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The first part of that question, “What is voice over training?” has come up for me from time to time in the past. I know I’ve tried to explain many of the aspects of training, or the methods used while coaching voice over, but I don’t know if I, or anyone else for that matter, have been able to sum up in an article on the internet what type of training “voice over training” really is.
There are so many links and options available on the internet that promise to lead to information about voice over that it can be rather confusing for anyone looking to get started in the business. Many of those links lead to financial or marketing dead ends, where the reader is told or begins to realize that if they want to know any more they are going to have to join a mailing list or pay someone money to find out. I have never believed in that model nor do I practice it.
Continue reading What is Voice Over Training? Profiting from hopeful talent?
Often times I’m asked by my students, which voices are out there that I like. It’s a hard question for me to answer because there are so many I like – and most of them for very different reasons. I don’t like telling people to go out and copy someone’s style but when it comes to finding good role models in voice over this is probably a good place to start.
So it is here that I will periodically try to nail down some of those voices – and what is I most like about them. None of these should be viewed as personal endorsements as to the character of the talents or how they work they just happen to be examples of what I like to hear of when I think of voice talent and who I would hire or recommend for projects. (other than myself of course!)
Continue reading Some of my favorite voices and voice over talent – Issue #1
Yeah, yeah.. I know.. Flying donkeys.. Sure, that’s something you see everyday… I just wanted to get your attention so that you would sit up straight in class. Audio proficiency is what’s at hand here and the use of the phrase “ready to fly” means ready to move your can in the event you have to. As usual, I would like to share some of my real world voice over experience in hopes that it may help someone survive a potentially embarrassing situation – or best of all – avoid one all together. You never know when a client will call just as you’ve hopped into the car to take the little lady shoe shopping, asking for something you might not be able to deliver.
Continue reading Audio Proficiency: You better be ready to fly little donkey…
One of the hardest things for new voice talent to overcome when they have little to no experience with sound isolation, acoustics or audio recording, is how to get the audio they do record up to standards that would be acceptable for professional production. Many times beginners will pout and cry about how they never get hired or booked for a gig without looking at one of the core reasons, outside of professional training, why they don’t. That reason is how the product they so desperately want to sell sounds.
If you took the greatest voice talent in the world and forced him to record his stuff in a bathroom, no one would ever hire him. Why would you? His audio would stink.
 Acoustic Treatment for Voice Over Schematic
Though daily, many people wander out into the VO world with audio that sounds like it was recorded in their bathroom – and they wonder why it is they have so much trouble.
Continue reading Acoustic Treatments for Voice Over Production Environments
Some of you are going to have to excuse my methods of explaining some things in this article because it was meant to help newbies understand some of the basic principals of digital audio recording and effects processing. In an effort to foster this understanding I have used references and terms or words that don’t directly apply to digital audio in general and there are some areas where I declined to fully embellish all of the details. This article wasn’t meant for audiophiles or scientists, so if you are one, please look beyond some of my gorilla tactics when it comes to explaining some of this stuff.
Continue reading Sample or Sampling Rate – The rate at which the audio is sampled by the recording device.
The other day, talking to one of my students about how he had the right attitude for success, reminded me of just how far I have come from my not so humble beginnings in this business. When I first started, my ego wasn’t in check, I thought I was much better than I actually was, my head was wedged “Way up there” and I was off on a mission to destroy my career before it even started.
Continue reading Its time to get that big fat head off your shoulders – Looking inward by Michael Minetree.
The voice bone is connected to the microphone-bone,
The microphone-bone is connected to the mixer-bone,
The mixer-bone is connected to the audio interface-bone,
And that’s how your paid for your voice.
The audio interface-bone is connected to the computer-bone,
The computer-bone is loaded with the editing software-bone,
The editing software-bone is connected to the mp3 encoder-bone,
And that’s how your paid for your voice.
The mp3 encoder-bone is connected to the e-mail-bone,
The email bone is connected to the your client-bone,
The your client-bone is connected to your wallet-bone,
And that’s how you get paid for your voice.
(I’m sure this little song will haunt me for the rest of my life.)
If you are getting into voice over and want to start taking lessons over the Internet or performing and recording voice over at home. These are the things you need to do it, and the things you need to consider along the way.
In order to participate in online coaching, Internet voice over databases or to be able to record your voice on your computer you will need these items:
Continue reading The “Getting Started in Voice Over” checklist – these are the things you will need to get going.
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