Doodling Leads to Inspiration for New Logo

Peter K O'Connell Your Friendly Neighborhood Voiceover Talent

It is possible that in another life I wanted to be a graphic artist.

While voiceover is what I love (and I have some abilities), I enjoying playing around with graphic design and fonts (certainly my efforts would not qualify as ‘having abilities’).

Peter_K._O'Connell Voiceover Talent Logo Scripted font

The 2016 logo for “Peter K. O’Connell Your Friendly, Neighborhood Voiceover Talent” featured a more prominent position for the voice talent’s name and added the blue colors more commonly associated with his new home state of North Carolina

While I have designed all the logos I have used for my companies, I require the skills of a much more talented graphic designer to bring them to life. Thank God for her and her patience with me.

So why did I create the new logo in March of 2023?

When I moved down to Raleigh from Buffalo in 2016, I knew I wanted to update my voiceover logo and colors to reflect my new area (hence the move to blues and away from the original red and black). Plus, I never felt I really made my longtime tag line “Your Friendly, Neighborhood Voiceover Talent” LOOK friendly enough.

Also at the time, I correctly believed I needed to focus a bit more on the “Peter K. O’Connell” part of my brand as people sometimes didn’t understand that it was ME doing the voice work.

“So I get it’s your company (audio’connell) but who does the actual voiceover work?” Um. Uh. Me. I…do the, uh, voiceover work. For many decades now.

Awkward.

Yes, my name is the name of the product I’m selling (me) but I have always been self-conscious about it. It’s a conundrum – not wanting to promote yourself yet you are the brand..so you kinda have to promote yourself. It’s complicated.

The challenge about that prominent name placement in my logo was/is that it didn’t and never has felt natural and comfortable to me. I have always been self-conscious about the necessary evil of self-promotion in my voiceover business but in recent months, the name part just became personally annoying.

40th Voiceover Anniversary Peter K. O'Connell

A version of the “Peter K. O’Connell Your Friendly, Neighborhood Voiceover Talent” logo modified for the male voice actor’s 40th year in voiceover

From a business marketing perspective, this may be one of the stupidest reasons to change a logo…what if the rest of the world likes the logo just fine? Why ruin a good thing? What if they hate the new logo. Stop changing things!!!

And then the self-loathing question…does anyone else really care or notice the “Peter” logo? Or ANY of your logos? (Geez, here we go….).

Anyway, that’s where my head was at for a long while.

So one night, not thinking I would be changing a logo and not actually focused on that thought, I was playing around with some fonts….and I hit on one that I thought really looked sharp when it spelled out “Your Friendly, Neighborhood Voiceover Talent”. It gave me a nice endorphin rush as I arranged the letters and words.

Ooooo, that’s a good sign. A design that was more about the “Friendly” and less about “Peter”.

But the design needed something else…and I remembered my great RCA-77 microphone that was part of a popular audio’connell logo from years gone by. When I added that mic to the words, the logo clicked for me. I slapped my name domain (peterkoconnell.com) at the bottom, readable but not prominent and I immediately felt more at ease.

Conscience relieved. Branding served. Win, win.

Then I showed the draft of the logo to a person whose opinion I respect…they liked the logo but didn’t think the font I liked was particularly “friendly”.

I tried to brush that comment off…of course the font was friendly.

Of course…it….was.

And I was about to get ready to finish the logo with the maybe-not-as-friendly-as-I-thought font when I got an email.

I believe in signs and this email had to be a sign.

It was a email announcing some new fonts from a type foundry and the email had in it a very friendly looking font.

I thought “she’ll kill me for making ANOTHER change” yet I sent the new friendlier font over to my designer anyway and she set it up.

Ooops.

Somehow the friendliness of the new font didn’t translate into the logo. The font looked kinda short and fat and frumpy.

I was a bit sad about it. Wasting time, wasting money. Oy!

Then I asked the designer, in a last ditch effort on my part, to squish inwards the left and right sides of the word mark together to see how it looked that way, a bit taller, hopefully?

Peter K. O'Connell Your Friendly, Neighborhood Voiceover Talent Logo 2023_png

The 2023 version of the Peter K. O’Connell Your Friendly, Neighborhood Voiceover Talent Logo

Bingo. The word mark looked taller, sharper & friendly. That’s what you see now. Many endorphins. A fireworks of endorphins. It was done.

As much as I like the new logo now, I cannot guarantee that in another 7 years, I won’t change it again.

Because it is possible that in another life I wanted to be a graphic artist.

Nobody Cares As Much About Your Voiceover Demo As You Do

Other than an actor’s voice and personality, there is probably no more important marketing tool a voice actor has than his/her voiceover demo.

It’s how all your training and talent manifests itself — shouting to the world that you are a professional voice actor. The well-produced voiceover demo is the audio personification of your performing abilities. Woot!!!

Oh, and nobody really cares about your voiceover demo.

Sure, people who hire you (producers & clients) will listen to it see if you have and can deliver the sound they want.

Of course agents will listen to see if you’re presenting what’s trending in the voiceover world so they can sell your voice with your demo.

But their interactions with your demo is likely very short….seconds rather than minutes. They listen, they make a decision, they move on.

And yet as voiceover talents, don’t we fret, stress and strain over every syllable uttered, every musical note played and every sound effect…effected. Don’t even get me started on the order of demo segments.

We have but brief seconds to make a great lasting impression.

As insurance, many folks reasonably decide that hiring an expert demo producer will make the process more professional and maybe less stressful. Sometimes that works and sometimes not.

All these thoughts came back to me as I completed production of my Commercial Voiceover Demo.

The demo production process is a little slice of purgatory really.

I fretted over voice types and scripts and intonation and pacing and music and industry trends and on and on as I self-produced my little heart out to create what I thought was a pretty great demo.

It was with that “pretty great demo” thought that I knew I must call on every performer’s greatest asset – if he or she will only ask for it and receive it – humility.

For demos, humility is about seeking and listening to honest feedback from trusted peers. This time, I got it and it saved me from myself.

By way of quick example, I had crafted a demo segment that I knew was perfect…from the voice to the inflection to the mix…this was going to be my lead piece. Heck, I’ve been doing this for 40+ years, right?

The unanimous feedback from my pro friends said that what I thought was a symphonic demo segment sounded to them more like variations of nails on a chalkboard. VERY glad I solicited opinions.

Stepping back further (with that feedback) I then asked one of my peers if he would direct me in a re-recording of the segment. Segment feedback after that said I made the right call. Grateful to all who helped me.

None of the people I solicited feedback from likely gave my demo another thought after we spoke – that’s perfectly fine. They cared but not like I cared about MY demo.

So if the professional feedback on your demo is really good but nobody seems as excited as you about your demo’s release…relax. That’s how it works in the pros. You’re good.

MEDIA RELEASE: Fresh Commercial Voiceover Demo & Branding for Peter K. O’Connell

RALEIGH NORTH CAROLINA – March 6, 2023 – – America’s Friendly, Neighborhood Voiceover Talent, Peter K. O’Connell, has released a brand new voiceover demo highlighting commercial samples for radio, television and internet. Featuring O’Connell’s award-winning voice-acting versatility, one example from the commercial demo features his frequently broadcast work for iHeart Media’s “Ridiculous History Podcast”.

LISTEN TO THE NEW COMMERCIAL VOICEOVER DEMO HERE.

Peter K. O'Connell Your Friendly, Neighborhood Voiceover Talent

Also new for 2023 is a refresh of O’Connell’s personal voiceover branding. Long known as “Your Friendly, Neighborhood Voiceover Talent”, the voice actor’s new logo more prominently features that branding along with his peterkoconnell.com domain. Also making a return to O’Connell’s branding moniker is the RCA-77 microphone, featured in O’Connell’s earliest voiceover branding.

About Peter K. O’Connell

Voice actor Peter K. O’Connell has shared his voiceover and audio production skills with companies around the world. Peter’s commercial and narration clients include brands like iHeart Media, Crest Toothpaste, IBM, Duracell Batteries and AWS (Amazon Web Services). O’Connell, who recently celebrated his 40th anniversary as a professional voice talent, owns audio’connell Voiceover Talent – a Source-Connect equipped voiceover studio – which is a division of O’Connell Communications, LLC. He can be reached via peterkoconnell.com.
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NOTES FOR EDITORS

CONTACT:

Peter K. O’Connell

Your Friendly, Neighborhood Voiceover Talent

audio’connell Voiceover Talent

P.O. Box 5493 | Raleigh, NC 27512-5493

PH. +01 716-572-1800 & +01 919-283-1516

EM. peter@audioconnell.com

W. audioconnell.com

COMPANY MEDIA CENTER

http://www.audioconnell.com/media

PETER K. O’CONNELL VO CREDITS

VO Credits Link

COMPANY NAME SPELLING

Use lower case letters- audio’connell or audio’connell Voiceover Talent

COMPANY NAME PRONUNCIATIONau·di-o’·con·nell (awe-de-oh-kah-nel)

Donation of Time and Talent Can Lead to Unexpected Treasure

Community service work is certainly good for the soul but it can also lead to unexpected and deeply appreciated recognition.

In my volunteer work for non-commercial, listener supported Divine Mercy Radio here in Raleigh, I help the radio station with programming and production work.

Last week, EWTN Global Catholic Radio honored Divine Mercy Radio with their Crystal Microphone Award for Best Top of the Hour ID from among the network’s amazing 350 Catholic radio affiliates.

This is the project for which we received our recognition:

Requiescat in Pace: Mark Driscoll’s Voiceover Creativity and Talent Gave Listeners Goosebumps

Mark Driscoll Voiceover TalentWhen I was working at WVUD-FM in Dayton in the mid-80’s, one of the young account executives came into my production studio to tell me he was going to take a radio sales job at WLZR-FM (which I thought at the time was somewhere near Indianapolis although those calls belong to a station in Milwaukee now).

Geography and my memory notwithstanding, the station’s nickname was Lazer. And the AE gave me a reel-to-reel tape of their station’s imaging, voiced by a guy named Mark Driscoll.  The radio industry nicknamed him “Mr. Voice”.

The industry folks at the time were clearly well aware of someone I was not…but someone I knew I would immediately never forget after hearing his radio imaging for that station.

I remember the mixture of voice and sound that came from my production studio speakers right now just as if it was then. It helped usher in a new sound at the time for contemporary hit radio (CHR). I wish I still had that Lazer demo. The excitement and energy of that station came flying through those speakers.

Mark Driscoll’s radio imaging work was among the first of its kind. And the copy writing!! Others were similar but they were not him.

The only thing I knew Mark Driscoll for was his voice work. Never knew or met the man. I was Facebook friends with him…heard some unique stories about him…but that voice…his production…you KNEW Mark’s work from the opening syllable and effects.

He was so talented.

Word came down from social media that Mark died this week at 72 years old. I hope he lived a happy life.

He left an indelible radio production mark on me. Wow.

Here’s some Mark Driscoll imaging work I found on the web and this probably isn’t even his very best stuff….but it’s still fantastic.

MEDIA RELEASE: O’Connell Voices For Novartis’ Sound Up For Lung Cancer

BASEL, SWITZERLAND – April 15, 2022 – – Novartis, one of the largest pharmaceutical companies in the world, secured male voiceover talent Peter K. O’Connell to voice a national radio/podcast spot for its Sound Up For Lung Cancer awareness program.

LISTEN TO THE COMMERCIAL HERE.

Sound Up For Cancer

The Sound Up for Lung Cancer initiative empowers people living with lung cancer to advocate for themselves in a manner that helps them get the best care possible.

About Novartis

Novartis’ purpose is to reimagine medicine to improve and extend people’s lives. Novartis’ uses innovative science and technology to address some of society’s most challenging healthcare issues. Novartis discovers and develops breakthrough treatments and finds new ways to deliver them to as many people as possible.

About Peter K. O’Connell

Voice actor Peter K. O’Connell has shared his voiceover and audio production skills with companies around the world. In addition to his recent commercial work for Novartis, Peter’s commercial and narration clients also include brands like iHeart Media, Crest Toothpaste, IBM, Duracell Batteries and AWS (Amazon Web Services). O’Connell, who is celebrating his 40th anniversary as a professional voice talent, owns audio’connell Voiceover Talent which is a division of O’Connell Communications, LLC. He can be reached via peterkoconnell.com.

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NOTES FOR EDITORS

CONTACT:

Peter K. O’Connell

Your Friendly, Neighborhood Voiceover Talent

audio’connell Voiceover Talent

P.O. Box 5493 | Raleigh, NC 27512-5493

PH. +01 716-572-1800 & +01 919-283-1516

EM. peter@audioconnell.com

W. audioconnell.com

COMPANY MEDIA CENTER

http://www.audioconnell.com/media

PETER K. O’CONNELL VO CREDITS

VO Credits Link

COMPANY NAME SPELLING

Use lower case letters- audio’connell or audio’connell Voiceover Talent

COMPANY NAME PRONUNCIATIONau·di-o’·con·nell (awe-de-oh-kah-nel)