Voice-Acting in Vegas
David Ciccarelli of Voices.com wrote to bring special attention to a new report he's done no small amount of work on, entitled: "THE REPORT ON THE VOICE OVER INDUSTRY 2009"
David says: "…I've done a fair amount of research to identify the most promising areas of opportunity for voice over talent…"
This is worthwhile reading as we all look to the New Year in one of the worst economies since the late 70's.
Click HERE to read the report.
Best to you in '09!
Dave C
Boy, are these sites popping up faster than you can say lens-wipe??!!
Now, EyeJot "Video Mail in a Blink" is here…free, and there's nothing to install.
You might find it handy in your voice acting business.
Hey…I hear about all this stuff on Twitter…maybe it works for you, maybe not… but it's worth a look most of the time.
Have a fine '09!!
CourVO
Of the 547 jack-of-all-trades talents that a voice actor must tackle these days, #5 (maybe 7…but no more than 10) is: mastering passable audio engineering skills.
Books written on the topic would fill an entire wing of Barnes & Noble, if they wanted to.
A recent article listed 25 free audio editing programs (see my blog on that)…each with its own peculiarities, although much is the same in many ways.
Even audio engineers at top studios struggle to maintain their skill level with all the new gee-gaws software updates, and upgrades.
Mostly, it seems, experience over time is the best teacher. You learn the nuances of sound and how to best manipulate it when you do a lot of recording, editing, and mastering every day.
Nonetheless, the search never ends for the panacea that can make the most bumbling tech neophyte a seeming audio journeyman.
Submitted for your approval: LEVELATOR.
I found Levelator on Jake Ludington's Media Lab site.
He says Levelator: "examines a WAV or AIFF file, looks for volume inconsistencies and fixes
them. It's a bit geekier than that under the hood. The Levelator
handles both the gain optimization
on a file and RMS normalization to make sure the volume level is
consistent. The output is a new file, so you can always go back to the
original if you need to."
See? I'm not even sure I fully understand that layman's explanation. So maybe the best thing to do is just download and try this free program. I have. It installs in no time, and pretty much does everything it promises to do if you want to believe this admitted apprentice sound editor.
Top audio engineers might scoff at this sort of one-size-fits-all wizardry, but they're the same guys who would encourage a voice-actor to use Pro-Tools to record a simple E-learning narration.
BTW, I've added Jake Luddington's site to my BlogRoll….lots of good stuff to be had there.
CourVO
Tip o' the hat to Brian Haymond, all-around good guy, good voice actor, and good father who has involved his daughters in his voice work and charity work.
THIS is a link to a public relations site, but worthwhile reading for all the right reasons.
CourVO
My thanks to New Media Guy Joe Klein for telling me about this video you'll see below. He's my age (50-ish), but he really "gets it" with all the changes happening in the world of digital communication these days.
My sister is visiting from Illinois. I was just telling her how I find very little of interest to watch on TV these days.
That's strictly my opinion, but remember, I'm IN local TV, and that's embarrassing. Our budgets are already tight, the digital conversion is coming in February (the people who don't get that will be lost viewers), and with newspapers failing right and left, TV is looking over it's shoulder thinking we're next.
We could be with the kind of crap on prime-time and cable today.
Even with all that, some of the most lucrative voice acting jobs still come from that sector of the industry, and I'd hate to see it disappear.
I Invite you to watch the video… at least TV is smart enough to report on the new and upcoming technologies that may some day replace it.
CourVO
…Christmas — is bittersweet. Not dismal…just a little empty.
I think it has to do with all the build-up beforehand.
The pace of our world does not suffer laggards for long. A day off or two…maybe 5 at the outside…then the expectations start crashing in again.
'Not that you have to subscribe to that paradigm… but it takes a bit of an effort to disengage from it sometimes.
I'm floating in the 7th of 11 days off…and I refuse to ramp-up just yet. If you wonder, then, why I'm here blogging, let me tell you that this is something I enjoy.
I have family here from out-of-state…a daughter who is recuperating from surgery, and I've got my head buried up to my neck in IPhone applications as I discover the new technology of it…. and there's more to do in my languishing yet. More sleep, more food, more drink.
I am so blessed it's almost unfathomable. In a blog or two, I'll be reviewing last year's list of goals for this year's voice acting. It could be ugly… or not. I haven't looked yet…I'm afraid to.
In the meantime, read below for James Alburger and Penny Abshire's latest newsletter.
This week between Christmas and New Year's is so…otherworldly. Not here, not there. Ethereal, lilting. Enjoy.
CourVO
This morning, I handed over my first-born to the surgeon.
Since age 2, Grace has danced…following the rhythm in her heart.
A Sophomore at the University of Illinois, she continues to make us proud as a scholarship dance major. All the more reason we were saddened and scared by the MRI revealing two herniated lumbar discs resulting in chronic sciatic pain so debilitating, Grace has been unable to dance — thus in her mind, unable to truly live, nor express her heart — for 8-9 months.
This morning, in a 45-minute outpatient surgery, we believe our 1st-born was given a 2nd-chance. The sciatic pain immediately removed, she must now recuperate from the incision. The immediate danger being that she feels SO good, she could ruin her recovery by engaging in BLT's. Bending, Lifting, or Twisting.
Forgive me a brief window into my faith…but I believe a first-born to Mary many many years ago gives us an unending bounty of 2nd-chances…for eternity.
No amount of Rennaissance-era cherub-painted representations of the child can do justice to the perfect love this being feels for his children.
I get some glimpse of that whenever I look at my child…my Grace, and see the promise that lies in her.
I want to be healed that way. Let me dance.
CourVO
My exuberance for the season is but a tributary to the river of joy this Holiday.
You may be receiving my December (Christmas) Newsletter under separate e-mail cover. If not, send me your e-mail address at [email protected] and I'll make sure you're on the mailing list.
In the meantime, click below to see the latest offering.
Merry Christmas!
CourVO
…and trimmed the hedges. Four days before Christmas.
Wanna hear something even more strange? I live in Las Vegas.
Does anyone actually LIVE there? Uh-huh…and we have houses and neighborhoods and libraries, and boy scouts, and churches, and bake sales, and parks, and most of us don't go down on "The Strip" unless we absolutely positively have to.
But I digress to a familiar and tired rant.
Actually, Las Vegas is hurting like most cities these days. Maybe more. Our foreclosure rate is the highest in the nation. Our unemployment in So. NV is now 8%. 'Hasn't been that high since the 70's, I think.
Yeah, Steve Wynn is opening a new resort on the 23rd, and MGM/Mirage's "City Center" claims they're going to hire 12,000 in '09… but really…at the quiet little holiday party I attended tonite, the topic of conversation was…"do you have a job?…yeah, me too…". (unspoken word: "whew" missing)
The simple expectations of life…
Not only do I have a job. I have a back-up job that I hope someday will be my full-time job. In fact, I sometimes wonder if I lost my primary job how quickly I'd get REEEEAAALLLLY serious about the back-up job.
I speak of voice-acting, of course. In the last 3 years I've arrived at a place where the voice over stuff wants to suck more time than the TV job. I say "wants" 'cause I can't let it… but there's a part of me that wants it to.
'Caught in that risk/security quandary. Lately, neither one's been winning, but my confidence is growing that given the chance, a full-time voice-over career would pay my bills.
I'm blessed, and…I am not taking it for granted.
CourVO
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