fraley fantastic

Pat Fraley and Peter O\'Connell

It’s been a long day but thanks to Toni Silveri and All Coast Talent, who brought in Pat Fraley to Buffalo, it’s been a good day.

Saturday Pat presented “The Silly, The Subtle and The Serious” on animation, interactive and audiobook voice development. Today, the workshop I attended was “The Billion $ Read” on how to make money reading and recording books. What was nice about this workshop was that Pat gave each participant a billion dollars at its completion. Imagine my surprise!

Having voiced and produced audiobooks, I got strange looks from some folks (mostly outside the VO world) who wondered why I would take a seminar on something I can already do.

Well, ok, I do make money as an audiobook reader and have been for sometime but the point is it’s mostly self directed. To me that’s not good. I can’t be effectively critical of my performance and improve it if left to my own devices. Via the seminar, Pat comes in as a third party omniscient (to coin a literary term) sharing both his professional experiences and his ear on my performance. I need that and I want that from someone whose opinion I respect like Pat.

During the workshop, held at the studios of my friends Alan and Kim at Chameleon Communications, Pat pointed out my strengths and areas I need to work on or could improve on. We all have them but I’m willing to seek out the critique. I will be better for it.

Further, by interacting with my fellow voice talents (some of whom I had never met…I love that) I got to watch their voice acting process, learn from them and share insights. Voice Over is a lonely business most of the time and seminars like Pat Fraley’s are a kind of a meeting of fellow addicts without the ugly baggage.

Steve Copper (in booth) and Pat Fraley, August 2008
For whatever it’s worth to you, I recommend Pat’s seminars. You will learn if you listen. You will improve if you’re open.

Now Pat didn’t ask me to endorse him. I only know him professionally, not personally and frankly if he saw me on the street next week he probably wouldn’t know me…teachers like him are always at that kind of disadvantage. But I know good teaching styles and Pat’s is good. I think it’s even improved since I studied with him two years ago.

For what it’s worth, if you can get to a Fraley workshop, I say take it.

Thanks for reading.

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5 Responses to “fraley fantastic”

  1. […] me of followup comments via e-mail « audio’connell shot fraley fantastic […]

  2. I’ve taken three workshops with Pat in the last year and a half and came away from each feeling encouraged, respected and filled to brim with new techniques and insights into the business. He’s gifted and he’s a lot of fun too.

  3. Hi Nancy:

    I totally get where you’re coming from on Pat’s teaching talents. He clearly loves it. This is my second Fraley workshop and I’ve enjoyed both.

    Thanks for visiting, you’re always welcome here.

    Best always,
    – Peter

  4. Thanks Peter. I’ve been reading for awhile–sorry it took so long to leave my first comment. I really enjoy and learn a lot from this blog!

  5. No problem Nancy, Always glad to welcome a new commenter. Don’t be a stranger!

    Best always,
    – Peter