Dave Courvoisier's Blog

Posts Tagged ‘VoiceOverXtra’

If China gets to make EVERYTHING…maybe all that’s left for us to do is VoiceOver.

The global marketplace is glowing, and why not?  English is emerging as the language of commerce around the world.  To market a product with a wide audience, at some point, you’re gonna want to put a proper English-speaking voice along with the product/service.

Giving the Brits their due for a piece of the pie, that leaves North America as the source of an authentic English sound.

No one preaches this marketplace more than Bettye Zoller.  She’s been working this angle for years…maybe longer than anyone else.

In preparation for an upcoming Webinar on VoiceOverXtra.com, called “Foreign Job Sources for VO”, Bettye told me: “…for this webinar, I had to do serious research and even get help from foreign sources who gave me more input. It is the hardest research on a topic I’ve done for a long time and I hope as many people as possible will tune in…”

The Webinar is April 5th, the price is modest, and you get a download of the session when you’re done.

Click HERE for more details.

BTW, there’s a preview article of Bettye’s webinar on VoiceOverXtra, HERE.

CourVO

This collaboration MUST have a Gold Star.

Since I know both John Florian, and Dan Lenard as friends, I’m giving their upcoming teleseminar my top rating! (whatever that is).  I’m just saying…it’ll be well worth your while to listen in.

Dan (right) is the dean of designing, building and innovating affordable home studios….he explains it in simple language that makes sense, and his ideas are designed towards an inexpensive but high-quality solution for a home studio.

John Florian, who runs VoiceOverXtra.com has been putting together some fine teleseminars of late, and this one is well worth the modest price.  For beginners and advanced pros.  February 23rd & 24th.

I’d say more but you’ll find all you need to know HERE.

CourVO

Sometimes we get so wrapped-up in the auditioning, and the marketing…keeping up with technology and making cold calls that we forget voice acting MUST be run like a business.

Sure we need to brush up on talent skills, but do you have a business plan?  How do you track your financial progress?  What’s your next goal?

Bettye Zoller is an ace talent, and well-recognized voice coach, but lately she’s got an axe to grind about keeping a good business sense about your BUSINESS of voiceovers.

See “below-the-fold” for some answers to a few questions I posed to Bettye about that, but even more so…saunter on over to THIS site, and sign up for a live webinar featuring Bettye next Thursday, November 19th. 

The webinar is being expertly organized by John Florian’s VoiceOverXtra online resource.  If you know Bettye at all, you know she doesn’t mince her words…and always speaks from a wealth of experience in a very frank and engaging manner.  You will learn a lot!

HERE is a link to a FaceBook page with info too.

CourVO

Read the rest of this entry »

…only better.

VoiceOverXtra’s John Florian pushed me to summarize the give and take on Synthetic Voices exposed on this blog recently, and put it into article form.

The result is on John’s very popular site.  Click HERE.  Thanks, John, Peter Drew (who is quoted), and others who had input on this issue.

CourVO

John Florian…the force behind everybody’s favorite VO website – VoiceOverXtra – saw my mention on this blog of an upcoming Marc Cashman audiobook workshop on the East Coast, and wrote to remind me that VOXtra is sponsoring another great audiobook coach soon.

Alan Sklar is certainly one of the most highly-recognized and respected voice-ACTORS in the business of audiobooks.  Spending a session with him – I’d reckon – would be worth the tire tread getting there.

Here’s the info as provided to me by John:

Alan Sklar’s workshop – Mastering Audiobook Narrations – in NYC on Nov. 7.

Alan is a dynamic individual – former Shakespearan actor and businessman, who definitely makes a lasting impression on people … all for the better.

I’ve published an article revealing some of the traits that make him a great narrator – and also explain the workshop. Here’s the link:

http://www.voiceoverxtra.com/article.htm?id=ur2kmges

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BTW….Sklar is such a unique surname, that I couldn’t help but wonder if Alan was in any way related to the celebrated bass guitar player Leland Sklar.  Anyone?

Visit VoiceOverXtra HERE and see what John Florian’s cooked-up:  a fun idea of posting a short narrative and maybe a pic of how, where, and when you had to cut some audio “on the road”.

Maybe it was on vacation, business, or other…we’ve all had to prepare for the possibility of a persistent and/or valued client that just can’t wait for an audio file till we get home.  It can be a very good thing, actually, but everyone’s got a different “hack” for achieving quality sound outside the comfortable confines of your private studio.

‘Can’t wait to see all the entries!

CourVO

This week, I published on this blog in 3 parts, the engaging interview with Michael Minetree.  I've also referred you to the first part of the results of John Florian's business survey of voice actors.

Publishing in parts seems popular these days.  in most cases, it gives the website the chance to throw more advertising at you.  Since I don't advertise on this blog, my reasoning is a lot more simple.

Working in TV news as long as I have, I've become increasingly aware of the ever-diminishing attention span of viewers.  Now, with the internet, it's moved beyond viewers to…uh…people who read… in other words EVERYBODY is developing a shorter attention span. 

I'm not saying it's good…but I don't know as anyone can control it or change it, unless the individual makes a conscious decision to hang in there.  After all, people do it with books all the time.

Still with me?

Good, 'cause here's a link to Part-2 of John Florian's survey results.  In this "How's Business" report, you'll see how Marketing, training, and client services are keeping voice actors busy in a recession.

CourVO

John Florian's VoiceOverXtra site is now featuring more data from the comprehensive survey of voice-actors John recently took.  Lots of engaging ideas about the way voice over talent are coping with the recession.

Check it out HERE.

CourVO

John Florian's excellent VO resource website VoiceOverXtra features some pretty interesting stats on our business, based on the answers from those of us in the industry who participated.  Business up, profits down.  You'll see the breakdown.

Click HERE to see the detailed results….and you know what?,…VoiceOverXtra should be a daily stop on your round of online resources anyway.  John's always working to give value to us voice actors on his site.

Nice work, John!

CourVO

Isn't that refreshing?

No, this is a quick survey on how the economy might be affecting the voice-acting business today.

It's a good question, and one which I've blogged about before (Here & Here).

But I wrote from a singular perspective, and here's your chance to add your experience to others in the industry.

John Florian is sponsoring a survey on the issue through his VOICEOVERXTRA site.  It doesn't take long to complete the survey, and it's anonymous.

Check it out:  SURVEY

CourVO