Needles and art.

I like one of those things.

But my agent and friend Erik Sheppard likes both of those things because, well, he’s a bit of a freak (not a bad quality in an agent).

You may have heard about Erik’s Don LaFontaine tattoo…well he’s at it…or guess inking it again.

But this time my shy, reticent agent (ha!) got his latest tattoo broadcast on national television (TLC).

I’m not much of a tattoo guy myself but I thought this was kinda cool…especially since it was somebody else getting drilled.

Tags: advertising, announcers, Don LaFontaine, marketing, public relations, silliness, tv, voice actors, voice talent, voiceover by peter k. o'connell, your friendly, neighborhood voice-over talent
1 Comment »

OK, wow.

I promised voice talent, author and ProComm audio producer Dan Friedman at Faffcon 2 that should I get to Asheville, NC I would catch up with him. He, in turn, promised a tour of ProComm. I got the better of this deal.

OK, wow.

ProComm’s studios are stunningly impressive from the building’s outstanding acoustical construction to the technical brilliance of the layout and studio execution to the professionalism and friendliness of their staff (thank you Sheldon and Chris). It’s like a voice-over paradise.

You want bells? They got ’em. Whistles, they got ’em. ISDN? Holy cow do they have that!

Then I got to see Dan’s terrific and customized home studio which allows him to do some great voice work after he’s done at ProComm (Dan is the national voice of the Crowne Plaza hotel chain).

Then Dan and his wife Melodie were kind enough to take me to dinner in beautiful downtown Asheville where we ate a little and talked alot more. It was a great deal of fun and I am so glad I got to visit with both of them.

Dan will be at Faffcon 3 and he’s got some cool presentation plans ready…bring your notebook.

And if you haven’t yet subscribed to the ProComm blog that Dan helps write – well, y’all best get on that!

Tags: faffcon, voice talent, voiceover, voiceover advice by peter k. o'connell, your friendly, neighborhood voice-over talent
1 Comment »

You may know that the voiceover unconference, Faffcon 3, is sold out.

What you might NOT know is that there is a waiting list.

There are no guarantees but if you still think you MUST go (and you must) then you should sign up here.

Tags: commentary, faffcon, voice talent, voiceover, voiceover advice by peter k. o'connell, your friendly, neighborhood voice-over talent
1 Comment »

Yeah OK, I get that a new Twitter background is NOT that exciting a topic for a blog, what with everybody using TweetDeck and the like; nobody ever sees one’s Twitter home page.

Well somebody might and if you click on my page you’ll see it now.

Why is it important? Well I had my last Twitter background page designed JUST before Twitter switched to a new page layout (bast—-!). So I went a year ignoring the ill fitting background page just to spite Twitter.

Twitter called me recently and asked if I would update my background page and apologized for changing the page layout right after I’d gotten the design done.

So being the forgiving type, I said sure and now alls right with the world.

Please Tweet to everyone about this exciting news. Why? Because you can!

Tags: branding, community, logo design, marketing, social media, twitter by peter k. o'connell, your friendly, neighborhood voice-over talent
Comments Off on audio’connell’s new twitter background

You know how you can be around artists who you just know are going to break out big. Somehow they are going to be uncovered by the right person and things are going to pop for their careers (in the best way).

That’s what I was thinking tonight at dinner with Diane Merritt and Lisa Biggs, two very talented female voice artists who have wisely hung their shingle from lovely Greenville, SC. I’m going to say I knew them when…and they’ll say “Peter who?”

I’d tell you what we talked about but there were soooo many tangents to the conversations that I’m not sure we completely finished any of them. What do you expect from voice talkers.

Tags: voice talent, voiceover, voiceover meet-ups by peter k. o'connell, your friendly, neighborhood voice-over talent
1 Comment »

It is possible that you didn’t know it so I’ll tell you: I know everything!

I’ve known that I’ve known everything for many, many years….ever since people started calling me: Mister Knowitall. The opinions I’ve expressed have evidently cemented my expertise in the minds of many. We all have burdens in life and this, evidently is mine.

Except for the fact that as I have aged, gracefully as it has been (ha!), I know just how much I do not know. This has been ever so helpful when teaching audio’connell’s Voice Over Workshop.

When you teach these workshops, you’re supposed to be a kind of savant, a guru, all knowing and all seeing. I feel like I’m 95% when teaching the workshops as far as knowledge but that 5% keeps me honest.

Which is why I was heartened to hear from a Voice Over Workshop student about how she enjoyed how I teach (which, again, I’m not a teacher…those people are really smart and have pensions and stuff…I’m a voice over consigliere…I share everything I know about voice over based on what a person wants to learn).

Her specific point was that I helped her find her OWN way into the proper voice over performance. Through targeted questions, I made her focus on the script, the audience, the message…but she had to define the answers, she had to reach the conclusions herself…the revelations, the epiphanies have to be self-actualized, not handed to her.

That’s where the learning comes in…otherwise it’s just recitation of somebody else’s concepts. “Do it THIS way…it’s the best way!” Well, in some parts of life that’s true, but in performance art – specifically voice over here, I don’t think that’s always the most effective teaching, method (remember, I AM Mister Knowitall).

As a student, to feel as if you’ve come to a true understanding or arrived at a parcel of knowledge on your own terms is more gratifying and it’s more memorable …which I believe is the point of any lesson, ain’t it?

Yet everybody learns differently so I guess my question to you is: do you prefer the journey to knowledge or do you just want to be told….as it relates to voice over?

Tags: commentary by peter k. o'connell, your friendly, neighborhood voice-over talent
Comments Off on “you should do it THIS way!”