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November 30, 2006

Voices.com on MySpace

Did you know that we're on MySpace.com?

If you haven't heard of MySpace and you are a user of the Internet, we need to talk...

A while ago, I signed up Voices.com at the MySpace website, a website that allows anyone to build a profile to network with people. These sites are called 'social networking' websites and are all the rage with people everywhere.

Want to see what the Voices.com MySpace website looks like?

If you are at MySpace and already have a Profile, add us to your friends list. If you are a voice actor and don't yet have a profile at MySpace, you should definitely consider getting one.

Scott Diskin brought up the subject in a comment on our YouTube video post and his comment inspired this post. Thank you, Scott!

Now that I've talked at length about it, you'll need another link to click through to get there, eh?

Voices.com MySpace Website

Hope to see you at MySpace!

Best,

Stephanie

Posted by Stephanie at 2:43 PM

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November 29, 2006

Affiliates Needed for the Pilot Program - Interested?

Now is the time to get in for your early bird affiliate status! Learn more by reading this post.

We're happy to announce that we're ready to start our Affiliate Program.

We've had great success building the program and are now asking for your help be the one of the first people to place links on your website or blog and start generating revenue.

The Pilot Program participants will receive full benefits (commissions for sales) during the testing phase. This phase is scheduled to last for 1 week.

Take a peek at your future Affiliate Control Panel:

affiliate_control_panel_400.gif

Don't be intimidated by the image - It's a lot easier than it looks!

You'll have a variety of text and professionally designed graphics to choose from.

These banners will look awesome on your website or blog!

The Affiliate Control Panel is integrated right in your "Account & Settings", so you'll keep a single login.

Want to know more?

About the Voices.com Affiliate Program

Our program is free to join, it's easy to sign-up and requires no technical knowledge. Affiliate programs are common throughout the Internet and offer website owners a means of profiting from their websites. Affiliates generate sales for commercial websites and in return receive a percentage of the value of those sales.

How Does It Work?

When you join the Voices.com affiliate program, you will be supplied with a range of banners and textual links that you will place within your site. When a user clicks on one of your links to Voices.com, their activity will be tracked by our affiliate software. You will earn a commission based on your commission type.

Enjoy Real-Time Statistics And Reporting!

Login 24 hours a day to check your sales, traffic, account balance and see how your banners are performing. You can even test conversion performance by creating your own custom links!


Affiliate Program Details

• Commission Type - Pay-Per-Sale: 10% of all sales you deliver.
• Payout Threshold - $10.00 USD - Minimum balance required for payout.
• Payout Duration - Payments are made on the 1st of each month, for the previous month.

If you are interested in participating in our Pilot Program, email us here.

Looking forward to working with you,

Stephanie and the Voices.com Team

Posted by Stephanie at 4:26 PM

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November 28, 2006

Ad Man Meets Voice Girl

Check out the video, then share it from YouTube.

Ever wondered what the co-founders of Voices.com do in their spare time?

They work!

Watch the video on VOX Daily or click through to YouTube to watch and rate the movie there.

So, what do you think?

If you like what you see, let us know and we'll make more of these videos.

If the idea sparks some interest, we'll hire professional voice talents (maybe you!) to record the voiceovers for these promo videos to help spread the word about the #1 Voice Marketplace, Voices.com :)

Best,

Stephanie

Posted by Stephanie at 10:10 PM

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Voices for Planes, Trains and Automobiles

Do people hear your voice on their commute getting from place to place? If your pipes are featured in the transportation industry, we want to hear from you!

transportation voiceovers"Doors Open", "Doors Closing", "Ground floor, going up", "Turn left at the next intersection", "Don't forget to buckle up", "Estimated time of arrival is 4 p.m. Eastern Standard Time"...

Do those lines look familiar?

If you've been the voice heard in elevators, GPS systems, in-flight videos, on trains, and public-transit such as on buses or subways we want to hear your story.

Guiding people through the wilderness of transportation is an extremely important job, and somebody's (or literally thousands of somebodies) got to do it!

Share you tales of transport talk with us at the VOX Daily blog by leaving a comment.

You might just make the news...

Cheers,

Stephanie

Posted by Stephanie at 2:12 PM

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Master VO Blog

Building a home recording studio? Got questions of a technical nature? Direct your questions to Master VO!

Wanna talk microphones, monitors, mixing boards, software, or sound booths?

Whether you're new to the audio recording business or need some quick tips, let Master VO De-mystify the home recording studio for you.

Master VO, also known as Dan Lenard, is a professional voice talent based in the US. A veteran of broadcast radio, Dan will show you the ropes of the home recording studio while entertaining you at the same time.

To learn more about Master VO and to ask a question, visit the Master VO blog here.

Cheers,

Stephanie

Posted by Stephanie at 11:09 AM

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November 27, 2006

QuickStart Ends on Thursday!

Have you been thinking about joining Voices.com at the Premium or Preferred level? Find out why the timing is right for you to start fully promoting your voice at the #1 voice marketplace, Voices.com.

QuickStart your voiceover career at Voices.com

Do you want more opportunities to market your voice directly to clients? Well, with Voices.com's new QuickStart offer, you'll get just that!

When you upgrade your account to the Preferred or Premium membership on or before November 30th, 2006, you'll receive 2 bonus Featured Voice Talent categories as well as our royalty-free Voice Over Script Collection, a perfect combination that will get your voice out to more clients and a route to promote your talent in targeted niches for voice over work.

Combined, the value of these add-ons is $50. It's like getting your membership for half price!

Remember, this offer is only available until November 30th...

While we're chatting, there's one very important thing we should note:

If you are interested in ranking higher in the Voices.com search engine and the Featured Voice Talent Categories (voice talent directory listings) you'll want to upgrade for the Premium membership.

Premium members enjoy priority ranking in the search engine and have 5 Featured Voice Talent Categories to start with. If you add 2 more to that number, you'll have 7!

Does this sound like something you've been waiting for?

Our website has brought high profile clients literally to the email boxes of voice talent, including blue chip companies, Fortune 500s, and broadcast giants.

Your colleagues already know that our website works for them, and, it could also work for you.

Just think of what we could do for you if you let us promote your voice.

Securing work for you is our passion and it's the only thing we do. All of our efforts are aligned with a single, focused vision: to get voice work for you and to help others find the perfect voice for their projects.

It's really that simple.

Now, can we take this next step together?

To start your Voices.com experience, upgrade online here or give us a call toll-free at 1-888-359-3472.

To your success,

Stephanie and the Voices.com Team

Posted by Stephanie at 9:07 AM

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November 24, 2006

Affiliate Program at Voices.com

We've received this question quite a bit, so now it's time to address it...

Voices.com Affiliate ProgramDoes Voices.com have an affiliate program?

The answer to the question of "Does Voices.com have an affiliate program" is:

We are working on creating the ideal affiliate program for you and are anticipating that it will be ready in and around January of 2007 (or, even before then).

For those of you who may not be familiar with affiliate programs, an affiliate program is a program set up by a company to reward their customers (usually financially) by compensating them for referring other people to the company who turn into paying customers.

Now for the fun!

We could just throw up any old affiliate program, but we know that you deserve better.

That's why we're taking the time now to give you the opportunity to influence how the new affiliate program will work!

For instance, how often would you like to be paid?

Some affiliate programs cut a check (cheque) monthly while others insist that you reach a certain financial goal before you receive any rewards. Others let you choose the method of payment, giving you the choice of either a check or a direct deposit via PayPal.

I've also seen programs where instead of financial compensation, affiliates are paid with credits that they can apply to services provided by the company, similar to earning points toward a goal.

Those are a couple of options to consider and are well worth evaluating.

Affiliate programs, aside from all of the financial aspects, are really about referring someone you know (or a visitor at your website) to a service or product that you trust and feel comfortable referring them to.

In essence, being a part of a referral program means that you endorse or support the website, product or service you are directing your visitors to.

You may also take on the reputation of that company by affiliating yourself with it, intentionally or unintentionally.

When you look at it from that perspective, it makes a great deal of sense to be 100% sure that you want to be affiliated with a particular company or service.

Dictionary.Reference.com defines "Affiliate"
in this way:

An affiliation means that you are brought into close association or connection with an entity, whether it's an affiliation between a research center and a university or an affiliation between you and a service provider.

An affiliate is also attached or united on terms of fellowship to an entity.

In other words, someone who recognizes the connection (or affiliation) between you and that entity has the distinct impression that you are fully aware of and support that entity which encourages them to join as well.

Lastly, as an affiliate, you associate yourself with an entity and are intimately united in action or interest with them.

How does this relate to affiliate programs where you are concerned as a voice actor?

If you agree to be an affiliate for a service that procures work, you are associating yourself with the quality, ethics, morals, and actions of that entity.

If you are in any way uncomfortable with people thinking that you are just like the company you are espousing, you may wish to reconsider being affiliated with a company that does not correlate with your personal morals and business ethics.

That's one aspect to consider.

Here's another:

Happily, should you find that you are in agreement with what the company stands for, its objectives, and means of conducting business, you are in good stead and serve as a qualified candidate to be an affiliate of that company.

Now that we understand what an affiliate is and what it means to be affiliated with someone or something, we can move on to what you would like to see in a program with Voices.com.

In the past, we have created ways for you to recommend Voices.com that have been very successful.

Now, we'd like to do something similar that recognizes and rewards you for doing what you've done so readily before.

We're ready to hear your feedback and look forward to making this the best affiliate program available to voice actors online.

Please leave a comment or send me an email with your ideas :)

Cheers,

Stephanie


Posted by Stephanie at 3:09 PM

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November 23, 2006

The ABCs of Voiceover

Ever wondered how to interpret voiceover jargon? Get the lingo down with the help of this handy Glossary of voiceover terms, the perfect companion for voice actors and those who work with them.

We're pleased to present you with this amazing voiceover glossary created by Marc Cashman of Cashman Commercials!

This glossary of terms used in the field of voice-over, or voice acting, could be one of the most comprehensive compilations of terms available.

It has been distilled from many sources (see bibliography) and is fairly up-to-date.

A few words and phrases may be arcane, but Marc wanted the glossary be as inclusive as possible. If you find some definitions lacking in scope and/or specificity, or if you feel that some terms have been left out, we encourage you to email suggestions or suggested revisions. If they help clarify the definition they will be incorporated into this glossary.

And if you have any specific questions about any of these terms, you can Ask the Voice Cat.

GLOSSARY OF TERMS USED IN VOICEOVER


AFTRA: American Federation of Television and Radio Artists. A union for Radio and TV actors and voice actors.

account: An advertiser, also referred to as a client.

account executive: The person at the ad agency who serves as a liaison between the agency and the client.

ADR: Automated Dialogue Replacement in a film. A process where actors replace dialogue in a film or video.

ad lib: A spontaneous spoken addition or alteration to a written script.

agent: A person or group of people who represent talent and bring them into their facility to audition, or arrange for an actor to audition for casting directors and producers.

air: Also known as airtime, it’s the media time slotted for a commercial, hence on the air.

air check: A recorded portion of a radio program for demonstration purposes.

ambience: The continuous SFX behind voice-over suggesting the monologue or dialogue in a specific setting, like a hospital, restaurant, retail store, gas station, etc.

analog: The old way of processing and recording sound on tape.

animatic: A rough version of a TV spot, usually with storyboard images set to music and voice-over, for client presentation of a concept.

announcement: A commercial or non-commercial message. Also referred to as a spot.

announcer: The role assigned to a voice-actor that usually has non-character copy. Abbreviated as ANN or ANNC on scripts.

articulation: Clear enunciation.

attitude: How the character feels about a certain product, or how an actor comes across in general.

audio: Transmission, reception or reproduction of sound.

audition: A non-paying, trial performance for voice talent where voice-over copy is read. Usually takes place at an agent’s office, an ad agency, a casting director’s office, or a production company’s studio, and usually the best actor is selected for the final job…usually.

availability: Literally, the time an actor is available for a session. Advertisers or producers will call an agent to find out about an actor’s availability.

back bed: The instrumental end of a jingle, usually reserved for location, phone numbers, legal disclaimers, or any other information the advertiser needs to add.

background: Known also as background noise, it’s what’s placed behind the voice-over. Mainly music or sound effects.

balls: A deep, resonant sound.

bed: The music or SFX behind or under an announcer’s voice.

billboard: The emphasis given a certain word or phrase in a script. Usually, a rectangle, or “billboard” is drawn around the client name and/or product.

bleed: Noise from the headphones being picked up by the microphone or from other ambient sources, like other tracks.

board: The audio console from which the engineer operates. The audio engineer has faders that adjust the volume and mix the various elements in a Radio spot. Also known as a console.

booking: A decision and commitment on the advertiser’s part to hire you for a session. The client calls the actor or actor’s agent to book an actor for a job. Your agent would say, “You have a booking at 1PM tomorrow.”

boom: An overhead mic stand.

booth: An enclosed, soundproofed room where voice talent usually works.

branching: Recording one part of a sentence with variables within that sentence as a means of customizing a response. Often recorded for multimedia games and voice mail systems. Also known as concatenation.

break up: When vocal audio becomes distorted and unstable, usually caused by equipment problems or telephone line interference.

bump: Either to remove a person from a casting list, or as an additional amount of studio time in a session. Also known as a bumper.

butt-cut: When sound files are placed together tightly, particularly for a V-O demo.

button: A single scripted or improvised word, phrase or sentence at the end of a spot that clinches the commercial without introducing additional copy points. See sting.

buy: As in “That’s a buy.” Also known as a keeper. It’s the take the client selects as the best. Buy also refers to the amount of money spent on the media time for a commercial spot or campaign.

buy-out: A one-time fee paid for voice-over services on a commercial. Common in many non-union situations and industrials, as well as CD ROMs, dubbing, looping and A.D.R. work.

cadence: How breaks are placed between words.

call-back: A second shot at an audition. One step closer to booking the spot.

call letters: The letters assigned to a Radio station by the FCC. Stations east of the Mississippi River have call letters starting with W, while stations that are west of the Mississippi have names starting with K.

call time: The time scheduled for an audition.

cans: Another word for headphones.

cattle call: An audition where hundreds of people try out for a part on a first-come-first-served basis.

CD-ROM: Compact Disc-Read Only Memory.

character: The person an actor is cast as in a spot.

Class A: National network commercial usage.

cold read: An audition where an actor is given no time to rehearse.

color: Subtle speech nuances that give texture and shading to words to make them interesting and meaningful.

commercial: Also referred to as a spot, it is a pre-recorded message which advertises a product or service. Sometimes abbreviated as COMML.

compression: Reduces the dynamic range of an actor’s voice. Engineers apply compression to cut through background music and sound effects.

conflict: Doing two commercials for the same kind of product. An agent will clarify with the client whether doing a specific spot would put an actor in conflict.

console: A large desk-like piece of equipment where the audio engineer monitors, records and mixes a voice-over session.

control room: Where the engineer and producer (and many times, the client) are located. This is usually a separate room from the booth.

copy: Also known as the script. It’s the text of a spot.

copy points: The specific benefits of a product or service, placed throughout the script by the copywriter.

Creative Director: The person at the ad agency responsible for the work of all the other creatives.

cross talk: When copy spoken into one actor’s microphone is picked up by another mic. The sound is said to spill over or bleed into the other actor’s mic.

cue: An electronic or physical signal given to an actor to begin performing.

cue up: Matching to time and speed, lining up an actor’s voice to the visuals or music.

cut: A specific segment of the voice-over recording, usually referred to during editing.

cut and paste: The act of assembling different takes into a composite, edited whole.

cutting through: When a voice “slices through,” or doesn’t get drowned out by music and sound effects.

DAT: An abbreviation for digital audiotape, high-quality audiotape used in sound studios.

dead air: When a voice-over pause is too long.

decibel: A unit for measuring the intensity of sound. 0 would be no sound, 130 would cause acute aural pain.

de-esser: A piece of equipment used to remove excess sibilance.

demo: A demonstration of an actor’s voice talent. A 3-D calling card, representing the actor when they cannot be present physically. Also, a format used by ad agencies to present an idea to a client. An actor is paid a demo rate to perform a demo session. These demos are usually not broadcast, but if they are accepted as is, the demo is upgraded to a session fee.

demographics: The components that describe the target audience. This is done by age, sex, income, education, etc.

dialogue: A script calling for two people talking to each other.

digital recording: A process where sound is converted into numbers and stored on a DAT or computer hard drive.

director: The person responsible for giving an actor voice-over direction in an audition, session or class.

distortion: Fuzziness in the sound quality of a recorded piece.

donut: A section of a spot that will usually feature another voice, usually an announcer. Many times it’s the section of a jingle that showcases an announcement.

double: A term for a two-person spot, or dialogue.

drive time: The most frequently listened to times on the Radio. Morning drive refers to the hours between 6AM and 10AM, evening drive refers to the slot between 3PM and 7PM.

drop off: Not ending strong at the end of a word or phrase.

drop out: A minute moment of silence inside a recorded word or phrase.

dry mouth: A condition where your mouth has little or no saliva.

dub: Also called a dupe (as in duplicate), it’s copy of a spot or spots on cassette, DAT or CD. The verb to dub, or dubbing is the process of transferring recorded material from one source to another.

dubbing: This dubbing is the process of dialogue replacement in a foreign film, as in dubbing a French voice into English.

earphones: Also known as cans, headphones or headsets. Worn during the session to hear your own voice as well as cues and directions from the engineer or producer. Also used to converse with the client during an ISDN or phone-patch session.

echo: A repetition of sound.

editing: The removal, addition or re-arrangement of recorded material. Voice elements can be spread apart, slowed down, speeded up, clipped, eliminated, etc. to achieve the final take.

EFX: Effects. Another term for SFX.

ellipsis: Three periods in a row that usually signify a pause…

engineer: The person who operates the audio equipment during the voice-over session.

equalization: Also known as EQ, it is used to stress certain frequencies, which can alter the sound of a voice.

eye-brain-mouth coordination: What every good voice actor has to have. It is the ability to “lift” the words off a page effortlessly, without omitting, adding or stumbling.

FCC: The Federal Communications Commission. Created in 1944 to regulate all interstate and foreign communications by Radio and TV.

fade: To increase or decrease the volume of sound.

fade in/fade out: When you turn your head away from the mic or towards it.

false start: Situation where a talent makes a mistake within the first line or two of copy. The take is usually stopped and sometimes re-slated.

feedback: A distorted, high pitched sound, usually emanating from headphones or speakers. Many times caused by problems with the console or headphones getting too close to the microphone.

filter: What engineers put on a mic to make an actor sound clearer.

fish-bowl effect: When the actor in the booth cannot hear what the engineer or producer is saying, or vice-versa.

fluctuation: How often a voice goes up or down, also known as inflection.

Foley: Also known in the business as a Foley Stage, this is a special sound stage used for source sound effects. Used to record up-close sound effects for film or video, where the Foley artists match sound with picture, such as walking, running, doors opening or closing, glass breaking, shots firing, etc.

franchised: Term applied to talent agents who adopt AFTRA guidelines.

front bed: The opposite of the back bed, where the announce is at the beginning of a jingle.

gain: The volume of a voice, or a fader on the console.

gig: A job. A sig gig is a union job.

gobos: Portable partitions positioned around the actor to absorb or reflect sound, or to isolate the actor from another on-mic actor.

good pipes: Description of a talent with vocal strength, authority and resonance.

go up for: To audition or to be considered for a job. “I’m up for a Ford national,” means that an actor is in contention for a national network commercial for Ford.

hard sell: Approach used for high volume retail clients. One producer refers to hard sell as: “I’ll stop shouting when you start buying!”

harmonizer: Also referred to as a Munchkiniser, it’s a piece of equipment designed to change the pitch of the voice—usually upward.

headset: A set of headphones. See cans.

high speed dub: A copy of a tape or CD made at several times normal speed.

highs: The high frequency sound of a voice.

hold: When a potential client likes an audition enough to hold some of an actor’s time for a possible booking--a step before the booking. Usually the client is deciding between a couple of voice-acting candidates and wants to cover their bets.

holding fee: The money an actor receives if the client wants to hold a spot for airing at a later date.

hook: Starting out on a high note on the first word of a spot to grab attention and immediately dipping down. Also used to describe the chorus section of a song.

hot: Term used to describe a mic that’s on.

house demo: An agency’s demo, the condensed version (each actor has only a one minute demo) of their roster of male and female talent.

in-house: A production produced for the client in the client’s own facilities.

in the can: A phrase connoting that a part of the copy or the entire spot is acceptable and done.

inflection: The raising or lowering of voice pitch—a way of reinforcing the meaning of a word by changing the way it is said. See also fluctuation.

ISDN: Integrated Services Digital Network. Special high-quality lines that allow voice recording to be digitally transmitted from one recording facility to another.

jingle: A musical commercial.

laundry list: A string of copy points--adjectives or prices and items in the copy. Sometimes a list of benefits of the product or service. The object for the talent is to read them with various emphasis so they don’t sound like a list.

lay it down: Another phrase meaning “let’s record.”

lay out: Don’t speak, as in “Lay out while the music plays in this section.”

level: To set a voice at the optimal point. When the engineer says, “Let’s get a level,” the actor will start reading the copy at the level they’ll be speaking throughout the spot.

library music: Pre-recorded music that producers use when the budget doesn’t allow original music. Each piece of music requires a fee to be paid, usually on an annual basis.

lines: The copy that’s read by the voice talent. To run lines is to rehearse a dialogue with another actor.

line reading: When a producer explains to a voice talent how they want a line read by reading it themselves.

live mic: The mic is on and can pick up everything said in the booth. That means everyone in the control room. See hot.

live tag: The copy delivered at the end of a spot, usually by a staff announcer at the Radio station.

local: Refers to the union in a particular locale. Usually accompanied by a number, i.e., AFTRA Local 47.

looping: The older technology of recording background sound effects and noises for TV or film. Done in post-production after the show is recorded.

lows: The low frequency of a voice.

major markets: Refers to the “Big Three”: New York, Chicago and Los Angeles. These markets pay the most in voice-over work.

marking copy: Placing different marks above, below, around, in between and circling words on a script. Best done in pencil, because direction or emphasis may change.

master: The original recording that all dubs are made from.

mic: A common form of the word mike, as in microphone.

milking: Stretching words out and giving them as much emphasis as possible, as in “Milk it.”

mix: The blending of voice, sound effects, music, etc. Final mix usually refers to the finished product.

monitors: The loudspeakers in the control room.

monologue: One-person copy. Also referred to as a single.

mouth noise: The clicks and pops a microphone picks up from a dry mouth.

MP3: The name of the file extension and also the name of the type of file for MPEG, audio layer 3. Layer 3 is one of three coding schemes (layer 1, layer 2 and layer 3) for the compression of audio signals. Layer 3 uses perceptual audio coding and psycho acoustic compression to remove all superfluous information (more specifically, the redundant and irrelevant parts of a sound signal. The stuff the human ear doesn't hear anyway. The result in real terms is layer 3 shrinks the original sound data from a CD (with a bit rate of 1411.2 kilobits per one second of stereo music) by a factor of 12 (down to 112-128kbps) without sacrificing sound quality.

multiple: Refers to script with three or more characters in it.

multitrack: A machine capable of recording and replaying several different tracks at the same time.

music bed: The soundtrack that will be placed behind the copy, or mixed in with it.

non-union: A voice-over job that is paid off the books, under the table—not through the union. A non-union shop is one that is not a signatory to SAG or AFTRA.

off-camera: A part where an actor supplies only their voice to a TV spot or video presentation.

on mic/off mic: Either speaking or not speaking directly into the microphone. An actor is always on mic when recording, unless shouting, and then turns his head slightly to speak off mic.

outtake: A previous take that hasn’t been approved and accepted.

overlapping: When an actor starts his or her line a moment before another actor finishes theirs.

over scale: Any amount paid over the minimum wage set by AFTRA or SAG.

over-the-top: Direction that makes the copy sound larger than life, requiring the actor to overact.

pace: The speed in which an actor reads copy.

paper noise: Sound that the mic picks up as you move your script. Set it on the mic stand and leave it alone. If you have two pieces of copy and no stand, hold one page in each hand. If you have more than two pages, you may stop, place the next page in front of you, and continue. The engineer will accommodate you, as they don’t want to have to edit out paper noise.

patch: To make an electrical/digital connection for recording and/or broadcast. Also referred to as a phone patch or land patch.

paymaster: A payroll service that handles talent payments for the producer.

phasing: When sound reflects or bounces of certain surfaces and causes a weird, disjointed effect in the recording.

phonemes: The small units of sound used to make words.

phones: A short word for headphones.

pick-up: Re-recording a section of copy at a certain point. 90% of your read may be a in the can, but there may be a phrase, sentence or paragraph that the director feels could be done a bit better, clearer, faster, slower, etc. The director tells you exactly where they want you to “pick-up” your line(s)—where to start from and where to end at. Read a sentence or phrase before the pick-up starting point, as well as the ending point. This is done to help the engineer better edit the pick-up, matching phrasing and levels.

pick-up session: An additional session to complete the original. There may be copy changes or character changes in a spot before it finally airs. This is usually due to the client changing their mind before they commit the spot to air.

pitch: The musical level at which a person speaks.

placement: Where the mic is positioned when an actor is reading.

playback: Listening to what has just been recorded.

plosive: Any consonant or combination of consonants that causes popping.

plus ten: Refers to the contractual agreement in which the producer agrees to add an additional 10% to the actor’s payment for the agent’s commission.

pop: When voice sounds are registering too hard into the mic. Usually caused by plosives.

pop filter: A foam cover enveloping the mic or a nylon windscreen in front of the mic. Mitigates popping. Also known as a pop stopper.

post-production: Also known as post. The work done after the voice-talent has finished recording the session. This includes mixing in SFX and music.

pre-life/pre-scene: The previous history an actor invents for his character.

producer: The person in charge of the voice-over session. Many times the producer is also the director.

promo: A promotional commercial spot used by TV and Radio stations specifically to increase audience awareness of upcoming programming.

protection: Also known as insurance, this is an additional take requested by the producer to insure that they have a back-up of a take they like. Usually phrased as, “One more for protection.”

PSA: Public Service Announcement. Commercials produced to raise awareness of current issues, such as smoking, drug abuse, pollution, pregnancy, etc.

punch: Reading a word or line with more intensity.

punch in: Sometimes referred to as a pick-up, it’s the rejoining or continuation of a piece of copy. The engineer will punch in a pick-up at a certain point in the copy, to help with editing later on.

read: The style of reading an actor presents as a voice talent, or your performance, as in “That was a good read.”

real-time: An event that takes as long as it actually takes, as opposed to high-speed.

released: Being dropped from consideration from a voice-over job. It’s one of two results from being on hold.

residuals: Continuing payments an actor receives every 13-weeks their spot airs. Also referred to as 13 weeks per spot per cycle.

resonance: The full quality of a voice created by vibrations in resonating chambers, such as the mouth and sinus areas.

re-use: What actors are paid when their spot is re-run. It is usually the same amount they received for the first 13-week cycle.

reverb: A variation of echo. It’s an effect added to your voice in post.

room tone: The sound a room makes without anyone in it.

rough mix: The step before the final mix. This is when the producer and engineer fine-tune levels of voice, music and sound effects.

run-through: Rehearsing the copy before recording. Like a dress rehearsal.

SAG: Screen Actors’ Guild. The union for film actors and performers.

safety: This is a re-take that the producer or client wants to make sure that if there’s something technically wrong with the take they like, they have a back up. “Let’s do one more for safety,” is a common phrase. See protection.

S.A.S.E.: Self-addressed stamped envelope.

SFX: Shorthand for sound effects. Also seen as EFX.

scale: The minimum, established wages set by SAG and AFTRA for working talent. Double scale or triple scale refers to these wages times 2 or 3.

scale plus 10: Refers to the extra 10% paid to the actor’s agent on a job.

scratch track: A rough audio or video track that a production company or ad agency may put together for an actor to read to. See animatic.

series of three: Term used to describe a set of wild lines to be recorded, done in a set of three. Each read should be varied slightly.

session: The event where a talent performs a script for recording purposes.

session fee: Payment for the first commercial within the session. If an actor does two spots, they get a session fee plus payment for the other spot. If the same actor does a tag, they get a separate tag fee. And if they record only two tags, they get paid session plus one tag.

shave: To pare down your read, as in, “Can you shave three seconds off that read?”

sibilance: A drawn out or excessive “S” sound during speech. Some sibilance is joined with a whistle. This is a very annoying sound, which some engineers mitigate with a sound tool called a de-esser.

sides: Commercial scripts for video, where the action is in the left column, the dialogue on the right, or animation.

signatory: Someone (usually a producer or ad agency) who has signed a contract with SAG or AFTRA stating that they will only work on union jobs and promise to pay talent union scale.

signature: The specific quality of a voice that makes it unique.

single: Also known as a monologue, or one-person copy.

slate: Announcing a name and/or a number before a take, usually paired with the character the actor is playing. The slate helps the director and engineer identify and keep track of the actors and the various takes. Most slates are announced by the engineer, but sometimes the actors slates their own name.

spec: Volunteering your services and postponing payment until a project sells. The popular definition is “working for nothing now on the promise of getting more than you deserve later on.”

spokesperson: Also referred to as spokes. A voice actor who is hired on a repeat contractual basis to represent a product or company.

spot: A commercial. Originated from the days when all commercials were performed live, in between songs played on the radio. The performers were “on the spot.”

stair stepping: Having the pitch progressively rise up or down as a means of defining phrases. This technique is especially effective when reading laundry lists.

stand: Where copy is placed in the booth.

station I.D.: A short sound bite where the call letters of the station are announced or sung.

steps: Increasing the energy on a long list of adjectives or superlatives.

storyboard: The art director’s and copywriter’s conception of a TV spot, drawn on a large board for presentation to a client. The talent gets to see what the on-camera actors are doing in the spot. See animatic.

studio: The facility where all recording and mixing for a commercial takes place.

sweeps: The TV and Radio ratings periods when the total viewing or listening audience is estimated, thereby determining advertising rates. These occur in February, May and November.

sync: Matching a voice from a previous take. Also refers to aligning tracks to start or end together.

Taft-Hartley: This labor law protects an actor from having to join the union for their first job. She has to join AFTRA if she’s hired for another union job within 30 days.

tag: Information placed at the end of a commercial containing a date, time, phone number, website address, legal disclaimer, etc. A different announcer sometimes reads the tag.

take: The recording of one specific piece of voice-over copy. All takes are numbered consecutively, usually slated by the engineer.

talent: A broadcast performer, entertainer or voice-over artist.

talkback: Refers to the button connected to the microphone in the engineer’s console. It allows the engineer or director to talk to the talent in the booth.

tease: The introductory line used to promote interest. Promos are sometimes referred to as teasers.

tempo: The speed at which copy is delivered.

tight: Not a lot of time to read, or referring to a script that has a lot of words and not much time to say them in, e.g., “This is a really tight :60.”

time: Literally, the length of a spot. Most Radio spots time in at :60, TV spots at :30.

time code: A digital read-out on the engineer’s console referring to audiotape, videotape positions. Used in film dubbing.

tone: A specific sound or attitude.

track: Either to record, or the actual audio piece. “We’re ready to track,” as opposed to “Listen to this track.”

trailer: A commercial that promotes a film or video release.

undercutting: Dipping down in a sentence and throwing a portion of it away.

units: The number assigned by AFTRA and SAG to cities throughout the U.S. Each city varies in their amount of unit value by their population. This directly affects the amount of money an actor receives in residuals.

use fee: An additional fee paid to the performer when their spot is actually aired.

value added: Refers to words in a script that give the impression you’re getting more than you paid for. Plus, free, new, improved and extra are examples.

voice print: The vocal equivalent of fingerprints. Can be seen on the monitor of any computer using a ProTools® or similar sound tool.

V-O: Short for voice-over. Also seen as AVO (announcer voice-over). It’s the act of providing a voice to a media project, where the voice is usually mixed over the top of music and SFX. Voice-over was the term originally used to describe an announcer’s voice on a television spot, referring to the process as “voice over picture.” The more accurate term now is voice acting, which is the art of using the voice to bring life to written words.

VU meter: A meter on the engineer’s console that indicates the level of sound passing through the board.

walla: The sound of many voices talking at once, used as background sounds for a party or restaurant. Originally, it was thought that saying the words “walla walla” over and over again in the background would simulate good sound ambiance for a crowded scene, but the prevailing view now is that actors doing walla should converse in the way they would normally do so in that situation.

wet: A voice or sound with reverb added to it.

wild line: A single line from a script that is reread several times in succession until the perfect read is achieved. It’s considered wild because it is read separately from the entire script. Often performed in a series of three, where the actor reads the line three times in a row without interruption. Each line is read slightly differently, unless otherwise directed.

wild spot: A flat fee for a spot that airs for an indeterminate number of times within a 13-week cycle. Can be local, regional or national.

windscreen: A pop filter, or pop stopper.

woodshed: To rehearse or practice reading copy out loud. From the old days of theater where actors would have to rehearse in a woodshed before going out to perform.

wrap: The end, as in “That’s a wrap.”


Adapted and compiled from the following sources:

• James Alburger, The Art of Voice-Acting; Focal Press (1999)
• Susan Blu & Molly Ann Mullin, Word of Mouth; Revised Edition, Pomegranate Press (1996)
• Terri Apple, Making Money in Voice-Overs; Lone Eagle Publishing Company (1999)
• Alice Whitfield, Take It From The Top; Ring-U-Turkey Press (1992)
• Sandy Thomas, So You Want To Be A Voice-Over Star; In The Clubhouse Publishing (1999)
• Terry Berland & Deborah Ouellette, Breaking Into Commercials; Plume Publishing (1997)
• Chris Douthitt & Tom Wiecks, Putting Your Mouth Where The Money Is; Grey Heron Books (1996)
• Chuck Jones, Making Your Voice Heard; Back Stage Books (1996)
• Bernard Graham Shaw, Voice Overs: A Practical Guide; Routledge Publishing (2000)
• Elaine A. Clark, There’s Money Where Your Mouth Is; Back Stage Books (2000)

If you have any questions, please write to me and I’ll get back to you on my blog Ask The Voice Cat with my answers.

Marc Cashman Voice CatMARC CASHMAN creates and produces copy and music advertising for radio and television. Winner of over 150 advertising awards, he also instructs voice acting of all levels through his classes, The Cashman Cache of Voice-Acting Techniques in Los Angeles, CA.

Cashman Commercials © 2005

Posted by Stephanie at 10:58 AM

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November 22, 2006

The Importance of Comments on Blogs

As a reader, you probably like reading the comments that are left on blogs and perhaps you even leave comments on posts that you enjoy. While you may just like comments, I want to let you know that we love them!

VOX Daily Blog ReadersEvery time I receive an email from our blog notifying me that a new comment has just been left, I get so excited!

Finding out what you think, learning from your perspective, and hearing how much you appreciate what we do is a real boost of energy and your comments inspire me (and the entire Voices.com team) to continue providing you with industry news, fascinating content, and scores of opportunities to be part of a thriving and united community.

Commenting on blogs is also about building community.

When you see several comments on a post, you know that people are being affected and are reaching out to others. When you see dozens of comments, well, that's just incredible!

Each comment is a stepping stone to something more. It could be a conversation, a nugget of wisdom, or ideas for how to improve.

Many of your comments have resulted in new features for the Voices.com website and have yielded improvements to present features.

I've heard that on average for every comment you receive to a blog post, at least 1,000 people have read the blog post. That statistic is encouraging and reminds bloggers that your audience is made up of all kinds of different people who contribute to the success of a blog.

Participating on a blog or being a part of a blog community includes activities such as reading, commenting, sharing, or even posting your own blog post inspired by what you have just read.

This blog is truly a voice industry blog. We make a conscious effort to write about news, current affairs, human interest, and educational articles that inspire and motivate you as a professional voice actor.

Remember the official theme of the Olympic Games held in Torino, Italy this year?

It was "Passion Lives Here".

That's how we feel about the voice industry and working with you at Voices.com.

The VOX Daily blog is just one way that we can connect with each other, but it is also a very important way that is accessible to everyone.

As the blog is online, it can be visited from anywhere, commented on, and consumed regardless of time of day, location, and even in some cases, language. Anyone can comment. I've seen comments from professional voice actors, teachers, fans of voice over, investors, corporate entities, colleagues and family members of those featured on VOX Daily.

All of these comments have worth and inspire literally thousands of people around the world.

The more we hear from you, the better and stronger we all become as a community online and off-line.

Thank you for sharing your thoughts with us over the years and with your fellow readers.

Yours sincerely,

Stephanie

Posted by Stephanie at 2:13 PM

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November 21, 2006

Sara Mendes da Costa : The Voice of Time

Recently, Sara Mendes da Costa of Brighton in the UK was chosen out of nearly 18,500 candidates to become the voice of time for British Telecom's Speaking Clock.

Sara Mendes da Costa Speaking ClockWant to know what time it is?

If you're in the UK, you know that all you need to do is dial up the Speaking Clock to find out the exact time of day.

This comes from the same country that has talking parking meters, as we have covered in the past.

While this concept may seem strange to us over in North America, the British people have had this talking clock system for 70 years. The clock itself started up in July of 1936 and has been telling the time ever since.

About every 20 years or so, a new voice is hired to record for the talking clock. This time around, the person chosen to be the voice of the Speaking Clock was author and part time voice over artist Sara Mendes da Costa from the south of England.

The BBC published a great article about the decision itself, but I happened to hear a telephone interview with Sara on CBC Radio One's program As it Happens and heard straight from Sara about why she auditioned, her experience, the casting process, and what it means to her to be the voice of time for all British subjects calling in to BT.

Interviewer Carol Off spoke to Sara Mendes da Costa (aired Monday November 20th around 7:15 EST) when I happened to be in the car on a way to a meeting. I was glued to my seat and scribbled down details in the darkness during the 10 minute interview as quickly as my hand could write, not wanting to miss a single detail.

The audition consisted of recording a :10 (ten second) audio file that contained the famous phrase "At the third stroke..." to qualify as an entrant for the contest.

As with every audition, people always want to know why the chosen talent was picked and also what they may have done that was different to help them stick out from other auditions.

Several agencies were involved with the casting. The first company was in charge of filtering through the responses while others down the line including casting agents, television presenters, and even the voice of the Speaking Clock himself, 77 year old Brian Cobby, were involved with the final casting of the new voice.

Sara added a friendly "Hello" to the beginning of her recording, something that was not included in the script. Could she have got them at "Hello" just as Renée Zellweger did Tom Cruise in the Hollywood film "Jerry Maguire"?

The project was in support the BBC's charity, Children in Need. Ms. Mendes da Costa was not paid for her services, however, she has the enormous honor of being the voice of time and, perhaps, the first voice that someone may ever hear on the telephone.

One of the reasons why Sara was so overwhelmed when selected to be the voice of the Speaking Clock is because the very first phone call that Sara made as a child was to the Speaking Clock to find out what time it was, hence, the responsibility she feels as the representative of the Speaking Clock to a new generation of British children and her fellow patriots.

The Speaking Clock was introduced in London, UK and following the success of the clock went nation-wide. Telephonist Jane Cain was the first voice, replaced in 1963 by Pat Simmons and in 1985 by Brian Cobby. Sara Mendes da Costa replaced Brian Cobby in 2006.

More than 70 million calls are made to the service each year.

To listen to Sara talk about her new job, download the file at the BBC website.

Sara, if you're out there reading this, please leave a comment!

Congratulations,

Stephanie

Posted by Stephanie at 10:55 AM

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Is Voiceover really for you? Read this first.

Yesterday, I read one of the most honest, no-holds-barred blog posts from a professional voice talent about what people who are not making ends meet in the voiceover business should consider regarding the future of their career. Want to read it too?

Over the weekend, Bob Souer posted an insightful and forthright article entitled Packing it in? written for readers who are in the business of voiceovers but may not, for a variety of reasons, be the best candidate to do so.

Bob clearly states that there is more to a career in voiceover than merely speaking into a microphone. It's a sales and marketing job that demands your full attention, dedication, talent and resources.

In the closing paragraphs, Bob poses a few hard hitting questions that every semi-professional or amateur talent should ask, not only for themselves, but for their family and others who are dependent upon them as well.

If you have any feedback on this article, you are welcome to leave comments on our blog at VOX Daily and on Bob Souer's blog.

Read "Packing it in?" here.

Best,

Stephanie

Posted by Stephanie at 8:23 AM

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November 20, 2006

Website Completeness

Want to know how to achieve website completeness? Check out these tips on what you can do to get ahead.

website_completeness_280.gifThe old adage that you catch more flies with honey than vinegar proves true here, and for our purposes, it's clients that you are aiming to attract to your website at Voices.com.

What constitutes as honey for clients?

A complete website that prominently features your skills, abilities, and experience.

A complete website is a sure indicator of your professionalism which in turn instills confidence and a good impression of you where clients considering your services are concerned.

If your website has all of the fields completed and demos showcasing your vocal talents, you will be providing clients with all of the details they need to rate your website, save you to their Favorites, or hire you for work, an activity that also leads to ratings and being saved to their Favorites.

What needs to be completed?

If you are in your Profile, for instance, and see a number of blank fields where you have yet to enter any information, they are perfect opportunities for you to increase your VoiceRank.

When thinking of ways to help making your experience better, we created a handful of suggestions in pop-up windows to guide you when filling out your Profile.

Let's start from the very beginning (a very good place to start, you'll agree :)

These headings and descriptions are taken directly from the helpful pop-up windows in your Profile.

Login & Contact Information

Type in your contact details so that clients can contact you for work opportunities. Be sure to keep your details updated so as to not miss out on any job offers.

Display Your Contact Information

If you would like to display your address, phone number and fax number on your website, check the box to do so.

Voice Description

Your voice description provides a summary of your vocal qualities and abilities. Your voice description is also visible in the search results as well as on your website.

Description Samples

Sample 1: Jim's voice is quite versatile and has been referred to as genuine, charismatic, and hilarious. Ranging from characters such as the stereotypical football coach to a doting father, Jim is able to cater his performance into a voiceover that works perfectly for your project.

Sample 2: Annette has a wide spectrum of vocal capabilities. Trained as a classical singer, Annette's vocal elasticity and burnished tone color shines brilliantly through commercials, telephone recordings, and children's audiobook narration projects.

Sample 3: Richard's light tenor voice is caring, authoritative, and didactic. Richard specializes in recording for educational materials and has an impressive command of technical jargon for medical and scientific scripts.

Experience & Skills

Your experience and skills indicate how much training you have had, your career background, any organizations you belong to and clients you have worked for.

Mentioning specific roles you have performed or individual projects recorded will give clients an excellent idea of your professionalism, practical experience, and expertise.

You may also choose to include testimonials from clients in this field.

Studio Equipment

This area provides clients with details about your studio setup and delivery options. List the brand name of your microphone, computer, recording software and so on to build trust and establish your level of professionalism. If you work from a professional-grade home recording studio, mention that too, perhaps in the "Turnaround Time" field.

Website Themes

Pick a color theme to help personalize your website.

Choose from a number of color themes to make your website feel like home, to brand your website, and also to differentiate yourself visually.

So, we've just identified several factors that will help you to increase your VoiceRank with respect to your Profile.

Let's look at how you can further complete your website to rank higher and attract more clients.

Have you been to your Studio to upload any voice samples or images?

It behooves (benefits) you to do so, because everything is relative and is part of your strategy to not only rank higher but to encourage clients to work with you.

Uploading a voice sample is paramount to any talents success at Voices.com.

If you have a demo or many demos available for people to listen to, there will be more doors that open for you than if you do not have a demo on your website.

It is quite easy to upload a voice sample to your Studio, and considering the benefits of doing so, it often surprises me to see how many professional-grade talents have not uploaded more if not any samples to their websites.

What is usually in place of demos on their websites?

Notes to clients telling them "If you want to hear my voice, go to mywebsite.com."

Failing to immediately provide clients with the voice samples they are looking for and trying to direct them away from a website (Voices.com) that they trust, and have invested time and interest in does not bode well for a voice talent.

Why is that?

Clients who use our website have come with one goal in mind:

To find a talent, including their portfolio (voice samples), at Voices.com.

They do not come to find voices that they then have to leave the website (which is extra work on their part) to hear. Not only is that not a part of their objective, it is a waste of their time.

The result?

Talents who do not supply clients with what they are expecting of a professional will be potentially skipped over and lose the opportunity to work with them.

We don't want that to happen to you.

That's why we do everything in our power to help you succeed.

I hope this has been helpful to you and has sparked some ideas and inspiration!

Best wishes,

Stephanie

Posted by Stephanie at 10:31 AM

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November 16, 2006

Voice of Authority

Check out this article at BackStage.com, and I guarantee you'll find something useful for your voice acting career!

I was doing some research this afternoon and happened to come across an article at BackStage.com featuring several prominent names from the voice coaching field that I recognized, many of whom I also know.

Journalist Nancy Ellen Shore broke the story, and subtitled it "Veterans of voiceover reveal top training tips".

If you are at all interested in learning more about how to develop your craft, are looking for a voice over coach, or industry stats, read this exhaustive article at BackStage.com.

The article includes quotes from several voice acting coaches based in the US and includes a photo of the Voice Cat Marc Cashman instructing students at his voice-acting school in Los Angeles.

Let me know if you appreciate the link to this article.

Thanks,

Stephanie

Posted by Stephanie at 12:32 PM

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Some Lighter Fare: Frank and Gordon

Need a change of pace? Take a break with us as we examine Frank and Gordon, the most talked about Beavers north of the 49th parallel, courtesy of Bell Canada and created by leading Quebec advertising agency, Cossette Communication Group.

The two most active beavers on the Canadian television scene are back with holiday commercials clad in hockey gear and promoting the services of telephone service provider, Bell Canada.

For a little while, Frank and Gordon have been on the sidelines, last seen during campaigns that ran during the Olympic Games in Turino.

We blogged about them primarily because of the voices behind the Bell beavers, Norm MacDonald and Ken Campbell.

Well, folks, the beavers have returned, but their web presence has been somewhat diminished, limited to the Bell Canada website as seen below:

Bell Canada Beavers

As noted and confirmed on the blog Strategic Marketing Montreal the FrankandGordon.com website is unavailable and the FrankandGordon.ca website now redirects to the Bell home page.

If you recall, the Canadian version of the Frank and Gordon website was not started by Bell but by Ken Schafer. Perhaps Bell bought Ken's website?

The saga continues...

Are you a fan of Frank and Gordon?

Cheers,

Stephanie

Posted by Stephanie at 11:32 AM

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November 15, 2006

Seekers VS Clients

What's the difference between a Seeker and a Client? Find out at Voices.com.

At Voices.com, we have a real issue with the term talent seeker. To be frank, it concerns us quite a bit.

Every day, we're asked how we are different from other services.

As any good marketer knows, differentiating your offering is key to the success of your business. You have to make yourself different in some way to stand out.

We differentiate ourselves in many ways at Voices.com, particularly with regard to the language and terminology that we use when communicating with our customers. You may recall the well received Competing VS Choosing post of many moons ago.

Back to the vocab for today...

For example, instead of 'talent seekers', we call people who post voice over jobs 'clients'.

There is a drastic difference between the two classifiers which I will now illustrate below.

According to the Oxford Dictionary, a "Seeker" or someone who "Seeks" is defined as someone who is trying to find or obtain something.

According to Oxford, a "Client" is defined as a person using the services of a professional person or organization, originally denoting a person under the protection and patronage of another: from Latin cliens, from cluere ‘hear or obey’.

There's quite a difference when you dissect the two terms objectively, isn't there?

Now, this is what deeply concerns us and why we use the language that we do to convey our purpose and mission as a business.

After brainstorming a bit yesterday, David and I came up with the following definitions of what we deem to be Clients and Seekers.

buying voice oversFirst, let's look at the definition of Clients:

A client is someone who is an integral part of a trusted relationship, is B2B focused, an individual or organization with whom you work with consistently, has a history with you, and is comfortable referring business to you.

Clients come to the Voices.com with a purpose and goal:

That goal is to find the perfect voice for their project and start a business relationship with a voice actor.

Clients are committed to projects and disclose their contact information openly, conducting business in an appropriate manner as is expected from the business community.

Now, on the other side of the tracks, we have a talent seeker.

voice talent seekersA seeker is often misguided and are uncertain of what their needs are.

Nothing is concrete, therefore many seekers are less likely to commit to a project or even share their company details with the people they are trying to persuade to work for them.

Seekers can also be aimless, going from one place to another with no clear objective, hence, little to no commitment or loyalty.

OK, so that's what a seeker is.

Now, why are seekers less desirable than clients?

Seekers are not required to develop a relationship with anyone. They are window shopping or browsing, not making inroads or divulging their purpose.

When you see something that says "Confidential" or "Contact Information Withheld", there are more circumstances where this is unnecessary than are crucial.

You as the voice actor applying for a job deserve and have the right to know who you are applying for. You also have the right to request information that should be given to you to make your decision as to pursuing an opportunity or quoting for it.

Voices.com has a very open policy regarding transparency. Each client who is registered at our website has an active file with us and is assigned an account manager.

Basically, each client is followed up with personally and serviced by someone who works at our company, which is the norm for the majority of credible businesses.

We feel that you should have as much information as possible when it comes to working with someone who posts a job at our website.

That is why scripts are mandatory.

If a script is not available yet due to translation or cannot be produced due to intellectual property or the privacy requests of a prominent client, they are still required to submit a summary of the content, its theme, usage, and direction.

We've never run into a situation where a client refused to supply us with the information we needed to provide you with the best possible details.

If the details are not sufficient or do not meet our guidelines, those jobs are simply not posted. Why would we waste your time and effort just to service a seeker who does not want to or cannot present a professional opportunity to professionals?

As you can see, a client understands that this is a business, not a walk in the park. They known that you are professionals and that your time is money.

Clients are committed to working with professionals. Clients are professionals themselves, so it makes perfect sense that they would strive to network and hire other professionals, including you and your colleagues at Voices.com.

Now, I've had my say about this Seeker VS Clients mentality.

Do you have any thoughts to add?

Looking forward to your reply,

Stephanie

Posted by Stephanie at 10:16 AM

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November 14, 2006

Top 100 Movers and Shakers

Discover the newest, hottest way to search for and hire voice talent... Announcing the Voices.com Top 100, powered by our new VoiceRank™ technology!

When we announced VoiceRank, we knew that you would definitely have some feedback to share with us, and we were eager to hear it.

voicerank_movers_and_shakers_400.gif

Now that we're all getting use to VoiceRank, we'd like to let you in on some enhancements implemented from your ideas and detail how the VoiceRank engine works.

One of the most important things to remember is that Voices.com is a source of professional voice actors. With this in mind we tailored the results to recognize and reward the voice actors who work in the field every day.

Before I get too far into this post, I want to be sure that it is understood that VoiceRank is merely one way to find voices at Voices.com and complements the other tools available to clients.

Despite it being a new feature addition, we have always and will continue to place an emphasis on the job postings, categories and search features - in other words, this is technically the fourth way to find voices to hire.

Client participation is one of many components of VoiceRank. It's their way of publicly acknowledging the talents of a professional they have worked with by referring them on to other clients who use the Voices.com website.

It also is in place to recognize and reward members of Voices.com who present an informative web site to potential clients that best describes their voice and services.

One significant change to note: Only new Premium and Preferred talents are listed on the "New" list.

From feedback received, this change was necessary and better reflects the professionalism of the Voices.com website and service as a whole.

Now that we've covered the "New" list, let's explore the criteria for ranking on the "Top Rated" list.

Here's what makes up your individual voicerank:

• Uploaded demo(s)
• Image added
• Description of voice
• Language selected
• Accents included
• Union status selected
• Experience completed
• Skill areas selected
• Microphone description
• Computer Software entered
• Special Equipment detailed
• Delivery Options provided
• Turnaround Time estimated

website_completeness_280.gif
To help you measure your progress, we've added a Profile Completeness Meter in your Profile.

View your Profile Completeness here.

To put this into perspective, only 77 people have Profiles that are 100% complete.

The purpose of VoiceRank is to recognize and reward professional voice talent and voice actors who are members of our site.

The "Favorites" list remains the same by only considering the total number of times that a talent has been saved as a Favorite by Clients at Voices.com.

To see the new and improved VoiceRank Top 100, click here.

To learn how you can rank higher, click here.

Best,

Stephanie and the Voices.com team

Posted by Stephanie at 10:00 AM

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November 13, 2006

Avi Melman's Voice-Over Podcast

Have you heard this voice-over podcast? Check out Avi Melman's new Voice-Over Podcast here at VOX Daily.

avi-melman.jpgAvi Melman's Voice-Over Podcast features interviews with professionals of the animation and commercial voice-over industry and offers insightful information for aspiring voice actors as well as fans of animation.

Guests on the show include popular voice-over talent, voice directors, casting directors and other key individuals who help to bring voices to your favorite shows.

You'll hear stories from the pros in the industry about their roles in animated series, pick up some of their more amusing experiences and get advice on breaking into the exciting world of voice-over.

You'll learn inside tips from pros on what works, how it works, and what it takes to make it in the business.

avi-melman-podcast.jpgThe first episode includes an interview with guest voice actor and instructor Steve Staley.

A few items that they touched on were studying, booking jobs, and dubbing.

According to Steve, it's accumulative study that counts. This means continuing to take classes, workshops, and to study with a variety of teachers.

Never stop studying and learn the business!

The difference between getting commercial work and animation work?

Want to book a radio commercial job? The podcast interview addresses that too!

Let's look at the ratio:

Usually it takes between 50 - 65 auditions to book one radio commercial job.

Animation is a smaller world. You know the people involved, and, therefore it is a smaller pool. It's all in who you know.

Even though that is the case, Steve doesn't know anyone in animation who doesn't do commercials, that is to say, solely works as a character voice / video game voice actor.

To illustrate, in the past we've featured voice actor Kari Wahlgren on VOX Daily, although a talent renowned in the video game voice acting sector, Kari is also an active commercial voice talent.

This episode also delves into dubbing for anime programs from overseas. If you've ever wondered how this process works, you've got to listen to this podcast interview.

To learn more about Avi's podcast, visit his website to download his podcast or subscribe for free at the Apple iTunes Music Store.

Best,

Stephanie

Posted by Stephanie at 10:23 AM

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November 10, 2006

Transformers Audition Reflection - Updated

Read our exclusive on Bryan Cox's audition experience for the highly anticipated Steven Spielberg movie, "The Transformers".

Transformers Movie AuditionLike all VO guys I get up in the morning and check the email as I have that first cup of coffee.

I noticed an email from an agent in Atlanta.

She told me that she had been working on getting this certain client for 6 months and had even sent him a watch as a special gift.

Anything to grease the wheels of Hollywood I guess.

Where was she going with this? The email ended with the words “more to follow but get ready to jump on this”.

A few days passed, then the email, she want me to audition for 3 parts for, get this Steven Spielberg and Michael Bay.

This was for an movie that the two were working on set for release in 2007. It was called The Transformers.

I thought to myself, 'Wow Steven and Michael... this has got to be a mistake and what the heck is a transformer... is this a movie about an electrical device?'

It wasn’t a mistake.

They sent me a script with 3 parts Ratchet, Iron Hide and Jazz.

There was a short description and picture of each character but nothing about how they should sound. The instructions went on to say that they wanted to hear 2 different voices for each part.

I was beside myself with excitement.

I got on the phone with the agent and asked if this was true. She assured me that it was.

Now with this info I got back on the phone calling all my friends and family telling them what had happened.

I sat down in front of the mic and started in on this amazing project.

Every syllable, in every voice had to be perfect. It took me about 4 hours to come up with 6 distinct voices. I was done and sent them in for the powers that be to sit and listen.

Now the waiting game.

I got an email saying 60 plus voices were in the running. My heart sank, but then another email saying I made the short list.

They are down to 15 guys.

I’m resolved to the fact, even if I don’t get any of the parts, it’s just nice to know that my little talent has been heard and sits on the shelf of Michael Bay and Steven Spielberg.

So I sit and wait... oh is that the phone? I gotta go.

Bryan Cox

P.S. Bryan was cast! View the Transformers voice cast here.

Posted by Stephani