Vox Daily

Working in your pajamas... welcome to one benefit of voice acting, Hollywood!

Greetings,

If you're an actor that works in the film industry (on-camera), have you ever wondered if the grass is greener on the other side?

Some of Hollywood's leading actors have discovered the hidden benefits of voice acting and eagerly jump at voice acting roles every chance they get.

Why are they doing it?

Less Preparation Time

Actors find that preparing for voice acting sessions is much easier than for roles where they are filmed. For instance, Cameron Diaz (Princess Fiona) didn't have to go in for hours of make up and hair appointments for her roles in Shrek and Shrek 2. Imagine if Mike Myers had to actually suit up as Shrek... The make up and costuming would have taken hours to apply and his acting wouldn't have been as convincing as a big green ogre with a Scottish brogue 'in person' as it was with an animated hero tailored to fit the physique of Shrek.

Scripts at Sessions

Many voice actors read from scripts. There's another bonus for the actor that usually memorizes all of their lines before shooting a scene. This is not to say that voice actors don't memorize their lines. It's just that when you aren't in front of the camera, the audience will never know that a script was present if the voice acting is spectacular. That, and a script can serve as a security blanket for busy actors on the go with multiple engagements and projects.

Achieve the Impossible

Now, let's look at Eddie Murphy's role, Donkey. Aren't there scenes where Donkey flys and... talks?! Picture Eddie dressed up as a donkey down on all fours trying to convince you that he is a magical donkey. If you had to pick yourself up off the floor from laughter or disbelief, you've just given another brownie point to the ability of animated films to achieve (and make you believe) the impossible. Cameron has proven herself in the Charlie's Angels series for her phenomenal butt-kicking, but could she have pulled off the Matrix-like engineered fighting scenes without her animated Princess Fiona self?

* Ok, we left out the fact that Donkey and the Dragon become sweethearts - this has been done in King Kong too, but I hazard to say, it's a bit easier to contemplate animals that fancy each other than it is to believe the same of a gigantic ape of prehistoric proportions and a beautiful young woman.

Freedom to Be Themselves

A voice actor is not likely to run into the paparazzi in a professional studio or recording from the privacy of their own home production facility. For celebs with a need to getaway from the glitz for some working R&R, voice acting may be the best antidote. It's not that these celebrities are becoming camera shy, it's just that they're normal people like you and I who need to feel valued for more than just their physical attributes - that, and they also like showing up to sessions in attire that wouldn't be acceptable on the set of a film studio. Some come to work in their pajamas, may not shower every morning, wear hats, and if need be, their reading glasses.

Have you been convinced? Perhaps some voice acting could do the trick!

Stay tuned for more information on how you can find a voice acting coach to help you train as a voice actor.

Best wishes,

Stephanie

It's official. Steve Jobs is trying to take over the world!

Greetings,

The headlines have been all a buzz with Disney and Pixar speculation. Well, the cat's out of the bag and Steve Jobs is now a proud part of the Disney board of directors, bringing along all of the good folks at Pixar Animation to the Disney fold.

What does this acquisition mean? First off, it means that blockbuster feature animated films will be produced more frequently and Disney will show a trendier, more technically advanced visage to the world.

One of the most important elements of this assumed influx of animated films is the ever increasing demand for voice actors. Surely these two heavy weights will be releasing a significant amount of products in the coming years, from the animations themselves, to cartoons, video games, computer games and commercial endeavours.

New opportunities might include a complete rebranding of the Disney company with some Pixar spunk visually and audibly. Voice actors may have to rerecord everything including the Disney and Pixar telephone systems, corporate presentations, advertisements, Disney and Pixar company documentaries, podcasts, and more to reflect the new status quo.

No doubt, the most exciting opportunities include voice acting in the new films that their partnership yields. For instance, Disney is releasing "The Wild" in April 2006. Will this be the last Disney production free of Pixar influence? If so, maybe the team will be looking for new voice talents to forge their relationship and combine their collective voice casting expertise.

Looking forward to everything that this bold, inspirational acquisition has to offer...

Stephanie

It's longer, it's been updated, and it's available for purchase!

Greetings,

Did you know that the 2nd Edition of the Definitive Guide to Voice-Over Success is hot off the IV press?

You’ll learn industry secrets, how to run a business from the ground up, and everything you need to know about how to compete and thrive using your voice-over skills.

Now, let me ask you a personal question. Are you running a voice-over business already? If so, have you ever wondered:

- what the “must-have” voice-over demos are and how to get listened to?
- what the best recording software packages are how you can record at home?
- how you can quickly build a web page to showcase your skills?
- which search engines and directories bring voice talent the most traffic?
- the hottest places on the web to market yourself?
- what it takes to get consistent work performing voice-overs?
- how to avoid common pitfalls regarding billing and payment?

Whether you’re a beginner or an experienced voice-over professional, you’ve probably found yourself asking these questions or have contemplated how you can improve your current operations.

Find the answers to these questions and more and in the Definitive Guide To Voice-Over Success.

Cheers,

Stephanie

P.S. You can also order your copy by telephone toll-free at 1-888-359-3472 (9 AM - 5 PM EST). We'll send you your eBook and bonuses via email to get you started immediately.

Congratulations Mr. Prime Minister!

Greetings,

As you may have heard, we have a new Prime Minister, Stephen Harper of the Conservative Party of Canada.

We'd like to welcome Mr. Harper as our new leader in chief!

Best wishes,

The InteractiveVoices Team

Apple / Intel's new voice... drum roll, please!

Greetings,

Remember when I asked you if you knew who the new voice of the Apple / Intel TV advertisement was? Well, it's time to reveal the identity of the celebrity voice talent behind the microphone.

The celebrity voice over was performed by Kiefer Sutherland, a professional actor with deep Canadian roots. Did you know that his maternal grandfather gave Canadians our Public Healthcare System (Medicare)? Thank you Tommy Douglas! Kiefer's grandfather was also voted the Greatest Canadian on a CBC - Canadian Broadcasting Corporation - program in 2004. His Canadian parents, Shirley Douglas and Donald Sutherland, are acclaimed actors and national icons.

Some of Kiefer's voice-over work includes:

Television commercial voice-over for MGD (2003), television commercial voice-over for MCI (2003), television commercial voice-over for The Los Angeles Mentoring Partnership (2005), Narrator of "The Flight That Fought Back", and most recently, and a television commercial voice-over for Apple Computers (2006).

Kiefer's voice will thrill audiences again this Spring in the new Disney animated feature film, "The Wild", to be released in April 2006.

Thanks for reading!

Until next time,

Stephanie

If you're advertising in radio, you'll need a voice!

Greetings!

As you may have heard, Google flexed their muscles and recently bought dMarc Broadcasting of Newport Beach, California. dMarc is a media buying service and digital automation provider for radio. The idea is to capitalize on the radio advertising market, and what better way to be the king of the radio ad slots than to purchase a company that is responsible for doing just that?

This may help out with buyers that want to purchase radio advertising slots, but there is something missing from this equation... Voice-overs.

This begs the question of "Where will Google's future radio advertisers get their voice-overs?"

Consider this. Each voice talent is unique, not to mention each custom recording required of a given company's script. In light of this information, Google advertiser's will have to have a hearty database of professional voice talents to choose from and a proven system for hiring the perfect voice.

Why do advertisers need such a system for hiring voice talent? Just as in any marketplace, the players in the market can vary substantially. One must keep in mind the individual talents experience in the field, their artistic abilities, access to a recording studio, recording fees, and whether or not they are affiliated with a union.

To break it down, here are the key factors that will need to be considered within each category regarding selecting voice talents:

Level of Professionalism

A voice talent of 20 years experience will bring a significantly different twist to a recording and a distinct level of professionalism when they conduct business. Many pro voice talents come from a broadcast radio background and will suit this new Google radio advertising service well.

An aspiring talent may not come equipped with the necessary skill or intuition that a professional talent has from years of experience both on the air and behind the microphone recording a variety of voice-over projects.

Artistic Abilities

When searching for the perfect voice, advertisers need to evaluate the talent of the performer and not just their price tag. If a voice-over doesn't convince your marketing department, it won't convince an audience that was not involved in the planning, voice-over delegation, and the mastering of the final product.

Relying on a professional voice talent is essential to get an advertisers message across. These talents are not only supposed to successfully convey a message to a target audience, they are acting as the audio ambassadors of a company.

Recording Abilities

Many career voice talents record from a professional grade home recording studio. This means that they can work quickly and take on the role of both engineer and artist. This also means, potentially, that their recording fees will be less because they are performing and recording the production for the advertiser.

Talents that do not have access to a home recording studio or lack the technical skills to engineer a recording resort to outsourcing the service to an external recording facility. This not only marks up the cost of the voice-over but the recording turnaround time may also be extended as they book their studio time around the engineers schedule.

Voice-over Fees

All voice-over costs are all subject to the time slot of the ad, the market size, duration of use, and whether or not the talent is charging a union rate. Talents may quote on a per page, per project, per word, per minute / hour, or per market basis. Each talent will respond with their own quoting system in order to provide advertisers with competitive quotes and proposals.

Union VS Non-union

Union

If hiring a union voice talent, there is a bit of paper work involved, and the fee will most likely be higher than if an advertiser worked with a non-union voice talent. AFTRA, the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists, is the most popular option for voice talents affiliated with a union.

SAG, the Screen Actors Guild, is a different union altogether that protects the interests of those acting in some capacity on the silver screen. Talents may be members of both unions, but if the project is for broadcast radio or television, AFTRA policies will apply.

Non-union

Non-union talent, who account for the majority of voice talents in the market, are not affiliated with a union and can therefore set their own rates. This is not to say that their rate may not be similar to a union rate. Depending on the skill and experience that a talent has, their rates may increase. Non-union talent operate their business just like anyone else and may require payment upfront for their work. These professionals exercise their own billing methods.

If advertisers using the new Google service are looking for a proven voice-over solution, InteractiveVoices.com is ready to meet and exceed their expectations, partnering them with the best voice-over talent in North America.

Cheers,

Stephanie

Are they worth the money spent on them?

Greetings,

A little while ago, we wrote a blog post about a study that proved celebrity voiceovers are not as effective as voiceovers performed by professional voice actors.

Let's open this up to debate...

Have any of you seen the new Mac / Intel ad? Before I let you in on who the voice talent is, listen to the ad on the Apple site.

What did you think of the voiceover for the Apple ad? Did you recognize the talent's voice? If so, did it influence whether or not you liked the product?

Looking forward to your comments,

Stephanie

P.S. Stay tuned to find out who voiced this advertisement!

One of the single most important marketing tools at your disposal.

Greetings,

"How do I describe my voice and what words should I use?"

In Episode 4 of the IV Podcast, we visited this topic in the Biz segment. When it comes to describing your voice, there are several factors that come into play, both creative and technical.

Writing a concise description of your voice is a challenge, but can be very fulfilling and fun. To get started, here are some ideas to jot down:

1. Listen to a recording of your natural voice
2. Describe the sonic quality of your voice and voice type
3. Ask a coach, your family or your friends for their opinion
4. Make a list of descriptive words that best reflect your voice.
5. Think of what your voice inspires people to do.
6. Consult a thesaurus and find colourful words to avoid using common terms such as deep, high, funny, and so on. This will definitely set you apart.

For example, your description may go something like this:

Witty, vivacious and warm, the voice of (insert your name) is perfect for television commercials, telephone applications, and narrating children’s programming. The graceful and subtle persuasion of his / her voice will gently and happily woo customers into purchasing your product.

Use your golden ears, some striking adjectives and the formula above to help you write your description. Follow this recipe, and you'll have a description of your voice that you can be proud of.

Best wishes,

Stephanie

Do political voice-overs influence your voting decision?

Greetings,

Political voice overs have been making the news in Canada as of late due to the impending federal election on January 23rd, 2006. Typically, voice overs for political campaigns are chosen carefully with the objectives of instilling trust, camaraderie, and, over the course of the campaign, to successfully persuade the voter to concur with the values and mission of the political party.

While there have been plenty of good voice overs running in positive ad campaigns, a recent set of negative and stony voice over ads have crept out from the shadows, trying to influence voters in last minute efforts to secure votes.

As Canadians, we're not easily swayed by malicious propaganda (or any propoganda for that matter), so these negative voice overs may not prove as effective as originally intended by the political parties in question. Canadians prefer to address politics in a civil manner, not with fear mongering and smear campaigns.

Negative voice overs are not a new tactic when it comes to election campaigns. Our neighbours in the USA have heard their fair share of negative voice overs over the years too.

Do voice overs in used in broadcast advertisements influence your vote? If so, which ones do and why?

If you're reading this and are a veteran of the voting game, please leave a comment to let us know where you stand on the issue of political advertisements ~ voice overs, and all.

Best wishes,

Stephanie

Run your business smoothly and safely incorporating these tips.

Greetings,

Yesterday in our team meeting, we developed this document called the "10 Best Practices for Voice Over Talents". Without further adieu...

10 BEST PRACTICES FOR VOICE OVER TALENTS

By following these simple guidelines, your experience at InteractiveVoices will be greatly enhanced in many ways, including your abilities to:

1) Attract qualified clients to your web page
2) Receive work through the auditioning process
3) Successfully invoice clients when you have landed a job

Web page

• Describe your voice and completely fill out your Profile information. Check your spelling and grammar.
• Upload sample recordings of your voice.

Online Auditions

• Submit a personalized proposal and include your contact information.
• Upload a demo that suits the client’s needs.
• Quote appropriately (i.e. per project, per page, market size, word count, etc.).

Billing and Payment

• Draft a written agreement for your client to sign and return by fax. Email agreements are binding, but a signed agreement is better.
• Request a 50% deposit before recording the script.
• Obtain the remaining balance due prior to delivery of final work.
• Make use of your PayPal button at InteractiveVoices.com to accept credit card payments.
• Follow up with your clients to ensure their satisfaction and to ask for testimonials.

QUESTIONS?

Contact us by email or call toll-free at 1-888-359-3472 for more help.

Cheers,

Stephanie

David's presentation as the keynote speaker at InterNETwork

It’s a new year and the term “podcast” was officially adopted into the New Oxford American Dictionary. This month's InterNETwork event took place on Tuesday January 10th, from 5:30 pm – 7:30 pm @ Downtown Kathy Brown's in London, Ontario.

I had the honour of representing our company, InteractiveVoices, and giving a keynote speech on "podcasting". The evening started with a Keynote presentation. You can download the PDF version of the presentation here.

Joel Adams warmed up the crowd of about 100 business and technology professionals from around the region. After some brief introductions, I jumped right into the presentation.

The best way I know of to explain our business and what we do is to say that we've been coined the "eBay of voice-overs". People connect with this idea, as many have either used the eBay service or have heard of it from a friend. Secondly, I introduced the concept of a voice-over, something that we take for granted in our industry. Realizing that voice-overs were not second nature our audience, I used obvious examples such as radio and television commercials, voices for telephone system recordings, kiosks, and in-car navigation systems.

After laying the foundation of who we are are what we do, I moved on to the core of the presentation - podcasting.

Podcasts are audio presentations recorded by individuals, published to the Web and made available by subscription. These audio programs can be played on a personal computer or portable audio player, such as an iPod.

The two key differences between radio and podcasting are "time-shifting" and "pull versus push". Time-shifting has recently gained popularity in the realm of television and allows a viewer/listener to choose when they would like to watch or listen to a particular show. In essence, time-shifting breaks the boundaries of set schedules.

I referred to the second concept as "pull versus push". Traditional broadcast media outlets tend to produce content, then push it to a mass audience. The content is also formatted for a broad audience and attempts to be everything to everybody. As people become more particular about the content that they want to consume and in turn, seek out that content directly, they will likely find that their traditional media providers are lacking in substance and in on-demand viewing.

Enter podcasting... There are countless specialty shows, produced by enthusiasts in a particular area of interest. Listeners can also choose which programs they would like to subscribe to. This means that by subscribing to a podcast, you will automatically receive new shows as they become available. In my case, I use iTunes to organize my podcasts and podcast subscriptions. Each day, iTunes checks the shows to see if a new episode was released. If one has been released, then it is automatically downloaded to my computer.

I also shared a few statistics and some market research related to podcasting, including:

.: Forrester Research projecting that some 12.3 million U.S. households will be listening to podcasts by the end of the decade

.: IDC predicts the sale of portable audio players will grow at a rate of 135% between 2005 and 2009

.: Worldwide shipments of portable audio players will reach 104 million units in 2009 according to the Electronics Industry Market Research Network

Finally, I highlighted five key ways to monetize your podcast. They include:

1. Sponsorship / Advertising
2. Micropayments
3. Donations and the Honour System
4. Google Adsense
5. Affiliate Programs

To wrap up, I gave a brief demo of how to post a voice-over or podcasting job at InteractiveVoices. We've produced a 2 minute Flash video that walks you through the process. You can find this video on our home page.

Best wishes,

David

~~~~

More: Interactive Voices is the leading online marketplace connecting buyers and sellers of voice-over services with a global roster of clients and talent. The founder and CEO, Mr. David Ciccarelli, is a graduate of the Ontario Institute of Audio Recording Technology and founder of an audio production facility. In recognition of their innovative business and industry leadership, Interactive Voices was a New Voices winner at DigiFest 2005. You may have read about Interactive Voices in recent media coverage on MSNBC, CBS MarketWatch, Dow Jones, Yahoo! Finance and Google News.

Explore the benefits of being with InteractiveVoices

Greetings,

Many talents that use the InteractiveVoices website to host their audio files and resumes are finding that they don't need to have their own business website, i.e. www.your-name.com

Because of the amount of storage for voice-over demos, easy-to-use profile editing tools, and superior search engine rankings in Google, talents are recognizing that they don't need to spend thousands of dollars a year on other websites and web services to promote themselves.

Another benefit of having an InteractiveVoices web presence is that you don't have to learn HTML (a complicated web design language) or have any prior experience with graphic design or computer programming. All you need is your voice, ambition, and a completed profile.

Here are 5 benefits of having an InteractiveVoices web page:

1) Easy to use
2) No computer programming / design skills required
3) Cost-effective
4) High search engine rankings
5) Affiliation with the #1 Voice-over Marketplace

Those are just some of the reasons to signup at InteractiveVoices.com. We also have resources, jobs, and a means for you to accept payment online using PayPal.

Have a great day,

Stephanie

This is even better than having your own website and maintaining an FTP! You might just decide not to host your audio anywhere else!

Greetings,

I'm really excited about this post.

Say goodbye to shipping CDs and the wait time that goes along with it as well as a fond farewell to immense email attachments... InteractiveVoices.com has just increased the Studio storage for all of our members!

Premium members have 50MB, Preferred members have 25MB and Guest members have 5MB of file storage and delivery space. Clients subscribed to the Professional Edition have 50MB of storage and basic Clients have 5MB.

This means that not only can more voice-over demos be uploaded to talent web pages, but finished audio products can also be delivered at InteractiveVoices.com quickly and easily through the Studio application in the My Account area.

In turn, clients can receive files to their account in the formats that they require and host the files at the site for their own business partners to retrieve at their convenience.

Cheers!

Stephanie

All Aboard!

Greetings,

For those of you familiar with the hit children's series Thomas and Friends, we're going to talk a stroll down memory lane. On our walk, we are going to visit the celebrity narrators on both sides of the pond that have provided voice-over narration for the Thomas and Friends television series for over twenty years.

Shining Time Station has had a number of fine gentlemen on board, maintaining a wholesome and genuine image for audiences in both Britain and North America. The first celebrity to take on the role of Mr. Conductor and narrate the series was Ringo Starr, a former member of the The Beatles. Ringo narrated from 1985-1991, associating his recognizable and authentic British accent with the Island of Sodor.

Next in line was an American comedian named George Carlin, who provided voice-over narration from 1991-1998, succeeding Ringo Starr as both the narrator and Mr. Conductor for the North American audience. In Great Britain, UK narrator Michael Angelis was also recording for the show, following in Ringo Starr's footsteps.

The US audience embraced another one of their own when movie star Alec Baldwin joined the company (1998-2003), narrating the show, voicing characters, and even starring in a full-length motion picture for Thomas and Friends. Michael Brandon, a native of Brooklyn, New York, is the current US narrator (2004 to the present).

Thomas and Friends was written by Rev. W. Awdry and produced by Britt Allcroft. The Thomas and Friends series has a global fanbase, an official website, and a variety of merchandise including an empire of quality wooden train tracks and accessories, collectibles, videos, and apparel.

Thomas and Friends recently celebrated their 60th Anniversary with tours and showcasing of cherished Thomas collectibles including a golden Thomas the Tank Engine.

One of the most endearing qualities of this series (other than the trains themselves) are the voices of the narrators. I was surprised to see Alec Baldwin in the role of Mr. Conductor, but was soon pleased and quite impressed by his contribution to the series.

If you have a favorite narrator from the Thomas and Friends series, let us know and leave a comment :)

Cheers,

Stephanie

The animation voice-over market

Greetings friends,

If you read one of my recent postings about the kinds of voiceover jobs that are available on the market, you'll love this indepth blog posting about animation voiceovers and character voiceovers.

The character voiceover market is one of the most popular and competitive fields where voiceovers are concerned. Voice actors provide voiceovers for animation on the Internet and offline including voiceovers for cartoon characters, video game characters, computer game character voiceovers, and even the voices of animated characters in film.

Characters can range from traditional beings such as animals and humans to inanimate objects (think CGI films like "Toy Story" or "Robots") such as trees, toasters, and pineapples.

If you think about it, celebrity voice impersonators are also character voice actors. Whenever people come to the site looking for a voice talent who sounds like Arnold Schwarzenegger, George W. Bush, or Elvis Presley, they expect that person to recreate the voice of the celebrity by performing a character voiceover. The same scenario applies if a Catherine Zeta Jones, Julia Roberts, or a Marilyn Monroe impression is in order.

One of the markets that is heavily making use of character / celebrity voiceover impersonators is the telecommunications industry. Telephone broadcasts may use character voices in them to help sell a product or service. Other companies are getting into the game by offering custom recorded character voiceovers for special occasions like Valentines Day and birthdays. Just before Christmas, a company came to InteractiveVoices to find Valentines Voiceovers to use for that exact purpose. Check out some animation voice talent and video game voiceover talents here.

When selecting a voiceover talent to record character voiceovers, consider the following:

Does this talent match my overall vision of the character(s)?

Can they perform multiple roles?

Are they easily directable?

How many other voice acting roles have they performed?

If a talent wants to develop their voice acting skills, I know of someone that is very qualified where character voice acting is concerned. David Sobolov is a professional voiceover talent that has recorded for the Spider Man video games, television cartoons, and character voices for a host of high profile companies. Not only is David an authority on animation and character voiceovers, he also coaches and oversees the recording of animation voiceover demos and voiceover work.

Well, that's all for this afternoon :)

Take care,

Stephanie

Learn how to find the perfect voice for your podcast

Greetings,

Are you looking for voice-overs to use in your podcast or are you considering adding voice-overs to your current podcast?

This blog posting will help you to learn about the many uses of voice-overs in podcasts, how to go about finding a pro to record for you, and the significant influence that a professional voice-over can have on your audience.

How to Use Voice-overs in a Podcast

First off, let's look at the different ways that you can use voice-overs in your podcast. Every show has an introduction, perhaps separate segments throughout the podcast, and of course, a wrap up or an outro. These short audio branding clips are referred to as Podcast Imaging Voice-overs and are the framework of any competitive, entertaining, and thematic podcast.

One of the most important components, and literally the most necessary, is the voice-over of the Podcast Host. This may be you, the source of the information, or it could be a professional voice talent that represents your organization in your podcast.

Along the same lines, talent can also be recruited to be the voices of podcast guests to give an extra dash of flair and variety to the podcast.

Podcast Promos... You'll need to create a handful of these marketing pitches: one that lasts about :5 (5 seconds), a :10-15 vignette, and a full :30 promo. Some podcasters create a 1 minute promo, and in many cases, use this as their podcast intro as well. This can be recorded by the host of the show, or alternatively, can be recorded by a voice actor. If a voice actor is selected to complete this task, it is wise to have the same actor perform any Imaging that needs to be done to unify the image of the podcast.

How to Find a Voice For your Podcast

This is where the fun begins! If you think about it, it's kind of like furnishing your house, picking out a new sports car, or ordering dinner at a restaurant. All you need to do is supply an outline of what you are looking for (a little artistic direction will go a long way when trying to find the perfect voice), provide a description of your podcast, and include the scripts that need to be recorded (if you have them completed already), in other words, post a voice-over job. A word count will also do if you are still in the pre-production phase.

After you have posted your job, a number of qualified and very interested talents will reply to your job posting. Many favor submitting custom demos of your script with their applications and really appreciate the opportunity to show you how they would interpret your copy. This is also a valuable benefit to those of you who are presenting demos to a client or decision maker.

How to Give your Listeners a Spectacular First Impression of your Podcast

Most people are familiar with the current broadcast medium and the quality of the productions that they consume. The same goes for podcast audiences. Remember that these are the very same people that are actively watching and listening to programs on television or radio, so you'll need to make them feel at home in your podcast too.

The content of your podcast, or the material that you will be covering, is very much up to you as is the quality and preparation that goes into it. The audio production of your podcast, however, can be easily and cost-effectively delegated to a professional voice talent. They have all the goodies that you need regarding sound effects, royalty-free music, production (the recording of your podcast), post-production skills (editing and mixing your podcast) and the vocal talents to carry your podcast and convey the message that your listeners need to hear.

If you are familiar with retainers in radio and television, you'll be able to apply the same concept here if you work with a particular voice talent regularly. You can opt for a full buyout, which is usually the preferred method of invoicing for a one-time or sporadic voice-over job.

Before we go, I'll mention one more tool that will help you with the complete 411 on podcasting itself. The Podcasting Ebook, the Complete Guide to Podcasting, is a great resource that will help you to plan your podcast, brand your podcast, record your podcast (all that production entails), distribute, and grow your podcast.

Best wishes on finding that perfect voice,

Stephanie

Find the perfect voice quickly and easily by posting your podcast voice-over job at InteractiveVoices.com

Put the right foot forward with this helpful resource.

Hi there,

Ever wondered how to get started in voice-overs? We are asked that question quite a bit, so I thought I would cover this one in our blog.

Aspiring talent can find a wealth of resources and guidance at InteractiveVoices.com. Our FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions) section provides solutions to nearly every "Getting Started" voice-over question and the Resources section has an abundance of business templates and strategies for you to discover.

Here's a short list of ideas:

Visit the websites of professional voice talents
Listen to their demos to get an understanding of what is expected
Consult a voice-over coach and consider taking lessons
Record a brief sample of your voice / voice-over demo
Interview a professional to see what their career is like
Look into building a home recording studio

* Register as a Guest talent at InteractiveVoices for Free to gain immediate access to voice-over resources, career tools, and giveaways.

For more detailed information and a helping hand right away, visit the FAQ section at InteractiveVoices.com.

Best wishes,

Stephanie

When inquiring minds want to know!

Greetings,

There has been a lot of buzz surrounding the term "Web 2.0" online, although, the term itself hasn't quite made it to the dinner table yet.

Nowadays, any company jumping on the web likes to consider themselves "Web 2.0", with or without the prerequisites that constitute the 2nd Generation of the World Wide Web. O'Reilly Media and MediaLive International co-created the Web 2.0 concept two years ago and their theorem is still used today to define Web 2.0.

What does it take to be a Web 2.0 company or site? There's a bit of a checklist available which I'll mention in a second, but fundamentally, a Web 2.0 site is best described as the Social Web. People are using the Internet to interact with each other, not just visit a site and read a couple of pages.

They want the web to come to them and they want their feedback to make an impact in the grand scheme of things. This is where the checklist comes in to play.

A Web 2.0 site utilizes a bevy of tools to help bring the web to their customers, traditionally using RSS (Really Simple Syndication). With this technology, visitors or patrons of a company website can subscribe to feeds that will bring their favorite content or news to them, for example, new podcasts, blog entries, and press releases. They can also add comments, post their own information, and influence the companies that they visit ~ and while they're at it, help to shape the second phase of the Internet.

Because the concept is already 2 years old, many companies have already employed various Web 2.0 features over the past couple of years. Some "Web 1.0" companies (companies that had an online presence before the Dawn of the New Internet) are actually Web 2.0 by virtue of the enhancements made to their sites with AJAX, CSS, and RSS.

Keep an eye out for more on this topic and how InteractiveVoices is utilizing new web technologies in future blog posts.

Take care,

Stephanie

It's now 2006...

Happy 2006!

Best wishes,

The InteractiveVoices Team