SAG Awards honors Julie Andrews and voice talent, Verizon said “No” to Apple, Judges citing Wikipedia in court rulings, Podcasting with Kristi Stewart, Flickr, Mike Cain feedback on vocal warm ups.
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SAG Awards: Verizon, Kiefer Sutherland, Apple, Don LaFontaine, Julie Andrews, Kristi Stewart, Podcasting, Flickr and Mike Cain
Transcript of Vox Talk #9
Male: Episode 9


Stephanie Ciccarelli: Hey there, this is Stephanie Ciccarelli and I’m your host. Welcome
to VOX Talk!
Male: The Loop, informing you of news and current voiceover events.
Stephanie Ciccarelli: 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 voiceover 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 voiceover greats including Don LaFontaine among others.
For more information about the Screen Actors Guild and who the winners were this year, visit sagawards.com.
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

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. The Supreme Court thus far has never cited Wikipedia.
For more information, check the links for this show on the VOX Talk blog.
If you have any news to share, send it to me via email. You can reach me at [email protected].
Male: The Biz, helping you grow your voiceover business.
Stephanie Ciccarelli: This week in The Biz, Kristi Stewart will share her experiences with podcasting.
Kristi Stewart: When I was asked to do a piece on podcasting, I reflected and said, “Okay, what does it really mean?” I looked it up. To deliver a Web-based audio broadcast via an RSS feed to subscribers over the internet. Well, I think it’s more than that. It’s a new frontier for voice talent but really, if you think about it, it’s not that new. It’s really a different form of broadcasting. Pocasts are radio programs but they’re accessible to millions and millions of people in the expanding universe of the internet.
I worked in the media for more than 25 years and this form of getting the word out is very attractive especially to voice talents. It’s a way to gain invaluable exposure. I’m a regular cast member on a sci-fi podcast entitled “Silent Universe”. It’s an old-time radio serial if you will. It releases a new episode every six to eight weeks. I get to interact on a regular basis with other voice actors because the cast members are spread out all over the world, I have an opportunity to be heard in places I’d never dreamed of. I gain exposure in this untapped universe of listeners and potential clients and best of all, I get to fulfill one of my dreams of being a voice actor on a continuing series.
I’ve also guest-hosted another podcast, Deloitte and Touche’s Deloitte Insights where I had the opportunity to interview an expert about the importance of Canada’s oil sands. I guess what I’m trying to say in a nutshell if you as a voice talent get an opportunity to become involved in a podcast, jump at the chance because it will garner you more exposure than you’ve ever dreamed of to audiences you thought you’d never reach and for the most part, will require only a small amount of time on your part to record a segment, read a few lines or an interview.
As a voice talent, you can take advantage of the emergence of these podcasts by doing a little research. Find out what companies in your area are involved in producing these segments and offer to get involved. Inquire about how you might audition to host or perhaps act as a correspondent on a continual basis. In this ever-growing universe, you never know who will hear you and say, “Gee, I think I’d like to hire that voice.” I’m Kristi Stewart for VOX. Happy podcasting.
Stephanie Ciccarelli: Thank you Kristi.
If you have any questions or topics that you’d like to see covered in this segment, e-mail your suggestions to [email protected]
Male: Tech Talk, walking you through the technological landscape.
Stephanie Ciccarelli: 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, Voices.com has 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 of them 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 e-mail program.
Can you see the problem?
Now, 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 check out our Flickr slideshow and view our Flickr profile to give you a bit of an idea to see how Flickr can work for you. To create your own Flickr slideshow, sign up for free at Flickr. That’s Flickr.com.
Male: VoxBox, answering your voiceover questions.
Stephanie Ciccarelli: This week, I received some feedback from voice talent Mike Cain about warming up your voice. Let’s have a listen.
Mike Cain: Hi, I’m Mike Cain and I want to stress the importance of a vocal warm-up. Athletes, before they go out, they warm-up. Singers, before they sing, they warm-up. That vocal instrument of yours needs to warm-up. It is your livelihood. It’s how we make money. Therefore, you must take care of it and a vocal warm-up is so important. I use a couple of pages of tongue twisters until I feel comfortable. Also, try Gilbert and Sullivan lyrics. They’re great for timing and pacing, a wonderful vocal work out.
So there we go. Two forms of vocal warm-up, your tongue twisters, Gilbert and Sullivan lyrics or whatever you want to use, vocal warm-up. You’re going to save yourself a lot of problems with you voice during the day if you take the time to warm up but you must warm up those vocal cords. I’m Mike Cain.
Stephanie Ciccarelli: Thank you Mike for highlighting just how important a good vocal warm-up is. I’m glad you enjoyed the segment on warming up last week.
That puts this 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.
Links from today’s show:
SAG Awards 2007
Verizon turns down Apple
Judges cite Wikipedia
Kristi Stewart
Comments
If anyone has a YouTube clip of this segment, I’d love to see it.
Just drop the URL in as a comment.
Thanks!
David