Vox Talk

VOX Talk PODCAST: EPISODE 9

Salutation:

Hi there, this is Stephanie Ciccarelli and I’m your host. Welcome to VOX Talk!

The Loop:

Screen Actors Guild tribute to voice overs

This past weekend, the Screen Actors Guild awards were handed out in style with a special Life Time Achievement award bestowed upon Julie Andrews for her work over the past 50 years, including voice over work in the movie Shrek II and the upcoming Shrek the Third. SAG, with the help of actor Kiefer Sutherland, also honored the voices behind the scenes, featuring a series of interviews with voice over greats including Don LaFontaine among others.

For more information about the Screen Actors Guild and who the winners were this year, visit sagawards.com.

News #2

Apple iPhone Verizon said no

In other news, do you remember all of the buzz surrounding the Apple iPhone and Cingular partnership? Well, Engadget reports that Verizon was actually the company’s first choice for service providers, citing that Apple and Verizon could not work out a deal that was mutually beneficial.
To learn more, visit engadget.com
http://www.engadget.com/2007/01/29/verizon-passed-up-apple-iphone-deal/

News #3

To wrap up, the New York Times reports that entries from Wikipedia, an online human edited encyclopedia, are now being used by judges in their rulings, albeit selectively. More than 100 judicial rulings have relied on Wikipedia, beginning in 2004, including 13 from circuit courts of appeal, one step below the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court thus far has never cited Wikipedia.

For more information, check the links for this show on the VOX Talk blog.

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/29/technology/29wikipedia.html?_r=1&ex=1327726800&oref=slogin

If you have any news to share, send it to me via email. You can reach me at media@voices.com.

The Biz:

This week in The Biz, Kristi Stewart will share her experiences with podcasting.

Kristi Stewart

Thank you Kristi!

If you have any questions or topics that you’d like to see covered in this segment, email your suggestions to media@voices.com

Tech Talk:

Flickr
Have you ever created a slideshow? Flickr, an online photo-sharing website is a great tool that makes creating slideshows easy.

Like most Internet businesses, we have a slideshow that explains how our service works. We use the set of slides to walk new prospects, business partners and colleagues through our business to show how we can work together and why they should work with us.

How did people usually receive these slideshows in the past? Most were sent via email as large attachments such as powerpoints or videos which took up a lot of storage and sucked the energy right out of your email program.

See the problem?

This is where Flickr comes in. Started by a couple in Vancouver, Flickr is an online photo-sharing website that has recently garnered attention by business professionals for creating nice looking presentations, also known as slideshows.

If you've ever needed to create a presentation and distribute it on the Web, I'd encourage you to check out Flickr.


I’ve included links for you to View our Flickr slideshow and check out Voices.com's Flickr profile to see how Flickr can help you. To create your own Flickr slideshow, signup free at Flickr. Have fun!


VoxBox:

This week, I received some feedback from Mike Cain about warming up your voice. Let’s have a listen.

Mike Cain feedback.

Thank you Mike for highlighting just how important a good vocal warm up is!

Farewell:

So, that puts episode of VOX Talk in the books. You can send in your comments and audio feedback to air on the podcast or join the conversations at the VOX Daily blog. Until next time ☺

VOX Talk PODCAST: EPISODE 8

Salutation:

Hi there, this is Stephanie Ciccarelli. Welcome to VOX Talk! Have we got an exciting episode for you, or what! Ready to go?

The Loop:

DigiDesign

Just when you thought analog went the way of the dinosaur, Digidesign, creator of ProTools, recently announced their new Reel Tape Suite, a suite that creates analog tape emulation effects. The Reel Tape Suite provides simulated tape saturation, simulated tape delays and also simulates tape machine flanging effects.

For more information, go to digidesign.com

http://www.digidesign.com/index.cfm?navid=48&itemid=24532&langid=100&action=news_details

News #2

British Voice Association

In other news, the British Voice Association has posted a list of tips for keeping your voice healthy called “Taking Care of Your Voice”. I found this article via professional speaker and presenter Jeremy Jacobs’ blog at jeremyjacobs.com.

To learn more, visit british hyphen voice hyphen association dot com http://www.british-voice-association.com/voicecare.htm

http://www.british-voice-association.com/

http://www.jeremyjacobs.com/2007/01/23/top-tips-for-taking-care-of-your-voice/

News #3

To wrap up, are scientific journals obsolete? USA Today reports that since the advent of desktop publishing and new media distribution, scientific articles that would have usually been submitted to established peer reviewed journals are now being presented independently using video, voiceovers, and blogging.

There’s yet another great opportunity for creativity to blossom and your voice to shine. As they say, there has never been a better time to be in voiceovers!

http://www.usatoday.com/tech/science/2007-01-24-scholarly-journals_x.htm?POE=TECISVA

If you have any news to share, send it to me via email. You can reach me at media@voices.com.

The Biz:

Have you ever got up before the birds to record? I’m sure there are many on-air talents who can identify with this one!

Coming from a classical singing background and years of 7 a.m. rehearsals, I find it really helps if you are up at least one hour before you are expected to perform.

During the interval between sleeping and recording, you may have possibly eaten your breakfast, had a drink, showered, and dressed – all things that prepare you mentally for a full day of work.

Getting up is one thing but warming up is another! Have you tried humming?

A loose, gentle hum is a nice way to ease in your facial muscles and create space. It gets your resonators going which in turn will help restore your vocal tone quality after sleeping for several hours.

One of my favorite exercises is the lip trill, or lip trills. They sound like a motorboat – here, I’ll demonstrate for you.

Of course, articulation, phrasing, range, breathing and stamina exercises are all important as well. You can learn more about vocal warm ups on the VOX Daily blog at blogs.voices.com/voxdaily/

If you have any questions or topics that you’d like to see covered in this segment, email your suggestions to media@voices.com

Tech Talk:

Adam’s segment.

VoxBox:

As you may know, there was a terrible tragedy in Sacramento, California due to a contest held at a local radio station where contestants competed to win a Nintendo Wii. A 28 year-old wife and mother died as a result of the humiliating demands presented by the radio station personalities, fully knowing that the contest could potentially cost someone their life.

This outrageous event leaves more questions than answers. What I’d like to ask you is this:

Do you think that some radio personalities go too far?

Farewell:

Well, that’s all she wrote for this episode of VOX Talk. You can send in your comments and audio feedback to air on the podcast or join the conversations brewing at the VOX Daily blog. Until next time ☺

VOX Talk PODCAST: EPISODE 7

Salutation:

Hi there, and welcome to the show. I’m your host Stephanie Ciccarelli, and today’s episode with you listening, is now officially ready to go!

The Loop:

Museum Podcasts

Museums have always been in a tricky position. Instead of bringing art to the public, they’ve had to make the public come to them – not so any more! Thanks to podcasting and other digital technology several major art museums have launched podcast collections that give the public easier access to art education as well as information about their wide-ranging art collections. For example, The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York has posted a series of podcasts on iTunes featuring artists talking about their work and New York celebrities reading from artists' writings. For instance, you can listen to actor Kevin Bacon reading excerpts from the letters of Vincent Van Gogh.
Many other museums of note, including The National Gallery in London, The Smithsonian, and The Art Institute of Chicago to name a few have recently launched similar podcast collections. Sources predict that many of these museums will eventually give you the ability to download their audio tours to your own iPod, saving you the hassle of renting the museums' audio devices.

For more information, check the VOX Talk links

http://www.oculture.com/weblog/2007/01/museums_have_al.html

has posted on iTunes

News #2

If you’re a fan of X Factor in the UK, you probably saw one of the most heartbreaking yet inspirational auditions and another side of Simon Cowell. Paris, a young teenager with operatic aspirations, auditioned in Manchester for the show singing “Time to Say Goodbye”, a song made famous by Andrea Bocelli and Sarah Brightman. Her talent is obvious, but her age will surprise you. If you have a more than a couple of minutes, be sure to also watch 44-year old Katie’s emotional audition as well.
To watch the videos at YouTube, visit the links at the VOX Talk blog or search at YouTube.com
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DhgoAs9DM68&eurl=

News #3

To wrap up, the blog at Webomatica.com noted this week that computer-animated films featuring the talents of Hollywood voice actors all follow the same cinematic formula. The observations were written in response to the fictitious opening of the new movie “Ferrets” (Ferrets is not real, just an example).

Some of the similarities include Plural Noun Titles for example, Cars, Robots, Ants, and so on. Another is the voice casting of at least one famous actor and a standup comedian. I wonder if in some way the new Transformers movie could be added to that list! While we’re topic, I’m happy to share that comedian and voice talent Bryan Cox was cast in the Transformers movie. Congratulations Bryan from your peers and everyone at Voices.com

To read the similarities in full at Webomatica, visit webomatica.com and click on their “blog” link.

http://www.webomatica.com/wordpress/2007/01/21/movie-notes-ten-computer-animation-must-haves/

If you have any news or a voice-over related item that you would like to send in, send it to media@voices.com.

The Biz:

This week in the Biz, Julie Williams will share some thoughts on one of the most dreaded and incapacitating illnesses a voice talent could encounter… the evil Laryngitis.

I’m glad that I don’t have laryngitis!

If you have any questions or topics that you’d like to see covered in The Biz, email your suggestions to media@voices.com

Tech Talk:

This week in Tech Talk, we’ll be chatting about FeedBurner.

Got a blog or a podcast? If you do, you are likely familiar with FeedBurner, King of the Feeds.
FeedBurner is the leading provider of media distribution and audience engagement services for blogs and RSS feeds. FeedBurner’s Web-based tools help bloggers, podcasters and commercial publishers promote, deliver and profit from their content on the Web.

FeedBurner not only distributes feeds, it also tracks them. You can view how many subscribers you have to your blog, for instance by viewing an area of your account called "My Feeds".
The culture of the company is fun and inviting, too.

The team at FeedBurner has even made a sticker available of the infamous FeedBurner flame and encourages their fans to send in a self-addressed stamped envelope to get their very own FeedBurner sticker to put on their laptop or, in some cases, on their vehicles.

To learn more about FeedBurner and read their blog, Burning Questions, go to Feedburner.com

VoxBox:

Welcome to VoxBox! On Friday, I received an awesome tip from Donna Papacosta to share with you about how to get more voiceover work.

(Donna’s comment)

You never know who may hire you because of one little link ☺

Farewell:

I’m really glad that you could join us today. We’re always open to receiving feedback, so if you have something to say, zip it off to us! You can reach me at media@voices.com or by leaving a comment on the blog. Until next time!

VOX Talk PODCAST: EPISODE 6

Podcast Description:

VOX Talk is your connection to the voice industry covering news about voice-overs and voice actors, hot tips on how to grow your voice-over business, technology, and Q&A with the experts at Voices.com.

Salutation:

Welcome to VOX Talk, brought to you by Voices.com. My name is Stephanie Ciccarelli, co-founder of Voices.com and your host for today’s show. VOX Talk is about you! It’s a podcast that helps you grow in your voiceover career. Each episode will begin with news and current voice-over events in a segment called “The Loop”. Then, we’ll explore business development and hot trends that will set you apart as a professional voice actor. Next up is Tech Talk, a segment where our team will review products and guide you through the technological landscape. Lastly, we’ll answer your questions and play audio feedback in a segment called “VoxBox”.

Now that we’re ready with Granny Smith Apple slices in tow, let’s move on to the news.

The Loop:

News #1

VOICE Conference

VOICE Conference, the VoiceOver International Creative Experience, is making its debut on March 27th – 31st in Las Vegas, Nevada and I’m pleased to announce that Voices.com will be there. VOICE Conference is the first of its kind, bringing all facets of the voiceover and voice acting community together through education, technology and community, with a goal of discussing important issues, improving the craft, and elevating the profile of voiceover talent.

For more information about the conference, visit voice-international.com

News #2

In other news, actor Arnold Schwarzenegger and filmmaker James Cameron are once again teaming up for the making a new sci-fi movie 'Saturn 3'. According to TheArnoldFans.com website, the California Governor will lend his voice to a robot in the movie.

The movie will be a remake of the 1980's cult film that starred Farrah Fawcett, Harvey Keitel, and Kirk Douglas.

Before this project, Schwarzenegger and Cameron have worked together on 'The Terminator' and its sequel and 'True Lies'.

http://www.dailyindia.com/show/103918.php/Arnie-may-lend-voice-to-robot-in-Camerons-Saturn-3

News #3

To wrap up, British star SEAN BEAN is shunning Hollywood glamour for his next acting project - narrating a medical training video for a British hospital. The LORD OF THE RINGS actor will provide voice over duties on a new medical DVD for patients who are preparing for hip and knee replacement surgery at Sheffield's Northern General Hospital. The Sheffield-born actor's unlikely role came after staff asked Bean's grandmother if he would help out. Surgery manager ANDREA WATSON explains, "It started off with a joke when we were looking for someone with a good Yorkshire accent. Someone said how about Sean Bean? Then someone else remembered his granny had been treated here. It's amazing. He's an A-list Hollywood star but he went into a studio and recorded it between films."

http://www.contactmusic.com/news.nsf/article/bean%20to%20voice%20medical%20training%20video_1019278

That’s amazing indeed!

If you have any news or a voice-over related item that you would like to send in, send it to media@voices.com.

The Biz:

This week in The Biz, we’ll talk about Sound Alikes.

Being a professional Sound Alike falls in the territory between celebrity impersonators and the real thing. Different altogether from traditional character voices, sound alikes have the incredible task of recreating the voice and vocal mannerisms of another person... not to be someone who kind of sounds like a celebrity, but to produce an indistinguishable vocal likeness.

Whenever you hear a sound alike recreate a famous persons' voice, you recognize and trust its authenticity, not simply based upon the total sum of their vocal qualities, but on the distinct similarities between the two voices. For instance, if a sound alike for British Prime Minister Tony Blair were to address the public via radio, a listener in the United Kingdom would perceive the information delivered by the sound alike to be true, recognizing the voice that they hear to be both familiar and authoritative.

You can think of a professional sound alike as an understudy. An understudy is a person who is assigned to a role as a backup for the lead actor, or in our case, voice actor. For instance, if Tom Allen was on vacation and unable to attend the recording session, a Tom Allen sound alike, perhaps for example, Pat
Fraley, would stand in to record the dialog for him.

There is a large market for sound alikes and as Paul Warwick pointed out, there is also a market for the "obvious" sound alike where the voice is a little different but captures the style, cadence and inflection of the "original". Also, there is a market for replicating the voices of those who have left us, some favorites including Elvis Presley, Winston Churchill, Marilyn Monroe, Patsy Cline, John Wayne, Marlon Brando and so on.

If you have a few famous voices up your sleeve, send us your audio recordings to be included in the VOX Box by emailing media@voices.com

Tech Talk:

This week in Tech Talk, we’ll be chatting about FeedBurner.

Got a blog or a podcast? If you do, you are likely familiar with FeedBurner, King of the Feeds.
FeedBurner is the leading provider of media distribution and audience engagement services for blogs and RSS feeds. FeedBurner’s Web-based tools help bloggers, podcasters and commercial publishers promote, deliver and profit from their content on the Web.

FeedBurner not only distributes feeds, it also tracks them. You can view how many subscribers you have to your blog, for instance by viewing an area of your account called "My Feeds".

The culture of the company is fun and inviting, too. The team at FeedBurner has even made a sticker available of the infamous FeedBurner flame and encourages their fans to send in a self-addressed stamped envelope to get their very own FeedBurner sticker to put on their laptop or, in some cases, on their vehicles.

To learn more about FeedBurner and read their blog, Burning Questions, go to Feedburner.com

VoxBox:

Welcome to VoxBox! Earlier this week, we received a wonderful comment from Nikki Saco on the Casting Voices blog about correspondents and audio feedback in Episode 5. Nikki said:

Today's podcast, was particularly good. Julie Williams and Adam Fox's contributions rocked, but what I really loved was Anna Vocino's character voice over demo. What a treat! These are fun to listen to and really helpful. Great idea. Thank you. Nikki Saco.

By all means, if you’ve been waiting to send in an audio clip, there’s no better time than the present. Here’s a personal invitation from me to you to send in your MP3 file to be included in the VOX Box by emailing media@voices.com.

We’re also looking for more correspondents for the show. If you’re interested in being a part of VOX Talk, drop me a line ☺ You can reach me at media@voices.com

Farewell:

Thank you for joining us today. If you’d like to learn more about our service and how we can serve you, visit our website Voices.com. See at you the VOICE conference! Bye for now!

VOX Talk PODCAST: EPISODE 5

Podcast Description:

VOX Talk is your connection to the voice industry covering news about voice-overs and voice actors, hot tips on how to grow your voice-over business, technology, and Q&A with the experts at Voices.com.

Salutation:

Welcome to VOX Talk, brought to you by Voices.com. My name is Stephanie Ciccarelli, co-founder of Voices.com and your host for today’s show. VOX Talk is about you! It’s a podcast that helps you grow in your voiceover career. Each episode will begin with news and current voice-over events in a segment called “The Loop”. Then, we’ll explore business development and hot trends that will set you apart as a professional voice actor. Next on the list is Tech Talk, a segment where our team will review products and guide you through the technological landscape. Lastly, we’ll answer your questions and play audio feedback in a segment called “VoxBox”.

Now that we’re ready to go, let’s move on to our first segment!

The Loop:

News #1

Return of 24

If you’ve been waiting all these months for Jack Bauer to return, the past couple of days have been extremely exciting. FOX TV’s runaway hit series, 24, starring Kiefer Sutherland as US superhero Agent Jack Bauer took the air last night, and I might add, with some bite. The 2-hour season premiere on Sunday and the shocking double episode on Monday were unbelievable and exactly what fans of the hit show were expecting to kick off another great season of 24.

News #2

In other news, Marvel has released "Amazing Marvel Universe," a book that mixes the digital audio of Stan Lee talking with excerpts from 50 comic books, compiled and explained by Roy Thomas. Attached to the side of the book is an audio box with 68 numbered voice-overs.
Stan Lee is the creator of Spider-Man, the Fantastic Four, X-Men, the Hulk and many more characters in the Marvel Empire. He worked his way up from being basically an errand boy to being the editor. Last seen in a cameo in "Spider-Man 2," Lee has stunned faithful comic readers for near half a century. His commentary on the book is the best part.

http://www.pe.com/lifestyles/stories/PE_Fea_Daily_D_teenreview14.aed177.html

News #3

To wrap up, I’d like to direct your attention to a free 30-minute teleseminar called “The State of Voice Over Today” hosted by Los Angeles Voice Coach Nancy Wolfson. The teleseminar will take place this Wednesday January 17th, 2007 at 7 p.m. PST. A variety of topics in will be discussed in the teleseminar running the gamut from voice casting to home studios.

To learn more, visit breakintovoiceover.com

If you have any news or a voice-over related item that you would like to send in, send it to media@voices.com.

The Biz:

This week in The Biz, we’ll be hearing from our weekly correspondent, Julie Williams with some insight about ‘dry mouth’.

Thank you Julie. I’ll start keeping an apple at my desk when recording the podcast ☺

Send in your comments and feedback by leaving a comment on the VOX Talk blog or by sending in your audio feedback to media@voices.com.

Tech Talk:

This week in Tech Talk, Adam Fox a VOX Talk correspondent will be sharing his commentary on Voice Changing Software.

Thanks, Adam. We’re all looking forward to hearing more from you.

VoxBox:

Welcome to VoxBox! Last week, we received a question about what goes into a good character voice demo. I thought we’d answer this by including some audio from a stellar character voice demo recorded by Anna Vocino.

(Play demo excerpts)

Anna tackles several different characters, accents, and voice ages that exercise her versatility and highlight her strengths, all hallmarks of any good character voice demo.

If you have something you would like to share, perhaps a tip, a comment or suggestion, send in your MP3 file to be included in the VOX Box by emailing media@voices.com.

Farewell:

Thank you for joining us today. If you’d like to learn more about our service and how we can serve you, visit our website Voices.com. Bye for now!

VOX Talk PODCAST: EPISODE 4

Podcast Description:

VOX Talk is your connection to the voice industry covering news about voice-overs and voice actors, hot tips on how to grow your voice-over business, technology, and Q&A with the experts at Voices.com.

Salutation:

Welcome to VOX Talk, brought to you by Voices.com. My name is Stephanie Ciccarelli, co-founder of Voices.com and your host for today’s show. VOX Talk is about you! It’s a new podcast that helps you grow in your voiceover career. Each episode will begin with news and current voice-over events in a segment called “The Loop”. Then, we’ll explore business development and hot trends that will set you apart as a professional voice actor. Next on the list is Tech Talk, a segment where our team will review products and guide you through the technological landscape. Lastly, we’ll answer your questions and play audio feedback in a segment called “VoxBox”.

Now that we’re ready to go, let’s move on to our first segment!

The Loop:

News #1

Larry King: 50 Years in the Biz

Legendary broadcast icon Larry King, host of the television program “Larry King Live” on CNN, is celebrating 50 years of broadcasting in April of this year with a weeklong series of shows. The lineup for King's April celebration has not yet been finalized. Oprah Winfrey is one of the scheduled guests, and former US President Bill Clinton and actress Angelina Jolie are being pursued for two of the other nights. Katie Couric will interview King on the last celebration show. King has also agreed to a 50th-anniversary roast, with Bill Maher emceeing.
Larry King, age 77, has been with CNN for 24 of those 50 Golden years.
To learn more, visit the links on the VOX Talk blog http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/headline/entertainment/4458210.html

News #2

In other news, Screaming Bee LLC has created an online support area for Sony Sound Forge users. Sound Forge is a professional-grade audio editor that can import, record and manipulate sound and then save content to various file formats. The educational page provides tips for multimedia enthusiasts and professionals on how to integrate MorphVOX Pro Voice Changer with this audio editor.

MorphVOX Pro provides high-quality voice morphing for online games, instant messaging, and the professional studio. It can also be used for creating voice-overs for audio and video projects.

For more information, go to Screamingbee.com

News #3

Our last story is about a German company, Fraunhofer IIS, that has been converting analog audio recordings into digital audio recordings for twenty years.

The German research institute is commemorating this milestone with a range of events including the release of several videocasts which promise to deliver insights into the development of mp3 and the early days of audio coding. Additionally, the mp3 history is offered as an mp3 podcast.

The highlight of these celebrations will be the Day of Audio Coding on May 25, 2007.

To learn more and to watch the videocasts, visit the VOX Talk links for episode 4.

http://www.iis.fraunhofer.de/fhg/iis/EN/bf/amm/mp3history/index.jsp (English translation of website and History of MP3 videocasts)

If you have any news or a voice-over related item that you would like to send in, send it to media@voices.com.

The Biz:

This week in The Biz, we’ll be discussing the new Charlotte’s Web movie, currently in theatres everywhere.

If you've read the classic children's novel “Charlotte's Web” by E.B. White, you've likely heard about the new Charlotte's Web movie (2006), complete with computer generated characters alongside a human cast, starring the voice talents of Julia Roberts as the beloved spider and heroine, Charlotte A. Cavatica.

Charlotte's Web teaches us about life and death, trust, friendship and also proves that we can all make a difference in the lives of others if we try.

While today's generation of children will remember the film starring Dakota Fanning, Julia Roberts, and John Cleese those of us born in the eighties and beforehand know a different, gentler Charlotte's Web, released in 1973, starring the voice talents of Debbie Reynolds as Charlotte the Spider, Paul Lynde as Templeton the Rat, and Henry Gibson as Wilbur.
You may also appreciate that Don Messick played the role of Jeffrey and that Rex Allen was the Narrator.
Now, to the heart of the matter: which voice cast did you like best?

Send in your comments and feedback by leaving a comment on the VOX Talk blog or by sending in your audio feedback to media@voices.com.

Tech Talk:

This week in Tech Talk, we’ll talk about the new iPhone from Apple Inc.

If you think you heard me incorrectly, I did indeed say “Apple Inc.”. As of this month, Apple shortened their name from Apple Computer Inc. to Apple Inc.

For those of you up on the technological beat, Mac World, the annual Mac conference is taking place all this week in Cupertino California, celebrating 30 years of new products and innovation. The most recent products announced were the Apple TV and the iPhone. The iPhone, which aims to reinvent the mobile phone, has a microphone built in allowing anyone with the device to record conversations or telephone calls. Bearing that in mind, it’s reasonable to imagine that the iPhone will contribute significantly to the growth of interview-style podcasts.

What does this mean for you? More voice talent will be in demand to produce imaging and promos for new podcast productions.

The iPhone will be available in the US in June of 2007.

VoxBox:

Welcome to VoxBox! This has been a crazy week, with ACTRA striking and all! Earlier this afternoon, I asked five questions of ACTRA talent registered at Voices.com affected by the strike. I was able to get a hold of Bob Brewster in the province of Quebec, a province that joined the ACTRA strike today:

1) Hi Bob, thanks for taking the time to answer a few questions. First off, how is the ACTRA strike affecting you personally as a union member based in Quebec?

2) I see. So, as a member of ACTRA, are you being compensated for your inability to accept various projects during the strike?

3) How significant do you think this strike is? I've heard it is the first time since the inception of ACTRA over 60 years ago that the union has gone on strike.

4) Do you have picket duty?

5) And the question of the hour: Is there an end in sight? Do you have any projections to share?

Play Bob Brewster’s feedback

I’d like to thank Bob Brewster for sharing his thoughts with us today. To hear more from other affected ACTRA members, visit the VOX Daily Blog at blogs.voices.com/voxdaily/

If you have something you would like to share, perhaps a tip, a comment or suggestion, send in your MP3 file to be included in the VOX Box by emailing media@voices.com.

Farewell:

Thank you for joining us today. If you just can’t get enough, log on to Voices.com for more information about how our service works and how we can serve you. Bye for now!

VOX Talk PODCAST: EPISODE 3

Podcast Description:

VOX Talk is your connection to the voice industry covering news about voice-overs and voice actors, hot tips on how to grow your voice-over business, technology, and Q&A with the experts at Voices.com.

Salutation:

Welcome to VOX Talk, brought to you by Voices.com. My name is Stephanie Ciccarelli, co-founder of Voices.com and your host for today’s show. VOX Talk is about you! It’s a podcast that helps you grow in your voiceover career. Each episode will begin with news and current voice-over events in a segment called “The Loop”. Then, we’ll explore business development and hot trends that will set you apart as a professional voice actor. Next on the list is Tech Talk, a segment where our team will review products and guide you through the technological landscape. Lastly, we’ll answer your questions and play audio feedback in a segment called “VoxBox”.

Now that we’re ready to go, let’s move on to our first segment!

The Loop:

News #1

ACTRA Strike

ACTRA, the Alliance of Canadian Cinema, Television and Radio Artists, went on strike today, January 8th, 2007 over low wages and new media distribution of ACTRA performances. According to the Canadian Broadcast Corporation, ACTRA may get into hot water over their "wild cat" strike, even be brought to court. Actors who are in productions affected by the strike were told not to go to work, audition, or record ADR for any IPA production that has not signed a letter of continuation with the union. Provinces affected by the ACTRA strike include Ontario, Manitoba and Saskatchewan. ACTRA will strike in Quebec on Wednesday, January 10, 2007 with other Canadian provinces to follow.
http://blogs.voices.com/voxdaily/2007/01/actra_strike.html

News #2

In other news, Al Gore may not have won the presidency, but he has won the hearts and minds of countless people around the world with his documentary "An Inconvenient Truth", a production which he also narrated. The documentary has a simple message: humanity needs to change its fossil fuel consumption habits to turn back the Global Warming clock, and there’s only 10 years to do it before we reach the point of no return.

To watch a video interview with Al Gore and to learn more about how you can help, go to blogs.voices.com/voxdaily/

News #3

Our last story is about your favorite voiceover jobs of 2006. Several voice talent took the opportunity to share what their favorite jobs were of the past year, detailing their roles in animation, telephony, narration projects, commercials and more. If you’d like to join in the conversation, go to VOX Daily at blogs.voices.com/voxdaily/

If you have any news or a voice-over related item that you would like to submit, send it to media@voices.com.

The Biz:

This week in The Biz, you’ll find out just how easy it is to make your voice sound as compelling as possible.

If you can imagine it, you can voice it convincingly!

John Tesh mentioned on his radio show last week that people who only imagined laughing experienced the same level of happiness released by endorphins as people who actually laughed out loud.

What that means for voice actors is that if you can summon a memory of a particular event or imagine yourself experiencing a feeling, it will trigger a reaction just as real as if it were happening to you. We could refer to this as ‘method acting’. Method actors draw upon life experiences and personal memories to perform their roles.

So, imaging something happy could make your voice happier sounding; a poignant memory could make your voice sound melancholy; imaging that you’ve just stubbed your toe could make you feel pain.

Why don’t you give it a try and let us know how this theory worked for you by leaving a comment on the VOX Talk blog at blogs.voices.com/voxtalk/ or by sending in some audio feedback to media@voices.com

Tech Talk:

This week in Tech Talk, we’ll talk about podcasting.

If you've been hanging around the Apple site, you probably realized that Joe Cipriano is now their podcasting poster boy. While many who get to know Joe through Apple may see him as a podcasting pro, the voiceover industry knows Joe as one of the worlds most in demand voiceover talents.
Joe is heard on television sets in households everywhere with his recognizable style doing promos for Fox, NBC, and CBS among other stations.

Joe recently helped to produce an Apple Podcast Recipe Tutorial, a tutorial that teaches people how to podcast using Apple’s GarageBand recording software.

Recently, Voices.com member and podcaster Donna Papacosta interviewed Joe on her podcast, Trafcom.com. To listen to Donna’s interview with Joe, click on the links for Episode 3 of VOX Talk.

VoxBox:

Welcome to VoxBox! Our first comment has been sent in by professional voice talent, Julie Williams, complete with some tips for you!

Thank you Julie for sending in that excellent clip!

If you have something you would like to share, perhaps a tip, a comment or suggestion, send in your MP3 file to be included in the VOX Box by emailing media@voices.com.

Farewell:

Thank you for joining us today. If you just can’t get enough, log on to Voices.com for more information about how our service works and how we can serve you. Bye for now!

VOX Talk PODCAST: EPISODE 2

Podcast Description:

VOX Talk is your connection to the voice industry covering news about voice-overs and voice actors, hot tips on how to grow your voice-over business, technology, and Q&A with the experts at Voices.com.

Salutation:

Welcome to VOX Talk, brought to you by Voices.com. My name is Stephanie Ciccarelli, co-founder of Voices.com and your host for today’s show. VOX Talk is about you! It’s a new podcast that helps you grow in your voiceover career. Each episode will begin with news and current voice-over events in a segment called “The Loop”. Then, we’ll explore business development and hot trends that will set you apart as a professional voice actor. Next on the list is Tech Talk, a segment where our team will review products and guide you through the technological landscape. Lastly, we’ll answer your questions in a segment called “VoxBox”.

Now that we’re ready to go, let’s move on to our first segment!

The Loop:

News #1

Radio is 100 years old

Once upon a time, someone had a brilliant idea. The date was Christmas Eve, 1906, the man was Reginald Fessenden, and his idea included transmitting his voice and the singing of a Christmas carol to ships in the Atlantic and the Caribbean. By doing so, he gave the world what is considered to be the first radio broadcast. Truth be known, Reginald, a Canadian citizen, had transmitted history's first wireless voice transmission in 1900 while he was under contract with the Weather Bureau. Later that year, he would go on his own, proving his theory on December 23rd from an island in the Potomac River.

At the time of his death, Reginald Fessenden, had over 500 patents to his credit.

News #2

In other news, Rodney Saulsberry, author of "You can bank on your voice" and the voice of television promos and numerous movie trailers such as, How Stella Got Her Groove Back, Finding Forrester, Tupac Resurrection, Friday and Dumb & Dumberer is teaching a 6-week Promo and Trailer teleclass on Thursday evenings starting on January 11th through February 15th 2007.
Seating for this teleclass is limited to 12 participants on a first come first served basis.

The VOX Daily Book Club will also be kicking off the New Year by reading and discussing Rodney’s best-selling book “You Can Bank on Your Voice”.

For more information about Rodney Saulsberry’s Promo and Trailer teleclass, visit VOX Daily at blogs.voices.com/voxdaily/

News #3

Our last story is about technological advancements at Buckingham Palace. Queen Elizabeth the second is now a podcaster! In conjunction with the BBC, all of Queen Elizabeth’s speeches are now being podcasted as well as delivered through broadcast mediums. Queen Elizabeth recorded her official Christmas message earlier last December as a podcast, ensuring that avid listeners and royal admirers would be able to subscribe ahead of time to receive the MP3 message as it happened in tandem with the live broadcast scheduled for Christmas Day.

If you have any news or a voice-over related event that you would like to submit, send them to media@voices.com.

The Biz:

This week in The Biz, we’ll be looking at how you can turn a non-union voiceover job into a union voiceover job, courtesy of Avi Melman and Pat Fraley.

In his holiday podcast, Avi Melman interviewed the illustrious Pat Fraley, voice actor, author, guru and all-around great guy.

While I was listening to the podcast, something struck me. I'd never heard of this before, but upon closer examination, it makes absolutely perfect sense.

If someone offers you a job and states that it is 'non-union', you as a union talent can still take that job by following a simple formula deemed kosher by the union.

For instance, Pat is a union player. A client offered him a job to voice a talking parrot. The job itself looked like it could cost about $500 to do, perhaps less.

Pat quoted $1000 and the client was quite agreeable, but insisted that the job he was offering to Pat was still non-union. No problem, says Mr. Fraley. And why was it not a problem for Pat?

Because Pat knows how to turn a non-union job into a union job.

Here's how you can do it too:

By union ruling, you can turn a non-union job into a union job by taking the fee appropriate to a payroll company who tells you how much it's going to cost. This payroll company acts as a union signator, doing all of the paperwork for you, which in turn greatly simplifies matters for your client. The job is thus unionized. The union gets paid, the agent gets paid, medicare gets paid, and so forth.

Rule of thumb: The fee needs to be 40% more than the AFTRA or SAG minimum for this formula to work. In other words, non-union jobs that pay lower may not qualify to be 'turned' into union jobs.

For links to the article and to the AFTRA and SAG rates, visit blogs.voices.com/voxtalk.

Tech Talk:

This week in Tech Talk, we’ll talk about watermarks.

A watermark is essentially a snippet of sound used to protect custom voice recordings in an audition situation or when asked directly to record a custom sample of a script.

It could be a recorded beep, bell, or tone that briefly overlaps with your voice, for instance occurring in the middle of a word or name in an audio recording.

At Voices.com we advocate the use of watermarks and strongly encourage you to use them to protect your voice samples from theft or misuse to avoid theft or misuse of audition material.

To quote a conversation at VoiceOverTimes, this is how David Houston uses watermarks:

If I decide to add a watermark, I just use a 0.5 second, 1kHz tone placed every few seconds.

A music bed (at a low level) is another option; just make sure you note in your proposal that the audition has, in fact, been watermarked. You can download some sample watermarks here at Voices.com.

What's even more exciting is that we’re currently developing a bank of tried, tested, and true watermarks used by your colleagues in the audio biz. This collection will be a communal bank of royalty-free watermarks, absolutely safe and free for you to use to protect your work.

If you would like to donate a watermark, send me an email, including your MP3 watermark to media@voices.com.

VoxBox:

Welcome to VoxBox! As this is the first show, I’d like to invite you to submit your audio feedback to be included on future VoxBox segments. How do you do that? Simply record your comments or questions and email your MP3 recording to media@voices.com.

Farewell:

Thank you for joining us today. If you just can’t get enough, log on to Voices.com for more information about how our service works and how we can serve you.

VOX Talk PODCAST: EPISODE 1

Intro:

VOX Talk is your connection to the voice industry covering news about voice-overs and voice actors, hot tips on how to grow your voice-over business, technology, and Q&A with the experts at Voices.com.

Salutation:

Welcome to VOX Talk, brought to you by Voices.com. My name is Stephanie Ciccarelli, co-founder of Voices.com and your host for today’s show. VOX Talk is about you! It’s a new podcast that helps you grow in your voiceover career. Each episode will begin with news and current voice-over events in a segment called “The Loop”. Then, we’ll explore business development and hot trends that will set you apart as a professional voice actor. Next on the list is Tech Talk, a segment where our team will review products and guide you through the technological landscape. Lastly, we’ll answer your questions in a segment called “VoxBox”.

Now that we’re ready to go, let’s move on to our first segment!

The Loop:

News #1

You may have heard this already, but Time Magazine says that you are the person of the year! Surprised? During 2006, there was an exponential increase in user-generated content on the Internet, that is to say that people who use websites were actually helping to build them up by creating profiles, commenting on blogs, and submitting information to hubs of virtual activity such as MySpace, Wikipedia and Ask. Through these endeavors, each person who participated became a creator, an author, or an expert, garnering the title of Person of the Year.

News #2

If you’re a reader of the VOX Daily blog, you are also familiar with another list of notable mentions of people, movements, and articles that made an impact on the voice industry this year. One such person was voice artist Sara Mendes da Costa of Great Britain, otherwise known as the voice of the Speaking Clock. Sara was chosen for her warmth and style over 18,000 other applicants. To find out more about the other stories that rounded out the top ten, visit VOX Daily at blogs.voices.com/voxdaily/

News #3

Our last story is about a man who gave millions of people childhood memories that would last a lifetime. Joseph Barbera, half of the infamous animator duo Hanna-Barbera, passed away on December 18th 2006 of natural causes with his wife Sheila by his side. Barbera, known for creating enduring characters such as Yogi Bear, The Flintstones, The Jetsons and Scooby-Doo left behind a legacy of epic proportions. He was 95.

If you have any news or a voice-over related event that you would like to submit, send them to media@voices.com.

The Biz:

This week in The Biz, we’ll be looking at what you can do to find an agent. There is a detailed article about this very subject that you can read on the Ask the Voice Cat blog, so I’ll give you the highlights for now.

First off, if you haven’t been to a voice over coach or taken any lessons, book yourself a session with a coach in your area.

After you’ve honed your skills and are comfortable with reading copy, your voice coach may suggest that you are ready to record your first voice-over demo.

Following that, the key is to promote your demo to the ends of the earth, but before you spend a lot of money on postage, be sure that the agencies are accepting new talent submissions. This may take a bit of research, but the deeper you dig, the better received you’ll be. Be sure to include a brief cover letter and a resume with your CD.

For more ideas and details on how to get your voice heard by agents, go to http://blogs.voices.com/askthevoicecat

Tech Talk:

This week in Tech Talk, we’ll talk about the power of search.

Search engines play a vital role in how we as a people find answers to our questions. If you need to know the score for a sports game, it's online. If you are digging up a recipe that turns all of your leftover turkey into a gourmet delight, you'll find it on the web. Searching for what you are looking for is as easy as visiting a search engine website, typing in your question or keywords into the search bar and clicking on the search button.

But, what about questions about voice overs?

Although many of your questions can be answered at Voices.com, sometimes you'll have questions that are more specific to your location, in which case, it's best that you perform a search via a search engine, including questions like:

1. Are there voice coaches in New York?


2. Does such and such agency have a rep in Springfield?

3. I need to record my demo. Where is the nearest recording studio to my home?

Search engines are truly marvelous tools that help bring information to your fingertips. You just need to know how to use them.

VoxBox:

Welcome to VoxBox! As this is the first show, I’d like to invite you to submit your audio feedback to be included on future VoxBox segments. How do you do that? Simply record your comments or questions and email your MP3 recording to media@voices.com.

Farewell:

Thank you for joining us today. If you just can’t get enough, log on to Voices.com for more information about how our service works and how we can serve you. Until next time, remember to keep hip, happenin’ and hydrated!

VOX Talk Promo:

Hi there, this is Stephanie Ciccarelli from Voices.com and the host of our weekly podcast, VOX Talk. Join us every week to learn about voiceovers, hear about the latest trends, business tips, technology, and more. You can subscribe to VOX Talk through the iTunes Podcast Directory – it’s that easy! You can also listen to VOX Talk at the Voices.com website. So, what are you waiting for? Subscribe to VOX Talk today through iTunes. Thanks for listening!