Quoth the legendary Scottish poet Robbie Burns: O wad some Power the giftie gie us To see oursels as ithers see us! It wad frae monie a blunder free us An foolish notion… To which I can only add: Word. In the midst of delving into business and marketing planning today, I took a couple [...]
Archive for January 2009
As others hear us
January 28, 2009Why I want to earn my SAG card
January 25, 2009I want a Screen Actors Guild card… …not for the prestige. …not for the pension and insurance benefits. …not for access to all of the really great VO jobs. …not for scale wages or residuals. …not so that I can cast a ballot during strike votes. …not even for the autographed 8″x10″ glossy of Alan [...]
Call me sometime, when you have no class
January 23, 2009At some point during last evening’s narration class, I figured out why voiceover classes are cool. Not the voiceover part, of course. I already know why that’s cool. The class part. Anyone who knows me at all knows that I’m something of a lone wolf. Simply understood from a psychological perspective — I grew up [...]
There but for Throat Coat go I
January 16, 2009Question: Can a voice actor create quality work in a three-hour VO workshop with a vocal apparatus thrashed by a nasty rhinovirus? Answer: Thanks to the fine folks at Traditional Medicinals, he can. Last night’s narration class was a struggle. A cold that had been edging up on me since Monday exploded into full bloom, [...]
Bad day for celebrity voices
January 14, 2009Good thing this doesn’t happen often. Both Patrick McGoohan and Ricardo Montalbán passed away today. Although I’ll mostly remember Messrs. McGoohan and Montalbán for their face-acting roles — McGoohan as the title character in Danger Man and The Prisoner; Montalbán as Mr. Roarke on Fantasy Island and as Star Trek‘s “Kha-a-a-a-a-a-n!” — both possessed noteworthy [...]
Narration sensation
January 12, 2009Thursday evening was my first session in a four-week course on narration. It’s the beginning of what will be a busy semester for me at Voicetrax. Although I’ve mostly taken acting and character classes to this point, and seem to have an affinity for that sort of thing, narration is more like what I thought [...]
Paradox
January 7, 2009Here’s a weird thing I noticed the other day. I was recording a new qualification track for my chorus; we have to submit updated individual recordings periodically to demonstrate continue development in our vocal skills, as well as mastery of new competition material. Usually, I’m uneasy with this process. I’m plagued by nervous tension, causing [...]
Toons!
January 3, 2009Today’s career-building activity involved doing something I haven’t done in quite some time — watching cartoons on TV. As much as I love feature animation, I haven’t been moved to take in much made-for-television product — aside from the occasional episode of Legion of Super-Heroes, Justice League, or the various iterations of Spider-Man — in [...]
My New Year’s with the guru
January 1, 2009My key tactic for 2009 is to do something every single day of the year that will help advance me toward my voiceover career goals. Some days, that may be as small as reading one good article or blog post, from which I take away valuable information. Other days, I’ll make bigger contributions — attending [...]
