Instant Collaboration

December 22, 2010 By CourVO Leave a Comment

Within the span of about 10 hours Tuesday, my VO friend Terry Daniel did a very amazing thing.

On the FaceBook Group “Voice Over Friends” that I created a couple of months ago, Terry put out the call for voice talent to contribute to an audio Christmas Greeting Collaboration. Within hours, he had all the voices he needed and more. Just impromptu stuff…no specific script. Then he went to work editing it all together.

The final product of all those Holiday Greetings is posted on SoundCloud.

Pretty cool Terry, and everybody who pitched-in!

CourVO

Filed Under: Fun Stuff Tagged With: collaboraiton, VO, voice, voice acting, voice actor, voice artist, voice over, voice over talent, voice talent, voiceover

Zaniest VO Advice Evar

March 23, 2010 By CourVO Leave a Comment

A “just-for-fun” blog today.

The link below will take you to a site that apparently offers fix-it solutions for everything from computers, to backhoes, to advertising copy.

So, of course at some point they’d get around to the article on how to improve your voice-over….right?

Click HERE to go to RepairHeadGasket.com. It’s a quick read of three golden tips that will absolutely, positively improve your voiceover work. (wink wink, nudge nudge)

CourVO

Filed Under: Advice, Fun Stuff Tagged With: voice, voice actor, voice artist, voice over, voice talent, voiceover, voiceover talent

The Ancients Did VoiceOvers

March 7, 2010 By CourVO 2 Comments

‘spent the day at the Getty Villa in Malibu Saturday.

For those of you who just said “huh?”…lemme explain.

J. Paul Getty — the original oil magnate of the last century — was also a collector of Greco-Roman antiquities (among other things), and his 62-acre “villa” in Malibu puts it all on display.

The place is amazing. Pic at left is the part of the property recreated to looks like a Roman villa.

Inside the museum portion of the Villa are endless artifacts dating back as far as 3000 B.C. and including incredibly preserved artworks up through 500 A.D.

The most amazing sculpted relief, though was the one seen here on the right. Follow the red arrow, and unless I’m mistaken, it points to the naked guy holding an Elecrto-Voice EV-20 microphone.

This shatters all previously-known theories of archeology and the Roman Empire…not to mention time travel, H.G. Wells, the patent office, reel-to-reel tape recorders, and electricity. It certainly explains how announcers in the Colisseum were EVER heard over the raucous blood-thirsty crowd inside the place. And above all, it rewrites all the history books about the early days of voice-overs!!!

Imagine the artifacts diggers SHOULD be looking for: evidence of union contracts on stone tablets, bronze mic stands, Centurion training videos, Etruscan phone messaging machines, marble-inlaid Avalon pre-amps, and stone-carved Pro-Tools plug-ins. The mind boggles at how looting by vandals over the centuries has ruined the evidence for this revolutionary find!!!

Please, join me in suggesting items Archeologists in ancient Middle Eastern lands should be on the look-out for!

I’m contemplating launching a website: The Archeological VoiceOver Review.

Entire new curriculums in institutions of higher learning will have to be devised. I”m not sure I can sleep tonite!

CourVO

Filed Under: Fun Stuff Tagged With: Getty Villa

O’Connell’s Faux-dition Results Are In

February 14, 2010 By CourVO 1 Comment

Pandering to the wanna-be’s in us all, ace Voice Actor Peter O’Connell launched the second of his highly-regarded Faux Audition contests many weeks ago. The first was open to anyone who wanted to apply for the job of the announcer of NBC Nightly News (not for real, for fun)

This time ’round Peter opted for Diane Sawyer’s entre’ to the network news anchor club to launch the competition for the man/woman who would be HER opening announcer on ABC’s World News.

96 voice actors apparently obliged. I chickened out.

When all the entries were in, Peter opened up voting, tallied the results, and posted the 11 (one was a tie) winners on his blogsite.

Click HERE to listen….honestly, they’re ALL top-notch.

My congratulations to Ralph Hass for getting the top nod.

CourVO

Filed Under: Fun Stuff Tagged With: audioconnell, Peter O'Connell, voice, voice actor, voice artist, voice over, voice talent, voiceover talent, Voiceovers

Have a Heart

February 14, 2010 By CourVO Leave a Comment

HAPPY VALENTINE’S DAY…!!!

Filed Under: Fun Stuff

O’Connell’s Unofficial Casting Call

December 16, 2009 By CourVO 1 Comment

Peter O’Connell — aside from being a talented Voice actor, a marketing guru, and the author of “The Voice Over Entrance Exam” also has the distinction of conceptualizing a number of unofficial casting calls…in other words, it’s not real, but it’s real fun.

His latest is an invitation to audition for the announcer of the ABC World News. Bill Rice is the most capable voice of that program, but you can dream cantcha?

Give it a whirl. I didn’t, ’cause I don’t believe in TV news programs. ;-}

But I think you should…really!

Click HERE for details.

CourVO

Filed Under: Equipment, Fun Stuff, Op/Ed Tagged With: ABC World News, audioconnell, voice, voice actor, voice artist, voice over talent, voice talent, voiceover actor, voiceover artist

‘Christmas Never Sounded This Good…

December 8, 2009 By CourVO 1 Comment

Thanks to the incredible efforts of Jeffrey Kafer who edited the video, and all the many talented voice actors who contributed…here is the best darned rendition of “T’was The Night Before Christmas” you’ve ever heard.

Be sure to watch for yours truly somewhere on the back end.

CourVO

Filed Under: Fun Stuff

Big 2nd Annual VO NY Mixer

November 6, 2009 By CourVO Leave a Comment

VO friend Erik Sheppard called today to remind me that I need to come to the next big fun-time voiceover mixer in NYC, December 5th.

While I’m busy checking Orbitz and Travelocity, why don’t you mosey on over to THIS site and take a look at the details.

Apparently at the last party, the bar ran out of Schnapps (I keed, I keed).

One of my goals from now on is to start getting some real face-time with all my virtual VO friends. This may be the perfect kick-off of that dream.

Thanks Erik!

CourVO

Filed Under: Friends, Fun Stuff, Meet-Ups Tagged With: Erik Sheppard, Mixer, VoiceTalentProductions

Happy Halloween

October 30, 2009 By Site Admin, brettbum Leave a Comment

jackolantern H1N1 has absolutely changed the face of Halloween this year…if you can believe the news…and sometimes I’m not sure I do.

First there was the admonition to disinfect any mask you buy at the store, ’cause someone may have tried it on already and sneezed in it.

Then there’s the caution about not letting trick-or-treaters reach in the goody bag you offer, ’cause, well…you don’t know where those little hands have been, and they may just infect every last Hershey’s bar and Reese’s Peanut Butter cup in the bag.

And if THAT wasn’t enough to ruin the fun, there’s the news stories about sexual predators who are prevented by law from decorating their houses, or handing out candy.

Sheesh! What ever happened to our innocence? Well, at least kids don’t need to go to the hospital to have their candy X-Ray’s anymore.

How many of you have had to voice a spot with an evil laugh, a Bella Lugosi, a Boris Karloff, or an Adams Family imitation? How ’bout a witch voice?

Great. Now that that’s over, you can dust off your Santa-voice…

CourVO

Filed Under: Fun Stuff

The Voice of SpongeBob

September 24, 2009 By CourVO Leave a Comment

Sure it’s a cartoon, but most kids would never get all the grown-up humor and inuendo written into the story lines. And how hard must it be to continue keeping the energy going for a cartoon character for 10 years?!!