for 30 years, shares a recent experience with “first time jitters” on his blog. Well worth your time, no matter where you are on your voiceover journey.
Friends or not
My friend Anthony Mendez has a great deal of talent and a great mind. His talent is on display in the demos available on his website. Just one example of his thinking is “Don’t kill my ideas …“, a recent post on his Posterous blog. My thanks to my manager and friend Stacey Stahl for passing along the link to Anthony’s blog this morning.
