I Love it When it Rains

My travels took me up in SouthWest Utah again this weekend.  Cedarbreaks
When it’s 110F in Vegas, but in the
60′s up at Brian Head and The Cedar Breaks, that’s an easy decision to make.

It even rained while we stayed at our friend’s cabin in the woods.  Las Vegas only gets 4 inches a year…so whenever it rains, wherever I am, I go outside and smell it.

In the last couple of weeks, I’ve had an interesting back ‘n’ forth with some nice people at
Rainrecording_141x77
RainRecording.com. They seek to find quality equipment solutions for people in the business of audio…and that’s a wide audience.

One of their 3 founders told me: “…we’re not a big, faceless company with a lot of red tape. We take every
customer very seriously and know that we’re not entitled to anything we
don’t earn through hard work and most importantly: doing the right
thing. We’ve turned down some potentially lucrative deals because we
felt it would be better to sleep soundly at night then compromise what
we believe in.

After several conversations, I came to believe in them, too. 

They’ve taken a bit of a chance on me as a writer…suggesting I compose a series of articles that shed light on the growing Voice Over business for their visitors, viewers, clients, and readers. 

I was happy to oblige, and the first article is now open for viewing under their “Pro” section, by clicking HERE.

I’d like to give special thanks to voice actor and marketing guru Peter O’Connell for his helpful suggestions after proofreading my final edition.  That helped a lot, Peter…Thanks!

Please let me know what you think of the article, and if I got anything wrong (or…right!). It’s an overview of the past, present, and probable future of voice acting…now in a sea change of opportunity and challenge.

CourVO

Best of Both

   My friend Bob Souer came smack up against a quandary some months ago: VOICE-2008-dates-and-url-tr
attend the Dan O’Day Radio Summit, or the VOICE 2008 conference — both being held in the same town at roughly the same time.

   His decision below, along with a wonderful offer for anyone else caught in the same bind.

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Bobbin’s Pod’n

Top-notch voice actor, friend, and fellow VO-BB‘er  Bobbin Beam is the featured guest on Terry Daniel and Trish Basanyi‘s podcast feature.Suchavoice241_2
Terry and Trish have probably one of the most successful new groups on VoiceoverUniverse.com featuring interviews with the likes of Rodney Saulsberry and others.

Click HERE to listen to the podcast, and see Terry & Trish’s “TalkShoe” website.

CourVO

Marketing by Osmosis

Being a “noob” at anything is no fun. 19179346

Having fun being a “noob” is an art.

Marketing is “noob” territory for me, and the immediate lessons it’s taught me are humility and going back to the basics.

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Tech Talk Terrace at VOICE 2008

43 days until VOICE 2008 attendees begin to congregate at the Hyatt Regency Century Plaza.  That's gonna fly by, believe me!

And still, new things are being added all the time, like the Tech Talk Terrace.  Look below the fold, here, to see that, and some other recent announcements from the organizers.

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Working my Social Net

Are we just all groping around on the internet trying to figure out what works?19164439

That's what it seems like sometimes.  I mean, really…all those social networking sites…can they all be making money!?…or are people just having fun?…or expressing their tech-creativity?… or what?! 
(my official LinkedIn rant below)

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Incredulous…

'Ran across the following listing on a website that matches freelancers with people offering work.  30755728
I won't say what site, but it WASN'T V123 or Voices.

It WAS a shockeroo and an insult, though.

What people think voice actors should accept as pay for good work is astounding!
(see listing by clicking below)

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Mind Melt

Yes, "melt"… not the Vulcan "Mind Meld".  My brain is gonna melt from marketing overload.Wordofmouth

I've been looking into marketing blogs lately, and there is certainly no shortage.  A good many of them right now are circulating a publication called "The Word of Mouth Manual: Volume II".  There IS no Volume I..which of course creates more buzz, and more word-of-mouth…leading to more hype, more publicity, more word of mouth.  Get it?

This is marketing wizardry at it's loftiest level, I guess.  All these bloggers competing for visitors, but agreeing to simultaneously link to a hyper-publicized book written by one of their own: Dave Balter, creator of BuzzAgent.

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Maybe this is….

…the deal you've been looking for in a back-up hard drive.  Iomegacenterlogo_ec65
It's been impressed upon me lately that unless you have a plan to back up your critical files on a regular basis, you're just asking for trouble.  Check out the deal below….  I'm neither here nor there on the vendor.  They have a good name, but you might be able to find better deals at Fry's or Best Buy…depending on the day.

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I’m ISDN’d…!!!

Layout_ip_isdn_multiplexer

If you've followed this blog, or my posts on the VO-BB at all lately, you know I've been wrestling with an 
equipment install for my home studio. 
I finally conquered that challenge this morning. I'm ecstatic about the result, but the process was anything but fun, and it raises some questions about when to call it quits.
(Read on…I promise not to get technical)

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