Interrup…what the h#%@! was that? Distrac…oooh, look at that!

Today, I am not talking about being distracted by amusing kitty videos on Facebook, although I did see at least one funny video that distracted me so far today.

And I’m not talking about the constant flow of email that comes in that – of course – needs to be handled immediately (even if it DOESN’T).

Nor am I talking about being interrupted by the dog scratching at the door, or the cat sliding across some papers which are now all over the floor and need to be picked up before the dog actually gets in to trample them with dirty paws.

And I am not talking about the frequent helicopter flyovers – both routine (the gas’em up path is over my house) and not-so-routine (the circling helo’s looking for whatever mischief is being sparked by semi-high density housing and a bad economy).

No today it is interruptions of major proportions – but an […]

2013-03-21T14:19:50+00:00March 21st, 2013|Categories: Business, Musings, Recording|
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A Dozen Years and Counting..(wait make that almost 3 dozen…)

I’ve been in the voiceover business for much more than 12 years, but I got an email the other day from an occasional client and noticed that the earliest email I have from him is dated 2000. And then after looking at my current client list, I see a couple of others on-going since then, some with monthly (even weekly) work. My records for much earlier than that have either been lost for good on some dead hard drive, or packed away in boxes.

But I would put my first paid voiceover work doing some TV Staff Announcing in 1975, when I was working part-time at WTIU-TV during graduate school at Indiana University. Prior to that in 1972, I wrote, voiced and produced public service announcements on KCOE-FM while at Coe College in Cedar Rapids Iowa. So if I do the math, the number of years doing something related to voiceovers […]

2018-02-06T06:48:14+00:00March 2nd, 2013|Categories: Musings|Tags: , |
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Pro Bono or No Pro Bono or “Huh? What are you thinking?”

“Pro bono: done for free, done without compensation, for the public good”

I occasionally am asked by companies if I can provide voice tracks for little or no money. In most of these cases, the company is a not-for-profit and I can weigh the value of the public good against the value of my current bank account. OK, that’s a little flippant. At this point in my career I can afford to donate some of my time to a good cause. But even when I was just starting out, if the right cause came along, I would make the time for it.

However, it is important to remember that not-for-profit does not translate directly to not-for-money. Every group has a budget of some sort, or it will cease to be a group at some point.

I walk a tightrope on this issue, because in addition to my definitely for-profit voiceover business, I am the Executive Director of a not-for-profit 501c3 group that […]

2018-02-06T06:48:14+00:00February 4th, 2013|Categories: Auditioning, Business, Musings|Tags: , , |
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Excellent Advice for Self-directing Audio Book Narration

One of the things that a professional voice talent MUST have to succeed is the ability to self-direct. We do so much of our work – at least initially (and in many cases most of our work) – alone. Alone with our doubts, our insecurities, our patterns.

When we are auditioning, the ability to self-direct can be the determining factor in getting the gig. We don’t want to send out the “same” read that 95% of the rest of the talent is submitting. We want our audition to leap off the mp3 and straight into the “book that talent” column.

Last year, I tried my hand at fiction audio books for the first time. I am finishing up the 3rd. And while the verdict is still out on if I actually like this area of voice work, I have greatly enjoyed the process. Discovering how much time it REALLY takes. Is it […]

2018-02-06T06:48:14+00:00January 19th, 2013|Categories: Techniques|Tags: , , , , |
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Advice for Producers is Also Good Advice for Talent

Just ran across this blog post by Marc Scott cross-posted on Voice123. It is aimed at the people seeking voice talent, however it is good advice for both the seeker and the seekee! In fact, as a user of the online casting sites myself, I have a similar set of guidelines as I decide which projects to audition for.

One of the biggies for me is a poorly written script. As a long time award-winning scriptwriter and corporate producer before jumping into voiceover full-time, I wrote many many scripts for other talent to read. A well-written script is ALWAYS easier for the talent to deliver. If you are new to the art of writing a script for someone to verbalize, put your words to the test. Record yourself reading the material aloud before you send it off for auditions. If you have a hard […]

2018-02-06T06:48:14+00:00December 15th, 2012|Categories: Auditioning|Tags: , , , |
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Voice Actors – are we stepping out from the shadows?

A friend sent me a link to an article published by CNN.com about voice actors (mostly cartoon voice actors) getting more recognition now because of the Internet. The fan base is increasing. Which makes sense. These famous A-lister voiceover actors – were mostly unknown for the most part, until the Internet. We’re not talking about the movie stars who have transitioned to animation, but the voice actors who stay mostly behind the mic, not the lens. And if they do appear on-camera, it is usually a character role.

The article focused mostly on voices like Frank Welker, Seth McFarlane, and Peter Cullen. One quote caught my eye – from Frank Cullen…

“The respect level (for voice acting) is climbing and climbing faster than it ever did before in the last few years. The studios are recognizing they don’t have to hire a big name actor. People don’t know […]

2018-02-06T06:48:15+00:00November 3rd, 2012|Categories: Business, Marketing, Musings|
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FaffCon 5 Followup: Fabulous

Why has it been hard for me to get to the blog to write about my FaffCon5 experience? It was fabulous. No doubt about that. And I was looking at it in a much different light than my previous 4 FaffCons because this time I wasn’t involved in the planning. This time, I just got to participate and truly spend quality time with people. Which was a good thing. Of course, being on the planning team is a good thing too! But I let that get in the way of my real participation in FaffCon. So, this time, I just showed up and tried not to jump in and organize. When I got to the hotel on Thursday evening, I noticed the FaffCon staff having their big dinner and I started to feel left out. Several other Faffers were at another table and quickly distracted me. I was however, allowed […]

2018-02-06T06:48:15+00:00October 27th, 2012|Categories: Business, Musings|
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We Want What We Cannot Have

Why is it that the faster technology advances the less it does what we want?

Oh, it does so much – and much much more – but the very fact that it does so much makes us want it to do more!

And some of stuff not doing what we want it to do is operator error. It does so much – how can anyone know the total scope of its capabilities…until you ask it to do something it simply can’t.

For example, my travel recording gear used to be a dbx mini-pre with my AKG 1000 mic and a Toshiba laptop. Worked great. Then I got a MicPortPro, which saved some weight and space.

But it didn’t work on my laptop, because I was using Adobe Audition 2 and it didn’t support USB mic connections. An upgrade to Audition 3 was needed to get the MicPortPro to work with the laptop. Fine, software […]

2018-02-06T06:48:15+00:00September 9th, 2012|Categories: Musings, Technology|Tags: , , , |
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It is Critical to use our Critical Thinking

One of the things I am grateful for is that my early education included some training in critical thinking. In not blindly accepting whatever you see, hear or read.

Well, seeing is believing they say and if something happens right in front of you – and you can feel the heat, the pain, the happiness, the relief – then you are probably pretty clear about the truth of the situation. Maybe.

But trust what you see on the Internet, or in a link you get in email? Trust what you read on shared posts on Facebook? Pretty much NEVER!

I enjoin everyone to stop and THINK! I’m not saying I have a perfect record in ferreting out falsehoods, but I grow more and more skeptical about the things that cross my eyes and ears.

Today, in two of the usual places I check to catch up on what my friends and family are up […]

2018-02-06T06:48:15+00:00August 29th, 2012|Categories: Musings|
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The Value of a Voiceover

Just what does it take to be successful as a voice talent in 2012? Treat it like a business. (This of course, assumes that you have some talent to start with.)

The Internet has changed what we do in many significant ways. It has 1) increased the number of people offering their services as voice talent (whether they should be or not), 2) cut out the middle man in casting (the people who know the value of voiceover), and because of a lack of truly understanding that this is a business like any other business it has 3) driven rates down down down.

Many people just getting started fail to see the big picture. Sure, the come on for so many of the endless voiceover classes screams “make $300 an hour,” but … can you live on one hour every few months?

One recent discussion centered on whether $25 per hour was a […]

2018-02-06T06:48:15+00:00August 21st, 2012|Categories: Business, Marketing, Musings, Negotiating|Tags: , |
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