What it takes today, to be a successful voice-over artist.

I have recently found some great articles on voice-over techniques and what works and what may keep you from being cast. One of the most succesful voice-over artists right now is Mike Rowe, you know him from his Discovery channel show Dirty Jobs, he has also been the voice for several Ford commercials recently, and of course his narration work on Deadliest Catch and so on. Well, if your like me you probably have asked yourself the question, what is it that makes him so successful as a voice talent? Check out these interview audio snippets by Mary Windishar from Internet Voice Coach, as she asks these very questions to the man himself.  Mike explains when to abandon certain voice-over techniques and why he believes the honest voice is not only valuable, but  the way of the future.

http://www.internetvoicecoach.com/public/Mike_Rowe_on_Dirty_Jobs_Voiceover_and_more_2.cfm

Do you have anything different that you feel makes you a success in the current voice-over marketplace? I would love to hear what you may have to add!

 

Great show for those with a “Home Studio”

For the past year there has been an excellent resource available for those that are wanting to learn more on the technical side of operating a home recording studio. EWABS otherwise known as East West Audio Body Shop is broadcast on the internet most Sunday nights at 9 p.m. ET. You can find the live stream along with past recorded shows on their Ustream channel here http://www.ustream.tv/channel/ewabs .  The co-hosts are Dan Lenard “from the East” and George Whittam “from the West” both are experts in audio engineering and specialize in helping people that seek solutions for their home studio problems.

Dan is from the Buffalo New York area and you can visit his website here http://www.homestudiomaster.com/Home_studio_Home_Page.php.  George is based in the greater Los Angeles California area, he is Virginia Tech graduate and was the personal studio engineer for the late Don LaFontaine who was the voice-over guy that starred in the Geico TV commercials and one of the most famous movie trailer voices of all time. George’s website can be found here http://eldorec.com/.

Both offer services to those that need help troubleshooting and properly setting up their home studios.  They both offer free evaluations of your current audio from your home studio that can be uploaded to their websites. From this sample they can make suggestions of changes that can be made to improve your audio quality. Both are very reasonably priced and very efficient. I have personally used George’s services setting up my own voice-over studio and through Skype and remote software he was able to help customize the settings that I needed specifically for my recording space environment.

The voice-over industry has changed greatly in just the past few years and now most voice-talents not only have to deliver superior reads, but also have to be able to produce professional quality audio from their home studios.  EWABS is one very important resource that can help us all provide the quality audio necessary to be competitive in todays voice-over marketplace.

What steps are you taking to ensure that you are producing the best audio quality from your home studio set up?

2012 A Brand New Start!

The first quarter has been a hectic one so far in 2012, right now I am in the midst of refining my business plan, enhancing my overall marketing and branding! As part of my marketing refinement I have rebuilt my web presence by separating voice-over from my other business website and have built this new site dedicated to the voice-over industry. I have upgraded into the wonderful world of WordPress, and thanks to “VoxMan” aka Corey Snow for developing that awesome audio player widget for the sidebar! Kudos to Corey!

While I still have a lot to do, for those of you that have been to my old voice-over site you can see this website is a major upgrade from my previous site and will continue to evolve as I move through my branding refinement process.

As far as the blogging goes, I have re-evaluated my blog presence too and have decided to make major changes for 2012! People want to read something containing useful information. Content that they can use to improve their life or the way they do business, so my blogs from now on are going to do just that. I will be covering a wide spectrum of topics from, voice-over, audio production, recording, computer hardware and software, and various business topics that can help a wide diversity of folks.

If you happen to stumble on this blog with its new informational format and like it, please subscribe, and add me to your blogroll.

So here is to a great 2012 for everyone out there! What changes have you, or are you planning to make with your voice-over business this year?