Taking most of the month of June off!!!

Oh my! I will be leaving my laptop studio at home the last two weeks in June and heading off to Germany, Italy and Switzerland. I will have an international BlackBerry with me to check email, Facebook and Twitter, but no recording stuff.

The last time this happened was in August a few years ago when the wireless card on my old notebook died the first day of a two-week trip to central Mexico. I went to Internet cafe’s every couple of days to clear out email, but other than that – cold turkey. And I survived.

With the BlackBerry, I will actually be more connected and will try hard not to worry about missed auditions or – yikes – missed work!

Wednesday afternoon, after an ISDN session in the morning, I will motor up the freeway to LA for VOICE 2010. I will pack my studio, but am also happy to know that […]

2018-02-06T06:48:40+00:00May 31st, 2010|Categories: Announcements|

Referrals – A Sure Sign of Good Business Practices

There are many ways to beat the bushes for new business, but by far the most efficient way is to let someone else do the beating for you!

Just sent an invoice to a new client who was referred to me by another voice talent. And last week I invoiced for a project that was a referral from an audio production studio who has hired me in the past.

What goes around comes around – at least that is what the saying says – and probably every month, I get to refer one of my voiceover friends to one of my clients.

This is not as easy a task as it seems – because each time the question is posed (“Can you recommend any male voice talent?” “Do you know anyone who can do a kid’s voice?” “Bilingual in French and English?”) I have to evaluate the requestor and the kind of work […]

2018-02-06T06:48:40+00:00May 25th, 2010|Categories: Marketing|

Punch to the gut

Yikes! Had a session today – cast off my demo – where the client was ultimately not happy with the read. This has not happened for many many years – I’d say 25. At least where I knew about it anyway. There are those clients who pop in for one session and then you never hear from them again. With a large stable of regular clients and referrals, you just never really think about the possibility that someone didn’t really get what they wanted – until someone tells you.

It was a spot for a retail store – that included a list of prices and items – that needed an unpolished conversational read. After lots of direction – which can be helpful (or not) and some line reads – which can be helpful (or not) – I got the feeling – from these very nice guys – that we were on the […]

2018-02-06T06:48:41+00:00May 19th, 2010|Categories: Musings|

Me and My Equipment

You know how when you first start doing something you spend a lot of time figuring it out and you end up with something that works really great – and then over time – you end up forgetting what it was you did in the first place – and for a while that doesn’t matter – because everything is working just fine. But then it stops working fine – and like I said – you have no idea what you did in the first place – and now you are stuck with this incredible kluge job of tangled cables and settings.

That’s where I am right now. I’ve been doing voiceover work full-time now from my home studio for more than 10 years – and have slowly added this and that to the mix of equipment. In fact I have two separate “studios” – one for my phone patch and self-directed […]

2018-02-06T06:48:41+00:00May 14th, 2010|Categories: Marketing, Technology|Tags: , , , , |

Life Happens

Got a message from a voiceover friend on the other side of the country that another voiceover friend had fallen and broken her leg – a rather severe break as I understand it. This is one of the most giving people I have ever met and perhaps life wants her to be taken care of for a while.

She is part of a very special group of voiceover artists who had the extreme pleasure of getting to know each other – first virtually through the VO-BB.com and then face-to-face at VOICE 2007 – and have continued to stay connected and involved in each other’s lives.

We are all waiting for the flashing light on our Blackberrys to tell us that she is doing well and didn’t have to be intubated for the surgery.

VOICE2010 is coming up the first week in June and many of us will be able to reconnect in person […]

2018-02-06T06:48:41+00:00May 10th, 2010|Categories: Announcements|

Round and Round and Round She Goes…

The voiceover world is abuzz! Not sure where this ride will stop, but let’s hope a twist on the adage “what goes down, must go up” comes into play.

Less than 10 years ago, a lot of voiceover casting moved to the Internet. The Pay 2 Play sites appeared and suddenly the role of the agent was bypassed and assumed by the talent who entered into a bidding war against other talent – most of it completely blind – with no ability to vet the potential client. Remember the old TV game show “Name That Tune?” That’s what it is like – someone else tells the client that they can do that job for less than you will do the job – much less. Well, at some point we have to be able to say, name that tune and move on.

Is there a bottom to the falling rates? I hope so. And our […]

2018-02-06T06:48:41+00:00May 8th, 2010|Categories: Business, Marketing, Negotiating|

VO Booth on Wheels

My virtual good friend Philip Banks posted a video recently of his VO Booth on Wheels (he calls it the Voice and Go), but I think the technology in this article from Studio Daily tops it.

Perhaps a bit more pricey, but seems to be working for those busy celebrities who need to do some VO work in between takes on the set of their latest series. Complete with ISDN, this mobile recording studio helps prevent those pesky and expensive “no show” sessions.

It’s called Voice Over There.

Here is the article about it – http://www.studiodaily.com/blog/?p=3148

2018-02-06T06:48:41+00:00May 3rd, 2010|Categories: Announcements, Recording, Technology|Tags: , , |
Go to Top