Happy National Library Week 2024! I love my town’s libraries and this year they are celebrating their 95th year! Each branch of the Edison Public Library marked the occasion with a celebration of refreshments and music.
As an added bonus, the Bookmobile was parked outside and was open! I love going inside the Bookmobile because I just love the concept of driving books around to the parts of town that aren’t near a branch to ensure that people have access.
My parents always took me to our local library when I was a kid, where we borrowed books & videos and attended kids’ programs. And I started taking my kids when they were young so they could experience all that our town’s libraries have to offer. In addition to borrowing books, magazines, movies, and games, we’ve attended kids’ programs and always participate in the summer reading program. We’ve won lots of prizes over the years! I enjoy the library’s book club and the newly formed artist’s roundtable program. Public libraries are a treasure!
Check out my Short about my experience viewing the solar eclipse on April 8, 2024, with the path of totality. What an incredible experience!
For about 2 minutes, I watched as the moon blocked the sun and a beautiful white-hot ring of light appeared in the sky. I can appreciate what ancient people must have felt after such an event.
On Monday, I was in a parking lot with lots of other people, and this added to the gravity and drama of the moments when the crowd reacted to the different stages of the eclipse.
After this incredible experience, I can understand why some people chase eclipses all over the world (I’ve learned that they are called umbraphiles), and if I had the money I would do it, too!
It was hard to get my camera to cooperate with getting any good shots of the eclipse, but for me, this video helps to sum up the event and will help me remember the experience. Let me know if you have any questions!
This video features a project that I created as part of VO Coach @DomingoVoiceOver‘s monthly challenges, and for this month, we read a narration script of our choosing.
In honor of Women’s History Month, I adapted this script from several sources, expanding on last year’s video on the same topic of the Seneca Falls Convention of 1848. You can check that out here: • Women’s History Month Narration, Marc…
For this year’s project, I recorded the script in my home studio, edited and mixed it with music, and then created the video using Canva.
Declaration of Sentiments: Library of Congress: https://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/201… Title: Exhibit at the museum of the Women’s Rights National Historic Park in Seneca Falls, New York Creator(s): Highsmith, Carol M., 1946-, photographer
It’s that time of year again! Friends & Family Furniture is having a sale! 💥💥
This is my project for Domingo Castillo‘s monthly challenge, and just like last year, the fictitious furniture store is having their anniversary sale 😄 🎉 🥂
Thanks to the fabulous Bruce Nix for being my “Voice 2” on this project, and thanks to Domingo for the opportunity to participate in the fun! Bruce and I each recorded our parts of the script, then I edited & mixed it with music and made the video using Canva.
Have a great weekend, and if you’re going furniture shopping, I know a place with great sale 😉
The video that I created for this month’s VO Challenge – Women’s History Narration
This video features a project that I created as part of VO Coach Domingo Castillo’s monthly challenges, and this month was all about narration. We read a narration script from several that he provided, and I chose this one about Charlotte Woodward and the Seneca Falls Convention of 1848 in honor of Women’s History Month.
For this project, I recorded the script in my home studio, edited and mixed it with music, and then created the video. It was my first time using Canva to make a video and it was a great experience! I love Canva for graphics, and making the video was easy and fun. I had used Headliner in the past, but Canva is more flexible.
Thank you so much to the National Association of Voice Actors (NAVA) and to Tom Dheere for offering his awesome class about VO business strategies tonight to NAVA members:
Get Your Act Together for 2023 with The VO Strategist, Tom Dheere!
Thinking and executing like a business was the key takeaway, and Tom discussed ideas like having the right mindset, defining success, creating a business plan, and so much more.
Thanks so much for this valuable presentation for NAVA members!!
If you are a voice actor who hasn’t joined NAVA, check out the benefits here: https://navavoices.org/
VO Coach Domingo Castillo offers monthly challenges to all of his students, and for February the task was to create an ad for a furniture store featuring two voices. Thank you to the fabulous Bruce Nix for starring as Voice 2 in my project!
For this challenge, Bruce and I each recorded our parts of the script in our home studios, I edited and mixed them with music, and then created the video using Headliner using clips from Pexels.
This was my first attempt at creating a video with clips — I usually have a static image in the background — and it was pretty easy and fun. It’s always good to challenge yourself to try something new.
Thanks to Domingo for offering these monthly challenges and thanks again to Bruce for your excellent work!
Happy 2023!! Here’s wishing a very happy and healthy year to you and your family!
Before jumping into another year’s worth of…everything, I wanted to pause for a moment to think about 2022.
In some ways, the last year felt like it flew by at the speed of light, and in other ways it feels like time took forever to pass and that I’ve aged 10 years. Reflecting on my professional adventures in 2022, a few things stood out.
First off, thank you to my wonderful VO and writing/editing clients for another successful year! Working with you is a pleasure.
I had many opportunities to learn new things last year, and I’m thankful that I was able to attend several online conferences, including the Actors Summit, the Women in Voice Summit, eVOcation, and Voice 2022.
In addition to learning and networking online, I’m grateful that I had the opportunity to attend PsychCongress in New Orleans last year. I learned so much and explored a new city while covering this conference for Psycom Pro, where I attended sessions about psychiatric questionnaires, anxiety, suicide, and ADHD, to name a few.
Professional development comes in many forms, and I’m happy that I was able to continue and expand my voiceover training by taking improv, singing, and acting classes. I’ve also been adding to my YouTube channel. Last year I also found some great VO resources on Clubhouse to learn from the pros (see rooms by Marc Guss and Liz Atherton) and to connect with colleagues (looking at you, The Working Voice Actor!) Toward the end of 2022, I was delighted to join the National Association of Voice Actors, a nonprofit organization that offers healthcare plans in addition to many other benefits.
Last year I continued to study French (shout out to Chloe Dash Ines for being an amazing teacher) and it brings me much joy. Another area of interest was learning about conversational AI and how to design conversations for chat and voice assistants. Women in Voice is an amazing resource for those interested in voice and technology.
Wrapping up last year’s wrap-up, I wanted to say that I’m grateful for the relationships that are a part of my professional and personal life. I’d like to thank my clients, colleagues, and friends for being a part of my journey. (And if we haven’t met yet, thank you for reading.) I look forward to working with you, learning from you, and getting to know you better!
Let’s face the new year with a mindset of openness and courage – we can do it!
Huge thanks to Marc Guss and his guest tonight on the Marc Guss Voiceover Club, Cliff Zellman! Cliff is a leader in the world of automotive voiceover, and tonight he worked with Marc and the audience in an automotive VO intensive.
Cliff shared a bit about his background, and his start as a guitar player working at a recording studio, where he became interested in production. He worked his way up to chief audio engineer, and after a while he got into voiceover for animation. His work as a recordist for Saturday morning cartoons, Disney, and others allowed him to learn a lot sitting next to many brilliant directors and watching them interact with the talent.
When Cliff moved from LA to Dallas, he got into automotive, where he was able to write, direct, and use his engineering skills. Cliff estimated tonight that he may have produced nearly 23,000 car spots in his career.
Cliff and Marc discussed the 3 tiers of automotive advertising:
Tier 1 is vehicle-specific advertising and they are national ads (with no specific location)
Tier 2 is for regional groups. Cliff said that dealerships in a specific region get together to discuss strategies and budgets, and that they pool resources for advertising.
Tier 3 is for one-owner dealerships. That owner may have multiple dealerships, but it’s usually an ad for one owner. These ads change frequently because of different sales incentives, so that means a steady flow of new spots for the talent to record.
Cliff said that there are about 18,000 new car dealerships and around 37,000 used car dealerships in the US — that’s a lot of Tier 3 ads! Marc added that it’s one of the top volume areas of work in voiceover, and he and Cliff agreed that they have seen talent keep clients year after year.
“Sometimes the voices become members of the community,” Cliff added, explaining that the dealership owners often don’t want to change a voice if it’s been working for them. This is because of the importance of branding in automotive advertising, Cliff said.
Marc asked about the current trends in Tier 3, with the traditional big, booming voice sound. Is that changing at all? Cliff recalled the start of the pandemic lockdowns in early March 2020, when he suddenly had every clients telling him that they need to change their ads immediately. Instead of saying “come down this weekend,” owners needed to change their message to being accommodating and reassuring to customers.
“Hopefully we’ll maintain this level of community involvement,” Cliff said, noting that the trend is still along the lines of “come on in, we’re your family.” He said that “yellin’ and sellin’” style (I love that phrase!) seems to be out in favor of this more understanding approach since the pandemic started. “We’re not yelling anymore,” he said.
Thanks so much to Marc and Cliff for their advice and insight into the industry, and thanks to the audience reads that helped everyone listening learn so much!
Marc noted that the club will take a 2-week summer break, but after that you can check out the Marc Guss Voiceover Club every Wednesday night on Clubhouse at 8:30 pm ET. You can read more of my recaps of Marc’s Clubhouse rooms by checking out this link.
Huge thanks to Marc Guss and his guest tonight on the Marc Guss Voiceover Club, Jake Gerloff! Jake is part of the West Coast team at ACM, and tonight he worked with Marc and the audience in a sports promo intensive.
Jake said that he moved to LA after attending UC Davis because he knew he wanted to work in entertainment. After 6 months in the mail room at WME, he started working in voiceover, saying he liked the fast-paced nature of the business. He’s been with ACM for the past 2 years and loves it.
Jake has worked with so many networks on sports promos that I didn’t catch them all, but they include Fox Sports, NFL Network, ESPN, Tennis Channel, and many more. He and Marc talked about how it can be hard to break into sports promo, but Jake said that most networks he works with keep their talent year to year. They also discussed the rise of opportunities for female talent in sports promos.
In terms of the sound of the reads, Jake and Marc talked about how some channels want a big booming voice, but that a more conversational read is preferred by other channels, or for certain events or sports. You want to feel like your buddy is telling you to watch an upcoming Lakers game, Jake said as an example. But if it’s a bull-riding competition, that’s something that jumps off the screen so it’s going to be a more booming voice, he said.
Marc asked Jake about sport promo demos and how often networks ask for them. Jake said that he feels it’s not as necessary as perhaps it was in the past, adding that networks rarely ask him for demos and that it’s mainly about auditions.
Regarding auditions, Jake’s advice was to stick to the script’s direction and throw in 3-4 takes since promo scripts are usually short. “I encourage variety,” he said, advising voice talent to show off their range and give the buyers some options. Marc agreed, adding some advice that he’s discussed in the club many times before which is that producers may not know what they’re looking for until they hear it. So giving options is a good idea.
Thanks so much to Marc and Jake for their advice and insight into the industry, and thanks to the audience questions that helped everyone listening learn so much! Check out the Marc Guss Voiceover Club every Wednesday night on Clubhouse at 8:30 pm ET. You can read more of my recaps of Marc’s Clubhouse rooms by checking out this link.
