About Connie Terwilliger

Full-time voice talent working out of professional studio for clients around the world providing high quality VO for narration, eLearning, commercials, animation, telephony and more.
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Be Prepared for When The Power Goes Out

Yesterday around 3:30, I was finishing a file conversion on two stray files that a client had just sent for an immediate turn. In the middle of the conversion, everything stopped – in sort of a weird slow motion. The screen went dark, the AC wound down growling softly as the fan slowed to a stop. And suddenly everything was quiet. I grabbed the laptop and jumped in the car to the closest wi-fi hot spot to get this project delivered.

During the 3 block drive to the Kensington Cafe, I listened to the radio and heard caller after caller from all parts of the county calling in to say that their power was off too. The dark traffic lights at Adams and Marlborough made it clear that the power was off here too. So I headed back home and used my droid to let the client know that I was […]

2018-02-06T06:48:21+00:00September 9th, 2011|Categories: Business, Musings|
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Popping Problem? Probably Positional Placement.

Every once in a while I’ll pop a “p” and have to do some editing to fix it, or even a redo, but plosives have not been a real problem for me. It is the sharp “s” that seems to be my biggest issue.

I have learned to hear the worst of my sibilance issues as they come out of my mouth and do a quick adjustment to my articulators (usually tongue placement more than anything else) and the next pass is usually sans-sibilance.

But the popping “p” doesn’t present itself until I listen to the recording. So preventing them from happening in the first place is the best plan of attack.

Dan Friedman, working voice talent and author of the book “Sound Advice,” is a frequent contributor to Procomm’s Voiceover Industry Articles. This one is all about that popping problem that plagues many voice actors.

2018-02-06T06:48:21+00:00September 6th, 2011|Categories: Recording, Technology|Tags: , , , |
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Talk about your work around!

Well, as I posted last week, stuff happens.

This week I started hearing a little BobCat driving up and down my alley. And when I poked my head out to see what was going on, I saw the tell-tale signs of upcoming concrete demolition. The road was covered with colorful spray painted arrows and initials detailing the underground path of gas pipes, water and sewer lines.

And a day later the truly irritating sound of a concrete cutter combined with a jack hammer – followed by large back hoes and dump trucks. Even when the concrete cutter wasn’t actually cutting, the generator truck was constantly running in the background.

I trudged down the alley yesterday to find the foreman to ask him what the “schedule” might be. Along the way, I navigated around and over large piles of dirt and was careful not to step in the new trough being gouged out along […]

2018-02-06T06:48:21+00:00August 31st, 2011|Categories: Musings, Recording, Technology|
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We Interrupt This Program…

Life happens. And our work may take a back seat to whatever situation is demanding our attention.

Right now, my voiceover friends on the East Coast are battening down the hatches, shutting off their studios and hunkering down waiting for hurricane Irene to do whatever it is she is going to do. In that arbitrary way nature has, she will surprise some with a tree limb through the front porch, or an inch or two of water in the basement, or pass over with nothing more than a few small branches in the street.

Thankfully the worst is probably over now – for Irene. But something else will come along and interrupt our regularly scheduled programming.

Actually, some of life’s curve balls can be predicted and planned for – sort of. The past couple of years I took on the added responsibility of taking care of my mother. Moved her out to San […]

2018-02-06T06:48:21+00:00August 28th, 2011|Categories: Business, Musings|
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Variety. Is it the Spice of the Voiceover Life?

We’ve all heard the saying “Variety is the spice of life.” What does it actually mean? I take it to mean if you do the same thing over and over you can get in a rut and perhaps  ultimately get bored with what you are doing. Toss in something different and it tends to work as an energizer.

How does it apply to the voiceover business? As a voiceover performer, there are two basic schools of thought how to approach the business. Do one thing well and market that. Do a lot of things well and market all of them.

Do One Thing Well

I think this works when you have a truly unique vocal style and delivery. People come to you because of your proven record doing this type of delivery. You might be a “personality” and what they want is you – your unique style – your pacing – attitude – […]

2018-02-06T06:48:21+00:00August 23rd, 2011|Categories: Business, Marketing|Tags: , , |
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Video Marketing Works – When Done Right

One of the electronic publications that I read faithfully is MediaPost’s Online Video Insider.

The latest column – Bulleted Points Miss the Point, by Jerry Bader, took me on a little trip down memory lane and at the same time gave me some very interesting facts about online video marketing.

As a video producer and scriptwriter in a former life – I spent long hours with colleagues discussing what it was we were actually supposed to be doing for the client. Guiding them to the right media for their message was what we all hoped would be the answer from the bosses. And most of the time, in most of the companies I had the pleasure to do business with – either full-time or as a free lancer – we were afforded this power.

And our job was to make sure that the client’s message was delivered to their specific […]

2018-02-06T06:48:21+00:00August 5th, 2011|Categories: Communication, Musings|
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Thanks for the Thanks!

Everyone likes a “thank you.” And sometimes we don’t take the time to pass along a sincere thank you to the people we interact with every day. Oh, we say “thanks” at the grocery store when we get our receipt. “Thanks” at the restaurant when someone refills our coffee cup or delivers the bill to the table. The sincerity of the “thanks” when someone hands us the bill for the meal is probably in question.

So it is nice to get a sincere thank you when none is really expected. I have toyed with the idea of sending out personal Thank You cards after sessions – and actually have some cards just for this purpose. Not many talent does this from what I can glean from various VO talent message boards. The trouble is, I am so busy just recording the jobs and creating the invoices that I simply forget!

And part […]

2018-02-06T06:48:22+00:00July 28th, 2011|Categories: Communication, Musings|Tags: |
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Today’s ROI Wasn’t About Money

Had a yard sale today at my mom’s house in preparation for her move to an Assisted Living Community. She is very excited actually and chatters non-stop about it to anyone who will listen. This is actually good news, of course. Two and a half years ago, this wasn’t even on the radar of options. Frankly, 5 months ago, this wasn’t something that she would consider.

But after a few months of a home share situation – with a house mate who helped her with medication reminders and getting dinners, she learned two things – that she needed help – and that she didn’t like sharing her house. All that strange food in the refrigerator! And just which bar of soap was hers!

So next week we do the final move of the heavy items to her new apartment in La Mesa California, just down the road from wonderful Lake Murray. The […]

2018-02-06T06:48:22+00:00July 23rd, 2011|Categories: Business, Musings|Tags: , , , , |
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Tax Form for the Marginally Employed

My voiceover friend Rowell Gormon just posted a link to an important tax document for the army of self-employed working out of their homes.

You must qualify of course. Do you spend at least 8 hours of daylight in your pajamas? Do your medical expenses include naps, toothbrushes, garlic dill pickles, elixirs, etc.? Do you Tweet? There’s a complex formula for that. Don’t Tweet? Sorry, you don’t qualify for that deduction. Oh and be sure to include your time wasting allowance – and your Hollywood Protection Act deduction (100% of the cost of blockbuster movies you didn’t really want to see).

http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2010/04/13/opinion/20100413_opart.html

*Be sure to consult your tax preparer to get the latest form. This is the 2009 form, so I’m sure it has changed considerably over the past couple of years. The Obamamania deduction for inauguration expenses has probably been deleted – however, they may have added an […]

2018-02-06T06:48:22+00:00July 12th, 2011|Categories: Business, Musings|Tags: , , |
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Balancing Life and Work

The past few years have been interesting to say the least. After getting my mom to move across country in order to be closer to me so that I could start to help her as her need to be helped increased – I started to see a dramatic increase in personal time in my calendar.

As a rabid type A – most of my time has been spent working. As a free lancer and the sole means of support for my critters and my house – most of my time was spent working or marketing or bookkeeping or networking or something else that required large amounts of time in my “cave.”

So, learning how to carve out the time for my mom was a challenge.

Combine that with the down turn in the economy and there was a bit of a dip in work – which in retrospect was perhaps a good thing […]

2018-02-06T06:48:33+00:00July 11th, 2011|Categories: Business, Marketing, Musings|Tags: , |
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