Train No. 2013 has left the station!

It’s a bit over a week into the new year and the clean up, clear up, move up campaign continues.

You might have noticed the absence of the fluffy pink borders on this blog page. The colours matched my old website, but that one has been replaced for some time. So it’s time for the energy here to be freshened up, updated and brought into line with my current VoiceOver website. Next in line were the Testimonials and About Me pages. I hadn’t looked at them in some time. Next, it was a visit to my LinkedIn page for some tweaking. Maybe I’ve been a bit too much nose to the grindstone lately. When we make progress in our lives and careers we should mark and celebrate it!

Have you checked out your blogs, websites, and social media pages to make sure that the message that you’re sending out reflects you and your product as you are today?

What kind of tweaking and revamping have you been doing or plan to do?

Another top thing on my list is more VoiceOver training. One can never be too good, and have learned everything there is to know about the field. Things change everyday. Even watching the telly or listening to the radio is often study time for me. I’ve been watching lots of animations and narrative-type documentaries lately. And, in addition to in-person work, there’s distance learning, and there’s the Weekend Workout programme as well. I’ve fallen off the wagon on that one a bit. Time to get back on the horse!

I’m finding James Alburger’s book, The Art of Voice Acting – 4th edition, The Art of Voice Acting: The Craft and Business of Performing Voiceover to be quite an interesting piece of work. It makes a good refresher study, and I’m picking up some new ideas as well. The CD that comes with the book is handy to, because I can hear examples of what the book is covering and I’ve put a few bits on my iPod as well.

There’s Money Where Your Mouth Is by Elaine Clark, There’s Money Where Your Mouth Is: The Insider’s Guide to a Career in Voice-overs is a valuable resource as well.

That’s it for today. May you be blessed, prosperous, happy and busy in this new year. Go out and let it happen! Cheers!

Please visit us Facebook for crafts,culture and arts news!

My podcast of storytelling and positive-inspirational messages.

Positive Affirmations and Audio Stories.

Voiceover Rambles – Happy Thanksgiving

I’ve been happily a bit busy lately with various commitments and projects…so this blog is a bit of a ramble… but I missed you all!

My colleagues James Alburger and Penny Abshire at the Voice Acting Academy in San Diego, California are holding a Voice Acting Performance Intensive Workshop running on various dates from 24 November through 30 December. There are twelve dates on offer at $597 per ticket. It’s a little too far for me to attend from England, but I have some of their teaching materials and have found them very very useful. One day, I’d like to get some coaching from them. [There are other teachers on my list as well like Pat Fraley, and Nancy W., but that's another day's blog entry!]

The description of the workshop that came my way ran thus ” This 2-1/2 day voice acting workshop will take your performing skills to an entirely new level. Whether you are an on-camera actor, stage actor, or just interested in breaking into voiceover, this workshop will give you the skills you need to work as a professional voiceover talent or improve your verbal communication skills. Taught by James Alburger and Penny Abshire of VoiceActing Academy in San Diego. ..”

Go to their website for more particulars, and the latest info on available dates (things might have changed since I received the above news) at http://www.voiceacting.com . Or, you can find them both on Facebook.

Ramble number two.  Many people look way down their noses at USB mics, but I think they do have a place in one’s voiceover toolkit.  They’re good for travel, quick auditions, and a good many actual VO gigs. If that’s what you have, work with what you’ve got and don’t worry about the opinions of others. Just do your best! There are many people with Neumanns and other super duper powerful mics, who haven’t work a VO gig in donkeys (that’s a UK expression for a very long time). But do dig in your pockets and invest in a decent mic. Tinny, weak-sounding voiceovers are not on! Ramble no. 2 done.

App of the week — Daily Affirmations –This is an Android app which I’ve just discovered. It’s very good for keeping us focused. You just write one affirmation several times a day, or for several days,  whilst it sinks into your subconscious. It’s great because you must write the entire affirmation each time. There’s no shortcut copy and paste mechanism. After a while you might find yourself avoiding old behaviour patterns because they’re no longer in harmony with the new vision that you’ve set for yourself. It’s all about persistence and repetition.

What kind of techniques do you use to keep yourself on target with your professional and personal goals and dreams? Feel free to comment and share.

All for now…Happy Thanksgiving…we are blessed…let’s be grateful for that, and for all of the good in our lives!

VoiceOver Tip from a Colleague – Cutting down re-takes of your recordings

This time round in my blog, I’m quoting a post which was written a while ago by my colleague Tom Dheere. At the time that I read Tom’s post, I thought that his advice could save a lot of us voiceover peeps a great deal of time, and our clients would benefit as well. So, with Tom’s permission, I’m spreading the word and reprinting his blog. Enjoy!

Retakes usually are needed for a few reasons:

Technical Issues (feedback, low gain, static, etc.)
Background Sounds
Script Errors
Me Being a Doofus (I mispronounced a word, inadvertently changed a word, inserted a word, flubbed an accent, or stressed the wrong word)

These are all common errors, many of which you can minimize.

TIP OF THE WEEK: Here’s what you can do to minimize the amount of retakes needed:

Read the script. I know that sounds obvious, but I mean REALLY read the script. I try read it three times before I record. Once to enjoy it & understand the story, once to break down the characters, and once to review spelling and grammar.

Ask questions. If I’m not sure about something, I ask the publisher. If he’s not sure, he contacts the author and gets back to me. Once in a while you may get to talk to the author directly, but I’m not always sure that’s best. Writing something and reading it aloud are two different disciplines and it’s the publisher’s job to bridge them.

Take notes. I always build a pronunciation guide. Sci-fi stories tend to have a lot a big real words and even more fake words, some of which don’t feel organic. Get the correct pronunciations and practice them. Also, I like using accents so I track how each character speaks and make sure I get the subtleties right.

Have fun! If you do your homework and enjoy the session, your acting will shine through.

Thanks Tom!

Cheers!

Bookmark this on Delicious

Share this on Facebook

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!

Know thyself! Let’s evaluate and grow.

This came in my email  from “inner space” the other day, and it’s so short, so simple…yet at the same time so powerful.

It’s about how to grow and improve as a person, but on reading the article again I dare say this could apply to how we see ourselves as professional voice artists/talent as well.

Quality List

Ask yourself:

What am I good at?

What are my strengths and special attributes?

What can people rely on me for?

How do I make others happy?

How have I overcome challenges?

Today, make time to list your best qualities.  Focus on the good

in you and watch it grow.

I’ve recently gotten myself listed on the new google+ site. One more bit to add to the social media soup mix. The interesting thing is, while many of those in my circles are my favourite voice over colleagues, I find that I’m meeting many new people who are outside of my career circle.  Somehow, I’m meeting people from various groups with whom I didn’t cross paths  previously – even though we were members of the same online (and offline) groups. It’s quite interesting and wonderful. It’s kind of like a ripples in a pond and the circles are getting wider and wider. Brilliant!

If you’re looking, I can be found here:

My google+ page

All for now….enjoy your summer!

Oh, I almost forgot…my new podcast episode is now live. I learned a little bit about The Pomodoro (time management) Technique, and speak of it in the podcast. It’s totally new to me, so I’ll be blogging more later about the results of my experiments with this technique! Here’s the link for the podcast:

stefsvoice4youBroadcast

Cheers!

Bookmark this on Delicious

Share this on Facebook

Voiceover Tip – Motivational CD by actress Wendy Braun

I’m a big fan of actress Wendy Braun’s Actor’s Inspiration website. There are so many helpful tips and motivational affirmations there. “Empowering actors to believe, achieve and enjoy the journey” is Wendy’s motto.

She’s come out with a CD of affirmations tailoured for actors. And, there’s a sample affirmation that you can download to see if it resonates for you. I was all set to order one of these CDs for myself, but the high postage cost to England put me off. Hopefully one day it’ll be offered as a download, which would make a better investment costwise. I purchased Yuri Lowenthal and Tara Platt’s “The Voiceover Warm up” in this fashion and it worked a treat.

Anyway, if you’re Stateside, this CD by Wendy could be a valuable tool in your voiceover arsenal. You can order it via the “store”section of Wendy’s website. I’m not getting any kickback on this, I just found the sample affirmation to be brilliant and want to spread the word!

I’ve also now discovered Wendy’s Twitter page and she’s always tweeting some lovely affirmations there as well.

That’s today’s voiceover tip…bye for now!

Bookmark this on Delicious

Share this on Facebook

Paying it Forward – Part 2

Here’s my second video made on my BlackBerry 8520 phone. There’s a synching issue on this one between voice and video. I guess that could be a BlackBerry thing, as it was ok on the first one.

Or perhaps it’s because this one is much longer than the first video.

This is a mini-tutorial on mixing with Sony Sound Forge Audio Studio 8 software. I’ll get a Flip video cam soon, but it’s good just to be able to share and maybe the tips might be useful to someone! I’ve certainly received much assistance – in all areas – from my voiceover pals. Here’s my tiny contribution to the community pool of knowledge.

BlackBerry Moments – Mixing with Sony Sound Forge Audio Studio 8 from Stefania Lintonbon on Vimeo.

Cheers!

Bookmark this on Delicious

Share this on Facebook

Pay It Forward

BlackBerry Moment-Recording with Sony Sound Forge Audio Studio8 from Stefania Lintonbon on Vimeo.

I’ve learned so much from the various forums, my VoiceOver colleagues and my teachers. I’ve wondered what can I bring to the party.

Well, I’ve been experimenting with my little BlackBerry phone’s video function, and discovered that not only can I have fun making videos but they can be posted on the major sites like Vimeo or YouTube. So since I have a little knowledge about editing gained from my experience with gigs and auditions, I thought I’d pass this on for beginners to recording – be they voice artists, podcasters, small businesspeople, etc.

I hope it’s useful and answers a few simple questions for someone who might be in “scratch head” mode with their Sony software!

Read a brilliant post by blogger Seth Godin ( http://sethgodin.typepad.com/ )on how, and I quote,

“Self sufficiency appears to be a worthy goal, but it’s now impossible if you want to actually get anything done.

All our productivity, leverage and insight comes from being part of a community, not apart from it.

The goal, I think, is to figure out how to become more dependent, not less.”

I think it’s most important to choose your friends well. I’m very happy that I’ve met some wonderful friends in voiceover and other circles. Their help and encouragement has been invaluable. You can find many of their blogs and groups on the right hand side of my blog page.

The best of luck and blessings to all my wonderful “online” and “real world” friends!

Bookmark this on Delicious

Share this on Facebook

Christmas special podcasts-Love is the Reason for the Season

Here, to celebrate the festive holiday period, are three special Christmas narrations which I recently did for my podcast – stefsvoice4you Broadcast (iTunes).

This week’s holiday narration

Christmas Poems – Chrissy the Christmas Tree; Tis Time

 

The previous Christmas special podcast

Christmas Day In the Morning

 

And the first one:

The Legend of the Christmas Stocking

 

Happy and Safe Holidays to all my friends and readers! See you in the new year.

 

Bookmark this on Delicious

Share this on Facebook

Introducing Vopedia.com – The Voiceover Wiki

My voiceover colleagues are a creative bunch — always up to something!

Here are the details of the new Voiceover Wiki set up by my colleage Mahmoud Al Taji (www.voiceemporium.com). I’m reprinting this from his LinkedIn notice and you can visit the website to learn more about it, and also if any of the links in his blog were not transferred to this article, you can probably go to them via Taj’s website.

“A few months back I got the idea that I the Voiceover community is in dire need of a repository of knowledge. Or if you want to use a more modern term… a Wikipedia site dedicated to the voiceover industry and its members.

Now I can’t use that term… Wikipedia… because that is a registered company that has its own site etc. but the more acceptable term is that the voiceover industry needs a wiki.

I’m a pretty DIY kinda guy and went on a search to find out if the community already had a site like that. Turns out there was an attempt to create one by one of the bigger online casting agencies but for some reason or another it just didnt take off.

So I decided to take things into my own hands to create that site.

Introducing Vopedia.com

It took me a while … it really did.. big learning curve… but I was able to setup the site and using the same software that wikipedia themselves use (to their credit they do post the software for free on their site) but I digress.

I tried to contact a few people of interest and was able to get them to contribute their information.  The majority where pretty quick to reply (ok so I stalked them a little with my magicjack) but overall everyone was very professional.

The Premise

I want every single voice actor, voiceover agency, studio to add their information to this site… Its an online encyclopedia for us, by us and the whole point of a Wiki is that it is driven by user contributions.

For those are not familiar with Wiki Markup Language please click here

But! I do have a few rules and they are that if you decide to add a page that it adheres to the following formats:

Agency, Company or Studio

Click here to see the template

If you are a company, agency, studio that wants to add itself to the Voiceover Wiki by all means please do but your page has to abide by the following structure (more or less):

1. History
   1. Origins
   2. Current status
2. Products and Services
3. Customers, Vendors and Affiliations
4. Awards and Recognition
5. Link To your Site

Voice Actor

Click here to see the template

(you can copy the markup language from this  template and paste it into the content of your page and fill out the appropriate areas)

If you are a Voice Actor, coach, agent and wish to include information about yourself then please do so using the following structure:

1. Life & Career
   1. Early career
   2. Voice-Over
   3. Other Interests
   4. Theatrical and Film Acting (can be video games for you if you like)
2. References and footnotes
   1. Bibliography
3. External links

Voiceover Related Site

Click here to see the template

If you run a voiceover online magazine or information site then pleas follow this format:

1. Site description
2. Establishment
   1. Why it was established
   2. When it was established
   3. Celebrity Members
3. Services

Got Questions?

I started this project a little over 3 months back and the point was that I wanted the search engines to have time to index the site and make sure it was visible online.

Oh and I’ve started the ball rolling by adding over 350+ pages of content.

I run the site and I have a few rules but other than that… I hope you enjoy my efforts and find benefit in them.

Taji”

All is still going well with my podcast. I’m reviewing several self-help books -a bit at a time in each podcast – as well as talking about events, lifestyle, travel, voiceover, and presenting audiobook narrations. The iTunes link can be found here:

http://itunes.apple.com/gb/podcast/stefsvoice4you-broadcast/id393291303

The mystery tales – Violet Strange Mysteries – podcast, can be found here:

http://itunes.apple.com/gb/podcast/stefania-lintonbons-boos/id393840324

 

All for now…
Cheers…

Bookmark this on Delicious

Share this on Facebook