If you have never before been exposed to the vocal versatility of Mr. Warm and Friendly Voice himself, Rowell Gormon, enjoy this brief piece of voice over brilliance – written by the man himself.
Uh, yup, those voice are ALL him.
If the folks at AFLAC, or any other advertising agency or video production house were smart, they’d just call Rowell to get the job done right, the first time.
I already know that I am going to regret doing this.
The “this” is beginning a campaign to be voted Buffalo’s Best Radio Voice by readers (or you) of the very popular local publication Buffalo Spree (a magazine to which our family subscribes).
Every year they do a ‘Best of Buffalo’ ballot and today I noticed they listed “Best Radio Voice” as a category.
While they may mean best disc-jockey or radio personality, that is NOT what the ballot says.
The ballot under the category of “WNY: It’s the people” says “Best radio voice”.
Now my voice has been on a number of radio (and TV) commercials in Buffalo and I was born and live here so I believe I fully qualify as a nominee.
Certainly it’s debatable as to whether or not I have the “best” voice but as in most elections, ‘qualification’ (in this case being the “best”) seems pretty inconsequential.
This is about ego, hubris and voice over vanity – muscles I have not stretched nearly enough. Contrary to the belief of some, I need to work harder at making an ass of myself and I think this campaign may fit the bill perfectly.
So there you have it…vote and get your Buffalo friends to VOTE HERE and if elected as Buffalo’s Best Radio Voice, I promise to wear my sash with pride. If there was a crown, that could be cool (maybe I’ll sell it on ebay) and I suppose a scepter would be too much to ask for.
I can only hope there is a cash award for winning this silly thing.
This is my opinion: as an “advanced”voice talent – I don’t want to train with an “intermediate” voice talent.
If you are an intermediate voice talent, you shouldn’t want to train with me either.
I saw a post from somebody for a future “Intermediate/Advanced” voiceover training session and it simply ticked me off.
I have many friends are various stages of their voice over careers whom I deeply respect and with whom I will gladly spend hours professionally and socially – but I only want to train with those voice over talents who have my experience level.
Here’s my self-fish but I think smart reason why: I am focused on moving forward from where I am to a better performance place when I train. If my instructors have to take two steps back in a group training to help someone catch up, I lose. I lose time, I lose momentum and I lose direction.
I paid my money and I want to get my money’s worth from a professional voice over teacher. Voice over trainers also need to stay focused on one level of talent, not be switching back and forth – their concentration falters and their students lose.
An intermediate voice talent may get some benefit working around advanced voice talents by learning from example but it also may (probably more than “may”) intimidate the hell outta these intermediate voice talents who (like all of us) have our moments of self-doubt. A training session is not the optimal time for such unnecessary self-doubt.
I see traveling teachers do this combination Intermediate and Advanced training all the time during their weekend sessions. I understand it’s a factor of the amount of time available. And that’s an inexcusable response.
“Whoa! O’Connell, you’re pretty full of yourself today, aren’t you?!”
No more than usual, actually, but time is not the real reason: don’t focus on the economics of ensuring a full class for the training day or weekend (training is a business, no shame in that) by mixing the class to benefit the house.
Better I think to focus on the students’ abilities, build THAT class and let the learning flow. Teachers will enhance their reputations and their pocket books at the same time.
And, oh by the way, the voice over students will learn a lot more.
Ain’t dat da point?
According to (via Voice Over Universe) my friend and fellow voice talent Dan Hurst:
You Know You’re A Voice Talent When…
1. You have a chronic case of headphone hair.
2. You catch yourself repeating lines you hear in commercials.
3. You believe mouth ticks can kill you.
4. A one take is like a hole in one.
5. You know what it means to rock the mic.
6. You’ve done a few takes and then realized you weren’t recording.
7. You hate P words.
8. You plan to do this for the rest of your life.
9. You wear quiet clothes.
10. You think a great mic is the Holy Grail.
I’m not sure if everyone is getting these emails or if it’s just me but the big news in voiceover land this week seems to be that voice over talent Joe Cipriano is one of the announcers auditioning for the announcer job on Wheel of Fortune – one of the most popular game shows on the planet.
Sadly, long time Wheel announcer and true voice over legend Charlie O’Donnell died in November, 2010 and with complete respect, the show must go on – a new announcer must be hired.
So what seems to be happening is that announcers are being tested for two weeks worth of shows (according to the Cip interviews I’ve seen, the taping schedule is Thursday and Friday of every other week – each day taping 6 shows).
A big part of how the producers will decide who gets the gig is audience feedback on the Wheel of Fortune site. Smartly, Joe is talking up this “feedback” fact on shows like Westwood One’s Jim Bohannon Show and other media outlets – one set of Joe’s Wheel of Fortune show’s are airing this week.
Who are the other announcers auditioning? A quick Google search uncovered Lora Cain – a female announcer which I think is an idea long over due as I noted in a conversation following a blog post and an idea which certain female voice talents – who shall remain nameless but who has the first name Amy – thought was unrealistic.
Guess I wasn’t so silly after all.
Rich Fields I recall a while back as another candidate for the gig. And a voice talent named Jim Thornton is also in the running.
Now – I can hear you asking yourself – “Peter K. O’Connell when will you be auditioning for the announcer of Wheel of Fortune? O’Connell, O’Donnell – you’re both announcers, it makes perfect sense.”
Tell me about it! 😉
Well, I’ll check my voice mail and get back to you on that but certainly feel free to confuse the hell out of the producers and tell them in the comment section where they want their feedback how much you loved my audition.
Possibly a better idea would be to focus your votes for those folks who’ve actually been invited to audition for the job – all good and talented folks who would be a fine addition to the Wheel of Fortune cast.
But since I met and spoke with Joe for a bit at Voice 2010 in LA (which he does not remember I am sure) he’ll get my vote on this one.
Voice Talents Kelly Klemolin and Peter K. O'Connell
OK, so it snow a little bit in Green Bay. They are STILL the Super Bowl champs and were the team I was rooting for since about half way through last season – about the time another certain NFL team was 0-8.
But another reason to visit Green Bay is to get the chance to visit with my friend and fellow voice talent Kelly Klemolin.
In addition to some great voice over stories, she shared insight into her work with her area Ad Club where she has made some amazing contacts. Great to see how well her business is going!
