Just did a bit of voiceover for a short animated film. Drew Radley, the guy who animated this project is so clever. I love it! I voiced the part of the old lady, Mrs. Odeski.
Cheers….
Bookmark this on Delicious
Subscribe to RSS Feed HERE!
Autumn is Here!
October 21, 2009 — stefsvoice
Tea plantation in the mountains of India
Autumn is here…my favourite time of year. So much to do…voiceover gigs, looking for voiceover gigs, finding gigs, and creating gigs. It’s all go!
I recently produced and recorded an animated Sing-Along kiddie’s YouTube vid for the small ones. I think it’s really important that the tiniest ones don’t get frustrated, so I put lots of space between the verses so they can keep up too! So, here it is!
Here is an interesting article published in Success Magazine that came in my email the other day. It’s practical, inspirational and adaptable to anyone’s circumstances, I believe.
Legends
Harvey Mackay knows nurturing your network is the No. 1 habit for creating and sustaining success.
Liz Davis September 30, 2009
When speaker, author and CEO Harvey Mackay walks onto a stage to deliver one of his trademark talks, people sit up and pay attention. His good-humored interest in the topics at hand—and, more important, in the audience—comes across loud and clear. Within the first five minutes, everyone in the room is buying whatever Harvey Mackay is selling because he demonstrates one of his own most fundamental sales maxims: “People buy from other people because of likeability.” It’s no wonder Toastmasters International has named him one of the top five speakers in the world.
Never mind that Mackay isn’t really selling his audience anything. Instead, he gives them a lifetime of organized, practical business wisdom, targeted to the group’s specific needs. And his wisdom has resonated with readers, too, with five best sellers and more than 10 million books sold. Two of his books, Swim with the Sharks Without Being Eaten Alive and Beware the Naked Man Who Offers You His Shirt, were New York Times No. 1 Best- Sellers and listed by the Times among the top-15 inspirational business books of all time.
Preparing to Win
Harvey Mackay was born and raised in Minnesota’s Twin Cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul, where he still makes his home with wife Carol Ann. His father was head of the Associated Press in the Twin Cities for 35 years and was partial to aphorisms related to happiness and success, which he posted on the refrigerator. Mackay continues that tradition in his weekly syndicated column, which runs in 52 newspapers nationwide. Each motivational article ends with Mackay’s Moral, a compact, thought-provoking statement about some aspect of success.
Mackay attended the University of Minnesota, with no inkling that he would one day head up a multimillion-dollar company or write best-selling business books. “At the time, I thought I was going to be Ben Hogan,” he tells SUCCESS. When he found himself up against the nation’s best young golfers at an NCAA golf championship his sophomore year, Mackay realized that he was in way over his head.
The competitors from warm states like Florida, for example, had been playing golf year-round for much of their lives, while Mackay could only play golf for about four months out of the year in Minnesota’s colder climate. So even though he’d been playing golf for as many years as some of the other players, they had about three-times more cumulative experience. Those players were simply better prepared. “So I gave up that dream and became an entrepreneur,” Mackay says. In his 1997 book, Dig Your Well Before You’re Thirsty, he wrote that preparation is “a way of life for anyone who wants to succeed in any activity.” The lesson he learned as a 19-year-old golfer about the importance of extensive preparation and practice was one he never forgot.
After graduating from the University of Minnesota, Mackay had a slow start as an envelope salesman for Quality Park. But he was still an excellent golfer—good enough to convince the Oak Ridge Country Club in Minneapolis to admit him without the steep initiation fee (after a protracted sales pitch). In return, he would help the club get out of last place in the Minneapolis City Golf League. Mackay made so many business contacts playing golf at the club that he would later write in Dig Your Well Before You’re Thirsty, “There’s no question that this was the one single act that most helped me launch my career.”
“People don’t care how much you know, once they know how much you care.”
Over the next few years, Mackay’s fledgling network became the lever that lifted him to the No. 1 sales position at Quality Park. In 1959, at the age of 26, he felt ready to strike out on his own, so he bought a small, floundering envelope company and went into business for himself. Today, Mackay Mitchell Envelope Company (formerly Mackay Envelope Company for 46 years) does $100 million in sales annually and has the capacity to produce 25 million envelopes a day.
Humanize Your Selling Strategy
The power of a robust network was evident to Mackay from the beginning of his career. He built his foundation as a salesman by playing golf and developing relationships with people. To implement this vital practice of networking at an organizational level, Mackay developed a 66-question customer profile, known by his employees and devoted readers as “The Mackay 66.” Salespeople at Mackay Mitchell (and plenty of professionals who have read his books) fill out this 66-question dossier on every customer, prospective customer and supplier.
The Mackay 66 starts with the basics: name, age, hometown, etc. Then the profile gets more detailed, with questions about the customer’s favorite restaurants, preferred topics of conversation, professional goals, attitudes and concerns. The 66 questions provide a highly detailed portrait of the customer as a human being, which gives anyone at MackayMitchell a serious advantage when it comes to approaching that person. As Mackay puts it in Swim with the Sharks: “The sweetest sound in the world to you, and to your customer, is the sound of your own name on someone else’s lips.” Each profile is constantly updated, with every contact recorded and the next contact scheduled. If a salesperson takes the customer to lunch for his or her birthday or sends a link to an interesting article about the customer’s university, it goes in the profile.
So why all this research? Because, quite simply, it works. “Every time I talk to someone, I’m scanning them, finding out what’s important to them. I’m demonstrating that I understand that person as a human being,” Mackay says. No one would argue that successful salespeople should know as much as possible about their company’s products and services. But Mackay would tell you it’s far more important to know about the people involved. “People don’t care how much you know once they know how much you care. So find a creative way to stay in touch.”
An easy way to begin networking is to focus on the other person. Mackay’s best advice for developing your network is simple, and it calls to mind his customer-centered 66 questions. “When you meet an interesting new person you want to stay in touch with, always ask yourself first, ‘What can I do for this person?’ And don’t expect anything in return.”
Believe in Yourself, Because Your Network Does
In 1988, Mackay completed his first book, the business classic Swim with the Sharks Without Being Eaten Alive. He was an unknown, first-time author. In general, new authors’ books are published in small print runs of 10,000 copies. This makes it much easier for publishers to recoup their losses if books don’t sell well. But Mackay knew these customarily small print runs are part of the reason so many new authors never get the chance to prove themselves and publish more books.
Mackay made a bold move when he met with his publisher—he requested a print run of 100,000 copies. When the executives in the room responded incredulously, he pulled out his Rolodex, which at that time had more than 6,000 contacts. Some of these contacts were from enormous corporations where, Mackay reasoned, the book would surely be recommended to his contacts’ co-workers. In an unprecedented leap of faith, the publisher agreed to 100,000 copies, and Swim with the Sharks was a New York Times No. 1 Best- Seller for 54 weeks. Mackay went on to write several more books and will release yet another book next year.
Don’t Be Boring
Mackay cites enthusiasm and creativity as major cornerstones of his success. “There is no substitute for passion. I’m looking for three qualities in a salesperson: a hungry fighter, a hungry fighter and a hungry fighter. Once I’ve established that I can trust someone, the main thing I’m looking for is a deep-down burning desire to succeed.”
Mackay tells the story of a New York City cab driver to illustrate creativity in meeting a customer’s needs. When he got into a taxi one day, the driver presented Mackay with a printed mission statement that said he intended to get his passengers to their destinations “safely, courteously and on time.” He offered Mackay an array of CDs to choose from and the use of a cell phone. When the cab came to a stop, the driver presented Mackay with a brown-bagged snack. The taxi driver’s innovative approach and pride in his business garnered him thousands of extra dollars in tips every year. That cab driver, in effect, had the same motto as Mackay Mitchell Envelope Company: “Do what you love, love what you do, and deliver more than you promise.”
The idea behind Swim with the Sharks Without Being Eaten Alive, and at the very heart of Mackay’s philosophy, is that in order to stay competitive and successful you don’t have to become a shark yourself.
In fact, the opposite is true: If you demonstrate that you care about others, they’ll want to do business with you. You don’t have to be cutthroat to survive in a cutthroat marketplace. Mackay’s lifetime of achievement is proof that if you combine genuine caring about your network of people with a genuine love for what you do, success is inevitable.
Mackay’s Moral: People don’t care how much you know about them, once they realize how much you care about them.
There’s a Link to Success Magazine on the right hand side of this page under the “Miscellaneous” heading.
“Happiness is a perfume you cannot pour on others without getting a few drops on yourself.” Ralph Waldo Emerson
Cheers!
Keeping the Faith – 2
August 18, 2009 — stefsvoice
- Grand Canyon photo taken by my friend, Michelle
I’ve been spending a lot of time lately refreshing and improving my knowledge on the technical aspects of voiceover recording. Here are two links that I found to be most helpful.
Dynamics Processing Explained, A Tutorial
and
Click Removal in Sound Forge 5.0 Even though this is an old edition of sound Forge, the technique is probably still valid.
Here according to one of Pat Fraley’s (one of my fave VO tutors) voices.com podcast lecture are the
9 Critical Skills to Voiceover :
Acting
Reading & Voice
Relaxation
Character and Accents
Energy
Microphone Technique
Business
Sense of scene and Text analysis
Improvision
Ok, got that? Now here’s Susan Berkeley’s interpretation, which I found in Susan’s e-book -
The 7 core voiceover-competencies:
Voice Quality
Diction
Reading skills
Acting Skills
Relationship/Networking skills
Technical skills
Marketing skills
One of my favourite tools for keeping my faith and energy in a positive place are ‘Oracle Cards.’ I discovered them on a couple of my trips to Glastonbury [England].
To me they are quite good for inspiration or guidance, and for focus.
I usually shuffle them while thinking of my question or a statement about some aspect of my voiceover career. Then I pick three — turn them over, and have a read and a think.
The artwork on them is quite beautiful – so that’s a creative, uplifting blast right there.
I’m drawn to the card sets that express the ideas in practical, easy-to-understand language. These cards are brilliant, easy to understand and quick to use, as I often don’t have time to go through a whole drawn out ritual. I like to pick out three at the start of a day — sometimes plucking a few cards from one deck and a few from another deck — and then get on with the business of the day.
The cards that I currently use are “Magical Mermaids and Dolphins” by Doreen Virtue [because I've been very fond of dolphins for years], and “Cosmic Ordering Oracle Cards” by Barbel Mohr.
The “Angelic Abundance” cards by Angela McGerr are really cool as well. They’re divided into various categories for different aspects of the user’s [the person using the cards] life.
Of course Oracle Cards don’t replace the marketing, learning, networking, etc. that one needs to do to keep any type of career on track, but the cards are darn good little helpers and good friends.
How do you keep yourself focused and moving in the right direction?
Cheers!
Pimp my Voice Box
July 28, 2009 — stefsvoiceDecided that my voiceover booth (or as VO champ Rodney Saulsberry puts it — “The Money Box”) needed a little upgrading. I don’t know how I decided, the thought just came to me. My little miccie needed its very own home.
So, I ordered some accoustical foam from a brilliant vendor on ebay and set to work to make a Hogan-style Porta booth, but one that was bigger and sturdier since I’ll be working with it everyday.
I made it with a sturdy surround and covered the outside and floor with thick curtain-quality fabric; the inside is lined with the wonderful accoustical foam.
What a difference in the sound. It enhances the quality, and certainly “pumps up the volume” a few notches. I was so surprised and pleased!
view 2 doing the business with the pop shield:
view 3 miccie’s very own new wee huttie — side view
Met up with my new friend Mike Rhys – a British voiceover artist who lives in Japan, his brother, cute little daughter and his colleague Nicky Faint. Nicky’s a VO now based here in England, but she lived and worked in Japan for 5 years. It was brilliant! And so good to talk with them about their VO lives in Japan.
Will be producing and voicing a serialised version of a mystery audiobook soon. I’ll keep you posted on the progress. You might even want to have a listen…might even get hooked on the plot and come back for more, to see what happens in subsequent and future episodes! It’s going to be a long one. 
“Those who are fired with an enthusiastic idea and who allow it to take hold and dominate their thoughts find that new worlds open for them. As long as enthusiasm holds out, so will new opportunities.”
Cheers all…
Following the Dream
July 6, 2009 — stefsvoice
Sometimes we are quite busy, with auditions, marketing, networking, checking our life timetables to see if we’re where we want to be yet. Maybe it’s ok once in a while to just say –’everything’s cool right now!I’m happy.’
Today’s big thought comes from the Inner Space center in Covent Garden London:
“Give yourself the permission to be happy right here, right now. Be satisfied with what you have when you are in pursuit of what you want.” Yeah!
Thanks to all my wonderful Voice Over mates for their friendship and encouragement. It’s truly most appreciated. And, I’m grateful for my family and friends as well!
Ok, enough musing and sharing…back to work!
Cheers…..
<
A Walk on the Wild (Nature’s)Side
June 25, 2009 — stefsvoiceA little bit of Voiceover/Life Advice which turned up in my
email in-box the other day.
“Turn your dream into a vision, then into a goal, then into a plan and then into reality! After all, a goal is nothing more than a dream with a deadline!
Had a chance to take a little break recently in the form of a 6-mile walk along the South West Coastal Path, along the cliffs from a place in Devon called Budleigh-Salterton to Exmouth. I thought it might be too much, but it was great fun. Good exercise. Devon is a lovely area of England. What is it, I wonder, about open spaces that makes one burst into song while hiking? Rather than rabbit on further, I’ll just show you the piccies…
The Starting point
Stop and smell the flowers along the way!
Clowning around with hubby.
Looks like we’re in good company here!
Seagulls getting a free lunch by following the potato farmer
as he turns over the soil.
This made me feel like we were walking through
a secret fairy garden!
The end of the hike at Exmouth. Done! Where’s the pub?!
After our little sojourn, it was back to work. Finished off and uploaded an e-learning video last week focusing on improving listening comprehension skills for beginning/intermediate learners of English as a Second Language. (Please see “Voice Over Videos -3″ page.) Ready to roll now on the next voiceover project. Where are you? Bring it on!
Cheers…
Voiceover & Life Conversations
May 31, 2009 — stefsvoice
This Alison bush was covered with these beautiful yellow and black butterflies, but they move so fast! Managed to catch one in the piccie!
THOUGHT FOR THE DAY for Voiceover and Life Success:
“All frustration is due to unfulfilled desires. If you dwell on obstacles, delays, and difficulties, your subconscious mind responds accordingly, and you are blocking your own good.”
Dr. Joseph Murphy
The Power of Your Subconscious Mind
www.dr-joseph-murphy.com
I went to the Animation Convention with my friend the other week-end. It was brilliant. Hope to see myself there one year as a guest voiceover speaker. In the meantime, I enjoyed what was on tap on the day.
Technology is really surging ahead. There was a fantastic demonstration of a game that is controlled by the voice. Using the microphone, you must first gather up your breath (as we VO’s know only too well how to do) and then let out a long cry — this powers up the energy bar. Then you let out your voice in a series of short bursts which set off the weapons and send the cannon balls flying. (See the piccie below.) It was great fun. But maybe not the game to play before a heavy voiceover session!
Just compiled a list of video producers, so now it’s time to put the head down and get to work marketing. I’ve set myself some VO financial targets for the next month, so I’d best get cracking if I’m gonna make them. Sunday or not, sunny day or not…I’d best focus and get busy!
“Winners make big things happen, a little bit at a time!”
(another quote that came across my desk this week!)
Cheers all…
Money is our Good Friend!
May 7, 2009 — stefsvoiceHello Voiceover pals, colleagues and clients.
Received this beautiful piccie in my email this morning. This gorgeous lady is — I believe — the goddess of prosperity. I wish I knew her exact name. Does anybody know what it is?
Prosperity is Everywhere!
Wishing you all a shining day, and the best of opportunities & assistance for permanent prosperity in all your endeavors. Be thankful daily for all of your blessings. You are lucky!
Cheers…
Keep the Faith!
April 7, 2009 — stefsvoice
Niagara Falls – Canada side
I’ve been having a little bit of a busy time lately. I’m working on editing and cleaning up the VO for an audiobook project. It’s great fun finding bits of sound effects to be judiciously added to the action. Not too many, but enough to give an idea of the energy of the chapter. Next will be a mystery audiobook project.
There are also plans for three YouTube voiceover videos in the works. Add to that the usual round of auditions (fingers perpetually crossed!), and marketing. Looking forward immensely to VOX 2009 next month. It’ll be my first time to attend, so I’ll tell all in a future blog.
Found this beautiful inspirational poem in an email the other day.
CHEERFUL THOUGHTS
LIGHTEN DARKEST FEARS
|
And when the face is smiling, For the nature of our attitude And since fear and dread and worry And if you’ll only try it For when the heart is cheerful,
|
I really sincerely hope this brighens your day as much as it did mine. Keep the faith, it’ll all be right in the end! Don’t let any gloomy media stories bring you down! We are all winners!
Cheers… Stefania
FULL SPEED AHEAD!
March 25, 2009 — stefsvoiceHi all – clients, prospective clients and VO pals!
I’m working on editing an audiobook, and then looking forward to starting on the next audio project. Starting artwork for a new animation production soon to go on my YouTube channel. And, busy with increased marketing activity as well, whilst waiting for a few “projects in discussion” to materalise. So, today’s blog is a quickie!
News of two valuable VO resources from Edge Studios arrived in this morning’s email.
3,500 Free Practice Scripts
http://www.edgestudio.com/scripts.htm
Free Industry (VO) Guidebook
http://www.edgestudio.com/guidebook.htm
That’s all for today…see – told you this was going to be a really quick chat!
Cheers…
Stefania
