I get about a dozen notices of voice over classes and workshops and seminars each hour. So get a bit jaded when I see the latest notice.

Last week one came across my screen that stopped me for a second. And I remembered all week that I wanted to write about it and so now I’m going to write about.

My friend (and friend to all voice talent) John Florian and his Voice Over Xtra! advised me that Nancy Wolfson is holding a teleseminar on June 21st at 9PM eastern called “Voiceover Audition Consultations” in which it is promised: “There’s never been anything like this — a world-class seminar on how to make a good audition better and an excellent audition great.”

Without remuneration or compensation I offer this link because I think this might be a good use of your time.

Tags: commentary, voice over training, voice talent, voiceover, voiceover advice by peter k. o'connell, your friendly, neighborhood voice-over talent
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When a teacher succeeds, it’s because their student’s life has been changed by what that teacher offered. The teacher offered a gift: their knowledge, their ability to communicate that knowledge in a thoughtful way and it blossomed within the student.

I got a note today from voice talent Lisa Biggs who shared a recent experience she had with an experienced voice over pro who is now sharing his gifts as a voice teacher. I’ll let you decide if the lesson had an impact.

After ten years riding the voice over crazy train I still take classes regularly, and work closely and consistently with a handful of professional coaches. Recently I decided to reach out to Rob Paulsen in hopes that I might have the opportunity to learn from him as well. Rob has been a professional voice over actor since the 1980’s having voiced over 2,000 1/2 hour animated episodes to his credit. In 1999 Rob won the daytime Emmy award for “Outstanding Performer in an Animated Program” for his role as the voice of the boisterous and energetic laboratory mouse Pinky in the hit series Pinky and the Brain.

I feel like I’ve grown up with Rob! I remember watching him as Yako on Animaniacs every afternoon, after soccer practice in junior high. So, I was beyond thrilled when he emailed me back to informed me that he’s beginning a new venture as a voice-over coach, he said my timing was “serendipitous”!

One of the things that makes Rob Paulsen’s time and expertise so infinitely valuable is it’s relevancy. He continues to work almost every day! He’s voiced thousands of commercials. He is the voice of “Mr. Opportunity” for Honda, also he works on animated projects on a weekly basis. Rob is the quintessential busy bee and a competitive force in this highly competitive industry. Whether your goal is to learn how to bring absolute believability to a fictional character, or learning to make out of the box choices when auditioning, “Mr. Opportunity” is knocking and you should answer the door. Rob says, ” those gifted with exceptional talent who focus of maximizing their potential by finding their own niche quickly break away from the pack.”

Tags: voice actors, voice over training, voice talent, voiceover, voiceover advice by peter k. o'connell, your friendly, neighborhood voice-over talent
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So I’m passing by Facebook Monday night and I saw a post from my friend, voice talent Lisa Biggs, who wrote – “anybody wanna join me in 22min for a skype interview about how to be a successful voice-over artist?? it’s a project for a high school student : )”

So I sent her a message and later that evening we had a nice conversation with a student named Kaviyan who is using the recording of interview featuring Lisa, me and fellow voice talent Dan Lenard as a school project about how to get into voice over- a career track he’d like to follow.

Here’s a link to this fun interview.

Tags: commentary, voice actors, voice over training, voice talent, voiceover advice by peter k. o'connell, your friendly, neighborhood voice-over talent
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My friend Dan Friedman, he of ProComm and Faffcon fame, pinged me to let me know that his SOUNDADVICEVO and SOUNDADVICE – Voiceover have been rebranded to SOUND4VO complete with a new address: http://sound4vo.com/

Lots of valuable information can be found be reading Dan’s book and blog so stay tuned or get subscribed!

Tags: audio production, voice over training, voice talent, voiceover, voiceover advice by peter k. o'connell, your friendly, neighborhood voice-over talent
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I’m a little late catching up to emails but I see now that Marice Tobias is doing a workshop in Toronto on April 30th and May 1st 2011.

This one is on Commercial, Narration, and Promo…not sure what studio but there are plenty of nice ones in TO.

I think this is similar to the one I took in Atlanta a few years ago. If you have a chance to go to Marice’s seminar, you will not regret it.

If you need a referral, check with me.

Tags: voice actors, voice over training, voiceover, voiceover blog by peter k. o'connell, your friendly, neighborhood voice-over talent
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Many folks ask me about marketing ideas for their voice over business but turn ashen when they think about any cost that might be involved.

While I encourage reasonable financial investment in some tools, I also advise that there are free tools to take advantage of as well. One of the best of the free tools is public relations. It also requires lot of work on its execution.

PR can be defined many way but the most well known tool in the PR arsenal is the press release. The keys to a good release is having a story worth telling. The best way to do that is to try and ask yourself “if I was an editor of the publication I want to send my release to, would I want to print this release or write a story based on this release?”

Tell a story – don’t try and tell the world how great you are (that’s not news and it’s not as true as you think).

If your release passes THAT sniff test, make sure you follow standard press release formats (tools and information about that are all over the web) and PROOF READ your document – actually it’s a good idea to have someone else read it after you have written the release.

But who to send it to?

Well our friends at Voices.com have offered up their online publication, Voice Over Times, as an outlet for voice over news. If you want the deets on who/what/when/where, read up on that here.

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