Dave Courvoisier's Blog

Archive for the ‘Referral’ Category

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.

.

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

Don't ask me where the name came from…I have no idea. 

I just know that no voice actor can anymore afford to ignore foreign clients as a possible market for their work.  That's especially true with the ease of promoting and advertising your services to a global market…AND…the ease of transmitting audio files digitally to virtually any destination that has internet.

Voice actor/coach Bettye Zoller is an especially strong advocate of this position, having recently spent some time across the pond.

European-based Bodalgo came on the scene in 2008, and has proven to be a reliable and quality source of jobs for North American English-accent jobs.  I'm especially encouraged by timely responses when support is needed. Armin Heirstetter's hands-on approach is a welcome attitude in this increasingly automated (read: V123) world.

I'm still enjoying a honeymoon subscription period offered by Hierstetter to SaVoa members.  It's gonna run out eventually…but when it does, I'll be re-upping for real American dollars.

To get signed up, contact Armin at: info@bodalgo.com, or by visiting the website HERE.  By the way, that link is to the ENGLISH-speaking version of the site.  If you just Google Bodalgo, you'll get the native German version.

OR, if you'd like to do this blogger a particular favor, send me your name, by writing me at this address:  courvo@courvo.com, and I'll recommend you — which puts me in a drawing to win a prize.

"OH…SO THAT'S IT COURVO….I pay the price, and you get the prize!"

I can hear it now! 

So…just…if you could…mention my name to Armin, and maybe, just maybe he'll cut me some slack and enter my name anyway.

I'd be recommending Bodalgo regardless of this offer…which I have at least once in the past on this blog HERE…and once in my Newsletter HERE.

Thanks!

CourVO

Ron Knight is circulating this voiceover survey, and it only takes about 5 minutes.  I've never met Ron personally, but as is the case when you see enough of a person online in forums, social networking and the like, you kinda start to figure out the person behind the name… and so far I'm impressed.

Now….granted, he's hoping to drum up some business, but just the way the survey is constructed may give you some insight into how the process of coaching works, and may help you decide better what you're needing to do to help build your portfolio.

If nothing else, you can see how the Constant Contact newsletter client is growing more and more sophisticated to allow someone to even DO a survey like this via e-mail and newsletter.

Read below-the-fold to see his appeal to help out with the survey.

CourVO

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