Saturday, November 28, 2009

"We're Gonna Need A Bgger Boat!"

A few years ago when I was focusing on expanding my own VO career, a new Voice Actor friend of mine (Jodi Krangle) asked me if I'd be interested in producing a demo for her. She recognized that I had been a producer for years and was not only a Voice Talent...I was also a Voice Seeker who regularly looked for new talent for commercials, imaging, characters, etc. I was used to producing my own demos, and I was used to making other talent sound great in commercials and other projects, but this was a first. I agreed to try it out and she agreed to be my guinea pig.

It was a great experience (it helps when you have a great talent like Jodi to work with)and I really found lot of joy in highlighting the best in someone else. I love it!

Since then, I've had the pleasure of working with many other incredible talents doing a variety of different demos... and I enjoy it so much, it's become another extension of what I do in the Voice Biz. In fact...so much so that I realized I needed "a bigger boat" to quote JAWS. Hence, the launch of KILLER VOICE DEMOS; a business that offers professional demos for Voice Actors at an affordable price. It's full service with scripts, coaching, technical advice and full production.

So, when you're ready to have your demo made, check out the site, get a hold of me and we can attack it together!

Monday, October 26, 2009

MO$T BLOGGABLE BLOGG***NOW THAT I'VE COME THIS FAR...

Now that I've come this far...what's next???

It's been about 3 years or so since I embarked on my journey into the Universe of Voiceover. When it all started I wasn't even sure where I'd end up or how well I'd do. would anyone even want to pay me for my voice to do more than club radiospots? where do I start? did this even make sense? what the hell am I doing really?

Its gotta take more than just a good voice to be a good candidate for this [un-proper job, as Banksey would say...lol] type of work. What's my goal in all of this?

So I said to myself...self>>>Good GOD, I've really lost your mind!!! [breathe]

Then a good friend/experienced Voice-Actor told me to subscribe to Voice123 and I thought...Wow, I'm gonna make some $$$ look at all of these auditions they're sending to my inbox! Hope was sooo alive, I was like a kid in a candy store because I just knew I was gonna rake in the doe!!!

Read more here

Tuesday, October 13, 2009

Voice Over Experts

I'm very excited to be the featured Voice Actor on Voice Over Experts this week! Take a listen at this link!

VOICE OVER EXPERTS

Wednesday, August 19, 2009

Gollum Goes To Hell

I was so excited to hear this news and see the video promo, I wanted to share it with you!

Focus on the Family Radio Theatre, which received a Peabody Award and multiple Audie awards for excellence in broadcasting and production, was granted the rights to dramatize "The Screwtape Letters" (by C.S. Lewis) as a feature length audio drama. Production began in 2008 and a fall 2009 release has been announced. Andy Serkis, known for playing Gollum in The Lord of the Rings film trilogy, will be the voice of Screwtape. It's amazing to watch him voice this role.

Check out the video clip on this link: http://www.tyndale.com/authors/videoclips.asp?id=412&vid=105

Wednesday, August 12, 2009

An Exclusive Interview with Bob Bergen

I'm heading to Portland to take in one of Bob Bergen's workshops this weekend. Really looking forward to it! Here's an interview I did with Bob on the anniversary of the death of Mel Blanc. He shares his early memories of the legend.

Monday, March 23, 2009

MO$T BLOGGABLE BLOGG***MY LATEST VO-GIG~VIDEO NARRATION!!!***

Chello to all of my V-U Fam!!! As we move with the ebb and flow of this "Intellectually Challenged Economy's" ending of the first quarter and the beginning of the second quarter, many of us find ourselves busy being busy--and or--busy working on being busy...lol [ya know what I mean...follow me now~lol]

Some may have predicted the VO Industry may suffer from recession like some suffer from indigestion, or the more modern term, reflux. Well, I and I'm sure many more Voice-Actors beg to differ because there's a "boom" about, whether its $50, $150, $500 or a few thousand the tide is moving in a constant flow within our wonderful Industry!

An Industry where we talk to ourselves all day in small rooms [or large] for hours at a time, into a small device...reading to no end...invoicing clients...checking pay pal... scrolling through......

Mission Accomplished...>>> HERE


Ladie Mo$t...

Sunday, March 15, 2009

Saturday, March 7, 2009

Wednesday, March 4, 2009

Testing subject

Testing utter to see if it works with twitter... Again

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Tuesday, February 10, 2009

Geeking Out Over Audio Interfaces

When I'm not busy "volunteering" at the cheerleading academy down the road or contesting these silly restraining orders from the cheerleading academy down the road, I seem to be fielding a lot of questions about audio interfaces from you guys. This is one the most important (for some of you, the only) components of your chain between your mic and your computer so it is pretty important to choose wisely. Talent who are having difficulty with their noise floor or buzzing/hissing in their files can many times blame their interface. There are about a million options out there so I am only going to go over the ones that are among the most popular and basic choices or the ones that I happen to like for whatever reason. Please try to contain your excitement. I'm not going to go into the super pro interfaces either since if you have the scratch for those you probably know what you are doing anyway, thus, all of these are fairly within the budget of the average bear. You can click on the titles for purchasing info.

M-Audio Fast Track USB:



Oh man, do these things suck. The only reason you see so many of these sitting in newbie studios is because they only cost about 100 bucks. You certainly get what you pay for. They only record at 24/48, there is no pre to speak of and you can only use dynamic mics since there is no phantom power. If you are thinking of getting one of these and pairing it with a 58 or something, don't. You would be better off with a Snowball. As a matter of fact, don't even click the title link for this one, just forget you even saw it. If you absolutely have to get one, I would guess you can find one here.

M-Audio Fast Track Pro:


For only a hundred bucks more you can get what might just be the most ubiquitous entry level interface out there, even being used by folks who have been doing this for a while. It is quite a bit better than it's craptastic little brother up there offering 24/96, phantom power, MIDI input and improved circuitry. The pres are not going to do much for you, but if you pair it with a decent mic you can get away with some halfway decent recordings for a no-frills chain. Not fully recommended, but passable.

Digidesign Mbox 2:


These guys are super popular with the Pro Tools set, and for good reason. They are comparatively inexpensive but they sound pretty darn good. I have even been in some semi pro studios with impressive racks of gear and one of these sitting on the console. Obviously, this isn't going to sound like an Avalon if you use it on its own but couple it with some other gear and a good mic and you can be in business without breaking the bank. This has a little brother as well but I know you're not that much of a cheapskate. On the other hand, from here you can upgrade to the firewire Mbox 2 Pro and then on to the impressive 003, but those might be a bit pricey for the purposes of this post and may be overkill for straight VO in regards to the number of inputs.

Apogee Duet:


These hot little numbers are pretty dang sexy, and they put out too. Obviously marketed to the Apple fanboys and girls, its sleek minimalist design with its multifunction knob would make it seem right at home next to your Mac. It offers 24/96, phantom power, firewire and a clean, quiet sound. Not a bad interface for 500 clams. You would have my blessing if you want to get it. I hope the two of you are happy together.

M-Audio Delta 1010:


Lest you think I am anti M-Audio after my scathing review of the lackluster boxes above, I assure you I am not. I have been using one of these for the past two years or so and I am pretty darn pleased with it. This is just a straight-up interface but it has eight ins and outs at 24/96, Word Clock, MIDI and it connects via a PCI host interface card that connects to a one RU break-out box. This thing is super clean and is as quiet as anything else I have heard. It isn't the most pro thing on the market by far, but for 600 bucks it sounds close enough for me right now. Plus, if you have one you can say, "I use the same audio interface as Erik Sheppard! Today's Voice!" If you can't get lucky using that line at the local tavern then you might just be a lost cause.

Again, there is also a dumbed down version without the rack unit but it uses a lesser quality card.

Lexicon Ionix U42S:

Honestly, I don't know a thing about these. I just saw it in one of my dorky audiophile magazines and I thought it had an interesting form factor. It offers some standard stuff and is connected via USB. Like I said, I have no clue, but Lexicon makes some other semi-decent products and, really, being designed to live above your keyboard like that is pretty cool.

CEntrance MicPort Pro:


If you have to record on the go, these little jobbers are rad. It's super tiny, 24/96, USB, phantom power, etc., and has a great little pre in there. The lovely and talented Melissa Exelberth turned me on to these and I was pretty much floored by how clean it sounded. Even the illustrious Harlan Hogan has been known to whip one of these out while on the road (cool video here). Pack up your mic and your Porta-Booth and you will be good to go, Road Warrior style. Seriously, I am really impressed with these, plus they are only 150 bucks!

Geez, this post is way too long so I hope somebody gets some use out of it. Obviously, you need a good mic and quality cables but if you are rocking a basic setup and have a decent interface, you should be able to deliver a clean, quality file.If I left out one of your favorites or you're upset because I ragged on your box then let me have it in the comments.1


1. Crybaby.

Monday, January 26, 2009

The Results Are In

Two weeks ago I posed the brilliant question: What are we calling our industry? It was really quite something in case you missed it. There was a cool poll widget and everything. Ah, good times...

Amazingly, this nonsense was picked up by a few other VO blogs on the interwebz and it resulted in a flurry of half-witted responses. Over a hundred people chimed in by voting or leaving comments. You guys are really the best. Anyway, after an appropriately unscientific tabulation, the winner by a landslide was "Voiceover."



Here is a sampling of comments culled from The VTP Blog, the Boblog and Vox Daily:
"I have always said and spelled it, “Voiceover”. Some have been cute and written it as VOiceover or VoiceOver. I started using Signature Voiceover Actor around 2000 and just last year, shortened it to Voice Actor. Cute or not, we are Voice Actors if we put our character and personality into our reads. If you strictly “read” copy without any emotion, skill or attitude, please do not add “Actor” to the end of your title. That’s only for those of us who MUST read with experience, understanding and grasp the meaning our clients are trying to convey with their written words in order to brand their products successfully."
-Johnny George

"I’ll stand with Merriam Webster and VOICE OVER. I can’t be bothered with hyphens."

-Diane Havens

"The Oxford English Dictionary only shows the hyphenated form, so it would be the voice-over industry."
-Grammar Girl

"First, I consider "voiceover" to be industry jargon and unquestionably correct within that context. Outside the industry, and IMHO from purely a linguistic perspective, I consider "voice-over" to be the correct form as an adjective and "voice over", with the quotation marks, to be the correct form of the noun for the field. Personally, I prefer voice acting in most cases. Go figure."
-Corson Bremer

"It should be "voice-over" because you add hyphen when you need to join two (or more) words together to form a compound or single expression. Also, you use a hyphen to join words in a compound expression that is put before a noun. ie: Voice-Over Artist, Voice-Over Actor. But I admit, I write "voice over" all the time."
-Alexandra Barta

"I will be happy to suffer whatever scorn you wish to heap upon me, but voiceover is the term I will use because it’s the one with the least false positives for searches."

-Bob Souer

"Personally, I say we are in the voiceover industry. I think most of us actually say it that way. Think about it...we say it as one continuous flowing word with the emphasis on voice - VOICEover; not as two separate words - VOICE OVER. Plus, while the dictionary hyphenates the word, I think they do that whenever a phrase or term has been coined, to fit the usage as understood by the general public. However, in the industry itself, it's not just a coined phrase, it's our jargon for what we do, and our spelling would be the official spelling."
-Susan Wade

"Not many people now remember that "Voice Over" is short for "Voice Over Film". The course of most terms in English is to go from separate words ("Base Ball") to hyphenated words ("base-ball") to a single word ("baseball"). With all due respect to the dictionary folks, they can only reflect the usage of the public, and must always lag behind the curve. So the historically accurate can use "Voice Over," those on the cutting edge can use "voiceover", but the one destined to be dropped as a transitional placeholder is voice-over."
-Dan Popp

"Anything but "voiceover," which is not a word."
-Catherine Campion

"Dictionaries and spellcheckers reflect, and are not meant to lead the lexicon of any given occupation or endeavor. We are only in the third generation of whatever this thing is. We're making this up as we go along. When I started teaching voice over in '74, I remember making up terms for what we do. There were very few terms for what we do. I made lists, borrowing from acting, speech, and music terms, and struggled to come up with terms, attempting to avoid confusion. There are two different areas of nomenclature, which are of interest: What is the category or genre called and what are those who perform the jobs referred to as? Personally, for the genre, in 2009, I weight in with, "voice over JOBS." JOBS, is less self-aggrandizing than any of the alternatives I can think of. I like "Voice Over PERFORMER" for what I do. Voice Over "ACTOR," may very well describe what I personally do, and the skills I employ for the lion's share of voice over jobs I get, but those who narrate, or do promo work, for examples, do more "presenting" than acting. And I do not cite "presenting" as a pejorative. I so wish I had more skills at presenting. Lot of money in promo work, and I stink at it. "Voice Over TALENT" possesses the connotative meaning of possessing formidable skills, and I don't like conveying that meaning. I find the same problem with using Voice Over ARTIST."

-Pat Fraley

So what does it all mean? Probably nothing. Surprisingly, I am going to go with the majority and start unapologetically using "voiceover".1 I think it looks nicer and rolls off the tongue easier than the two word "voice over" and I'm just not really down with the hyphens.2 I trust that now that you have been hipped to my usage it will become de rigueur and those of you who voted otherwise will see the error of your ways. I'm glad we can all finally get some sleep now.

1. Voiceover. Voiceover, voiceover, voiceover! Oh that feels good.
2. I saw a hyphen kill a box full of puppies once. True story.

Tuesday, January 20, 2009

MO$T BLOGGABLE BLOGG***BARACK H. OBAMA INAUGURAL VIDEO BLOGG-1/20/09***

Today, I am proud to the 20th power-- today, America is proud--The WORLD is watching and waiting. Today, Barack H. Obama was sworn in as the 44th President of these United States, which is a First for this nation. We have truly come a long way and we have a long path before us- it will take each of us to keep the momentum flowing.
From many there comes "ONE", that "ONE" will lead the multitude.
Here is my MO$T BLOGGABLE BLOGG, THE BARACK H. OBAMA INAUGURAL VIDEO BLOGG-1/20/09.It's raw and uncut [ok, that just means that the mistakes were'nt edited...lol]




Peace, Blessings, Love & Light,

Ladie Mo$t...

Sunday, January 11, 2009

VO legend Don Morrow

"The Last Don" Don Morrow is accepting 15 ppl max for his VO workshop, and will produce your next demo. See more at www.VoiceoverUniverse.com

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Saturday, January 10, 2009

HELP FOR CONNIE ZIMET

In South Florida I subscribe to Lisa & Laura's newsletter "Actor's Info Booth," and was saddened to hear this news about a lady I've always wanted to work with, but never got around to it....

Connie Zimet is the former SO. Fla. President of AFTRA and an extraordinary Voice Over artist and Coach.

—————————————
Dear Friends,

I am sure most of you have heard by now that Connie Zimet is battling
late stage ALS. At this point she is no longer able to move or speak,
and requires 24 hour care.

Her son Zach has found a device that works with eye recognition
technology that will enable her to communicate with her eyes via aid
of a computer. To go through Medicare could take 6-8 months. She needs this device now.

It was brought to my attention that a lot of you out there would like
to help, so I am asking to please reach into your pockets and send any
donation you can spare to Connie, no matter how small, to help defer
her escalating medical care costs and enable her to speak again with
the help of this device. If you have any questions please feel free to
contact me, or Zach via email or by phone.

Connie’s address is 827 NW
79th Terrace, Plantation, FL 33324, and also has a Paypal account at
czimet@comcast.net.

We appreciate anything you are able to do,
Pam Lipschitz
pam.checksinmotion@gmail.com
zach@zachziskin.com
954.367.3363

Tuesday, January 6, 2009






Bob Bergen is, as we say, the nice Jewish boy who grew up to be Porky Pig. He's also sometimes the voice of Tweety, Sylvester's Son and other characters introduced by his hero, Mel Blanc, and he does other non-Blanc work, as well. Bob's a fine voiceover talent and when I do convention panels on the nuts and bolts of that biz, he's one of the first people I try to get because he really knows the business well.

You can hear his story and his sage advice tomorrow (Wednesday) on Stu's Show, the must-hear gabfest hosted by Stuart Shostak which "airs" on Shokus Internet Radio. January is Animation Month so each week, Stu will welcome one or more guests to talk about the wonderful world of cartoons. This week is Bob. Next week is Paul Dini. The week after is a special program on how to be a voice actor with Gary Owens, Janet Waldo, Earl Kress and me. And then the week after that is Jerry Beck. I'll be nagging reminding you to tune in.

Okay, now let me explain one more time about Internet Radio. This is not a podcast. You can't download it and listen to it whenever you want. You have to "tune in" when it's on...which in this case is from 4 PM to 6 PM Pacific Time, 7 PM to 9 PM Eastern. Stu's Show is done live on Wednesday and that's the best time to listen because, among other reasons, you can call in and ask questions. You can hear the show on your own computer by going to the website of Shokus Internet Radio at the appointed hour and clicking where you're told to click. (The show reruns on other days, usually in the same time slot. Check out the site for a full schedule...and while you're there, take note of some of the other fine, free programming.)

Monday, January 5, 2009

Mic Shootout

Shopping for a new mic? Watch this first! The video has made it's way down the chain... I first saw it on Bob Souer's blog and he credits Wille Edwards with initially posting the link on VO-BB. It's a side-by-side comparison of several mics (including Neuman U87, Sennheiser ME66, Sennheiser 421, Rode Podcaster and MXL .009) by Jeff Dykhouse, instructor with HowAudio.com.