July 23rd, 2010

Learning foreign accents for voice overs

Learning foreign accents for voice overA buddy of mine tipped me off to these four videos on YouTube about how to learn foreign accents for voice overs. While I'm not yet at a level in my voice acting journey to delve into practicing foreign accents (I'm still working on mastering my own accent! :wink: ) these videos are still a great learning tool. If anything, they will help you to better understand your own accent just as much as other accents.

Click the "Read more" link below to check out the foreign accents for voice over videos:

< Read more >



July 20th, 2010

You can do cartoon voices, too!

Cartoon voicesThere are a lot of books on how to do voice overs — and I've read quite a few of them. So it's a rare pleasure when I have the chance to sit down and read a book that falls outside of the norm in a very good way. And that book is You Can Do Cartoon Voices, Too! by Sunday Muse.

This book / CD set is unique because it is aimed at teaching children how to do voice overs. As a father of two, I'm sometimes asked by my children, "Daddy, why do you spend time talking out loud to no one?" This book has helped my kids understand what it is that I do by showing them how to do it themselves. And it does so in a very wonderful way...

< Read more >



July 3rd, 2010

The little voice over blog that could

Voice over visitors from around the world!When I first began Voice Actor's Notebook (VAN) a few months ago, I figured that only a small handful of people would find the blog and actually read it. ("Small handful" meaning me and about four or so others.) When, what to my wondering eyes should appear...

Just this past month (June) VAN received over 1,700 unique visitors from around the world!

Now, I do realize that this miniscule number is but a grain of sand on the Internet beach when compared to the sheer volume of visitors that websites such as Google and Facebook receive, but I'm beside myself with joy nonetheless! In addition, VAN has approximately 720 monthly RSS subscribers. :D

When I see numbers like these it motivates me to write even more informative and entertaining articles to keep the 'blog flame' alive.

Thank you everyone for your continued readership!



July 3rd, 2010

Thanks John Florian of Voice Over Xtra!

Voice-Over XtraI'm always extremely grateful when my writing gets recognized by others in the voice over community. And today is another day of gratitude and celebration. Once again John Florian of Voice Over Xtra has reprinted one of the posts here at VAN.

Thank you so much for your support! :D

You can check out the article here:
Breaking Into Voice-Over: What Really Matters



June 15th, 2010

The voice actors behind the Transformers…

I love looking behind the scenes at voice actors in the studio. Here's a video of the voice actors who did the main characters in the first Transformers movie. (Gotta love Peter Cullen's voice!)







June 15th, 2010

Darth Vader recording for TomTom GPS

Here's another great commercial featuring the voice of James Earl Jones:







June 15th, 2010

Hamsters are voice actors, too!

Here is a video containing a few spots for the Minnesota State Lottery. I love these not just because the voice acting is spot on, but also because the hamsters are so darned cute!







May 24th, 2010

Voice over scripts for free

Voice over scriptsAnyone looking to become a voice over actor needs scripts to practice with. And since you can't just walk into any bookstore and pick up a collection of scripts complete with radio, television, telephony, narration, video game, multi-person dialogue and more, it might seem a little daunting. But never fear! Getting your hands on voice over scripts is only a mouse click away...

< Read more >



May 18th, 2010

I’m now officially a twit…

Follow me...Or is it a tweeter? Or is it a twitterer? Titles aside, I'm now officially signed up to Twitter and have begun my journey through the land of social media and micro-blogging.

I'm not sure how I'll be using it. Maybe I'll just use Twitter to let people know when I update the blog. But who knows? Maybe I'll become addicted and live my life vicariously through the tweets...

Anyway, you can follow me here.

Until we tweet again!
-David



May 15th, 2010

Voice-over tip: Are you talking to yourself?

D'oh!Have you ever had one of those slap-your-hand-to-your-head-and-say-"d'oh!" moments? You know the kind. It's when all of the facts have been patiently staring you in the face while your brain stubbornly refuses to acknowledge them. Then suddenly "WHAM!" the connection is made and you find the palm of your hand applied firmly to your forehead. You hear words like "Duh!", "D'oh!", or "I'm such an idiot!" flying from your lips.

I had one of those just the other day...

< Read more >