The voices.com app Review

I just wanted to jot down and share a few of my first impressions from my personal exoerience of the new voices.com app available in the iTunes store. This is just me! Others may have had better experiences, so this isn’t a judgement carved in stone.

I was very disappointed. I installed it twice and it let me down each time [:(]. I tried to listen to a demo and the app absolutely crashed. Went out , and then back into app, -no go.

Then full of faith, I reinstalled the app this morning to give it another go, selected a generic demo from my list, clicked on send audition ( I think that’s the wording.), and got some kind of message that the app couldn’t do it. So that was my experience — deleted the app for a second and final time.

I think it has worked brilliantly for some people but I think I’ll take a miss and audition via the voices.com website.

Cheery bye-bye for now…
Stefania

Sent from Samsung Mobile

Taking Control

Continuing on with my self development theme for voice artists/actors and people of all trades, really.

Here is a brilliant article which came in my email from the fabby, inspirational people at Success [ http://www.success.com ].

It’s about keeping balanced and taking control of one’s life. As an entrepreneur one may sometimes wonder if this is even possible with the ups and downs which a business can go through.

Here are some tips from the “Success” online newsletter:

Take Control of Your Life

You wouldn’t drive your car without checking all the internal gauges and determining your destination, so why would you lead your life that way? If you let life happen to you and you’re just a passenger along for the ride, you have given away your control! Take it back by grabbing the steering wheel, plunking down into the driver’s seat and taking a serious look at where you’re headed. SUCCESS experts tell you how:
Best-selling author John C. Maxwell:

List your core beliefs.Then abide by your core beliefs each day, and refuse to be swayed by outside factors and influences. These become the tenets of your life that will ultimately deliver a fulfilled existence. Compile a daily-dozen list you adhere to each day.Your list should include the most important values and goals that will be influential in shaping your life and achieving your successes. Ideally, this list should be a basic outline of how you want to live as a person and what you want to achieve. If you refer to your list each day, it will help you stay on course.

Motivational coach and author Denis Waitley:

Know the person in the mirror. Quality of life begins with self-assessment, and is about the fulfillment and joy we experience every day—not someday, or during vacations or retirement. Keep a close check on what you are exposed to most.You are not only what you eat, but through repetition you become what you watch, read, listen to and internalize. Set benchmarks to see if you are making progress.Throughout the day, frequently ask yourself: Is this activity moving me forward to achieve my most important lifetime goals?

On a personal note:
This blog was composed on my fabby new Samsung phone which is turning out to be one of my best business tools ever! Highly recommended.

http://facebook.com/BeadedDelightsByStef

Inner Beauty, Outer Action

Tonight I am having a most interesting experience. I’m back in Primrose Hill – one of London’s fashionable areas (a bit expensive too)- where I used to live before moving closer to the countryside. I’m having a cappucino in a lovely Russian tea room called Trojka.

It was good to walk around the old neighbourhood and note the changes, recall my world when I lived here, and see how some things seem to be the same. It’s good to think – have I grown since my days of living here, and what will my life be like in the future?

I came to the conclusion that it will only get overall better. I continue to study voiceover technique and strive to get better. And I’m working on fostering a steady stream of craft services as well. It certainly takes discipline to stay on track I’m finding out. I find myself making good use of all my iPod organisational and motivational apps to keep on top of things and stay accountable to myself and others.

I’m blessed to be meeting many people nowadays. A big contrast from when I used to spend so much time by myself.

This article below was in my email the other day. It’s a brilliant, inspirational piece from “Inner Space” in Covent garden.

Develop Your Inner Beauty
We all want to look our best but beauty is more than skin deep. So, no matter what we look like, we can enhance our outer appearance with our inner beauty.

We all have inner beauty. Develop your inner beauty and feel beautiful.

Here’s how:

- Beauty comes from liking yourself.

Know, affirm and express your good qualities.

- Avoid being negative about others.

Instead, notice that qualities that make them beautiful.

- Shift your focus to the world around you and give back to
your community.

Time to stop writing now. I’m off to The Princess of Wales pub for a Spiritual London meet up. It’s my first time to go,but no doubt I’ll enjoy myself and meet some new peeps. And have a tasty brew as well! Enjoy your life!

http://www.facebook.com/BeadedDelightsByStef

VoiceOver Objects of Desire – springy chair/stool

I’m at the Back Pain Show at Olympia in London, and I found this splendid stool that would be fabby for those narrative voiceover sessions when one is perched half sitting and half standing, on a stool.

It’s been designed so you can use the spring mechanism to raise or lower the chair to desired height, then lean on it. And it takes the weight off your legs whilst you are perched on it. It felt brilliant! Wish I had one!

I must save my VO pennies and get this chair one day soon. It goes for £300 and a bit, I think the lady said. So, up on the dreamboard this piccie goes.

Pace Ourselves and Be Strong

This was in my DailyOm newsletter this morning (www.dailyom.com). Brilliant advice voice artists, entrepreneurs and ambitious, goal-oriented people no matter what our chosen career and service offering.

Here is part of the contents of the message that particularly touched me!

“When you feel yourself growing impatient because the pace of your development is deceptively slow, remember that everything that will occur in your life will occur in its own time.

Quelling your urge to rush will enable you to witness yourself learning, changing, and becoming stronger. There is so much to see and do in between the events and processes that we deem definitive.

If you are patient enough to take pleasure in your existence’s unfolding, the journey from one pinnacle to the next will seem to take no time at all.”

http://www.facebook.com/BeadedDelightsByStef

Voice Care tips from Edge Studio

I came across this brilliant collection of voiceover advice for protecting and nourishing our most valuable professional asset – our voices!

Even the most expensive, delicate microphone can offer no assistance to an overworked, misused voice. We’ve got to nurture and take care of our prized instrument.

Here’s the article and a link to same!

The Voice Over Vocal Care Chart

Consistently sound more polished

? Overview

? Daily Vocal Care

? Getting Sick

? Other Vocal Conditions

? Day Before A Recording Session

? Morning Of A Recording Session

? During A Recording Session

? Getting Through Long Sessions

Overview

Here’s your very own vocal-care guide full of effective tips essential to performing at your professional best. Along with the added bonus of improving your health, these tips are very voice over-specific.

The point is this: Your voice is your livelihood so figure out what works BEFORE you’re in a booth dealing with a producer on the job!

http://www.edgestudio.com/voice-over-vocal-care?utm_source=2012.01.31+-++Free+Career+Center+Newsletter&utm_campaign=FCC+Newsletter&utm_medium=email

Start your day off with an inner smile

This arrived in my in-box today from one of my favourite sources of spiritual inspiration, Inner Space, based in Covent Garden, Uk. I believe their website is: www.innerspace.org.uk

This is brilliant advice for anyone in any field, but it can be particularly useful to entrepreneurs, solopreneurs, voice artists and self-employed people where life is often day-to-day. Sometimes filled with good news -gigs, new and repeat clients; or sometimes it goes the other way – a missed job, a cancelled job, etc.

The advice which I received in today’s email is good for keeping us balanced, happy and focused. Here it is!

Positive Nourishment

Just as you would nourish the body with a healthy breakfast, in the same way, start your day on the right foot by feeding the mind with positive material.

Prior to starting your work day, either on your morning commute, or as soon as you walk into the office – take a few moments to read or listen to uplifting, encouraging, and mind-stretching information, words, music or podcast.

frostyleaf

towerbridge

The New Year has begun-Mother Nature says Good Morning!

The new year has begun, and I’ve decided to clarify and work with developing my Core Values and Goals, rather than develop a list of resolutions. These values determine how I live my life, relate to clients and friends, and generally move ahead in 2012.

On the voice over scene this includes more training, focused marketing, networking with colleagues – helping out where I can, I’ve already tweaked my studio space a bit, and re-doing the website with a new host.

On the personal side it includes getting out and about more, and continuing my studies with inspirational, positive materials, people and podcasts. As well as developing my Japanese, and budding Italian language skills more fully.

It also includes appreciating nature. Remember to take time to look around and see the beauty in life. Here are some piccies which I took this morning! Walking forward there was a beautiful red, orange and rose coloured sunrise. Whilst behind me, the moon was still out. It was so cool! Then a few minutes later, I noticed the moon was disappearing and on its way to bed. Nature is wonderful. Total gratitude to start my day off with such wonderful sights!

jan 2012 sunrise

jan 2012 moon a m

jan 2012 moon2 a m

Happy Holidays

Enjoy the holidays, and try not to let anything get you down!

Here are some photos to brighten your day. They were taken at various places such as the Birmingham Christmas market, the London Hyde park Winter Wonderland festival, and here and there!

Cheers! Happy holidays/Solstice!

winterwonderland

cmas galleria

birmingham1

birmingham3

crimbotree uh forum

mincepiecinnamon

Environment Equals Energy

I decided the other day that it was time to change my Voiceover working environment. Short of tearing up walls, or building an addition on to the house what else could I do? I decided to try and change the energy of my recording environment. I moved furniture around and changed the location of the mic and installed a more sound absorbing material around the perimeters of my recording space.

Then I found some inspirational pictures and hung them on the walls of my recording space. These were just small changes, but what a difference it made in the feel of my little “booth”. It felt very comfortable and cosy. Next on my wish list was “smell”. I envisioned filling the space with a fragrance that energised, but didn’t overpower. I found my special spray at a Mind, Body and Spirit festival. It’s made from herbs and essential oils which I spray in the area before every recording session. NOTE: This would be a definite faux pas in an outside studio where perfume, etc. is a no no! So don’t try this in the field kids. But at home, it’s a kind of signal to my mind that it’s time to do some very special work.

One thing I discovered after shifting everything is I have more room to move around as I record whilst still remaining on-mic. Nice! Because the space has now become fresh and new, I feel more creative and ready to work. I’m also purchasing some additional software which has different capacities than my current recording programme. So I can be more flexible in meeting a client’s requirements by being able to switch between different programmes as needed.

It’s good to keep ourselves on our toes and always moving ahead in a positive way. It’s great how change in one area of life spills over into the others. It’s good I think to keep our personal environment in a way that pleases and enriches us. If we are happy and productive then we’re in a better position to be useful and serve others.

How are you enhancing your working environment – whatever your career might be? Or maybe you’ve already done the work and are totally content and cool with where you are right now! Life is grand!

Cheers!