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.

A lesson on Friendship from Ralph Waldo Emerson

I have been really blessed to have many supportive, lovely friends both in the voiceover community and across the internet (and in the non-internet world too). I’ve started a website centering around  Positive Affirmations (http://www.positiveaffirmationsandaudiostories.co.uk  ), and recently narrated a “Quote of the Week” on Friendship.

I’m re-broadcasting it here and dedicating it to all the wonderful online and offline friends that I now know, and have known. They’ve been with me through good times and bad.  I shall do my best to continue to be a good friend to you as well. Blessings and thanks to you all!

 

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!

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Some of the best voiceover advice on the planet

I came across this post by my voiceover colleague Doug Turkel via Facebook. This is one of the most amazing articles that I have read on growing and maintaining a voiceover career.

Doug’s blog is titled “50+ Vital Business Resources for Voiceover Talent”. I’ll be reading, re-reading this article and applying this knowledge starting now.

Thank You Doug!

Here’s the link:

http://dougturkel.com/blog/2011/09/08/50-vital-business-resources-for-voiceover-talent/

Cheers!

The Winning Team

Attention VoiceOver pals, non voicies…

Who’s on the winning team?

I am!

YOU are!

Here’s a fantastic video that was passed on to me by one of my podcast and twitter colleagues, @mikeleighcooper.  Enjoy!

It’s so wonderful when you meet a voice over pal that you’ve only known via the internet. My friend from the vo-bb Chuck Davies was recently visiting here in London. Chuck, his wife Kate, and I met up at a pub in Covent Garden and spent some pleasant time getting to know each other.

Fabbo!

When I’m not voicing, I’m here:

BeadedDelightsByStef

It’s my Facebook page for cool arts, culture and crafts news! Please pop by for a visit and a “like”. >^..^<

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!

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VoiceOver Bits – Positive Thinking – Happy Fourth of July

Happy Fourth of July to all my friends and colleagues in the US. It’s not a holiday week-end over here in England, but still there are lots of festivals going on and the weather’s great.

Rodney Saulsberry’s got a new YouTube video out – Practice Fast Commercial Tags With Rodney Saulsberry – I’m looking forward to adding that to my repetoire of pre audition/gig warmups. Here’s the URL: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=umXojMruUSg&feature=youtu.be

Penny Abshire of the Voice Acting Academy wrote a really powerful list of 7 Ways to Maintain a Positive (and grateful) Attitude. It’s brilliant. With Penny’s permission, I’m reprinting it here. You can find their URL on the right hand side of my page.

7 Ways to Maintain a Positive (and grateful) Attitude

1. Keep a “Happy File.” Keep a file or box full of special things – birthday cards, an encouraging note, an award you’ve won, a love letter, a special picture, etc. When you are feeling low, take a few moments to look through the file. As you do, allow yourself to feel the same emotion of pride, love or excitement you did when you received that letter, award or card.

2. Train yourself to “turn it around!” When a negative thought enters your mind, find that one extremely positive thought you keep in reserve (your touchstone), see it clearly, feel it, and then push out the negative thought! Positive and negative thoughts can’t co-exist in the mind and positive thoughts are much stronger!

3. Keep a Gratitude Journal. Take a moment each day to write down something you are grateful for in your life. It doesn’t have to be a big thing. (For instance, I am VERY grateful for the hot water I receive at a twist of a knob each morning when I take my shower.)

4. Develop the habit of daily prayer. Like any other parent, our Father in Heaven wants to hear from us. He wants to hear how we are feeling, He wants to hear about our trials, He wants to enjoy our successes and most of all, He wants to help us. So, when life gets dark and dreary, don’t forget to pray!

5. Remove negative self-talk from your vocabulary: “What a dumb thing to do!…..How could I be so stupid?……I’m an idiot!…..I am so fat!” You see, your subconscious doesn’t know the difference between fact and fiction. Keep telling it you’re incapable, stupid and fat and guess what you’ll be?

6. Develop the habit of consciously thinking about how you’d want tomorrow to be. Play it out in your mind before you fall asleep – see it like a movie. If you write a positive, happy “script” you’re more likely to have a good tomorrow! (For instance, “I wake refreshed and feeling confident. I enjoy a wonderful hot shower and then a delicious breakfast. I look forward to starting my day,” etc.)

7. Count Your Blessings! Whenever you start “feeling sorry for yourself,” get out that Gratitude Journal or your Happy File (or make the list in your head) and start concentrating on all the incredible blessings you have in your life – from the largest to the smallest. Pretty soon, you will be feeling so much gratitude that you will forget why you were feeling down.

New Arts and Jewellry Facebook Page

One of my colleagues suggested I start a separate FB page for my jewellry and crafty bits (my FBook account is for my voiceover business). So, taking his excellent and respected advice, I started a FBook arts and jewellry page a couple of days ago.

It’s a bit lonely over there with a few likes. If you don’t mind, can you visit my page and – if you feel so inspired – “like” it ? Thanks so much!

https://www.facebook.com/pages/BeadedDelightsByStef/201721309873775

Cheers all!

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The Splashes of Life

This lovely story was in my email from a website called Inspiration Line ( http://www.inspirationline.com ). I just wanted to share this with my friends and colleagues here on my blog! It seems to me that this philosophy is a good one to embrace in general life, or even in a short-term situation such as recording in a studio or working with others in a different capacity.

A Sioux Indian story…

My grandfather took me to the fishing pond
when I was about seven, and he told me
to throw a stone into the water.

He told me to watch the circles created by the stone.
Then he asked me to think of myself as that stone person.

“You may create lots of splashes in your life,
but the waves that come from those splashes will disturb the peace
of all your fellow creatures,” he said.

“Remember that you are responsible for what you put in your circle
and that circle will also touch many other circles.”

“You will need to live in a way that allows the good that comes
from your circle to send the peace of that goodness to others.”

“The splash that comes from anger or jealousy will send
those feelings to other circles. You are responsible for both.”

That was the first time I realized each person creates the
inner peace or discord that flows out into the world.

We cannot create world peace if we are riddled with
inner conflict, hatred, doubt, or anger.

We radiate the feelings and thoughts that we hold inside,
whether we speak them or not.

Whatever is splashing around inside of us
is spilling out into the world, creating beauty or discord
with all other circles of life.

Remember the eternal wisdom:

WHATEVER YOU FOCUS ON EXPANDS…

~Author Unknown

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Book Trailer VoiceOver

I recently had the pleasure of working as a Voice Artist on a book trailer for a fantasy novel. It was great. I so enjoyed the process. It was nice to be directed as to the mood, delivery, etc. as opposed to self-direction. Collaboration is a good thing!

Here’s the trailer:

BookTrailer VO by Stefania- The Chronicles of Kale A Dragon’s Awakening from Stefania Lintonbon on Vimeo.

Cheers all!

Stefania

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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!

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