Narrations | Dave Courvoisier's Blog

Allerton

May 23, 2009 By CourVO Leave a Comment

Robert Allerton Park is in Central Illinois, and it's gorgeous. It's on the registry of Historic Places, owned by the University of Illinois. This is the place where my niece is getting married tomorrow.

The sculpted gardens here are worthy of the ones at the world-famous Versailles Palace in France. That caliber.

Over 30 different varieties of Peony are on display here…

Incredible blooms…all colors…and no thorns. 'Hate that about roses.

Of course, my day didn't begin here, it began at my sister's house, cooking bacon.

Meat candy!

This exercise in social tradition is as much family reunion as anything.

All the in-laws are here from Boston…uh…that's Bahstahn to you, buddy!

I figured I'd better post something tonite…I may not be in any shape to do that tomorrow night by this time.

CourVO

Filed Under: Op/Ed Tagged With: commercial voice, ISDN talent, Las Vegas voice actor, Las Vegas voiceover, Male ISDN talent, Male voiceover talent, narrations, Podcasts, Source-Connect voiceovers, speaker, speaking, voice, voice actor, voiceover

DAW Round-up

May 21, 2009 By CourVO Leave a Comment

'Posting this link again. This article was part of a previous blog featuring EQ's online magazine. But the content is too good to be overlooked.

HERE, a rather exhaustive evaluation of some of the better audio-editing software packages out there (albeit the most expensive). Mac & PC.

CourVO

Filed Under: Software Tagged With: commercial voice, ISDN talent, Las Vegas voice actor, Las Vegas voiceover, Male ISDN talent, Male voiceover talent, narrations, Podcasts, Source-Connect voiceovers, speaker, speaking, voice, voice actor, voiceover

Blogging Illusions?

May 19, 2009 By CourVO 7 Comments

Almost two years…651 posts…countless hours…

Blogging is fun. I've discovered I have a talent for writing and sharing. I enjoy connecting dots for people, and connecting people.

….but

….after all that time, and all those blogs, my average number of visitors per day is dropping steadily.

And it was never that high.

I understood that when I started. This was niche stuff, and there are lots of other places where people can find solid information about voice acting.

I've tried to follow the basic rules for building blog visitors: give a piece of myself in each blog….engage the visitors to contribute or respond…be consistent in my blogging…frequent…helpful…sharing…all that.

The only thing I didn't do was go with the incredibly difficult WordPress…that may be my downfall. I understand that Google bots are infinitely more gracious to WordPress blogs than Typepad. I don't care. If Typepad is good enough for Seth Godin…it's good enough for me.

So here I am, actually considering ending the blog. The drop in visitations is very discouraging. I spend a lot of time on this thing.

So before I throw in the towel…any suggestions for making it better?

I know my page loads slowly. In your estimation, is that an issue for you?

Is there TOO MUCH "stuff" on my page?

Should I swallow my pride and go with WordPress?

Thanks for your input.

Dave C

Zen of Reading Aloud

May 19, 2009 By CourVO Leave a Comment

With gratitude to voice coach par excellence Nancy Wolfson, I reprint the following she sent me yesterday by e-mail.

Let me just point out that VERLYN KLINKENBORG (the author) was born the same year as me, to a midwest farming community (like me). That's about where the similarities end. He's pretty tight with the NY Times and has written several books.

His observations below about the spoken word are very well contemplated.

…and you thought it was only voice-talking!

CourVO

Poddio

May 18, 2009 By CourVO 1 Comment

Please! No more IPhone apps! I've got too many already!

But….just one more…really!

As a voice actor, you will LOVE this one. It blows me away, actually.

Poddio is a voice recorder, yes, but it's also an audio editor…'very powerful one at that.

What really got me…was the quality of the sound.

Listen to this soundfile:

That file was recorded on my IPhone, transferred via the Poddio Software to my laptop by way of my home Wi-Fi as a .wav file. I opened it with AA 3.0 to listen to it. I added absolutely NOTHING. I applied NO effects, volume, amplitude, normalizing, compressing, or equalizing. Heck, I didn't even edit out the breath sounds (although Poddio has the editor to do that). I then saved it as an .mp3 and uploaded it to TypePad. That's what you're hearing.

I don't know whether to be impressed with Poddio, or the IPhone microphone…but I think that sounds pretty darn good!

Poddio comes as a free version, or pay $10 for all the bells and whistles. My opinion: $10 buys a lot here. Visit the Poddio website to see their full schpiel. They had musicians and podcasters in mind when they designed this software, but it can do most things your Audacity editor could do.

Possible use for voice-actors?

1) 'Client calls while you're indisposed away from your studio and wants a quick read to see if you've got the chops for the spot. You read his e-mail on your IPhone, scribble out a few lines, go to a closet, and deliver your audition into your IPhone…then e-mail it back to him in a flash. Quality is better than Skype, I think.

2) Quick on-the-run interviews for a podcast. Take 10 minutes to edit out the guest's curse words, and some fluff while you were interrupted on the convention floor, and you've got a passable podcast.

3) Collect real-life sound-effects for use later in a demo.

4) Record answer-phone messages for friends, and send them by e-mail.

5) A regular client wants to change a tag for a low-budget spot, but you're in Dyersburg, TN getting gas on your way to Stubenville, OH to see a date you found on FaceBook. He's not particular about quality, but when he gets your Poddio file, he says, "Hey, I thought you said you didn't have your equipment with you?"

OK…last one may be a little far-fetched…but you get the drift.

CourVO

Filed Under: Software Tagged With: announcer, announcing, artist, audio, Audiobooks, audiotx, Demos, documentaries, ISDN, male voice, male voice artist, male voiceover, narrating, narrations, Podcasts, poddio, source connect, speaker, speaking, voice acting, voice actors, voice work, voicing

When To Hire Voice Overs For Marketing and Sales Business Projects

May 16, 2009 By CourVO Leave a Comment

Somebody who gets it!

NEVERBLUE is all about affiliate marketing.

Don't ask what that is. I haven't quite figured it out yet. But I know some people swear by it. (someting about getting rich repping other people's products on your site…kinda like franchising online)

Here's their pitch: "Neverblue is a premier global lead generation network that delivers
millions of profitable customers to clients from all over the world.
Experience better affiliate marketing."

OK, that clears it up.

But Neverblue has apparently figured out that voice actors actually have value, and in THIS blog, they lay out several scenarios in which a smart person would want to hire a voice actor for professional product.

They make pretty good sense. 'Might even be worth a cold-call?

CourVO

Filed Under: Professional Organizations Tagged With: announcer, announcing, artist, audio, Audiobooks, audiotx, Demos, documentaries, ISDN, male voice, male voice artist, male voiceover, narrating, narrations, Podcasts, source connect, speaker, speaking, voice acting, voice actors, voice work, voicing

The Voice Over Entrance Exam

May 14, 2009 By CourVO Leave a Comment

Boy, am I late with the notice on this one, but that's what happens when I fail to visit the VO-BB for about a week.

Some months ago, one of the smartest marketing guys in VO approached me to proofread a publication he was writing specifically for newbies in Voiceovers. His name is Peter O'Connell, and of course the first thing I wondered is why he was asking me.

It doesn't matter, 'cause Peter is such a good author that I think I found a missing comma somewhere on page 56, but that's all, and even that was up for debate.

OK, so his FREE online publication is called THE VOICE OVER ENTRANCE EXAM…and it's so timely.

Why? Because if you're having even marginal success in voice acting, and you've been at it for a while, and your marketing is starting to get out there…then you'll be regularly approached by the throngs of hopefuls who just KNOW that in a few short weeks, they'll be getting sacks of money delivered to their door for the voice work they do. In fact, I just got approached by a local DJ today.

For those people…Peter's work is tailor-made.

Peter's work is visually appealing, well-researched, engaging, imminently readable, true, and for some: hard to swallow. That's because Peter doesn't mince words when mincing would be unkind and unfair.

This is a competitive business with loads of misconceptions…especially on the front end.

Even if you're a seasoned pro in voiceovers, take the time to read this.

NICE WORK, PETER!!!

CourVO

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: audioconnell, commercial voice, ISDN talent, Las Vegas voice actor, Las Vegas voiceover, Male ISDN talent, Male voiceover talent, narrations, Podcasts, Source-Connect voiceovers, speaker, speaking, voice, voice actor, voiceover

Multi-Track

May 11, 2009 By CourVO 1 Comment

My thanks to friend and mentor Frank Frederick (The Voice) for this tip.

He mentioned "MULTITRACK Studio" as a fully-functional , inexpensive, sound editor worthy of consideration for voice actors.

I decided to take the plunge and purchase the lower cost version: MultiTrack Studio Professional for $69 USD. Hey, I'd overpayed my AMEXCO card recently, and couldn't stand the thought of them making money off my misstep.

At any rate, it's just installed, so I don't have much of an evaluation for you, but it installed pretty doggone effortlessly on my Vista machine…and BTW, it installs on any MS OS all the way down to Windows 95.

Here's what their site says about it's mixing capabilities: "MultitrackStudio has a powerful mixer structure including an unlimited
number of Effect Return and Group sections, numerous built-in quality
effects and VST and DX plugin support. The Pro Plus edition features
powerful sidechain routing options."

I'm such a sucker for new geek-toys. Check back here soon for a better evaluation…or better yet, call Frank. I'm sure he could tell you 10 ways it's better than Pro-Tools ;-}

CourVO

Filed Under: Software Tagged With: commercial voice, ISDN talent, Las Vegas voice actor, Las Vegas voiceover, Male ISDN talent, Male voiceover talent, MultiTrack Studio, narrations, Podcasts, Source-Connect voiceovers, speaker, speaking, voice, voice actor, voiceover

May Voiceover Insider

May 11, 2009 By CourVO Leave a Comment

Julie Williams' excellent monthly newsletter is out in .pdf format, and is imminently readable and worthwhile.

Click HERE to see her latest voiceover salary survey, get help with what to charge for your work, and find hints on avoiding unscrupulous voice coaches.

Great work, Julie!

CourVO

Filed Under: VO Community Tagged With: commercial voice, ISDN talent, Las Vegas voice actor, Las Vegas voiceover, Male ISDN talent, Male voiceover talent, narrations, Podcasts, Source-Connect voiceovers, speaker, speaking, voice, voice actor, voiceover

VoicePunch Pickle

May 7, 2009 By CourVO Leave a Comment

My thanks to "Joe Actor" (Joe Thomas) for pointing me to some fresh information coming out concerning a new online subscription site for voice actors: VoicePunch.

On Julie Williams' online voiceover forum site you'll see a thread that raises some serious questions.

Click HERE.

I, too, rec'd an e-mail from "Chris Kellog" to do a link exchange with the new VoicePunch. I never responded. Joe Actor is seeking to have his unapproved link to the VoicePunch site removed.

CourVO