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Garret/Fraley Get Serious About Comedy in Vegas

February 19, 2013 By Leave a Comment

fraleyHow many times have you heard that you won’t break through as a voice talent until you’ve taken some acting classes?

Have you ever taken a class from Pat Fraley?

No?

Make an appointment with yourself to do so.  (Here is a list of his upcoming workshops).

If you have trained with Pat, you know what I mean, right?

I mean, the guy has done it all (resource docs noted below), and he always makes his topics SO EASY to digest.

Next month, Pat will be holding some acting workshops in Las Vegas along with his pal, comedian Brad Garrett.  It’s all part of Brad Garrett’s Craft Acting Workshops during the last week of March, 2013.  Brad is gifted, hilarious, down-to-earth, and smart.  He headlines his own Comedy Club at the MGM Grand in Vegas, and has paired with Fraley before in coaching (VOICE 2010 in LA for one).

Here’s a recent posting about Garrett, his Comedy Club, and mention of the Acting studio.

Partners in the week-long Acting Studio are Adam Hill, Jeremy Guskin, and “guest performer” Dave Courvoisier.

Wait.  “Guest performer”?

Yeah, I’m stumped too, but Pat said I’d be perfect for what he has in mind.  I’m not sure what that is, I just know that “getting acting classes” was on my TO-DO list this year, and Pat handed it to me on a platter.

The specific announcement about Pat’s session in the Craft Acting Workshop (with nutty pic of Dave).

Need more? Below are the links to .pdf and .docx News Releases with more details.

CRAFT Press Release

CRAFTPoster

So, we’ve established that you need acting classes.  You KNOW you need to be in Vegas in March…AND you’d like to see CourVO make a fool of himself on stage, right?  So come on out!

CourVO

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

COACH VOAT Totals

November 6, 2012 By Leave a Comment

It just seemed appropriate that I would FINALLY crunch some numbers on the Voice Over Awareness Today (VOAT) contributions from September, on this, our national election day.

Many of you participated, and if you haven’t perused all the meaty answers from the four weeks of shared knowledge, maybe now would be a good time:  http://www.voatoday.com.

In the final week of voting, I asked “Who Would You Recommend as an Acting/Voice-Acting Coach and/or a Demo Producer?  I was truly interested in hearing the responses, because it might expand my horizon of possible future training,  and that’s a good thing.

So below is a rough tally of the names and frequency of mentions for each of the responses.  Please go to the Wk 4 actual responses to see the full answers and explanations.  Some people offered some contact information as well.  These are golden referrals from your peers, and while any one given coach may not be as beneficial for one VO as it is for another… this is a short list that may prove very workable when you’re making your next training decision.

The number preceding some names reflects the number of times they were mentioned.  I’ve added links where I could find them, and made geographic reference where possible.  I’ve also made a notation of their specialty.  Some respondents listed several names, and I’ve included them all (i.e. some respondents voted more than once).  Some, like Pat Fraley, are great coaches at almost anything VO, but Pat was mentioned specifically several times for audiobook coaching.

COACHES/PRODUCERS

Wren Ross  (wren@wrenross.com)

9 Elley-Ray Hennessey  (Toronto)(coach)

8  Nancy Wolfson  (LA) (coach, producer)

Allison Moffett

Deb Munro (British Columbia)  (coach)

4  James Alburger & Penny Abshire (VoiceActingAcademy)  (San Diego)  ( coach, producer)

John Kirby (LA) (coach)

David Guzzone (Edge Studio) (coach)

2 Anne GanGuzza (Orange Co, CA)

3 Marc Cashman (LA)

Bob Bergen  (coach, esp. animatin)

Marice Tobias  (coach, producer)

Marc Graue (for Demos mostly)

2 Richard Horvitz (LA) (acting coach, animations)

2 Tim Keenan (Orange Co. CA) (demos)

3 Melissa Moats (Las Vegas) (coach, demos)

Hunter Phoenix (VoiceOverGym) Bellingham, WA

http://voicecoaches.com/

3 Pat Fraley (LA) (mostly audiobooks) (coach, producer)

Gene Holtzer (NYC)

Joan Baker (NYC)

David Goldberg (Edge Studio) (coach, producer)

Elaine Clark (coach)

2 Paul Ruben (coach, audiobooks)

Joyce Castenallos (oach, producer – promotions)

Steve Vallance (animation)

MJ Lallo (coach, producer) animation)

Chuck Duran (demos)

Ron Allan (Columbus, OH)

Dave DeAndrea (Oregon) demos

Let me know if any corrections, please.

CourVO

Filed Under: Coaching, VOAT Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Tagging for Jobs and Profit

June 7, 2012 By Leave a Comment

Admissions with a hush.

Producer and Voice Over Coach Nancy Wolfson creates her own original lingo for getting her point across in acting for advertising, and it’s spot-on.   Admit the obvious, and tinge it with an urgency or a hush.

In this 13th and final video excerpt from her HOW TO SOUND REAL AND NAIL THE SALE package of VO tips, Wolfson dishes on one of the most ubiquitous copywriting devices: the tag.  The tag is usually a short phrase, that — as Wolfson says — engenders trust in the product or the company…and gets you to buy their stuff.  You’ll encounter “the tag” in what?…4 out of 5 radio and TV spots?  That’s a guess…but you might as well learn now how to deliver it…because you WILL see it — a lot!

So, watch this meaty excerpt, and learn another word Wolfson invented:  “happify”.

You can also watch the video here:  http://www.braintracksaudio.com/soundreal/13.html

See? You don’t need to make the listener feel happy about it, you just need to explain it.  OMG that sounds so simple, but when we try to DO it in the booth we wanna put so much on it, and “spin” it…but it just needs to be said or admitted.

All of Wolfson’s material is original and smart.  She’s dissected this corner of the universe with surgical precision, and is the grand poobah of all she surveys, ’cause she created it from experience, analysis and real-world results.  Ask any one of a barrel-full of working graduates, and they’ll all tell you the same:  Nancy Wolfson knows her stuff.

While there’s nothing quite like the visceral time you spend in session with Wolfson one-on-one, this packaged video of 127 tips from her Acting for Advertising treatise is by far the next-best value.  A steal, really.  Check it out at HOW TO SOUND REAL AND NAIL THE SALE.

Braintracks Audio:  A logical approach to Voice Acting.

A TRUE tag!

CourVO

(P.S. My thanks to Nancy Wolfson for involving me in her 13 week promotion for this video)

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

Like Driving Off a Cliff…

May 22, 2012 By Leave a Comment

…when you get to the end of your spoken sentence….without enough steam

Obvious?  Apparently not, ’cause we’ve all done an injustice to it.  C’mon…admit it.

Nancy Wolfson‘s 11th video tip in a straight series of 13 weeekly video ckips seen here on the old blogeroo makes it clear:  Support the end of your Sentence.

Although each of these tips stand alone and stand strong, these tips are just “teasers” for the real series of 127 total gems of advice from Wolfson called HOW TO SOUND REAL AND NAIL THE SALE.

A few of these vignettes have been involved…lasting several minutes.  Not today’s.  It’s short and sweet.  Just watch:

You can also see the video here:  http://www.braintracksaudio.com/soundreal/11.html

Ad copy is such a genre all its own.  That’s why Wolfson’s over-arching thesis is “Acting for Advertising”.  In her many roles in this business, Wolfson has gleaned a savvy and shrewd spot-on perspective of the psychology of writing, listening, watching, and delivering ad copy.  Your VO career is not complete without offering your tithes at the altar of the tribe of Wolfson.  Ask any of her former students (raises hand).  When you’re done with a Acting for Advertising session, you’re sweating, but exhilerated to have reached new heights.

HOW TO SOUND REAL AND NAIL THE SALE is as close as you’re going to come to the authentic Wolfson sessions, at a fraction of the price.

Be sure to check out her offer.  I think you’ll find it well worth the asking price.

Next week:  Improve Acting with Onomatopoeia  (woohoo…should be good!)

CourVO

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

You Can Do This Lying Down

May 8, 2012 By Leave a Comment

For Nancy Wolfson‘s 9th instructional mini-video in our weekly series, you get a real lesson in (men) learning to relax the voice.

This is one of the longest of the 13 video tips in the series: HOW TO SOUND REAL AND NAIL THE SALE. What I like about this and all of the Wolfson mini-video lessons is her ability to improvise on-the-spot to get the read she wants out of the unsuspecting VO volunteer.

Watch her as she brings out the best read…even if it means getting “down” to basics.

Here’s the video:


You can also see the video here: http://www.braintracksaudio.com/soundreal/9.html

Honestly, you may not even have the space in your whisper room to do as Wolfson suggests for your audition, but to find that voice you need, it could be a useful technique.  You’ve probably heard the phrase:  “…if you keep doing the same thing, and getting the same result…then try something different…”  Using that admonition within reason, you’ll find that Wolfson constantly challenges you to be smart in your approach to acting for advertising, but to also think outside the box when other techniques are not bringing desired results.

You could watch all 13 of these video vignettes and come out a much wiser voice-actor…or you could purchase the whole kit ‘n’ kaboodle, and be the Flash Gordon of voice actors.  Your choice, but given the ridiculously inexpensive price-point for the 127 tips you get in Wolfson’s video, there are few things that meet the value you’re being offered here (well  maybe a giant box of Junior Mints…but that’s another blog).

Give a look at the site:  SOUND REAL AND NAIL THE SALE for the complete offer.

Next week with Wolfson: Women: How to Relax Your Voice for Auditions.

CourVO

 

 

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

Rume for Volume

May 2, 2012 By Leave a Comment

So many of us got into this crazy business of voice-acting from the crazy business of radio.  Hey, we’ve been cutting spots for the clients every day in our radio jobs…surely there’s better money in this when you’re working for yourself, right?

There are so many things fundamentally wrong with that approach to VO that it’s beyond the scope of this blog, but in Nancy Wolfson’s 8th tip in our mini-video series: HOW TO SOUND REAL AND NAIL THE SALE, you’ll find that some of the powerful voice techniques you brought to those radio spots might actually have a place in your voice portfolio.

In “Make Room for Volume in Radio”, Wolfson’s admonitions are short ‘n’ sweet.

Just watch:

You can also watch from this link: http://www.braintracksaudio.com/soundreal/8.html

Now…I’m not going to draw this out to be more than it is, but Wolfson has the sublime talent of making a profound observation sound obvious without making YOU feel stoopid.  In Wolfson’s approach to acting for advertising (totally different than acting for stage, screen, TV, or even HS musicals), you’d better get used to deciding in the first 3 seconds whether you’ve got a sheet of radio copy vs. TV copy in your hands.  Once you’re decided on that…THEN you can move on to the 126 analytical tools she’ll be providing you in HOW TO SOUND REAL AND NAIL THE SALE.

You could make the argument that today’s tip is pretty obvious, and then assume you aren’t getting much from the entire Wolfson video offering, but you’d be wrong Bosco.  Nancy Wolfson may not be the only VO coach in Rome, but in this arena, no one has trained the Gladiators better.  I can’t imagine a better value for your dollar other than engaging Wolfson for her personal training.  Get details on the whole video here:  HOW TO SOUND REAL AND NAIL THE SALE.

Next week: Men: How to Relax Your Voice for an Audition

CourVO

Filed Under: Coaching Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Pictures In Your Mind

April 25, 2012 By Leave a Comment

A 30-year TV career, and I was never exposed to the concept of a StoryBoard until I started dabbling in Voice Overs.

In TV News there’s no time for the luxury of conceptualizing your perfect pictures first.  You just use the available pics you’re given…and write the story as best you can in a given time slot on a set deadline.

But in ADVERTISING, the storyboard makes all the difference…especially for the voice actor who’s just received a new audition from a client they’ve never seen, and copy that’s unfamiliar.

Nancy Wolfson’s free video mini-lesson: “StoryBoard it in your mind to hit the right words” hits all the right notes.  Watch this:


You can also see the video here:  http://www.braintracksaudio.com/soundreal/7.html

This is the 7th mini-lesson in a string of 13 total videos from VO Coach/producer Wolfson.  The mother lode video from whence the 13 “minis” come is called:  HOW TO SOUND REAL AND NAIL THE SALE.

What up-and-coming voice actor hasn’t heard that training with Nancy Wolfson is the bridge to success in this business?  There’s no subsitute for the one-on-one with Wolfson, but the 127 tips in this video is either a great introduction, or a complete review…depending on whether you’ve worked with her or not.  If you ask me, she’s giving away the farm for the price of some hay bales with this video…but you’re the one who benefits.  HOW TO SOUND REAL AND NAIL THE SALE.

Next week:  Make Room for Volume in Radio

CourVO

 

Filed Under: Coaching, Training/Education

The Truth About Lying

April 18, 2012 By Leave a Comment

A famous actor is said to have once remarked that “…acting is all about being genuine and true to yourself…once you can fake that, you’ve got it made…”  (generally attributed to Spencer Tracy).

Today’s Nancy Wolfson mini video lesson about lying struck me almost as hard as the one where she asks you to cuss (in your mind) to reach a certain attitude.  [Being an on-air talent, I purged swear words from my daily life as protection from getting fired...and here is my trusted coach telling me to do exactly that!  Never mind... she was right!]

The thing about Wolfson’s approach to voice-coaching is that it always moves you out of a place of comfort (read: rut), and bids you discover something you didn’t realize you had in you, until somebody (Wolfson) forces you off the cliff.

But as usual, I’m getting ahead of myself.  You’ll see what I mean about that in today’s video about not judging the copy.

Watch:

You can also see the video on her website:  http://www.braintracksaudio.com/soundreal/6.html

Politics is a great example here, but it could be a food item, a hotel, or a car that you don’t like…reading a spot for something that has a negative connotation for you.

I like the politics example, though.  It comes up regularly in election cycles because the liberal/conservative passion brings out strong emotions and allegiances in us.  Some voice-actors simply find they cannot retain their integrity and do a spot for an opposing viewpoint.  The typical rejoinder is that the political client WILL find someone to pay good money to do the spot…it might as well be you.  Personal decision, I guess.  But if you find you have to lie at some point in life, ‘might as well be openly disingenuous about it AND get paid for it.

The lying lesson is but a smidge of the total wisdom you’ll find in the complete video offering called: HOW TO SOUND REAL AND NAIL THE SALE.  Wolfson’s shrewd analysis of acting specifically for advertising speaks for itself in this insanely-inexpensively-priced video of 127 valuable Coursework Tips from Nancy’s private curriculum.

The result is, you’re gonna want to hire Wolfson for the Olympic-scale Circuit-training Triathalon series of real-time lessons anyway, and THERE you’ll get the swearing lesson and the lesson on lying and oodles of other career-changing tips right from the source.  No subsitute!

So start with the video (HOW TO SOUND REAL AND NAIL THE SALE), and if you don’t believe me, call:  702-610-6288 and I’ll give ya the straight poop on Wolfson….I don’t get any kickbacks for it.

CourVO

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

You Got Some ‘Splainin’ To Do!

April 11, 2012 By Leave a Comment

By now you must know (expect?) that I’m posting a video tidbit from Voice Over coach and producer Nancy Wolfson this time of the week, every week.

Each segment (13 when we’re all done) is actually a worthwhile mini-lesson on its own, but begs the greater indulgence for the complete set of 127 tips in a video that — were you to engage in Nancy’s UFC SmackDown Full-Monty course — would cost many multiples more.  Don’t get me wrong, she’s worth every cent, but you could do some real audition damage with just this video.  More in a minute about which rainbow to look under to find this pot o’ gold.

First, watch today’s video on the topic of “Explaining”.  You may think you’ve heard this technique, and maybe you have, but not like Nancy tells it.

http://braintracksaudio.com/soundreal/5_explain.flv

[You can also view this video here]

On-camera talent (esp. in TV news) have long been told to look into the cold black eye of the camera…through the words on a Tele-Promp-Ter….in a mostly empty echo-y studio, and talk as if you are talking to one person…preferably your best friend.  That’s easy (kidding)…and probably wrong.  Once again — the common theme running through ALL Nancy’s lessons — is to pause and engage the brain before shifting the vocal cords into first gear.  In that pause, there is much to consider.  Wolfson can pack an entire VO coaching course into that moment…or in this case… 127 tips to be found at the site:  HOW TO SOUND REAL AND NAIL THE SALE.

Remember this is not just acting.  It’s a specific subset Wolfson calls “Acting for Advertising”.  Stuff Shakespeare never came up with….she did.

Next week:  Learn to Lie

CourVO

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

The Moody Clues

April 4, 2012 By Leave a Comment

Time for the latest installment in a weeks-long killer series of instructional VO videos from SuperStar voice acting coach and producer Nancy Wolfson.

…and once again, I find myself reaching into Rock ‘n’ Roll prehistory for a catchy title.  (Remember the Moody Blues?)  Uh…never mind.  The point this week in Nancy’s vid is CHOOSING THE MOOD.

Just so you know, there’s a graduate-level college course behind Wolfson’s approach to Acting for Advertising. I’m not kidding.  She could (did) write the definitive textbook for Voice-Acting 521, Transformational Approaches to Pithing and Dissecting Your Client’s Copy.  OK, I made up that last part, but when you engage Wolfson as your coach, you’ll come to appreciate the high level of erudition she’s brought to this field (erudition: impressive knowledge that is learned by studying).

There’s a big reason Wolfson chose the logo and the name she did for her company (did I mention she’s a branding expert, too?)  I’ll say more about engaging your brain before your voice in a second, but in the meantime, take a moment to watch this week’s video VO tip:

http://braintracksaudio.com/soundreal/4_mood_choose.flv

If for some reason, you need a URL to pass that video around, here it the site:  http://www.braintracksaudio.com/soundreal/4.html.

The lasting legacy Wolfson leaves with all her students is the admonition to pause with script in hand, mic ready and the record button blinking.  PAUSE.  Don’t just read it.  THINK ABOUT IT.  The few minutes you spend in diagnosing, analyzing, and picking-apart the psychology behind the words of the author/client/advertiser/copywriter will start winning you auditions.  It’s everything.  Well, almost. But we’ll get to the rest in future videos.

This is the fourth in Nancy’s 13-part series of snippets from the motherlode video (127 tips), which in my unabashed opinion is being offered for a steal.  See the offer for HOW TO SOUND REAL AND NAIL THE SALE.

Next week:  “Explain It To Me”

CourVO

 

 

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