A screen shot of the audio’connell Voice-Over Talent Commercial Demo page featuring a new demo player
As you can see from the screen shot above and from THIS LINK to my Commercial Voice-Over Demo page on audioconnell.com, my website has new demo players that will make listening to the demos easier and downloading them more effective for producers.
This player allows you to listen not only to the entire demo but also individually demo segments – in ANY order you prefer.
PLUS you can now DOWNLOAD either the entire demo or just the voice segment you like to share with whomever is making the voice-over decisions on your media production.
All this will make your voice-over production duties that much easier.
My last voice-over demo for TV promo wasn’t as good as this (I’m not talking about me, but rather the overall quality of the demo).
Although I do think I sound better on this demo because I put time and effort in to studying with really good teacher and practicing what I learned. I’m glad I made the investment.
While I hope you like it, I hope promo producers like it even more 🙂
Hi, everyone. Welcome to Mike Lens’s voice, a journey into voice acting. My name is Mike Lens. I’m an entrepreneur, a professional voice actor, audiobook, narrator, and author of Paid To Talk a journey into Voice acting. My goal is to share with you stories from some of the most amazing and inspiring people from all areas of the voiceover industry, as well as other incredible entrepreneurs to help you achieve your dream of becoming a professional voice actor. So please leave us a review over on iTunes and join us over on the web@mikelensvoice.com to be notified of each episode when it comes out. Now, get ready to be inspired. Hi everyone. Thank you so much for joining me on Mike Lynn’s voice, a journey into voice acting. I’m so happy you’re here with us, and I’m really looking forward to the podcast today because I get to spend some time chatting with voiceover talent and teacher Peter O’Connell. Hello, Peter.
PETER K. O’CONNELL
Who is this? (laughing)
1:25
Why are you on my phone? scheduled an interview.
1:29
Get off my line. . I apologize. , goodbye. This is
1:34
Not a party line. .
MIKE LENZ:
As you know, Peter has a great sense of humor, as I’m sure you’ve realized by now. . Um, as his tagline says, Peter is America’s friendly neighborhood, voiceover talent. Peter’s amazingly versatile vocal talent allows him to share many voice acting styles with his clients. From his conversational every man voice to his hard sell, straight announcer voice to his, I’m annoyed with you. Hang up your phone voice that you just heard. , Peter’s natural telling.
2:03
It’s the phone when clients call. Who is
2:04
This?
2:05
You better have money in your hand. Exactly.
2:07
Exactly. Uh, Peter’s natural voiceover abilities are favored by clients for commercials, for narration, for e-learning documentary. Uh, he does TV promo radio imaging, and he even does somet
Some live announcing.
Don’t forget 900 numbers. Don’t forget the 900 numbers.
Yes. He’s very, very active in the 900 number world. So, some in, in addition that
2:27
The takeaway, we’re gonna have to probably the one takeaway that people go, you know, that O’Connell guy, he’s very interested in the 900 number world. That’s very strange. Yeah.
2:34
We may have to edit that part out. That’s
2:36
Nevermind, . My reputation can’t be sullied after how many years? 30 plus years. It’s not gonna get sed. Now, in addition to the 900 numbers that he does, has lent his voice to include, uh, they do include, uh, companies like Kraft Foods, PBS, time Warner Cable, uh, blue Cross Blue Shield, and the Cleveland Browns of the NFL to name just you.
3:01
That was a long time ago too.
3:03
. Well, there you go, Peter. It’s on your website. So first Browns.
3:05
Yeah. The very first Cleveland Browns , not the Cleveland Browns, all of them lost both, both Cleveland Browns teams lost. Uh, but, uh, that was the fir, the first go round That’s the, uh, prior to the Johnny Menzel era, I imagine.
3:17
Yes. Yes, it was. Yes it was. But Johnny’s tried to turn over a new leaf. I see. So we’ll give him the benefit of the doubt and good for him.
3:24
Better days are coming.
3:26
we’ll see.
3:27
That’s all they’ve got. No, I’m kidding. It’s a joke. Cleveland, I love you. Cleveland .
3:31
So, Peter, welcome to the show.
3:33
Thank you. if you would share with our listeners, as, you know, as we talked about, many of our listeners are aspiring voice actors. They’re just thinking about or breaking into the voiceover business. So take us back a bit and, uh, if you could tell our listeners about your particular journey into the world of voiceovers.
3:56
Well, when I first met with Marconi, uh, he No, it’s, uh, I told him this, this radio thing will never work. Um, no. For me, it was, I, I actually wrote about this recently because I was doing something, uh, a little bit about my background in, in Buffalo, in Western New York, and how it all started. So my interest in broadcasting started around 19 69, 19 70. And this puts me at the age of about four or five years old. Mm-hmm . And I’m a kindergartner at Madai School in Buffalo, New York. And, uh, the lovely sister, Donna Marie, who I just remember as being the, the most wonderfully patient soul with a room full of kindergartners. Uh, and the school actually had, uh, had a building built away from the main school for the kindergartners. I’m like, how awful were we, that they put us in a different place entirely. But, uh, so she, so she’s basically fending for herself, you know, she had a phone, but, you know, uh, I don’t know if that would go over Big N nowadays, but, um, sister Donna Marie came up with a great field trip idea. She thought she took us over to a radio station, WEBR in Buffalo, uh, which really isn’t anymore. It’s, it’s been taken over by a different station with a different set of call letters, I think. Uh, but this was a news station and a music station and, you know, just a regular AM station, um, in nineteen sixty nine, nineteen seventy. And I recall not thinking much of the trip, but I remember vividly wa walking through the station and going into the control room and looking into the studio and going, wow. Mm
5:39
Yeah.
5:40
Wow. What’s, what’s this? And I remember as a child also thinking that the Ray, the way radio worked was, um, you actually, uh, had a band in the studio and they played, and then they cut over to another studio, and the next song came on the radio, and that band played, and then they went back and forth between studio and I, this is how a 4-year-old, 5-year-old thinks mm-hmm . Um, so to have this sort of set straight for me, uh, by actually being in the, in the radio station, I’m like, I wanna be in radio. So the basis of it all is I wanted to be in radio, and I thought that was gonna be the coolest thing in the world. And then when I got to, uh, high school, I was able to, uh, I got my high school’s, uh, first ever internship in communication, radio, television comm, radio communication, specifically. Uh, there’s a radio station called Foxy 93, FM, WFXZ. It was called Foxy 93. So, you know, uh, it wasn’t long for this world. That was not, that was not a handle that was gonna last long . And, and it’s like, um, Foxy, you know, it was the eighties. Okay. So this had to be 81. Right. So this is 1981. And I remember I was in, and I can tell you when I started, I’m pretty sure this is right, because my first news story that I started working on a, as a news intern, and then working in the afternoon in the programming department, but getting up at four o’clock in the morning, being down the station at 5:36 AM twice or twice or three times a week, which didn’t turn out to be so lucky, was, um, uh, was the assassination of John Lennon. Mm-hmm . So I remember getting to bed early, like around 9 30, 10 o’clock, and my brother coming home and saying, did you hear, did you hear it was on a Monday in football. And of course I wasn’t quite asleep. And I’m like, what’s going on? John Lennon was shot and killed. I’m like, mm-hmm. What? Um, and I’m like, well, I’m gonna cover that the next day. Um, and I, you know, ’cause I was a junior in high school, I didn’t know how to write a news story, but I knew how to, you know, try and gather facts. Not that any facts that were gonna be gathered at a FM radio station in Buffalo, New York weren’t, you know, weren’t gonna be stolen from a station in New York anyway, and from the networks, but, you know, it was a big deal to me. And so that was great. And then at college, I was looking at, uh, colleges that had radio stations mm-hmm . And, um, you know, in broadcasting programs. I looked at Syracuse and I looked at Ithaca. Um, I think I looked at Xavier University, and I looked at the University of Dayton. I didn’t end up at Syracuse because, uh, they just said, said no to me. Uh, I didn’t end up at Ithaca because they said, you can go to the English department, you can’t go to communication, you have to wait. And Dayton said, yes. So I’m like, whoosh, off I go to Dayton. Dayton had the most what turned, this is serendipitous, um, had the most interesting of the three programs. The Syracuse has a famous broadcasting program, you know, the likes of Bob Costas and the, like, of graduated outta Syracuse. So, you know, Syracuse kind of thinks they’re, you know, pretty great. And they’re, you know, they got a good school in a lot of ways, the New House School of Communication. But what Dayton had, which just makes, makes me all the Twitter, uh, was a 50,000 watt commercial radio station. The uniqueness of this station was, it had full professional broadcast management. So we’re talking a full-time general manager, not a student. We’re talking full-time program director, not a student. We’re talking full-time sales positions, not students. And that the only part the students had in it was to be, um, uh, the students were on air, but it wasn’t like you were, you know, you worked, you were on the air from one to 2:00 PM on Fridays, you know, let’s play whatever you want. This was a formatted radio station. You had a, if you, if you got on Monday through Friday, you had a regular shift and you were getting a paycheck.
9:22
So you got, so you got a taste of a professional run,
9:26
Wasn’t, it wasn’t a taste. I was in it, you were in it
9:28
First. Exactly.
9:28
Boom, I’m getting college a paycheck and I’m working in college. Mm-hmm . And I, I would’ve, I would’ve gladly dropped every class and just done radio all the time. Just loved, loved radio as everybody who’s ever worked in radio loves it. And then, you know, the reality sets in and you’re like, you need to pay bills and stuff, and you go, this sucks. Uh, but it was, that, that part was, was great. And so I started in, in, um, in, in radio news in the afternoon, having no business being, you know, being a news announcer, but worked my way through it. Um, you know, you fake it till you make it. Mm-hmm . And then, um, I got on the air in, still in my freshman year, um, uh, beginning of my sophomore year for getting on getting music shift. I, um, was six to nine weeknights. Um, and, and did that for I think two or three years, uh, up until I went on vacation. And I came back, and while I was away on vacation, the production department blew up. Something happened, and I, I, I turned out to be pretty good at production. I turned out to be pretty good at, um, uh, at, at commercials and creating and script writing. And, and I had some Atari decks, and I had a, a, you know, pots all over around me and a bunch of cart machines, and I could turn that into a symphony. Mm-hmm . I got pretty good at it. And I was damn handy with a wax pen and a straight razor blade, you know, cutting us all together. So I did all this stuff and, and management goes, O’Connell, you’re up. Why you’re taking me off the air? How dare you take me off the air? You know? Well, of course I was too stupid to understand this was, you know, this was fate intervening. Sure. Um, so, you know, that’s where voiceover developed. That’s where I went, oh my gosh, this is fun. And oh my gosh, I have a bit of talent for it, you know, and I’m not the, you know, the be all and end all, but I was okay at it. Mm-hmm . Um, and it, it went from there. Clients loved it. And then while I was doing that, they needed a, a new host for the oldies show on Saturday nights from seven to midnight, so they could work my, you know, I had to work a limited amount of hours, like 20 hours a week or something. So they worked it out that I could manage production and I could still, uh, do this show. And I took that to number one in the ratings. So that was great. Um, and then I graduated, um, and that was, and then I just kept doing voiceover ’cause radio turned out, I, I worked for a station in, uh, outside of Buffalo for about a week until I was fired and simultaneously quit . Um, so it worked out really, really well. And, um, and then just did voiceover and did a variety of jobs in between there. That was kind of a long story. Did, did I, is that a half hour?
11:55
Well, that, yeah, I think, I think we’re done. Thanks Peter, for coming on the show, and, uh, we’ll
11:58
Talk to you. Oh, look, the time sounds like the prom date. Oh, dear. We’ve been together five minutes. Let’s get outta here.
12:03
Where did it all go? Where did it go? Yes. Where did it go? Well, no, that’s actually a perfect, perfect. And it’s a great segue into my next question for you, because I know you’ve, you’ve already mentioned some of them. I know that, uh, everybody that gets into the voiceover world, into the industry, whether they wanna do it part-time or full-time, they experience some obstacles. Right? I mean, we all experience them. Many of us continue to experience them to this day, I don’t know anybody that doesn’t Right. Ever stop experiencing obstacles. But what are a few of the obstacles that you encountered? And more importantly, what lesson did you learn from them?
12:40
Huh? Obstacles? Well, yes. Do, do I have a list of them? Yes. But of course, as, as soon as someone asked me a question, I’m like, I had no obstacles. .
12:49
It was easy. It was easy. Next question, .
12:52
Um, no, it, I mean, there’s a variety of them. One is, um, having, I, I guess one of the obstacles is not specifically voiceover related, but is adaptable to or applicable, rather, to, uh, almost any business. And that is how much you don’t know and the mistakes you make as you go along in, in any business, whether you’re, whether you’re a voiceover talent or a CPA or, you know, you’re running a disposable waste company. Uh, I mean, you know, there are schools and, and classes in, in, in, in variety of educational institutions that’ll teach you how to run a business. I never took any of ’em. Um, so there was, so there was that issue mm-hmm . Um, and also it was at a time in doing voiceover for me based outta Buffalo, because I, I, after, after college, I went back to Buffalo. ’cause I just felt like, uh, I needed to be back taking care of my parents who were perfectly healthy at the time. Three months later, my father had a massive stroke. Um, my mom had health issues, and they were both dead by, uh, by November of 1988. Wow. Uh, fairly young. But I just, coming outta school, I, there was just, I had to go home now. Mm-hmm . It’s, it’s, there was no, there was nothing to take me home. There was things that should have, you know, could’ve easily kept me from going home and moving to other cities, you know? Uh, but I, but I needed to go home. Mm-hmm . Didn’t know why. And again, sometimes people grab you by the scruff of the neck in the another world and say, you’re going home now, and I’m gonna whisper in your ear, and you’re just gonna do this, and this is the right thing for you. You don’t know why, but that’s what’s gonna happen. So, um, you know, I, I, and I went home and did that and, and started a video production company because, um, I was with a bunch of other guys that wanted to do that. So we all, you know, popped in some money. I wish I would’ve, uh, started a recording studio, but I didn’t mm-hmm . Uh, that would probably would’ve been a better investment. Um, but, you know, I kept doing voiceovers along the way. I did some voiceovers for clients when I, for my, I did a long running, um, well, not long running, I guess two and a half years, three years, which is pretty long. Mm-hmm . Uh, a TV show, a real estate show. I was narrator of that, and I did spots. And, um, so, you know, the, I’ve done a variety of things like that. Um, and it, it all, just the obstacles that came along the way were, were my doing. The other ones were things like, when I, when I would’ve come out of radio and wanted to stay in voiceover, the expense to have your own studio at the time was pretty significant. You know, we’re talking tens of thousands of dollars, uh, to get a decent machine and get, you know, all all that stuff, you know, and $10,000 when you’re coming outta school, it’s not, you know, and you’re trying to do your own, start your own business. Holy cow. Not an easy thing to do. So, um, you know, and being partners with these other guys with a video production company was easier. Nobody’s gonna go partners with me on a VO company. Mm-hmm . At least I didn’t think so at the time. So there, there’s that obstacle. There is the, the ever present obstacle of, uh, producers who you have to woo over, or producers who are, you know, or understanding the producer mindset when you’re fresh outta college or starting a new business, you don’t understand the producer mindset. What is the producer mindset? Well, every producer’s different. Every producer has their own mind. But to me, it, it says, a in, in my head, a producer is overworked and underpaid. And it took me a lot of years to realize that my job is to make their job the producer’s job easier. Mm-hmm . So everything I gotta do, everything I’m doing as a voiceover talent is about that. So, whether it’s in my marketing, it’s in my performance, it’s in my disposition. When the mic is off and we’re on the phone, I’ve gotta be thinking in my head, what am I gonna do to make that person’s life easier? Because if I’m making that person’s life easier, they’re gonna wanna work with me. Yeah.
16:41
That’s a great point. but, but yeah, it’s a good point. Now, I wish I would’ve known that 25 years ago. Why couldn’t we be talking then? Where were you when I needed a psychiatrist to talk all this with? Who
16:52
Knows where I was Peter. But I, I wish I was there for you. I wish I could have been .
16:56
The disappointment is dripping off me
16:58
Right now. But think of all, think of all the people you’re gonna help. Now that’s try to focus
17:01
On that. Oh, they’re all gonna take jobs from me. Because remember, you know, if we’re, if, if we’re an artist of any kind, we’re, we have self-awareness issues and we have huge ego problems, and we, we beat ourselves up. And, and, and that’s one of the, I suppose that’s the third thing, and I’ll end with that as far as obstacles. Um, the obstacle of not feeling you’re worthy or, or not having self-confidence in what you do, right. Or not understanding what your value is, or not understanding what your point of difference is. There’s a, there’s a, you know, there’s a variety of things. You could go in any direction with any one of those three or four things to have an entire conversation about it when it comes to anyone in the performing arts, whether it be on camera, behind camera, uh, whether it be performer, whether it be director, whether it be management, you know, all artistic souls have a, has a, have a sensitivity and a, um, a self-awareness that is sometimes debilitating. And, and it’s just the way we are. We’re a sensitive group. Sometimes we’re, you know, we’re so sensitive. We we’re megalomaniacal.
18:02
Well, it, it, it does happen. And I’ll tell you one of, and you’re not the, the, you’re not the first, uh, guest that I’ve had on that has talked about the,
18:09
Why am I not the first guest that you had on?
18:11
Well, I, I don’t, I think you weren’t answering my calls back then. I, not first. I, I think I tried to call you didn’t, you didn’t call me back. So, so, well,
18:16
That’s right. I’m kind of a big deal in my own mind.
18:18
That’s what I’m going with anyway. That’s, but, but, but I’ll tell you, it’s
18:22
Been be my prom. How come I wasn’t your first choice so many things in your life and during this counseling session that we’re having ,
18:30
Can I have a prescription? No,
18:32
I’ll take care of you. Don’t worry about that. Thank you
18:34
Very
18:36
And we do Exactly. Exactly. So the, but I’ll tell you the, the business side of it is a big piece because there’s a lot of people out there listening thinking, well, if I just have a microphone and a, and a computer, I’m good to go. Not understanding that, uh, when you venture into the world of vo, uh, especially if you’re trying to do it as a full-time job, it’s a business. And a lot of people don’t have that. You know, I’ve talked to voice actors, very experienced voice actors from when they started. They never, you know, had knew how to set up a business checking account or incorporate themselves, or they didn’t know any of that. And then that is a big piece of it, isn’t it?
19:10
Well, it is. And, and I get two or three calls a week, used to be more, um, and people calling me and saying, and, and it’s a trite phrase, and, and people laugh at it in the voiceover business, but they laugh for two reasons. One, because it’s a trite phrase, and two, because it’s so darn real. And that is the cause that, uh, yes, my Aunt Edna says, I have a great voice and I should be in voiceover. Well, good for Aunt Edna. What casting agency does Aunt Edna work for? Oh, she doesn’t. She just sits home and knits. Well, then she knows all about voiceover. Um, and, but I mean, and, and I, and I make fun because there are people listening going, well, I’ve been told I have a nice voice too. Yes. Alright. You have a nice voice. You have a nice voice. But that’s fine. That’s great. Um, but, you know, the, the sad truth of it is, and everyone thinks you’re, you’re just being mean. Well, yes, I’m being mean. Uh, but I’m . It’s, it’s tough love. Uh, but it’s love nonetheless. And that is, it is a business first. Um, it is beyond all other things, it is a business. Uh, and it, it’s even more so with the advent of technology. Mm-hmm . Uh, ’cause now you have to set yourself up with not only a performance advantage, but a technical advantage of some sort. You need to share with people. Um, you know what your point of difference is? You need to know all about marketing. Uh, you need to know about whether it’s, you know, whether your business is, is of such a state that you need to be an LLC or incorporate, or what the business advantages of all e either of those things are, or more, you know, you need to have people like an accountant or a bookkeeper. You need to know a good lawyer. Um, and you go, oh, what? That’s a lot of work. That sounds like a lot of work. Yeah. Okay. So years ago, um, uh, it’s gotta be five or six years ago now. I can’t remember when I first wrote the book, but I got so fed up with all these calls and people trying to take my time. I, I, I, I sat down with myself and I said, okay, you need to do two things. Alright. I talk to myself a lot. So this was not a normal conversation. Mm-hmm . Um, and the first thing I said is, we, we’ve gotta find a way to let people know that this is a business. I said, we like, it’s, I’m talking with myself. This is how, this is how, doctor, what do you think is my problem?
21:27
Um, well, when you spend a lot of time in a room all by yourself, Yes,
21:30
That’s exactly
21:31
Right. Single bulb day after day after day, and you start answering your own questions. It’s, it’s so sad. Um, but what I found, what I, what I looked at it and said was, okay, you need to write a pamphlet or a blog post or something. Well, a blog post turned into a 50 page ebook mm-hmm . Um, which is, which I call the voiceover entrance exam. Because Well,
21:53
Unless, unless people think that that Peter really is as mean as he sounds, he did this for free mm-hmm . Right? I mean, exactly. Right. You really are a nice guy.
22:02
Because I was, I, I, my thought process was simply this. It’s like, okay, one, I, I wanted a solution for me. I wanted to be able to direct, you know, direct these people away from me, . Yes. And read this, and then see how, how serious they are about, about
22:19
Right. And, and then, and then call. Right. And then call. Yeah. Yeah. Don’t
22:22
Call first. So I, I set up a website, voiceover entrance exam.com. And if you go to that website, if you, if you’re so inclined, God bless you. Um, there is a free download of the book, um, that talks about what voiceover is really like as some, some resources to it. Um, and, and basically tells the honest truth about what voiceover is and, and, and sort of the thick skin you have to be to be a voiceover performer. And I’m sure if I did a little studying, and as, as we discussed in my college years, I’m not big on studying. Um, but, you know, if I did a little studying, I’m sure I would’ve found an acting book that says the exact same thing. Mm. Because it’s not just about performing. It’s not just about, um, you know, stanis ky and all their different, you know, acting methods. And I’m sure there are more than that. Mm-hmm . I know they’re more than that. Um, but it is about being able to operate yourself as a business and looking at yourself as, as a real operation, being serious about that, knowing that you’re gonna have to call people and on the phone and say, hi, my name is, and you don’t know me, but I’d like you to hire me. And that for some people is like nails on a chalkboard. Um, that there, that there is a ton of rejection and voiceover, fully, 90% of, of what you do gets ignored in auditions. Um, and so that must mean you suck, right? Well, no, uh, that unfortunately is not a clear indicator that you suck. Um, the fact that you have no money coming in at all, uh, in your voiceover, and you’ve been doing it five years, you may have a career problem you need. There may be something to that. You need to look at that. Um, you know, but, and, and, and one of the things to talk about in the book is being able to listen, uh, and, and hear people’s insight for you. Mm-hmm . You know, it’s, it’s important, uh, to be able to take real criticism. And it’s also important. This is, this is, wow, this is deep stuff. So be able to take the, the deep criticism to heart and, and, and realize that maybe there’s an issue in some way, shape or form in your life, or secondly, to step over the critics and, and don’t let them get in the way of your dream. Mm-hmm . How you manage that as an individual is you go, girl, I don’t know. Uh, because it’s, it, it, it’s hard to know. Uh, but I, I, I just go back to the fact that life has signposts, and, and, and you’ll figure it out however, you need to figure it out that this is, you know, two roads diverge in a yellow wood. Uh, and, and, sorry, I could not travel both mm-hmm . So, you know, which road is the right road for you. You’ve gotta, you’ve gotta figure that out.
24:57
Well, and everybody’s journey is different, and we know that. And, but I’ll, I’ll tell you that folks, I have read the book. I read the free download, and it’s incredibly valuable. And, and Peter’s exactly right in that it’s a little bit of tough love, but it’s, it’s something that anybody who’s thinking about getting into the voiceover industry, do yourself a favor and, and, and download that and read it. Now, Peter, in addition to that, uh, for those people who are, who’ve made that decision, they’ve, they’ve read the, the voiceover entrance exam. Uh, they’ve made that decision that they’d like to move forward with their career. You do also offer a voiceover workshop. So tell us about that and how you work with perspective, uh, voice actors, uh, in that area of your professional life.
25:40
Well, that was part two of what I needed to do when, so the first part was to write the book and say, okay, here, uh, go, go read this book. And then if you, if you want to study with me and learn from me, fine. I’ll put together a workshop. And I called it some, I, I spent hours and hours and spent thousands and thousands of dollars on the name. And I came up with voiceover workshop.
26:05
Magnificent. and Pepsi just didn’t sound right. Mm-hmm . So I went voiceover workshop. Mm-hmm . And, um, would you believe that VO workshop.com was available at the time? I was stunned. I’m like, oh, please, somebody must have grabbed this name off the internet, but they didn’t. And so I wanted to get paid for my name, . Mm-hmm . What I do. And I, and I’m, and I’m extremely clear to people about a number of things. One, if you wanna get into voiceover, it’s vital. Well, you know what, I’ll save that. I think you wanna ask me about some, you asked me about advice, and also I’ll hold on that mm-hmm . Um, but so when I, when I wrote the book, I knew I was gonna have to have this backup opportunity. I, I needed to, you know, direct them somewhere if they wanted to pay me, okay, I’ll talk to you. And if you don’t wanna pay me, I don’t wanna be a jerk, but I’m getting paid by other people, so my time has value. Right. But, you know, I’m also very clear about a number of things when it comes to teaching. I, boy, I hate using the word teacher for me, because, um, I am not as good a teacher as a Pat Fraley, as a Maurice Tobias, as a Nancy Wolf, as a Tony Sil, you know, all these, all all these teachers and, and on and on and on. I mean, there’s just a bajillion of ’em. Mm-hmm. Who are people you can learn from, who you can work with. Um, y you know, they’re just, they, they know, they understand the principles of teaching. I, as we have discussed, and this is the theme going through here, and not much on studying. Um, and so , the way I set it up was this. I said, if you wanna work with me, I’ve got 30 plus years of experience. We can cover performance, we can cover marketing, we can cover technology, we can cover, uh, problems at home. Whatever you wanna talk to me about for two hours, you can do that. Um, and, and, and so I’m sharing with them my experience, what my knowledge is. And, and so if they wanna talk about performance, I’ll tell ’em, well, here’s what I do and how I do it, and let me listen to what you do and how you do it. Mm-hmm . Or if I’m talking with somebody about, um, uh, about a marketing plan, here’s, you know, here’s how I write a marketing plan. Let me help you write your marketing plan. Um, and so, you know, that type of thing. You wanna talk about technology, I’ll, I’ll go, you know, to a certain extent, and then I’ll direct you, uh, to people who are really experts in tech, uh, technology. Um, and, and that’s the same as true in marketing and performance, because I don’t present myself as the be all and end all. I never have, never will. Now,
28:33
You, you, you refer to yourself as what the voiceover, uh, cons, cons, cons,
28:38
Cons. Because I think the voiceover teacher is just, you know, I, I, I, you know, the, the one that comes to mind first and foremost is, is, is Fraley. Yeah. Because he has a whole syllabus mm-hmm . I mean, that guy’s got it down for character, voice and everything. I mean, there’s just, I, I don’t know. There’s many greater character voice teachers than Pat Fraley. Uh, and I’ve been to a bunch of ’em. None of ’em are bad, but he’s j he just, his enthusiasm, his, his, his, his, his overall knowledge, his ability to communicate to a performer, uh, what they need to do, and how they need to get there in so many different ways, depending on the person is so valuable. It’s just, it’s just great.
29:16
Right, right. Yeah. He is, he is. Fantastic. Um, so I do want to get off subject just a little bit, because I did see on your website that you, uh,
29:24
I’m here all night. I’m not,
29:26
We, we only have a few more minutes, but, but I do want, I’m, I’m Peter, what can I tell you? , we’re running out of time. Um, the, we can talk all night. We don’t worry. I, I’ll edit most of it out. But the, the, uh, the you do have on your website about how you are, uh, your goal is to visit 50 states and stay overnight. Yes. How the heck is that going?
29:48
It’s , it’s going very well. I’m down to 16 more states. I have a marketing company that’s, that I’ve had since 1995. And, um, and, and with that marketing company, I do do voiceover. I do marketing. Why do I do that? I have three children. I have to feed them. They have to clothe them. And they like to go to school, don’t you? Yes, he does. He’s, he’s, he’s down in my booth here. He is just, he’s just hanging out with me, one of ’em. Oh, that’s great. And, um, and so, you know, I, I started this marketing company and, and I’m, and I’m pretty good at marketing, so, and, and sales. And so, um, I travel for that, for that business. And I can do, you know, I have a portable studio, and I’m, I’m the one of the best pillow fort builders you ever, ever saw. And, you know, I’ve done, I’ve done spots across the country in various cities. Mm-hmm . I remember the most memorable one for me was I was in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. Um, and I was, uh, I, I was connected in a, in a session with Mumbai, India, uh, and I think it was Mumbai, and it was a, a, a recession for Bacardi rum. And I was the voice of Bacardi rum in India for a while. Um, and I still don’t know how they found me, uh, but they did. And, and I decided mine was the most American sounding voice in the world. Uh, but Okay. That was, that was kind of a nice gig. And, you know, yay for me. And, and glad it worked out. And, but I was in Sioux Falls, South Dakota recording in a Marriott hotel room. Woo hoo. Woo. A good life. Yeah. A
31:14
Good life. You know, you have, if you have the equipment, it works out well. So yes, I have been to, um, I only have, I only have 16 states remaining. Um, and, and two of them, of course are Alaska and Hawaii. Mm-hmm . Uh, I don’t know if I’ll get there, but if you’re gonna go on the road, as I’ve told many friends, you’ve gotta, you’ve gotta turn it into, you’ve gotta turn it into a bit of a game. And then the other thing I get to do when I, when I travel is, uh, I get to see my voiceover friends mm-hmm . Um, and I’ve made a lot of them over the years. I, uh, there’s a, uh, a, a website called vo bb.com. It’s the voiceover bulletin board. It’s been around since, since Marconi, I think, uh, uh, DB Cooper, Deirdre Cooper, uh, Deirdre Cooper has, um, uh, put it, put it together years ago. And it really is just a very nice community and has outlasted many, uh, wannabe voiceover bulletin boards. And it’s just a good group of people. Um, from that group of people, uh, I met your friend of mine, Bob Soer mm-hmm . Who was one of the first people years ago who I met up with in person. Uh, he was in the area, and he called me and said, Hey, let’s get together. And I drove an hour and a half, uh, down to Dansville, New York, and he and I had lunch. It was, it was great fun. And, uh, so, so that, and so with that, with the traveling, I get to see all these people. I was in Min . This is a, uh, try and be a brief story. This, uh, this past week is was Tuesday. I flew into Minneapolis Airport, and I had a meeting in, uh, in a suburb of, uh, Minneapolis. And while I was, while I was taxiing to the gate at Minneapolis Airport, arriving at the airport in my plane, my private plane, I’ll have, you know, , I just wanted to make you sound, sound important. Sound important. Yes. Yes. Um, but I saw on Facebook that one of my voiceover friends was tweeting from the Minneapolis airport, who doesn’t, doesn’t usually hang out in Minneapolis Airport. Mm-hmm . He was traveling, he was connecting flights in Minneapolis. And it was, um, uh, Peter Bishop, who is a great, um, uh, UK voice talent based outta New York City. Uh, he calls himself, uh, very smartly, I think English, an Englishman in New York. Mm. Um, and so he was stuck waiting for his plane. And I got off my plane, and we met at one of the bars. We hung out for about an hour mm-hmm . Uh, and had a lovely visit. So that was, uh, that was very nice. And, uh, and that sort of stuff happens all the time. And so on my blog, which is called Vox marketizing.com, um, if you just blog it, it’s connected to the audio O’Connell dot com website, uh, under social media. But if you look under, uh, voiceover meetups, you’ll see, I don’t know how many, maybe over a hundred by now. Wow. Not including anything having to do with FAF Con, which is a whole nother story if you wanna talk about that.
33:57
Right. Right. Yes. And, and, and I’m familiar with faf Con ’cause I’ve had some other guests that have been at FAF Con, and that’s one of those conferences that I think everybody should attend. I have personally not been, but I will be in front of my computer that day typing in all the information frantically with everybody else, trying to be one of those 100 people that gets to go. Right. Because
34:15
I want to, that’s, that’s the great thing, because it is a vetted event. It’s one of the very few vetted events, possibly only the vetted event. But I never wanted, uh, you know, uh, speak in, in extremes. But, um, you know, Amy Snidely is the brain trust behind that. Uh, I have been with her, uh, on the journey since, since I guess the beginning. I helped do some, some marketing for the first one. I, I created a video and, uh, for it to help market it and get people involved. And then I got involved, and I’ve been, uh, part of the team for a bunch of years. Pam, Pam Tierney, my friend, the great actress and voice talent, Pam Tierney roped me in on, on sponsorship. And then, uh, she said, oh, you’re good. You’re great. Doing great now. That’s terrific. Bye
34:59
Where’d she go? . Um, but, uh, and, and with Amy, Amy has a co-producer, uh, Lauren McCullough. Yes. Who, uh, I believe is, uh, is, uh, Amy’s Angel sent on high to, uh, help Amy put this event together, because, uh, Lauren’s not only a lovely person, but she’s also so incredibly organized and so patient, uh, in so many ways. She has a great disposition. And so she’s perfect for that, uh, for that role, uh, of co-producer in there. So it, you know, it works out extremely, extremely well to be involved in. I think the next, uh, faf Con is, we just did a faf camp, uh, a little while ago. We’re gonna do a faf Con in, uh, in I think 2016. The date has not been picked. And no, I don’t know the city, and everybody’s still Peter Bishop. I’m walking out the bar in the Minneapolis airport the other day, and I hear Pizza, pizza. And I go, what, what? Where is the next Faf Con? I’m like, I dunno, uh, . He’s like, alright, off with you then. And I’m like, well, fair enough. Um, and so, you know, but it’s a great event. Um, and it’s, and it’s, you know, voiceover professionals, you know, working with voiceover professionals, learning from voiceover professionals, uh, not trying to sell you on books, not trying to sell you on webinars, not trying to sell you on, on anything. Mm-hmm . Um, and that’s, that’s the beauty of it. And, um, and there’s some really talented people there who I become great friends with and, and who’s, who’s now whose friendship I value most of all, but whose insights I value almost equally, uh, with that. So, uh,
36:28
Absolutely. And I, and there, there’s so many of them that I’m meeting through the podcast then, and I’ll tell you, and I’ve said this to other guests as well, you, you, you realize when you get involved in the voiceover industry, that voice actors are some of the nicest people you’re ever gonna meet. Some of the, some of the most generous people, the most gracious people. And it, it’s really is a wonderful group of people to be associated with. And it’s a great, it’s just a great, uh, organization all around. So
36:51
It’s, it’s interesting in this industry. And, and, and my you point that out so well, uh, because what I have, I have talked to actors, um, and specifically on camera actors, on not, you know, not, uh, not just voice actors, but people who actually are good looking and have some, you know, crazy talent beyond voice, uh, which I, which I don’t have . Um, but they, they look at our community, the voiceover community in stunned admiration, because they don’t have this, it doesn’t mean that all actors are, you know, all, all on camera stage actors are jerks. They’re not, they’re, I mean, they don’t, they’re just people trying to get by. And some of ’em are more insecure, so they act like buffoons and egotistical twits and all the rest of that stuff. And look, there are buffoons and egotistical twits and voiceover too. You’re talking to one of ’em. But, you know, there’s, but by and large, you know, myself excluded, the, the community of, of, of voice talent is a very supportive community. It is a group of people where, look, you know, we don’t, we’re based on voice and voice print is based on, you know, reception and subjective opinion of a producer. So it doesn’t matter how we look, it matters how we sound. Mm-hmm . And it, and the only sound that matters is the sound that’s inside the producer’s head. Mm-hmm . He can’t, he can’t reproduce it, and we can’t articulate it exactly as he wants it, or she wants it. And, and so it’s, he’ll know it or she’ll know it when she hears it. Mm-hmm. And then you get hired.
38:25
That’s right. That’s the name of the game. That’s ultimately what you wanna do.
38:28
Exactly. So for voiceover talents, it’s not a matter of us being able to say, oh, I, I sound like Mike, and so I can’t, you know, hang out with him. Like, forget it. Mm-hmm . You know, there’s plenty of different voices out there, and some people sound like me, and you sure they do. And if that happens, it’s, it’s, it’s more like lightning striking than anything else. About a, about a year and a half ago, um, I started a, a, a, a marketing cooperative called Male Voiceover, MVO, the voiceover guys. Mm-hmm . And it’s a, the domain is male voiceover talents.com. And I, I picked 20 guys who I knew were amazingly talented, who had amazing credentials, uh, in, in voiceover, who, you know, just worked for a terrific group. And all of them sound unique and, and special and all bring something, something, uh, challenging and wonderful to each production. Mm-hmm . You can’t find a group of actors. Well, maybe you can, I don’t think you’re gonna find many actors who would be willing to go into a, into a, into a website and say, we’re in this together. You know, this is us, and we’re, we wanna tell you about our business. We all sound individual and we’re all, you know, but, but we’re cheering on each other. Let’s let, let’s support each other as we go. And, and that’s what we do with, and it’s a marketing cooperative. People can, can reach us. You know, clients can reach us any way you want. And I limited it to 20. Mm-hmm . I get calls every day, can I join it? No, you can’t. Why? Because there’s 20 people in it already. Right.
40:00
So, right. I mean, that, and, and that makes sense. And, and at the end, at the end of the day, as you pointed out, oftentimes it’s not really a competition per se. The producer is going to pick the voice they like, they’re not gonna not pick you. They’re gonna, they’re going to pick somebody. And maybe it’s you, or maybe it’s somebody else, but it’s kind of a hard concept to wrap your head around sometimes. But just because you weren’t picked, as you said, doesn’t mean that you suck. It just means that they were looking for a particular sound, a particular delivery that they got from somebody that they locked in on and liked.
40:32
There is a, there is a great quote, and I, and I will attribute it to, uh, the great, uh, again, UK voiceover talent. His name is Philip Banks, and he is a friend of mine for a bunch of years, and he’s got more talent in his, in his pinky for voiceover than I’ll ever have in my entire body. But he has this great, uh, quote, and, and it, it applies to a lot of things in life, not just voiceover. Um, but it’s not about me. That’s the quote. Mm-hmm . Remember, when you’re talking to the producer, when you’re looking for the job, it’s not about me. There’s only so much you can control, because as an actor, as a performer, they’re buying you. They’re buying you in whatever gift wrap or bow that you put yourself in for a voice actor that’s, uh, you know, that’s tonal quality, that’s accents all the, all the tricks we have. So, so whatever gift wrap they want from you, and they’ll tell you, you know, we want you to sound southern, or they want you to sound like another actor, you know, a famous movie actor who’s a asks too much to do the spot. So we’re gonna, gonna, we’re gonna let you do it for a third of the cost. Mm-hmm . You know, but they want you in that, in, in that, um, in your packaging, that’s who they’re buying. So, but, but it’s, but when it comes to whether they pick, you know, pick you or don’t pick you or, or, uh, you know, give you direction on something to don’t, don’t make it personal. Mm-hmm . It’s because it’s, it’s not a, it’s not about it. They’re buying you, but it’s not about you. Right. If that makes any sense.
42:04
No, it does. It does. And, and that kind of brings me to my final question. You may have already said this in the course of our conversation, if so, you can go ahead and repeat it. But if you were sitting across the table from an aspiring voice actor,
42:15
That’s, that’s the guy there,
42:16
That’s the guy. I can hear him,
42:17
The guy say, hi, Mr. Mike. No, you gotta say hi, Mr. Mike, he can’t see you. Hi.
42:22
Hi. How are you today? He said, good. Okay. Good.
42:28
You are a great interview. Thank
42:29
You. He has a great interview. So say, say bye. You gotta go, and I gotta finish this up.
42:33
Bye-bye. Bye-bye. . What a cutie. So, um, so let’s say you were sitting across the desk for, from an aspiring voice actor. They just came into your office and said, Peter, I’m interested in getting into the VO world.
42:45
Do they have money in their hand?
42:46
Uh, they may, they may we’ll use. We’ll,
42:49
Exactly. We only go talk if they have money in their hand. Let’s,
42:51
Let’s assume they have some money and they’re asking you for some advice. They’ve got cash. Um, and that sound like
42:56
Biggest jerk in the world. Somebody who does not know me is gonna go, what a complete jerk he is. I don’t like him at all. I am never listening to this podcast again. Oh my God. He guys just ego, ego, ego. But enough about me. What do you think about me?
43:09
I’m gonna cancel my subscription to that podcast. Exactly.
43:14
Thanks a lot, Peter. . So, so let, let’s say you’re sitting across from this person and they aren’t mad at you. Uh, right. And they’re not offended by anything you’ve said, and they, and you, they ask you for one piece of advice that you could give them. What would it be?
43:30
My piece of advice is only to get into voiceover. If you need to perform voiceover and be a part of the voiceover community in the same way that you need to breathe it, it, it has to be that serious. It’s not vo being in voiceover. And, and again, this could apply to any other career in any other fashion, but I, I will say specifically for voiceover, it’s not about wanting to be about a voiceover. It’s about needing to be a voiceover. Mm-hmm . You need to, to just, it’s in your blood, it’s in your veins, it’s in your very being. It’s that moment when you’re five years old and you’re walking into that radio station and you’re looking at, at, at the, everything around you and seeing what’s happening. And you’re five, little 5-year-old brain is saying, I gotta do this. Mm-hmm. I gotta do this because me, me, like that, me like that muchly. Um, but the reason is you’re gonna face those obstacles of, you know, of whether I have the talent or not, or whether I have, uh, you know, a bookable voice or whether I have the versatility to do all the things I need to do in a, as a voiceover. And sometimes you’re gonna lose, but the, the need to do voiceover is going to carry you, you know, and it doesn’t mean you’re always gonna get to do voiceover full time. It, it doesn’t work out that way for everybody. Okay. No shame in that. Okay. You need to do voiceover. You need to follow your passion, but you need to have a roof over your head. You need to have a car to get around. You need to feed and educate your children, and your wife likes nice things. Okay? So whatever it takes to do all those things, happy wife, happy life. Mm-hmm . Then you have got yourself. And, you know, and if that means you do voiceover at night and you bus tables in the morning, nobody judges mm-hmm . You know, ’cause we’ve all heard stories of actors doing, you know, a menial jobs or whatever, and then they make it. And you know, what you forget is sometimes those actors who make it then, you know, drop off the face of the earth and the checks run out and the residuals aren’t there. And suddenly they’re, they’re selling insurance in Topeka, Kansas. Mm-hmm . You know why? Because they’ve got a family to feed and life goes on. That’s right. And, and, you know, their dream was short-lived and okay. But if you, if you need, if you need to do voiceover, that’s going to help get you through a great voice isn’t gonna do it. The passion will. Now you’re, you’re gonna say, if you’re listening to this, you’re gonna go, well, I have passion for voiceover, I need to do it. But people say, I have a rotten voice. Okay. That’s, that’s a conundrum. You’ve got a problem. I get it. You know, and if, and, and not just one person, but 50 people have said, I have a rotten voice. Okay. I, I don’t know how that dream’s gonna get filled. And I don’t have any good advice for that, except it’s, you know, if, if that many people think it’s not going for you, you can still try mm-hmm . But, you know, don’t give up the day job and, and, and, and still, you know, take care of the family. But I think by and large, if you have a passion for something, usually you’re pretty good at it. Yeah. You know, and it is gonna be an exception here and there, but by and large, if you have that passion, if you have that need, that need, NEED mm-hmm . I gotta do this. Like, I gotta breathe, then you’ve gotta, then you’ve got an absolute opportunity.
47:00
That’s great advice. And I know, uh, everybody listening, you know, Peter’s a funny guy and he’s self-deprecating and he’s, he, he claims he’s kind of a mean guy, but believe me, it’s a, it’s a very close knit community and the voiceover world. And everybody that I’ve ever talked to has recommended talk to Peter O’Connell, and you’re one of the nicest guys out there, Peter. So I want to thank you for coming on the show and sharing your passion and your expertise in the voiceover world and sharing that with our listeners. I know that your journey, your advice, uh, your, your, your passion are gonna inspire our listeners to keep working, to achieve their dreams. So, uh, everybody, if you haven’t downloaded the free ebook, it’s called voiceover Entrance exam, you’re gonna wanna make sure you check that out. And you can also check out Peter’s website, which is audio connell.com, A-U-D-I-O-C-O-N-N-E-L l.com for some more information. Peter, thank you so much for coming on the show, my friend.
47:57
Well, and thank you, uh, thank you for two reasons for, for giving me the time to be on the show. And, and I appreciate that very much. And then for doing the podcast, because, um, I started out with my blog. I was gonna do a blog and a podcast, and I got, I got too frustrated with doing blog, doing podcasting. And because I wanted everything to be just absolutely perfect and just so, and, and I, I found out that was giving me a high, you know, agita, so I stopped doing it. But there are people like you who are, who are good at it, who have a flow for it, who have a, a, a great talent for it that I don’t know that I had, or maybe I just had impatience in small children. I don’t know, . Um, but you know, I I, I, I find myself a much better guest on podcasts than a producer or host of a podcast. So I’m, I’m glad, I’m glad you’re doing this because I know it helps other people and it share, uh, you know, everybody can obviously hear your passion and your interest in it, and it, and it, and it bodes well for you. And, and thank you so much for taking the time not only to have me, but to actually do the show. That’s, uh, that’s a terrific thing.
48:54
Well, I, I, and it is passion for me, and I appreciate all of those sentiments. So, Peter, thank you again and continued success on your journey.
49:01
Thank you, sir. so much for joining me today on Mike Lynn’s voice, a journey into voice acting. Head on over to mike lynn’s voice.com for links and recaps of every show and other great resources to inspire you on your journey to becoming a professional voice actor. Catch you next time on Mike Lynn’s voice, A journey into voice Acting.
Tags: commentary, peter o'connell, podcast, podcast episodes, podcast guest by peter k. o'connell, your friendly, neighborhood voice-over talent Comments Off on Mike Lenz Podcast – A Journey into Voice Acting podcast – with guest voice actor Peter K. O’Connell
this may be the biggest thing that’s ever happened wherever there is Injustice you will find us wherever
0:07
there is suffering we’ll be there wherever Liberty is
0:21
separately they are humble Canadian voice over Superstars together they are
0:26
the three amiibos ladies and gentlemen ladies and gentlemen now the amiibos and
0:32
Friends super fantastic Happy Hour podcast
0:39
seen dabby Coleman in um Cloak and Dagger yes that was a good
0:46
movie that was one of my favorite movies as a kid fantastic by the way um welcome to episode four of the meatballs and
0:53
Friends super fantastic Happy Hour podcast
0:59
you’re all here sorry oh we didn’t realize we’d started the show go on Mike
1:05
we didn’t realize I left the door unlocked we’ve uh we’ve just decided to you know start in a different way which
1:11
is fair enough wait is it Dabney or dabby Dabney Coleman Dabney Coleman I suppose the show he was on in the 80s
1:17
Buffalo Bill Buffalo Bill Buffalo Bill I have you know what it’s a shame the only time you have it on DVD no no I I just
1:23
mean I can pull stuff like that I’ve got like all this pop culture stuff just rattling around in my head asked me two
1:28
plus two and I need like a calculator but that kind of stuff just comes right at you know that’s like not finish the
1:36
sentence that’s that’s a good word there’s like 32 toothpicks wow I I was going to ask you to finish a
1:43
sentence I realized it would be too easy because you’re just too phenomenal yeah does it does does your brother let you
1:48
drive uh on the driveway on Sundays only to Kmart I’m not wearing any underwear Kmart do my immediate left
1:56
amiibo Dave McRae everybody it was a Rain Man reference yeah I know I’ve Seen Rain Man
2:07
as you can see this edition of the amiibos and Friends super fantastic Happy Hour podcast has started off with
2:13
a movie theme but that which is not uncommon because our resident uh movie geek I want to say yeah
2:21
I am I give you a video I could give you the year of of of almost every movie if
2:26
you tell me a movie I might be able to give you a year all right uh The Cutting Edge
2:33
come on who did not find Moira was it Moira Kelly was was the actress she was
2:40
attractive I said I’m not even gonna I don’t know what year that was what year
2:46
was that I don’t know actually I was hoping you could tell me DB Sweeney was in that he was
2:53
the Pacheco twist I actually haven’t seen it okay I’ve heard of it I know the
2:59
movie you’re talking about but I haven’t I haven’t well I just don’t fell off the rails didn’t it yes I I do have a film
3:05
background yes I I make movies and not the kind of movies you were thinking of ladies and gentlemen I make regular
3:11
movies but Dave also uh it should be noted if it hasn’t been to this point Dave also does our vodcasts he does the
3:18
video transfer or the video productions yeah the interests the trailers and all
3:23
that stuff and he also did a video of us in the studio the last time that we were here yes yes
3:29
you posted that did you know yeah I did yeah I did I thought it was kind of funny it was except the ending there’s
3:35
some random screaming you’re telling your dog to get off some guy named Andy was under the table well
3:42
no we don’t we don’t know we don’t know because the video the video hasn’t been analyzed we need to analyze a video
3:49
we’re going to figure out whether or not I was screaming at a man under the table named Andy or if I was screaming at my
3:54
dog named Indy you as the public you decide to give us a call I’m gonna go at 1-800 three amiibos and you could win
4:01
two tickets to amiibo land next summer see this vodcast as it started off in a
4:07
weird sort of tangent but that’s because now that we’ve we’ve added guests to the
4:13
mix we’ve actually added friends to the amiibos and Friends uh super fantastic happy hour vodcast last show we had the
4:19
incredible amazing super nice and extremely talented Patrick Sweeney on incredible sort of the Canadian wave in
4:27
the Canadian flag to start with and this time we’re going to to shifting a little
4:32
bit to the South a little bit yes yes a tiny bit a tiny bit Peter K O’Connell
4:38
will join us on this episode of the vodcast if you do not know who Peter K O’Connell is uh hello get your head out
4:44
of the sand that’s exactly it he is based and he’s in Buffalo is he now Buffalo New York Buffalo New York Times
4:50
Friendly Markets I have to ask him about that because he’s America’s friendly neighborhood Spider-Man voice Talent oh
4:57
voice Talent yeah well that too I’ll probably screw that up when we talk to him I’m just saying that now because I have a hard time remembering that I
5:03
think he is I want to ask him about if if he’s close to America’s Friendly Neighborhood Market which is tops tops
5:10
Growing Up in Southern Ontario that’s we’d watch wutv in Buffalo that’s right and they always at the Tops Friendly
5:15
Market Lackawanna Tanawanda oh yes I I was DJing at a bar in Buffalo uh called
5:21
good bar good bar that’s right and uh I had some time to kill before uh I I had
5:26
to actually start my shift and there was two girls there I was there with a buddy and asked if we wanted to shoot some pool uh before I had to start Eugene and
5:33
I said sure and she asked me if I wanted to be stripes or salads
5:38
I fell on the floor laughing you talk funny
5:44
yes it says the man and the boots um Peter K O’Connell who uh not only an
5:51
accomplished voice Talent uh he’s also he doesn’t say he’s a coach but uh he actually had a great phrase and you’ll
5:58
hear him say it uh uh he calls himself the uh consiglieri that’s right right because
6:05
he’s not a full coach he’s not a full coach but the man knows what he’s talking about but we don’t know if he’s gonna say it yet because he hasn’t been
6:11
on yet Garnet no but he said it in previous no previous times he’s probably gonna say it because I’ve heard him say
6:16
it to me and uh he says it on his website edit this I don’t need to sound more like an ass now got this yeah why are we trying to bail
6:24
him no you’re absolutely right uh Peter K O’Connell is is accomplished and uh if
6:30
you don’t know who he is and you take your head out of here so Peter K O’Connell who um he’s uh the
6:36
code he’s also a coach uh doesn’t say he’s a coach he’s also written a free
6:41
ebook which uh a brilliant idea a brilliant concept because I’m sure you guys like myself have been asked by
6:49
countless people that know what we do for a living how do I get into voiceover and you know people have told me I have
6:55
a great voice so what do I need to do Peter actually went and wrote a book and uh gave it away for free on his
7:02
website it’s called the voice over entrance exam we’ll talk to him about that as well and the other reason why we
7:08
we wanted to have them on is because he is um so close to the Canadian border he’s also with a Canadian agency up here uh
7:15
just to get his perspective on sort of the you know Canada America and from his perspective uh if there’s uh any
7:22
difference in in how the sort of the voice over World Works uh on this side of the board and don’t forget about uh
7:28
fav con as well that’s right because we are planning the three amiibos are planning to go to fafcon in San Antonio
7:35
Texas we’re hoping where we got the wheels in motion yeah and that’s in October I have to find out the dates
7:41
room exactly but he’s been involved with fafcon from the early stages excuse me I’m a little foot clemt
7:48
um early stage so we’ll ask him about that as well but before we get to that let’s uh do some business of the amiibo
7:54
kind with an amiibo Iceberg tip and we’ll be back with Peter K O’Connell on
7:59
the program next amiibo we’ll be right back changing the voice
8:05
over industry one two got a Time
8:15
hey I’m evil Garnet here and I want to talk to you about demos if you don’t have one then why are you listening to
8:22
me right now go out and get a demo Hurry fast I’ll wait no I’m not gonna wait however as the
8:27
rest of you know a quality demo can make or break you getting the gig or even make or break your career now myself I
8:34
have several demos commercial animation e-learning narration Etc and unless you
8:40
specialize in only one thing say like audiobooks you probably have several demos too having specific demos like
8:46
that is great they showcase all of your abilities and the client doesn’t have to sift through what they don’t need just
8:52
to hear what they do but what if we narrow it down even more say you’re contacting a company that owns a bunch
8:58
of car dealerships to become the voice of all their commercials rather than just sending them your all-purpose commercial demo send one that only
9:04
features you voicing car dealership apps could be hard sell soft sell different makes different models but it’s all
9:11
about car dealerships following that train of thought you could also do industry specific demos for concerts and
9:16
live venues medical narrations political ads and while the only limits really your imagination it’ll showcase your
9:22
versatility and expand your client base just don’t get too hyper focused you probably don’t need a specific demo for
9:28
that Asian fusion Burrito Joint although it might get you some free burritos and now the amiibos and Friends super
9:35
fantastic happy podcast joining us on the line the one thing I
9:42
really love about the website first off is it’s so well written and so
9:47
informative so I feel like I already know our guest uh but he has dubbed
9:52
himself America’s what is America’s friendliest no friendly friendly neighborhood voiceover well and I just
9:59
want to know uh Peter K O’Connell joins us I want to know America is a friendliest neighbor what is it I can’t
10:06
even say it right neighborhood Spider-Man you’re a friendly neighborhood voice over talent friendly neighborhood voice over talent are you
10:12
close to a friendly neighborhood Tops Friendly Market who is this
10:18
Peter kale you kids get off my lawn I love it Peter K O’Connell voice Talent
10:24
extraordinaire from not too far away from where we are here in Hamilton from the birthplace of buffalo wings uh voice
10:30
over Legend Don Messick and the Goo Goo Dolls and might I add my favorite hockey team the Buffalo Sabers yeah that’s
10:37
right from Buffalo New York that’s right I know I know I know but
10:43
there’s still hope Peter there’s still hope in each and every year you know I light I light some candles
10:49
and I and I pray it never works but I pray you keep praying then you might
10:54
want to find a different Saint to pray to yeah I know no now Peter what’s what’s what’s really unique and what we
11:01
we really liked and wanted to have you on the show for is because of your close proximity to where we are and not to
11:08
mention you have you have a certain tie to Canada uh with one of your
11:13
representations uh you’re with Tada Voice works based out of Toronto and we kind of like the the idea or wanted to
11:20
get a feel for a us-based talent who who does work up in Canada and and sort of
11:25
the uh the similarities the differences what you find is maybe a good thing that might be different from what you do down
11:32
uh down your way but before we get to that a little bit of a back story you have quite the the resume as far as
11:40
voice talents go uh tell us a little bit about how you got into voice uh from
11:45
sort of the early days and and into what you’re doing now
11:52
in fact when I worked with Marconi you mean when he was developing right
11:59
you know one of the similar to Garnet and I uh were uh just a a good old radio
12:04
slug um and then made the transition to voiceover you started in radio did you not I did start a radio first of all
12:10
thank you for having me on the show and secondly uh I am uh in in part of a
12:16
fellow Canadian uh because I asked my grandmother was actually uh born epic
12:21
Canada get out I am I am a I am American Irish Canadian Peter’s a frostbac there
12:28
we go now I live summers for about 43 years up
12:34
in Fort Erie Ontario Canada wow and and oh yeah oh no I and I am probably one of
12:41
the biggest uh supporters of the country just generally speaking I think it’s one of the most beautiful places in the
12:47
world Peter you’re uh what you just come back I mean I hope he’s not pandering it he’s Panda that’s true I know I I don’t
12:54
have to suck up to you guys let me guess yes I did start in I did start in radio
13:01
so as you know I used to be paid in t-shirts and CDs or albums depending on what
13:08
decade back in the day when I started in radio uh I I had a a splicing block a
13:15
straight razor and some tape and that’s how we used to cut uh commercials uh back in the day started in in Dayton
13:22
Ohio it hit radio 100 um and uh they were a hot hot AC station
13:29
um and they did very well and then um one day I went on vacation and came back
13:34
and they somebody had the absolute come apart from the commercial production Department who was the production
13:41
director or something and something left terribly awry and they said uh we’re taking you off the six to nine shifter
13:47
and how our you’re now our production manager and there’s you know first thing and I’m all of like
13:53
20 years old 19 20 years old um and I’m like don’t take me off here
14:00
oh there you go if I had an Asian I’d call one um but um but I but then it turns out of
14:08
course just all those little things are in life that turns out to be this great gift and I always loved you know
14:14
commercial production I was like working in the Production Studio but I really found a niche uh doing you know just
14:20
writing spots creating uh spots and and developing a talent which you know which
14:26
was questionable at best at the age of 19 or 20 years old but you know again if you’re paying me in t-shirts you don’t
14:31
get them so so I want my flash dance t-shirt because yes we did do the
14:37
premiere in Dayton Ohio a flash day wow um oh yeah I’m telling you I want to
14:43
tell you and it was actually I was working the evening shift so I didn’t get to go to the movie I just got a t-shirt
14:49
I actually got a t-shirt I’m surprised didn’t have to suffer through the movie
14:55
I’m surprised they didn’t make you sit in the chair and pull the bucket of water down over top of you for a stun
15:00
well you know there’s you know there was that I did that at home I really didn’t need to do that in front of them
15:07
entirely so so voicing uh in the radio station as uh most production most
15:12
production people end up having to voice stuff if there’s not enough announcers around or you’re you just don’t you know have enough bodies in the radio station
15:18
it’s a Friday at five o’clock and you still got stuff to do and there’s nobody you end up voicing quite a bit and you realize that that was a natural Talent
15:26
yeah it was it came very well to me and this was back in the day when you were doing mostly announcing but I I did sort
15:32
of have um a a a friendly hinge to my voice and
15:38
I don’t mean that egotistically I’m just I’m just describing amongst tears how I how I thought I sound at the time and
15:44
and I was able to use that a little more than the you know radio announcing voice but everybody wants to listen nobody
15:50
wants to listen to that but it was the 80s you know and that was what was selling back then um you had you had the real conversational voice before anybody knew
15:57
that was a thing yeah I didn’t know it was marketable who knew I was you know 19 years old and stupid now I’m almost
16:03
50 years old I’m still stupid right now um so um you know it works for the time and
16:09
and the nice thing about it was the thing that the thing that sort of made it clear for me was that the advertisers
16:16
liked me they asked to work with me they wanted to they wanted Peter to do his
16:22
their spots and so I’m like okay and that’s you know that sounds so they come into the station and they’d make time to
16:28
work with me um so then I sort of felt like I was onto something like wow okay you know if
16:34
they like me that much that they request me and they were you know I’m not the morning guy you know and radio usually
16:39
the morning guy gets all the great gigs well not I don’t know these were clients seeking out the event evening guy and
16:45
later I hosted the oldie show on Saturday nights and had great rating success with that but I mean it it was
16:52
very nice to know that people liked my commercial voice and so I went on from there and uh and then just you know developed uh my uh my craft from there
16:59
Peter amiibo Dave here um hi Dave how are you uh not bad not
17:05
bad um I’m curious to know I mean you have a uh you know a wealth of experience behind you dating back to the 1980s
17:14
um and I’m just curious between then and now in your view what is one of the
17:20
biggest changes that you’ve seen uh in voiceover over in terms of
17:27
perception oh
17:35
a question that it is such a commodity that anybody can do it
17:41
that it it really takes no skill and it only takes technology to make your voice
17:47
over talent right I I that that disappoints me in many ways not not directly for my business because
17:54
people who want to work with me they want to work with me and and that’s fine
17:59
but it’s it’s what it does to our industry what it does to the voice over industry
18:04
um you know everybody has the right to to make their living however they want to make their their living
18:10
um and pay to play sites which I think you guys are probably familiar with those sites that you pay you know an
18:15
annual fee of something like 300 a year and they and they send you and 25 000 of your closest friends a lead for a
18:21
voiceover commercial right or a narration and everybody just sort of jumps in and well maybe I’ll get it
18:27
that’ll be terrific I’ll do it for 25. and and and then the development not
18:34
specifically for voice over but you know one of the one of the categories that this website called fiverr.com you know
18:42
I’ll do any any job for five dollars including voice over right and I I was I
18:48
was on a website and and I forget what it was it just had an ad for Fiverr on there I think it was a marketing website
18:54
so it had a an ad for Fiverr uh for a logo a logo designed for five dollars oh
19:01
my gosh that’s such an insult to these people who have such amazing artistic
19:07
talent and for five dollars and and so for voice over the change that you’re asking me about is that what what what
19:14
I’ve seen change is is this the value of what we do has been lesson absolutely
19:19
Lesson by the pay to play it has been listening by technology everything that was good about technology can also you
19:26
know be considered in my opinion bad uh because and I’m I’m usually a very optimistic person but I think a lot of
19:33
what has happened here with technology has hurt our industry and and hurt and
19:38
hurt you know the art the Artistry of our industry right I would agree yep
19:44
absolutely now gonna switch gears here because I um Garnet uh here I’m evil Garnet uh I was looking forward how are
19:52
you
19:58
and Beyond no it’s true it’s a good it’s a good point you make because you know I I find
20:04
that a few people who I know who have listened to the Vodka slash podcast
20:10
slash vodcast whatever the heck it is now um have said that if they’re not used to
20:15
hearing all three of them geez how did you know Peter because that’s exactly exactly what’s going on
20:22
right now he sees right through us if if you’re in Canada and you’re in radio you’re drinking okay so amiibo Garnet
20:30
here to preface let me uh let me ask you a question about social media because uh looking
20:36
over your website you’re uh you’re all up in it and uh I I know that you have a
20:41
yo I’m all up in it yes you are 50 year old and I’m all up in it what part of
20:46
Buffalo are you from from reading your uh your blog and
20:53
reading your uh your website that you prefer LinkedIn over Facebook but uh I
20:59
do and I understand your reasons why you’re very clear on that but do you have a strategy that you use for combining all social media effectively
21:05
and I’m talking stuff like Google Plus as well your YouTube channel Pinterest like whatever to try and effectively use
21:11
them all together in your uh in your marketing strategy oh heck no I don’t I no I mean you know I I and I I get
21:19
called on a lot by by voice over folks to help them with a variety of things I have something called the voiceover workshop
21:25
and I and I I work with voice over talents as a consulary not a coach because I’m not qualified to be a coach
21:31
like a Fraley or a Maurice Tobias or somebody like that who really knows what they’re doing I’m just telling them what I know but they come to me about
21:37
marketing and they always say well I’m on social media and you know social media has its place in in the marketing
21:45
of any business including a voiceover business um social media is is but a Channel of
21:51
what you do and so but more directly to your question about how so you know how
21:57
does social media all come together in in one you know pot it it really that
22:03
doesn’t necessarily to the way I look at it is social media should be looked at based on the audience that you want to
22:11
address your marketing message to and for a voiceover Talent there are a
22:17
variety of different audiences that we’re usually going after and I’ll give you an example and it’s just one of them
22:22
a billion you can come up with different variations uh if you were um if you were
22:28
going after and advertising agency uh advertising agency has a category of
22:35
audience that you want me to talk to maybe specifically not just agencies um maybe creative directors or
22:41
copywriters for example right because those are the folks that are more likely to hire a voice over talent you you want
22:47
to think about what social media their they’re most attracted to and what
22:53
social media channels excuse me they are most attracted to and that could be any number of ways but but what’s important
23:00
is what is the message you want to get out to them and then by when you figure out what that message is look at the
23:06
different media the social media channels that you have and and then pick your channel that way I mean can you in
23:12
essence go to uh a a a a a a web integrator like uh uh hoop Street and
23:20
send one one message we have a link to a blog post to Facebook and Twitter and
23:27
Linkedin and darn near everything else at once and get it all out there sure you can and will it will it get some
23:32
views absolutely I mean you know you got things like Twitter to give you the hashtag and people are more akin to
23:37
hashtag so they look under things they’re interested to them so they see something in there they’re more likely to fall off but when you’re using social
23:44
media as immediate as a marketing channel it’s
23:49
so important to figure out what message you want to get across and it can’t be
23:56
um something along the lines of uh call me for you know for a 25 voice
24:15
it’s getting there um but but if you if you look at the marketing message you want to get across
24:22
for example maybe you want to tell somebody about some new cool thing that you a new cool attitude a new persona
24:29
that you came up with so maybe you want to put something like that in one of the LinkedIn groups just the LinkedIn group
24:35
just that one group to get that message out that to me is a good use of social media if you want to put out something
24:42
silly like a like a viral video that has something to do with creativity you know
24:47
maybe a link on on Facebook works for you but again then again all of that
24:53
depends on who you’re connected with on those social media channels if you’re connected with you know all your cousins
24:59
from around the world they’re not gonna give her a rest attitude about that they don’t care you know but you’ve got to
25:04
make sure that you’re somehow hooked up with those with those people in in the industry that you want to the creative
25:10
directors the copywriters in this example and make sure that they are um that’s that’s my uh GPS if you’re
25:17
hearing that um turn left here exactly I’m lost turn
25:22
left here oh my God it’s a lake I’m sort of a long-winded point to say
25:28
think about your message and and use social media to its best Advantage find
25:33
those people you really need to connect with and follow them and communicate with them don’t communicate with the
25:39
world you know find a way to use social media to get your message across to the right people even if it’s a few people
25:45
I’d rather communicate with a few of the right people than a hundred thousand of the wrong people because what’s the
25:50
point well that’s an interesting uh sort of to to dovetail on that is do you find
25:56
now that with social media especially in the voiceover community that voice talent that are either new to the
26:02
business or relatively new uh tend to either a spend more time uh selling to
26:09
the to their peers as opposed to selling to potential clients and engagers and
26:16
and sort of do yeah and do they also do you find that now with social media that
26:21
Talent are I don’t want to they’re they’re building they’re I’m fighting with the GPS I’m sorry I
26:30
think I turned the damn thing off I thought I turned it off before but I guess I didn’t I thought there was a woman in the car that’s okay
26:37
my wife might be listening uh the uh but what I was sort of getting
26:44
at with social media it seems now because it’s so easy to use and because it seems to be the uh the platform of
26:52
choice for voice Talent now especially new ones that there’s this uh this need
26:58
or desire to present yourself or or give yourself a Persona without necessarily
27:04
having the goods to back it up per se you’re laughing because you you know
27:10
what I’m getting at here create the illusion it’s it’s yeah like like Dave said it’s it creating an illusion of a
27:16
talent that’s either better or further along than actually is or that they’re actually busy hey guys I
27:23
just I just finished a recording session for a car dealership in Rangoon
27:29
do you find that though Peter I mean you know in my observations Mike is right and and and it’s something that we sort
27:36
of talked about on the inaugural vodcast uh was this exact topic but it’s interesting to get your point of view as
27:42
well because you know we find that there are a lot and not everybody of course but there are a lot of people who who
27:49
are very good at marketing very good at creating the illusion that they are better and further along and more
27:55
knowledgeable than they really are well first off I think if you’re if you’re
28:00
further along and and doing more voice over work you don’t have the time for social media how’s that work correct
28:06
right there um I mean if you know and I’ve pretty much given up on Facebook I
28:12
mean like literally in the in the in the past month I’ve I’ve dwindled it down to almost nothing except for my my voice
28:19
over page like my first I’m like I’m just I’m just done with it um and uh because I just it’s nice and
28:26
people are nice it’s nice to hook up with your with your friends and family but much for business it seems to be fairly useless now there are other
28:33
people who will tell you that they make lots of money working off of social media and I respect their opinions and I
28:39
resp I respect that they make money off it I guess I don’t have that magic magic button and and I find that there are
28:45
other um uh there are other tools in my marketing quiver uh that I can call on
28:52
and and they work a lot better for me to develop my business versus social media social media has value but again it
28:58
depends on what your audience who your audience is for that message and social media as far as voice over challenge I
29:05
mean I I I know that this sort of tweet or Facebook post uh that you that you’re
29:11
alluding to and these are people who are you know basically saying hey yeah I’m
29:17
I’m I’m doing great work on this or I I just finished this project here or
29:22
um hey call me if you need a voiceover uh for a project I’m available uh I’m I
29:28
I’m between sessions right now
29:34
like no you’re between sessions because your last session was 2012 and now
29:40
2013. you know so it doesn’t it doesn’t behoove you to get that
29:47
message across you have to make social media worthwhile and many people who are much more talented in social media than
29:54
I am uh have made this point you have to offer content you have to offer value
29:59
for the for the reader you have to offer something of interest it’s the same thing if you were you know for
30:05
television and for radio you know if you’re producing something it’s got to be of interest to the to the uh to The
30:11
Listener to the viewer and so where’s the interest in somebody’s saying uh hey
30:16
call me for a voiceover I mean the symptoms of somebody first of all hiring
30:21
you based on that kind of post and second of all actually being on Facebook
30:26
at that exact moment thinking themselves damn where am I going to find a voice it’s so rare and and improbable that you
30:35
kind of go well let’s not let’s not go there so I I just think that that’s that’s kind of silly I think voice over
30:41
challenge would be better suited and and and be better off just generally if they
30:47
considered why they’re on social media what the purpose is and it is to Market
30:53
their business well their business isn’t necessarily that hey I’m a voice over Camp hire me it is that my brand is you
31:01
know Peter K O’Connell uh America’s friendly voice neighborhood voice over talent and you know you know and here I
31:09
am being friendly and neighborly and by telling you this kind of cool thing that I think will be of interest to you and
31:14
oh by the way you know I am a voice talented you know and and by by clicking on my profile you’ll find out about me
31:20
not because I’m saying I’m a voiceover challenge but because when you’re when it’s time for you to you know want to
31:25
know more about me you’ll find out that I’m a voiceover Channel But first you thought I said something interesting or
31:31
posted something that was of interest to you or it’s humorous or you know something that they garnered your attention and and and then you find out
31:39
as a voice over talent and then maybe a connection can be made that way I think that’s the best way social media works
31:45
but you know I could be all wrong that’s brilliant now uh sort of in a in
31:51
a different direction here one of the things that uh you’ve been involved with I I want to say from the start yes uh
31:58
yeah from from the very beginning you’re mentioning like I’m connecting with fellow uh voice over artists uh you know
32:04
through social media and stuff like that I’ve done that um and you know sometimes made uh
32:09
connections that have led to work um but also just networking with them and just sharing ideas and stuff like
32:15
that which um is done uh at events as well such as fafcon and fafcamp which I
32:21
understand you’re heavily involved with um how did you hook up with Amy snively and and how did uh fafcon all get
32:28
started up and actually can you tell me please why fafcon I don’t know what the faff part of fafcon stands for
32:35
the reason I got involved in fastcon um and and I didn’t actually to your
32:41
question I didn’t actually hook up with it well I didn’t mean she’s definitely married and I’m happily married to two
32:46
different people I did not mean hook up in the biblical sense Peter oh
32:54
it’s what you were no I I didn’t unders I didn’t understand is that on the leviticism no that was in
33:00
the book of Eminem I believe oh my God that’s a great book it melts
33:06
me off your mouth um so fast fast time I came to fastcon
33:15
um it was around to a a conference out in Los Angeles a
33:23
voiceover conference that I was asked to speak on a panel app uh it was called uh voice uh and it was put on by uh the the
33:31
very the very lovely and talented uh Penny and James Auburn uh Penny Abshire and James Auburn uh very nice people and
33:38
I’ve known them for years and they did a very nice uh conference and um and I
33:43
spoke on a conference uh panel with uh John Florian from voiceover extra my friend Dr Kell Trish basani uh Bob and
33:50
bean was there I mean just a ton of people and of course a lot of my voice over friends uh that I’ve known for a long time we all got to know each other
33:57
going back to social media and I’m trying to keep this all on one path going on social media um through a voice over bulletin board
34:04
called the vo-bb.com now that is a a voiceover
34:10
bulletin board that was started uh in the early 1800s um by the great D.B Cooper a wonderful
34:16
female voice over talent well if you guys ever want to start talking about uh video games and there and voicing video
34:23
games you guys should absolutely talk to her she’s just an amazing talent on the number of levels but she really she
34:28
really has a a great a great ability there um but so we all were on this board for
34:35
years and we so when we when we went to Los Angeles a bunch of us went to Los Angeles it worked out really well we all
34:42
got to see each other we had a lovely time but what we when we went to the conference uh and Amy was there as well
34:47
Amy Schneider was there as well so one of the things we noted when we went to the conference was at this particular conference
34:53
um there were a lot of people um selling their Wares so when when a
34:59
presenter came up and was talking to you it was they were talking to you
35:04
um with the purpose of hopefully selling something either that day or later on
35:09
when you’d buy something that they had but it was all sales there’s there’s nothing wrong with that
35:15
and there was still some content that was worthwhile there but it got Amy
35:20
thinking original idea and everybody immediately glommed onto it because it was such a brilliant idea that there’s
35:26
got to be a way to have a voiceover conference uh of some sort
35:32
where you can actually just um work together uh in in a conference
35:38
setting and learn without having to be necessarily sold to and so this is the idea that was
35:46
germinating with Amy and and she gave she gave it life um and it and she came up with the name
35:52
fastcon now fast goes back to I believe the British version of just sort of chatting around facting about it’s just
36:00
you know speaking with friends you know fabulous did I lose exactly did I lose
36:08
you no that was it no there was a giant light bulb that uniformly went uh went off above everybody’s head in the room I
36:15
should know this yes a blanket Moment of clarity just hit us
36:22
on your money we do and we do she’s gorgeous she’s she’s Loveless
36:29
Kate Middleton money though uh if only
36:35
yeah no it’ll happen eventually they’ll give her her own coin um but um so Amy came up with this great
36:41
idea and um and and so she wanted help from people in the voice over
36:46
communities very much a um a Community Driven event you know Amy’s not making a
36:52
a boatload of money let alone any money off of this event uh it isn’t it is not it should be a business venture but it’s
36:58
more of a venture of love and trying to break even on it it’s just there’s nothing wrong with that either and so um at the particular time she started
37:05
the event she and I had known each other for a while and certainly uh she’s one of the female voiceover talents on my
37:12
website um and I am uh she said she said you know can you
37:17
help me and and of course you know sure I can help you um so unfortunately the good news was I
37:23
could help her the bad news was I couldn’t attend the first fast film uh because uh my lovely bride was giving uh
37:30
gonna give birth around that time to our our third child and my wife kept saying something silly like you have to be here
37:39
I I said dear you’ve done this twice before you really don’t I was not critical to the process you know with
37:46
with masks on and lights and they think like doctors or nurses and stuff like that I’m really you know I’m not really
37:52
necessary you have to be here so I I paid um and and there’s all the better for it had and had a lovely time with uh with
37:59
our third with our third child the young boy who’s now two and a half uh coming up on three but um so what I did at the
38:05
time as I recall was um I crafted a uh I crafted a video and and engaged all of
38:12
uh all of my voice over friends uh to participate in it and uh you know it was
38:17
we tried to make it look good but it was ranked amateurish at best and mostly
38:22
because of my script and my creativity um you know I I was a video producer once
38:30
in my life but I seem to have lost my uh my debris but it but it worked out well to get the get the word out uh on on the
38:37
event and everybody was very um very excited about it and it and it had a it’s wrong since its first event uh
38:44
those years ago in Portland and uh now it it it sells out within hours like
38:49
within an hour uh because uh fastcon is uh is limited to just 100 voice over
38:55
talents each of the voiceover talents have to be vetted uh to be proven to be you know full-time voiceover Talent uh
39:01
making their living at it doing it doing it professionally Etc um and and the value of the event itself
39:07
um and the reason it’s it’s it’s it’s it’s so prized and cherished by the people who have attended fast time is
39:13
because it is voice over talents um the voiceover talents who are in
39:20
attendance create the event right they create what what’s going to be on the agenda for the event they put
39:26
it all together um and and so you’ve got quality voice over talents people who run their own
39:32
business who can talk to you about the business that you’re in and understand your challenges understand your
39:38
opportunities understand what what um Stepping Stones you need to make in your business and can help you through all
39:44
the things because there hasn’t there isn’t a person in there who probably has not experienced one of the challenges
39:51
that you you’ve experienced and think are insurmountable and yet they’ve they’ve overcome it correct and but by
39:58
and large you may have something for somebody there in the same vein you know you’ve overcome something but for them
40:04
it’s insurmountable and you can help them with it it’s a great it’s a it’s a great opportunity and you’ll learn a ton
40:09
oh the the learning is and it’s so specific to the voiceover community and
40:14
running a voiceover business that’s the beauty of it so I would gather Peter that that uh
40:20
um fafcon probably because of the things that you just said and because of the
40:26
environment that that the voice over talent who attend create there is much
40:31
more of a sense of community and family than there would be at something like voice
40:37
um I I I yes and no because I don’t I don’t want to diminish the worth of the
40:44
folks that voice are doing sure um there is absolutely a community for the people at any conference including voice and
40:51
and James and Penny have worked very hard on it over the years uh and I’ve attended it and it and it is a nice
40:56
community and and Lord knows I’ve made uh lovely friends uh by attending those those events and they’re very nice
41:02
people sure so I I think there is I I think there’s a community at any event
41:08
like that anywhere you go with voice over talent you’re going to have a community it’s just you you spend most
41:13
of your life in a dark room with a single light bulb you know you get out and you talk to people anyway it’s like
41:19
everybody yeah it’s like everybody who’s coming out of uh you know solitary confinement like oh you know I know
41:25
exactly what you’re talking about exactly you know but but then you know narrowing it down
41:32
to fastcon the there is a there is a community certainly uh there and and uh
41:40
you know people continue to communicate with each other long after fafcon has gone is over
41:47
um it continues to continue to share the commitment to help each other’s business
41:52
and we develop a um a Brotherhood a Sisterhood I don’t want to make it too
41:58
familiar right right and just disrespect actual families which are more important than this but um but it is really
42:04
something that it it is very important to the people who have attended fafscotch to keep post-relationships
42:11
going and and usually uh by and large most most uh staffers are very welcoming
42:17
to uh fellow fascots well I I would hope I would hope that that’s the case
42:22
because it looks like that the three amiibos are planning to make their way to San Antonio for the the next which is
42:30
coming up in October correct yes it is I think it’s the third through the fifth and San Antonio I hear I hear I I hear
42:38
the Alamo is there um
42:45
I was trying to make a peewee’s big adventure joke here oh yeah is there a basement in the Alamo I thought the
42:51
Alamo was in Arizona is it in Arizona we’re Canadians we don’t know we don’t we don’t know American history very well
42:57
apparently that’s our that’s our Regina without giggling
43:05
Peter K O’Connell the the website is audioconnell twins2ls.com correct yeah
43:11
sure it is our peterkel.com or you know uh Stupid voiceover idiot.com and also
43:18
and and if you do go to the website uh we didn’t touch on it but uh the voice over entrance exam which was the e-book
43:25
that you wrote that you put on your website for free what for free
43:30
yeah right that was done for a very very selfish reason
43:35
everybody would call me and say I have a right to be in voice over can you help
43:41
me that’s exactly what it’s like dude and I talked to them for 20 minutes and I’m like uh okay well here’s what you
43:47
need to do and after a while I just went you know I’m an idiot I’m giving this away for free I should I should get paid
43:53
for it so the first thing I did was write a book and say look you probably don’t have the talent it’s it’s there’s
43:59
a very good possibility that you suck don’t do this and then and then if you can get past that
44:06
because this is a business of rejection then let’s go on to the next level and let’s and let’s try and um uh let’s try
44:12
and you know put something together and and just so you you won’t think that I am actually
44:18
um uh kidding I have a an email from 2 45 today from a woman I will not name who
44:26
says hello I was wondering if I can get more information on how to be a voice over talent I’m planning on taking a
44:32
voiceover class at my college this summer but I’m curious to know if traditional experience is needed
44:39
from today I can’t make that up now Peter thank you so much for uh for for
44:45
taking the time and chatting with us look forward to meeting you at one of uh Pat Sweeney’s vo and Toes coming up
44:51
hopefully this Summer that would be great I would love to do that and then buy you guys a beer uh and and visit
44:56
with you awfully kind to include me in this I I I was told it was going to be 15 minutes and I I I I see the poor fool
45:04
it has to edit this mother down that would be me Peter it’s all gold
45:26
what a nice job you guys do with it too you’re very good interviewers no kidding well thank you appreciate it and uh and
45:33
again we we really appreciate Peter the website again audioconnell.com and he is your friendly
45:39
neighborhood voice over talent for commercials narrations whatever you need Peter drive safe and uh and we’ll talk
45:45
soon thanks guys have a great night take care Peter bye and now it’s time for another three
45:51
amiibos fun fact hey it’s amiibo Mike you know all three amiibos have some really neat talents outside of BL amiibo
45:59
Dave is the stellar and accomplished filmmaker kind of the Spielberg of our Trio amiibo Garnet is a top shelf Top
46:04
Chef in his own right kind of our Gordon Ramsay Jamie Oliver as for me well I can’t cut that well in my high school
46:11
film attempts were less than Stellar but I’ve always had the Knack and passion for acting so I’ve done some stage work
46:16
in my time things like On Golden Pond you can’t take it with you but I thoroughly enjoyed my time playing
46:21
Picasso in the wonderful Steve Martin play Picasso with the Le panagil now the director was a dear friend of mine and a
46:27
talented actor in his own right Jason cat now if you’ve ever seen the play you’ll know that Picasso gets to kiss
46:33
two women during the play you think that would be a breeze not so much considering one of those women was
46:39
actually Jay the director’s wife not really sure who was more Awkward for though me Jay his wife or my fiance now
46:48
a wife who was sitting in the audience so as far as the amiibos go I guess that makes me the Gerard Butler of the group
46:53
actually more like Alan Thicke I suppose
47:00
you now amiibos and Friends super fantastic Happy Hour podcast
47:07
welcome back to the amiibos and Friends super fantastic Happy Hour podcast again our thanks to Peter K O’Connell our
47:13
second guest yes um he’s a great guy yeah he’s a funny guy too really funny even though we
47:19
thought you know the first show we had a Canadian guest this one we were gonna have an American guest we didn’t we had a Canadian guest again because right
47:26
part Canadians and spent most of his time when he was uh younger as a kid in
47:31
the Fort Erie area which is which is really cool that’s not too far away here from amiibo Mountain
47:37
yeah don’t say too loud just don’t give out the longitude and latitude we’ll be fine and and he’s an and he’s Elegance
47:47
back in the old time it is uh but he’s also an admitted Sabers fan so amiibo
47:52
Dave and him that he did something we bonded we bonded that’s very sweet it was it was was it it was quite romantic
47:59
I’m looking forward to fafcon now I mean yeah I I was looking forward to before but uh in engineering and now that we
48:05
know what a faffer is yes that’s right part of fafcon stands for yes it does not stand for fabulous conference which
48:11
is what I hear which is what I thought it might be a fabulous unconference how do you get fat from that I I don’t know
48:17
so but that is October 3rd to 5th in San Antonio Texas now I believe if you go to the website uh early June is when
48:23
they’re going to open it up to the 100 submissions yeah so I don’t know if we’re gonna get let in though because he
48:28
said they vet the people that apply there’s all kinds of criteria they have one spayed and neutered yet so neither
48:34
have I and what happens Mikey honey no not that kind of that what happened Patrick Sweeney he could have he could
48:41
have warned me with his medical stuff sorry dude what happens if if you get in
48:56
she could drive a wedge between the three amiibos she could there there could be a wedge the amiibo why did you
49:04
look at Dave when you said the two amiibos
49:25
no because because in in February I missed out on meeting Rob Paulson that’s
49:32
right and then reading Pat Fraley yeah and then and then I missed the voice conference it’s
49:37
your turn it’s going to be Mike and I don’t miss anything I obviously have no life outside the group I’m the Ringo
49:45
oh I can’t top that I can’t top that uh if you want more information on the three
49:52
amiibos you can visit our website three amiibos.com individually though uh Dave McRae you can get him at thevoiceman.com
49:58
also davemcrae.ca there you go the voice
50:03
manager two ends why did you give me the finger when he says
50:11
Garnet Williams at williamsvoiceovers.com myself at all things Mike dot CA which is changing
50:18
I’m saying that that’s my catch I don’t know
50:25
psychologically he feels better if he keeps saying that it’s changing because it’s like it’s actually changing that
50:31
you can also email us at three amiibos gmail.com for the man to my left the
50:38
funny guy amiibo Dave McRae amiibo Garnet Williams in front of me
51:13
has been brought to you by the three amiibos the show’s over it was written
51:18
kinda recorded edited and produced from deep within the great white North by
51:23
Dave McRae Garnet Williams and Mike Pond Gratz for more amiibo fun questions or
51:31
comments check us out online at three amiibos.com on Twitter at the three
51:37
amiibos until next time happy birthday
Tags: peter o'connell, podcast, podcast episodes, podcast guest by peter k. o'connell, your friendly, neighborhood voice-over talent Comments Off on the 3 amivos voiceover podcast – with special guest voice actor Peter K. O’Connell
Voice-over web domains are funny things and I should know because I’ve had a ton of them. I’d come up with a cool idea and race to get the domain. The hundreds of dollars I’ve wasted on domains was, well, wasted.
Some people bought really smart voice-over web domains like Doug Turkel who owns voiceovertalent.com. Word on the street was that he may have had to perform unnatural acts to get that domain…like singing opera during a biker convention in Miami, but that’s just a rumor (that I just started in this sentence). Point is, it’s an awesome domain.
But of all the domains I ever registered, the one I could never get was peteroconnell.com. Years ago, I called the guy who had it and we had a very nice conversation…I can’t now even recall if his name WAS Peter O’Connell. He noted at the time he wanted to keep it and I told him to call me if he ever wanted to get rid of it. No call.
Fast forward to about three weeks ago and I get an email which smelled suspiciously like spam. It said the domain peteroconnell.com was up for auction and to click here blah, blah. So I emailed my web guy, who just LOVES hearing from me in the middle of of his weekend, to see if this offer was legit.
It was.
He asked me if I wanted to bid on it? I said I did and I threw out what I considered a low bid.
And I won.
That means I bid too damn high!
Idiot!!!!!! 🙂
Anyway, I’ve had peterkoconnell.com for a long time but now peteroconnell.com is in the hands of his rightful owner and all is right with the world.
So here’s my question to you: of the web addresses you own, which is your most favorite? Also, which web domain would you most like to own that you don’t own now and why?