If there's one thing that gets me, it's the lack of love (or so it seems) that the industry has for voice actors.
Bob Bergen makes a very strong viewpoint on this, and frankly I'm inclined to agree with it.
So it gives me great pleasure when I hear about the entertainment industry recognizes one of our own. It doesn't happen often enough from outside of the VO ranks, so when it does I think it's worth lauding.
Voice over legend June Foray took home her first Emmy for Outstanding Performer in an Animated Program for her performance as Mrs. Cauldron in "The Garfield Show" on Cartoon Network. This is one role in Ms. Foray's prolific voice over career (she's still rocking the mic at 94 years young), and to me this is an award that's been long overdue to her.
Congrats June!!! For those who are interested, there's more info here.
Next up, I headed off to Liz de Nesnera ‘s presentation on “Talking Telephony”. I don’t get many jobs for that type of voice over, but I know that telephony-based voiceovers are some of most ubiquitous out there, and for people like Liz, it’s a way of life.
This was a sleeper of a panel for me. Before the hate mail starts rolling in, I mean a sleeper, not a snoozer. I wasn’t expecting to get a lot out of this panel, but I was still drawn to learn more about it. I have often said that I’ve learned the most when I didn’t think there was much to learn… this held true for Liz’s panel. Yeah, the technical stuff was pretty easy for me, and not too much was new there (although I can see some great uses for Word2Wav, especially with some of the industrials I have to do). However, the actual voice acting, general schema, etc. related to things such as IVR, voice prompts, and the like were completely new to me and a total 180 from what I expected. Add to that the approach that Liz defined, the marketing techniques she identified, and the simple (yet effective) methods of finding clients (either via direct contact, or by finding production houses which specialize in telephony VO) made this panel a very educational and entertaining one for me.
After the 11AM panel, I headed down to the exhibit hall and toured through the place to see what was being offered. Popped by the Voice Over Extra booth, and greeted John Florian. One of the big things that hit me during VOICE so far was the number of great people whom I met and converse with on a regular basis, but rarely get to see in person. If there’s one thing I do like about VOICE, it’s the ability to meet and catch up with so many people in the industry that I wouldn’t normally get to see otherwise. Unfortunatley, I’m digressing though…
John was nice enough to let me use some space at his booth to set up some gear and get a few roving interviews to share with others. First off was John himself, who was gracious enough to take some time away from what he was doing to give me a few minutes of his time to test out the recording chain. Unfortunately, I only had time for one more interview before the next panel, and I was lucky enough to get Pete Rofe’ to agree to join me for what turned into a monster interview (but a really good one, as Peter’s insights into voice over and acting in general are spot on). Once I get a chance to upload the clips, I’ll share them via the blog (and John was very kind to host the clips as well). I can’t promise the best quality due to the environment, but for those who wanted to attend, but couldn’t or weren’t sure that VOICE was for them, I think these clips will be a great way to see just what you’re missing.
After snagging those two interviews, I was able to bounce between George Whittam's panel on the Technology of Voiceover and Erik Sheppard's panel on Simple Mistakes that Talent Make. Now for those who don't know George Whittam, he's the guy behind Eldorado Recording Services. Prior to VOICE 2010, I heard one talent who was critiquing the Guests of Honor ask the question "who is George Whittam... I've never heard of him." Well, this is George Whittam, and any guy who can build a studio for the likes of the late Don LaFontaine, Joe Cipriano, and a veritable "who's who" within the voice acting community (not to mention the Don LaFontaine Voiceover Lab) is A-ok in my book. George's panel is always a good one, especially for new talent or those who don't have some kind of recording background. Even gearheads like me can pick up a few things with some of the newer technologies out there which we may have otherwise ignored. For example, I would never have bothered to utilize something like a CEntrance MicPort Pro for my "VO 2 Go" kit if I hadn't read George's reviews of the device.
(Besides, George originally hails from my hometown, West Chester PA. You've got to support the locals :)
Erik Sheppard's panel was also very good, and highlighted mistakes that pretty much any voice actor has made over the course of their career (most of which he probably enocuntered first hand in his position with Voice Talent Productions). I heard more than a few groans and such from folks who'd committed the very same faux pas that Erick discussed. It was a great panel which discussed ways in which voice over talent manage to work themselves out of a job via oversights, snafus, and by not following directions.
That last one is in bold for a reason, because while some items can be overlooked (one of my better clients was landed by a fauz pas on my part which might have seemed fatal at the time, but was turned into a positive experience for the client by the way in which I handled it), an unwillingness to follow client/agent/casting director/director directions is a very quick way to make certain that your demo gets tossed into the "ignore" pile.
The final panel for the afternoon session I attended was Beverley Bremer's panel on "How to Weat 3 Hats". I viewed this as a panel which was really good for beginner and intermediate voice talent, as too often they focus on one aspect of the voice over process (usually the talent). While that's not a bad thing per se, it can quickly lead to a myopic view that causes the talent to lose out on various opportunities. Within the voice over world, the voice actor needs to put themselves in the position of talent, director, and engineer. The talent portion of the presentation is pretty self-explanatory, however the other two are often overlooked by voice talent that is less experienced. Interpretation of what the director wants, and the ability to self-direct are as important as the acting ability according to Bremers, and I wholeheartedly agree. There's an old VO adage which states that your first take needs to be what the specs ask for, but the second should be what you think they actually want. That's self-direction for VO in a nutshell... you need to be able to understand what the copy is really asking for and then to do it.
The final item, Engineering, is a bit of a no-brainer if you have a home studio, but you'd be amazed how often people forget to do a little audio engineering during their auditions. A poorly edited file is a quick way to work yourself out of a booking that would have otherwise been yours. Especially in today's VO market, it's become more and more of a critical skill to have, and one which cannot be ignored.
On that note, I'm going to try and get some rest before Day 2. There's nothing worse than trying to attend these panels when you're batteries need major recharging.
By the end of Beverly's panel, I was pretty well wiped out. That's the thing with VOICE. If you try to hit everything, you're going to be wiped out at the end of the day. It's not a bad thing, but you need to be judicious when it comes to what you choose to attend, because some panels are more intensive than others.
Managed to have a slightly saner wakeup call this morning (6:15AM), which was a most pleasant change from the day before. Got a quick breakfast, showered, shaved, and ready for the day’s activities. First off was the introductory speech by James and Penny, which was similar to what was at VOICE 2008, but thankfully the issues which kept the keynote speaker from appearing did not occur this time.
This year, the opening speaker for VOICE was none other than Pat Fraley. If you haven’t worked with, trained with, or seen a presentation from Pat, then you’re missing out. Without a doubt, Pat is one of the nicest guys in the business, and one most well respected (the man is a VO machine; just check out his imdb page... it's nothing short of astounding). For VOICE he didn’t disappoint, but then again he never does…
Pat opened the convention with the premise of voiceover comedy. As voice over folks, we often bring comedy into what we do, but how often do we actually think about the comedy within the copy? Not as often as you might think. To do this, Pat started to cast for a spot that he wanted to use to kick off the show. He asked for what was nothing less than an unusual character (gruff, Jewish, and 6’9”). If that sounds a bit off, you’re 100% right, but that’s because Pat was setting us all up for his co-host, who was none other than Brad Garrett… hey, I told you that Pat never disappoints.
What followed was one of the most riotous panels I’ve ever seen in my life.Pat and Brad riffed on pretty much everyone and everything, and frankly, this event was worth the cost of admission alone (for me at least).As Pat, Brad, and a host of volunteers demonstrated throughout the 90+ minute panel, there are a multitude of ways to raise the stakes of the copy to the point of hilarity, and still get the message across.All too often, I think these are things which get overlooked (or can be) in the morass of the process.It reminded me a LOT of improvisation, and the things I’d learned during my time training with the People’s Improv Theatre in NYC.
I'm trying my best not to give anyone eye strain from all the stuff that occurred at VOICE 2010, so I've been breaking these up as best possible. I'll have the second half of the the first day of VOICE 2010 up later tonight.
Well, I was packed (more or less) and ready to head out to the airport for my flight to Los Angeles sometime around “dark 0-hundred”. Now I love to travel, but the idea of getting up at the crack of dawn to get on to a plane is not quite my idea of a good time. Love heading out to LA to network and learn with some of the best voice over people in the business, but don’t mess with my sleep…
Get to the airport, which was unusually busy at 5:40 AM on a Wednesday, bags checked, and got to play with the folks from TSA (who were surprisingly nonchalant about me waltzing through security with a DSLR kit in one bag and a bunch of recording gear in the other). Hop on the plane and get to enjoy Southwest’s hospitality for the next 7.5 hours.
When I finally landed in LA, I was fortunate enough to arrive about 30 minutes or so early. Good stuff… lets me get more done before the festivities begin. Got to the hotel, checked in (ironically, I’m only about two doors down from the room I was in at VOICE 2008, which was one of the nicer hotel rooms I’d been in over the past two years). Another item of irony (and unexpected pleasure) was to spot the person who was checking into their room right before me. None other than D.B. Cooper, whom I haven’t seen in far too long for my tastes (not only a talented voice actress and Website designer, but D.B. runs one of the larger and more popular forums on the net). After spending some time chatting with D.B., I did something which I probably should have done earlier… eat (save for a bag of peanuts on the flight, and a 100 calorie pack of cheese-its, I’d not had much chance to grab some food). For those who’ve never been to the Hyatt Regency Century Plaza where VOICE is being held, I’ll say two things about it:
1. Very nice hotel that will cater to nearly any need you might have, with a restaurant that is staffed by one of the friendliest groups of people that I’ve met in my travels. 2. If they could figure out a way to charge you a fee for using the air, they probably would. If you can get past the second item, I highly recommend staying here whenever you’re in Los Angeles.
It seems that my penchant for running into people was in high gear today… as I’m heading out of the restaurant, I run into none other than Ron Levine, the venerable Santa Claus that everyone remembered from VOICE 2008. After helping Ron to settle in a bit, we headed over to the local mall to stretch our legs a bit after spending several hours on our respective flights, and to pick up some supplies to get us through the conference (as much as I do enjoy the hotel we’re at, I’m not crazy enough to pay some of the prices they’re asking for at times). Headed back to the hotel after grabbing some supplies and somehow managed to catch about 30 or so minutes of rest before getting changed and ready for the Red Carpet Reception which kicked off VOICE 2010.
So after getting a bit of rest and changing into something a bit more appropriate than jeans and a wrinkled shirt, I headed down to the Red Carpet Reception. What follows is the stuff that voice actor’s dreams are made of (at least I’d like to think so). Penny Abshire and James Alburger managed to put together an event which literally drew hundreds of voice talent from all over the world. While it was obvious that VOICE 2010 was going to be a smaller event than in years past, it was also apparent that it wouldn’t be for lack of effort. A large contingent from Europe and Japan, not to mention Canada, and at least one person from Turkey were in attendance. Regardless of what happens during the course of this conference, it’s obvious that VOICE has developed an international reach, which is nothing short of impressive in the years since the event first took place. Where else can you meet such amazing talent as Bob Bergen, Pat Fraley, Joe Cipriano, Beau Weaver, Stu Herrera, Bobbin Beam, Dave Courvoisier, and a host of others all under one roof at the same time?
Unfortunately, I did not have one of my better cameras with me last night, however, I did manage to take more than a few pictures of people while I was at the event, and I'll be putting up a few once I get a chance to upload them. They’re a little dark, but if you’re reading this I think it will give you a good understanding of just what the folks at VOICE have going on.
I'm not ashamed to admit that I'm a comic book geek.
I've got boxes and boxes of comics in my house, ranging from selected silver and golden age comics to stuff from a few years ago (sorry, but the mainstream titles stopped appealing to me when the storylines turned more into merchandising than, oh say, an actual story). Yes, they're bagged (mylar) and organized, like any good comic book fan should do.
Why is this important? It isn't... I just felt the need to get it off my chest.
However, on May 7th, 2010, it was Free Comic Book Day. For those who don't know what it is, Free Comic Book Day (FCBD) is the first Saturday in the month of May when comic book shops give away comic books for free. Now obviously you're not going to go in and get a Detective Comics #27 from them for free, but it's a nice way to show your support for the industry by stopping by your local comic book shop and maybe picking up a couple of extras... since you're already there for the free stuff.
Now since May 7th has come and gone, you're just going to have to wait till next year. However, the organizers of FCBD put together a simple, yet amusing commerical with Kevin Smith behind the voice over. It's pretty apparent that the production quality is low, but I found it amusing none the less.
Are you a social networking butterfly..? Just watch out for the spider's web.
There have been a LOT of blog posts this past year about social networking, particularly of the online sort (while it's not social networking per se, Dave Courvosier just posted a nice blog article of a similar nature regarding Google Is Your Resume). It's an important tool that people use within many industries, including the Voice Over community. Even I have references to my profiles on several online networking sites in the links section of my Website. In the "Age of Information", social networking sites have become a valuable resource for those who can't always be where the action is.
That's a good thing.
Unfortunately, there's a flip side to that equation, and it's one that most voice over professionals don't think about too often. Social networking is definitely a potent tool when used responsibly. However, it's also very easy to put yourself in a position where you're giving out too much information about yourself.
Since we're talking about the information which you put out there, let me take a second to explain a bit more about myself and why I've got the point of view that I do. You see, I've worked as an information security professional for well over a decade, specializing in finding new and unique ways to get past those things which other people feel are secure. While I am also a professional voice actor, the experience, training, and mindset which you develop over the years doing a job like like mine give you a bit of a different viewpoint on things.
So while I hate to be "that guy", I've made more than a decent living in my life by looking for vulnerabilities in systems, showing proof-of-concept on how to exploit those vulnerabilities, and using techniques (often refered to as "social engineering") to get information from the least secure items within any organization's security architecture (i.e., people) so that organizations and individuals can better protect those items which they consider to be most valuable (FWIW: check out the term "White Hat", for those who've gotten nervous at this point, lol).
Think about it. Most voice over professionals I know have at least a LinkedIn and a Facebook account. A lot of us also have Twitter accounts. So I want you to put on your "black hat" for a second and think like an attacker or a scam artist. I'm not going to name names, but I'm using a well-known voice actor in Philadelphia as my target (with their permission, of course). I used Google to check out my target and learned that not only did they have a Website, but also accounts on Facebook, LiveJournal, LinkedIn, and Twitter. Not surprisingly, all of the pages with these services (save for LinkedIn) gave me enough info to know the stuff you'd normally find out about a voice talent:
...needless to say, my "target" was more than a little shocked at all the data that was freely available.
If you've ever been to
Gearslutz (which I feel is one of the top sites for those who are interested in the art and science of recording), you already know of the several cases where studios have been robbed, and in the investigation afterward it was learned that social media played a large role in the intruder's recon of the studio.
Now, I'm not trying to scare the bejesus out of anyone, but too often we don't think about the potential consequences when we put our information online (for those who want to know just how far down the rabbit hole you can go, I recommend a bootcamp with SANS; it's a good portion of their Incident Handling and Security Essentials courses). These unintended consequences can have major ramifications upon both our personal, and professional lifes.
Social networking is a powerful and useful tool, but like most tools it can be misused. The thing to remember is that even as a voice over business, you have to watch what you are doing online. Here are a few tips which I recommend you use to better ensure your privacy:
Watch what you share: It's too easy to give away personal information that can be used or aggregated into a format which enables others to learn more about you than you might be comfortable with. Never put your personal address, or home phone number (mobile phones are a little harder to trace back) on any social networking site. It's a piece of cake to cross-reference information and identify more information about your life than you might be comfortable with.
Assume that once you've put the information online, that anyone can see it: Most people don't realize that you need to restrict access to your profile if you don't want random strangers to see it. The more information you put out there, the more chance there is that something's out there which you didn't want getting out for public consumption. This is also a good reason for those of us who are doing a lot of bookings out of our house to use a mailbox other than our residental mailing address (for billings and also for those social networks and phone directories where your address is collected).
Be Skeptical: The point of social networking is to find people who share your interests and establish a network of friends and business contacts, but don't let your defenses down too easily. These new "friends" are virtual and faceless and you can't completely trust that they are what/who they say they are. In short, on the Internet, nobody knows that you're a dog, and just because someone says they're into the same things you are, doesn't mean it's true (I've read and investigated too many scams where the victim's interest turned out to be the angle used to gain the victim's confidence).
Be Diligent: Knowing that the potential exists for scam artists or other baddies is a real one, keep an eye on your profile and be diligent about who you allow to connect with your profile. For photo sharing sites like Flickr, check out the users who are marking your photos as their Favorites. If some stranger is marking all of the pictures of your 7-year old son as their Favorites, it seems a little creepy and may be cause for concern. Report Suspicious Behavior. If you have reason to believe that someone is scam artist or has malicious intent, report it to the site. The adage "where there's smoke, there's usually fire" is very true. Above all, don't be afraid to communicate about something which raises a red flag. It's better to have a "false positive" (where we think there's a problem and there really isn't), than to have a "false negative" (where we don't think there's a problem when in fact there is). You never find out about the false negatives until it's too late... so keep your "spidey sense" tuned. Bruce Schneier often discusses the concept of personal "threat perception" and it's development with humanity's evolution (trust me, security geeks eat this stuff up). He's right, and when your "gut" is telling you that something's not right, you ought to trust it (while you don't have a "spider sense" per se, your "gut" is usually very accurate at picking up stuff that your conscious mind does not).
I apologize for turning my voice over blog into an post regarding operational security, but with all those who are gung-ho about social networking, it's valuable to recognize the flip side of that coin. The bottom line is that social networking is hugely popular and it is big business. It can be a very lucrative tool for the voice actor, but like all things it requires a bit of common sense and awareness. Like most everything else in life, the more you know, the better prepared you are to handle whatever comes your way.
“I recommend seatbelts in your armchairs as the creator and cast of “Family Guy” assemble on our stage for a hilarious, irreverent look at themselves, each other, their characters and their spectacularly successful show. This is, quite simply, unlike any Inside the Actors Studio you’ve ever seen.”
Since I'm currently bombarded with a GSSP certification, I was unable to see Monday's broadcast of the interview. However there's going to be re-broadcast on the 20th, which I definitely plan on watching.
That's the first item of interest for all things "Family Guy" related. The second is this... Karl Rove is making a cameo appearance on the show. Details are a bit scant at the present, but that's the thing which makes this show such a hit with the audience; not only does the show go out of its way to be equal opportunity offender of pretty much everyone at some point (much like "South Park"), but they actually get the very people they're lampooning to take part in the comedy.
I can only imagine what MacFarlane and the rest of the writing staff have up their sleeve for Rove, but I'm sure that it'll be completely irreverent and enjoyable.
So what does Goldman-Sachs have in common with voice over? High fees for high stakes.
There's an article written by Megan McArdle that I recently read in the Atlantic, which likened investment bankers with wedding planners, funeral directors, and movie trailer voice over actors. Regardless of the current economic climate, that's an interesting comparison to make, but it's actually pretty accurate.
The big message that McArdle tries to get across is that if you buy cheap, you usually get cheap. While her message has to do with the finance industry, she is able to relate it to the career of Don LaFonatine, and how many people (who aren't in voice over) might be shocked to learn what he salary was during the peak of Don's career. This is true, as the man made the kind of money that most people can only dream of. However, when you've only got one shot to make the deal, the fees associated with that one shot were negligible with the potential return on investment a client might see.
In the author's own words, "a moment of reckoning will come when the deal either goes well, or does not; that moment is very hard to anticipate; and if things go wrong, they can be very hard to fix."
How often do we as voice artists have to deal with clients who simply do not want to pay our fees? I know that I've lost count, and I've lost more than a few bookings because I wasn't willing to sell my services as short as a client might want them (we've all got stories about the $1500 dollar project that the client was only willing to pay $100 for). That doesn't matter so much as the message that a professional talent must represent to their clientele and potential clients alike, and that message is that when one shot is all you get, one shot is all you (as a voice talent) need...
Put another way, when a client is concerned that they can't afford your services, your job is to remind them that they can't afford not to have your services.
PS: I got a chuckle out of the author's comment that "...no guy asks a date if she’d like to go see the new Don LaFontaine trailer."
I actually got my significant other to listen to countless movie trailers with me... before we were dating (so it's a valid pickup strategy in my opinion).
I've no idea how everybody in the voice over community missed this one, so let me toss it out there for all to find...
There's a really nice article on TampaBay.com with voice actor Tom Kenny, who plays the voice/role of Spongebob Squarepants. This is one of those "should read" kind of articles IMO for anyone who is interested in voice acting, or interested/curious about the people involved in giving life to an animated character...
The article itself is originally about the 10 year anniversary of the Spongebob Squarepants series, but the reporter and Kenny turn the interview into a lot more than that, talking about some of the controversy that the character has stirred up (yes folks, apparently not everyone is a fan of ole' Spongebob), a bit about Kenny's past, and the correlation of how the survival and continued popularity of the show is akin to surviving a terminal illness (you have to read the article for that one, but I had a good chuckle with it).
Here's a link to the article, and I hope you get the same enjoyment out of it that I did. For anyone who has ever made a living off of the same stuff that got you into trouble when you were younger, this is worth the time.
What is SWTOR you ask? Well that part is simple, it's the new Lucas Arts MMORPG, StarWars: The Old Republic. But for all of the voice over folk out there, here's a little something which we don't often get, a blog post written by Shauna Perry. Shauna is the Director of Audio and Localization for SWTOR, and she goes into the process of voice acting from the writing to scripting to speaking.
I've got to say that what they're trying to do in SWTOR is nothing short of huge. The game is going to be fully voice acted which could mean a greater sense of involvement in what happens within the game. We're talking hundreds of voice actors being recorded in five major metro areas with enough copy to fill more than fourty novels. If that's not the definition of huge, then I don't know what is. The project is so big that they actually had to develop an audio pronunciation guide in order to deal with all the regionalisms and dialects that the talent brought to the project.
This is probably the largest commercially available voice over project ever produced, and you can read about it all right here.
This might be the one MMORPG that I actually find time out of my schedule to play, if for the voice over aspect alone...
If you're a fan of BangZoom! (and let's face it, who isn't) then you know of their "Adventures in Voice Acting" clips and DVD. I had the chance to sit in their studio the last time I was in Los Angeles and was really impressed with both their professionalism and their friendly personality (they really went out of their way to let me into the studio and partake in a session, which I greatly appreciate).
Well, they've got a blog for their AiVA series now. If you're like me, and enjoy hearing the tales of voice actors and such, then you'll want to check it out for yourself.
Rate card for voiceover talent? It's a start to understanding the terrain.
A lot of folks have been chatting about this, and while I hate to jump on the bandwagon this particular item is worth repeating.
Seems that the folks at Edge Studio took the time to take some rates and put them together into a very nice list that the average voice talent can use.
I recommend that any voice actor take the time to learn what the rates are in their local area and spread out from there, learning about the rates and general working conditions of whatever areas they're working in. Quite simply, you wouldn't plan a trip cross country without having a map would you? Then why would you try to work someplace without knowing what the rates, etc. are?
Don't believe me? Well Sun Tzu thought enough of it to dedicate a good chunk of "The Art of War" to warn the reader:
You need to be aware of the terrain and its affect on your soldiers, as well as the enemy. This will allow you to fight with advantage. From a position of this sort, if the enemy is unprepared, you may sally forth and defeat him. But if the enemy is prepared for your coming, and you fail to defeat him, then, return being impossible, disaster will ensue. knowing these things is a test of a great general.
Carl von Clausewitz also believed it to be a crucial factor towards victory, and I think that anyone who want to succeed in business should understand the advantages and constraints of the terrain/environment in which they operate.
The good folks at Edge can't know all the different rates across the country, but their rate card is a very good start (though I'd like to know the specifics behind the census they used... it's the engineer in me). It's a great resource that a lot of talent can definitely use, especially if they're trying to establish an online presence with any of the P2P sites out there right now. Don't get me wrong, some of the online sites are genuinely working to provide a service in an equitable manner,as you can see here or here, they might not totally sync up with what the rates are in your neck of the woods.
I guess the long and short of it is this, Edge Studio put together a nice resource, and there are others out there which I've linked to this post. Don't be afraid to use them, but don't be defined by them either. You are the CEO of your voiceover business. Don't be afraid to take command of your position, or your rates.
I love this question. Ironically, I get it a lot (apparently some think that I philosophize about things like this; they give me far too much credit). On blogs, it's our own way to justify why we have a blog. I'm no different than anyone else in that regard, but I like to think that being honest about it counts for something.
For those who are interesting in "why are we here?", George Carlin had an interesting response to this question during his "Jammin in New York" comedy special back in 1992. Regardless of your feelings toward the man, his philosophical insights are some of the most amusing you could ask for.
But I'm digressing...
Back in August of 2008, Bob Souer made the comment that I really ought to start up a blog based on my knowledge of voiceover recording. Let me be the first to say that while I have earned the reputation of taking the concept of voiceover from a home studio to the point of overkill at times, there are others who know just as much as I do, and probably more. More to the point, I am a relative unknown within the world of voiceover, and to a certain extent I prefer it. More importantly though, who really cares what my insights into things are anyway?
Later on in the day, I ran into Bob Bergen. Bob's a great guy, one of the most knowledgable and talented guys I've met in the world of voiceover (seriously, he's a walking encyclopedia). He's also quite the stalker, but only if you're Mel Blanc (and to learn more about that story you need to either attend one of his workshops, or his one-man show... both of which I highly recommend). Anyway, while we were sharing a little time to catch up on each other's lives he made the comment that I was very observant about things, and always bringing out the pros and cons of whatever issues I adressed in the various voiceover forums, regarless of whether the topic was popular or not. I had been weaning myself away from them since I saw a lot of negativity and was concerned that I'd become the same, but Bob's comment let me know that I was being anything but, and that my view on things outside of the studio were something that others really appreciated.
(on the side, I have real money for anyone who can tell me how he's 10 years older than I am and looks 15 years younger)
That evening, I shared some time with both Dave Courvoisier and later with Ron Levine, shooting the bull and exchanging some tales of adventure from our infamous pasts. Dave was serving as the M.C. for the VOICE conference and is just one heck of a talented and nice guy, and Ron... well Ron is Santa Claus, so how can you not love the guy? Then you get to hear his work and you're totally blown away.
Well, on both occasions they make comments about my experiences in life and how they've shaped me, and how much fun it would be to share those experiences with others since it's brought me into the world of voiceover from a different route than most others. I have my own biases towards my experiences in life, but I found it interesting how differently I came into the fold compared to most others.
That's it in a nutshell. My self-aggrandizing reasons for being here. While I'm doing this, I plan on blogging a bit about my experiences, tossing out assorted wisdoms regarding the art of mixology, a lot about voiceover and recording.
