Dave Courvoisier's Blog

Archive for the ‘Referral’ Category

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One quirky word can ruin an otherwise flawless narration.

Reading along in presentation copy for a Conference on Shopping malls once, I kept coming across GmBh…it’s an acronym used internationally, much like Ltd. is for some companies in the English-speaking world.  I searched high and low for more than an hour to figure out how to SAY it correctly (Guh-Em’-Buh-Hah, BTW).

If I had only had the list below, it may have taken me considerably less time.

Below, you’ll find some of the most eminent sites for finding pronouncers in all sorts of situations, words, dialects, languages, and countries.  It was provided to me by
Sean Crisden, “The Voice of Reason” www.seancrisden.com. He has graciously permitted me to re-post it here for you.  Thanks, Sean!

I ran across Sean’s list in the Audiobook Community Forum for Narrators, and the original post noted the handy and usable pronunciation site FORVO, which I’ve blogged about under the heading: Global Spoken Words.  Besides, using the moniker CourVO…FORVO is a natch.

Here’s Sean’s list:

http://dictionary.reference.com/
http://www.howjsay.com/
http://www.fonetiks.org/
http://accent.gmu.edu/
http://web.ku.edu/~idea
http://archive.phonetics.ucla.edu/
http://www.bl.uk/learning/langlit/sounds/
http://names.voa.gov/
http://text-to-speech.imtranslator.net/ – type text and hear in various accents
http://www2.research.att.com/%7Ettsweb/tts/demo.php – type text and hear in various accents
http://inogolo.com – pronunciation of people places and stuff
http://www.loc.gov/nls/other/ABC.html – pronunciation for brands and companies
http://www.loc.gov/nls/other/sayhow.html – names and public figures

CourVO

There is no one to blame but me for the way my life is:  BUSY!

4 days in LA for VOICE2010, 2 days back to work at my TV job, including an intense 2.5 hours on-air live for the Primary Election’ then a blessed 5 days vacation with family near Tahoe.

But you know what returning from vacation means:  Yup!…a pile of work, emails, bills, auditions, and phone calls.

In case you’re still catching up to all the wealth of data that came out of the event, you might want to visit Connie Terwilliger’s excellent summary blogs HERE.

THIS is another fine resource of material, pics and observations of the event, courtesy of ace marketing an voiceover talent Peter O’Connell.

Also, the VoiceOverXtra site puts together a host of blog articles (including this one) for a roundhouse summary of the event.

And surprisingly, I have not yet mentioned in this blog of my endeavour to help Bob Bergen in his desire to see Legendary Voice Actor June Foray get respect.  We’re seeking a place for the still-vibrant 92-year-old in an upcoming SONY feature film on the Smurfs.  June was the original Jokey Smurf, and that’s aside from her well-known role as  Rocky the Squirrel in the Rocky and Bullwinkle show, and countless other roles in cartoons and animation.  So far, she hasn’t even been approached for so much as a token line in the movie.

Please see THIS FACEBOOK PAGE, and click “LIKE” at the top to lend your support to a grass-roots effort to get SMURF JUSTICE FOR JUNE FORAY.

Finally…don’t forget to visit the SocialMediaVO.com site, as we are updating it regularly, and filling it with loads of info that VO’s can use in their social marketing efforts.

Have a great week!

CourVO

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

Cyber Monday is here, and some pretty special offers from a few of VO’s best are certainly worth considering:

VOICE2010.  It’s gonna be here before you know it!  The other thing you know:  budgets are tight…that’s why you should really look at this one-day offer from James Alburger and Penny Abshire.  Browse around the Website…the conference has a pretty incredible line-up of seminars and instructors.  They’re even gonna let me and Terry Daniel do a session on Social Networking.

Also, the following specials are courtesy of Julie Williams, and her helpful “VO Things of Interest” Newsletter

VOCareer.com is offering $100 off a demo. (Regularly $700-$900)Click HERE. Or go to http://www.vocareer.com/home/Demos.php

Deb Munro is offering several discounts, including, $25 off private coaching sessions, , and $50 off her Creating Voices home study course. Contact Deb at chantidm@telusplanet.net.

Julie Williams is offering $50 off How To Make Money in Voice-Overs Even If You Don’t Live in N.Y. or L.A.  Email julie@voice-overs.com

Rob Sciglimpaglia will offer a free legal info mp3. Email Rob at robscig@usa.net

Visit Julie’s free forum at www.voice-overs.com/forum

CourVO

Edge Studio has such great suggestions for Voice actors of any level.  Their frequent newsletters are Gold.

See the excerpt from their latest Newsletter below the fold, and believe it!

Also, please read all the way to the bottom of the message…tons of great links, contact info, offers of substantial help to voice-actors, and how you can receive this newsletter.

CourVO

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Read this blog often enough, and you’ll begin to see I quote and reference certain sources more than others.

One of my faves is Edge Studio in NYC.  If you haven’t signed up for their newsletter, send a blank email to:  VoiceOverToday-on@edgestudio.com today.  Most all of their info is golden. No…make that all.

Try this, promise yourself to read one section of their helpful website a week, and in one year, you’ll still have stuff left to read.  Free.

In case you didn’t get their most recent newsletter, I’m re-purposing it below the fold.

The headline is ‘4 REASONS WHY PROFESSIONAL VOICE TALENT START LOSING WORK’, but following the article, there are a number of links and offers from services obviously affiliated with Edge…and they’re also worth a quick look.

CourVO

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Which is to say…dis ‘n’ dat.

If you are a person who often comments on others’ blogs, you may enjoy the online site called DISQUS.  Disqus organizes your trail of comments, and even pops up a dialog when you comment that asks if you want to send your comment to any of your other favorite social networking sites.  Others may find it a total waste of time, but disqus seems to be making its mark…I’m seeing the disqus logo on more an more blogs, which means it’s social networking peer sites are recognizing its power.

Amplatz is something totally different.  It’s a proposed Children’s hospital in Minnesota.  The promotional video for the project has just been completed, and guess who voiced it?  Uh-huh.  I thought the video was very well done, and wanted to share.  Let me know what you think.  When you comment.  Use DisQus.

CourVO

Does two-year-old VO advice still have value?

Anymore, I don’t reference anything that has the white whiskers of a two-month growth on it.  That’s probably judgemental of me. But, hey, things change so fast these days!

However, a Tweet from my friends at RainRecording (@rainrecording) sent me to a site called Electronic Musician and a 2-part article published in Feb of ’07 that still seems pretty timely.  It’s written by Perry Anne Norton, and is titled “Recording the Spoken Word”.  Read it HERE.  Don’t expect any big revelations, but I’d recommend this well-composed 2-parter for anyone seriously considering voice-acting.

The E-Musician site kinda reminds me of EQ Magazine…the issues and challenges they deal with and write about are so darn close to the ones we face in voice-acting, that much of the advice applies effortlessly.

CourVO

Two great cities… two distinctively different ways of doing things.

NY is advertising central.  LA is Hollywood.  NY is legacy.  LA is totally…like…you know…laid back.

If you heart NY, you might find yourself out of your element auditioning VO jobs in LA.  Kudos to David Goldberg at Edge Studio for seeing the opportunity here, and finding the right person to help bridge the cultural divide.

Read below-the-fold, you East-Coast-types, for dates/times and info on a planned day-long workshop to take advantage of West Coast idiosyncrasies.

CourVO

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At the risk of over-stating the obvious to some of the seasoned pros visiting today, let me just underscore two sites EVERY voice actor should subscribe to.

VO-BB.  Voice-Over Bulletin Board.  Administered by DB-Cooper, this is an unbelievable community of wry, giving, sharing and fun souls.  Someone willing to spend the time gleaning the collective wisdom in the archives of this site, could publish and make a fortune.

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Yahoo VO Forum.  Often referred to as "TOF" on the VO-BB.  "The Other Forum" is presided over by "Dave in Boston".  I don't know how long it's been running, or how many subscribe, but lately, the back 'n' forth on topics like FiCore, Music Royalties, and whether VO's should use head shots in their promotional material is stream-of-consciousness GOLD. 

You can sign-up for e-mail notices on either of these groups, so you know when some really-good threads are going down.

Number 3 on this list of two must-visits is, of course, the blog you're reading now… that means Bob Souer's Blog and John Florian's VoiceOverXtra are, what?..2.4 and 2.6. But who's quibbling about placement?  S'all good, afterall — s'all good.

CourVO