Welcome to My Blog!
Hot off the Presses…
5 Ways to Protect Yourself From VO Scammers
...and not just "Nigerian Princes". I'm talking about predatory coaches and weekend demo mills too. |author's note: this blog repurposed from 2016...from one of the many times a familiar scam has been foisted on the VO community| Fraud and trust-betrayals are endemic...
Just Before that…
CA’s AB-5: A Legal Expert (and voice actor) Responds
This is the part of interactive journaism I love. Blogging isn't exactly journalism, unless you happen to be a life-long journalist; then I think it qualifies. And to qualify, a journalist has to be willing to go the extra length to make sure he gets the story right...
California’s New AB-5 Will Affect Voice Actors in Flyover States
Labor experts disagree whether AB-5 is a blessing or a curse. In the meantime, we all will have to adapt.
Happy Voiceover New Year…!!!
Your Voiceover success in 2020 depends on you!!! (but be sure to look here for some help) 🙄
3 Suggestions for Better Voiceover Financial Security
Who can’t use a little help? Here are two sites I’ve found recently that might be of more than a “little help”.
Merry Christmas!
No getting around it. I'm a Christian, and this is a pretty special time of year for me. I'll not proselytize, but I will wish you & yours the very best. If ever during the year, something magical might happen, this is that time of year. Thanks for your patronage...
The One Word That Personifies the Past Decade in Voiceover
Actually, it’s an acronym, but who’s gonna get picky. One new paradigm has upset the VO apple cart, and I think you’ll agree.
Voice Over Education
No SEO Will Survive THIS Search Method
Just when you think you might be gaining ground in the holy grail of search optimization, along comes a method for finding voice actors from way out in left field.
VO Coaching Conundrums
Apparently, a lot of people want to coach voice acting these days. But why?…and who? When does a voice talent become a voice coach…and where are the rules & regs? A few observations within…
4 Things That Will Make Your VO Clients Love You
Courtesy never goes out of style. Neither does consideration. If this is a relationship business, then here are some tips to curry good relations.
Creative VO Prospecting
Yesterday, I was reading through my Google Alerts, and came across a Craigslist ad placed by a seasoned VO pro. I've re-printed most of it for you to see below the line-break. The ad came complete with a graphic, phone #, website address, a map to his major U-S city...
Clearing Out the Crud
When your speaking apparatus is gunked-up... you can't keep up your VO commitments so well. And Boy Howdy, this is the season for gunking! How many times have I seen anguished posts on social media groups begging anyone for quick-fix solutions that will allow the...
Starting Out
Launching into the world of voice acting is a steep challenge. There are no manuals, but plenty of "opportunities". The opportunities range from legitimate offers of help to outright predation, and everything in between...including the costs involved. As you would...
Qualified to be a VO Coach?
The estimate that only 5% of voice actors are truly supporting themselves and their families with strictly voiceover work is probably close to correct. (remember, 47.93% of all numbers quoted online are made-up). Whatever the number (almost impossible to discern),...
My Monday Night Visitor
What day of the week would you say comes with the highest concentration of VO audition requests? Uh-huh. Monday. Now, let me explain that my prime daypart for recording auditions is midnight to 3am. Lately I've also adding 11am - 1pm after I rise, for doing...
Your Homework Assignment for Tonight
Does anybody watch TV without the DVR running in the background any more? Either way, your homework assignment for tonight is to play back pay a prime-time or prime-time access program and pay special attention to the commercials. Right. The thing that we all...
Lookin’ For a Reason To Come To Vegas?
...like you really needed one, right? Well, September 10th-11th is apparently a very popular VO weekend in Las Vegas. Two coveted voice acting coaches will be here for weekend workshops. #1. Pat Fraley Pat is hands-down one of the top VO coaches...he could do this on...
World Voices #WoVochat
3 Must-Know Messages for Monday
Mondays. Ugh!
But news of a special price on a singularly seminal event may brighten your day.
Read on!
WoVO: For All the Right Reasons
6 years ago, World-Voices sprang into being.
Now more than ever, our profession needs the ethics we uphold.
WoVO MiniCon #2
You need more than a voiceover conference, you need a World-Voices Organization mini-con!
Details within.
Friday Fun @ VOAtlanta
You woulda loved being here.
Opening Night: VO Atlanta
The faithful are here for the gathering.
Enjoy some photos?
Atlanta-Bound
The great VO pilgrimage is underway!
Watch here for updates.
Advice For VO Conference Attendees
For no particular upcoming conference specifically… 🙂
WoVO Rates Roundtable: Challenges of the Post-Voicebank Voiceover Marketplace
See our latest Rates Toundtable and learn how the post Voicebank world will thrive.
Muffett/Griffith/Courvoisier on VO Conferences
VO conferences are kinda like VO Coaches. Everybody is counseled to get at least one new one a year. True? Maybe, but is it right? A quick guide from some people who’ve been there.
WoVO Rates Roundtable: What Should You Expect to Pay for VO Coaching or Demo Production
A Blue-Ribbon Panel examines the ins and outs of demo production and VO coaching…offering a spectrum of what you should reasonably expect to pay.
VO Business & Compensation
California’s New AB-5 Will Affect Voice Actors in Flyover States
Labor experts disagree whether AB-5 is a blessing or a curse. In the meantime, we all will have to adapt.
3 Suggestions for Better Voiceover Financial Security
Who can’t use a little help? Here are two sites I’ve found recently that might be of more than a “little help”.
Take Time to Think About Time
Why do the days seem to drag by, but the years FLY by? December 1st of any year is usually a reality check or a time to panic, unless you're an incredibly pragmatic planner. 'Seen this blog I wrote called: YOUR JANUARY PLANNER: a list of things to consider for your...
Voice Over Education
VO Email Marketing
Your email signature bookends your salutation. Both are perfunctory, and yet pertinent.As overlooked as the signature can be...don't you always notice when it's missing?...or minimal...or overdone?The email signature for a voice-actor is part marketing, part...
3 Warnings About Blog Titles With Numbers in Them
Why? Because it’s a manipulative device to get you to read it! That’s the #1 reason. You don’t want to be manipulated do you? Virtually every last blog about and for bloggers mentions this magic formula. I’m sure there’s some psychological reason behind it…so let...
Gold in the VoiceOver Frontier
Seasoned VO pros have just as much responsibility to protect our profession as do the newcomers.
Here’s why.
Break the Mold
It's late...or early...whichever. The clock says 3:32am as I write this.We're creatures of habit, tending to keep the same schedules. Mine is a late one. Yes, I do sleep. My sleep hours are just not YOUR sleep hours. Personally, I believe the hours from midnight...
What AGE is Your Voice?
Does a voice HAVE an age? Well, I mean, of course it has the age associated with the cords' owner but can you tell a person's age by their voice? Or vice-versa...does a certain timbre/quality of voice HAVE an age?I go back to the analogy surrounding race. The...
Does Voice Acting Have a “Slow” Season?
Time and again I see online posts asking if anyone else is experiencing downtime. It's almost as if people are trying to reassure themselves that their own reduced workload mirrors the experience of others (the old "misery loves company" thing).There are all sorts of...
The Ultimate Authority
Just when I think I've got a bead on the people who make up this voice over community, I find out I really know nothing.I mean, I've been to umpteen VO conferences, I write a widely-read VO blog, I administer some social media VO forums, I'm the president of...
Are You “Studio Approved”?
World-Voices wrestled with this issue from day one.WoVO is not in the business of making subjective decisions about whether you are a good talent, can give a compelling promotional read, or can kill it on a commercial read.But, there are some objective and measurable...
Studio On Wheels
Most voice actors seem obsessed with obtaining, and having at-the-ready, a mobile recording solution.I get it. I'm a geek too, and I've got several iterations of an "away" recording configuration.But let's face it, you can have a U-87 in your hotel room, and your...
Cracking the “Newbie” Nut
Every day a new voice is born. When they get older people tell them "you should be in radio" (not knowing that radio these days hardly has any live humans to speak of anymore). When that happens often enough, the person with the golden pipes starts to believe they...
Voice Over Hardware & Software tools
Google Search on Steroids
Understand a few simple syntax constructions in your google search,
and you can open up a world of opportunity.
The 5 Technology Myths of Voiceover
Impossible! 21st-Century technology BUILT today’s VO profession! How could it conceivably shackle your progress? Read it and weep. Chances are you’re guilty.
5 Tactful Ways to Critique a Voiceover Colleague’s Demo
Are you qualified to evaluate the demo of a VO peer? Yes and no. Here are five suggestions for seeing your way through that thicket.
SEO Checklist for Voiceover Websites
A website referred to me by a voice actor in Europe.
Care ‘n’ Feeding of Your Microphone
Your microphone is not just a hunk of metal and wires. It’s delicate, and requires TLC. Here are some tips.
Centrance Mixerface R4 Adds Mics
The well-received Centrance Mixerface R4 adds two Centrance-designed pivot mics. Centrance’s Michael Goodman explains in an interview from the NAB floor.
In:Quality at NAB
The makers of ipDTL (and now new related products) makes its stand at the National Association of Broadcasters in Las Vegas
ASMR and Other Interwebs News
Oh, the stuff you can find when you have a computer and too much time on your hands!
CRM = Clients Really Matter
Everybody THINKS they should be using a CRM – a customer relationship manager. Trouble is, which one? Here’s a great list.
Does Craigs + List = VoiceOver Opportunity?
Is Craigslist a viable means to find voice-over jobs?…or to post your services to get jobs? Not just any jobs…GOOD-PAYING VO jobs. Seeking your responses to my query.
Voice Over Events
3 Must-Know Messages for Monday
Mondays. Ugh!
But news of a special price on a singularly seminal event may brighten your day.
Read on!
WoVO MiniCon #2
You need more than a voiceover conference, you need a World-Voices Organization mini-con!
Details within.
Friday Fun @ VOAtlanta
You woulda loved being here.
Opening Night: VO Atlanta
The faithful are here for the gathering.
Enjoy some photos?
Atlanta-Bound
The great VO pilgrimage is underway!
Watch here for updates.
Advice For VO Conference Attendees
For no particular upcoming conference specifically… 🙂
WoVO Rates Roundtable: Challenges of the Post-Voicebank Voiceover Marketplace
See our latest Rates Toundtable and learn how the post Voicebank world will thrive.
Muffett/Griffith/Courvoisier on VO Conferences
VO conferences are kinda like VO Coaches. Everybody is counseled to get at least one new one a year. True? Maybe, but is it right? A quick guide from some people who’ve been there.
WoVO Rates Roundtable: What Should You Expect to Pay for VO Coaching or Demo Production
A Blue-Ribbon Panel examines the ins and outs of demo production and VO coaching…offering a spectrum of what you should reasonably expect to pay.
New WoVO Rates Roundtable: Rates for Demos and Coaching
Instead of discussing the rates voice actors should charge for their work, we’re examining what we should EXPECT to reasonably be charged for coaching and demo production.
Listen to my Commercial demoVoice Over Niches
Best Webpage-Saving Utility Yet
You know you need to read it, but just. not. right. now. Here’s what you can do.
CA’s AB-5: A Legal Expert (and voice actor) Responds
This is the part of interactive journaism I love. Blogging isn't exactly journalism, unless you happen to be a life-long journalist; then I think it qualifies. And to qualify, a journalist has to be willing to go the extra length to make sure he gets the story right...
California’s New AB-5 Will Affect Voice Actors in Flyover States
Labor experts disagree whether AB-5 is a blessing or a curse. In the meantime, we all will have to adapt.
Voice Over Hardware & Software tools
You Gotta Try This (Be “Open”)
Connection Open is not just another ISDN pretender. It’s your connection to something entirely all its own.
Hacks, Plosives, DAWs
So much good stuff to be found on the internet. This kind of bounty deserves to be shared.
ipDTL Improvements
What? You think any remote connection service as advanced as ipDTL is gonna sit on their hands? Not a chance. See what you’ve been missing.
The Skinny on Voiceovers.com
Matt Dubois stepped up with VoiceCastingHub. Now he’s stepping in with Voiceovers.com. Here are the facts from the source.
Dealing With Dialects
Delivering esoteric accents can be learned. But where to turn for a resource? Inquire within.
‘Best of the Web
Stuff too good not to share.
Great Voice Overs – It’s Not About the Mic!
Stop spending big bucks on fancy mics. Here are the three things you SHOULD be focusing on.
ConnectionOpen: Free Day Passes
Sure they want you to try out their new product. And once you see how amazing it is, then you get to give it to others.
A Bounty of Choices
Mmmmm, the latest mobile recording devices
“…the best of the best of the best…”
A classic line from one of my fave movies.
Can you guess what flick?
Save $50 !!!
Thursday and Friday…the last chance to get the lowest price on the best VO conference yet this year.
Media Mashup
Like it or not, you’re in the media industry…which has been in the throes of change for years, now. Herein, some great resources to bring you up-to-date.
WoVOCon VI Launches
There are VO conferences, and there are VO conferences. Then there’s WoVOCon.