Voice-Acting in Vegas
Joe Cipriano writes to invite:
SAG Foundation is holding a Garden Party Fundraiser to benefit the initiation of a voice-over lab addition to the SAG Actors Center in Hollywood in the name of the guy who started it all: Don LaFontaine.
Click HERE to see the invite and more details.
CourVO
‘Coupla mentions, here of some issues I blogged about recently.
The first is about that CopyScape.com website. (my original blog here) For a while, there, the subject seemed to fade away on the VO forum site where it first appeared. But it came back, and I’m glad it did…because ace VO talent Peter Drew chimed in with a great contribution on what was developing into a conversation about copyright and content rights. You’ll see his comments “below-the-fold” in blue when you click “read the rest of this entry…”
The second is concerning the free VO evaluation being made by the start-up VO website VOCareer.com. (my original blog here). Fellow SaVoa Advisory Board Member, Scott Diskin, decided to take ‘em up on their offer, and wasn’t so impressed. You can read his comments, and the VOCareer response “below-the-fold” in red, when you click “read the rest of this entry…”
P.S. I wasn’t comfortable attaching the VOCareer evaluation form Scott mentions without their approval (see CopyScape copyright issue blog), but Scott would likely be willing to share it with you if you asked him. I saw it, and can concur that it’s not particularly revealing nor did it appear to be very labor-intensive.
My thanks to Peter Drew and Scott Diskin for allowing me freedom to excerpt their comments.
CourVO
Julie Williams’ monthly VoiceOver Insider newsletter has lately been extolling the virtues of BLUE Microphone’s “Mikey” portable condenser mic for use with the iPod, iPhone, and iTouch.
She also sends out an occasional e-mail blast titled “VO Things of Interest” that has been mentioning the Mikey as well. The meat to this story is that she’s secured a significant discount for us all in the purchase of Mikey, and all of that is mentioned in her latest missive below:
_____________________________________
VoiceOver Insider Subscribers Save 20% on Blue’s Latest Product
We’ve arranged a special deal for you on Blue’s new MIKEY! For a limited time you can save 20% by using a special coupon code. Please note…this is a market test for them. If they get a great response from VoiceOver Insider subscribers, there will be more coupons and giveaways to come! So if you want a Mikey, THIS IS THE TIME to buy it!
ABOUT MIKEY:
Mikey is the first CD Quality Recorder for iPod and . Mikey delivers Blue’s award winning design and sound quality to an easy to use iPod recording device. Use Mikey to record a quality voiceover audition wherever you may be, song ideas, narration projects, field recording …and expect to get the best sound CD quality out there. Then, sync your iPod and all of your recordings automatically load into iTunes. Mikey features Blue’s superior quality condenser capsules, 3-position user selectable gain settings, and built-in speaker for playback. It’s never been easier to record your world. Simply connect Mikey to your iPod/iPhone and instantly begin recording. Mikey is capable of recording everything from the barest audible sound to extremely loud sources without losing audio fidelity, and compatible with the iPod 5G, iPod Classic, iPod Nano 2G, 3G and 4G and now compatible with iPhone and iPod touch.
HOW TO GET DISCOUNT:
To purchase and receive your discount, click to http://tinyurl.com/VOI-MikeyDiscountand enter the coupon code: voice0709. This offer expires on August 31, 2009.
For iPhone and iPod Touch: Recommended Recording Apps Include: Audioboo, Fire-Field Recorder and HT Pro-Recorder – there are hundreds out there to choose from.
And you STILL HAVE TIME to register to win a chance to review a Mikey, and keep it in return for your review! For details go to www.Voice-Overs.com/forum and click on the REVIEW PRODUCTS thread.
______________________________________
Sounds like a pretty good deal for somebody….maybe you!
CourVO
…the dark side of things.
First of all…any of you ever do business with or heard of a VO Company out of India called Edisense? I have. I've done voice work for them, and all seemed legit until…well, until I sent the invoice. Now, nothing.
Then the other day, in reaction on my blog "1,2,3 Things" I got a comment I chose not to publish (actually the same comment 3 times, which is part of the reason I chose not to publish it). In short, the commenter was drumming up support for his service. I'm going to link to it here, but not give the name. I'm linking to give you an idea of what's out there that seems…mercenary. The site just screams at you; from the well-placed cleavage to the over-the-top promises. Apparently radio IS the way to get into voice-overs!
Finally, here's a link to an Aussie article "Frenzied Appeals to Morons!" on what every last viewer and listener on the planet hates about ANNOUNCERS. It's spot-on!
I appreciate your visiting here.
Thank you!
CourVO
Remember I recently blogged about Julie Williams, and the BEST VO domain-name ever?
VOICES.COM has proven itself over time as the best value for voice talent.
Their business model deserves much of the credit, but their "freebies" tip the balance. Freebies meaning timely, helpful information.
Stephanie Ciccarelli, especially, in my opinion, is a big factor in their success, mostly 'cause she's a relentless blogger/twitterer, busy social networker, great writer, and worthy hourly steward of the site.
Obviously, her husband, David Ciccarelli deserves equal credit. Founder, CEO, and able manager of VOICES, David is the backbone — watching the bottom line, seeing to trends, customer needs, and providing the daily vision that keeps it going.
As they periodically (and wisely) do, VOICES.COM has refurbished their site a bit. Stephanie has blogged about it. Click HERE. The website is HERE. And the blog homepage is HERE (well worth a daily visit).
VOICES attends to their subscribers. I'm sure they give good service to their voice-seekers too, but I don't see that. I see them caring about ME, the paying voice talent. To that end, their source material has value (esp. to newbs), their updates are timely, and they're just….on top of things.
The new changes to the website are clean, user-friendly, and as always, helpful to the subscribers.
Nice job, Ciccarellis!!!
CourVO
Voice actor Peter Drew writes in an online forum about a possible scammer preying on voice-actors. Subsequent posts have born out his warning.
Here's the info straight from his post:
________________
As they say, if it quacks like a duck and walks like a duck, well,
sometimes it's a turkey.
Anybody in the group get an email from Yuri Best, yuri_best44@ yahoo.com,
requesting rates and a demo, without saying what the gig is?
After replying that I couldn't give rates without knowing what the
project is and how and where it would be heard, Mr. Best replied that
it's for "a voice message…for spoken word hypnosis recordings." This
sounds familiar to me and I think I read in this group that this lead is
a scam. Feels that way to me, especially when he states that his
"…rate is above a Thousand Dollars" and then asks for my rates.
Either it pays a grand or it doesn't, right?
____________________
CourVO
This Tahoe/Donner hideaway where I'm collecting my lost sleep is the best thing that happened to my sanity. Thanks for understanding my down and away time from the blog….and yet, here I am.
In the meantime, I'll offer what, In the world of TV news, we'd call a "tease."
I have in my possession a wonderful transcript of an interview with Ed Gambill on the topic of Peluso Microphones. I'm waiting to catch him in a podcast interview to accompany that Q&A article. But that's coming soon here to "Voice-Acting in Vegas".
I've also got some interesting feedback from a guy in India who runs a site similar to V123. Since English is becoming more and more the default language of commerce globally, a site like his may be a worthwhile consideration for your portfolio, as they often need genuine native-English-speakers of the North American variety. I'm waiting for his answers to some of my questions.
For all those who patronized this blog during VOICE 2008, I'm most grateful for your positive feedback, but more importantly your friendship and professional connection. Thank you!
Let me know what I can do for you.
Well….not quite…but it means as much to me when the folks at Voices.com include an article I’ve written about the voice acting business.
The piece is really for laymen, explaining the changes which have overcome the industry in the last few years. It was originally written at the invitation of the nice folks over at RainRecording ,
and it appeared THERE originally (look under their “PRO” heading). They were nice enough to grant permission for it to be re-purposed on VO Times, and Stephanie Ciccarelli was gracious to include it in the latest edition of VO Times. There will be more articles regularly.
CourVO
(Shameless Self Promotion)
One of my New Year's Resolutions was to redesign my website this year. 'Turns out I didn't have to.
Through a series of unlikely circumstances involving my past work on the Wed's Child program — a weekly local TV feature profiling adoptable kids — a local entrepreneur stepped forward and offered to do the work for free.
The finished product exceeded my expectations, and includes the logo you see at the top center of this blog.
The site is now active, and I invite your comments and criticisms. There are still a few nuances that have to be tweaked, but overall, I'm quite pleased.
Click HERE to peruse the CourVO.com site.
If you would like to engage the services of my webdesigner (he does a lot more than just that) click HERE.
CourVO
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