Narration | Dave Courvoisier's Blog

Quick notes…..

December 2, 2008 By CourVO Leave a Comment

….'cause it's 3am….and they say sleep is good for your health (and I've been spending waaaay too much time on Twitter….I take that back: PeopleBrowsr).

Many thanks to those who visited and those who commented on yesterday's blog: "A Word About…Words"

Apparently I struck a nerve. I'm working on Part II.

I'm reminded by Bettye Zoller of a great site for anybody in voice work who needs a quick one-stop-shop for anything VO. It's not the end-all-be-all…but it's pretty slick: WhereIsTheMic?.

The (now official since Dec 2007) recession is NOT dampening the rampant rumours that voice-acting is the new fast way to have sacks of money appear at your door. I gauge that by the number of queries I got BEFORE we got smacked, compared to those inquiries I'm still getting.

Upcoming on Voice-Acting in Vegas: two absolutely KICK-BUTT blogs involving question and answer sessions with people who are forming the very industry we work in. No names yet, and no timetable either…'cause genius deserves it's own pace… but 'safe to say we're getting close, and you'll want to read every word.

CourVO

Filed Under: Follow-up Tagged With: narration, narrationvoices, voice, voice artist, voice artists, voice over, voice overs, voice talent, voice work, voices

V123 responds

November 28, 2008 By CourVO Leave a Comment

Steven Lowell, the Quality Assurance Manager at V123 reads my blog!

He noticed my rant about "inactivity" and guided me to a blog he himself wrote in October on this very topic.

HERE is the link.

I also heard from Julian Castillo of V123, who replied to me with the following.

"The inactive status is just a way to let potential clients now
how long you could take to respond if they contact you. The reason why
this was implemented is because in the past the voice seekers contacted
talents that do not check their Voice123 account often and therefore
they did not get a reply on a timely manner, because of this we lost
valuable voice seekers that were willing to hire Voice123 talents. To
keep your account active all you need to do is log in regularly."

I appreciate the timliness of their response.

In the interest of balanced journalism, I'll withold any more comments and leave it to my readers to decide on their own the efficacy of their policy.

CourVO

Filed Under: Subscription Services Tagged With: narration, voice, voice acting, voice actor, voice actors, voice over, voice overs, voice work, voices

Bob again….uh Fraser, not Souer

November 27, 2008 By CourVO Leave a Comment

'Passing this along in case you are not on acting coach Bob Fraser's e-mail list.
There might be something in his "Black Friday" offer that appeals to you.
See below:

[Read more...]

Filed Under: Acting Tagged With: narration, voice, voice acting, voice actor, voice actors, voice over, voice overs, voice work, voices

Costa in Flint

November 26, 2008 By CourVO Leave a Comment

Fellow voice-actor Heather Costa shows up in an online article from the Flint, Michigan Journal stemming from a 2-hour voice over class she visited at an area High School.

Click HERE.

Cool Heather!

CourVO

Filed Under: Jus' So You Know Tagged With: narration, narrationvoices, voice, voice artist, voice artists, voice over, voice overs, voice talent, voice work, voices

X-Fi’s Fine

November 23, 2008 By CourVO Leave a Comment

One thing leads to another. I remember promising myself many moons ago that buying more/better equipment wouldn't be worth the return. My "stuff" was good enough.

But the gearhead in me won out….bit by bit.

First, Joe Klein talked me into an incredible deal with the Aphex 230 Master Voice Channel. All was good. (BTW, I now have a dbx266XL 2-channel coompressor/gate for sale)

But my sturdy little Alessis MultiMix8 USB with which I was porting my sound into my DAW didn't really accept the digital inputs that would maximize the power of the Aphex 230. My resolve was weakening more.

I finally capitulated with a minimal investment in a great soundcard bought from EBay. It's a refurbished unit, in the box direct from the factory. I've got a 100% success rate with refurbished stuff, and so far the record is intact with this purchase too.

I got the Sound Blaster X-Fi Platinum. That was after posting a query on the VO-BB to see what all my colleagues might suggest. "Get the Lynx" one said. "I love my Echo Mia" another chimed in. Emu cards were mentioned. I researched them all, but was taken with the configuration of the Sound Blaster X-Fi. The front-panel input bay is just such a huge plus.

My friend and mentor Frank Frederick tells me some audio purists turn their nose up at the venerable Sound Blaster product, 'cause it doesn't have an XLR input, therefore is not a true professional sound card.

Maybe so, but this baby has everything I need and then some. Now I route my Aphex 230 into the X-Fi with optical fiber or S/PDIF cables and yes, I notice a difference.

Heck this unit even has a remote control. I haven't figured out exactly what it does yet, but I HAVE noticed that one of the buttons causes the downstairs toilet to flush.

CourVO

Filed Under: Equipment Tagged With: Aphex 230, narration, narrationvoices, Sound Blaster X-Fi Platinum, voice, voice artist, voice artists, voice over, voice overs, voice talent, voice work, voices

A New Place For You To Visit Daily

November 22, 2008 By CourVO Leave a Comment

Creative and talented voice actor Anthony Mendez has been threatening to start his own blog for some time.

He's finally done it. You could call him lazy, but he beat me to the punch. that's what he calls his blog:
"THE LAZY VOICE-OVER".

Be sure and visit…comment…sign up for his RSS feed. Anthony is a thoughtful, knowledgeable guy who will enhance your voice acting career in the long run.

While you're there, reading his first blog, be sure to click on his online publication: "Meditation for Voice-Over: The Voice-Actor's Guide to Not Worrying and Reducing Stress". I specifically am not linking to it from here.

You need to go THERE to get it.

CourVO

Filed Under: Op/Ed Tagged With: narration, voice, voice acting, voice actor, voice actors, voice over, voice overs, voice work, voices

How Many British Accents Can You Name?

November 21, 2008 By CourVO Leave a Comment

You don’t have to. Apparently, it’s been done for us.

This tip compliments of the HoldOnLog newsletter. HoldOnLog is an online resource for actors of all stripes…so it’s worth a visit for their take on things.

They also offer what they call “Performer Track Webware“. It’s a tool for managing your acting business.

The info below is from their “Performer Nation” Newsletter a link to a wonderful free BBC site that breaks down Britain into each dialect geographically, and offers a listen to the differences between each one.

CourVO

Yay Haymond!

November 21, 2008 By CourVO Leave a Comment

When you consort with award-winning talent, all you can hope is that some of it rubs off on you from time to time.

I hear from Brian Haymond regularly in response to ideas we share, blog articles, and challenges in the business. Now come to find out Brian gets a big part of the credit for a "…prestigious 2009 National Religious Broadcasters Media Award for Best Television Commercial of the Year."

That's a quote from a great write-up in Nov 20th's Voice Over Times.

Take a couple of minutes to read about the spot, as well as his involvement with Samaritan's Purse, Operation Christmas Child, and his admirable commitment to helping some of the more disadvantaged in our world today.

Waytago Brian!!!!….and thanks to Voices.com for doing such an informative piece on Brian.

BTW, keep an eye on Voices.com in the next couple of days, they're making a lot of rumblings over there in the Great White North about their newly designed website they say they've been working on for a year or more. The premiere comes out very soon, and if David and Stephanie Ciccarelli's reputation for excellence is any indication, the new site is bound to be top-notch.

CourVO

Filed Under: Kudo's Tagged With: narration, voice, voice acting, voice actor, voice actors, voice over, voice overs, voice work, voices

Tips for Rearranging Your Life From Someone Who Should Know

November 19, 2008 By CourVO Leave a Comment

Voice actor Kara Edwards just relocated to Florida from North Carolina, and still managed to maintain her voice over business through all the fits and starts of selling, renting, moving, and buying homes.

Oh, and I think there was something about an ISDN install somewhere in the midst.

Despite the the self-avowed hatred of change, she manages quite nicely, and posts about lessons learned in her blog: "KARA EDWARDS, THE VOICES IN HER HEAD".

The article is entitled: "The Top 10 List For Relocating a Voice Over Business"

Good stuff, Kara!

CourVO

Filed Under: Advice Tagged With: narration, narrationvoices, voice, voice artist, voice artists, voice over, voice overs, voice talent, voice work, voices

Vegas, Through the Eyes of a Convention Attendee (and voice artist)

November 19, 2008 By CourVO Leave a Comment

Voice actor Joe Klein is a geek like me. Either one of us would tell you it's a good thing, and we can talk endlessly about it.

Wow!…what a story Joe has! He's like a cat with nine lives, and they've all been interesting…lucrative, challenging, enriching.

His current life is all about New Media, and man you oughta see him work a room, or a convention. A million friends and acquaintances!

Anyway, I was lucky to have dinner with him over at the Hard Rock the other night after he'd gone on safari at PubCon…a search marketing conference for people who salivate over SEO, SMO, SOS, OSS, and MOS (ok, I made up some of those).

The convention is exactly at the heart of what Joe does these days, but it's not a long drive up from his home in Bullhead City, AZ, so I was glad he did.

At any rate, please read Joe's blog about his experience at PubCon. Joe's a prolific writer and he posts a number of great pics, one of which shows us both cheesing for the camera after the creme brule (ya gotta scroll down).

Click HERE.

CourVO