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Beat the Noise

March 3, 2011 By Leave a Comment

Michael Minetree is churnin’ out the videos these days.  I meant to get this particular video posted on my blog before I left for FaffCon. (this is why people ask me “When do you sleep?”).

Believe me, a week later it still offers plenty about how to eliminate noise in noisy environments as you use Sony’s Sound Forge!

Check it out, or any of the many other “Tips-Tricks-Advice” videos MineWurx studio is making available today.  When you view this video on his YouTube channel, simply look to the right column for related videos.

CourVO

The Voice Over Coach – Sound Forge – Advanced 1 – Noise Reduction in Noisy Environments

Filed Under: Advice, Software, Techniques, Training/Education Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Brain Up!

February 17, 2011 By Leave a Comment

No, I didn’t have time to catch the live Teleseminar with Nancy Wolfson and Anna Vocino the other day, either.  I heard it was great. 75 min. lecture, 15 mins. Q&A.  Woot!

Luckily, like all the other Acting for Advertising seminars from the duo, this one is now downloadable for a most reasonable price on the Break Into Voiceover.com site.

And you know…right?…that Nancy is THE most sought-after voiceover coach on the planet, and there’s a reason why…right?  OK, good!   Call her…get on the schedule, and find out why it’s called “BrainTracksAudio”.

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Also, John Armstrong, Managing director at World Gaming Executives.com and Gamevoices asked me to post on the Voice-Over Friends FaceBook group the following message:  “…I’m looking for some video game voiceover people who might add their voices to the http://www.gamevoices.co.uk/ site with a short sound file…”

It’s already gotten some responses, but no reason why yours couldn’t still be one of ‘em.
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Finally, an ambitious website I found that compares voices against each other for similar jobs: Behindthevoiceactors.com.   The site covers most of the popular niches of work we’d all like to build our resume with.

The site claims to be: “… a community database of voice over actors for fans to learn and discuss voice acting about those already in the industry. Only its cranked up to give you a visual and audible experience of seeing images and listening to sound clips of the actors themselves of the character roles they play, rather than a typical credit list of text names.”

If nothing else, click the “commercials” tab at the top to listen to some of the top commercials on the air right now…and see what the people are doing who are getting the work!

CourVO

Filed Under: Coaching, Referral, Training/Education Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , ,

Fraley Freebie

February 4, 2011 By Leave a Comment

November 2008

Wanna get into audiobooks?  Pat Fraley’s a master at them…and lucky for us…he’s one of the top, if not THE top audiobook coach anywhere.  And not just Pat, but all the incredible talents, and producers, and first-rate narrators he always brings in to teach WITH him.

Pat’s weekend audiobook workshops “The Billion-dollar Read” are career-changers for the attendees.  You walk away with demos good enough to land you jobs, a head packed full of ideas for how to market yourself and enough talent-tips to chew on for years.  You’ve just met some of the top people in the business, and you’ve gained Pat as a mentor.

I speak from personal experience.  I completed his workshop in November of 2008, and I’m a working audiobook narrator, listed on Audible, APA, and currently working on two books, with several more on the horizon.

Pat’s approach is no-nonsense, although he has a lot of fun (always!) with his students and his teaching methods.

Please watch the following video Pat’s generously sharing everywhere.  It distills down his proven “Formula For Getting Audiobook Narration Work” to about a 15-minute video presentation with Pat himself narrating.  His workshops are always priced reasonably, but you won’t find a better value than these 15 minutes.

Thanks, Pat…!!

CourVO

Filed Under: Audiobooks, Training/Education Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Must-Visit TeleSeminar

February 1, 2011 By 1 Comment

Seems like it’s been too long since Nancy Wolfson and Anna Vocino conducted one of their killer seminars in their series “Acting for Advertising”.  Tomorrow, their 10th installment takes place.

Topics: Following up on your Audition, Ways to get better at responding to a line read, How to interview with a new agent without lying, and more…these two always range into lots of issues pertinent to your voice-over business, and it’s always golden.

Acting for Advertising, Part 10 sign-up.  It’s tomorrow…so don’t delay in signing-up!

CourVO

Filed Under: Training/Education Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , ,

VO Yellow Pages

November 17, 2010 By Leave a Comment

Yellow pages…the iconic, but now seemingly quaint and ancient method of searching for services.  They’re having to change like everyone else in the world of digital.

If only there were a yellow pages for voice-overs!

Heh…wish I’d thought of it first, but Edge Studio beat me to it.

THE VOICE OVER YELLOW PAGES, Resources for Voice Actors, is obviously the result of a lot of work…I’m not sure I could say it’s exhaustive, but if it catches on, and grows, it could be one of the top industry resources.

Now, others have certainly done a nice job, too, of compiling compendiums like this.  I like to think my blog has a lot of stuff on it…but I’m impressed with the Edge Studio’s initiative.  It’s certainly consistent with the wealth of other information on their site.

Take a look around the site, and listen for a big upcoming announcement from the NY-based voice-over audio production and training company.  They seem to be on the move these days.

CourVO

Filed Under: Training/Education, Web Resources Tagged With: , , , , , , , , ,

Step It Up

October 8, 2010 By Leave a Comment

Immersion.

I’ve said it before.  I don’t know how else to go about pursuing my dream in Voice Overs without total immersion.

Be, do, say, involve, hear, seek, relate, and otherwise absorb all things related to the field.

I made another move in that direction Thursday night in Las Vegas with Melissa Moats‘ “Step-it-Up” VO get-together.

Melissa is a Beau Weaver protegé, a 10-yr veteran of VO with thousands of credits…and, Oh!…a really nice person.  She’s organized a loosely-knit, but highly accomplished and supportive weekly gathering of local voice talent at her house.  The attendees take their turns at the mic, help with feedback, generally discuss any and all things associated with the business and have a lot of fun!  There’s even food!

This kind of LOCAL gathering is as good as it gets, no matter what your profession…but all the more so for any type of freelancer who works in relative isolation from peers:  voice talent!

This could also be referred to as the Master Mind concept…and one of its greatest VO apostles is Doug Turkel, the UNnouncer.

I thoroughly enjoyed my first session with Melissa and about 6 other talents gathered in her studio.  Do you have this in your city?  It’s not hard to do, and I’m grateful that Melissa took the lead.

Visit her “Step-It-Up” (meet-up.com) site to see more about how this gets organized.

Thanks Melissa!

CourVO

Filed Under: Meet-Ups, Training/Education Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

True Tobias Cream

September 26, 2010 By 2 Comments

You know it when you see it, you know it when you taste it, and you know it when you hear it.

Excellence.  Cream of the crop.

This weekend, I heard it…I heard a lot of it…and I’m more the blessed for it.

For two days I shared a close room with 12 other talented male VO artists from three countries, along with VO coach par excellence Marice Tobias, and her producer Paul.  It was like Gestalt Therapy…I kid you not.

I know I’m no slacker.  I work hard, and I’ve been given many gifts by my creator.  These are not arrogant words…they’re the words of someone who knows his blessings and his curses…his talents and his limitations.  This weekend I was humbled, and in the best sense of the word.

When you’re around talent, you soak it up…when you rub shoulders with accomplishment, you become inspired.  When you’re challenged to be better, it’s no mistake, and who in their right mind wouldn’t answer the challenge?  I feel I did.  I worked hard. I listened intently.  I stepped up….and yet, I see so much work to do.

At Marice Tobias’ Men of Voice Over talent workshop this past weekend in Las Vegas, I felt the shift.  The shift from practitioner to professional.  Again: arrogance?…no, confidence. There’s a big difference.

To the VO pros I now call friend:  I could listen to any of your voices all day long.  You have moved me with your time and your talents.  I wanna be like you when I grow up.  I look forward to the next time we meet.

Thank you Mike Stoudt, Paul Boucher, Tom Chantler, Bill Lloyd, Tracy Spinney, Jon Rivers, James Belliveau, Mark Barbolak, Doug Medlock, Ward Sexton, Tony Banks, and John McCalmont.

CourVO

Filed Under: Training/Education Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , ,

September is National VO Month…

August 25, 2010 By 4 Comments

….or Congress should declare it as such.

I know there are always workshops and conferences and meet-ups going on EVERY month, but for some reason September seems to be a veritable cornucopia of opportunities.

First and foremost, there’s FAFFCON.  Ho, boy!  Have you signed up for this yet?  Do. Be part of the first-ever VO UNconference.  Portland.  2nd weekend in September.  Click on the logo for all the info.

Then, there’s THAT’S VOICEOVER, Septemer 22nd.  Hosted in NYC by David Letterman’s Alan Kalter and created by Rudy Gaskins and Joan Baker.  This is an event that just keeps getting better.

And then, there’s Marice Tobias — that elusive, but coveted coach holding an “Established Men in VoiceOver” event in my own hometown of Vegas on the last weekend of September.

Will I  make all three?  Nope…but 2 out of 3 ain’t bad.

Sleep?

It’s so unnecessary…don’t you think?

CourvO

Filed Under: Training/Education Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

The VoiceOver Class

April 6, 2010 By 2 Comments

You’ve seen ‘em a million times in this day of networking affiliates, spam newsletters, and hyped promotional ads.

A pitch that runs the full length of the carpet down your hallway.

Roll this video to watch as I scroll down the page:

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Normally, I’d say (and HAVE  said) run as fast as you can the other way! when you see promotional ads taller than your back yard Elm.

Only this time, the guys putting on the VoiceOverClass are top notch.

You don’t find any better coaches and genuinely experienced guys in the this business than Harlan Hogan and Dan O’Day.

Click HERE to see the whole pitch….just….couldn’t it have been said in one page, guys?

You dont’ need the hype…your reputations precede you!

CourVO

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Voice Coaching

April 1, 2010 By Leave a Comment

Voice coaching is something to approach with caution.  Usually the best way to know whether it’s worth the time/money is through a referral from a trusted friend, and even then you should qualify whether your needs are the same as your friend’s.

Some coaches are so way off-the-charts in demand that you have trouble getting on their roster (Wolfson, Tobias, Horvath).  OK, I shouldn’t name names, but there’s no shortage of VO coaches, and no shortage of debate about the efficacy of some operations, and whether they are a conveyor belt, flooding the market.  Ya know, I’m not here to get into all that in this article.

I just wanted to throw out the following link for those who may be considering an alternative.  VOCareer.com.

All I know is Gabrielle Nistico is on the staff, and one of the founders, and I’ve heard nothing but good things about her.  They’ve been around for quite a while, which is a good sign.  Call ‘em up and ask questions.  It’s the only way you’ll get answers.

Right now VOCareer is sending out the ACCELERATE flyer, and you may find something of interest there for you.

CourVO

Filed Under: Coaching, Training/Education Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , ,
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