November 30th, 2011
Love thyself
For voice actors, the expression "He loves to talk just to hear the sound of his voice" takes on a whole new meaning.
November 2nd, 2011
Home Studio Basics for Voice Over
Dan Lenard, one of the world's leading consultants on voice over home studio audio, begins a three-part online webinar series on Home Studio Basics for Voice Over on Thursday night, November 3rd.
With Lenard's trademark pizzazz and humor, the series will detail how to build, equip, and use a home studio to produce quality audio for voice over auditions and jobs.
Lenard is popularly known as the Home Studio Master and is co-host of the Sunday night East-West Audio Body Shop Ustream TV show.
Presented by VoiceOverXtra, the series features live webinars with online instruction followed by a Q&A period during which attendees can directly ask questions by text or audio.
Each 90-minute webinar starts at 9 p.m. Eastern time, and all registered attendees will also receive a full audio/visual recordings the following day, for reference and in case of schedule conflicts for the live presentation.
To learn more or to sign up, click here:
Home Studio Basics for Voice Over
October 5th, 2011
In memory of a great man
Thank you Steve Jobs for all that you have done to make our lives easier, better, and a whole lot cooler. You will be greatly missed.
Apple commercial with Steve Jobs doing the voice over
October 2nd, 2011
What is the path to voice over success?
Here is a simple and crude, yet very descriptive image of what the path to voice over success looks like:
September 26th, 2011
This guy’s got game!
What do Yakko Warner (from the Animaniacs), Pinky (from Pinky and the Brain), Raphael and soon Donatello (from Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles), Hadji (from Jonny Quest), and about another billion animated characters have in common?
The answer: ONE incredibly talented voice actor!
His name is Rob Paulsen
No, I'm not talking about a quote from a popular 1999 movie. (Actually, the quote was "His name was Robert Paulsen" but without Googling it can you name the movie?)
I'm talking about one of the most gifted voice actors in the business: Rob Paulsen — a man who has a list of voice acting credits that make the phrase "a mile long" seem tiny. (You can check them out at Rob Paulsen on IMDb.)
A major influence
I grew up listening to the man perform in many cartoons. And yet from TV show to TV show I never suspected it was the same guy doing the voices. All I knew is that whichever character he happened to be performing, I gravitated toward it.
Some videos:
Here's just a tiny sampling of some of his work along with a 3-part series on voice acting!
September 19th, 2011
The new voice over job
After briefly mentioning the new voice over job that I got back in August I've received quite a few emails asking me to talk about some of the juicy details. Since I aim to please, this post will be all about what exactly the job is, how I landed the job, what the job entails, how much time I spend everyday on the job, and anything else that pops into my head as I write.
But before I begin to divulge, let me say up front that I am bound by a "somewhat relaxed" NDA (Non-Disclosure Agreement). Which means that there are specifics about the job that I'm not allowed to talk about, but I can talk about it in general terms.
So now, here are the most asked questions about the new job and their answers:
September 10th, 2011
Beginning & Advanced Voice Over Clinics
Now in the comfort of your own home, you can improve your voice over skills for auditions and jobs in a new series of monthly online copy clinics with top voice talent, author and trainer (and incredibly cute 
) Terri Apple!
You'll be coached as you cold read scripts alone and with other class participants - getting direct feedback - and also learn as a "fly on the wall" when you hear Terri coaching others on how to improve their voice over delivery.
Follow the link below to learn more:
Beginning and Advanced Voice Over Copy Clinics
September 9th, 2011
We are more
I recently stumbled across this great video of a poem called "We are more" written and read by Shane Koyczan at the opening ceremony for the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver, Canada.
It's a powerful performance of some very moving words. (Special thanks to Paul Strikwerda for posting this on his blog where I found it. Paul, you're awesome!)
I recommend checking out more of Shane Koyczan on YouTube.
September 6th, 2011
A new job, a disease, and long hair
I realize that I haven't written in about a month, but there is a very good reason.
Well, actually two good reasons.
A new job
The first is that around the middle of August I landed a new voice acting job, and it's the kind of job that voice actors salivate over: a full-year-contracted-guaranteed-pay kind of job! So I was busy going over the contract and getting acquainted with my new job. I'll write more about it in a later post.
A disease
The second reason is that I "contracted" pneumonia — ouch! Luckily though, it hasn't affected my voice, just my lung capacity. I know I know, I shouldn't push myself. But don't worry, I'm still resting and taking it easy... in-between VO jobs.
Long HAIR?
Call me late to the party, but just recently I saw Disney's Tangled and WOW was that a great movie! And so, for your viewing pleasure, here are two "behind the scenes" videos of the movie.
Video One:
Tangled's two stars, Mandy Moore & Zachary Levi, getting directed and singing the movie's love theme.
Video Two:
Interviews with the stars and crew:
(Listen to what Mandy Moore & Zachary Levi say: the two actors were NEVER in the same room together when performing their lines. It was all made seamless by through the directing!)
August 12th, 2011
Take your social media game to a new level
Are you ready to take your voice over social media game to a whole new level of awesomeness? Then let the voice over super socials show you how!
There's no other way to describe Terry Daniel, Trish Basanyi and Dave Courvoisier - the best known and most authoritative voice actors on social media today. And VoiceOverXtra is presenting them in three major live webinars beginning Aug. 17, revealing their time-saving methods for making money through social media.
To learn more about these fantastic webinars follow this link:
The Voice Over Social Media Success Webinars
