41 shopping days until Christmas.
Retailers are complaining that there are 6 fewer days for the shopping season than there were last year. I guess that’s how they’re justifying opening their stores on Thanksgiving. Call me a cynic, but I’ll bet if there are 6 EXTRA days of Christmas shopping next year, they’ll still be open on Thanksgiving. That ship has sailed.
So 41 days is still a pretty good stretch of time to make it clear to your spouse, or partner, or loved-one just exactly what it is you need to really put your voice-over business over the hump. I tried to keep in mind budgetary considerations for the following five suggestions:
An annual subscription to Carbonite, DropBox, SugarSync, Skydrive or similar cloud storage service so you don’t have to worry about losing all your important documents and soundfiles. Carbonite is the most expensive at around $50/year for automatic back-ups. The other cloud services are anywhere from $5 to $30/ year depending on how much storage you buy.
A Sabra Pop Filter. The coolest evar pop-filter design on the planet. Let’s you actually place the pop filter in front of the mic, instead of making you contort the always-too-short gooseneck that won’t reach, and ends up at a funky angle. Can buy anywhere almost. The link I’m including is for Amazon. Cost: $70.00
Mogami Gold Mic Cables. I asked. Everybody says they’re the best. Dan Friedman says they’re great because of the braided and shielded quad cable and Netrik connectors. They’re not cheap. 6-ft cable to 15-ft cable price range in most places is anywhere from $39 – $89
Audio Evolution Mobile or Twisted Wave Audio recorder/editor app.
Audio Evolution for Android
Twisted Wave for iOS.
Audio Evolution is $7.50, TW is $10, and nothing else comes close in these two platforms.
Blue Digital Spark microphone. For use with the above apps on your iPad, iPhone, or Google Nexus tablet (or Samsung) the Blue Spark Digital is the cat’s meow. Designed and equipped for mobile recording, and comes with all the right patch cables to fit your 19-pin or USB connections. It’s a studio condensor mic that runs on the power from the recording device and has great sound. High price for this list, but worth every one of the $200 it costs to purchase.
Boy, I coulda made this list a lot longer. Honorable mention for your voice-over loved one would be an hour-long session with the voice coach of his/her choice, or a premium subscription to LinkedIn. Get creative, most voice-actors love toys and services, they just think they can’t afford them, and that’s a good thing, but that’s why this season rolls around once a year.
CourVO
