How can a remote destination shown through a virtual tour evoke feelings of warmth, comfort and desire?

Whenever you list something for sale on the Internet, you have to humanize the experience for potential buyers to make what you are selling seem more accessible, meaningful and attractive.

Find out how voice over can add that lovin' feeling and also how voice talent can make selling homes online even easier.

Could Your Voice Move Hundreds of Thousands of Dollars?

The bigger the purchase, the more personable and authentic the sales approach needs to be.

How do you do that online?

Using voice over when showing a property online, for example, adds another dimension to how a prospective buyer identifies with what could be their future home.

Some real estate agencies are already doing this as well as builders. I wouldn't be surprised if there are enterprising homeowners who are selling their home privately and have added voice over narration to their promotional site.

What a great opportunity for you!

Voice talent Ari Ross is a great example of someone who has come to discover how interesting and lucrative this market can be, securing his place in the real estate voice over niche for some time now. Ari has found a way to present his services to real estate brokers and brokerages, catering to their individual needs with custom voice over recordings to help sell properties online.

Real Estate is a universal market. At some point, or at multiple times in our lives, we all will need to move house and find a way to attract potential buyers. Either we will do this for ourselves or enlist the services of other people to help us.

This is where voice over comes in.

What Do Real Estate Agents, Brokers and Home Sellers Need Recorded?

Primarily, you'll find that voice over is needed for:

๏ Virtual tours
๏ Website listings
๏ Sales presentations
๏ Broadcast commercials

Consider how you might be able to grow your business to include these kinds of service offerings to people who promote or sell real estate. You may find that voice over is also needed for similar reasons by builders, interior decorators, and staging companies.

Have You Done Any Voice Over Work for Real Estate?

Looking forward to your reply,

Stephanie

©iStockphoto.com/Andy Dean

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Have you been taking advantage of all some free social networking tools to promote your business and make new connections with prospective customers?

In his debut podcast on Voice Over Experts, Terry Daniel shares insight particular to Twitter and Facebook, detailing how you can generate untold revenue through some good old fashioned networking.

Having gained 15 clients through his social networking efforts this year alone, and as he says, 15 customers he wouldn't have had otherwise, I can assure you that Terry's advice is more than worth listening to, indeed so much that I've decided to share his podcast episode with you in today's VOX Daily.

Getting Voice Over Work Through Social Networking

As mentioned earlier, I'd like to share Terry Daniel's lesson "Getting Voice Over Work Through Social Networking". You'll learn how services like Twitter and Facebook help to extend your brand and connect you with prospective clients. Terry points out that it's not just for teenagers anymore, advocating that social networking is very important for business... and the best part of all, it's free!

I hope you enjoy this podcast and drink in the numerous tips on how you can promote your voice while providing valuable insight and being authentic.

Download Podcast Episode 91 »

To learn more about Terry Daniel, follow these links:

Terry Daniel
Terry Daniel's Voices.com Website
Terry Daniel on Voice Over Experts

You can subscribe to Voice Over Experts for free and get caught up on all 91 episodes (to date) this summer. Each week a new one is released, so if you found Terry's podcast to be valuable, you'll thoroughly enjoy the series.

Feel free to comment with your thoughts!

Best wishes,

Stephanie

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Have you ever been on the Walt Disney World or on the Disneyland Monorail System?

When David was away on business presenting at a conference in January, he happened to stay at a Walt Disney World resort and ride on the infamous "Monorail". His experience inspired me to dig a bit deeper into the voices, past and present, of Disney's Monorail.

There's a lot of good information here but what I'm missing are your memories!

If you have anything you'd like to share about the monorails at Disney or are simply curious to learn more, read on!

Disney's Monorail

I asked a number of people to share just about anything they could think of regarding the monorail and the voices on it. Elli TheKingofBroadway referred to this Wikipedia listing about the Disney World Monorail System, as did Caryn Clark, which I've quoted a paragraph or so from below:

"The Disney monorail system uses a set of pre-recorded announcements to instruct and entertain passengers.

Prior to departure, a recorded announcement asks guests to 'please stand clear of the doors; por favor manténganse se alejado de las puertas.' One of the most known phrases within the resort, it was recorded by Jack Wagner (1925-1995), who was known as 'the Voice of Disneyland.'

Disney employee Matt Hanson replaced Jack Wagner. Hanson is still (as of 2004 at any rate) with the Walt Disney Company.

During the system's early years, the trains featured Wagner's narration of the sights and scenery along the way, as well as information on special events, the resort, and the monorail system itself. Since that time, other announcers have provided these narrations, yet the 'stand clear' announcement remains in Wagner's voice. This is at least partially due to the fact that the audio for the doors is generated via a separate system than that for the rest of the narrations."

Disney monorail works will often refer to these recordings as "spiels".

You can hear Jack Wagner's Disney Monorail voice recordings here.

While we're on the topic, voice talent Alex Verde, has performed one of the voices on the Disneyland Monorail.

Disney Monorail Voices : For The Record

There wasn't a lot of information out there about the voices specifically, but with some help, I stumbled upon a thread of discussion at a site called Hidden Mickeys that explores little known, fun facts about the theme parks.

I thought you might find this comment particularly interesting as it gives you some background on how Jack Wagner recorded the voice overs as well as other intriguing details.

Statement made by Jack Bohannan on Hidden Mickeys

I would like to set the record straight on the voice. Throughout the 1970's and into the 1980's the voice heard on all Disney monorails, as well as most all the voiceover work for all the parks was the legendary "Voice of Disney", Jack Wagner.

I have had the privilege of working with him many times through the years.

One interesting side note is that Jack's home in Southern California was one of the first uses for a direct audio link from a remote recording studio. It was put in by Disney in the 70's and connected a voiceover booth in his home to Studio D at Disneyland in Anaheim. He frequently would receive last minute calls for special events and was able to just walk over to the booth and "beam" it directly to the park. Anyhow, with the amount of work that Florida was generating after Epcot and the Studios opened, plus the fact that Jack wanted to head towards retiring sometime, other voice talent was sought out locally in Florida.

There have been several people used in voiceover work since then, one of them being Kevin Miles, who is one of the original members of the Voices of Liberty at Epcot, and can still be heard there daily. Kevin recorded the monorail voiceovers after the Grand Floridian was built, and his voice was still there until the 25th Anniversary rolled around, when it was updated by one of the new voiceover talents.

The amount of voiceover work at the parks now is astronomical, and it is shared by a couple of people who have "the voice", including Kevin. Interestingly enough, though, Jack's voice can still be heard welcoming everyone to Orlando on the monorails at the airport terminals.

Tom Bohannan, quote from the HiddenMickeys.org site, added July 25, 1997.

Like Father, Like Son

When looking for more information about Jack Wagner, I came across a Jack Wagner tribute that included this tidbit about his son, Mike Wagner:

"Born in 1953, Mike is almost as 'enthusiastic' about Disney as his dad. Although his profession is radio broadcasting, he still would make Voice Overs for the Disney Theme Parks (he also did the V.O. narration for the Disneyland and Walt Disney World Forever kiosks).

Many visitors and cast members call him the 'voice of Disneyland Paris'.

Funny to note, that the former french Park Management thought his voice would be too 'American' and rejected his offer to make the voice-overs. In 1995 Jay Smith would ask him again and Mike agreed.

Unfortunately Mike left Disneyland Paris on January 28th 2000, and became the director of the french radio station 'Nostalgie La Legende'.

In DLP Mike Wagner can still be heard as an announcer for parades like Imaginations Parade and Wonderful World of Disney Parade."

You can hear Mike Wagner's Disney recordings here.

Do You Have Memories of the Monorail or Trivia You'd Like to Share?

Did you grow up hearing these voices? Do you have something else you'd like to add to this conversation?

Leave a comment!

Best wishes,

Stephanie

Image via castevens12's photostream on Flickr.com, Some Rights Reserved under Creative Commons

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Having a home recording studio is a given if you want to be a professional voice talent in today's world.

Even if you do most of your work outside of your home in local studios, you will still need to have a basic setup available to you 24/7 in the comfort and convenience of your own home.

Hear about some new pieces of audio recording equipment that might be an attractive fit for your digital home recording studio via advice from Sweetwater Sound's Mark Magdich courtesy of the Voice Coaches Advanced Marketing Expo.

Great Gear

When you start a voice over business, you'll need to make a modest investment in your equipment, however that being said, you can't just buy anything and expect that it will meet your needs and approval of those in a position to hire you.

Depending on how savvy someone is, they'll know in one look at your profile, or listen, what kind of equipment you are using to record your voice. Perception can make or break your studio because people in the know are going to notice.

Last year, I covered the fundamentals of a home recording studio for voice talent. This article will be shorter and focus on a few items that Mark Magdich of Sweetwater Sound referred during his presentation.

Pro Tools

You may be afraid of Pro Tools, perhaps in part to it's complexity and price, but it is good to know that it provides both a hardware and software solution. Many of you won't have a need for the multi tracking capabilities that Pro Tools provides, however, if you do get into any kind of production work, this is the industry standard.

Mbox Mini

Another product to be aware of is the Mbox 2 Mini. This fits in the palm of your hand, comes with Pro Tools and is integrated as a hardware / software.

Bluebird Microphone

One of the more nifty things mentioned was the Bluebird Microphone, styled upon the 50s bottle mic, similar to what Frank Sinatra used. The beauty of this microphone is that it makes your voice bigger. The closer you get, the louder and more full your voice sounds. This microphone retails at $299.

sE Electronics Reflexion Filter

If you're looking for more noise reduction or need something that will give you the portability of a voice booth, you might want to do a bit of research on the sE Electronics Reflexion Filter. This piece of equipment sits on the mic stand and acts as a portable booth, weighing all of 11 lbs. The Microphone mounts right into the center of it and it can be used in any room to turn it into a studio environment. The sE Electronics Reflexion Filter will also act as if you are standing in a whisper room or recording studio. Obviously, if you have a lot of external noise (road traffic) it won't block it out but is very good otherwise for recording in a quiet room.

A few other elements that were mentioned in the presentation include the Wavelab Essential - Personal Audio Editing System by Steinberg; Peak LE 6 - Essential Audio tools for your digital lifestyle; and Secrets of the Pros - basics and beyond ProTools DVD: Volume 1.

Mark Magdich (Fort Wayne, Indiana)

Home Recording Expert and Sales Engineer Mark Magdich from Sweetwater, America's leading recording equipment retailer, is an accomplished musician, playing nine different instruments and singing the theme songs for numerous animated series, including the New Adventures of Speed Racer.

Do You Use Any of These Products in Your Home Recording Studio?

Looking forward to your reply,

Stephanie

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For many voice talent, interpreting a script isn't a problem... it's wondering what else to include in the recorded audition!

When you're creating a custom demo or auditioning for a voice over job, do you simply submit dry voice, or do you include music, sound effects or other production elements?

Share your comments and experiences with your friends at VOX Daily.

Auditions: Dry Voice or Full Production?

Recording your voice for an audition is one thing but adding tracks with music and sound effects is another.

Dry voice is pure, 100% you (no preservatives and or pesticides)!

"Dry voice" is the industry's way of saying unadulterated sound. When you are required to record a dry voice track, all you should be doing is providing your read, nothing more. That means no music, no sound effects, no effects on your voice, you get the picture.

What happens when you add to your voice?

Adding to your voice is a completely different animal. Whenever something is "produced", it means that production elements were used, such as music, sound effects and so on. Usually in this instance, you are multi-track recording and might have a separate track set aside for your voice with an array of tracks for music beds, sound effects and the like.

Depending on what it is that you are auditioning for, you may find that produced audio may either help or hinder your chances of landing the gig. Dry voice is safe, but remember, it's not always the safe choices that get noticed...

Having said that, whether you decide to do dry voice exclusively or dabble in production, always make sure that your vocal choices with regard to interpretation are unique and demonstrate how you would best serve the client.

What's Your Auditioning Style?

Depending on which you prefer, how has this worked out for you, and does one provide better results than the other?

Looking forward to hearing from you,

Stephanie

P.S. Thanks for Elizabeth Webb Sosner for the inspiration to write this post :)

©iStockphoto.com/Imgorthand

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Learn how to take care of your voice, engage in a vocal warmup, speak clearly and become more confident behind the microphone.

Discover how you can improve your voice over technique and achieve a personal best with regard to vocal performance.

Your audience will thank you!

PodCamp London

Yesterday, I presented at PodCamp London and am eager to share the contents of my session with you!

The topic was "Content is King But Voice is Queen".

During my session, those in attendance heard an abbreviated, but substantial, version of what I have blogged about in today's article.

My audience was a group of podcasters, however, I think you'll find a great deal of value in this as voice over professionals or public speakers.

Content is King...

When you're trying to reach an audience, the most important aspect of your presentation is your content.

As a podcaster, you have the responsibility to:

- Research topics
- Create quality content
- Be prepared

...but Voice is Queen

Why would I say that voice is queen? Why not audio production skills or something else?

- Your voice communicates the message
- Makes creative choices when interpreting copy
- Voices connect with people on a deep, human level

These Pipes Were Made for Talkin'

- The human voice has been used for thousands of years to communicate
- It's the most effective way of engaging another person
- When talking, realize that it's not all talk, it's social engagement

Know And Love Your Voice

By now, I'm sure you've realized just how singularly important it is to keep your voice safe, after all, without it, podcasting would be incredibly difficult. How many of you take care of your voice, I mean, really treat it well? Like most things, before you can meet its needs, you need to have a relationship and understanding of how your voice works and how you can protect your asset.

Caring For The Voice

Your voice is so delicate. It's not something you can turn on or off by flicking a switch. It's also not something that you can carry in a bag or download on the Internet. Simply put, your voice is with you at all times and cannot be put on hold or paused whenever it's convenient to do so.

When caring for your voice, you need to be aware of just how sensitive your instrument is and also realize that it is just that, an instrument. Coming from a musical background, I grew up abiding by a number of guidelines set in place to protect my voice. In university, the first week of school, we were handed an extensive package that described in great detail what to avoid doing to save our instruments from harm.

Getting sick aside, any number of external elements could affect the well being of your voice and its performance, including what you eat, drink, breathe in and so on.

Don't Abuse Your Voice

Yelling, screaming, whispering, crying and even talking extensively on the phone can all wear your voice down. You might have been surprised by the telephone citation, but believe me, it's a culprit and is very tiring, drying and can be taxing on your voice.

Some of those things may appear to be obvious to you because they directly involve the use of your voice. Now consider this. Smoking cigarettes, drinking alcoholic or caffeinated beverages, and inhaling second-hand smoke can also injure your voice.

Avoid these at all costs before a recording and stick to water as the beverage of choice.

Also be mindful to not wear perfume or cologne before you warm up your voice and record. If you must wear something, make it a light, neutral scent. Remember, no one can smell you through your podcast.

Be Realistic

Know your range and respect its natural boundaries.

If you know that your vocal range is limited to an octave or so, don't push harder to reach low, growly pitches or strain to speak too high, either. Do not force yourself because you'll not only sound bad but it will also hurt your voice.

Your natural speaking voice sits in your comfort zone, also known as your tessitura. Tessitura is an Italian word that refers to a singer's comfortable range that presents its best sounding texture or timbre.

Bearing this in mind, your voice has limits and you'll need to respect them otherwise you will grow tired quickly and find that your voice is under performing, even in pain.

Protecting Your Voice From Sickness

Protect your voice from environmental factors / sick people!

I went to see my doctor just yesterday for an ear/nose/throat issue and in passing, he mentioned that he has seen more people lately who are sick with a cold than he did throughout the entire winter. For whatever reason, there's something going around, and because of what we know about how important our voice is, we've got to do even more to protect ourselves from getting sick.

Being sick when you record changes the quality of your voice, its range and also may injure you. When you're sick, it's best to let your voice rest and save recording for another day.

Some Tips For Keeping Healthy:

1. Wash your hands thoroughly
2. Make as little contact as possible with those who are sick
3. Take your vitamins, remain hydrated, get lots of sleep and eat healthy foods

Warming Up Your Voice

- Stay hydrated
- Start with gentle warmups like humming
- Engage your articulators and resonators - do tongue twisters

Don't Forget To Breathe!

- Breathing and support is fundamentally important
- Supporting from your diaphragm helps you to project
- Phrase well by speaking on the breath

When we were little babies, breathing was so natural. Over time, you lose your ability to breathe properly and fall into some bad habits. When you are singing, speaking in public or acting, you need access to as much supported breath as possible and that may mean that you need to relearn how to breathe deeply, sustain the breath and use it to buoy your phrases.

For a moment, I want you to stop thinking about everything and concentrate only on breathing. Feel the air as you inhale as it fills your lungs, and gently exhale and release. If you can, please stand for this to get the full effect. Put your hand on your stomach now as you breathe. When you breathe in, your ribcage should expand as your lungs fill with air. When you breathe out, let the air leave you slowly on a hiss.

Panting like a dog can help you to establish proper breathing technique in its earliest stages. Try it. You can't help but inhale and exhale properly when you are panting. Pant quickly at first to get the rhythm and then slow it down so that you can dissect your breathing technique. When you breath in, your stomach should expand. When you breath out, or exhale, your stomach should return to its normal state.

What Did You Say?

Seldom do you misinterpret what a professional actors says or miss words due to poor diction on a CBC radio program, however, when it comes to podcasting, not everyone is a trained professional and aware of how they pronounce words, intone or deliver their speech.

I once had a teacher at my choir school who would ask people to come in literally off the street to see if they could understand what our class was singing. If someone who was hearing the piece for the first time could repeat back exactly what we were singing, we knew that our diction was spot on. If they had difficulty, we had to place more emphasis on spitting our consonants out.

Sometimes it helps to have another person listen to your recordings before you publish them and be that second set of ears for you.

- Be conscious of how you sound
- Watch your diction
- Project your voice and do not mumble

Your Voice Speaks Volumes About You

- Your voice and how you use it defines you
- How you use your voice will directly impact your audience
- People expect to hear quality content and pleasant voices

Podcasting is an audio medium and the most important tool that you have to communicate your message is your voice. If you are recording podcasts for pleasure and are not trying to make a business of it, people will not be as judgmental, however, if the podcast is for a corporation or organization, there is the expectation that the voice over be of professional caliber.

Final Tips:

- Drink lots of water!
- Respect your voice
- Maintain good health
- Speak in your comfort zone
- Prepare for success

Download The Presentation At Slideshare.net

If you'd like to download a PDF copy of my presentation, visit this link:

"Content is King But Voice is Queen" from PodCamp London by Stephanie Ciccarelli

At some point in the near future, the actual recording of the presentation will also be available to enjoy. Thanks to those of you who attended in person and via the web on Saturday streaming live!

Thank you also for reading and I hope you enjoyed this post!

Cheers,

Stephanie

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Wall-E, while short on dialogue, is filled with incredible sound design courtesy of 4-time Academy award winner Ben Burtt, also known as "The Father of Modern Sound Design".

Learn more about how the movie was built from the "sound" up and how the voices of Wall-E and Eve were created here on VOX Daily.

Disney: A Rich History of Sound Design

Sound plays an enormously significant role in entertainment and in the shaping of how audiences respond to what they are watching, whether it be a moving picture or an animated film.

In the earliest days of sound design for film, crews would make use of simple, controlled orchestral instruments and devices that could be used inside a studio due to the size and bulk of the recording equipment at that time. As audio recording technology evolved, sound design became more authentic and elaborate, particularly as sound designers could capture specimens of live sound outdoors to establish more sonic credibility.

From wind machines turned by hand, to rain sticks, and sheet metal to recreate thunderstorms, Disney has cornered the market for Foley artistry in animated films for decades.

Ben Burtt and Wall-E

Sound designer at Disney Imagineering, Ben Burtt, with his experimental methods and unique insight into how sound is made, is perhaps the most spectacular sound designer of all-time. Burtt was commissioned by film director Andrew Stanton to be the sound designer for Wall-E.

Known to many as either the "Doctor" or "Father of Modern Sound Design", Burtt's experience goes all the way back to designing sound for George Lucas' original Star Wars movies. He also designed the sound universe of the Indiana Jones movies and is fully responsible for giving Wall-E and its world a voice.

Playing with sound has always appealed to Ben Burtt, making all kinds of neat sound effects with the use of a stretched out metal slinky, including the sound that accompanied the firing of Eve's laser blasts.

Creating the Voices of Wall-E and Eve

Ben Burtt related that the most difficult assignment he has ever received as a sound designer was to design voices for characters. His primary challenge was to maintain the soul of a human being while creating a believable, synthesized sound that appropriately matched the characters' robotic form and features.

A good example of creating a voice for a non-human character is evident in Disney's film, "Dumbo" (1941), wherein producers used a Sonavox (an artificial larynx) to make a train "speak" with human-like qualities to achieve a desired result. Today, the Vocoder, a digital tool, is used to create a similar yet more sophisticated effect to alter the voice, even modulate pitch.

The Vocoder was used in Wall-E to change the vocal qualities of voice actress Elissa Knight, who performed the voice of Wall-E's love interest, Eve.

The voice of Wall-E was first performed by Ben Burtt and then manipulated with a digital pen that acted like a joystick, modulating the sound even further.

What Does Sound Design Mean to You?

Looking forward to hearing your comments about either Wall-E, Ben Burtt or sound design in general.

Best wishes,

Stephanie

Image via HomeCinemaChoice.com Ben Burtt Interview

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We're pleased to announce that Voices.com has partnered with VoodooVox to bring even more opportunities to the voice over marketplace.

While any Voices.com member may be contacted for these jobs, an invitation has been extended to Voices.com paid members to be included in a special program and presented as preferred vendors.

The Voice of In-Call Media

VoodooVox In-Call Media has hundreds of voice over jobs that they need filled each and every month for in-call advertising. They have chosen to partner with Voices.com to meet their needs.

What Opportunities Will Be Posted by VoodooVox Advertisers?

These jobs will be advertisements for In-Call Media, essentially audio advertising that is dynamically inserted into the call experience. Examples include voice over recordings for automated movie ticket lines, radio station contest lines, no-cost conference call services, and so on.

How Will This Work?

Our teams have worked together to seamlessly integrate our technologies. Advertisers at VoodooVox will select Voices.com talent to record their ads. If you are selected for one of these opportunities it will appear as a private job offer in your Voices.com account.

While the technology allows for everyone at Voices.com to be considered, VoodooVox has a special program that we are inviting paid members at Voices.com to apply for. If you are chosen, you'll be part of a certified list of professionals as selected and recommended by VoodooVox that will be presented to their customers via a special search filter within VoodooVox's advertising platform.

You can learn more through our VoodooVox portal at Voices.com linked here:

VoodooVox Training Center at Voices.com

How To Apply?

If you are a paid member of Voices.com, check your email for a special invitation email sent from me today.

Best wishes,

Stephanie Ciccarelli
Co-founder of Voices.com

P.S. The date to submit by is March 18, 2009 to be considered for this opportunity.

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Apple has just announced the release of their newest version of the iPod Shuffle.

What makes this unique and why may it matter to you?

The iPod Shuffle is nearly half the size of its predecessor, holds 1,000 songs, and most notably, is programmed to announce song titles, artists names and playlists.

Where Will the iPod Go Next?

Now in its 3rd generation, the iPod Shuffle has evolved to include voiceover, able to speak 14 languages including English, Czech, Dutch, French, German, Greek, Italian, Japanese, Mandarin Chinese, Polish, Portuguese, Spanish, Swedish and Turkish.

The iPod Shuffle press release, published today (March 11, 2009) quoted an Apple official proposing the following in a pitch to sell the product:

"Imagine your music player talking to you, telling you your song titles, artists and playlist names," said Greg Joswiak, Apple's vice president of iPod and iPhone™ Product Marketing. "The amazingly small new iPod shuffle takes a revolutionary approach to how you listen to your music by talking to you, also making it the first iPod shuffle with playlists."

Pretty neat, isn't it?

That's a lot of VO

Why add voiceover?

Apple must have done their research and deduced that this was a feature people wanted or would find useful, presumably making it easy for the iPod Shuffle owner to decide whether or not they wanted to employ the voiceover option.

What's not clear, however, is who the voice talent were that recorded the voiceovers or the gender(s) of the voice over artist(s) in each language.

I'm certain whoever did this work must have signed a non-disclosure agreement as that is the way these things generally go with companies the likes of Apple, regardless, it would be interesting to find out who the voice talent are that participated in this massive project.

Any Comments?

What do you think? Could you shed more light on this for us?

If so, leave a comment!

Best wishes,

Stephanie

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PodCamp Toronto played host to a number of interesting and relevant sessions for audio producers, including this presentation given by former CBC producer Victoria Fenner, owner of Sound Out Media based in Hamilton, Canada.

Join me now as we delve into Victoria Fenner's Hi Fi for Wi Fi and discover what the differences are between dynamic, condenser and USB microphones.

Is there truly one mic to rule them all? Find out!

Getting Great Sound

What is Hi Fi? If you're a fan of John Cusack, you've likely seen a little movie called High Fidelity. High Fidelity, or Hi Fi as it is sometimes called, means that the signal to noise ratio yields for a louder signal and a quieter noise level.

As an audio producer, creative integrator of music, voices and so on, Victoria has done more than one microphone shootout over her career and easily lectured on how to get great sound, highlighting the elements of sound production and three common microphones in use today.

Elements of Sound Production

๏ Equipment (microphones, recorders)
๏ Microphone technique (it's not just the equipment, it's how you use it)
๏ Acoustic ambiance - what does the rest of the world around you sound like?
๏ Production techniques

3 Basic Types of Microphones

Dynamic

๏ Doesn't operate using electricity; so long as you have a cable and you can hook it up, you don't need any other power source
๏ Operates through electromagnetic field
๏ Robust, low cost, resistant to moisture
๏ Doesn't generate as strong as a signal

Condenser (also called electret)

๏ Has an external power source
๏ Powered by electricity or a battery
๏ Higher output to your recording device ( i.e. louder sound)
๏ More sensitive than dynamic mics

USB Microphones

๏ Powered by your computer
๏ There are many different types with different pickup patterns and quality

Types of Microphones (Defined by Pickup Patterns)

๏ Omni-directional: picks up in 3 directions (think Floodlight)
๏ Uni-directional (also called cardioid): picks up in a heart shape directly in front of the microphone (like an accent lamp)
๏ Hypercardioid (shotgun microphone), very narrow pickup pattern (like a flashlight beam)

Note that when you are interviewing someone, their chief resonators are located on the upper chest below the neck. Mics should be pointed there for live interviews, not directly at the interviewees' mouth.

3 Interesting Facts:

1. There is no ultimate microphone that will suit everyone. Experiment and find your preference.

2. Former Canadian Prime Minister, Paul Martin, had a preferred microphone for press opportunities that came with him wherever he and his opinion were sought.

3. Don't ever believe anyone who says there is such as thing as a zoom microphone! Although you can zoom in and out with cameras, sound doesn't operate that way.

What's Your Go-To Microphone?

Looking forward to hearing what you use for what and why!

Best wishes,

Stephanie

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For the next several days, I'll be writing about what went on at PodCamp Toronto over the weekend.

David, Erica and I attended on behalf of Voices.com and split up, taking in as much as possible from the five track unconference over the course of two days.

This first article is meant to introduce you to the concept of PodCamp, its significance and what it is meant to achieve.

PodCamp

The first PodCamp was held on September 8-10, 2006 in Boston, Massachusetts, founded by Chris Brogan and Christopher Penn. The idea was to have a free, "unconference" where like minded people with a love for podcasting and New Media could engage, share and learn, mentoring freely and spreading awareness for podcasting in general.

Typically, PodCamps attract the technically inclined and are held in a geeked-out environment filled with people carrying microphones and mobile recording devices. Participants are provided with access to wireless Internet (an absolute must!) and plenty of places to carry on private chats outside of presentations already in progress.

At any given time, the majority of people in attendance could be posting messages on Twitter, surfing the net, adding friends they've just met to Facebook, blogging about the event or using an instant messenger to communicate with other attendees and document what's going on.

"The Law of Two Feet" is an interesting component of unconferences. The entire purpose of attending an unconference is to learn and get what you want out of the experience, so if you aren't learning anything new in one room you can just pick up and go to another room. To illustrate, it isn't an entirely odd thing to see people get up and leave a session in favour of joining another session, or alternatively, starting their own animated discussions elsewhere on the spur of the moment.

Usually, you meet the most interesting people when you are in the halls and can talk amongst yourselves on a more casual level, however, note that the presentations are pretty casual too.

PodCamps are meant to send you home with a head full of information, a wider network of friends and a greater understanding of where the technology is going as well as how you can leverage that knowledge to attain even greater success.

What differentiates an unconference from a conference?

A number of things, such as:

๏ Usually you don't pay to attend an unconference
๏ You aren't expected to attend everything on the schedule
๏ The schedule may be subject to change if impromptu additions are made
๏ The Law of Two Feet may apply at any time
๏ There's a more grassroots feel to the event, perhaps even an "underground" feel
๏ Unconferences are generally held on a smaller scale
๏ People can sign up to do a presentation and are not necessarily formally invited to speak
๏ Speakers are not compensated financially (from what I know)
๏ You can jump into conversations and presentations with your thoughts
๏ In the case of PodCamp, all sessions are recorded, and in the case of PodCamp Toronto, sessions are streamed for audiences online
๏ Unconferences are extremely casual and may yield a more intimate experience for attendees

What's Coming Up?

PodCamps, though centered around podcasting, have evolved to include sessions about blogging, social media, search engines and interacting with traditional media. Over the next week or so, you'll get an insider's look at PodCamp Toronto '09 via the VOX Daily blog.

Before I sign-off, I'd like to thank everyone who helped to make PodCamp Toronto 2009 such a fabulous success, especially the organizing team, including Jay Moonah, Eden Spodek, Connie Crosby, Dave Fleet, Rob Lee, Sean McGaughey and Tommy Vallier.

A big thank you goes out to the wonderful PodCamp volunteers, one of which included our friend, Brad Buset. Nice work!

Stay tuned for articles covering numerous sessions that will help you and your business.

Bye for now!

Stephanie Ciccarelli
Voices.com
Proud Sponsor of PodCamp Toronto 2009

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Are you into podcasting?

Do you live in or around Toronto, ON Canada?

Make plans to show up at PodCamp Toronto on February 21 and 22, 2009 at the Rogers Communications Centre at Ryerson University.

PodCamp Toronto 2009

Podcamp Toronto is a FREE "unconference" for all those interested in all things podcasting, blogging and new media. Amateurs, pros, newbies and veterans are all welcome.

We attended the first PodCamp in TO. and are excited to come back as PodCamp Toronto sponsors, looking forward to meeting new friends and visiting with familiar names and faces.

Maybe we'll see you there!

Comment if you're able to come to PodCamp Toronto. I'll be sure to keep an eye out for you.

If you haven't signed up yet, you can signup to attend PodCamp Toronto 2009 here.

Best wishes,

Stephanie

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When you get ready to do a voice over recording, what lengths do you go to in order to get the perfect take?

I asked some of my friends on Twitter and I couldn't believe how far (and how unplugged) some people go to make a simple voice over recording.

Want to know what they said? Read on!

Voice Over Recording = Sacrifices

Recording voice overs takes a great deal of discipline, even sacrifice.

A voice artist may forgo any number of things to prepare their instrument for a performance such as drinking coffee, tea or eating dairy products for the sake of keeping their voice in good form and good tone.

Some go to bed early, preserve their voices by not screaming or shouting, and others have periods of silence where they won't speak at all and that's just sacrifices made on behalf of the voice!

This morning, I thought it would be fun to ask my pals on Twitter whether or not they turned their heaters or air conditioners off while recording voice overs to minimize and or eliminate external noises in their studio.

When I'm recording the VOX Talk podcast the heater is always turned off. During a Canadian winter that isn't the most appealing thing to do, but everyone suffers for their art, right?

I wanted to see if I was the only one, and by golly, you'd be amazed by the number of appliances that get unplugged, animals shooed into the furthest room possible and zany things people will do to get the perfect take.

I know I was.

What Some Voice Artists Do Before Recording

Kara Edwards, a voice artist in Tampa Bay, Florida related, "Yes, I turn everything off. Even though I can't hear it in this new studio very well I don't like taking the risk. My checklist includes heat/AC off, studio monitors off, phone off, appliances off, dog, eh, relieved... let's go!"

Linda Ristig in Washington, DC faces a number of challenges when she sets out to record in her studio but has found plenty of ways to turn what some may see as hurdles into clear sailing. Linda shared, "I turn off heat, phone, fax, and (this is the biggie) make sure our two dogs are in the furthest room away from my studio!"

But wait, there's more.

Linda added, "I also should mention I live with a husband and three sons that are car crazy! When they 'tweak' or work on the '69 GTO or the '72 Corvette, or even the new Mustang, they seem to need to make the engines louder! We now have a new understanding, if I let them know I'm about to record, they'll take a 30 minute break. I've learned to edit ProTools with the engine roar coming from the garage!"

Voice artist Niel Sumter in the Northeastern United States, offered, "I turn off my heat. I have a space heater, and the audible humming does get picked up."

Amid the clamoring to turn off all noise making agents, one voice artist in Miami Shores, Florida, Doug Turkel, swims against the current, opting to actually turn ON his air conditioning. Mind you he is blessed to have a recording booth with silent fans, noting rightly so that, "I'd suffocate without it."

Voice artist Arlene Kahn of Chicago, Illinois says, "I don't (turn off heaters / AC). I do have a humidifier running in the room. I needed to set it on high when it got down to single digits. On high the mic picked up the sound, on low it didn't, so I had to adjust the setting."

What Do You Do For The Perfect Take?

Looking forward to hearing from you,

Stephanie

P.S. If you click on any of the voice artists' names above, you'll be taken to their Twitter pages. If you click here, you'll be taken to mine. Follow!

Image via natmeister's photostream on Flickr

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Voice talent, agents, casting directors and unions face a changed environment. The convergence of media and technology, combined with the fragmentation and personalization of media, is affecting all industry players in unprecedented ways.

This report aims to identify the key players who participate in the industry, describe behavior and trends, but most importantly, highlights areas of opportunity that should be capitalized upon in 2009.

Who Should Read This Report

๏ Voice Talent, Voice Actors, Narrators
๏ Voice Over Coaches, Instructors and Trainers
๏ Audio Engineers and Producers
๏ Voice Over Agents Talent Agencies & Casting Directors
๏ Unions and Industry Associations
๏ Online Marketplaces

Highlights

๏ A map of the voice over industry online charted by TouchGraph.

๏ A graph of which websites receive the most pageviews as sourced by Compete.com

๏ The single most searched for keyword, and how much Google charges for a click if you were to bid on that keyword using Google Adwords, the search engine marketing program.

๏ New information revealing the slight decline in radio and television advertising, but the rise in Internet, podcasting and videogame advertising.

๏ Details about "The gadget of the year".

๏ Information covering salaries of union and non-union voice over talent including dollar amounts for contracts with residuals as well as average rates for freelance voice over work.

What Trends Do You See for 2009?

For the visionaries and those who simply enjoy making predictions, what do you believe is in store for 2009? Download the Voice Over Industry 2009 report then add your prediction below by leaving a comment now.

Looking forward to hearing from you,

David

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About a month ago, the Screen Actors Guild issued a rather bold memorandum to their members with regard to New Media (wireless, internet, DVDs, etc.) called "Check Your Backside" communicating that Rule 1 in New Media will be enforced starting January 1, 2009.

What's the "Backside" and what's "Rule 1"?

If you are a card carrying SAG member, you need to know.

Find out now.

Brief, Brief Overview of SAG

For those of you who are unfamiliar with the Screen Actors Guild, or its acronym SAG as it is more commonly referred to, it is one of the two major performers unions in the United States that represents nearly all film actors and many other people who fall into a variety of categories, including voice over artists.

Members of SAG are only allowed to work for signatories of the union, in other words, producers who have signed an agreement with SAG to only work with union talent.

You can read more information at the SAG website or research compiled by Voices.com team member Lin Parkin entitled, A History of the Screen Actors Guild.

Check Your Backside?

Now that we've briefly covered what SAG is, who is in it and who may work with SAG talent, it is important to share this message.

Effective January 1, 2009, all members of SAG must work only with union signatories on New Media projects.

The "Backside" SAG is referring to is the backside of the SAG membership card all members carry with them that clearly outlines "Rule 1". Rule 1 in essence means that SAG members can only work for signatories who have signed the appropriate SAG agreements.

SAG Says

Pamela Greenwalt, a SAG representative, was kind to provide me with the following relating to my request for information about SAG's New Media Rule 1 campaign:

"I am responding to your request for information on our New Media Rule 1 campaign. Regarding rates, please see the following:

For linear entertainment programming made for initial distribution in new media (the Internet and cell phones, only) SAG has promulgated a New Media Agreement for independent productions whereby signatory producers are free to individually bargain with members over compensation, including voice-over compensation. For interactive entertainment programming (video games), the terms and conditions of the SAG Interactive Media Agreement apply under which the day rate for voice-over performers is $759.00 for up to three voices in a four-hour work day."

Analysis

According to what Pamela says above, SAG has no set rates for linear entertainment programming made for initial distribution in new media. This means that as a member of SAG you can set your own rates and negotiate with producers in this area of work.

Unless it's a video game or the like where there are set session fees, you're in the clear to set your own prices.

I was also in touch with Todd Amorde, National Director Organizing, Screen Actors Guild, and he graciously shared:

"Generally, speaking the rates for scripted entertainment product under our promulgated agreement are freely negotiable. This agreement would be applicable and the rates negotiable only if the production is truly independent (no funding or distribution from a network or studio)."

Do You Have Questions about New Media as it Pertains to SAG?

You can call (323) 549-6777 or email this address: organizingnewmedia@sag.org

Why Is New Media So... Wild?

You might be wondering why some of this (enforcement of Rule 1) isn't happening already, and I hope to be able to give you my thoughts on this. Please keep in mind that this is merely my opinion based upon research - I am not an expert on New Media or unions.

New Media

Let me preface the rest of this article by saying that New Media is Production's equivalent of the Wild Wild West where contracts for work are concerned.

Right now New Media has no set, recognized or standardly enforced parameters for pay scale.

There is no rate card on the subject and this area of work has been the final frontier if you like for a number of years ever since DVD technology came about.

SAG has had a New Media contract for about 10 years and it has now been updated to reflect changes to the technological landscape.

All things digital, cellular, wireless, online, you name it... these devices are not only a massive part of our culture, however residual payment for artists is currently unregulated, unlike traditional broadcast commercials, promos, tags, and so on that garner performers royalties and a standard base fee for the original performance.

To quote the SAG website:

"New media means the Internet, cell phones, PDA's and any other technology that may be invented in the future. That means that every time you work on a project intended for new media, you need to be covered by a union contract. Being covered by a SAG contract right from the start is a good thing because in new media, you never know where you'll find an audience or how successful a project may become."

Source: SAG Act As One

Bargaining Tables, Passionate Speeches and Picket Lines

Unions including Canada's performers union ACTRA, and also the Writers Guild of America (WGA), have gone on strike (ACTRA in 2007 and WGA in 2007 into 2008) partially due to the pursuit of bargaining at the table for New Media agreements with producers (AMPTP is the producers union in the US).

If you remember that painfully dull stretch of television last November through mid-winter of this year, it was because of the WGA strike. When the writers stopped writing, everything else was held up including the production of new episodes for shows such as LOST, Heroes, and more. Many shows had to end their seasons prematurely due to the strike.

This strike affected Hollywood on a massive scale, losing millions upon millions of dollars each day.

The strike saw people turning to sites like Hulu.com to watch premium content that was lacking on television. Reality TV shows and day time talk shows weren't quite cutting the mustard with everyone as you could imagine.

Since I last worked on this article (first draft was started on November 11th, 2008), SAG has approved a motion to strike which means that we may be facing a work stoppage in the entertainment industry, particularly regarding actors in the Screen Actors Guild.

What Do You Think of All This (New Media / Strike Motion / Etc.)?

I'm looking forward to hearing what you think and will certainly clear the floor so that all voices can be heard on both sides of these issues.

Best wishes,

Stephanie

©iStockphoto.com/Stephen Morris

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Not Getting Job Notifications?

There have been a lot of improvements made to the site, and along the way, these improvements have also given rise to some changes that you should know about in order to fully maximize your experience at Voices.com.

You'll want to log in to your account and take a good look around.

To learn more about how you can set yourself up for success, read this article and make some additions to your profile that will go a long way!

How To Make Sure You're Receiving Voices.com Job Notifications

We send out email notifications for all new job postings according to the information in your profile.

Please be sure that you have selected your:

๏ Primary language ~ NEW!
๏ Other languages ~ NEWLY UPDATED!
๏ Voice age ranges ~ NEW!
๏ Categories ~ NEWLY UPDATED!

There have been a few additions worth noting that I'm sure you'll enjoy implementing. If you make some quick additions, you will also see an increase in the number of job opportunities you receive from Voices.com.

To update your Profile, login to your Voices.com account and click on General Info in the left-hand column.

You can also check your preferred budget ranges and email preferences under Preferences in your account.

To be absolutely sure that you receive job notifications, check with your email program and provider to make sure messages that are being sent from no-reply@voices.com are not being deleted or directed to your Junk or Spam folder.

Thank You For Your Support

The changeover from the old server to the new server has posed some unexpected challenges for us and we are grateful for the support received from understanding members. Thank you! Thank you also to those who have taken proactive measures to help get through this time of transition.

We are working through known issues as quickly as we can and appreciate your patience as we move toward fully realizing the vision of the All-New Voices.com.

Best wishes,

Stephanie and the Voices.com Team

---

If you've been having any difficulty using the site since it launched earlier today (Monday), I have some updates to share with you that will explain any inconveniences you may have experienced.

To learn more about "Known Issues", that is, bugs that we're aware of at Voices.com that are being investigated and solved, keep reading.

Unforeseen Issues Post-Launch

As with any launch, things can get rather complicated considering the complexity of this endeavor.

For some time now we have been calling this upgrade to the service a "redesign" for simplicity's sake, but the truth of the matter is that it was an entire reengineering of the service!

To put this into perspective:

๏ We literally rewrote every line of code in the entire system (tens of thousands at least)
๏ We used a new architecture model which improved the speed, stability and security
๏ We installed the new system on new enterprise-level servers (in plain English, these are the best and fastest servers available on the planet)
๏ We imported over 5,000,000 (5 million) records into the new database
๏ We tested and tested and tested some more

Having said that, let's discuss what we're working on right now.

Known Issues

We've already fixed 459 bugs over the last 3 weeks. To spare you the details, we're only going to talk about the bugs that have yet to be resolved, namely:

1. Correctly matching jobs to profile details and preference selections.
2. Resizing of profile images.
3. Some demos on profiles do not play.

Do It Yourself Fixes

If you'd like to take a hands-off approach and wait for us to fix them, we'll get to them as soon as we can, but for those of you who'd rather take the initiative and address these yourselves immediately, here's what you can do:

1. To filter jobs, select your preferences and complete your profile.

2. If you have a ridiculously large profile image, delete it and upload it again.

3. If your demo is not playing properly right now, delete it and upload it again.

Give Us Your Feedback

Ultimately, we want to make you happy.

You can send us your feedback by:

๏ Filling out this form
๏ Email Customer Care to report an issue that you believe has not yet been addressed
๏ Take the 30 Second Redesign Survey

To your success!

Stephanie

©iStockphoto.com/Baris Onal

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Voices, Voices Everywhere!

Does an ISDN session ever leave you feeling like you're having an Out-Of-Voice Experience?

Speaking to and hearing disembodied voices can be a rather interesting way to spend your time.

Can you relate?

Talking To Voices In My Head

Voice actor Jonathan Nail commented the other day that he felt rather detached from his voice, saying via Twitter, "Did an ADR session yesterday where the director was in Atlanta & the engineer was in Detroit. Talking to voices in my head."

To this, I had to reply!

My reply was "Sounds like an out of voice experience! That's quite the concept, eh?".

Limited on each end to 140 characters, the discussion was brief yet inspirational.

For those of you who have used ISDN, or for that matter, been directed through a pane of glass, you may relate to what we're talking about.

Have you had an out-of-voice experience?

Comment and share your story!

Best wishes,

Stephanie

©iStockphoto.com/kutay tanir

P.S. To connect with Jonathan Nail on Twitter or Stephanie Ciccarelli (yours truly), just click on our names.

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It's time for some fun!

There are so many wonderful videos out there on YouTube that celebrate voice acting and voice overs.

What are your favorites?

Comment with the video URL (the web page the video is hosted on) and let me know why you chose to submit it :)

YouTube Rocks

It may go without saying, but YouTube is certainly a hub of activity for watching videos of all kinds, including videos about our beloved industry and art of voice acting.

For those of you who haven't experienced YouTube, the site hosts millions of videos uploaded by its members that can be voted for, commented on and shared with other people.

Some are short snippets lasting only a few seconds while others creep up quite close to the 10 minute limit imposed by YouTube.

Take Note

Interesting fact: YouTube.com was bought by Google in 2006 for more money than you'd ever believe unless it were printed on paper. The buying price? $1.65 billion.

An even better fact: There are a variety of gems about voice acting from different perspectives in the industry, too.

One of the reasons why I'm asking you to send me links to your favorite videos about voice overs on YouTube is because we are going to stock our Voices.com video blog full of your picks to share with the voice over community online in one convenient place, courtesy of your suggestions, and of course, YouTube.

Here's a just one video about voice acting that is hosted on YouTube, a classic to be sure:

Do You Have a Favorite Video About Voice Over Featured on YouTube?

Comment with the URL of the video and share why you like it!

Looking forward to hearing from you and discovering some new voice over videos :)

Best wishes,

Stephanie

Image via SearchEngineWatch.com

---

Want to take a closer look at the New Community area at Voices.com?

I'm pleased to share some information on how you can get involved and be an active part of the vibrant community that all voice over talent can call "home" online at Voices.com.

Blogs

Did you know that there are many blogs at Voices.com that you can subscribe to by email and take part in for free?

Check out these blogs when you get a moment:

VOX Daily
The Biz
Ask The Voice Cat
Master VO
Buzz

Podcasts

Similarly, there are hundreds of podcasts for you to listen to! Check out these ones for some good company:

VOX Talk
Voice Over Experts
Voice Casting

Videos

Watch some of the voice over industry's hottest videos from experts in the field, celebrities and comedic videos just for laughs.

Popular videos are being added soon (this is kind of the preview) and you're also invited to submit links to your own VO YouTube.com videos to be featured on the blog (family friendly please)!

Videos at Voices.com

Buzz

Read about the shared experiences of customers including case studies from clients who hire talent and success stories submitted by voice actors who are members of Voices.com.

Visit The Buzz Blog Now

5 Ways You Can Get Involved

Comment on VOX Daily

Did you know that you can add your voice to the conversation that's going on with voice actors from around the world?

You can also subscribe to VOX Daily by email to get updates everyday and read them at your own convenience whether online or off.

Record for VOX Talk

If you have some tips, tales or rants that you'd like to see shared with the voice over community or read news stories to gain experience for your portfolio, contributing to VOX Talk may be the right fit for you.

Email contributions to stephanie@voices.com

Teach a Lesson on Voice Over Experts

Do you coach voice over talent, teach voice acting courses, or interact with voice talent on a regular basis in your job? Are you an industry personality, icon or celebrity voice talent?

The voice over experts podcast gives you an opportunity to enter into the homes of thousands of voice actors who listen to this show on a weekly basis and share your some of your knowledge, experiences in the field and give back to your community in mini recorded lessons that range between 5 to 10 minutes.

Check out the podcast here to see if you'd like to join as a faculty member.

Voice Over Experts Podcast
Voice Coaches Network Information

Email contributions to stephanie@voices.com

Send Us Your News

What have you been up to? Recorded any voice overs lately that you're at liberty to talk about? I'd like to invite you to send your news to me so that I can spread the word for you at Voice Over Times.

If you have something to share, zip me an email here:

info@voiceovertimes.com

Write An Article

Every so often I feature guest bloggers on VOX Daily and you could be one of them! If you'd like to contribute articles that you have written, I'd be happy to publish them for you and help you to grow your audience and introduce you to our voice over community.

Some Interesting Statistics

VOX Daily has been read 256,159 times in the past year.

The most popular article ever was:

Don LaFontaine : The Legend Lives No More

~~

Voice Over Experts has been downloaded 49,678 times. The three most popular episodes with thousands of downloads in the last year were:

1. Anthony Reece : Rate Sheets and Recut Requests

2. Nancy Wolfson and Anna Vocino : Voice Over Demo Don'ts

3. Pat Fraley : Shameless Hollywood Auditioning Tricks!

Looking forward to hearing from you!

I think you'll really love the new community area once it is ready with the launch of the redesigned site.

Also, if you can't wait until then, get going and start contributing now :)

Best wishes,

Stephanie and The Voices.com Team

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To wrap up this First Look series and glimpse into the all-new Voices.com, we're going to talk a bit about two new features that you'll be able to make use of when you are working for clients.

These features include the ability to request Approval of Files and Release of Payment.

Learn more now!

New Features Added For Smoother Transactions

Do you know what it's like wait on a client's approval or payment? It can be agonizing, especially if the client needed the audio "yesterday" and you want to be sure that what you've recorded hit the mark and still comes in under the wire.

We've developed a couple of ways for you to gently nudge or prompt your client to approve files that you've uploaded to the Voices.com site and also send courteous reminders to release payments that are sitting in the escrow account.

APPROVAL OF FILES

When you've uploaded a file for your client, the Voices.com site admin sends an email to your client letting them know that you have uploaded their files and that they are ready for their approval. Once a client approves the files associated with their job, you can move on to the stage where the client is then prompted to release the funds from escrow and Voices.com can pay you out.

RELEASE OF PAYMENT

No one likes having to hound people for money, especially not when you have better things to do that will grow your business and serve your customers.

While we do automatically send an email requesting that funds be released from escrow as soon as the client has approved your files, we also wanted to create a simple way for you to send a gentle reminder too.

One of the new features in this redesign is the Request Release, an action that you can initiate if a client has forgotten to release the funds at Voices.com following the approval of files.

Will These Be Helpful To You? Let Us Know!

Best wishes,

Stephanie and The Voices.com Team

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Looking forward to the all-new Voices.com?

Another new element I'd like to introduce to you is the addition of Work Agreements when you are awarded a job.

Take a look!

FINALIZING BUSINESS TERMS

As with any business contract or arrangement, you will need to have a work agreement as well as a schedule for payment including the estimated delivery date. Now at Voices.com you'll be able to include work agreements when you are finalizing terms.

How Does This Work?

Once you are selected by a client to record their voice over, your next step will be to download the final script.

Then, you'll create and send a Work Agreement for the client to review. In traditional commerce, the seller of services always has the project agreement/contract and has the buyer agree to their terms.

Work Agreement

A Work Agreement will describe your services and outline the price, turnaround time, delivery method (for instances where it may not be a file upload), number of edits, file format and so on.

We'll have a standard Work Agreement Word doc for you to use as a template, so if this is unfamiliar territory for you, you'll find a helping hand from Voices.com.

Milestones

As we discussed earlier, milestones can be a great management technique.

Larger projects are often broken up into smaller, more manageable pieces with their own deadlines. These are often referred to as a milestone and include a deliverable, such as a chapter of an audiobook or a set of modules for an e-learning application.
Milestones typically include a deliverable (what's to be sent to the client), a payment (the amount you'll be paid for delivering the goods) and a deadline (when the due date is for the deliverable).

On the page above, you'll confirm your fee for each milestone. If there is only one delivery date, then you'll only need one milestone.

What Else Can A Work Agreement Do?

A Work Agreement will also get around all those other situations that aren't anticipated for because of the fill-in-the-blank offer form that we currently use. If there's a dispute, we simply need to say to the client, "hey look, you agreed to the work as described in the Work Agreement".

Here are the steps in detail as they pertain to the Work Agreement:

๏ The client then Accepts / Declines the Work Agreement.
๏ Should the client need a change to the agreement they can also request an amendment to the Work Agreement in which case the talent would need to upload a revised version.
๏ Once the client has accepted the Work Agreement, they are prompted to make a deposit for the job.
๏ Deposit is held in escrow and Voices.com notifies you to complete the work.
๏ You upload the files under the files tab within the Jobs section and Voices.com informs the client that their files are ready for download.
๏ Client "Accepts / Declines" the files are complete.
๏ If you send the files in a different way (by email, FTP or ships a CD), then the client will still be able to mark the job as complete by clicking "Release Payment".
๏ Upon the client accepting the files, the funds are released from escrow and you are paid out for the job.

Any Comments?

Best wishes,

Stephanie and The Voices.com Team

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As you've been reading, we've left no rock unturned and are pulling out all of the stops for this redesign and reprogramming of the Voices.com website.

Today, we'll discuss some improvements made to the auditioning process and the SurePay Escrow Service as well as how they will benefit you.

This is probably one of the posts you've been waiting to read!

In today's article, we're going to discuss how to submit auditions using the all-new Voices.com.

Public and Private Jobs

As many of you know, there have always been more private jobs at Voices.com with many of those channeled through email as direct contacts.

Considering that the email box is typically used by clients who describe their job details and request a quote from you for the work, we're now channeling email contacts through a job posting form.

Yes, you'll still be able to receive email messages, but you'll likely see an increase in the number of private jobs.

How To Tell The Difference Between a Private and Public Job

To distinguish the difference between a private job and a public job, we're displaying a prominent banner at the top of the "Send Audition" page. The banner will say "You've Received a Private Audition Request".

It may go without saying, but if you are the recipient of a Private Job you'll want to respond promptly, however if you have a question about the project that needs to be answered prior to submitting your quote and voice sample, you'll also have the opportunity to send the client a private message BEFORE submitting your audition.

Just to be clear, sending a client a private message is an optional action to help clarify any job details should you have questions before proceeding with the submission of the audition itself.

The ability to send a private message before auditioning is also meant to safeguard your auditions and is in place so that you don't use your one shot at submitting an audition to ask a question or say "I'm busy, now, but I'll get to it tonight", as you won't be able to submit to that job again.

To reiterate, if you have a question about the project or need to contact the client about the job details, use the private message link to open up the lines of communication to ensure that you can audition in a professional manner.

Also note that Public Job Postings will not have this banner. If no banner is displayed, it's a publicly available job posting.

Proposal

We're aiming to make the site as easy as possible for you to use as well as maximize your productivity at the site by streamlining a number of steps for you where your proposal is concerned.

This includes an upgrade to your Templates! You'll be able to do a number of new things, specifically:

๏ See a Good Example (pop-up)
๏ Select a Template (pull-down menu of previously saved proposals)
๏ Save templates on the fly for future use

Your Proposal

When you are writing a proposal, you'll have a checkbox option to "save as template". This allows you to save what you just typed into the proposal section as a new template. We'll automatically create a title for the template, so if you use this option, you'll want to go back and edit your templates later and give it a proper title such as "Radio Commercial Proposal" or the like.

Quote

The quote section has changed a bit and here's how.

After you enter in your fee, Voices.com will add the SurePay escrow fee ON TOP of your fee.

As many of you know, this is how SurePay has been operating for the last year, except for the fact that up until now we've been adding the fee after the client has selected the voice talent.

From our experience, most clients prefer just to see one total upon checkout, which is why we decided to make this adjustment.

For that reason, the new system gives you the opportunity to set your fee as you always have, and then show you what the client's total will be.

Demo

This section has remained the same with the choice to either upload a new MP3 demo (commonly referred to as a custom demo) or you can attach an existing MP3 that you previously uploaded to your profile.

How Does a Client Hire You?

๏ The client click the "Select This Voice" button in your audition.
๏ The client lands on a confirmation page where they attach their final script and set a deadline for delivery.
๏ The client confirms by clicking the "Send Script" button which will send you a message to inform you that you've been awarded a job.

Any Comments? We'd love to hear what you think!

Best wishes,

Stephanie and The Voices.com Team

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There's a new search engine in town.

Want to learn more?

Search in the Header

Searching takes center stage. Anyone can search for voice talent by keyword using the search box at the top of every page on the entire site.

Search on the Home Page

Going with the greater emphasis of the search engine, we've added the search box to the home page with the gender and language pull down options. For those looking for voice talent who speak a language other than English, finding those pros from around the globe is never more than a click away.

Advanced Search

There are some new fields which will help clients get to the results their looking for. Members of SAG, AFTRA, ACTRA and Equity will be happy to know that we're placing a union affiliation field on the advanced search page. We hope this encourages even more union activity.

Voice talent who perform a variety of characters typically identified by age will be pleased to learn that we're also adding the "Voice Age" field. Considering that voice-overs for cartoons, animation, videogames and character-driven ads are on the rise, this was a no-brainer.

Search Results

We're most proud of the new search results page. It's cleaner and more interactive. How so? Well, clients have new options that I think they'll find extremely useful.

Invitation List

Another innovation is the Invitation List, a list of selected voice talent the client wants to request quotes from by inviting them to a private job posting.

Every time a box is checked beside the voice talent's listing in the results, their name will be added to the Invitation List. Once they've created a list they are pleased with, the client simply clicks "Request a Quote" and they'll be presented with a job posting form where they'll enter their project requirements and attach the script.

When you're invited to a private job, you'll receive a different type of email notification, plus we'll make this obvious on the audition form when you go to reply.

Refine Search Criteria

Once a search is performed, visitors often want to tweak or refine their search query in an effort to get better results. We've accommodated for these actions by providing the same search fields along the left-hand sidebar.

Filter by Category

Clients can even target specific genres of voice-over simply by selecting the appropriate category, again from the sidebar. A good example of this would be if the client is looking for a "funny" voice talent, and then realizes they want to listen to only "television" demos. In this example, the client wouldn't be seeing the funny cartoon demos or the funny videogame voices; just the funny television demos as they wanted.

One thing I do know is that this is something you'll have to try to really grasp just how cool this new feature is!

Directory

The directory is located on the home page, on the side of the advanced search page as well as a dedicated section that will replace the Featured Talent Directory.

At first glance, you'll notice that television commercials and tv station imaging have been merged into the Television category and the radio commercials and radio station imaging categories have been merged into a single Radio category.

Overall, the directory looks the same with some minor modifications to the icons and labeling of categories.

Directory Results

The directory results have been completely overhauled to operate more like the search results.

As you can see, we faced quite the challenge.

Clients wanted more information about the voice talent listed in the directory. Plus, they wanted to search within the directory. In addition, we wanted to provide more interactive tools, such as viewing location, feedback, voice description as well as provide an option for the client to request a quote from you specifically -- all within the directory.

Here's a screenshot of the Cartoon category with the invitation list and two voice talents selected from this page of results.

Questions? Comments?

Like what you see? Or perhaps you have a question about how something works in more detail. Let's talk. Add your question or comment below.

Best wishes,

Stephanie, David and The Voices.com Team

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THE VOICES.COM STORE

Coming up this fall, you'll be able to sell products in the Voices.com Store as well as in your own store located within your Profile, an innovation that we're pleased to offer to you that will make it easier than ever before to be hired based upon work you've already done.

From our market research, we're confident that the Voices.com Store will leapfrog any other web service for voice over professionals when it comes to promoting your services and giving you the power to control pricing, your own ad copy and product descriptions as well as product samples.

PRODUCTS

What Are Products?

A product is any kind of voice over that you count among your services, for example, :60 radio commercials, or voice mail greetings, movie trailer voice overs, and so on.

These products are presented individually to the buyers as ready-to-order and are purchasable immediately online at your Voices.com store, facilitated by SurePay, the voice over industry's trusted escrow service.

Here's what a single search result could look like for your product listing:

What's more is that you can sell products that are related to voice over, let's say copy writing or music production, but why stop there?

You could even sell audiobooks that you've narrated and produced or prefabricated products that are available for download.

Just as you have particular demos that you feature for the directory, you also will be featuring product samples of your voice that are representations of what the final product is for the buyer.

What I mean is that if you are selling a :30 radio commercial with dry voice, you would upload a sample that demonstrates your abilities without any production (music, sound effects, vocal effects, etc.). If you were to include music but say that the product price only includes dry voice, that would be misleading and confuse your prospective customer.

It's better to build trust and give them exactly what you say you're selling in the sample than to overdo it just to be flashy.

CREATING YOUR OWN PRODUCTS

You'll want to consider the following when creating your products:

๏ Product Title:
A 1-line field for the title or name of the product

๏ Product Tags:
Comma separated keywords (adjectives) used to describe the product.

๏ Product Language:
The language that the recording will be done in.

๏ Product Category:
Radio, television, business and so on.

๏ Product Demo:
A sample MP3 file used to help demonstrate what will be delivered for the product price.

๏ Product Description:
A large text area used to describe the product, service description, deliverables and other technical or detail information.

๏ Product Price:
USD price of the product sold.

WHERE WILL YOU SELL THESE PRODUCTS?

Voices.com Store

Clients who come to Voices.com will have an exciting new way to buy voice over recordings, specifically purchasing voice over products organized by category type, in the Voices.com Store.

At a glance, your prospective customers will see product titles, their descriptions, and prices as well as seller feedback ratings (based upon past transactions completed at Voices.com) with the ability to add products to their cart for purchase.

Products will be automatically placed in the store upon creation.

Your Personal Store

This is where it gets fun!

Your profile will have four (4) unique sections:

๏ Profile
๏ Demos
๏ Store
๏ Feedback

In your Store, clients can see which products you offer and can add these items their cart. Note that the same products that you have listed in the Voices.com Store will also appear in your personal store located at your Profile.

While viewing your products, clients have the option to email you about a product, or save your profile to their favorites, making it easy for the client to return to your store to complete the purchase at a later date.

PRODUCT PAGES IN YOUR STORE

Each product will have it's own unique URL. Likely something like this :

http://www.voices.com/store/products/1234566

Page Details

Product pages will be where the client user can view:

๏ The full product title
๏ The full product description
๏ More information about you including your services as pulled from your profile (payment terms, about us etc.)
๏ Complete feedback history

THE SHOPPING CART

Cart

One very important aspect of this whole process is the cart. Clients can fill their carts with products that they want to purchase.

They also have the:

- Ability to see products currently in cart
- Ability to add/remove products from cart
- Ability to increase the quantity (number of hours purchased of a certain voice talent)
- Instant price adjustments to reflect changes in cart

HOW CLIENTS CHECKOUT

Here are the steps a client goes through when purchasing something from the store:

1. Sign In or Sign Up
2. Work Order
Clients attach a script and provide artistic direction and outline any technical requirements.
3. Payment
Client make a full deposit in the already familiar SurePay Escrow service.
4. Verify
In the final step, the clients verify their details and click "Place Order" to place their deposit and send you the work order.

ACTION PLAN

You can get an early advantage by thinking of the types of products you may want to sell in your Store.

Here are some ideas:

๏ Radio Commercials, products sold by market size (National, Regional, Local) and length (:60, :30, :15)
๏ TV Commercials, products sold by market size (National, Regional, Local) and length (:60, :30, :15)
๏ Telephone Package (Auto Attendant, IVR, On-hold, voicemail), sell by word count for packages / offer products without music and products with music; more expansive products for larger projects such as extensive phone trees, global entities, conglomerates
๏ Copy writing services, by word count / per page (word count / font stated)
๏ Short narration (5 minutes or less) for business
๏ Long form narration (based upon number of words); could offer products that go up in price incrementally to reflect longer scripts.
๏ Podcast Promos
๏ Website Intros

COMING SOON!

These are just some of the ways you can promote you voice and make your services known using Voices.com. Testing the new version of the Voices.com website will occur in late October (the exact launch date is TBA), so prepare now for success by thinking of ideas and creating products to include in your very own store and in the Voices.com Store.

Any Comments?

Best wishes,

Stephanie and The Voices.com Team

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Continuing our "First Look" theme, let's take a look and the new Profiles.

Profiles Now Have Four (4) Unique Sections:

๏ The main Profile page
๏ Demos
๏ Store
๏ Feedback

Since many of you have such impressive resumes and also a growing portfolio of demos, separating the two only makes sense and gives you more room to shine.

Learn more about the new Profiles now!

PROFILE

Welcome to what will be your new profile!

Your Contact information is still prominently displayed at the top of the page with an option to "Send Email".

Below the contact info, you'll be able to display one demo that we'll call "My Primary Demo". This ensures that clients can listen to samples from any page on your profile and always link to more demos if they'd like to hear more.

The Profile page displays most text information including your voice description, languages, accents, ages and a new area called special skills.

Special Skills is the ideal spot to add in copywriting, editing, mixing, mastering, music production, video production, multi-media design or anything else that you can do that is complimentary to your core voice-over skill set.

Credentials are important in any professionals career and often sway the hiring decision in your favor. In the education area, you can add in voice-over training, classes and workshops you've taken as well as university degrees or college diplomas. With so many associations out there, we found it more accommodating to give you the opportunity to notate the unions affiliations, associations or guilds that you're part of. We strongly believe that a detailed credentials area will present a solid impression of your professionalism and ability to get the job done.

Detailed Service Description differs from other areas of your profile as this is the best place to describe what kind of work you can do and how you perform your services.

Payment Terms clarifies (in advance) how you expect to get paid. This eliminates the back-and-forth that typically asks "how do I pay you?" or "when do you need to get paid". Do you accept credit cards, PayPal or check? Do you issue invoices that are due 30 days later (Net 30)? Outline all that here and give the client the answers their looking for.

Next Steps is our way of prompting the clients to provide you with their project details by clicking the large "Request a Quote" button.

SIDEBAR

The sidebar on the profile will be consistent across your profile pages. The sidebar also has new features.

The Rating provides clients with an instant snapshot of your trustworthiness. The date joined and your location will also give visitors the confidence that you've been in business for a while.

Page Tools are useful features designed to help the client interact with you and your profile page.

Should the client find themselves on any of the other pages within your profile, the "Voice Talent's Other Demos" links will quickly navigate them back to your demos where they can listen to your voice samples.

DEMOS

You'll now have a dedicated page just for your voice-over demos!

Below each demo, you can add Tags (learn more about how add tags to your demos here) and now a brief description of the demo. The description is optional, but may prove useful to those who want to expand on the content or context of the demo recording. Also new is the "Learn More >>" link that if clicked upon will link to the Demo Details page (see below).

Before moving on, you'll notice the Studio area has been moved to this page, too. This keeps all the audio recordings and production items on the same page and separates any technical information from your main profile view.

DEMO DETAILS PAGE

Each demo you upload will have it's own unique URL.

Why do this?

Because many of you use Voices.com for file delivery and a replacement for an FTP server. So, if you've got a file to deliver, upload it to Voices.com and then share the link of this page with your client. They can preview the audio using the flash player or download the source file by right-clicking the hyperlink.

These pages will also come in handy for clients who are scoping your work out and want to send the link to their colleagues prior to contacting you for work.

STORE

Your Store is where clients can buy your products. We've taken the familiar shopping cart model and adapted it for the marketplace at Voices.com.

Coming up this fall, you'll be able to sell products in the Voices.com Store as well as in your own store located within your profile, an innovation that we're pleased to offer to you that will make it easier than ever before to be hired based upon work you've already done.

In your Store, clients can see which products you offer and can add these items their cart. Note that the same products that you have listed in the Voices.com Store will also appear in your personal store located at your Profile.

While viewing your products, clients have the option to email you about a product or save your profile to their favorites, making it easy for the client to return to your store to complete the purchase at a later date.

PRODUCT DETAILS PAGE

Product pages will be where the client user can view:

๏ The full product title
๏ The full product description
๏ More information about you including your services as pulled from your profile (payment terms, about us etc.)
๏ Complete feedback history

FEEDBACK

To complement the other areas of your profile, the Feedback page displays Ratings & Reviews that you've received from completed transactions at Voices.com as well as comments left by clients who paid you by other means in the References section.

The client list is a great spot to jot down all those companies, organizations and groups that you've worked for.

What Do You Think?

The newly designed profile with its four distinguished areas is definitely an improvement.

Focus groups, industry experts and fellow Voices.com members have all contributed into making these developments a reality.

Thank you :)

Looking forward to hearing your thoughts!

Best wishes,

Stephanie and The Voices.com Team

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Fall '08 Release

Every quarter, we make updates to the Voices.com website, and this time, it's a big one.

Over the summer (and really, over the past 18 months) we've been working on ways to make your experiences using Voices.com faster, easier and better, in fact, we're shooting for "fantastic"!

During the next 10 days or so we'll be giving you a first-look at the all-new Voices.com and how you can use it to your fullest advantage.

This is a very exciting moment for us as we draw nearer to the launch...

What's New?

There'll be plenty to explore including a new search engine, new directory layout, a new Top 100 list called "Most Listens", a dedicated Community area and a reengineered SurePay service that is easier than ever.

Plus, we'll be showing you the Store and how to create products that you can sell in the store.

Buckle up...

To start, we're unveiling the completely redesigned Voices.com home page.

Let's run through this page from top to bottom.

First, each page of the website will have a thin top banner announcing the all-new Voices.com.

You'll also have links to check out what's new, and another link to "Send feedback".

We want you to let us know what you like, what could still be better, or in the unlikely situation you find something that needs fixing, please let us know asap.

Logo and Navigation

The logo is now sporting a (R) as Voices.com is now an officially registered trademark in the United States and Canada. Just as you'd expect, the logo will always link you to the home page.

Below the logo, we've simplified the navigation to plain text links which from our testing and feedback are much more clear and communicate the main areas of the website. These four links (Find Voices, Find Jobs, Community and My Account) will be consistent site-wide, whether you're logged in or logged out, and even if you're reading the blog, listening to a podcast or checking out your position in the Top 100.

Utilities

On the far right hand side you'll find some utilities such as the Advanced Search, Contact Us, Help and Login/Logout links. This search bar makes it easy for clients to search the entire database of professional voice over talents from any page on the website.

Splash

The home page's splash is now more bold and directs clients to create their job posting in one simple step. We're confident this will increase the number of job postings and audition opportunities for you.

Search

Moving down the page, you'll notice we've placed an enhanced search tool with three fields; keyword, gender and language. These three fields are by far the most used and make it easy for new visitors to get to the demos that best match their needs.

Next, you'll find the "Movers & Shakers" section. First, demos are featured right on the home page. This means clients can hear your demos immediately. If they like what they hear, they can simply click-through to your profile by clicking on your name. We've also decided to add avatars to add more personality to the website. Headshots, logos or industry iconography is perfectly suitable.

We've got some important updates to this area so read carefully.

There are 4 Top 10 lists on the home page that the visitor can toggle between. They are:

๏ New Voices
๏ Most Listens
๏ Recently Hired
๏ Top Favorites.

Let's go into each of these individually.

New Voices

This list is based upon your renewal date. If you renew monthly, you'll appear once every 30 days.

Most Listens

The Most Listens list features voice talent who have been most listened to this month. The site will count the number of times each of your demos have been played and tally them up resulting in a final number of listens. While the home page list will reset at the beginning of every month, a Top 100 Most Listens page has options to view Most Listens This Week, This Month and All-Time.

Recently Hired

As an act of congratulations, we'd like to honor those voice talent who've landed a job at Voices.com by showcasing them on the Recently Hired list. If you've completed a job that paid using the SurePay escrow service, you'll see your name on the Recently Hired list.

Top Favorites

Clients will soon be able to add you to Favorites directly from your profile, the search results and each audition that you submit. In an effort to more equitably share the home page real estate, we'll be showing the Top Favorites for this month on the home page. Again, if you're in the Top 10 currently, you'll still maintain your top positing in the Top Favorites All-Time.

Directory

In the Directory, we've simplified the categories and updated a few icons. Television Commercials and Television Promos and Station Identification have been merged into a single Television category. Similarly, Radio Commercials and Radio Imaging have been merged into a single Radio category. We've renamed some of the other categories, but the content remains the same.

About Us

For those who are new to Voices.com, we've placed a brief About Us paragraph. Notably, there's a "What Our Customers Say" section where each week, we'll select a success story from the Buzz blog. So, get your success stories in now so you'll be considered.

Footer

Finally, we've reached the bottom of the page. Here's where you'll find helpful links to other key areas of the website. We've also decided to proudly display the Better Business Bureau logo and Verisign Secure Server seal.

Special Thanks

A special thank you goes out to all those who helped David and the development team with the redesign.

What Do You Think?

Add your comments, questions or concerns about the new home page here. As always, we look forward to hearing from you.

Best wishes,

Stephanie and the Voices.com Team

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When reading copy for advertising, a voice over artist encounters more than their fair share of acrobatics, especially when there's too much copy crammed into a designated time slot that doesn't take to accommodating natural phrasing.

Has technology helped you to beat the clock?

Wrangling Words

Squeezing vowels, clipping consonants, and running the gauntlet like an olympian going for the gold... that's what a voice artist faces when recording tightly packaged ad copy.

As you know, advertisements are read at a speed that is rather unnatural, and sometimes it's easy to question the effectiveness of a message that is difficult to take in under such unusual parameters.

However, since society is used to a faster pace and this style isn't going away any time soon, I thought I'd better ask...

How Do You Come In Under The Wire?

Do you:

๏ Edit the commercial slightly on your own and hope that the writer doesn't mind
๏ Negotiate with the writer / client to rephrase or remove words for better flow
๏ Throw yourself in anyway and go full steam ahead hoping for the best
๏ Pace the rhythm, going slower in some instances, faster in others to make up the time
๏ Use some slick editing moves on your software of choice to squeak through

What's Your Word Wrangling Style? Any Stories to Share?

Looking forward to hearing from you! Leave a comment :)

Best wishes,

Stephanie

©iStockphoto.com/Mark Evans

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Newer and emerging technologies have changed the way audio is recorded, edited and archived.

From archaic wax cylinders to reels to MP3s, and from analog to digital, we've come a long way in a matter of decades.

With the simplification and notably more "hands off" production process, has the work of people behind the scenes (and behind the mic) been overlooked because of perceived ease when it comes to producing audio or visual content as propagated by the Digital Revolution?

Analog VS Digital

For those of you who have made transitions over the years regarding production elements such as audio recording gear and editing equipment, you've noticed a stark contrast in how your audio is recorded, cleaned up, delivered and stored.

I've heard more than a few veterans in the field, especially those who came from radio, say that there was a love affair associated with production and splicing tapes that has all but disappeared for today's voice over professionals with the dawn of digital audio recording technology.

The amount of painstaking work that it took to produce the finished work was immense. Audio engineering was by most standards an apprenticed craft, usually passed down through mentorship at radio stations and recording studios.

Have we lost that "loving feeling", or has it merely "changed" into something more "virtual"?

How Has Digital Audio Recording Changed Your Art?

In the thick of things, it's hard to get perspective, but by looking back we can learn more than a thing or two.

Here are some questions to ponder:

๏ Has digital recording / editing made performers and producers lazy?
๏ Has the digital way of doing things changed the mental process behind how sessions are run?
๏ Has the ease of use of tools and software made it easier to discredit the work of those in production?
๏ Are you more detached from your work on an emotional level because it's less laborious physically?
๏ What has technology done in this respect to elevate the craft of audio engineering?

Any Comments?

I want to thank you for your animated discussions in our previous article and I look forward to hearing your thoughts on this topic as well :)

Best wishes,

Stephanie

©iStockphoto.com/Olivier Blondeau

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Today, we're going to start engaging in a series of articles called "Vital Signs", an innovative and thought-provoking tour that explores and questions how technology has affected the voice over industry and those within it.

These posts were inspired by an article in The Atlantic written by Nicholas Carr titled "Is Google Making Us Stupid?"

First up to bat is interpreting copy.

Does reading a script on your computer screen as opposed to a printed copy make a difference in your preparation, interpretation, and performance?

WWW

Ever since email and the world wide web graced this earth, we've been participating in an ongoing experiment that challenges us make use of transferable skills regarding how we communicate, use technology, and allow new mediums into our lives through which we are entertained.

Let's take writing for example.

Word Processors

For perfectionists, word processing has been a wondrous gift as you can type something easily, and if desired, play around with the formatting, choose attractive fonts, and edit cleanly with precision by spotting spelling mistakes and fixing them immediately. Don't forget copying and pasting! Now there's something we've all made use of at some point if not on a daily basis.

Business people have also benefited from word processing as have teachers and students. Truly, it has affected us all in one way or another, hopefully making our lives richer for it.

Although word processing has changed how we create written content, it also has changed how we interpret and consume the written word, particularly online.

Technology Changes You More Than You Think

Cited in Carr's article in The Atlantic, a German scholar, Friedrich A. Kittler, noted that the brilliant yet controversial 19th century philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche's (1844-1900) prose "Changed from arguments to aphorisms, from thoughts to puns, from rhetoric to telegram style," following Nietzshe's use of the Malling-Hansen Writing Ball typewriter later in his career as his eyesight began to fail him.

Nietzsche himself said, "Our writing equipment takes part in the forming of our thoughts", also acknowledging that thoughts often depend on the quality of pen and paper.

Whether you identify with or vehemently oppose Nietzsche's published writings and his personal beliefs, he does make a good point in the quote above about how the tools you use may shape the end result of whatever it is that you are trying to achieve.

Has the Internet Changed How You Read and Interpret Copy?

As the recipients of scripts emailed, downloaded or viewed online, have these new technologies affected your artistry, and consequently, the style of your reads?

For instance, consider the following:

๏ Do you read scripts on your computer monitor?
๏ Do you print them off?
๏ Are your scripts formatted in a certain way?
๏ Are the scripts placed on a stand or read directly from the computer?
๏ Do you prefer a particular font or font size?

Your performance depends upon the tools at your disposal which enable you to interpret the written word and let art flow from your mouth throughout the signal chain.

Have You Noticed A Difference In Your Performance Using Newer Technologies?

Looking forward to reading your thoughts on this!

Best wishes,

Stephanie

©iStockphoto.com/FreezeFrameStudio

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What's life like working as a professional voice over talent in LA?

In this 9 minute video, one of world's most in-demand voices, Beau Weaver, shows how he works as a voice over talent from home studios in Los Angeles and Ojai, CA.

Beau Weaver

When Beau sent me the video yesterday, I was elated to watch it and learn more about him and his work. Beau's video reminded me that success is the fruit of years of labor and that anything can happen, even working for yourself in a sequestered studio environment within the glorious landscape of Ojai, California.

What Did You Think of Beau's Video?

Leave a comment for Beau to let him know what you think!

Best wishes,

Stephanie

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Do Exports and Voice Overs Mix?

It's a hot market that is growing, says Jack Wilkins, and voice over has become the standard element that brings all aspects of the promotional videos together.

Learn more in this interview with Jack Wilkins of Market World, a client of Voices.com.

VOX: Hi Jack, thanks for joining me.  I have some questions for you about Market World.  You produce movies and corporate videos. Can you tell us a little bit about the kind of work people hire you to do?
 
JACK WILKINS:  Currently, the target interest is an introduction to the products and services as a solution to a business problem.   The resources that a company provides may be very broad or very specific as to the solution they have available for a need for other businesses or for the end consumer.   While there is a growing need for in house corporate training for administration as well as job duties and performance by employees, most video is directed for a specific topic and the resources for providing a solution.  The characteristics of the usual video is less than five minutes.   This is usually more than adequate to illustrate a solution or process.   There will be more movement towards instructions video for employee training as the rapid change in technology and need to keep the product of the company current and fresh.

 
VOX: Working with companies who export their products from the US is an interesting angle.   How common is it for manufacturers to commission videos specifically for products they are exporting?
 
JACK: At this time, this is an expanding market.   This will become more common as resources are enhanced through the diverse voice actors supporting foreign languages.   As I understand it at this time, Voices.com has over 100 language represented.   This is an excellent base to grow this communication product.   It also allows for more specific targeting of products within countries that support those languages.   It is also a great connector to indicate the respect for those people that speak languages other than the major seven languages, thus increasing the appeal for the product or service.   Businesses will have to become very focused in informing specific cultures about their products.   The web video is an ideal way to communicate solutions.

VOX: What kind of challenges do you run into when a client needs videos produced for products to be exported to countries whose official languages are other than English?

JACK: While English is the official international business language by common usage, the main challenge is to qualify the product for export from the USA and making sure the product has had due research that there is a demand for satisfying a need.   For example, some foods may not be acceptable culturally in one country or culture, while highly desired in another.   The voice actor needs to have an understanding of the culture from which the video is created and the receiving culture in which the product is to be used and make sure the understandings are communicated correctly.   When a company such as Voices.com is presenting a voice actor for diverse language, a reference to the understandings and experience between cultures should be expressed for the client to make a decision about the appropriate person for the voiceover script.

 
VOX: Is the target audience for these videos the wholesaler or the consumer?
 
JACK: Because of the complexity of intellectual property rights,  Market World produces for the business consumer.   Also, because of the nature of the product, being specific to a product of a company, would not lend itself to a wholesaler.   However, where the product is more general in nature, such as three or four varieties of sweet potatoes of the Sweet Potato Growers Association, a general film may be produced in bulk for use on their websites.   For simplicity, Market World hosts the video allowing the business to link to it in many different was.   Market World also has an Internet product designed for use in newspapers, such as classified advertisements, to easily link to their specific video that expands on the information provided in the advertisement.

VOX:  Are these videos meant to be promotional pieces or are they more educational with the goal of a soft sell?
 
JACK: Usually in the process of informing, this generates the exposure of the end-user to the potential of solving a problem.    Soft sell is appropriate when the consumer knows that they are on a marketing website.   The video becomes an extension to the online sales catalog and carries with it the necessary links to order the product.

 
VOX: When you are making the video for products being exported, is there anything special that you do regarding exports that you wouldn't do for say a video produced for people in the US?
 
JACK:  The needs of expression are nearly the same.  The area of concern is still related to cultural differences.

 
VOX: We live in a global village, and by virtue of that fact, do business in a global marketplace.  How localized can these videos become to serve their intended audiences?  Do you need to do a lot of research or is it up to your client to prepare the proper scripts and information necessary to produce a video customized to a particular country or region?
 
JACK: They may become very localized, to a particular town, for example, for presenting homes for purchase.   Printed materials, distributed locally with a link, or with the use of other media, such as radio or TV, allow for this distribution.   Specialty websites, such as a community bulletin board, may carry the resource to connect to the information.   Also, publishing on multimedia CD where a vast amounts of information may be listed, including the video, is another way to control geographical limits.   This is important where demographics is important to target specific areas that most likely would need the products.   This is especially true when it is a consumer product for a family.

 
VOX: Do the videos have on-camera actors in them or do you primarily use voice over narration?
 
JACK: The easiest format is voice over narration (as well as lower cost).   This allows pictures and graphics to be presented with the supporting voice.   However, video submitted in a file format (ideal when used with digital cameras as they come with conversion software) to move the video from the camera to a file that can be used in the editor.  Market World uses a built-in hard disk in the camera for rapid transfer.
 

VOX: As part of your service you include voice overs.  What do you look for in a voice talent?
 
JACK:  Individuals that have an adaptability of expression, is most ideal.  Personality is secondary to the extent of generating a feeling of excitement to engage the viewer.   Reading of eBooks “is another story”, except for reflection on characters. 
 

VOX: How involved are your clients in the selection process?
 
JACK: Market World gives some suggestions, but the client is the chooser of the voice actor.   It is presumed that they will have had feedback from others in their business to determine which voice is best for their product or service.   Business administration tend to be male voices, consumer products and services tend to be female, but again, a beauty – cosmetic product from an administrative business-to-business may best fit a female voice.
 
An area for exploration for business is the development of online video for improving the workforce within a business by attracting the best qualified to optimize research and development for the new innovative products and services for the future.   Engineers to engage a solution of energy development and applications is a specific example of a communication focus that specific topic video is able to address.    Thank you for this opportunity to offer some possible solutions with the enhancement of voice actors.

Have you narrated projects like this? Any Comments?

Best wishes,

Stephanie

©iStockphoto.com/Fontmonster

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Are you an avid, passionate user of Voices.com?

We're looking for power users of Voices.com to evaluate and provide constructive criticism on the new design that will be revealed this fall.

Interested?

If you want to have the first glance at the new Voices.com redesign, add a comment to this article to join the focus group!

What are the Goals of the Redesign for Voices.com?

๏ Improved Usability
๏ Increased Server Speed and Page Load Time
๏ Greater Community Involvement

This should take you no more than 10 to 15 minutes to explore as part of the focus group.

The focus group will finish up by August 17th followed by a couple more rounds of iteration and previewing before launching.

If you're interested, add a comment!

Best wishes,

Stephanie, David and the Voices.com Team

©iStockphoto.com/Shawn Hine

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Do you have a Facebook account?

Facebook makes it easy to stay connected and share information with friends. You can started a conversation with Facebook Chat, check your friends' latest photos and status updates, look up a phone number, or upload your own mobile photos to Facebook on the go.

The new Facebook design is about highlighting new content relevant to the user and fostering conversations about that content. Today, we'll do a crash course on what's new, and what's changed to help you get the most of Facebook, with a special spin for voice actors.

Home Page

The biggest visual change people will see on the home page is the combination of status updates, wall posts and news feed items into a single content stream.

This is kind of like "whoa!" when you first see it, but there are little yellow tabs that when clicked upon explain how you can make use of the new features and learn how they will benefit you well in advance of the update.

Profile Page

On the profile page status updates and other mini-feed items are also combined. As a user, you're shown a big text box at the top encouraging you to update your status by answering the question "What are you doing...?"

Publishing

The top of the newsfeed now displays links to the publisher box on the new profile. This enables quick access for posting new notes, new photos, new videos and sharing links with your friends directly from your profile.

Groups

There are a number of groups dedicated to voice actors, voice talent and people involved in the performing arts. You can see the new designs of our favorites here:

The Voice Acting Hub

Voice Overs Group

I'm a voice actor...???... YES I get paid to do that!

Voice artists who do dubbing and voiceover work

Fan Pages

Organizations can set-up a Fan Page to represent a business, band, product and more by creating a distinct and customized profile. You get a free presence where Facebook users can find you through their friends, search, and more.

While we're on the subject,
we're inviting you to become a fan of Voices.com :)

Conclusion

The new site design is much cleaner and simplified a lot of the features on the site. Facebook is expected to announce the new design to its users over the coming days. Until then, anyone can log in at www.new.facebook.com to see your new profile and check out the new features and layout.

Any Comments?

Best wishes,

Stephanie

P.S. If you would like to add me as your friend on Facebook, just look for Stephanie Ciccarelli. My photo is Voice Girl just like on VOX Daily.

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Audible.com has a really neat competition going on that pits narrator against narrator, pairing two different interpretations of the same audio book in a duel of feudal proportions.

Which narrators will win?

Dueling Narrators is now in full swing at Audible.com. You can listen to samples of each of the performances and also learn more about the audio books and narrators.

Here's a list of those dueling:

๏ Charlton Griffin performing Crime and Punishment VS George Guidall performing Crime and Punishment

๏ Grover Gardner performing The Adventures of Tom Sawyer VS Garrick Hagon performing The Adventures of Tom Sawyer

๏ Nadia May performing Middlemarch VS Kate Reading performing Middlemarch

๏ Jim Dale performing Peter Pan VS Tim Curry performing Peter Pan

๏ Christopher Hurt performing Fahrenheit 451 VS Ray Bradbury performing Fahrenheit 451

๏ John Lee performing The Call of the Wild VS Frank Muller performing The Call of the Wild

๏ Juliet Stevenson performing Persuasion VS Anna Massey performing Persuasion

๏ George Guidall performing Ethan Frome VS Scott Brick performing Ethan Frome

๏ Davina Porter performing Anna Karenina VS Nadia May performing Anna Karenina

๏ Jim Norton performing Dubliners VS Frederick Davidson performing Dubliners

Do you have any favorites to win?

Vote at Audible.com!

Best wishes,

Stephanie

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Hello Nurse!

The long awaited day finally came on Friday July 11, 2008 for millions of Apple fans worldwide with the introduction of the iPhone in markets outside of the US.

Did you get one? Share your story by adding a comment!

It's A Beautiful Day

Friday was a day like any other unless you are one of the people who courageously left your home to get an Apple iPhone.

Well, you could say that's somewhat of an understatement to put it frankly. More than just iPhone fanatics were affected.

The iPhone was everywhere, on television, radio ads, in the newspapers, magazines, podcasts, live streaming shows (thank you Leo Laporte for your 24 hour coverage of iPhone madness!), Twitter tweets, social networking site statuses, and on the lips of people in shopping centers from New Zealand to Canada.

It all started years ago with the hope that Apple would one day make a cellular phone. You could feel the anticipation as Steve Jobs (CEO and founder of Apple with Steve Wozniak) repeated "It's a phone, an iPod and a browser" during Macworld 2007 in San Francisco, heralding the future arrival of the iPhone, releasing it on the market on June 29th of last year.

With a grin from ear to ear, I'm pleased to share that we have one!

It was worth the wait and using it is as easy as using my MacBook Pro. The experience is beyond what I ever expected and the 3G is really something else. Imagine having Internet wherever you are whenever you want... It's amazing!

I was updating my Facebook status on Saturday from a party and sent my first message using the web browser.

We've also become fans of some of the applications, Jirbo is fun if you've found that one.

Aside from the web functionality and accessibility, another neat aspect about the iPhone is that you can record your voice using it, at least for personal purposes.

Another feature I love is how you can turn the iPhone on its side to make the web browser enlarge the screen. Also, the actual phone feature is great and easy to use. Taking pictures is fun and the pictures come out very clearly.

It's an astounding piece of technology that will change lives, undoubtedly, for the better.

What are your impressions of the iPhone? Add a comment!

Best wishes,

Stephanie

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This post is an article that precedes a very exciting announcement that we'll be making tomorrow on VOX Daily.

I'd like to give you a glimpse into a new service we'll be offering effective Wednesday July 2nd, 2008.

Not entirely letting the cat out of the bag, I can tell you that we are about to reveal a new service offering to buyers and sellers in the voice over industry.

This new service is designed with people in mind who are serious about expanding their territory, getting the word out about their voice and attaining more visibility online like never before.

There will be a fee, and the service will be limited to the first 100 people.

Voices.com has created 10 websites geared toward buyers of voice over services who want to commission application specific voice over recordings.

You can read more about each website below and view screenshots to get an idea of what's coming up.

TV Commercial Voices

TV CommercialVoices.com is a site where producers, videographers, copy writers and advertising agencies can impress their clients in record time with the best possible voice talent selections on the web to record for their television commercial voice over needs.

Radio Commercial Voices

Radio Commercial Voices serves people at radio stations and creative ad agencies who need to hire a voice talent to record for broadcast radio commercials to be aired locally, regionally or nationally. Of course, voice talent listed on this site can also be hired for internet radio. When a client visits this site, they'll be able to find and listen to the voice of their next commercial quickly and easily.

Cartoon Voice Talent

This was a fun site to design! At Cartoon Voice Talent, we welcome people who are involved with the casting of voices, creative directors, agents and talent scouts. This site is ideal for finding unique voice samples for television cartoons, animated films, and animated programming for the web and wireless devices.

Movie Trailer Voice Talent

This site is designed to help individuals such as filmmakers, members of a creative team, or independent producers complete their movie trailer voice over quickly and in style.

Business Voice Talent

Business Voice Talent is suited to helping businesses, whether large, medium or small, connect quickly with a limited variety of the finest voice talent available today in the realm of corporate voice over narration. Whether someone is in need a voice over for a powerpoint presentation, awards ceremony or sales meeting, they will be able to help you find exactly what they're looking for.

Phone Voice Talent

This site is geared toward people who need to find a voice to record and brand their telephone greeting, auto attendant, Interactive Voice Response (IVR), corporate phone tree, on hold marketing, and the ever popular, voicemail. Voice talent are also available to record for ring tones, automated messages, and personalized voice greetings.

Internet Voice Talent

Outsourcing voice over for your Internet needs is fast and exciting when you use Internet Voice Talent. This website is catered to website designers, developers, web masters, creative departments and people who work in advertising and marketing who need to present their clients with something exciting and visionary.

Podcasting Voice Talent

Podcasting is literally for everyone! Serving the independent podcaster, podcasting networks, and those who are offering a corporate podcast to their customers, Podcasting Voice Talent is a superb site that helps people to choose the best voice to represent their podcast, deliver messages and engage their listening audience.

Audio Book Voice Talent

The Audio Book Voice Talent website is created specifically for audio book publishers, authors, and agents who need to find and hire a narrator to breathe life into their written words, whether it be the narration of a beloved classic or a publication hot off the press. In the past, you had to have an "in" with publishers or know somebody who would refer you, however, technology has leveled the playing field a great deal and independent publishing houses routinely search for and hire voice talent online to find that perfect voice to narrate their audio book.

Videogame Voice Talent

This site is designed to help videogame producers, audio directors and casting agencies find the best voices working in the videogame industry today. Whether someone is looking to hire just one voice talent or a whole troupe to complement their cast of characters, Video Game Voice Talent is the best place to can find freelance voice over professionals who record for videogames.

Want to learn more?

To find out more about the new service offering and how you can get listed on these sites, stay tuned for tomorrow's VOX Daily!

Best wishes,

Stephanie, David and the Voices.com Team

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The world of talking toys is big business.

Everywhere you look, there are toys that talk, whether they be stuffed animals, plastic action figurines, dolls, racing cars or otherwise.

You can walk into literally any department store and find an assortment of talking toys that represent an exciting and entertaining aspect of this industry in the realm of character voice acting.

Have you and your voice over business been sharing in those profits?

Talking Toys

Growing up, there were few talking toys that I can remember, some of which include a storytelling Teddy Ruxpin stuffed animal and a talking computer that said "Press the red button... ah ah ah, press the red button... Your score is (some ridiculous number)".

Circling back to the present, as a parent I've discovered that you come across many different kinds of toys, and yes, inevitably, toys that talk and quite a bit more than I remember from back in the day.

Recently, we received a set of toys called "Rescue Heroes" made by Fisher-Price. Being the voice over enthusiast that I am these toys in particular were very impressive.

Not only do the Rescue Heroes toys have incredibly well produced voice overs cast with excellent talent, the people at Fisher-Price have also dedicated a website with interactive games that incorporate the use of voice over in addition to using voice over in the DVDs that are for sale.

You can listen to some of the voice overs for the Rescue Heroes while playing the games.

Are You The Voice of a Talking Toy?

Many of you have performed the voice of a talking toy before and I'd like to give you the opportunity to share which toys you have recorded for.

Who knows, maybe one of your colleagues' voices resides in your toy room!

Let the comments begin,

Stephanie

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Did you know that when you audition at Voices.com, you don't need to type in a new proposal message from scratch each and every time?

If you haven't discovered and made use of this feature, Templates is the private storage area of your account that can be used to create and store text templates used for audition purposes.

It's really easy to use! Learn more about Templates and how they can speed up the auditioning process here at VOX Daily.

Templates

As we briefly covered earlier in this article, you can prepare ready-to-use audition proposals called Templates stored privately within your account at Voices.com to be used when replying to job opportunities posted at the site.

To add a note to your Templates, visit My Account and click on the Profile tab and then click on the link called Templates.

Good To Know

๏ The New link in Templates allows you to create a new template
๏ Edit allows you to edit an existing template
๏ Delete allows you to remove an existing template

How Do I Create a Proposal Template?

๏ To create a new template click on New
๏ Give your template a name, ex. "Commercial Audition" template
๏ Once finished click Save and this template will be listed in the template drop down list ready to use when you are auditioning for a job

* You can also create a template from the actual auditioning screen

What Should a Proposal Include?

A proposal should include:

๏ A greeting to the client (by name if possible)
๏ An introduction of yourself
๏ Why you're interested in the project
๏ List a job or client that relates to the type of project you're auditioning for
๏ Your quote or an explanation of your quoting method

Sample Template

Check out this screen shot. I have the full proposal for you to use in text below but wanted you to see these words in action as they would appear on the auditioning screen.

Full Proposal

Dear Client Name,

Thank you for the opportunity to be the voice of your project. I've recorded a custom sample of the script for your consideration.

This project is of great interest to me as I am familiar with your industry. It would be my pleasure to help realize your vision and bring your script to life.

Should you have any questions, feel free to contact me through Voices.com.

Looking forward to working with you,

Voice Actor

Practical Application

This is where things get exciting... you have direct access to your created templates each time you audition.

For those of you who already make use of this feature on a regular basis, you know how well it saves time and effort when auditioning.

At this point, all you need to do is select the template you feel is most suited to the job you are applying for from a drop down box and then customize the proposal as necessary.

Do You Use the Templates Feature? How Has Templates Helped You?

Looking forward to hearing from you,

Stephanie

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We're pleased to announce the launch of the Voices.com Developer Program and Web Services API.

Software developers will be able to build more sophisticated applications around Voices.com’s services and content.

We're confident that you'll see a massive increase in activity at Voices.com and you'll also see an increase in work opportunities as well as the diversity of voice over requests.

What's an API?

Wikipedia defines an API (Application Programming Interface) as the source code interface that a web service (Voices.com) provides to support requests made by third-parties.

How It Works

The Voices.com API will let developers write applications that can be used to send data, such a search query or job posting details. People will be able to use their favorite web browser to access Voices.com from another website, such as an advertising network, podcast portal or voice talent agency.

Then, Voices.com will return a search result, or if a job was posted, the client would receive auditions. If a SurePay payment is initiated, the client will receive finished digital audio back into their applications.

The API will allow people to use other websites to remotely log in to their client accounts, search for voice over talent, post jobs, and send payment online without ever having to visit the Voices.com website.

Examples of Successful APIs

Google Search

The Google Search API lets you put Google Search in your web pages with JavaScript. You can embed a simple, dynamic search box and display search results in your own web pages or use the results in innovative, programmatic ways. See the examples here for inspiration.

Google Maps

The Google Maps API lets you embed Google Maps in your own web pages with JavaScript. The API provides a number of utilities for manipulating maps (just like on the http://maps.google.com web page) and adding content to the map through a variety of services, allowing you to create robust maps applications on your website.

Yahoo! Shopping

The Yahoo! Shopping APIs enable you to use Yahoo! comparison shopping data to power your site or application. Using Yahoo! APIs, you can search our database of millions of product offers from thousands of merchants to create applications that provide comparison shopping and product search functionality, as well as display user reviews.

Examples of Applications

Radio Stations

• Radio stations receive a lot of telephone calls for everything from music requests, contest entries and people looking to contribute on talk shows.

The Application: On Hold Advertising Network

Radio stations can now monetize the hold-time by charging advertisers to have their ad inserted into their telephone system. The result? You call the local radio station to enter a contest and you hear a 10 second ad for the contests sponsor. Ads are procured with Voices.com voice talent and updated with each new contest.

Mobile Technology

• There are twice as many mobile phones as personal computers. Each mobile phone is personal, and what better way to personalize your phone than with a customized voicemail greeting.

The Application: iPhone Voicemail Greetings

Technology enthusiasts could built a simply iPhone application that allows people choose from a directory of pre-recorded iPhone voicemail greetings. Alternatively, customers could search for a professional voice over talent to a record personalized greeting for their phone.

News & Media Websites

• Localized news, weather and sports are updated on a daily basis. As the world becomes increasingly more mobile, this content should be accessible from any mobile device.

The application: An Audio News Network

Audio content is recorded, then delivered to people who subscribe to the service, making getting the latest news easy to download to your mobile phone or iPod.

Airlines

• You call the airline to check your flight time and you hear a 10 second ad for 5000 frequent flyer points when you're approved for an American Express credit card.

The application: Airline Audio Updates

Flight schedules, travel tips and other helpful information are delivered to mobile phones. The service is free for travelers, and supported by the 10 second ads which are also procured at Voices.com.

Access, Authentication & Security

Voices.com will have real-time view of who is using our web service - while simultaneously guarding against misuse. We will issue developer security keys and grant privileges only to trusted developers.

Protecting your privacy and the confidentiality of your personal information is fundamental to the way we conduct business at Voices.com. To us, providing you with the best customer service includes handling your personal information with great care and respect.

Developer Portal

Our success depends on the developer community. That’s why a Developer Portal has been launched with a comprehensive set of developer and community tools. Developers can annotate documentation with comments. A developers’ blog, wiki are moderated and managed by our team.

Developers can sign up for a free Voices.com's API Key now.

What Do You Think of This New Program?

Looking forward to hearing from you!

Stephanie and David

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Mark Magdich from Fort Wayne, Indiana flew in and gave a whirlwind talk featuring audio recording equipment and basic concepts of home recording for voice actors.

Discover the benefits of investing in quality gear and learn about standard technologies you should have in your studio.

Sweetwater Sound

If there's anyone who knows the scoop on hardware and software for home recording, it's a hardcore rock musician, and the audience at Voice Coaches certainly had access to one of the most knowledgeable people in the business, Mark Magdich of Sweetwater Sound.

With the advent of new, more efficient technologies the costs associated with building a top tier audio recording studio have plummeted, making some aspects of the previously unattainable multi-million dollar studios of a decade ago available for somewhere in the neighborhood of a few thousand dollars today.

Now, you'll find that you can "plug and play" with the aid of simplified digital audio recording devices, specifically using USB microphones and cables.

Essential Audio Recording Studio Equipment:

• Microphone
• Audio Interface
• Pop Screen
• XLR Cable
• Music Stand
• Blank CDs
• Headphones
• Recording Software
• High-speed Internet Connection

Now, having the equipment is one thing, but understanding how it works is another.

Signal Flow

Something you should be aware of is "Signal Flow" sometimes referred to as the "Signal Chain". The Signal Flow encompasses a series of steps that begins with your voice (reading a line) all the way through how your voice is recorded using recording software.

The Signal Flow operates as follows:

Voice -- Mic -- XLR Cable -- Audio Interface -- USB / Firewall Cable -- Computer

With proper equipment and studio setup, you'll get good, clean audio which is a very good investment if you are going to take voice acting seriously and work in this friendly yet competitive industry.

Recording is Just Like Using a Word Processor

Mark elaborated on some basic recording techniques and practices including editing and exporting your audio, likening it to a word processor.

As he put it, there are many parallels such as:

• Creating data (Recording your voice / Typing words)
• Copying
• Cutting
• Pasting

The beauty of digital audio recording is that you can start and stop the process at your leisure and combine the best parts of each recording into your final take.

Once you're through with the editing of the file you'll want to export it from your recording program. Once exported, the audio is ready to send to your client via email or bounce down on CDs to mail out and promote your voice.

Software Suggestions:

• Cakewalk Sonar
• Cubase
• Digital Performer
• Pro Tools

Interfaces / Hardware Suggestions

• M-Audio FastTrack
• Digidesign MBox
• Edirol AudioCapture
• Lexicon Lambda

Microphone Suggestions:

• Audio Technica AT 3035
• Neumann TLM 103
• Shure SM-7B
• Rode NT1-A

For reference purposes, I've included the current US pricing (May 3, 2008) for certain items listed here courtesy of Mark Magdich's presentation notes as provided in the Voice Coaches 2nd Annual Advanced Marketing and Conference workbook:

• Cubase ($149, PC only)
• Garageband (Mac only but comes free with most Mac computers)
• Cakewalk Sonar ($100, PC only)
• MOTU Digital Performer ($500, Mac only)
• Digidesign Pro Tools ($295 for the MBox mini 2 audio interface with Pro Tools LE included, for PC or Mac)

One of the sweet things about Sweetwater Sound is that they have fanatical support and many of the products they sell have long warranties, long meaning 5 years of coverage!

If you are interested in purchasing audio recording equipment from Sweetwater Sound or learning more about how they can serve you, check out their website as linked in this sentence.

Any comments?

Best wishes,

Stephanie

P.S. That's Mark arriving in a limo with the lovely Anna Bourgeois as his personal welcoming committee. As I've said before, Voice Coaches does it up right.

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Twitter is a sensational fixation that social networking types have embraced as an alternative way to keep people up on what they're doing.

If you are used to updating your status on Facebook or MySpace, you can think of Twitter as a glorified version of who's doing what, when they're doing it, and how often.

That's great, but why does it matter?

Twitter Me This, Batman

Twitter matters quite a bit to many people nowadays and is quickly becoming the standard way for people who love to network to stay abreast of up-to-the-minute news in their community or with their friends.

What Does Twitter Do?

Twitter gives you the ability to sign up and provide a flow of personal updates while also allowing you to "follow" or subscribe to the Twitter update feeds of your family, friends, colleagues or your favorite movers and shakers.

What is Twittering?

Twittering is using Twitter to let others know what you are doing by updating your Twitter status. This could be information about what you are doing, your plans for the day, where you are, what you've accomplished, how you're feeling, and so on.

Who's on Twitter?

All kinds of people are Twittering. In our industry, there are a couple dozen that I've discovered and I'm sure there are more. At Voices.com, we have three company Twitter accounts. Feel free to "follow" our feeds to keep up with what we're doing at any given moment:

Voices.com on Twitter
David Ciccarelli on Twitter
Stephanie Ciccarelli on Twitter

The Culture of Twitter

From being on there for about 24 hours, I can tell you that it's a friendly place and is full of people who are technically minded and have other presences in social networking circles. It's very much a marketing tool for those who want to use it that way. I decided to follow one of my buddies, Peter O'Connell, and the first message I read from him was "@stephciccarelli, what took you so long?" It's a happy place and from Peter's comment, I think it's the more the merrier ;)

Tips for Using Twitter

1. Use a URL shortening service (i.e. tinyurl.com) when including links in your updates
2. Check your "reply" tab (you won't see messages from people you are not following in your regular stream)
3. Don't be afraid to speak up!

The tips above are from Erica at Voices.com. Find more tips courtesy of Grammar Girl's Unofficial Twitter Style Guide. There's even a Twitter Fan Wiki for the overly adventurous.

Should You Be Twittering?

Twittering is easy but just because it's simple doesn't mean that it's everyone's cup of tea.

If you are feeling overwhelmed by social media and social networking, Twitter may become one more thing on your to-do list or the straw that breaks the camel's back. It can also become addicting if you are either constantly updating your status or are reading up on what others are doing instead of actually doing anything yourself.

I was thinking that for all the updating of statuses that goes on, it might be better to update your status once you've finished a task so that you don't fall into a pattern of updating prematurely and then feeling crappy if you didn't complete what you had set out to do. It also gives you a sense of accomplishment and closure.

Remember though that Twitter updates can be searchable on the Internet and also published in the public timeline. If you want to limit access to your updates you'll need to check the box to "protect your updates" Twitter feed.

Twitter at Will!

Did this article interest you or convince you to get a Twitter account?

If so, learn more and signup at Twitter.

Comments on Twitter are welcome! Comment below.

Best wishes,

Stephanie

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Do you have a favorite studio to record at?

Let me know!

Status Quo

While the voice over business is definitely booming online and becoming more virtual everyday, opportunities will occasionally present themselves to record at a professional audio recording studio, that is, a professional studio outside of your home.

Remember When...

Some of you remember the days when all you did was record at someone else's recording studio. Think back to the commutes, chatting with others in person, and being directed while in the booth.

A very small percentage of voice actors still do this regularly.

If you have been in the biz for at least five to ten years as a professional voice actor you know what I'm talking about!

How Will New Voice Actors Discover Studios?

The initial encounter many new voice actors will have with a studio is either through the making of their first voice over demo or by attending a class that an instructor is holding at their preferred studio.

Solid referrals from professional voice actors for studios would be ever so helpful to people starting out.

Spread the Love

I'd also like to learn more about our good friends in audio engineering and celebrate the great studios out there. Your recommendations will help to drive more business their way from people who need to use them.

To do this, I need your help. You are the experts and have been on the ground floor.

Which recording studios do you love and why?

List the name of the studio, the city and state / province.

Looking forward to hearing from you! Please comment below.

Best,

Stephanie

©iStockphoto.com/Chris Hutchison

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IVONA is the leading text-to-speech software program in Europe and its notoriety is spreading quickly.

Watch this video and let me know what you think.

IVONA TTS

According to this press release posted last week, IVO Software – the manufacturer of IVONA TTS, one of the best text-to-speech (TTS) systems in the world, has begun a global viral-video campaign promoting IVONA TTS.

For the purposes of their campaign IVO prepared a short, 42 seconds long video which has already won 11 honors in the YouTube Science & Technology category. In this video IVONA TTS introduces itself to the world at the same time encouraging a viewer to test it himself or herself.

"IVONA's virtual voices may be used by creative filmmakers. Each day a number of videos with IVONA-generated voice overs are placed on the YouTube" - suggests Lukasz Osowski, President of IVO Software.

Does TTS Pose a Threat to Voice Actors?

Now, text-to-speech is a topic we've touched on before, and it can become a rather heated one at that. As we watch technology advance, it appears that text-to-speech is making progress, but just how much and by whose standards?

Does text-to-speech pose a threat to voiceovers recorded for the web? Let's open this can of worms again.

What do you think?

Best wishes,

Stephanie

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Blogging has become easier and more attractive in recent years to a number of people who run their own businesses.

While many use blogging as a tool for self-promotion, it is also a fantastic way to comment on things that are happening of interest to you on other blogs or websites, creating community and bonds through niceties I'd like to call blogging and citizen journalism etiquette.

Today we'll talk a bit about the use of images on blogs, in newsletters, and on websites.

For our purposes there are three kinds of images:

1. Images you own already
2. Images for sale
3. Images owned by other entities

IMAGES YOU ALREADY OWN

If you took a picture of something, designed an image or are the image subject and have the image in your possession, you can use it for whatever you like.

For instance, I could upload a headshot that I've had taken or graphics from the Voices.com website and I'd be in the clear. Why? Because we own them.

Here's an image that David designed for our website.

IMAGES FOR SALE

Images you have bought or licensed are good examples of work that is not your own but now belongs to you to use in an agreed upon manner.

Think of it like when you are recording for a client and they want a full-buyout. If you have bought the full rights to an image, you can use it indefinitely for any purpose, but if you have only licensed it, you may have some restrictions with the usage, including how you can use it, where, when and for how long.

Here's an image I bought specifically from a seller on iStockphoto.com to demonstrate this point. The rights belong to the artist Andrey Volodin. I have a standard Content License Agreement to use this image of the Easter Bunny surrounded by eggs:

IMAGES FROM OTHER ENTITIES

As a professional voice actor, you wouldn't want someone using your audio demos off of your website without crediting you as the source, would you?

Alternatively, if they said you were the origin of the clip or voice over and had the courtesy to link to your website, it would be OK, wouldn't it?

You'd be getting publicity (priceless) and recognition for your talent while also being given a link that may bring you new business.

Below is an image I have found owned by someone else, a different entity.

To properly acknowledge where it came from, all I need to do is check for any restrictions of use, and if I don't find any, mention where I got it and include a link to the source. You can mention those details either in the body of your text or at the bottom as a footnote.

If you read Voice Over Times, you have likely noticed that all of the material is sourced and includes a link back to the source. Similarly, any iStockphoto artist whose image we have purchased and featured is credited as per the iStockphoto requirements at the bottom of each VOX Daily post.

The image I am about to show you is from a website I have become very interested in called Etsy, a marketplace for all things handmade.

This image, specifically, is from an Etsy seller's shop called Sweetbeets, a company that makes letterpress cards with childhood themes for birthdays, baby announcements, and cards that are "just because".

I look forward to writing about other aspects of blogging and journalism etiquette. Next, we'll look at the value of links.

Did you enjoy this article?

Best wishes,

Stephanie

©iStockphoto.com/Christine Balderas (blackboard image)

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What if you could instantly increase your visibility online in a matter of clicks?

Today, you'll discover links on how to select a domain name, how to register your domain, online advertising, ad management tools, press release distribution services, search engine marketing, online directories and lastly blog search engines and blog directories.

Tools to Pick Your Domain Name

123finder.com - Enter keywords, set the maximum number of characters you want, and see what it comes up with.

BustAName.com - Enter words to see the possible remaining combinations and suggestions.

Domain-Generator.net - Gives tips and advice on how to pick a name, has a random generator and keyword checker.

Dot-O-Mator.com - Put in up to 15 each in the prefix and suffix columns and see what combinations are available.

Dyyo.com - Helps you find the few 4-letter domain names remaining.

Geek.name - Displays domain names that are unregistered as suggestions, offers a thesaurus for your keyword.

MakeWords.com - See randomly generated domain names and check out which are available. Pick other languages, search for keywords and more.

Nameboy.com - Enter two words and see what is out there and get suggestions.

SnapItNow.com - Enter words, choose category, define if you will allow hyphens and more.

Tools to Register Your Domain Name

DomainsNorthwest.com - A bit pricey at $10.95 a year, but a very straightforward site that's easy to follow.

DomainSite.com - Offers registrations for $7.99 year with Google Apps thrown in.

Dotster.com - Known for easy account management.

Dynadot.com - ICANN accredited domain register at only $7.99 a year.

eNom.com - Offers a range of domain reseller tools.

Fabulous.com - Specializes in creating paring pages for all of your domain names.

GoDaddy.com - Probably the best known registrar in the market today. Has received some criticism in the past years, but it's still quite cheap.

Melbourneit.com.au - An Australian domain registrar and also offers a name assisting tool.

Moniker.com - Offers registration along with buying and selling services.

Name.com - Domain registrations on the cheap side, with some extra services thrown in for free.

NameCheap.com - $9.29 a year per registration with lots of free services added in.

NetworkSolutions.com - One of the oldest companies in the domain name registration market, their prices are a bit high compared to others.

Rebel.com - Register domains and monitor your domains registered at other companies.

Register.com - Another one of the old school registrars that's been around for ages.

SnapNames.com - Has domain auctions as well as registrations.

Triple.com - Offers reasonable registration rates with a free domain lock.

Tucows.com - Originally known for being a home of many freeware and shareware programs, now it also offers domain registrations.

Webmasters.com - Allows you to register .vu = Venture, .fm = Family, and .st = Site TLDs.

Webnames.ca - A Canadian registration service with free domain and email forwarding.

Great Ways To Advertise Yourself

AdBrite.com - Target by categories, keywords, geographically, or by demographics; offers up multiple ad formats for all budgets.

AdGridwork.com - Free advertising for your site. By placing ads on your site, your ad shows up on other network sites.

Adknowledge.com - Combines traffic from numerous venues and determines the best placement of ads for you.

AdMob.com - A network for advertising on mobiles everywhere.

Ads-Click.com - Let's you advertise both on the web and on mobile devices, perfect for .MOBI sites.

AdsMarket.com - Offers four advertising channels which should offer something for everyone.

Advertising.com - An advertising network with about the best domain name they could have ever hoped for. Become an advertiser or a publisher.

Agendize.com - Works to make ads more interactive by widgetizing them.

Ask Sponsered Listings - Probably a bit high for most startups or personal blogs, ("If you're budget is under $6,000 a month, click here...") but still a well known name.

Bidvertiser.com - Select the sites you want to advertise on and bid for placement. Has publisher services for sites to sign up.

Google AdWords - Would any list of advertisers be complete without the perceived king of the online advertising world?

Kanoodle.com - Uses multiple search engines to help you find the most effective homes for your ads.

LinkLike.com - A metered link trade system to allow you to trade advertising with other sites.

Microsoft adCenter - Pay per click advertising served up by Microsoft.

Pulse360.com - Offers you choices of contextual, behavioral, geographic, local, demographic, and site specific targeting. Webmasters can also join their network for placement.

TargetPoint.com - Advertising network with over 2.6 billion page views a month and offers sign-up for sites.

Yahoo! Search Marketing - Yahoo's pay-per-click advertising system.

Ad Management Tools

AdJug.com - A marketplace for advertisers and publishers to connect directly to buy and sell advertising space.

AdSymetrix.com - Gives you the ability to add tracking to any ad you place on the net to track its performance.

Clickable.com - After you've started advertising with several networks, go here to try and manage everything in one place.

ForSaleByPublisher.com - A directory of sites selling ad spots so you can pick and choose where your ads appear, and bypass the ad networks.

Press Release Distribution Services

24-7PressRelease.com - Paid press release distribution.

Express-Press-Release.com - Free distribution company with offices in 12 states.

Free-Press-Release.com - Easy press release distribution for free, more features for paid accounts.

Free-Press-Release-Center.info - Distributes your release, offers a web page with one keyword link to your site. Pro upgrade will give you three links, permanent archiving and more.

PR9.net - Ad supported press distribution site.

PRBuzz.com - Completely free distribution to search engines, news sites, and blogs.

PRCompass.com - Issue a press release about your new site or service. Free and paid versions available.

PRLeap.com - Paid-only distribution to search engines, newswires, and RSS feeds. Fee based bumps get you better placement.

Voice Over Times - The voice over industry's only news website. Submit your story or press release for free inclusion and online distribution.

Top Search Engines

Google - Does it need any explanation? In case you haven't been online in the last 10 years, this is the largest, most popular and widely used search engine on the planet.

Yahoo - Much like Google above. Also a widely used general information search engine.

MSN.com - Search the web with MSN, there are so many other resources available.

Ask.com - Find whatever you are looking for quickly and easily. You can search the web for images, blogs, news and much more. Ask has recently had a redesign and some reports have been very positive about it.

Online Directories

Mahalo - Jason Calacanis' baby, a very serious contender with lots of funding, is best described as a cross between Wikipedia and Google. If a human edit result for your query doesn't exist, you'll be transferred to standard Google results.

Dmoz - Probably the most popular and largest human edited search engine directory. All sites must be submitted and approved for placement in the directory.

Sproose - A user powered search engine. Users vote on the results and then the sites are ranked accordingly. This allows them to provide quality results, without all of the junk that you find in a typical search engine.

Directory Hound - Human edited directory modeled after Dmoz. All sites must be submitted and approved before entry. Covers all general categories.

Yoofindit.com - General information directory, all sites are reviewed by staff members.

Talent Trove - Social Networking site for actors and the like to connect and be discovered.

Best of the Web - Very popular directory, with strict submission guidelines. Also have an award program for the best ranked sites.

Blog and RSS Search Engines and Directories

Technorati - One of the most popular blog directories, they currently index over 100 million blogs on virtually every topic.

BlogSearchEngine - Search engine queries results from over 10 million blogs around the web.

Google Blog Search - Search Google's index to find blogs on your favorite topic.

Blo.gs - Blog search engine owned by Yahoo. Add your own blog to the directory.

Bloogz - Blog search engine.

Total Blog Directory - Categorized directory of blogs.

BritBlog.com - Searchable directory of British based blogs.

BlogDigger - Search engine for finding blogs and RSS feeds.

BlogHub - Online directory of blogs and resources for bloggers.

Blog-Search - Find your favorite blogs and RSS feeds.

BlogCatalog - Very large social blog directory, find a blog or add your own to the list.

Bloglines - Search or share your favorite news feeds, blogs and rich web content.

BlogExplosion - Directory of blogs covering virtually every category.

What Did You Find Most Useful From The List?

To sum up, we covered picking a domain name, registering your domain, online advertising, ad management tools, search engine marketing, online directories and finally blog search engines and directories.

What areas will you be working on in your marketing campaigns? Add your comments below.

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Podcasting continues to grow at an incredible rate. The listening audience is increasing in size, and along that comes growth in advertising spending tied to podcasts.

If you haven't taken a moment to get caught up on one of the fastest growing areas of technology, now's your chance.

Today, you'll find a list of hand-picked podcasting resources, software tools, tutorials and services to help you create a podcast of your very own or be prepared when a client approaches you with a podcasting project.

Podcasting Resources

Brief History of Podcasting

Free Podcasting Kit for Small Business

PodcastingNews' Huge List of Podcasting Resources

24 Sources of Podcasting Statistics and Market Research

eMarketer Report: Podcasting Continues to Grow

Podcasting Tools

Apple GarageBand Recording Software

10 Tips for Editing with GarageBand Audio Recording Software

Abode Audition Audio Recording Software

ProTools Recording Software

Podcasting Services

Listen to voice talent who provide podcast recordings

Search voice talent who offer podcasting services

Post a job and hire a professional voice talent to record your podcast

Podcast Favorites

LearnOutLoud - Internet's first directory for podcasts you can learn from

TWiT - This Week in Technology with Leo Laporte

1to1 on the Run podcast

Manager Tools Podcast by Michael Auzenne

43 Folders Podcast with Merlin Mann

Voice Over Experts provides free voice over training by the industry's top instructors

Any Favorites of Your Own?

If you've got a favorite podcast, found a great resource or want to share your podcasting software of choice, add your comments below.

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When you are doing business online, there are a whole different set of challenges and opportunities to consider than when operating a brick and mortar business in the physical world.

From getting your business up and running to sealing the deal, the web offers a fantastic variety of resources that will help you manage your business, connect with other people and make a profit.

These are just 100 eBusiness resources -- but they're among the best!

Business Planning

PlanHQ - Simple web based business plan software that makes you achieve your business plan, helps you build your business plan online and teaches you how to write a business plan.

Startup Business School - Flexible and secure business planning tool with easy-to-update sections,
expert video advice, questions & answers and exportable format.

Ultimate Business Plan for Voice Actors – Shows you how to develop your voice over career, grow your business and get ahead in the voice over industry

eBusiness Platforms

Actionize - Contact management and project management rolled into one that includes an address book, tasks, networking, milestones, task & action tracking, and file management.

Averiware - A business management application suite that includes customer relationship management, sales force automation, accounting & financial management, ecommerce, supply chain management, and human resources.

Business IT Online - Free online small business applications including CalendarOnline, CashflowOnline, ContactsOnline, DocumentsOnline, and MarketingOnline.

Clevertools - Project management, invoices & estimates, timesheets, lead management, bug tracking and a whiteboard system rolled into one.

ContactOffice - Complete office data management, including email, contacts, documents, tasks, meetings, and more, in one centralized location.

CreativePro Office - The most complete set of online office management tools you're likely to find at any price - and it's completely free! Manage your team, clients, projects, invoices, events and quotes (coming soon) from one web-based application.

MyQuire - Networking and project tools in one environment that also includes online file storage, task management, group sharing, calendar and chat.

NetSuite - The leading integrated web-based business software suite, including Accounting software / ERP software, CRM software, and Ecommerce software.

OvoSuite - An online office suite that includes a calendar, document management, forums, user audits, file audits, voting, content management, RSS feeds and more.

Panthius eBusiness Suite - The Panthius eBusiness Suite provides you with a powerful, integrated set of tools for improving the productivity of your business.

SalesForce - More than the industry-leading customer relationship management platform, Salesforce provides an eBusiness platform that's completely customizable, and with the AppExchange you can plug-in third part utilities such as Skype Conferences or Salesforce for Google Adwords.

Veetro - Say goodbye to running your business from Excel or Outlook. Veetro combines all the business tools you need into a single, access anywhere, web application.

WebAsyst - File management, photo management, a simple CRM, email marketing and newsletters, project management, issue tracker, notes & memos and pages for tutorials, manuals, etc. all in one centralized place.

WebOffice - Provides an entire platform for running your business, including a document manager, online calendar, meeting platform, email, task manager, database, discussion forum, contact list, expense reports, opinion polls, and more.

Customer Relationship Management

24SevenOffice - CRM and Collaboration systems for small and medium sized companies. Includes modules for accounting, CRM, Collaboration, e-mail and more.

BigContacts - BigContacts looks like it could be big indeed, as it offers a large selection of tools for individuals, teams and business users alike. $9.95/user/month.

ClientScribe - ClientScribe is the easiest way to keep track of customer activities, projects and notes. It's a Web-based, simple-to-use system that you can access with any computer. $9.00/month for unlimited users.

Entellium - Your source for online CRM solutions, Sales Force Automation and Customer Relationship Management Solutions. No annual contracts and 99.7% uptime guaranteed. $20.75/month.

Heap - Heap is designed to be simple. It has simple functions like messaging, calendars and contacts; but it ties them all together so you can see results. $9.00/month.

Highrise - Highrise is a shared contact manager that helps you keep track of who you talked to, what was said, and what to do next. $12.00/month.

Keepm - Create, manage and search an unlimited number of contacts, share contacts and export information about your contacts for free.

Pipeline Deals - A CRM tool with an easy-to-use notebook format that allows you to organize your files, notes, documents and more as well as manage your deals and prospects. $15.00/month.

Plaxo - Plaxo offers toolbars for major email clients and web browsers (at least in Beta release) to keep your address book updated across all the applications that you use.

ProjectStat.us - Simple Project Updates for Your Customers. Do you spend a lot of time answering phone calls or email from customers who want to know the latest details of updates at their convenience.

Relationals - Relationals is the leading customer relationship management (CRM) and sales force automation (SFA) solution for the media industry. $65.00/user/month.

Relenta CRM - Relenta CRM is a small business CRM software designed to facilitate work of sales, marketing and customer services teams. $15.00/month.

Salesforce.com - On-demand customer relationship management that’s very full-featured and scalable to your organization’s size. $65.00/user/month.

SalesGenius - SalesGenius® lets individual sales professionals track how prospects respond to e-mails. There's no programming or IT help required to get started.

SugarCRM - Commercial open source customer relationship management (CRM). CRM software for sales force automation and customer support deployed on demand or on site. $40.00/user/month.

vtiger - An open source CRM that’s focused mainly on small to medium sized businesses and features sales force automation, customer support & service, marketing automation, inventory management, and more.

Zoho CRM - On-demand Customer Relationship Management software for managing organization-wide sales, marketing, customer support, and orders. $12/month for 3 users.

Email

9cays - Group email that creates a conversation between people, and archives that conversation on an easy to read web page.

Breeze - Create and send amazing email campaigns and then track their results.

BlueTie - BlueTie is the leading provider of hosted email services and online collaboration software for small to mid-sized businesses (SMBs). Free and pro plans available.

DropSend - Send files up to 1GB in size, and back up all your files online.

Gmail - Google email application. Use your own domain name, then login to Gmail to pickup your email from any computer.

iContact - An Email Marketing and Surveying Application that makes it really easy to create, send, and track email newsletters, surveys, and autoresponders

Mailbigfile - A secure web based method of sending large files quickly and easily, without clogging up your email. Features anti-virus scanner. Send email attachments of up to 100MB.

Send6 - A leading digital delivery company serving both businesses and Individuals with innovative technology. Send large files in a branded system with delivery tracking.

Sproutit Mailroom - Mailroom is online software that allows your entire team to manage all your website email, respond to customer email faster, and make customer conversations more productive. That is, everything you need to deliver great customer service via email.

Telecommunications, Phone & Voicemail

Callwave Simplify your mobile communications by integrating your mobile phone and PC and with Internet fax without changing your number.

FreeConference - FreeConference.com offers a free service for you to meet by telephone with your customers, relatives or colleagues

Gaboogie - A conference call platform that calls you and your attendees so no one is late again.

Gizmo Call - Use your web browser to call mobile phones, ... Simply type gizmocall.com/18005551212 into your browsers address bar.

GrandCentral - One phone number that will ring all of your phone lines and organize all of your voicemail into one mailbox. GrandCentral was recently acquired by Google.

Jajah - Web-activated telephony in a click! No download, no installation necessary. Use your normal phone - call anyone, anywhere (landline or mobile). Save up to 98% on your long distance.

Packet8 - Offers a complete hosted business phone system.

SKY-click - The first fully featured Video and Voice over IP call centre that enables companies of any size to start their click to call business. Create a call center for your business to take orders for only $10 per operator per month.

via:talk - Internet Phone Service specializing in Affordable Home and Business Broadband Phone Plans with many great features.

Vonage - Vonage is a leading provider of VoIP internet broadband telephone services. Vonage offers VoIP calling plans to home, residential and business customers.

Calendars & Scheduling

Acuity Scheduling - Allow your clients and customers to schedule appointments with you online.

Calendar Hub - Create an online calendar and either keep it private or publish it. You can also search published calendars to find new events to add to your own.

Epointment - Epointment.com is your online agenda. No internet at hand? Receive reminders by sms. Never again forget a birthday or an appointment.

Google Calendar - With Google Calendar, you can see your friends' and family's schedules right next to your own; quickly add events mentioned in Gmail conversation.

Team Collaboration & Online Workgroups

Campfire -Campfire is a simple web-based real-time group chat tool for business. It makes real-time communication with 2-60 people as simple as visisting a web page.

CentralDesktop - Simple project collaboration platform for business teams.

Comapping - Create mind maps that you can share with your colleagues using your browser.

Copper - Web-based project and task management that allows for commercial team collaboration.

Coventi Pages - Create documents and invite others to give you feedback.

Cozimo - Online collaboration on digital media, including images and video; archives a complete record of all content related communications, and has the ability to host live online review sessions.

cyn.in - A web platform for building, collaborating, managing and publishing content that offers solutions for knowledge management, document management, secure online file storage, group collaboration, digital asset management and more.

eProject - Project management software that integrates with Outlook.

HiveLive’s Hive Community 2.0 Platform - Allows your company or workgroup to manage and share information and allows for quick adaptation as needed.

Huddle - Share documents and ideas, plan projects, collaborate with others and manage multiple projects from one interface.

inventionDB - Project-blogging platform that allows anyone to build an online project portfolio and connect with multiple team members, project resources and more.

itensil - An online process modeler, wiki, document manager, process executer, content manager, collaboration tool, and more with a 100% web-based user interface that requires no plug-ins or desktop components.

Joyent Connector Collaboration Suite - Collaboration application suite that features search, tagging, and RSS feeds.

Kayuda - Allows businesses to collaborate on projects.

letsproveVO - A project management and team collaboration web application.

LooseStitch - Online outliner that allows you to share outlines you create.

mind42 - Collaborative web-based mind mapping.

MindQuarry - On-demand, open-source team collaboration platform.

Netcipia - A blog and wiki package designed for workgroup collaboration.

Octopz - Allows collaboration on a range of document types (including Word, Excel, PowerPoint, video, audio, animations, Flash files, and more).

OpenTeams - Online hosted collaborative wiki aimed at creating a more entrepreneurial spirit at your company.

Pytagor - Online desktop and web collaboration platform that allows you to access your documents, bookmarks and more online from anywhere.

Synthetron - Brainstorming tool for large organizations that lets up to 1000 participants take part in structured collaborative sessions.

Teamspinner - Online collaboration platform that allows you to create a custom environment for your projects.

TeamWork Live - Secure web-based project management and collaboration that’s intuitive and promotes accountability among team members.

TheOpenDoc - An online collaboration space that allows registered users to create multiple workspaces (each can contain multiple text documents) and then invite multiple users to work on those documents.

TotoExpress - Online content delivery for creative professionals that enables collaboration on documents with clients.

Uhuroo - Online application for teams to share information and collaborate while keeping information secure but still available.

Vyew - A next-generation collaboration and web conferencing service.

WhoDo.es - Online project management that includes a workspace, document repository and journal.

wridea - Create categories to organize your ideas and create online brainstorming sessions.

Organization & Project Management

FlowChart - Offers you a way to create your flowchart online. No software install. No downloads. No Plugins required. Just sign up and start creating your

FunctionFox - Time and project tracking for creative professionals.

My Milemarker - Keep track of your mileage by telling them whenever you fuel up your car. You can also input your data from your phone of with Twitter.

sendPO - Purchase order tracking for any accounting system that provides confirmation that your PO was received.

Side Job Track - Job tracking, invoicing, project management and reporting that’s completely web-based and made specifically for part-time independent contractors.

Skemma - Business Process Management tool that allows companies to automate communications between departments and others, along with other tools.

Presentations & Document Management

authorSTREAM - Share your PowerPoint presentation online, and discover presentations that others have created.

Demofuse - Demofuse uses technology that gives you the ability to create tours directly in your browser without needing to download additional software.

Dimdim - Free open source web conferencing platform that allows you to show presentations, applications and your desktop to others over the Internet.

Foldera - a secure, web-based software on-demand service that simplifies the management, sharing and communications within your company.

Google Docs - Online document management that supports all the standard file formats including .doc, .xls, and .ppt then share documents with your business colleagues.

Koolwire - Create PDF files via email.

PDFescape - A new way to open PDF files. It allows you to open your PDF files right here on the web without downloading or installing any software.

PPTExchange - A marketplace where all of your PowerPoint presentations can be shared, exchanged and sold.

PreZentit - Create presentations online and then share and show them.

Scribd – Upload any document and embed it onto your website using their innovative iPaper which simulates flipping through real paper.

Screencast-o-Matic - Screencast-O-Matic is the free and easy way to create a video recording of your screen (aka screencast) and upload it for free hosting all from your browser with no install!

SlideAware - Provide your audience with a 'high touch' experience by transforming standard documents into engaging, rich media materials.

SlideBurner - Share your slideshows (PowerPoint, OpenOffice) with your family, your friends, your colleagues, your clients, the world.

SlideShare - The best way to share your presentations with the world. Let your ideas reach a broad audience. Share publicly or privately

Spresent - Free alternative to PowerPoint that’s web-based and built with Flash.

Thumbstacks.com! - Make and share presentations online.

Viewbook - The professional way to manage and share your images online. Create clean looking online Portfolios, Photo albums and Slideshows.

Yugma - Free online collaboration with real-time desktop sharing, virtual meetings and more.

Zentation - Create online presentations with synchronized video and PowerPoint... for free!

Time Management & Tracking and Project Management

14Dayz - Time tracking for teams that includes project management and reports.

88 Miles - Unobtrusive time tracking that allows you to punch in and out of projects as you’re working, and includes on-screen timers that show you how much time you’ve clocked.

ActionThis - Web-based team management app that includes a centralized project management system as well as a way to keep track of work assignments and key business information.

Celoxis - Celoxis is a web based project management software to manage and track projects , time sheets, collaboration and workflow.

Clarizen - Web based, collaborative project management solution for your business. Clarizen allows you to effectively manage all your projects and resources.

Clocking IT - ClockingIT is a free to use hosted application, keeping track of all your tasks and the time you spend on them.

Emergent Task Timer - The Emergent Task Timer that follows David Seah’s The Printable CEO; includes a timer and breaks down tasks into fifteen minute bubbles.

Project Insight - Mid-range web based project management and collaboration software that’s intuitive and easy to use.

ProWorkflow - Web based project management, time tracking, task management to increase efficiency and individual accountability.

PunchyTime - Time tracking tool for creative companies that allows time tracking as you work instead of after the fact.

RescueTime - Increase your own productivity by seeing exactly how you spend your time.

Rotaboard - Organize and track employee work schedules.

SlimTimer - Create tasks and track your time on each one, and then share them with coworkers or your boss.

Tiktrac - Time management that also includes the ability for clients to login and view how the time they're paying for is being used.

Timepost - A project timer that will automatically get all your projects and to-dos from different web project managers, saving you the hassle of having to re-enter things.

Time IQ - Track internal project, freelance & contractor time, and get daily, weekly & monthly reports.

TimmyOnTime - IM-based time management tool that works with MSN, AIM, GoogleTalk, and others and features reminders (it’ll even nudge you if you’re not working when you’re supposed to be).

Toggl - A free online timetracker that allows you to track your time anywhere and create team projects.

Advertising, Marketing and Publicity

ClearSMS - Web-based application for sending bulk SMS messages to your customers and contacts.

Confabb - Confabb is the largest database of conference information. Conference attendees can search, track, discuss and review conferences, sessions and speakers.

ConfirmIt - Online market research, survey software, and survey tools. Provides real-time analysis, question libraries, input validation.

EasyPost.ca - A mail service that will send to any address in Canada, and it’s free for a limited time.

eSnailer - Write a letter and have it sent via the U.S. Postal Service free of charge; you just have to accept one of their free offers (ads).

embracemobile - Enables you to create market research surveys that can be presented over mobile phones.

Headlight - Define, plan, execute and measure how effective your marketing efforts are online and offline.

Marketo - Marketo provides affordable, easy-to-use marketing automation software that helps B2B marketing professionals drive revenue and improve marketing campaigns.

Mobivity - Affordable mobile marketing solutions.

MyMediaRoom - A platform that allows organizations to publish their press releases, event announcements, blog and more on a dedicated website.

Postful - Send letters using email for only $.99 (for one full-color page).

Stenographr - Write a letter online and they’ll mail it to whoever you want for only $2.

vflyer - Create a standardized classified ad that can be used online or in print.

Zazzle - Create your own unique designs for T-Shirts, mugs, and more.

Zoomerang - Create online surveys, invite people to participate and analyze the results to improve your marketing efforts.

Human Resources

1time - Timesheet recording that also includes email reminders for employers who haven’t entered their timesheets, as well as project management with Basecamp integration.

CATS - A free, open source applicant tracking system that helps streamline your hiring process.

ClickTime - A web-based timesheet solution for tracking time on the internet with an optional desktop application. ClickTime is the easiest way to track employee time.

Clockspot - Web based time clock that allows employees to clock in and out from the internet or phone.

Harvest - Track what your employees are doing with their time and get graphical reports, all from a simple and usable interface.

Kudos - An employee recognition system that helps you recognize, reward, and retain good employees.

mindsalt - Easy to use time tracking and expense tracking online.

Pacific Timesheet - Web-based timesheets with an array of features to meet your requirements.

PayCycle - PayCycle automatically withholds payroll taxes and deductions from paychecks. Choose from a wide range of voluntary payroll deductions, such as insurance.

Perquest - Easy to use payroll system that’s simple to learn and is ideal for small to medium sized businesses.

TeleTimecard - Offers TeleTimeCard time and attendance tracking via telephone. Includes web-based reporting and payroll integration.

timeXchange - Manage the entire time-reporting process for your company online.

WhosOff - Free online staff vacation scheduler.

Zed Office - Welcome to Zed Office. Eliminate the need to re-key time sheets and expense claims into QuickBooks, now your employees and contractors can enter time and hours worked.

eCommerce Applications

Blinkcart - Shopping cart software that allows you to put a shopping cart on any page that supports html links or javascript code.

E-Junkie - Shopping cart & buy it now buttons that can be put on any website for selling downloads or tangible goods.

FlyingCart - Online store hosting that’s free, accepts all major credit cards, and is search engine optimized.
Kagi - A complete set of services for online business transactions.

Near-Time Premium - Set up commercial collaboration spaces, set your price, and then invite new members to pay for your knowledge and expertise.

uShops - Online channel for selling creative and niche products.

Vendio - Complete multi-channel online merchandising solution for eCommerce success.

Volusion - Complete ecommerce solution that includes product management and administration, shipping tools, credit card processing, live updates, and more.

WeSquare - Use Skype to market your time and make money with your knowledge.

Office Applications

Approver - Create, upload, review and share documents online with Approver.com.

Docly - An online word processor that has built-in copyright protection, and lets you set a price for others to purchase your work.

BuzzWord - Buzzword is a new full-featured online word processor.

GreenDOC - A simple online text editor with an environmental slant.

iNetWord - Another full-featured online word processor.

SmartSheet - Smartsheet is the easiest, fastest way to get things done. It functions like your online assistant, keeping track of all tasks, responsibilities and more.

Solodox - Collaborative document creation and editing as well as project management.

Writeboard - Sharable web-based text documents that allow you to roll back to previous edits and compare changes.

writewith - Group writing online that also features chat, task assignment and tracking.

xcellery - Allows multiple people to edit the same Excel file simultaneously for free.

YourDraft - An online word processor that allows you to create and share drafts without the need for registration.

Finance & Administration

BillingOrchard - Online billing software that maintains hourly billing time as well as flat fee or recurring billing.

Bill My Clients - A hassle-free way to create and print invoices (you can email them too) and send them via the USPS.

Blinksale - Create elegant invoices using professionally designed templates (or create your own) and send them to anyone with an email address.

Cashboard - Estimating, invoicing and time tracking for you, your employees and subcontractors.

DocuSign - Electronic signature services that allow you to get legally binding electronic signatures on your contracts.

EchoSign - A fast & easy way to get electronic contracts signed.

eSignForms - Online signature platform to make getting signed contracts easier.

Fluttervoice - Create invoices and send them to anyone with email.

FreshBooks - Online invoicing and time tracking that’s easy to use and free to try.

Honeypitch - A proposal automation solution that combines CRM and business productivity tools to allow you to quickly combine a presentation, proposal, estimate and contract that can be negotiated online.

Invoice Genie - Online invoicing, time tracking, contact management, scheduling and financial management software that’s simple and intuitive to use.

Invoices Made Easy - A free invoicing service that allows you to send invoices and have them paid online.

InvoicePlace - Invoicing, payment tracking and quoting from any computer with an internet connection.

invotrak - Track the invoices you send to clients for free.

LessAccounting - Ridiculously simple, intuitive accounting program that is just for accounting and nothing else.

PayPal - Online merchant account and merchant services with eBay integration.

Saasu - Complete online accounting suite with invoices, payroll, purchases, time sheets, inventory, customers, suppliers, prospects & employees.

SantexQ - Time reporting, task management and billing all handled from one place.

Sertifi - Electronic contract delivery and signing.

Simplifythis - Invoice your customers and get paid online.

Simplybill - Simplified invoice management without extra features that nobody uses anyway.

Simply Invoices - The simplest way to invoice your time from Basecamp.

The Invoice Machine - Create PDF invoices for free, without having to register or store information (unless you want to).

Time:59 - Web-based billing that includes time and expense tracking, as well as invoicing and accounts receivable.

Vebio - Online accounting designed for freelance professionals, independent contractors, and self-employed people.

Yozons Technology - Electronically sign your documents and forms online using digital signatures.

Xero - With Xero, you can be up and running in minutes, and slash the hours you spend every week on accounting administration. Try Xero today and reclaim your week

Are you inspired?

Add your comments below, share this page by email or bookmark it for future reference.

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Have you ever had to deliver an audio file to a client and it was too large to send by email? Maybe you can identify with having to redo hours of voice over work because you didn't back up your recordings remotely...

Both scenarios are common, and when time is of the essence, you don't want to be stuck with either.

Wouldn't it be grand if you had an online tool where you could send big files from and also back them up?

Consider these online file storage and delivery resources the next time you need to pack in more than a few megabytes.

4 Shared Free File Sharing - Online file sharing and storage - 5 GB free web space. Easy registration. File upload progressor. Multiple file transfer. Fast download.

Allmydata.com - Provides online backup, unlimited storage, and sharing for $4.99 a month.

Amazon S3 - Simple Storage provides unlimited storage to developers and online businesses - save cost and increase storage reliability.

Angelbackup.com - The safe and easy way to backup your data over the internet. Download our Remote Backup Software and protect your data. Prices as low as $1.95 for 2GB of automated backup.

Aruna Send - Send large files to anyone for free. The Aruna Send widget for Pageflakes lets you send files for free from your personalized Pageflakes homepage.

AxiFile - We host yourself, 100% free file hosting with a 150MB file size limit.

BackupRight - Online backup and remote backup services for business, professional, home, and personal use. They also have a free trial with no credit card and support Mac OS and Linux (Windows too of course).

Badongo - A free file hosting site that enables you to upload an unlimited amount of files, photos, video and music and to send to friends or business colleagues.

BIGfileupload - Free file and image web hosting. Share your files across the internet with an unlimited file life.

BigFilez - The best file hosting service! we provides free web space for your documents, pictures, music and movies. 50MB Download Limit

BigUpload - File stays on the server forever as long as it's updated once every 30 days. 2000MB upload limit with file sharing options.

Blackbeard File Hosting - Share your music, documents with a 180 MB maximum file size. Files under the size of 50 MB will expire after 3 months of no download, larger files only 1 month.

BlogBackupOnline.com - Until now, backing up your blog was complicated and tedious. BlogBackupOnline provides an effortless way to backup, restore, and export your blog.

Boltfolio - So what's BoltFolio? It's a media-sharing site in the style of OurMedia, or perhaps the Flickr of everything.

Bonpoo - Solves large email attachment problems with FREE online file deliver service, sent via email. Files stay online for 10 days.

Boostfile - Upload files anonymously and distribute or publish them directly - you decide!

Box.net - Relaunching with free accounts, private beta ongoing now.

BOXSTr - Free file hosting with 10GB Online Data Storage and backup, unlimited downloads, uploads, file types and hotlinking.

Carbonite - Unlimited online backup for one flat fee. Free trial, no credit card required. Secure and encrypted for your privacy.

CloudDrive - Clean and direct user interface. Upload your essential files, up to 500 MB, that you want access to from anywhere for free.

CyberUpload - File Size Limit: 500MB Download Limit: Unlimited File Life: 7 Days (Deleted only if there is no download activity in 7 days)

Datapreserve.com - Data backup, remote and local, datapreserve, for small business and home offices, data protection, disaster recovery, HIPAA compliance.

Data File Host - Host your file free with Data File Host. Free, fast and reliable service. Files kept until no downloads have been processed for 30 days.

DF Deposit Files - DepositFiles has a zero-tolerance policy against ILLEGAL files. Store and exchange files with Depositfiles safely.

Diino - Secure online storage solution with 2GB of free storage & online backup over Internet. Free email, free blog, secure file sharing included.

DivShare - DivShare is the leader in professional document and media sharing. Unlimited uploads and downloads, and it's free. Files stay online forever! No pop-up ads or spam and the servers are incredibly fast and reliable.

DotSpirit - Online file storage powered by phpNavigator featuring: 10GB disk space, multi-users, drag & drop multiple files/folders. Available in English and French. Free trial available.

DriveHQ - Free 1GB FTP hosting and a free 1GB web mailbox size and unlimited mailbox size using Outlook.

DropBoks - Simple web-based file cabinet gives you GB of free storage for uploading and downloading files. 1 GB Free.

Dropload - Web site lets you share an extra-large file with a friend up to 100MB for 7 days.

DropSend - Multiuser and Brandable DropSend plan - perfect for businesses. Click Here. Try DropSend for free - you'll be up and running in less than 2 minutes.

Easy File Host - No hassle file transfers with 1GB limit.

Easy-Sharing - Free hosting that supported by online ads. It uses a cluster of fast dedicated servers to provide fast uploading and downloading of files.

EchoSign - For easily archiving your documents. E-mail in all your documents; EchoSign stores them; images them; turns them into PDFs; and makes them searchable for you - for free.

EggDisk - By far the best thing that has ever happened to me since file hosting begun! It offers 6-7GB of storage, 30-40 GB of bandwidth. All accounts get an amazing 6GB of free file storage and file sharing with registration. Free image sharing without registration. The anonymous service allows up to 20MB files, but with the registered service you can have up to 100MB filesizes.

Egnyte.com - Backup your files, store them securely, export them back to your computer in a crash. Share with co-workers for collaborative work.

ElephantDrive - Unlimited Online Storage - Automated, scheduled, and infinite online file storage and data backup service. By combining the power of grid computing infrastructures such as Amazon Web Services' S3, proprietary storage optimization technology, and simple, clean design, ElephantDrive’s service allows all users to enjoy the same availability and performance as enterprise solutions, at a fraction of the cost.

eSnips - Get 5GB of free space to upload and share your files, photos, videos and music. eSnips.com 5GB free storage.

Fastmail - Great subscription email service with file storage; plans ranging from free (1MB limit, 10MB quota) to $40/yr (250 MB storange, 750 MB quota).

File123.com - Free online file storage and sharing from File123.com. Our web-based storage service enables you to save, browse, share, & retrieve files. 1GB of space for free, up to 10GB of backup for as low as $4.95 a month.

Fies-Upload.com - Lets you upload up to a 1GB file unlimited times and unlimited storage on their site, and you can do it using your favorite FTP program.

File Planet - Get the hottest free pc games, downloads, mods, demos, patches, and maps at FilePlanet.

FileBuffer - Max Upload size: 30 MB; Max File Lifetime: 30 days idle; Icon Bandwidth: unlimited.

FileCache - A perl module that enables the sharing of object data across processes via the filesystem.

Filecows - Free large file sharing service with no time limit.

Filedropr - Drag and drop files for download.

Fileegg - We help you to host and share you documents, music, movies, videos, pictures with your family & friends easily.

FileFactory - Offers free file and image hosting, as well as large email attachment service.

FileFront - Game Downloads from FileFront.com . Your source for Game Downloads on the Web .Only for video game related files.

Filegone - Powered by dedicated servers for fast reliable hosting.File upload limited by 25MB per file.

FileHD - File Size Limit: 60MB Download Limit: Unlimited File Life: 30 Days (Deleted only if there is no download activity in 30 days)

FileHost - A file storage service where you can upload all your files anonymously & easily share these files with your family, friends and messageboards.

FileOnDemand - High speed transfer for very large files, with advanced file management system.

FileWind.com - Provides free 500MB web space file hosting for your videos, movies, music, mp3, and more!

FileXoom - Fast & Free File Hosting for everyone. 1 step upload and simple instructions for uploading your files.

Filicio.us - A simple file storage service built using Amazon S3. You can use it to upload files, organize using tags and share with others

Flat File Host - Share your files. Free web space for your documents, pictures, music and movies. We host the Internet with a maximum file size of 250MB.

Fotoparked - German company that lets you upload your images free!

Freepository - Hosting of open source projects online, similar to sourceforge. Hosting server source code is available for download under the GPL.

FreeUploader - Share Files and Images Free Web Hosting. File Size Limit: 50MB.

FriendlyShare - Offers 5GB premium credits for only 1 EURO! File Size Limit: 50MB.

Fupload - Send big files for free at Fupload.com.

gDisk - Turns your GMail account into a portable hard drive so you can always have your important files accessible accross the Internet.

gDisk Tutorial - Tutorial from Symantec.

Giga Size - Free online file hosting. Host your large files with one click. The easiest way to upload, download and host files. Upload up to 10 files (300 MB per file MAXIMUM) at once using Quick Upload option to share files. Simply keep browsing for files and hitting upload until you're ready to start uploading. Your files will be available for 45 days.

Gimehost - Free image hosting reviews and rating, from our directory to compare free hosting services providers.

GoDaddy.com - All paid plans, as low as $5.99 a year for 50MB, sync between multiple computers.

Grouper.com - Windows based application that allows sharing personal media within private groups.

How To Send Large Files - Tutorials on how to send large files.

HugeUploads - Free file storage and image hosting, with unlimited bandwidth and 500MB per file. You get unlimited downloads and uploads and protect your files with a password. We keep your files on our server for ever if you download the files within 30 days! No registration required.

Hyperupload - An online one click free hosting for any of your needs. There is no registration and no fees. There is nothing to install. File Size Limit: 10MB.

Imageshack - The ultimate image storage website. Allows images up to 1.5MB in size and allows hotlinking. Your images are available forever, and the site allows 100MB of transfer per hour. You can upload an unlimited amount of images with or without registering. Accepted file types are JPG, JPEG, PNG, GIF, BMP, TIF, TIFF, and SWF.

Inbox.com - free 2GB webmail that includes Storage, Calendar & Tasks, and Notes.

iStorage - Iomega iStorage offers anywhere access to critical files, photos or business data. Securely collaborate, share, access & back up data from a PC or wireles device.

Jagbox - A place where you can share large files for free. Email them to whomever you like and set your own expiration times.

JumboFile - File Size Limit: 100MB Download Limit: Unknown File Life: Unknown

JungleDisk - An application that lets you store files and backup data securely to Amazon.com's S3 ™ Storage Service.

JustUpit - There is no registration and no fees. Basic use requires no registration and is free of charge. There is nothing to install. File Size Limit: 120MB.

KeepMyFile - f you want to share an image or file but don't have the bandwidth and web space, you have come to the right place. File Size Limit: 15MB.

Loadman - German online storage hoster with a fine selction of services and low prices.

Mailbigfile - A secure web based method of sending large files quickly and easily, without clogging up your email. Features anti-virus scanner with a file size limit of 1GB.

MediaFire - The simplest free file hosting service for businesses, professionals, and individuals to share files and images with others. You can also easily access your files from anywhere with a free account and your own "My Files" page.

MegaShares - This is your link hosting site. Our single session upload limit is 10GB (10,000 Megabytes!). This can be a single file up to 10GB, multiple files or a folder using our browser based custom uploader

Megaupload - Share your files quickly, securely, and easily. Megaupload provides free web space for your documents, pictures, music and movies.

MiHD - Share your files quickly, securely, and easily. Worlds most generous file web hosting service.

Momoshare - Upload and share files, videos, mp3, photos with MomoShare.com's free file hosting service. Just browse and upload, and we'll automatically generate a download link for you to share your files with. File Size Limit: 50MB.

Mooload - Free image hosting reviews and rating, from our directory to compare free hosting services providers. File Size Limit: 500MB.

Mozy - The industry-leading solution for online backup - back up your important files, photos, documents and more over the internet

Mp3Tunes - Offers an online music Locker which can be accessed from any computer or web-enabled device so you can enjoy your music at home, work or school.

My File Hut - All users will receive 250MB of Storage space free at cost. Users are also restricted to 10GB/month after staying with myFileHut.com after two weeks, the first two week as a new member you are restricted to 1GB/Week for the first two weeks.

MyBloop - Upload, share and host your files on MyBloop.com for FREE. Store pictures, music, videos, and files and send them to anyone in the world!

MyLivePage - Free 1GB File Storage For All. English And Russian Language Support.

MyOtherDrive.com - Provides Internet users the ability to store online and share videos, music, photos - any file. The site provides each user with 5GB of storage space that can be selectively shared. Unlike other online storage sites, MyOtherDrive allows you to upload files in bulk, not one by one like so many sites do. The uploaded files can be any size (up to 2GB).

myShareBox - Get instant access to the largest P2P networks. Find and download your favorite series (even old-time favorites) and get full episodes and seasons.

MyTempDir - An absolutely free dedicated web hosting service with no registration needed. It can be used to share your files across the internet

Nakido - Unlimited Upload & Download FREE Share your files to the Nakido community, blogs, forums, and emails. All Nakido members can share your files! 99GB per file limit, so forget the file size!

Nelsok.com Video/Media Upload - Allows users to upload videos. Also allows for creating movies/slide shows from video clips, sound files, and pictures. Users can put advertisements on their video viewing pages using googles adsense.

Netizen - Like FedEx for digital parcels. This Mozilla based Desktop app allows users to send huge files (over 4GB!) securely and quickly without bogging down email. Uses intelligent relaying to ensure reliable delivery of data. With an intelligent p2p architecture it doesn't require massive hosting costs as other apps and sites do.

Now Upload - Upload a file for free media hosting! So you want to upload a picture or a video to share with your family and friends. No problem! Just upload it below! 200MB file size limit.

Omnidrive - Omnidrive is an advanced and secure free web online storage platform that allows you to access your files from anywhere as fast as accessing local files.

OneDump - OneDump is a straight-forward image, text and audio hosting solution that makes uploading and sharing files easy as never before. OneDump has got Lovely galleries, beautiful eye catching slideshows, the most simple interface to upload and manage your data. OneDump lets you host and link files, run stunning galleries/sheets and slideshows on your webpage with full freedom.

Openomy - An online file system. You can store files on Openomy and access them from any computer. Openomy organizes files and users via tag

OurMedia - Multimedia file host for audio, video, text, images, channels, creativity, producers, independent, videoblogging, blogging, social media, and internet archives.

ovodocs - Online virtual document storage that looks just like windows explorer. Want to access files 24 x 7? Answered yes? Create your Ovodocs today.

OxyShare Your Data Route - Update your friends and partners with new data. Host. We will host your video, audio, images and data files forever end ever

Pando - It's simple, fast, and effective, and it solves the large-attachment problem. It's a great solution to a vexing issue.

Picture9 Online Photo Albums - Create an online photo album, photo gallery or photo slideshow for FREE! Share your wedding, holiday or baby photos with friends and family.

QuickDump - File Size Limit: 100MB Download Limit: download bandwidth limit of 500MB per hour File Life: 30 Days (Deleted only if there is no download activity in 30 days)

QuickSharing - Quickly share your file with your friends and family for free, blazing fast speed and user friendly. Use quicksharing.com for free file hosting 500MB each.

RapidShare - Users can upload up to 100MB files for sharing. Provides downloads of 100 megs per hour on the free service. Premium service also available.

RapidUpload - Dedicated hosting & storage provider. Easily, securely, and quickly share your file online with instant storage backup system.

Rar Host - Although rarhost is free to use without signing up, users who use our service regularly may wish to sign-up to gain access to many more features.

RedHalo - The next generation managed learning platform for mobile devices supporting all the content creation and distribution needs of a mobile learning. Standard Edition provides 1Gb Free

Remote File CabiNET - An easy-to-use service that eliminates the security risks and productivity problems associated with email. Just insert and manage files online using a Windows.

SaveFile - This service can be used for uploading files up to ... Savefile is completly free to use, hope you will enjoy our service. There is a 60MB file size limit and files are deleted if there is no download activity in 14 days)

SceneWorld - Web hosting by Hiway Technologies, Inc., the world's largest hosting provider. File Size Limit: 50MB.

Send File - Send & receive files! Instant full speed access. • No software training required. Plus a ton of features! File Size Limit: 40MB.

SendAlong - Should sending big files be hard? We don't think so either. Stop fighting with email - SendAlong is different. Send files of any size to anyone. Send up to 1GB for free.

SendMeFile - SendMeFile is a top file hosting solutionthat is fast , free and secure , with no need to register! Simply upload your file and it will be stored for 14 days.

SendOver - A free file transfer service specializing in large files (up to 2 GB!) that cannot be sent by normal email.

SendSpace - The best way to send large files too big for email attachments to friends, family and businesses, anywhere in the world.

ShareBigFile - Provides simple easy to use browser based http file uploading. File Size limits is 500Mb per upload.

ShareUA - Ukrainian file storage. UA-IX. 60MB space. For Ukrainian users!

SigMirror - Free image and file hosting service with 5GB of space. The maximum file size limit is only 10MB.

Snaggys - The best file hosting service! we provides free web space for your documents, pictures, music and movies. File Size Limit: 500MB

SnapDrive.net - Free File Hosting and Sharing. Free 2GB file hosting accounts!

SnapGalaxy - Great for photo uploads, storage and sharing. Provides personal home page (PhotoFolio), hotlinking, themes etc. You an also order prints.

Speedy Share - Straight forward web service where you select the file you want to upload, then login for 1.5GB of free storage. Maximum file size limit is 30MB.

Spread-It - Choose a file to store on Spread-it, fill out the fields and click on upload. Your file is available for download at Spread-it.com 24 hours a day. File Size Limit: 500MB.

Store and Serve - Free Quick Easy File Hosting. 100 MB. No Registration Required. Instant! Unlimited uploads and unlimited downloads. Download file hosting.

Streamload MediaMax - MediaMax, powered by Streamload, is the world's largest online media center. It is one central place to store, organize, and access files and digital media.

StreamUpload 2.0 - A full fledged anonymous file upload service and collaborative file tagging system. Upload and download hassle free, with zero waiting time. File Size Limit: 100MB.

Strongspace - Provides teams with collaboration software (email, calendars, file sharing), data backup services and on-demand computing solutions

SupaShare - File Size Limit: 50MB Download Limit: Unlimited File Life: 14 Days

Supload - Free dedicated image hosting. Host unlimited images. Host and share your files at MySpace, LiveJournal, Facebook, eBay, hi5, or anywhere you can post photos, music, or videos!

TerrysShare.com - The best file hosting service! we provides free web space for your documents, pictures, music and movies.

TheUpload - The Biggest Free Image and Video Host On The Internet. Upload Your Images and Videos For Free Now! File Size Limit: 200MB.

TransferBigFiles - Just select the files you want to send and TransferBigFiles will email the recipient with a link to the download page, and it's FREE! File Size Limit: 1GB.

Turbo Upload - Offers free file hosting and super fast service for your file uploads. Ad-supported.

UltraShare - Web Hosting, Webspace & Web Storage - Fast and Easy at UltraShare.NET , upload your file without signing up. Hosting your file online is just one step. File Size Limit: 30MB.

Up For Down - Free 20GB of space to upload your files. Upload now videos, music, images.

Up-FILE - A FREE hosting service. Here you can upload videos, audio, images, software and another documents, to the internet for free. File Size Limit: 1GB.

Upload 2 - Lets you easily backup your important files (up to 25 MB each) and store them on our servers for as long as you need. Up to 250 MB.

Upload-File - A completely FREE file hosting service for everyone. Use Filecrunch to upload ALL types of files to share with family or friends. Use the form above to upload and start sharing. File Size Limit: 100MB.

Upload.Sc - Easy sharing of large files(up to 100MB). No registration, no speed limits, no payments just pure upload & share. Enjoy! File Size Limit: 100MB.

Upload2 - File Size Limit: 250MB Download Limit: Unknown File Life: Unknown

UploadFront - File Size Limit: 50MB Download Limit: Unlimited File Life: 30 Days (Deleted only if there is no download activity in 30 days)

UploadHut - File Size Limit: 50MB with a file life of 30 days.

Uploading - The best file hosting service! Maximum file size is 100MB. Files deleted only if there is no download activity in 30 days.

UploadingIT - File hosting done right. We give 25GB of storage, a 750MB max file size and 50GB of bandwidth for free. We have been offering 10GB of space for over 6 months.

UploadOK! - Free File Hosting and Cheap Dedicated Servers with a maximum file size of 1GB.

UploadReady - Free image hosting reviews and rating, from our directory to compare free hosting services providers. File Size Limit: 500MB.

UploadTemple - File Size Limit: 30MB with a file life of 21 days.

Uploadyourfiles - The future of file sharing. Upload limit is 200MB and files last 30 days.

Ushareit - If your Email program is not allowing you to send large files! Don't have access to FTP service! Virus scanner blocking your files! What do you do? use Ushareit.net

Web-Upload.com - Easy to use and for free!

Webcargo.net - Send any file, no matter the size, to anyone with an e-mail address. Unlimited file storage duration is 14 days with secure 128-bit encryption.

WebFileHost - An absolutely free file web hosting service powered by a dedicated service provider.

Woofiles - Don't lose your files! With Woofiles you can store one or severals files up to 1GB online.

XtraFile - File Size Limit: 250MB and a 15 day file life.

YoUpload - Up to 500 megabytes per file Unlimited amount of uploads Unlimited amount of download. Download managers accepted No download restrictions No "loading" times Fastest servers available.

Your File Link - Free online hosting for large files. Upload up to 5GB without having to register.

YourFileHost - A file storage service where you can upload all your files anonymously & easily share these files with your family and friends.

YouSendIt - File transfer and email service. Also offer secure and large file transfer. File Size Limit: 1GB.

YouSwap.com - A very simple file-sharing site that lets the sender upload up to 1 gigabyte and send it for free. Max File Size: 1 GB.

zSHARE - With zSHARE you can upload files, images, videos, audio and flash for free. Simply use the upload form below and start sharing! You can also use zSHARE as your personal file storage: backup your data and protect your files. File Size Limit: 100MB Download.

zUpload - Share your files easily, securely, and quickly. zUpload.com provides free web space and files hosting for your own videos, movies, music, mp3s and documents. File Size Limit: 500MB.

Did you find this list useful

If so, add your comments below and be sure to bookmark this page.

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If there's one thing that has guided us when making decisions in terms of functionality, design and overall business direction, it's been the fundamental principle of listening to our customers.

That being said, we're reaching out to you again to ask for your feedback regarding a number of areas pertaining to Voices.com through an online survey.

Learn more about the survey and how you can participate here.

Last week, David posted an article that proposed how your influence could impact important changes to help improve Voices.com and how the website works.

The focus of this survey is website usability.

The word "usability" refers to methods for improving ease-of-use during the design process.

What's on the Menu?

To start off, there are several multiple choice questions that qualify your relationship with Voices.com and how you got to the website before doing the survey.

Some questions will ask you to rate what you deem most important by "Need to have", "Nice to have", and "Don't need".

You'll also have the opportunity to type in any general feedback or recommendations you would like to make.

What Happens with the Results?

As we do with all feedback and feature requests, we'll organize the results using our internal systems and prioritize the items that were identified as most popular.

Your feedback will make using Voices.com a better experience from a user's standpoint both technically and visually.

How Can you Help?

Click here to take the survey now.

Thanks!

Stephanie, David, Carol, Laurynda, Erica and Lin :)

©iStockphoto.com/ayzek

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Do you watch the ABC show "Lost"?

I hadn't started watching the series until earlier this February, and last night, we completed our LOST marathon ending with last episode of season three.

Today when I read that the LOST videogame entitled "LOST Via Domus" was released a few days ago on the XBox 360, Playstation 3, and the PC, I thought it very timely to write about the series and also get your take on the game and the voices used in it.

For those of you who haven't gotten "lost" yet, it is one of the most intriguing and involving series that I have seen for quite a long time and perhaps one of the only reasons aside from The Tudors to keep watching TV.

After wrapping up a one month marathon of catching up from the beginning all the way through to the end of the third season, I was excited to hear that there is a videogame two years in the making out now from UBISOFT called LOST: Via Domus (Translated from the Latin which means "The Way Home") that lets you in on the LOST experience, introducing a new character, Elliott.

Elliott

Elliott is a photojournalist who is a survivor on Oceanic Flight 815. The gamer assumes the role of Elliott and is given opportunities to use his photography skills to get further into the game.

One complication is that Elliott is suffering from amnesia and needs the help of other characters, John Locke in particular, to help him rediscover his past.

Just like the characters on the show, Elliott has a past which is revealed through playable flashbacks. In on of the Dev Diaries, the crew from UbiSoft confides that fans should be watching very carefully in the flashbacks to see other characters that they'll recognize from the show.

Writing and Visual Elements

Kevin Shortt was the lead writer for the game and found a good partner in Dawn Kelly, a writer from LOST seasons one and two.

The entire team took this project very seriously. The art director went to Hawaii to take pictures from the island, jungle and set to make sure that the scenery and landscapes were portrayed as accurately as possible.

The purpose of the game is to capture the meaning and experience of the show.

Not Your Average Videogame

How does LOST Via Domus differ from other games UBISOFT has worked on?

The pressure to make the game right and right for the fans sets this game apart was the largest challenge and differentiator. If the fans are not happy with the game, then the crew will feel as though they didn't do their job right.

The show is very complicated and has many layers, mysteries, and themes that needed to be incorporated into the videogame.

Not only is the show a masterpiece it has a worldwide following and fans with great expectations.

Gameplay

Gameplay involves mostly traveling through jungle where Elliott encounters familiar landmarks from the show, i.e. Black Rock, the Swan Hatch, and also some items in those places that were never in the show. Other activities include solving puzzles, mini games, dialogue choices and getting in on the action.

Elliott also encounters dangers including the infamous black smoke, polar bears, and more.

The objective was to give the gamer the full experience of the jungle just as it was in the show.

Navigational tools used to get around the island include a compass, the player's intuition, and markings on the ground.

The player needs to create the actions to survive throughout the game and there is about ten hours of gameplay to be had.

LOST Via Domus Voice Cast

From what I've read so far, one of the only drawbacks is that some of the voices are not of the original actors from the TV series.

I was in touch with the good people at UBISOFT and they confirmed some members of the voice cast for me.

"For the English version, Ben, Desmond, Claire, Mikhail, Sun and Tom provided their characters' voices. For the other versions, almost all actors provided their characters' voices."

For more detail, Yunjin Kim portrays the role of Sun Hwa-Kwon, Michael Emerson portrays the leader of The Others, Ben Linus, Emilie De Ravin plays Claire Littleton, Andrew Divoff portrays Mikhail Bakunin (one of The Others), and Henry Ian Cusick, who portrays the character Desmond Hume, the fellow who tends to say "brother" a lot.

Are you a fan of LOST?

What do you think of the Via Domus videogame and how do you feel about the voice acting and voice cast?

Best wishes,

Stephanie

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Looking for a voice over coach?

We have recently developed a network that connects voice acting instructors with students seeking voice over training.

Check out more information here at VOX Daily!

Voice Coaches Network Vision

Building relationships and facilitating connections is one of our specialties at Voices.com.

After years of nurturing and developing relationships with the top voice over instructors in North America and abroad, we thought it was time to standardize and publicly announce the amazing opportunities available to voice over trainers, calling this new initiative the "Voices.com Voice Coaches Network".

Over the past four years, we have collaborated with voice over coaches in many ways, all of which are symbiotic and directly benefit the voice over industry at large.

You've likely seen this in action first hand as a reader of VOX Daily, Ask the Voice Cat, Master VO or as a listener to the podcasts Voice Over Experts and VOX Talk.

We're pleased to offer an interactive directory of teachers who provide voice over training across the US, Canada and Great Britain... and beyond!

Want to know a bit more about the actual voice coaches network?

As part of the Voices.com Voice Coaches Network, instructors are given free publicity and the opportunity to educate on a pro bono basis via the Voice Over Experts podcast.

Voice trainers can also have their articles and upcoming workshops posted on the VOX Daily blog as well as special mentions on Voice Over Times, the online news source for the voice over industry.

An Overview of Benefits Free for Coaches Include:

- Promotion through the Voice Over Experts Podcast
- Your own Voice Coaches Profile
- Press Release Writing and Distribution
- Have your articles published on the VOX Daily Blog
- Coverage on Voice Over Times
- Join the Affiliate Program
- Receive exclusive opportunities through Voices.com (book reviews, participate in Voices.com sponsored events, and more)

Public Service

The Voice Coaches Network is a public service provided by Voices.com to help promote the importance of voice acting education and evangelize the art of voice acting while teaching people how to navigate the new world of voice overs online. Through these extraordinary efforts, Voices.com propels the future of voice acting, proactively engaging the community and shaping the industry for years to come.

Labor of Love

The Voice Coaches Network is a labor of love, both on the part of the instructors and our company.

Giving back to the community is very important. Everyone involved in this project realizes the impact they are having and are proud to be part of this outstanding initiative in educational excellence.

Want to join the Voices.com Voice Coaches Network?

By partnering with Voices.com, you'll enjoy unparalleled publicity through blogs, podcasts, press releases and feature articles, all the goal of helping you attract students as well as support you by giving you access to tools and resources.

Simply Click here to Complete the Form

Do you know a voice over coach who should be part of the Voices.com Voice Coaches Network? Invite them to join by sending them to this article here on VOX Daily.

If you are a voice over coach, thank you for your interest and I look forward to working with you.

Best wishes,

Stephanie

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Every so often I write about updates to the Voices.com membership service on VOX Daily.

Today, I'd like to share some information about new features and benefits for Voices.com members, as well as new pricing effective after March 31st, 2008.

To learn more about how this change may affect you, read this article.

First, let me say thank you for taking a moment to read this important article.

It took a lot of thought and the information is of special significance to all voice talent members of the Voices.com web service.

Secondly, everyone will continue to enjoy the full suite of services that we offer, and there are no large technical changes to how Voices.com operates.

OK, moving forward!

There are many new features and benefits that we're pleased to announce to you today as part of our Spring '08 Release, and I'd like to get into those with you now. Let's start with the new features and benefits.

NEW FEATURES

Google Search Engine Optimization

After months of strategic search engine optimization techniques, Voices.com has received Google's blessing with the coveted Site Links, a list of short cuts right from Google's search results. You'll see these links by Googling "Voices.com".

Search Engine

Recently, we've positioned the search box at the top of each and every page on Voices.com ( over 50,000 pages ) to give clients a single starting point when they are looking to find a professional voice talent.

The search engine has been rebuilt to include better caching, a technique to remember popular searches and recent searches that helps deliver results faster.

Search Engine Results

The search engine results pages have been completely redesign for simplicity. From client feedback and usage statistics, we've found that clients want to conduct a search, listen to the demo and move ahead with the voice talent of choice.

Your name links to your personal Voice.com website, and the large Flash player makes it easy for clients to start playing your demo immediately. A large "Request a Quote" encourages clients to take the next step in hiring you for the job.

Responses

In the client's view, the responses page has been redesigned after reviewing, analyzing and implementing recommendations from a survey.

Similar to the search results, clients want to focus on your demo, then your quote for the job. To allow clients to move quickly through the auditions and ensure that each and every audition is heard ( the average job receive 100 auditions ), we've decided to hide the proposal from view, then show it when the "Read Proposal" link is clicked.

In the two weeks since making these changes, we've witnessed a 400% increase in the number of SurePay transactions at Voices.com.

Bottom line is that the improvements we've made, and continue to make, are generating more job opportunities for you.

ENHANCED FEATURES

Featured Talent Directory Listings

Premium members will receive unlimited category listings in the Featured Talent Directory, and Preferred members now have 5 listings.

Storage for Audio, Videos, Graphics and Documents

Storage has also been increased to 100MB for Premium members and 50MB for Preferred members.

NEW BENEFITS

Premium members will now receive expedited support tickets. This means that any queries submitted by Premium members to Voices.com will be automatically escalated and answered first before all other support inquiries.

PAYMENT SUBSCRIPTIONS

There are changes in pricing effective after March 31st, 2008 for all newly purchased membership subscriptions. Please read this carefully as it may affect you.

Current Paid Subscribers

If you have automatic payments set-up, including payments for an active subscription originally made by credit card over the phone, you'll continue with the old pricing until your subscription is cancelled.

To break it down, someone who has a subscription at the current rate, so long as they don't cancel it, continues to receive service at that price going down the road so long as they keep renewing it.

If you have made a one-time payment, you can extend your membership by one year at the current rate. To do so, simply call us toll-free at this number (1-888-359-3472) or send sales@voices.com an email and we'll send you an invoice.

Here's an example. If you are a Premium member at present, you could continue to receive all of those features and benefits for $199 regardless of the price change -- so long as you maintain your automatic subscription. This process is known as "Grandfathering".

So, unless you have a credit card that expires thus canceling your subscription on you, it wouldn't happen any other way unless you decide to cancel it with the understanding that your account would be purchased at the new price in the future.

ALL NEW SUBSCRIPTIONS AFTER MARCH 31st, 2008

Before we change the membership subscription fees, we want to give you the opportunity to secure your membership at the present rates for your desired membership subscription level.

Subscribe before March 31, 2008 to secure your membership at the present rate and maintain that membership rate until your subscription is canceled or your credit card expires.

VOICES.COM COACHES NETWORK

As part of the Voices.com Coaches Network that will be rolling out in the next few weeks, we're introducing group pricing. Keep your eyes on this one.

AGENCY PACKAGES

Also, if you have an agent, ask them to contact us about special pricing for their agency. We've developed a package for agencies as well.

SPECIAL OFFER TO FREEZE YOUR RATES

$199.00/year	$99.00/year
Save 55%	Save 41%
Learn More	Learn More

All of these changes will be effective after March 31st, 2008.

We look forward to serving you!

Best wishes,

Stephanie, David, Carol, Laurynda, Erica and Lin

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For whatever reason, voice acting for video games has become a fixation for me as of late and I can't seem to stop talking about it.

Maybe you know where I'm coming from!

At any rate, I thought an article about voice acting for video games was in order and invited DB Cooper, queen of video game voice acting, to join me today for your reading pleasure.

When inspiration first struck to write another article on video games and voice acting, the muse came out of discontent from reading so many "reviews" of "bad voice acting" in video games.

On behalf of voice actors everywhere, I couldn't stomach the number of negative comments, threads and articles out there and knew at that moment that I had to get to the bottom of the problem and needed some help figuring out just what has to be done in the voice acting community to help correct or iron out issues that contribute to the notion that many games have sucky voice acting.

This is when I came to Deirdre and sought her assistance.

If you know Deirdre (DB), you know that she is one serious voice actress who voices and loves video games, but what you might not have known before courtesy of DB, is that great video game voice acting is intrinsically tied to gameplay and understanding the fundamentals of the gaming experience.

I'll let DB take it away with her sage advice on the topic in her opinion on the state of voice acting in video games today with particular emphasis on gamers, that is, people who play the games.

~~

State of Voice Acting in Video Games Today

Voice acting in video games: what’s going on?

Gamers have come to expect a more immersive experience with the games they play, and the voice acting can be a key element in drawing the player into the story.

Technological advances are certainly making it easier to include more dialog and verbal byplay. However, like a college kid with his first credit card and an open internet connection, it is altogether too easy to get more crap than you need. The impulse to jack up the cinematic quality of some games is making it hard to hear the actors, and at times incidental chatter has a negative impact on the player’s ability to focus on the gameplay.

On the other hand, four of the top-ten best selling games at this moment do not employ voice acting in a way that affects gameplay: In the Mario games the voice is incidental; racing games like Burnout Paradise don’t require voice acting in the action parts, and Rock Band is Rock Band--who needs dialog? In the Zelda franchise, the hero Link never even has any text communication, never mind spoken speech. Some games thrive without VO.

Other games like the Grand Theft Auto series are blessed by a panoply of excellent voice actors who make the game enjoyable in spite of (or in addition to) its violence. In games like the Final Fantasy series, the game XIII, or the Metal Gear games, there is a mix of in-game dialog and cut scenes that makes sense and furthers the plot.

With a spectrum of possibilities this broad, it’s clear there is no set model to follow, so each group of game designers is virtually re-inventing the wheel when they decide to include voice acting. The one consistency is the quest for really fine voice actors to fulfill the roles in the games that need them. Audio designers have become keenly aware that, while voice acting is just one part of the aural experience in a game, it is the most human connection— and voice actors need to be ready to step into the studio and be excellent. One way for actors to be ready for this challenge is to understand the medium.

If you want to do voice acting for video games, PLAY THE GAMES.

DB Cooper

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Well, there you have the state of voice acting in video games today. If you only take one idea away from what was discussed, be sure that it is to play the games if you want to be a video game voice actor.

If you don't play the video games you won't understand the complex culture of gamers and how they expect to be engaged.

A great voice actor can read lines but context is always a friendly guide when it comes to voicing for any project, video games included.

There are many great games that receive praise for voice acting and we want to see more evidence of that flowing freely in chat forums, blogs and social sites.

A toast to more positive reviews for video game voice acting in the future!

Any comments?

Best wishes,

Stephanie and Deirdre

©iStockphoto.com/Jacom Stephens

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Recently, I was asked about getting on the Favorites list, one of three voice actor listing pages linked off of the Voices.com home page.

These listings update on a daily basis.

Favorites is one of the more rewarding yet challenging lists to get featured on which is why I thought it would be good to write about this topic.

Do you want to know how to get listed in the Top 100?

You might have noticed the Movers & Shakers area featured on the Voices.com home page showcasing the Top 10 with links to the Top 100. There are three categories, including "New", "Recently Hired", and "Favorites".

Today, I'd like to focus on the Favorites list with the goal of explaining some of the intricacies of how it works as well as share information about how you can be featured on it.

One of the key factors regarding the Favorites list is its ability to fluctuate depending on the Favorites rankings of individual voice actors.

Unlike the "New" or "Recently Hired" list, the Favorites list is somewhat out of a member's direct control, however, you can take steps to increase a ranking on the Favorites list.

Favorites List Algorithm

The reason why some listings in the Favorites list fluctuate vigorously while others do not is relative to the number of times a talent has been added as a Favorite.

The order of the people in the top 10 tends to fluctuate less because there are more votes separating each position, thus making it more difficult to crack the top 10.

Conversely, people who are listed in other ranges tend to see their ratings shoot up or down because their number of times being Favorited varies less and perhaps only a few votes separate one person from another.

Clients can both add and remove members from their Favorites so that might also be reason for the fluctuation that occurs.

What is keeping some quality talent out of the Top 100?

One of the easiest ways that a voice talent can climb this list is to be added to a client's Favorites through the auditioning process.

If someone isn't auditioning for work or auditions rarely, they stand less of a chance of being heard, identified as someone with a great voice, and ultimately added to a client's Favorites.

Not to give too much secret sauce away, but some talent take care to speak directly through their proposals or on their profiles to clients and specifically mention that if the client likes what they hear (whether an audition or voice over demo at the Voices.com website) to add them to their Favorites list for future reference.

It all comes down to marketing and self-promotion.

Those two factors combined with talent and consistency will help significantly with regard to getting more exposure on the Voices.com website.

Best,

Stephanie

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I was chatting with one of the voice actors from the game "BioShock" recently and happened to ask him if he had played the game.

The answer may astound you!

Do voice actors play the games (video games or PC games) that their voices are featured in?

Late last week, I had an extremely entertaining phone call and interview to be published on VOX Talk this week with Peter O'Connell, one of the voice actors in the #1 video game of the year, BioShock.

While we were talking, I asked him about his experiences developing his character, recording the voice overs, and about other elements concerning the game.

Turns out, Peter, although he played a voice acting role in the game, has not as of yet played the game.

I was somewhat surprised, but after some thought quickly realized that there is a major difference between voice acting in a video game and being on camera in a film - voice actors generally do the work but do not have the opportunity presented to them to celebrate the playing of the video or computer games that they perform in unlike on camera actors who can watch screenings of their work when it is presented in cinemas.

The most significant reason (from what I can tell) for this is because it is far easier and more economical to passively watch something than it is to actively run out, buy a gaming console, setup the console and eventually play the game.

Playing the game will also take a certain amount of skill and comes with a learning curve as well, making it harder, complicated and a more time consuming (some of these games have 40 hours of playing time from start to finish in them) task to accomplish.

If you're a video game voice actor or a voice actor who has voiced computer / PC games, I'd love to hear about your experiences.

Have you ever played the games that you have voice acted in? Why or why not?

Looking forward to your reply,

Stephanie

Image: xBox.com

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Are you hungry for more links to your voice acting blog?

Get on the Blogroll at Voice Over Times!

It's easy - come on in, I'll show you how.

Voice Over Times is one crazy place.

I mean, there's traffic coming from all ends of the net from people who are discovering voice acting and those who are hunting for news stories to source for their publications.

What does that mean in plain English?

There are thousands of people day in day out, who are highly interested in voice acting, who could be clicking through to read your voice over or voice acting blog... and we want to help them get there.

All you need to do is link to Voice Over Times on your blogroll and we'll return the favor by linking to your voice acting blog from the Voice Over Times website.

The blogroll is featured on every page of the website, so you'll be found... everywhere.

How does that sound to you?

Get linked up fast by sending me an email letting me know you want to be added ( stephanie@voices.com ) and I'll get your blog up on the roll.

Best,

Stephanie

©iStockphoto.com/Martin McCarthy

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These past few months have been extremely busy and we're proud to announce the launch of Voices.com's Winter '08 Release, a comprehensive list of service updates and feature additions that have just gone live.

I'm very excited to let you in on what we've been up to!

Here is a list of some of the recent updates that have taken place within the last quarter.

Home Page

• Internet audio category in the Featured Talent Directory
• Political Demos category in the Featured Talent Directory

• Dynamically updating "Recently Hired" list of those voice talent who have been hired and paid using SurePay escrow

• Direct links to blogs, podcasts and news in the "What's New" section

Search Engine

• Highlighting of keywords in search results
• Search results display category icons to the demos
• Expanded keyword search capabilities
• Internet audio category added to the search engine

Profiles
• Add This social bookmarking widgets using AJAX technology
• "Send Money" option for fast payment of voice over jobs

Podcasts
• Voices.com's newest podcast “Voice Casting” is now at your service. Learn how to find a voice actor, what to look for in a voice, how to work with voice actors, and most importantly, how to brand your company using the power of the human voice.

Blogs
• "Voice Agents" is the future home of what promises to be the central hub for voice talent agents to publish articles about their industry, projects, best practices and promote their services through words using the power and reach of the Internet.

What I'd like to draw your attention to is a fabulous opportunity to be featured in the new Internet voice over category.

If you haven't updated your Featured Voice Talent categories recently, you'll want to login and make sure that you get on this hot list. The demand for Internet voice overs is growing significantly.

If the spirit moves you, update your demos now.

To read the complete list, click through to Winter '08 Release article The Biz blog.

So, what do you think?

Do you like what you've read about? Is there anything that you'd like to see us include for future releases?

Add your thoughts below by leaving a comment.

Best wishes,

Stephanie

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This week, I had the privilege to sit in on a high school broadcasting course at Clarke Road Secondary School in London, ON.

Under the tutelage of Brent Bissell, veteran radio broadcaster turned inspiring mentor of young minds, these teens are exploring careers in creative fields such as broadcast for television, radio, sound editing and film.

When I first asked Brent Bissell if I could come to visit his high school "Broadcasting Communications" class at Clarke Road Secondary School, I knew that I was very much looking forward to being there, but I can tell you with all sincerity that I had no idea just how excited the students were to have me come in to see them.

The moment I walked in, I was treated to a guided tour of the communications classrooms and was privy to the school's daily broadcast, fed live each day to various rooms in the building including the cafeteria and for those sitting in wait at the guidance counselor's office.

I'd never been so "behind the scenes" before and it was intriguing to see how the green screens worked when graphics were added to give the appearance of a professional network studio during the televised broadcast. I also got to watch the students, who were all responsible for different things, operate the teleprompter, cameras, and even be news anchors behind the desk.

Technology being used in the classroom includes an assortment of editing tools such as Adobe Audition for audio, a Shure microphone modeled in the 50s style, a dynamic microphone for the radio announcer, linear and non-linear editing capabilities, and my favorite, the Shure 819 boundary microphone that was used to pick up the voices of the news anchors during the Clarke Road televised daily broadcast which lays flat on the table and picks up the presenters effortlessly. Brent, or Mr. Bissell as he was called in class by his students, revealed that the surface that the mic rests on, in this case, the table, acts as a diaphragm.

On this particular day I was visiting with the senior students in the eleventh grade. The class this semester consists of 18 extremely bright, motivated and charismatic students.

It was obvious that over the last four months of class, they knew exactly what to do, when to do it, and were comfortable with their roles in full knowledge that during a live broadcast, they were all reliant upon each other to work as a team in order to achieve a successful program.

Throughout the taping, Brent was able to give me a play-by-play of the station operations which I greatly appreciated.

Brent Bissell, a name you might remember from his years on FM96 in London, ON, has a zest for education mapped in his DNA. As Broadcaster of the Year from Fanshawe College's Broadcasting program, Brent went on to spend 16 years in Radio and TV as an announcer and journalist. Following his years in broadcast, Brent took on his calling to become a teacher and has been teaching at his current post at Clarke Road for two years, instituting one of the best high school broadcast and communications classes in the city.

It was under his direction that a daily broadcast schedule was added to the curriculum, a decision that has helped to propel the destinies of several students who have since decided to seek post-secondary education at institutions the likes of Fanshawe College's Broadcast program, Conestoga, audio recording at OIART, and the Toronto Film School.

Many students in Brent's class this semester are taking co-ops at local television and radio stations such as Rogers Television in London and radio station CJBK.

As Brent still maintains connections with FM96, a number of students have had the opportunity to record liners, promos and commercials for the radio station that called for teenage voices. One commercial we discussed was for a local store called Bud Gowan Formal Wear, a store famous for its tuxedo rentals.

Voice over does factor in quite a bit in this course. The students edit video and are also able to record their own voice overs using Adobe Audition employing the use of a dynamic Behringer C1 microphone.

Today, I received a couple of emails from the students (I asked them to write so that we could keep in touch) and here's a sampling for you.

"Thank you so much for coming in! It was very inspiring to see that you have become so successful in the business that I hope to make it in. I have made an account on voices.com, and I finally have a demo up now!"

"Thank you for coming into our class, I found it very interesting and I am looking forward to taking advantage of this opportunity."

I'd love to go back in and see the students to talk to them about voice acting. According to Brent, the class was intrigued by my visit and already more of them are signing up for Guest memberships so that they can learn more and grow in what may become their voice over career.

Today, they watched the "Five Men in a Limo" video on YouTube featuring Don LaFontaine, Nick Tate, John Leader, Mark Elliott and Al Chalk, and learned more about voices, from which I'm told was sparked by their interest in our meeting yesterday.

How exciting!

The future of voice acting is now and it's happening in high school classrooms across the continent guided by teachers with a passion for communications and mission to help raise up tomorrow's talent today.

Any comments?

Best wishes,

Stephanie

©iStockphoto.com/Ryan Burke

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If you've been missing your favorite shows, some of the networks have figured out a way to keep your appetite whetted and consumer loyalty by making full-length sitcom episodes from previous seasons available online at Hulu.com for your viewing pleasure.

Presently in Beta (testing phase), the Hulu site is poised to be network television's answer to YouTube as well as a viable means of keeping fans of shows currently affected by the Writers Guild of America strike happy and served at their convenience online with content on demand... free of charge.

What's your television viewing schedule been like since November 5th, 2007?

If that date sounds vaguely familiar, it is the day that the Writers Guild of America first went on strike stopping production in its tracks as actors in support of the writers refused to cross picket lines and pop culture as we knew it began to rely solely upon news programs, reality TV and reruns.

With the strike going strong for slightly more than two months, people have had to find alternative sources for their entertainment, many opting to play more videogames to the delight of videogame retailers and still more people who are getting their fix via the Internet by visiting sites such as YouTube and are downloading audiobooks from Audible among other online sources.

Although a couple of production companies have signed deals with the WGA (Writers Guild of America) like David Letterman's Worldwide Pants, and most recently, Tom Cruise's United Artists' interim agreement with the WGA to bring back feature film writers, other shows (the majority) are still on the outs and will not likely return for the season unless a similar deal is struck or the strike comes to an end.

One of the most recent casualties of the WGA strike is the Screen Actors Guild's boycotting of the Golden Globe Awards. According to a statement from SAG, none of their members are going to be acceptors or presenters at the traditionally star-studded event broadcast on national television.

Along the same vein, one might suspect that the Oscars will also be boycotted... that is, unless the strike ends (SAG is in full support of the WGA strike) or a "special arrangement" is made.

Hmm...

What does that mean for Hollywood and the entertainment industry where viewers are concerned?

In recent days Hulu.com has found a place in my life in lieu of television.

What is Hulu?

Essentially, Hulu.com is a website where you can watch premium content from networks such as NBC for free with very few commercial interruptions.

Just last night, we devoured an episode of NBC's "The Office" from a previous season that was sponsored by automotive company Chevrolet. There were about six very short ads promoting the company's vehicles that were unassuming and almost seamlessly incorporated into the episode.

While some previously thought that there wouldn't be any money in webisodic content, it is now apparent that there is money to made in advertising during the viewing of said content, however, the players who are benefiting have changed.

If you're itching for some Dunder Mifflin action, even from past seasons, you can get it at Hulu, Steve Carell and all, courtesy of major sponsors the likes of Chevrolet.

Something I noticed about the Chevy ads, and perhaps this is specific only to these particular ads, is that there was no voice over included. Visual marketing with a soft, lyric-free music bed made for easy transitioning between the programming and the advertisements.

How do you get in on this hot website?

Apply to sign-up for the Hulu beta testing program here.

What do you think about the Writers Guild of America strike?

I'd love to hear your thoughts now that it's two months in.

Cheers,

Stephanie

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Have you heard of Second Life or SL?

If you haven't yet, this interview is one that you're going to love.

Voicedude Reinoir shows you the ropes of voice acting in Second Life in this Voices.com exclusive!

Voicedude Reinoir (known in the voice acting biz as Ari Ross) and I had a chat about his "Second Life" web presence and how SL is treating him so far.

Stephanie: How did you discover Second Life and what inspired you to open up a voice over shop there?

Ari Ross: I had auditioned for and then booked a job voicing a three-part piece for American Express called "Open for Business" (which highlights successes with small business). One of the 3 videos I did can be seen here: http://www.openforum.com/thread.jspa?threadID=300000870

I then was hired to do multiple voices for the Second Life CSI:NY game. I voice one of the main characters -- detective Jared Washington - as well as several ancillary characters. I am happy to say that I have been used in four "episodes" (games) so far.

After doing the first CSI: NY gig I was given a link by the client with which I could download the program and go inworld to see/hear the work…. Since then I have been an SL resident!

Stephanie: Wow! What has the community reaction at Second Life been like to Vox Humana? How long has Vox Humana been open? Do you have a stage name there?

Ari Ross: Well, I'll start with the last question and let you know that I am known in SL as "Voicedude Reinoir." Yup.. there is that extra "i" in Renoir there -- we get to choose our first name but must select from a list of mostly odd and/or fun last names… I guess Reinoir caught my eye -- to tell you the truth, I really thought I would only be inworld for like 15 minutes (to just see the voice work and leave) … little did I know that I'd be becoming a resident, buying land and a house and setting up shop!

I have only had "Vox Humana" open for a couple weeks now and actually had only completed putting up all the voice demos like 48 hours ago (as of this interview)! (One can set up an object to be clicked on and play a sound.)

Suffice it to say, there have only been a handful of residents who have been by the shop but reactions have been basically positive. In fact my shop was brought to the attention of one of the main people at Linden Lab (the company which runs Second Life) and he praised it highly and put it in his daily blog. I also have had a couple people who found it in a search and liked it as well. It's really just the beginning at this point -- ask me again in 2 or 3 months and I'll have a better report to give you.

Stephanie: I gather that Second Life has it's own brand of currency. Can you tell me a little bit about working with Linden dollars? How easy is it for you to trade that hard-earned Second Life cash into US dollars?

Ari Ross: Linden dollars are actual currency and can be exchanged for USD (Approx. 260 Lindens to one USD as of this writing) but to be honest, I haven't tried exchanging back to dollars yet. I do know that there is a "Lindex" which is the Linden currency exchange where people buy and sell Lindens in the way that folks buy and sell foreign (Real Life) currencies!

I am myself familiar with using USD to get my virtual hands on some L$ for use in SL:-)

One uses PayPal to buy L$ which can be used to by land, furniture, plants/landscaping, clothes (yes, clothes!), pay residents to build you something, etc.

Stephanie: Are you able to deliver your audio through SL as well, or do you basically use Vox Humana as the first point of contact and then do business as usual off the SL site?

Ari Ross: I intend to use it more as a point of first contact than anything else. Indeed, I have done some good work already for Second Life (via the AMEX and CSI: NY jobs) but those jobs were obtained in the real world for SL.

Aside from having fun meeting new people from all over the world and enjoying the amazing artwork in … and that IS Second Life (almost everything you see in SL is created by the residents -- except for the sky, sun, stars, water and ground).

I will attempt to potentially add to my RL (Real Life) client base possibly making first points of contact inworld and then doing the usual drill for the actual voice job -- emails, phone calls, FTP or ISDN, recording, auditioning etc.

As for delivery of audio, you can only upload 10 second clips and only in WAV format; 44,100 16 bit (no MP3s for some reason). You can choose how you want them to convert it - A bit rate of either: 32, 64, 96 or 128 kbps. There are also sometimes long delays, glitches, etc. Alas, it is still a growing technology.

You could if you had to upload an audition or job by doing so in 10 second bits, but that would of course be kinda silly when the usual options are at hand (email, FTP, ISDN etc).

Stephanie: At the time of this interview, I know of very few people who use Second Life and fewer still who market their voice talent on it. How effective is Second Life as a vehicle to promote your voice?

Ari Ross: As I say, it is all very, very new to me so only time will tell…

Stephanie: Did you design your Second Life storefront? I've seen a picture of it, and I must say it looks pretty spiffy!

Ari Ross: That is one cool thing about SL - a frustrated (or not so frustrated) designer can do artistic stuff he or she may not get around to doing in RL; I got the basic building as a shell and designed the voice demo rooms and storefront myself.

Stephanie: How did you acquire the land your store is on? I heard that you have to buy virtual real estate.

Ari Ross: While checking out the CSI:NY "sim" (region/area) I met a resident who showed me around his house in "Krung Thep: Thai Island Paradise." I fell in love with the surrounding area and purchased some land in the neighborhood!

Land is purchased in lot sizes starting at 512 m² [square meters] and in increments of 512 m² such as 1024, 2048, etc). Some people by whole regions and indeed, even a whole "sim" (I am one of dozens of residents with a plot of land on my home sim of "Krung Thep")

Land is not expensive in real world terms if you just get a couple thousand m², but there usually is a monthly "tier" which can add up depending on your lot size. If you buy a whole region ("sim" -- 16 acre -- 65,536 m²) however, it can get quite expensive indeed - I just saw a number of ads for full 16 acre sims going for between $300 and $6500 US dollars(!) Then there are the monthly tier fees on top of that.

The more expensive ones are generally in I think higher traffic areas of "the Grid" (the world) with therefore better business opportunities.

Stephanie: How do you interact with prospective customers on Second Life? Is there a way for you to advertise or talk to customers while on the website?

Ari Ross: There are billboards you can rent to advertise a shop, etc.

As for communicating, there is both IM-ing and more recently, voice chat. I would not be in SL if it wasn't for voice chat as hey, that's what I do! Also because I rather have a free flow of communication rather than waiting for all that typing -- especially if I want to do business.

I have "notecards" (one can read, keep or discard a notecard which is a dropdown text tablet with information on it) in every one of my signs around the shop which lead one to a special website I now have set up for SL promotion (no RL names, numbers, addresses, etc.) www.Slvoiceovers.com

People can also IM me via my profile; which are sent to me as emails when I am not inworld.

Stephanie: Would you say that you're the first voice actor pioneer to stake a claim in Second Life?

Ari Ross: No, there are others so I am not alone. There is one girl who even created a full recording studio with a booth, microphone, etc (!)

Stephanie: If you had any advice to share with other voice actors about how to use the site, what would you say?

Ari Ross: I'd say that if you were so inclined to at least check it out and see what it is, download the program (from secondlife.com) and fly around (yes, we can fly inworld!) and see what's there.

A strong word of advice… SL can be addictive (really) and so the watchword here is indeed discipline. There many, many lands to travel to (BTW you teleport from anywhere on the grid to anywhere else in seconds) and in, people to meet, things to buy and create and so forth so it goes without saying that it can be very easily VERY time consuming.

With strong personal guidelines set? …. It can open up whole new worlds!

I honestly don't know if it will or would end up being a viable promotion tool for my V/O work… but it's kinda cool trying it out and seein' where it might lead…

Ari Ross
www.isdnvoices.com
In SL: Voicedude Reinoir
www.Slvoiceovers.com

~~

Have you had a Second Life experience? Leave a comment!

Photo © Voicedude Reinoir

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Listen to the CBC?

Whether on CBC Radio One, Sirius 137 or online at cbc.ca, be sure to catch Nora Young's show "Spark" at 11:30 a.m. to 12 p.m. EST on January 2nd, 2008 to hear some interesting technological New Year's Resolutions!

You might be surprised who you hear from...

I'm writing this the day before strategically so that you'll receive this with enough time to catch the CBC Radio One show "Spark" at 11:30 a.m. EST on January 2nd 2008 (date fixed - thanks Dan!).

With the New Year coming fast and furious, the crew at Spark decided to throw together a contest wherein 20 people would be selected to win a funky Spark bag if their technology New Year's resolutions struck the fancy of their team.

I happened to be in my car at the time and as soon as I heard Nora Young say to go to the Spark blog, I nearly dropped everything I was doing (parked the car first, of course) and ran to my lap top to leave my 2008 New Year's resolutions on the Spark blog as a comment. The resolutions had to be about technology, and being surrounded by it every day, the list was an easy one for me to compile.

The good news is that out of over 60 responses, mine was one of the 20 chosen to win a Spark bag!

Since my resolutions were just what they were looking for, I was asked to leave a voice message reciting my resolutions on their phone system to air on the show for this week.

Here's the broadcast schedule for Spark:

CBC Radio One:
Wednesdays at 11:30 a.m. (12:00 NT)
Saturdays at 4:00 p.m. (4:30 NT)

Sirius 137:
Wednesdays at 4:30 p.m. ET on Sirius Satellite 137.
Saturdays at 2:00 p.m. ET on Sirius Satellite 137.

If you miss the show (it could happen), I believe there is also podcast that you can subscribe to in iTunes and catch the show after it's been published through their podcast feed.

I'll be listening in and can't wait to hear the other resolutions that were submitted in the New Year!

Best,

Stephanie

P.S. As you might know, there is another New Year's resolutions contest going on in the voice over world. Check out Voice-Overs.com/Forum/ for details.

Photo © CBC

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Caryn Clark recently did some voice over work that you may have seen on television... thanks to technology and an OK from her client, the video Caryn did the voice over for is now up on YouTube!

Come check it out here at VOX Daily and let me know if you've voiced videos found on YouTube as well.

Here's the work Caryn Clark did for one of her clients.

Take a look-see.

Have you done any voice over work for a video that has been posted to YouTube?

Leave a comment and tell us all about it!

Cheers,

Stephanie

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Curious to know which audio books made Audibles Best Audiobooks of 2007 list?

Check the titles out here!

As Audible said last week, it's been an amazing year for long-awaited novels from big-name authors, however, did those big names make the best on the audio book list as well as in print?

Here's a link to the top audio books from Audible for 2007.

The categories are as follows:

Best of 2007: Bios and Memoirs
Best of 2007: Business
Best of 2007: Classics
Best of 2007: Fiction
Best of 2007: History
Best of 2007: Kids and Young Adults
Best of 2007: Mysteries and Thrillers
Best of 2007: Nonfiction
Best of 2007: Religion and Spirituality
Best of 2007: Romance
Best of 2007: Sci-Fi and Fantasy
Best of 2007: Self-Development
Chris Picks His Favorites
Corey Picks His Favorites
Diana Picks Her Favorites
Steve Picks His Favorites

Check them out and let me know if you've listened to any of them or if you have different ideas of what should be on the lists!

Cheers,

Stephanie

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Trying to find a voice to brand your company or hire for your project online?

Voices.com's newest podcast “Voice Casting” is now at your service.

Learn how to find a voice actor, what to look for in a voice, how to work with voice actors, and most importantly, how to brand your company using the power of the human voice.

Ever heard of Voice Casting?

That's the question we're posing to millions of people out there who need to find, hire, and work with voice actors, including many who are doing this for the first time.

Finding a voice has never been easier than it is now thanks to the Internet and the voice over marketplace online, however, selecting the best voice for the job is still somewhat of an art - some might say, even a science!

This podcast, Voice Casting, is designed to help you (a client in need of a voice over recorded), navigate through the world wide web and find the best possible voice actor to record your message professionally and promptly while meeting all of your requirements.

Listen Now!

The first few episodes are ready and the Voice Casting podcast is now available in iTunes for free subscription.

Each episode will focus on how voice over can be used effectively and also how to hire voice actors who will do wonders for your projects and make money in minutes for your business, organization, or institution.

If you have any topics or subjects that you'd like to see covered on Voice Casting, leave a comment or send me an email at stephanie@voices.com

Thanks!

Stephanie

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Want to make better use of your Facebook profile?

If you've got too many applications that don't do much for your voice acting career, you'll want to consider the newest app to hit Facebook created specifically for you to take your social networking to the next level.

Discover "My Voices.com Profile" at Facebook and turn some of your "social networking" friends into business clients.

New Voices.com App for Facebook

The My Voices.com Profile app is meant to help you promote yourself through Facebook.

When we were designing this application, we found it to be an exciting activity because we knew that this app would help you to market your voice and social network with others in a more professional manner through Facebook.

Right off the bat, people will be able to visit your Voices.com profile and listen to your demos, review your information, and also have the opportunity to hire you all because they saw an attractive link that directed them to your place of business at Voices.com.

This is by far the most useful and multi-functional (yet simplistic) app you will ever acquire as a voice actor.

I'm telling ya, you'll love this app!

Why?

1. My Voices.com Profile is functional
2. It could make you money (and it doesn't cost anything to advertise this way!)
3. People can hear your voice and see all of your professional information with one click off your Facebook profile
4. The graphic is sleek, attractive and obvious
5. It's another link pointing to your website

My Voices.com Profile designates you as a voice pro and also quickly and easily guides prospective customers to your website to get their voice over jobs recorded.

Now, there's nothing wrong with other apps, I have many myself. The difference being is that My Voices.com Profile will actually do something for your career.

Add the My Voices.com Profile app at Facebook now

Pretty cool, eh?

Looking forward to seeing your Voices.com Profile ;)

Best,

Stephanie

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According to WineSpectator.com, Canadian comedian and film actor of Blues Brothers fame Dan Aykroyd now has a winery named after him slated to be opened in 2008 in the Beamsville Bench area on the Niagara Peninsula located in Ontario, Canada.

What interests me at present, however, is the image and branding the firm has decided to go with...

Carol forwarded this photo to me of an advertisement for the highly anticipated Dan Aykroyd Winery. An interesting choice of branding imagery to be sure.

Take a look at this mic. Can you tell what brand it is, or is it simply artistic interpretation?

Microphone buffs, what do you think?

What do you think?

Best,

Stephanie

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Been listening to any audiobooks lately?

Over the next four years, there will be 24,000 audiobooks recorded...

the audiobook market is booming!

Share your favorites and hear about some other great audiobooks from your friends at VOX Daily.

Ever heard of Audible.com?

Earlier this Fall, I signed up for a membership at Audible.com and was granted the first of many opportunities to get an audiobook.

The first audiobook is free, so I chose wisely (don't you love picking out things with gift certificates?), and needless to say, this audio book is a winner and has kept me, someone who more often than not falls asleep listening to audiobooks, captivated.

What's the audio book called?

Innocent Traitor: A Novel of Lady Jane Grey, a young woman famously known as the 9 days queen of England following the death of Henry VIII's son Edward VI. The author is Alison Weir and the voice cast includes a number of fantastic female voice talent, Stina Nielsen, Davina Porter, Bianca Amato, and a number of male voice talent.

How did I pick it?

I visited a page on the Audible.com website that listed their top narrators and found the name of a lovely British lady, Davina Porter. After clicking on to see what her credits were, I found an audio book that was very agreeable to my tastes to consider.

The publisher's summary is a helpful tool when picking an audio book that you are unfamiliar with.

This is the summary that caught my eye:

New York Times best-selling author Alison Weir has earned her reputation as the preeminent historian of British royalty. Now with Innocent Traitor, Weir utilizes her vast knowledge and captivating narrative style to craft her first historical novel, choosing Lady Jane Grey, the most sympathetic heroine of Tudor England, as her enthralling subject. The child of a scheming father and ruthless mother, Jane is born during a time when ambition dictates action. Cousin to Edward VI, Mary I, and Elizabeth I, she is merely a pawn in a political and religious game in which one false step means a certain demise. But Lady Jane has remarkable qualities that help her to withstand the constant pressures of the royal machinery far better than most expect. Weir's striking novel sweeps readers back through the centuries to witness firsthand one of the most poignant tales from a time of constant scheming and power brokering.

After listening to a sample of her voice reading a passage from the audio book, I was sold... but I still needed to compare.

Using the search functionality on the site, I proceeded to look up other books of interest along the same lines. I'm a sucker for Tudor England, and my search queries, miraculously enough, happened to bring up the same audio book that I had been interested in after listening to the sample audio.

Why I liked it

This audio book had great momentum and also featured more than one narrator. With many distinct voices including Lady Jane Grey, Frances Brandon, Mary Tudor, the Duke of Northumberland, and one other, an earl. There were a variety of voice ages and perspectives that were able to bring intrigue and enjoyment. I'm a fan of history and anything British, particularly "period" pieces. The length of 18 hours and 14 minutes was also attractive.

"Innocent Traitor" was a beautiful story performed by skilled and desirable voice actors.

Particularly engaging was the voice actress who portrayed Lady Jane Grey. For someone who has listened to hundreds of voice over demos, she was exquisite with regard to her interpretation, demeanor, vocal tonality and transitions in voice ages from that of a child to a teenager to a newly established queen. The ensemble cast of "Innocent Traitor" was complementary, captivating and deserving of highest admiration.

What's Your Favorite Audio Book?

Share your favorites here so that we can all discover some new gems.

Best wishes,

Stephanie

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While awards season is a wee bit off, the nomination season has just begun!

Learn more about a new category announced this year for the British Animation Awards.

It all started with a comment on the blog and away we went!

British Animation Awards 2008

Gulsen Yanik, British Animation Awards producer, contacted me with news about the British Animation Awards new category for Best Character Voice Performance in an animated film.

The category was created along with New Media: Best Animation and New Media: Best Commissioned Animation, focusing on internet and downloadable animation.

The Sound Company, sponsor of the category, helped promote the new category as well as sponsor it.

What's Going On?

The nomination deadline of November 30th, 2007. The organization is headquartered in London, UK.

Each category has three finalists, so that means three fortunate nominees will get to shine in the voice performance category when the judging commences.

Maybe you could be one of them!

Details for Nominations

British-made animated films produced in 2006 or 2007 are eligible. Each production entered requires a separate entry form and VHS(Pal) preview tape or DVD.

Best Character Voice Performance

Awarded to the best vocal performance in an animated film. Entry Fee: £45 plus VAT, unless you have entered for two or more other categories then Entry is FREE.

All categories are judged by Juries, which are made up very carefully from people within and associated with the industry.

Opportunities to Vote

There are three programmes made for the Public Choice Tour, which are made up of the best entries sent to the British Animation Awards. These programmes go to 28 cities in the UK and audiences are able to vote for their favourites. You can get tickets to these via the cinemas themselves. I let Gulsen know that a number of you are in Great Britain and may be interested in attending the showings.

Hungry For More?

Visit the BritishAnimationAwards website to learn more, download the entry form (you'll find it in the News section) and read about fantastic BAA prizes which are made specially for the BAA by animators and artists worldwide.

Let us know if you enter!

Best wishes,

Stephanie

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Do you listen to VOX Talk?

If so, you'll be pleased to hear that Adam Fox, the host of the Tech Talk segment, has just started his own blog at Defiant Digital Productions!

Check out Adam's Tech Talk segments and leave comments about what you've heard on the Defiant Digital Productions Blogcast.

I'm happy to help spread the word about Adam Fox's new blogcast at Defiant Digital Productions.

Adam is posting his Tech Talk segments for you to listen to, comment on and share with your friends. There is an option to subscribe as well, so make sure you do that to keep in the loop.

As mentioned in previous episodes, Adam looks forward to receiving your MP3 feedback (called podmail on the show) and would love to include you in his Tech Talk segments.

Why Participate?

1. It's fun
2. You'll get some publicity
3. You become part of the show
4. You get to know Adam better
5. We'll also link to you from the VOX Talk podcast website

Bonus reason: Did I say that it's fun?

Head on over to Adam's blog and take part in the conversation.

Best wishes,

Stephanie

P.S. If you have recently started a blog, let me know by leaving a comment here on VOX Daily.

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Many moons ago, we did a round up voice actors who write blogs relating to voice over and since then, there have been many more blogs added to the community!

Just how are these people starting blogs and why is it important?

Find out!

What is a blog?

A blog is an online journal produced by an individual, publishing stories or news bits to share with their audience on a regular basis. Some people blog daily, weekly, or whenever the spirit moves them. Blogs give people an outlet to comment on the world around them and are usually themed. For instance, you are reading a voice acting blog right now. VOX Daily is written with voice actors, audio producers and fans of voice actors in mind.

Why do people blog?

Some blog because they want to share knowledge with others, spread a message, or connect with their community and or fan base. Others blog for business reasons while others mix both business and pleasure, similar to what you experience here at VOX Daily.

How can you get started as a blogger?

Getting started in blogging is very easy, in fact, you can do it within several minutes.

All you need to do is go to a website such as Blogger.com to sign-up and secure your own blog and domain name hosted on the service provider's website. Many web services give you the option to have a free account whereas others charge for the use of their blogging software or for additional perks.

Is it hard to blog?

Blogging itself isn't difficult, however, maintaining the will to do so on regular basis is the most challenging part of any blogger's career. Some days you won't feel much like writing, and that's fine. Something you can do is have emergency articles waiting as drafts that you can readily publish if you're short on inspiration or are too busy to start from scratch.

Why should I blog?

There are many different reasons why it behooves (benefits) you to blog. We've discussed reasons and many benefits of blogging before, and now, there are even more blogging benefits since then! In a nutshell, you'll receive benefits relating to community, search engine results, expertise, and personal wellbeing.

Why else is it important to blog?

Blogging as a voice actor gives you opportunities that you may never have otherwise. What a wonderful way to broaden your horizons! For example, you can reach out to others, position yourself as an authority, and develop more content that hungry search engine bots just gobble up. You'll also find that you can make a difference by using your blog as a vehicle to inform, entertain and document happenings as a citizen blogger.

If you have been thinking about starting a blog, you're already on the right track! As with anything that takes dedication, you have to genuinely want to do it in order to be successful and receive enjoyment from your efforts.

Would any of you be interested in learning how to blog? If this sounds like an activity you'd enjoy, let me know by leaving a comment on this article and I'll put something together as a guide.

Also, if you have any specific questions, I invite you to send them to me so that I can incorporate answers to your questions in the guide to make sure we've covered as many areas as we can. You can email your questions to me here: stephanie@voices.com.

Cheers,

Stephanie

©iStockphoto.com/Alex Kalmbach

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These days it's not just about who you know, it's about how many people you "know" that matters.

Are you part of the global online network yet?

Find out how to get connected on VOX Daily where a world of opportunity waits for you.

Will you be my friend?

In a literal sense, being a friend usually entails knowing someone and engaging in activities or community on a regular basis, whether through an organization or personal relationships formed over years of being acquainted.

Usually there are common interests, bonds and even shared relatives or mutual friends.

In recent times, acquiring virtual friendships has entered into our society within the open doors of the Internet by means of social networking sites, sites whose users beg the question, "will you be my friend?"

How many millions of people have experienced the phenomenon of MySpace, Facebook, LinkedIn, and other websites created solely for the purpose of facilitating relationships between people with similar interests and business goals?

The Guardian reports that even relatively unknown social networking sites like Bebo have 80 million people signed up. To put that in perspective, that's one in every three Americans.

If you thought 80 million was huge, MySpace, the first mammoth social networking site (now owned by media tycoon Rupert Murdoch), boasts 205,447,293 members around the world.

How Do You Network Socially?

1. Go to any social networking site
2. Sign-up for a free account
3. Create your profile
4. Start adding "friends" with similar interests
5. Approve people who add you as their "friend"
6. Start communicating!

You'll find that the people you meet and befriend become acquaintances as well as business prospects or peers, possibly even friends in the classical sense.

Many of the team members at Voices.com have online profiles at a number of prominent social networking sites.

We'd love to be your friend. Will you be ours?

You can start by adding David, Erica and I if you like:

Stephanie Ciccarelli

MySpace
Facebook
LinkedIn
Digg
Netscape
Technorati
Sk*rt
Del.icio.us
StumbleUpon
MyBlogLog

David Ciccarelli

Facebook
LinkedIn
YouTube
Digg
Netscape
Technorati
AdGabber
Del.icio.us
StumbleUpon
MyBlogLog

Erica Bontje

StumbleUpon
Digg
Netscape / Propeller
Technorati
del.icio.us

The more of us out there on these sites from the voice over industry, the better.

For example, we can all vote on each others submissions at social networking sites like Digg and raise more awareness for voice acting as well as have a more unified voice on the world stage.

People love learning about voice acting and voice overs, so what are you waiting for?!

This is the perfect mixture of networking for business and pleasure.

Will you be our friend?

Best wishes,

Stephanie, David and the Voices.com Team

©iStockphoto.com/Quavondo

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If you've found our podcasts and bonus material helpful, we'd appreciate you taking a couple minutes to submit a positive review of the shows in iTunes.

Click the link below to go directly to our podcast page in iTunes. Then click on the "Write a Review" link just below the description. We really appreciate it!

Here's a quick recap of the podcasts.

Vox Talk

The #1 voice acting entertainment podcast covering voice acting news, business tips, technology, and an assortment of voice actor contributions.
Write a review for Vox Talk in iTunes »

Voice Over Experts

The most-downloaded educational podcast featuring renowned voice over coaches from US, Canada and abroad. Join us each week for pearls of wisdom and tricks of the trade to improve your voice over career.

Write a review for Voice Over Experts in iTunes »

Thanks in advance :)

Also, if you have a podcast of your own, add a link to it by leaving a comment below and we'll be sure to review it for you.

Stephanie

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Which microphones bring the most sizzle to your recording sessions?

When you think of microphones what's the first brand that pops into your head as being desirable and functional?

Maybe it's a particular model - let us know!

Add your pick here at VOX Daily.

A rose is a rose is a rose... can the same be said about microphones?

Let your mind run wild and forget about the costs associated with some of the most high-end microphones on the market.

After all, when it comes to love, money is no object, right?

Add a comment listing the microphone you deem to be the most captivating!

Looking forward to hearing about your dream microphone :)

Stephanie

©iStockphoto.com/automatika

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We're gearing up for our Voices.com Fall '07 Release and are looking for beta testers to provide some feedback and ideas on how the polished release can be even better!

If you want to be part of this, keep reading...

David posted about the new release in The Biz Blog today and I wanted to be sure to share it with our VOX Daily audience as well :)

In this round of exciting new features and design updates, we've placed a strong emphasis on creating an outstanding search experience. David provides the exact details in his Fall '07 Release article.

If you'd like to be on the beta testing team, leave a comment on David's article at The Biz.

Have a great weekend,

Stephanie

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When you're getting ready to market your voice, which of your web properties (or websites) do you send your prospective clients to?

First impressions are key when you're promoting your voice so I thought I'd ask how you incorporate psychology into direct marketing.

Does the website you send your clients to make a difference to you?

If you're reading this article, chances are you have a website or a place where people can view your profile and portfolio of work online.

My question for you is this:

Are all websites you join the same, or do you prefer to send traffic to one in particular over any of the other web properties you have acquired?

For instance, if you have your very own website, i.e. http://www.yourname.com, you likely will be sending people there first as the website is your own and you control everything that the client is able to do, see, link out from, or consume.

For many of you, this is the case, although, you also have additional websites such as your Voices.com voice acting website where you can invite clients to listen to your voice samples and hire you for work opportunities.

One of the mantras of online marketing is to be seen everywhere; be found everywhere. While that may be good for search engines and the like, inevitably, there is a website that you prefer people see or listen to your voice on for various reasons.

Reasons to direct traffic to a particular website may include:

- Personal taste
- Overall impression
- Interface
- Usability
- Professionalism
- Quality of audio and presentation
- A means to accept payment

So, where do you drive your traffic to?

List your first and second website choices - it's a great exercise and you'll likely get some business too!

Stephanie

P.S. You can also reply via MP3 to air on the VOX Talk podcast! If you are recording your answer, send your MP3 file to stephanie (@) voices.com

©iStockphoto.com/Chad Anderson

---

CNN, "The Most Trusted Name in News", has just ended their 27-year partnership with news source Reuters, an International news gathering body, one of the most renowned out there.

What will CNN do now?

Find out more here at VOX Daily.

Well, anything is possible!

Get this:

CNN cuts loose Reuters after 27 years

By Joshua Chaffin/FT

Published: August 30 2007 23:16 | Last updated: August 30 2007 23:16

CNN is dropping Reuters as one of its main sources of news and video and will instead invest millions of dollars to bolster its own news gathering operations. The move will end a 27-year relationship between the companies that stretches back to CNN’s founding.

~~

That's really just the headline, so if you want to read more, click through the link above on the story title.

In essence, CNN is wanting to create more of its own content that it can use through new media applications and on websites, a huge step forward to becoming more independent as well as assume more control over the news and stories they present to their audience.

CNN is now employing Guerilla Marketing strategies, something that grassroots and independent media outlets have been doing for years, most prominently, bloggers and podcasters. This should be an exciting and innovative chapter in their company history.

As spectators watching from our box in the peanut gallery, CNN's latest corporate decision to cut one of the most trusted news sources out of their fold is interesting to say the least.

What do you think of this new reality? What kind of news and content do you anticipate to spring forth from CNN in the future?

Add your reply and get this conversation going!

Best,

Stephanie

---

A story idea from one of our readers!

What do you think of Vox Studio Software? Ever heard of it? Need it, love it, use it, or what?

Share your thoughts on this piece of software by adding a comment here on the VOX Daily Blog.

Recently, I received an email from Robin Rowan asking me if I've encountered a software program called Vox Studio. This is actually the first I had heard about it I thought it might be fun for all of us here to explore it together.

Robin wrote:

Hi Stephanie,

I just got a request to quote on a 34,000-word dictionary project, where each word needs a separate file! Oh, and it has to be completed by October 1. I had no idea how to bid this job, and totaling up the number of hours it would take to do it left me no time for sleeping! So I called upon other voice talents to ask about how to bid this, and got a wonderful response about VOX STUDIO. What a breakthrough! It is for automated telephone messaging systems mainly, but would work for this, too. Could you tell everyone about this most amazing piece of software? As far as I know, it only works with Windows.

Thanks!

Robin Rowan

~~

Well, I did some research and discovered that Vox Studio is designed and marketed by Xentec in Belgium, and in the words of the company, a dream come true for those who need to record multitudes of audio files.

Here are some paragraphs referenced from the Xentec website regarding Vox Studio.

"Vox Studio is a software tool for telecom professionals. Its purpose is to create speech files for computer-telephony and voice processing applications such as voicemail, interactive voice response, call centers, phone banking, audiotex, telephony portals, voice gateways and the like. Vox Studio speeds up the time-consuming tasks involved in the production of voice files and produces high-quality telephony files. Such files are often classified as "vox" files, hence the name Vox Studio.

With Vox Studio, these voice files (called "prompts" in the industry) can be created on-site using a PC, a multimedia sound card, a decent-quality microphone, and a reasonably-silent recording room.

Vox Studio starts by recording standard Windows ".wav" files. If required, these can be edited in Vox Studio and then converted into telephony files encoded in various flavors of ADPCM, A-law PCM, Mu-law PCM, linear PCM and other formats. In fact, you can convert a message from any supported format to any other supported format. Vox Studio does support a very large portfolio of manufacturer-specific file formats. It can also convert sound files prepared on a Mac into telephony files. This makes the product useful both for telephony system administrators or integrators and for recording studios. The Vox Studio conversion quality is superb and this is one of the reasons why this product has become an industry standard.

Massive prompt-recording sessions (up to thousands of prompts) are facilitated by the "teleprompter", by the "tape loader" and by the "file slicer" functions built into Vox Studio. The prompter flashes texts one by one on the PC's screen while they are read by the voice-talent (the speaker). It is a very easy and productive way of recording a large number of prompts in one session. The tape loader automatically digitizes, cuts and saves a prerecorded studio tape, without operator intervention. The file slicer does the same thing by cutting a large pre-existing ".wav" file into voice "slices". Professional studio recordings can be chopped in pieces very rapidly and saved as separate digital voice files.

Another, highly time-consuming task, automated by Vox Studio, is the cleaning-up (or trimming) of recorded prompts. Vox Studio can add or remove silence at the beginning and at the end of voice files. Vox Studio does this automatically for you and intelligently adjusts the length of silence to your system requirements."

~~

There are a lots of other features built right into Vox Studio and if you'd like to read more about them, visit the Vox Studio product page at their website here.

In summary, Xentec says this of Vox Studio:

Vox Studio is designed to be a productivity tool for sound engineers who regularly need to produce a very large number (i.e. 15,000) of top-quality telecom voice files (but have no time to manually cut, paste and save chunks of sound over and over again). Some of our customers use Vox Studio to produce, literally, tens of thousands of voice files a week. Vox Studio is not another manual sound file editor. There are lots of excellent manual sound editors around if what you are looking for is creativity. If what you are looking for is plain productivity and telecom-specific features, then Vox Studio is what you need.

So, have you had any experience with Vox Studio? What can you share with us about it?

Add a comment with your thoughts.

Best,

Stephanie

---

What do you get when you combine crazy fans, Hasbro figurines, The Transformers, and voice actors Daniel Ross, David Kaye and Peter Cullen?

An awesome video segment on GameOne, that's what!

Want to see some Transformers coverage at BotCon 2007?

If you're into Anime, video games or Transformers, you'll love watching GameOne, a news meets entertainment series on all things gaming, tech and hardcore geeky hosted on GameTrailers.com.

Daniel Ross, voice of Starscream in the Transformers video game, was the person to point me in this direction. Several voice actors from the Transformers franchise are interviewed in this segment, including Daniel. "When I landed the part of Starscream, the fan inside of me was rejoicing because I was able to marry my hobby with my career."

Canadian voice actor and Voices.com talent David Kaye (also a self-proclaimed toy geek) is in this video featured commenting on his evolving roles on The Transformers cartoon series starting out as Megatron all the way up to Optimus Prime in the new series, noting that it is harder to be a "good guy" lately than it is to be on the other side of the tracks.

Peter Cullen, Canadian born voice actor, and original voice of Optimus Prime reprising his role in Michael Bay's movie, Transformers, was also in attendance and interviewed.

Peter revealed, "It's an honor to be able to rep so many great, great fans who fought for me and I'm glad to be back, I must say."

The 2007 Anime Expo is also covered in the video, so if you're an Anime fan, be sure to watch more than just the first segment of video.

Catch the video by clicking through this link.

Cheers,

Stephanie

Image source : My.Opera.com

---

Had a cup of Joe yet today?

Jesse Springer, a VOX Talk correspondent, recently interviewed Joe Cipriano, famed promo voice, Apple spokesperson for podcasting with GarageBand, and one of the PrimeTimeVoices.com crew.

Tune in to VOX Talk to listen to part 1 of 3 in an interview series produced by Jesse Springer with the one and only Joe Cipriano!

Familiar with Joe Cipriano?

Joe is heard on television sets in households everywhere with his recognizable style doing primetime voice over promos for Fox, NBC, and CBS among other stations. He's that voice that promotes shows before they come on the air like The Simpsons for instance.

He's also the live announcer for the Grammys and the Emmys.

Jesse Springer, a professional voice talent based in California and member of Voices.com, has created a three-part interview series to air on the VOX Talk podcast with Joe Cipriano - a podcast series not to miss!

I just published the first interview segment on VOX Talk this morning.

To check it out, go to the Voices.com Podcast Center and click on the VOX Talk "podcover" (that's a jargon term for image or CD cover).

Looking forward to hearing your thoughts!

Best,

Stephanie

P.S. If you can't get enough of Joe, also check out Donna Papacosta's interview with Joe Cipriano from December of last year.

---

The 2007 London Fringe, a festival that features new and upcoming actors, is now in full swing in London, Ontario Canada.

One play in particular, Walking the Labyrinth is a one man show written and performed by Peter Cavell, jam packed with voice overs and well worth attending.

The show is described as follows:

Awakening in an unfamiliar place, the wanderer must find his way through the twisting Labyrinth, and face the beast that waits at the centre. Walking the Labyrinth is a dark, psychological re-imagining of the story of Theseus, combining live and recorded speech, electronic vocal distortion, original music, and 2000-year old poetry.

I attended "Walking the Labyrinth" at The McManus Studio located downtown at The Grand Theatre in London, a stones throw from several local landmarks including Victoria Park, St. Peter's Basilica, and St. Paul's Cathedral.

Synopsis

A brief synopsis of the ancient story is that King Minos of Crete demanded from Athens a yearly tribute of seven youths and seven maidens who were set loose in the Labyrinth, an immense stone maze, to be killed and devoured by the Minotaur. To put an end to the sacrifices, Theseus, son of the King of Athens, volunteered to be part of the tribute. After landing on Crete, he met and fell in love with Ariadne, daughter of King Minos. Ariadne secretly gave Theseus a sword with which to kill the Minotaur and a thread to help him find his way back out of the Labyrinth. He entered the maze, slew the beast, and returned triumphant.

The play starts with heavy breathing and screams with foreign languages being spoken in whispers accompanying the solo actor upon the stage who we soon learn is Theseus of Athens, lost inside the Labyrinth of King Minos.

Performance

The performance was amazing and Peter was able to captivate the audience throughout by using techniques from Greek Theatre, acting as a narrator or interpretor in some cases to communicate the plot from a different point of view to his audience.

There were so many great linguistic qualities in the show as well as technical that I made sure to meet with Peter after the performance to ask him a number of questions about how the show was produced, about the voice overs, sound effects, and use of ancient languages.

As I said, this was a one man show and it was thoroughly accompanied by voice over recordings as well as miked. The disembodied, recorded voice over of Ariadne (Danielle Buonaiuto), both in song and spoken word, spoke to Theseus at times which added a melodic and melancholic air to the production.

The tension in the air was so thick. Themes that ran throughout the character of Theseus and the play itself were anguish and despair which contrasted nicely with Ariadne's hopeful, gentle and somewhat modal intercessions.

Sound Effects

The sound effects used were reminiscent of the stone walls of the Labyrinth; cold, hollow, and wreaked of vermin and infestation. Their hollowness was symbolic of how isolated, desolate and cavernous the Labyrinth of King Minos must have been according to legend and many of the voice overs also took on a life of their own embodying similar traits.

Languages

If you are a language buff, you'll be pleased to know that Peter used not one but five languages in his play to add texture and amplify the other worldly atmosphere of the Labyrinth including Ancient Greek, Ancient Latin and Liturgical Latin, French, and English.

Although Peter honed his musical craft in theory and composition at the University of Western Ontario, the play sprung forth from an opera Peter had written as a Masters student last year at the University of Victoria. He likened the opera and the play to theme and variation.

Recording and Editing Techniques

For recording, Peter employed the Audacity software from his home PC using an SM58 microphone for Ariadne and select voice overs he recorded himself. Two different Shure microphones were used to record with for various voice overs. Peter recorded some of his own voice overs with a headset to keep consistency throughout the live show, wearing the headset on the stage as well.

Audio editing was accomplished by using Adobe Audition. Peter admits that "A liberal application of reverb covers up a lot of nasty stuff (all though you can't use it all the time, obviously)". There also was a lot of EQing going on to emphasize natural vocal qualities. Other effects Peter used included the flange, chorus effect, and a de-hissing tool which he says is fantastic.

The play runs until August 6th at the McManus Studio Theatre.

To learn more about Walking the Labyrinth visit PeterCavell.com.

Image © PeterCavell.com

---

To kick off our Family Week here at VOX Daily, I'd like to start with this gem of a story that features husband and wife collaboration.

Recently, Bobbin Beam and her husband Pete completed the building of Bobbin's home recording booth.

To learn more about the process of building a booth in your own home and find about how Bobbin and Pete successfully completed the booth on their own, read this interview with the one and only, voice actress Bobbin Beam!

Stephanie: What inspired you and your husband to build the booth in your home?

Bobbin: My studio is located in the family office, which means that nobody but me could be there while recording. I preferred everybody out of the house while working. No TVs, no music blasting, no doors closing, no highly energetic 16 year old singing, playing piano, guitar, etc. You get the idea. I also had practically zero desk space, as my equipment took up most of it.

There were other issues, too:

There are airplanes, helicopters, the occasional loud Harleys that roar down the street, the trash truck pick ups on Mondays, next door neighbors mowing lawns, AC and Heater vents, even computer fans create relentless acoustic intrusions into my sensitive mic. All of these noises intruded upon many "takes", slowed the recording process and I felt it was time to step up to the plate and have a sound booth. I looked at several pre-made ones on the Internet, and then Pete found do it yourself sound booth plans for the DAWBOOTH. We ran the costing numbers and it was a no brainer. The DAWBOX could also be disassembled to be moved, if needed. Pete was willing to help. Without his support and "heavy-lifting", it couldn't have happened.

I also now have not only a nice isolation booth, but I now have my separate computer desk, located next to the booth and my original work station back, where I can also edit if I so desire. What I find myself doing a lot is recording in the booth and doing longer edits from my external work station, when I want. It can get a bit closed in - hanging inside the booth for too long a time. This works very well for me.

Stephanie: How did you divvy up the construction? Were you both responsible for gathering the materials and also assembling the booth?

Bobbin: My husband (of 33 years), Pete really did most of the materials purchasing, hauling, fabrication, and foam and carpet installation. I'd caulk, paint, and helped lift and move the pieces from the garage into the office. I also assisted with logistics such as placement of shelving, lighting, wall holes, vent fan, and I handled purchasing my needed mic boom, extension headphone, computer monitor, wireless keyboard and mouse, and assorted USB cables. And a bar stool, of course, for those longer narrations.

Stephanie: How many hours in total did you two spend together working on the booth?

Bobbin: About 28 hours, including trips to Home Depot, Guitar Center, and Fry's Electronics.

Stephanie: What are the dimensions of your booth? Is that a standard size for a home recording studio booth?

Bobbin: Dimensions are 4' x 4' x 86". Some booths I looked at are definitely larger, but this size seemed the best fit for me, and for the space in our family office.

Stephanie: Is building a booth a trying experience similar to how painting or putting wallpaper up is or was it more of a bonding experience?

Bobbin: It wasn't drudgery like wallpaper. It was exciting to put it together from scratch, and it was going to help my business. Definitely a bonding, supportive experience.

Stephanie: I know you have this on your blog, but could you please share the cost breakdown for your booth?

Bobbin: Materials cost $1,113.00 USD. The custom extras including a Mic upgrade was not included in this cost.

Stephanie: Did you do anything special with the decor of the booth to make it more like "home"?

Bobbin: I added some family photos.

Stephanie: What role does Pete play in your career?

Bobbin: My husband has always been supportive of my career. He's been my business partner, and for the last 33 years we're a unit, from my radio career days to my ad agency, to our sign and graphic design business, and throughout it all- to my freelance on camera and voice over talent work.

Stephanie: What is your favorite memory from building the booth with your husband?

Bobbin: Moving day for sure. That was the day it all became real. After about 6 hours of hauling the component parts in from the garage, assembling, fine tuning adjustments, wiring it and setting it up, then turning everything on... and it WORKED! It was immensely exciting and satisfying.

Stephanie: Is there any advice you would like to give to people who want to build their own booth?

Bobbin: Yes, If you end up using DAWBOX 2.0, make sure you contact Justin and obtain the corrected materials list.

Stephanie: Thanks for being a part of the Family Week on VOX Daily Bobbin!

New link to their 4x4x7, 4x6x7, and 6x6x7 plans for the DAWBOOTH courtesy of Justin Lynch, CEO of DAWBOX.

~~

Check out some pictures of Bobbin and Pete's project!

Old Studio set up "Before"

Wood in and on the wagon

Construction in progress

Setting up shop in the office - exterior

Finished interior

Final interior

---

There are many parallels between brick and mortar businesses and their online counterparts.

Today, we'll explore the components of a typical voice acting business and identify the key areas you should be focusing on to make the most of your Online Storefront!

Did you know that your website is your online storefront?

Just as people who walk by physical stores on the street can see what's going on at a place of business, visitors to your website also have the ability to browse your merchandise and become familiar with your personal branding.

You may be wondering how your website functions as a digital store...

Consider the following:

• Audio demos are samples of your product
• Graphics and or photographs are your visual marketing materials
• The URL (website address) is your "location"
• Any studio equipment you use and file delivery methods are production and shipping tools
• How you actually record, edit, mix and deliver your files embodies your business operations
• Your site navigation is like the layout of a physical store
• If you have a site map, it helps to direct people to what they are looking for like a map in a department store
• Showcasing testimonials, affiliations and experience in easily accessible areas of your website builds credibility and instills trust with a customer

Also, having your contact information present enables people to do business with you. Detailing information about yourself, even though you aren't actually in the presence of a prospective customer, gives a good first impression of your personality, qualifications and services.

Rather than just thinking your Profile is an online resume, kick it up a notch and view your website as an online storefront, truly, the place where business gets done.

If you're a member at Voices.com, you already have a customizable storefront complete with a variety of color themes and templates that you can use to really make your brand come alive on the web.

Do you consider your website to be your online storefront; a place where business gets done?

Best wishes,

Stephanie

©iStockphoto.com/Knud Nielsen

---

To wrap up our week on education, today you'll get a comprehensive list of everything on the website that can help you succeed in voice overs!

From blogs, podcasts, videos, free downloads, and educational packages, whatever you're looking for is right here in this article with handy links to get right to the source.

BLOGS

VOX Daily
Author: Stephanie Ciccarelli
A daily dose of voice acting news, articles, tutorials, interviews, intelligent conversation and business ideas.
Read this blog if you are: A voice actor, talent agent, voice over coach, casting director, journalist, audio producer, musician, public speaker, student, or member of the entertainment industry.
Subscribe >>

Casting Voices
Author: Erica Bontje / Stephanie Ciccarelli
Pick up tips on how to pick the perfect voice for your project and read about the latest in voice casting news from Hollywood and around the world.
Read this blog if you are: A talent agent, casting director, advertising agency, small business, manager, voice actor, student, or journalist.
Subscribe >>

Ask the Voice Cat
Author: Marc Cashman
Q&A with a professional voice over coach and commercial voice over talent.
Read this blog if you are: A voice actor, singer, student, teacher, voice over coach, actor, musician, or a talent agent.
Subscribe >>

Master VO
Author: Dan Lenard
Demystifying the home recording studio, one question at a time. Q&A with a professional voice talent and audio production coach.
Read this blog if you are: A voice actor, an audio engineer, student, radio personality, setting up a home recording studio, podcaster, or hobby engineer.
Subscribe >>

The Biz
Author: David Ciccarelli
Get the inside scoop from the CEO of Voices.com and learn more about the business of the business, including marketing strategies, how you can use technology, and more.
Read this blog if you are: An entrepreneur, small business owner, web designer, tech enthusiast, CEO, audio engineer, or a decision maker in the advertising or entertainment industry.
Subscribe >>

PODCASTS

VOX Talk
Host: Stephanie Ciccarelli
The #1 voice acting entertainment podcast covering voice acting news, business tips, technology, and an assortment of voice actor contributions. This show is produced weekly.
Listen to this podcast if you are: A voice actor, talent agent, voice over coach, student, audio producer, actor, theatre major, musician, podcaster.
Subscribe: Free in iTunes >>

Voice Over Experts
Host: Julie-Ann Dean
The #1 educational podcast featuring renowned voice over coaches from US, Canada and abroad. Join us each week for pearls of wisdom and tricks of the trade to improve your voice over career. This show is produced weekly.
Listen to this podcast if you are: A voice actor, actor, public speaker, voice over coach, student, producer, instructor, voice talent agent, or a casting director.
Subscribe: Free in iTunes >>

VIDEOS

Tutorials
Learn how to use the Voices.com website to your advantage with interactive videos that entertain as well as educate.
Watch these videos if you are: Voice actor, person hiring voice actors, or a customer of Voices.com.
Subscribe: Free in iTunes >>

Commercials
What if Life Had a Soundtrack? Find out in our series of commercials for the web featuring two great actors and hear a variety of narration styles as they hear a soundtrack narrate their lives, turning the mundane into the interesting.
Watch these videos if you are: A voice actor, casting director, agent, someone hiring voice actors, or a fan of videos.
Subscribe: Free in iTunes >>

DOCUMENTS

Official Voices.com User Guide
Find out everything you've ever wanted to know about how to use the Voices.com web service from both the perspective of a person hiring voice actors (client) and that of a voice actor.
Read this document if you are: A customer of Voices.com, whether a client or voice actor member.
Download the PDF now! >>

Getting Started in Voice Overs
Quickly learn the basics of what it takes to make it in the voice over industry with this attractive and useful guide.
Read this document if you are: A voice actor, actor, musician, changing careers, student or voice professional.
Download the PDF now! >>

Blueprint for Voice Acting Success
Discover how easy it is to succeed as a career voice actor. Learn more about managing and promoting your business online using the Voices.com website.
Read this document if you are: A voice actor, voice talent, public speaker, voice talent agent, or student.
Download the PDF now! >>

Voice Over in the Google Era
Google can help you in some major ways when it comes to running your business and being found online. This document will teach you the basics of Google, list Google properties that you can use, and demonstrate how you can make waves with search engine optimization.
Read this document if you:
Download the PDF now! >>

Small Business Podcasting Kit
Want to learn how to podcast? Download this free kit on how to bring your podcast from concept to completion.
Read this document if you are: Starting a podcast, are interested in podcasting, are a podcaster, voice actor, student, or an advertising agency.
Download the PDF now! >>

Voice Over Rate Sheet
Wonder how much a non-union voice over goes for? Download this sheet to find out the general cost of commercials, narration, telephone voice overs, and more.
Read this document if you: Hiring voice actors or are in need of a reference sheet for quoting clients.
Download the PDF now! >>

The Definitive Guide to Voice Over Success
Getting started in voice overs has never been easier with Voices.com's best selling eBook, The Definitive Guide to Voice Over Success. Learn how to build your brand, web presence, and record professionally from home.
Read this document if you are: Getting started in voice overs, are a voice actor, student, professional voice actor, or audio producer.
Buy the eBook for $29.95 now! >>

The Voice Over Script Collection
50 original scripts including telephone, commercials, promos, station IDs, narration and more. Use these scripts to practice from and change the fictitious names of products or companies to suit your needs. Perfect for rehearsal and material to record a voice over demo.
Read this document if you are: A voice actor, voice over talent, public speaker, teacher, voice over instructor, advertising agency or student.
Buy the eBook for $29.95 now! >>

Commercial Scripts for Radio and Television Ads
50 original royalty-free scripts to be used for television and radio advertisements covering a variety of industries. Comes with artistic direction as well as voice casting suggestions.
Read this document if you are: Producing a commercial for radio, television, podcast, or web broadcast.
Buy the eBook for $29.95 now! >>

Frequently Asked Questions
Search the Solutions Database that holds over 500 answers to common questions about the industry and how Voices.com works.
Visit the FAQs:
Visit the FAQs now >>

If you found this list useful, please leave a comment!

Thanks,

Stephanie

P.S. Happy Canada Day (July 1st!)

---

Do you want to learn the basics of recording from home quickly with the minimum amount of time and expense?

Check out this review on Pat Fraley's book / CD combo, "The Gypsy's Guide to Professional Home Recording" to learn the rudiments of producing professional audio at home on your PC or Mac.

A little while ago, I received a very generous gift package from Pat Fraley with all of his published learning materials for review here on VOX Daily.

I thought it would be excellent timing to start our reviews off with one of Pat's Gypsy Guides, specifically the Gypsy's Guide to Professional Home Recording, very apropos for what we've been talking about of late regarding audio production and professional home recording.

First, let me tell you a bit about Pat Fraley.

Pat is an extraordinary teacher based in Los Angeles, CA who is a sought after teacher of character, dialects, and audiobook voice over, and a performer who works in Hollywood providing his voice for animation and ADR (automatic dialog replacement).

Over his illustrious career, Pat Fraley has created over 4,000 character voices, placing him among the top ten performers of all time to be cast in animation. Pat also provides voice matching services for actor Tim Allen on movies such as Toy Story II and Wild Hogs to mention just a couple.

Teaching at events, workshops, conferences and seminars across the US, Pat's unique character voice curriculum is the only one accredited at the university level. He has taught voice over for 34 years, is a member of The Voice and Speech Trainers of America, and holds a Master of Fine Arts degree in Professional Acting from Cornell University.

What's more is that Pat also creates wonderful developmental products for purchase that get you going at prices you can afford.

One of Pat's sayings is that "Experience is not the best teacher, it's the slowest".

Having met Pat personally in Las Vegas at VOICE 2007, my first impression of him live correlated with how he presents himself online; a master voice actor and educator whose passion is to help people reach their full potential both in the training studio and in the real world of voice over work.

He is a professional that fully believes that as a teacher, one of his chief responsibilities is to expedite the learning process by sharing his experiences and he also plays an active role in getting work and setting up opportunities for his students, taking the classroom into the marketplace.

Now that you have a picture of who Pat is and his philosophies on education, let's get into the review.

Review of The Gypsy's Guide to Professional Home Recording

In The Gypsy's Guide to Professional Home Recording, Pat addresses:

• How to buy the least expensive professional-quality recording equipment
• How to set up the equipment
• Tips on recording and editing your own audio tracks
• How to convert your audition tracks to MP3 files
• How to upload and email MP3 files to agents, casting houses and producers
• How to direct yourself in the privacy of your own home
• How and where to set up a recording space in your home or garage
• Tips on how to record audiobooks

As I said before, Pat is a fan of brevity and likes to make your experiences learning this vital information as quick and humorous as possible.

The Gypsy's Guide to Professional Home Recording comes with a workbook (37 pages of text with a number of pictures) and a companion CD which Pat co-hosts with his partner and recent Audie Award nominee, Hillary Huber.

You'll be delighted to hear that the CD is very entertaining, has great chemistry between the hosts, and is very insightful. The CD runs for about 57 minutes.

The Guide is made with voice actors in mind who haven't yet tackled setting up their own home recording studio.

At the onset, Pat revealed the immediate benefits of Home Recording which I will detail below:

1. Facility of recording auditions at home
2. Convenience
3. Inexpensive compared to former days
4. You can get yourself work without leaving home or paying for studio time elsewhere

One of the most impressive aspects of the CD was how interactive it was. Since Pat and Hillary were communicating directly with each other and their listener, all of the recording jargon / terminology was demonstrated on the recording so that you could hear the difference between say a condenser microphone and a dynamic microphone.

Another goal of this book was to help you find the best possible recording equipment for the least amount of cost. As Pat says, "Sound is about sound, not looks".

Pat dispels the myth that more expensive or elaborate is better and personally guides you through a tour of several different microphones, clearly showing that the most expensive doesn't necessarily sound best when compared to similar microphones that run at cheaper prices on the market.

At the back of the book, Pat includes links to websites where you can locate the items mentioned in the book and on the CD.

If you purchase the products that are listed in Pat and Hillary's grocery list of items, the tally comes in under US$350 to setup your entire home recording studio as a beginner starting out.

In summary, Pat's The Gypsy's Guide to Home Recording teaches more than just the how-tos of setting up and using a home studio. He also prepares you to direct yourself with several tools including text analysis (helps you to deliver lines and grasp the concept or purpose of the copy), an interesting interview with a prominent sound booth director on what makes the difference between an audition that gets work and one that hinders it, where to find free sound effects and how to interpret copy.

If you'd like to buy a copy of "The Gypsy's Guide to Professional Home Recording", you can visit Pat's VO Store here:

Pat Fraley VO Store

Have any of you already listened to the CD and read this book?

If so, please leave a comment with your remarks.

Best wishes,

Stephanie

---

Just learning the business of how to set up your home recording studio?

Do you need some assistance learning how to use the software or equipment?

Consider acquiring an education in audio production and audio engineering and find out where people with the proverbial "golden ears" go to school.

We've spent a lot of time on the artistic and promotional development of your business over the last while, so there's no better time to take a look at fine tuning the technical side of your voice over business.

What am I talking about?

Audio production, of course!

Just like how there are training sessions, classes and online courses for voice acting, there are formal schools to learn the art and science of audio production.

One such institution is OIART, the Ontario Institute of Audio Recording Technology, located here in London, ON Canada.

OIART offers a one year intensive program that is renowned as the best in the country for producing professional audio engineering graduates.

At OIART, the staff immerses their students in the art and science of music production and sound recording technologies, nurturing their passion for audio while truly preparing them to meet the demands of the audio production industry. OIART helps students become recording engineers and their grads are among the most employable in this exciting industry.

Another school that you may have heard of is Full Sail's Recording Arts Associate Degree Program based in Orlando, FL.

Full Sail offers an intensive audio education that covers every facet of music and audio production – from tracking and overdubs to mixing and mastering – in a college environment unlike any other. Full Sail's professional recording studios allow you to record artists using the same microphones, mixing boards, and digital audio workstations used in studios all over the world.

Those are just two examples of educational institutes where you can become an audio engineer and gain a greater appreciation for audio production.

Another link I'd like to share with you is to the Audio Engineering Society (AES).

Are any of you graduates of these schools or similar audio education institutions?

Leave a comment!

Cheers,

Stephanie

©iStockphoto.com/tyndyra

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Remember when we talked about Podcasting last week?

There's a contest out now put on by the Create Business Growth gang where they are giving away $335 worth of podcasting gear and books.

Sounds good, doesn't it?

Want to learn more?

I received an invitation from Christine at Create Business Growth to spread the word about their contest to win some pretty snazzy getting started gear that would more than get a beginner podcaster or aspiring voice professional on their way to podcasting and audio production success.

Here's what you could win:

MXL 990 Condenser Microphone with Shockmount

Behringer Microphono PP400 Phono Preamp

Sony MDR-V150 Monitor Series Headphones with Reversible Earcups

CAD EPF-15A 6-Inch Flexible Pop Filter

Tricks of the Podcasting Masters

Podcasting: Do It Yourself Guide

To qualify, all you need to do is subscribe to the Create Business Growth RSS feed and email Christine to let her know you have done so. If you are really ambitious, you could choose to write about the contest on your blog and receive more chances to win.

I've already done this (as you can see) and if we win this prize package, we will give it to one of you at Voices.com to help you start podcasting and recording your voice.

Of course, you are more than welcome to enter the contest yourself and increase the likelihood that you will win the contest and the gear!

Learn more about the contest here:

http://createbusinessgrowth.com/what-is-rss/win-podcast-gear

Remember to subscribe to their feed by July 18, 2007 in order to qualify for the draw.

Best wishes,

Stephanie

©iStockphoto.com/Alex Kalmbach

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If you ask Apple, iTunes is defined as the entertainment center of your world.

To bring Podcasting Week 2007 to a close, we'd like to ask one question of you...

What's in your iTunes?

Ah, the question of the day: What's in your iTunes?

iTunes is amazing, isn't it? You can search through literally thousands of different podcasts and find shows that are easily subscribed to and fun to consume.

Now that iTunes is both Apple and PC compatible, we can all enjoy access to the iTunes Podcast Directory, a virtual hub of podcasts from around the world that is compiled by category as well as popularity.

One of the beauties of the Apple