Blog – Page 5 – Connie Terwilliger

MCA-I (formerly ITVA) Fades to Black

MCA-I (and before the name change – ITVA) has been one of my tribes for a very long time. I was working full-time at General Dynamics in the film and video department when my boss, Scott Crist, told me I should join. So, I did. And through the years, I was active on the local board in pretty much every position, including several years acting as chapter coordinator until a new crop of leaders took over. At that point, I moved to the national board and again did nearly all of the positions, including President of the association.

By that time, the association had started it’s decline. And so, after many years of declining membership and sponsorship dollars, on August 11, 2016 the Board of Directors of Media Communication Association-International (MCA-I) voted to dissolve the 47-year old association, effective immediately.

A little history. MCA-I […]

Connie Terwilliger2018-02-06T06:48:03+00:00August 21st, 2016|Categories: Announcements, Business|Tags: ITVA, mca-i, video production, voice actor, voiceover|

Updated Live Audio Recording Options to ISDN Information

Just a quick post to give you the updated version of the Live Audio Recording Options chart that I created last month. Did some research into the COMREX solution someone referenced in a post to Facebook.

It is one of the more expensive options for both the studio and the talent side of the glass, but does offer a lot of options.

The more I delve into this, the more it looks like the cost of differentiating yourself as a voice talent may remain much the same. We will probably have to have several options ready to go depending on our client’s needs/desires. At the moment, I have ipDTL, Source-Connect (original), ISDN (for as long as it makes sense), Bodalgo Call and now ConnectionOpen.

Some of these are free options that will be acceptable […]

Connie Terwilliger2018-02-06T06:48:03+00:00August 10th, 2016|Categories: Announcements, Business, Recording, Technology|Tags: Bodalgo Call, ConnectionOpen, Connie Terwilliger, female voice talent, ipDTL, ISDN alternative, Source Connect, voice talent|

Who will step in when ISDN goes away?

Here in Southern California I still have my ISDN lines at a reasonable cost and regular clients who use them. However, the same cannot be said for talent in other parts of the county. Monthly rates have skyrocketed to as much as $700 (or more!). And in some parts of the US, you can’t even get new lines if you wanted them a whatever cost you might be willing to pay.

ISDN has been the de facto leader of the pack for professionals for many years, but the times they are a changing.

The challenge is finding a secure, simple, stable, high-quality, fast and cost-effective solution. While simplicity is not the most important factor in a preferred solution, we are more and more used to plug and play solutions, so simplicity may in fact become a driver in this battle. The ability […]

Connie Terwilliger2018-02-06T06:48:03+00:00July 16th, 2016|Categories: Announcements, Business, Communication|Tags: alternatives to ISDN, audio recording, Bodalgo Call, ConnectionOpen, ipDTL, ISDN, SessionLink Pro, Source Connect, voice talent|

Tongue Twisters

Many of these tongue twisters are familiar. Some came from the “Speech 101, Voice and Diction Class at San Diego City College. Others are from actual scripts. Some are familiar. Some seem simple. Some will be the bane of your existence. Just remember to warm up your articulators before jumping in on them! And please post a comment here and add your own tongue twisters to the list!

Rubber baby buggy bumpers
She sells sea shells by the sea shore.
The shells she sells are surely seashells,
So if she sells shells on the seashore,
I’m sure she sells seashore shells.
Five fresh fish specials daily
Unique New York
Six stick shifts stuck shut.
Another long block of non-stop rock (from KGB in San Diego)
The sixth sick sheik’s sixth sheep’s sick
I slit the sheet, the sheet I slit;
and on the slitted sheet I sit.
A skunk sat on a […]

Connie Terwilliger2016-06-22T17:47:49+00:00June 22nd, 2016|Categories: Acting, Announcements, Techniques, Tips & Tricks|Tags: tongue twisters, voiceover exercises|

Voiceover Warm Ups – Breathing and Articulation Exercises

When I moved to the new website format, I removed my voiceover exercise pages, so I am posting the information here on the Blog, so that they are still available to those who have been looking for them! The tongue twisters can be found in this post.

RELAXATION AND BREATHING

Abdominal breathing. Stand erect and place one hand on your abdomen. Inhale moderately and emit a series of short staccato “ha” sounds. Vary the force from strong to slight. Develop the feeling that you are pushing the sound up from your abdominal area.
Lie on the floor and place a book on your abdomen just below your ribs. Breathe normally and feel the muscle activity. The book should rise and fall gently as you breathe.
Breath control — When breath is released too rapidly, you sound “breathy”. It lacks resonance and projection and it fades at the end of a […]

Connie Terwilliger2018-02-06T06:48:03+00:00June 22nd, 2016|Categories: Announcements, Tips & Tricks|Tags: free voiceover exercises, voice over, voiceover, warm up|

Getting Ready to Do a Video Campaign?

The latest MediaPost “Video Insider” arrived in my In Box today with an interesting article about when to send out a video campaign for maximum exposure.

Of course, a whole LOT of things affect when you should launch a campaign, including what you are promoting and how much money you have to promote it.

They cited a couple of case studies that did very well by avoiding the big seasonal crushes like Thanksgiving and Christmas. BarkBox and KFC. But they also pointed out that you need to keep in mind that there are other “big” holidays that clutter the advertising landscape, like Valentines’ Day, Super Bowl, Mother’s Day, etc.

The also suggest – if you don’t have deep pockets – saving up and doing a big splash!

Read the whole article here >>>

And if you want to see what holidays are coming […]

Connie Terwilliger2018-02-06T06:48:03+00:00June 1st, 2016|Categories: Advertising, Business, Marketing|Tags: advertising, marketing budget, video campaign|

You’ll be hearing from me…sometime…I promise!

The quest for a workable Customer Relationship Management (CRM) software continues. I don’t know about you, but I am having a heck of time finding one that is simple and integrates easily with my workflow.

Remember FilemakerPro? I used that for a while back in the day. Spent hours creating custom forms and fields to manage my free lance producing / writing / talent business. It was complicated and pretty much stand alone. But then I took a full-time job and the free lance gigs were sidelined for about 9 years. When I got back into the free lance side of things, the world had changed and new easier (?) and free CRM options were dangled in front of me.

I tried Outlook Business Contacts for a while, but during a software update, the functionality disappeared, so I muddled along sorting email into folders […]

Connie Terwilliger2018-02-06T06:48:03+00:00May 8th, 2016|Categories: Business, Marketing, Musings|Tags: client care, CRM, customer service, top of mind, voice talent|

I’ll take mine with a side of Convenience, please…

One of the things I’ve learned over the years is that when I make something easier for my clients it usually pays off.

Convenience is defined as something that saves or simplifies work – or adds to one’s ease or comfort.

I make it as convenient as possible to do business with me. My website has demos up front and center on the home page of my website. I have contact information on each page. There are links to more demos and hopefully enough information about who I am and what I do to help them take a chance on my voiceover work. After that, it is up to me to provide value.

We love convenience. Savvy business people have always known that people will pay a […]

Connie Terwilliger2018-02-06T06:48:04+00:00April 8th, 2016|Categories: Business, Marketing|Tags: convenience, customer service, voice acting|

Smart Phones Mean Business

I love my smart phone. A Samsung Galaxy 5. It does everything – except FaceTime – but there’s Skype, Facebook’s talk feature, Google Hangouts and other alternatives if I need to spend some face time with someone across town or in another time zone.

My smart phone gets me out of my studio and I can stay connected with my business. You never know when an emergency voiceover will pop up. And if you are not in the media production business you might not realize just how often there actually is a voiceover emergency. Had one on Monday. The call came in at 2 for a 3 o’clock session with a client on the East Coast.

The flip side of having a smart phone is that it keeps me connected with my business. There are times when it is good to […]

Connie Terwilliger2018-02-06T06:48:04+00:00March 19th, 2016|Categories: Business, Communication, Life, Musings, Technology|Tags: eLearning, narration, online purchase, smart phone, voiceover|

Do You Have a Digital Media Production Tribe?

Many years ago when ITVA changed their name to MCA-I – people just didn’t know what to do. The new name was hard to say for one thing. And the change happened at a time when technology was evolving and the business climate was changing. It created sort of a perfect storm that sent the association into turmoil. Something not unique to MCA-I – many associations have been feeling the effects.

While MCA-I is still alive (www.mca-i.org), and remains strong in scattered chapters around the US, it is in regrowth mode.

The name MCA-I is still a mouthful to this day. Back then we tried to find a way to make it easier to say – so a few of us dubbed ourselves the “McEye” Tribe. That was the phonetic pronunciation. While it never really caught on, it worked […]

Connie Terwilliger2018-02-06T06:48:04+00:00February 25th, 2016|Categories: Announcements, Business, Life, Marketing|Tags: mca-i, professional association, SD MediaPros, video production|

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