August 10th, 2011
During the month of June, audiobook narrator Scott Brick posted one tweet a day on how audiobooks are made. Accompanying each tweet is a link to a video.
If you'd like to see the whole tweeted conversation and the videos, then head on over to How an Audiobook is Made.
August 6th, 2011
This isn't a detailed scientific study. This isn't even a controlled experiment. It's just an observation of a single occurrence. And yet every voice actor in the industry has seen something similar. They know this is going on and they know it's causing the slow decline of the voice actor's salary and the cheapening of our image as highly-trained professionals.
It's called 'lowballing" — the practice of bidding extremely low on a project in the hopes of landing the gig — and it really does hurt!
Here's the latest occurrence I stumbled across...
On a voice over job website (which shall go unnamed) a client (who shall also go unnamed) posted a job for a 1-hour narration. The budget listed was between $350 and $500. About one week later that same client posted another 1-hour narration job. But this time: a budget of $50 to $100!
If you (as a voice seeker) post a job with a budget of, let's say... $350, and then you get offers to do the job for as cheap as $50, wouldn't you then set the budget of your next job to only about $50? I don't know about you, but I certainly would!
Everybody wants to get a great deal. And if there are talented voice actors out there willing to sell themselves short and bid ultra-low, then why wouldn't voice seekers take advantage of it? If voice actors are always quoting a low price, then why wouldn't voice seekers start stating that their budgets are smaller than they actually are?
For MANY projects, the voice over is just as important as any of the visual elements. And some projects don't even have the visual elements! Your voice will help companies sell thousands and sometimes millions of dollars worth of their product or service. And they'll be laughing all the way to the bank at the great deal they got from the voice actor.
August 4th, 2011
I just got back from a much-needed vacation. While on vacation I enjoy doing as close to nothing work related as possible. It's not that I hate my job. In fact, I love this job! But to me, vacation is a time for family, friends, and fun... unless I'm invited to audition — and then it's time to do a little work!
Now, recording on the road is its own special beast: you don't have your normal studio, 
you most likely don't have your normal equipment (microphones, etc.), and you may not even have your usual computer and software.
This happened to me recently. I had to "commandeer" an old closet in my parents house, fill it full of clothes and blankets, and get everyone in the house to be quite for about 10 minutes while I recorded. (Click on the image above to see my make-shift solution.)
I normally record on my iMac desktop at home, but the laptop I carry with me when I travel is old, which means that I can't run my favorite Adobe Audition CS5.5 on it. Instead I use Twisted Wave (it's Mac only, sorry), which in many ways can do just as good a job as Audition at a fraction of the price. If you're a beginner (or even a veteran) to voice acting, then this little gem of software magic is an excellent choice.
Now, that little blue light you see in the photo is my AT2020 USB condenser mic
As luck would have it, there just happens to be another webinar coming up by VoiceOverXtra. Recording expert Dan Lenard will talk all about the dos and don'ts of recording on the road. If you're interested, you can learn more here.
Voice talent Paul Strikwerda wrote an excellent article (well, he always writes excellent articles) about should a voice actor work or not work during vacation. You can read it here.
July 29th, 2011
Here's a great video by voice actor Jonathan Tilley about what are you worth as a voice actor. After the video, check out some of my additions to his list.
In addition to Jonathan's list of what clients say to justify paying a lower fee, here are a few more I've heard (with my comments in parentheses.)
"Any voice actor who knows his craft can get this done in no time."
(True, a trained voice actor can get a quality recording out faster because we have the training and experience. But should we accept a lower payment just because we are good at our craft? NO! That training and experience demand a higher fee, not lower.)
"We can only pay a small fee for this project, but we have more work that we can send your way in the future."
(Really? More work? Great! Before you get too excited, keep in mind that this is a COMMON ploy in many freelancing fields. I hear it quite a bit in the website design biz I dabble in. Remember to charge for ONE job at a time. "Future" work is just that, in the future. It should have no influence on the present.)
"It's only a few lines."
(Yes, it might only be a little ten-second blurb, but it takes a voice actor longer than 10 seconds to record it, clean up the audio, and correspond with the client. In addition, we get paid for having and maintaining a home studio, having professional equipment, and some ROI (return on investment) for the money we put into our training and education — just like any other profession.)
July 10th, 2011
It's been a long time coming, but now I can finally sound the trumpets and bang the drums: my new audiobook demo has arrived!
Yippee! 
(Ok! Ok! That's enough root-a-toot-tooting and rat-a-tap-tapping. Gotta keep real quiet so everyone can hear my voice.)
And now, on to the demo...
July 5th, 2011
The good people over at VoiceOverXtra have been very busy this summer with lots of webinars. Here are two more that are worth checking out!
Three top talents/coaches (Bettye Zoller, James Alburger & Penny Abshire) reveal the techniques for making the right delivery choice for voice over scripts - to win auditions and voice actual jobs. Attendees will learn confidence, how to sound "natural" and how to quickly create and practice characters, read and practice cold copy, and much more. Starts 9 p.m. ET on July 12th.
Learn how to set up, use and get the most out of Mac's new Twisted Wave audio production software, in this live interactive webinar demonstration by acclaimed home studio expert George Whittam. Registered attendees also receive a recording of the entire audio/visual session. Online demo instruction includes setting audio device preferences, file management/organization, basic audio unit effects, creating effect stacks, exporting files, batch processing and more. Starts 9 p.m. ET on July 18th.
June 16th, 2011
If you're looking for an ultra-cool piece of audio recording/editing software, have just purchased Adobe Audition CS5.5 for yourself, or are simply curious what this new program can do for you, then why not sign up for the June 20th live webinar: Adobe Audition CS5.5: Basics and Beyond, presented by VoiceOverXtra?
Listen and learn as Den Lenard (a.k.a. the home studio master) teaches you pretty much everything you need to know about this great voice over recording/editing software. (It's currently the software I use in my studio... and I love it!)
You can learn more here:
Adobe Audition CS5.5: Basics and Beyond Webinar
On a side note:
Has anyone else noticed that 'Au' is the atomic symbol for 'gold'?
June 4th, 2011
June is audiobook month. And I can't think of a better way to celebrate it then by helping beginners become audiobook narrators themselves! Well, actually I'm not the one who's going to help you. A truly talented audiobook narrator named Barbara Rosenblat will.
Barbara has voiced more than 400 audiobooks! Her extraordinary range and abilities have earned her eight Audie Awards from the Audio Publishers Association — accumulating more Audies than any other single narrator. In the words of one critic, "Barbara is to audiobooks what Meryl Streep is to film." Now THAT is a compliment!
Recently Barbara held an amazing seminar called How To Become An Audiobook Narrator where she explains everything from how to do this special kind of voice acting work to breaking into the business. Voice artist Dan O'Day has gone ahead and made the audio of this seminar available on his website for instant download.
Click here to learn more:
How To Become An Audiobook Narrator
