I got a call recently from my friend and fellow voice over professional Deb Stamp who works in lovely Raleigh, NC. She called me to ask about some of the voice over training I’ve done, about my upcoming workshop with Marice Tobias in Atlanta and to discuss some of the training Deb has done. And then of course we also shot the shi…I always enjoy talking biz with Deb.

For the record, I get calls like this and questions like this all the time – why do you train, who do you train with, what goes on in a workshop, why do you need to train since you’ve been doing voice over for 27 years?!

And usually the questions are asked just that fast with little or no punctuation 😉

I’ll answer those oft asked questions (most of which Deb did not directly ask) with the same question most voice over teachers have asked of me at the beginning of their sessions: “Peter, what do you want to learn/take away from this workshop?”

My answer is usually the same: “The more experience I get in my industry, the more I know just how much I don’t know about performing in voice over. There are many ways one can approach a script and performance for an audition or client; many times my ways work and sometimes they do not. So (today) I want to learn your approaches to voice over and see if there are new ideas or twists that I can apply to my work. I’m also interested to get your opinion on my performance and how you think it might be improved or tweaked.”

Is your answer the same? Is it different? It might vary based on the topic of the seminar or you may have a completely different approach to why you consider professional voice training.

Each performer’s needs are different and certainly personal. Some voice over teachers you’ll click with and some you won’t (just like in school).

But the need for regular, professional voice over training is an imperative for everyone in our business…bar none. And I mean no one.

What about your expectations for voice over training? Generally, what do expect to get out of a training session? Or if you care to share, what specifically do you hope to work on with a voice teacher or what are you currently working on with your teacher?

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

I opened up Facebook today to see a post from VO Planet’s Donna Summers announcing the passing Monday of voice talent and actor Travis Davis from a 15 month long battle with stomach cancer.

He leaves behind a wife and two young children. There is a foundation set up to help the family.

Until this day, I never knew who Travis Davis was.

But I have a wife and two young children and right now my heart is racing and not in a good way.

If you’d be willing to forgo the morning Starbucks for a week, it might make a nice donation for a family that just lost their Da.

Tags: requiescat in pace, voice actors, voice talent, voiceover by peter k. o'connell, your friendly, neighborhood voice-over talent
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Emmy Award Winning Female Voice Actor Stevie Vallance

I trained with Stevie Vallance at her “Tooned In” Workshop about two years ago in Toronto and it was a good experience. As you might guess by the name, Stevie’s focus is on animation voice over, a field where she has been an Emmy Award winning performer and producer for many years.

This week, unbeknownst to me, the Ottawa International Animation Festival is taking place and I’ll let you guess the city. Stevie has advised:

I will be in Ottawa teaching a workshop at the Ottawa International Animation Festival. On Wednesday, October 14th, I’ll be turning the hosts into ‘Toons’, on the A Channel’s Morning Show (aprox 7:30 am).

Sign up for my 2-hour Animation Voice-over Acting ‘Drill’, at the Ottawa International Animation Festival, on Thursday October 15th, at 7:00 pm, in the Arts Court Theatre, 2 Daly Ave, Ottawa. There is a $15 dollar walk-up entry fee, based on availability.

On Sunday, October 18th, I am teaching the ‘original’ Tooned In! Animation Acting Workshop, from 10am to 6pm. This event will take place in a state of the art recording studio, in Ottawa. ‘Animation acting’ experience is not required. Class capacity is limited for quality control and to ensure ample mic time for all participants. This workshop is 8 hours of intensive voice workout and participants will leave with a rough demo.

She noted she also has upcoming workshops in Owen Sound (Nov 1), New York (Nov 8), Toronto (Nov 29) and Vancouver (Dec 13)

For details or to register visit http://toonedin.ca

Tags: animation, commentary, voice actors, voice talent, voiceover, voiceover advice by peter k. o'connell, your friendly, neighborhood voice-over talent
2 Comments »

i-posts are short updates written on my i-phone using my wordpress blog app.

Things like this always happen. October 24 when I’ll be in Atlanta at a Marice Tobias workshop (which I am very much looking forward to) there will be a networking mixer in Toronto hosted by Voices.com.

But just because I’ll be unable to attend doesn’t mean you should miss out.

Below is the link to the facebook invite I received. If you’ve never been to Toronto, it’s a great excuse to check out a great city.

http://m.facebook.com/event.php?eid=163317597160

Tags: i-post, social networking, voice actors, voiceover, voiceover meet-ups, voices.com by peter k. o'connell, your friendly, neighborhood voice-over talent
1 Comment »

So my voice over compatriot Rich Brennan in New York observantly posted on the Yahoo Voice Over Message Board an ad he saw recently on Joel Denver’s truly great radio webzine (recently and beautifully redesigned) All Access.com (the following ad is no reflection on Joel, or his fine site at all):

Need 2 male voices-Ages 30-50
Production company looking for male talent ages 30-50 to do voiceovers for small and medium market radio and t.v. Must have access to a professional studio Mon-Fri and be available at least one hour per day. We pay $7 for each dry unedited v/o regardless of length. (One word, one line, :15, :30 or :60)Please send :60 unpolished raw demo to voice4radio@comcast.net.

No professionally mixed demos. They seem to be rather misleading.

Deadline to submit demos is October 8, 2009.

Rich added this resonating comment:

SEVEN DOLLARS????

I agree…that fee is absolutely insulting; a reflection of how poorly some people view what voice talents do professionally. So I decided to respond to the ad in my own way. This is my complete,and I thought, fairly restrained response:

—– Original Message —–
From: “Peter K. O’Connell”
To: voice4radio@comcast.net
Sent: Thursday, October 1, 2009 7:50:30 AM GMT -06:00 US/Canada Central
Subject: VO needed

$7.00 per voice over?

I hope your employer offers you more professional compensation than
you are proposing to the voice over community in your ad.

peter k. o’connell :: audio’connell voice over talent
+01 716 572 1800 :: www.audioconnell.com

Hurling insults back when you’ve been insulted didn’t work in the school yard and it doesn’t work now so (as those who know me will agree) my response was tame even by my own standards. I thought just by offering a little perspective that this might let this person know that the fee was really bad.

And I did get a response, albeit unsigned, (which I’m assuming is because of this producer’s shame for lowballing this job):

> From: voice4radio@comcast.net
> Date: October 1, 2009 10:27:26 EDT
> To: “Peter K. O’Connell” > Subject: Re: VO needed
>
> Hahahahaha…listen sweetheart…we’re producing these ads for $15 for small market stations who can’t afford $150 spots..nor do they have the staff on hand to do their own production..so the next time you wanna be a smart ass, think before you speak..$7 is definitely enough for our talent. And since I posted this ad yesterday at 5pm..I’ve received hundreds of demos from guys who are fine with the ‘compensation’..These are people who manage their own production companies, who work in large markets and have incredible voices..(they’re just wanting a little spending money on the side)..like the rest of us. And these days, in radio…we’re all starving, so be quiet..

Which was followed up by his/her second response (still anonymous of course):

> From: voice4radio@comcast.net
> Date: October 1, 2009 10:34:40 EDT
>
> To: “Peter K. O’Connell” > Subject: Re: VO needed
>
> PS…Yeah, I checked out your website..You’re ‘one of those’….(I won’t comment..I’ll just leave it at that)..lol..

Because I’m really not sure what this person meant, I’ll have to assume that “one of those” means “professional voice over talent” or “someone who actually makes money in voice over”. It’s true, I am “one of those”…oh the shame I bear!

Are there people in the voice over industry or radio who are so desperate to put food on the table that they’ll gladly take a $7.00 voice over job (which, minus the 5 cents for printing the invoice and getting an envelope and an additional 44 cents for postage actually only equals $6.51)?

Possibly as no one is immune despite their best efforts, but I doubt any true starving is going on within this circumstance. Even if it were, most media professionals I know would be smart enough to know that they could easily avoid starvation by grabbing one of the many minimum wage jobs featured in the paper each week. Is it an easy living? Heck no but it’s a more realistic financial opportunity than snatch and grab voice jobs.

I think any responses this anonymous “producer” received were more likely responses from people WANTING to be professional voice talents or PRETENDING to be professional voice talents. Since it would seem quality is not a requirement for these producers or obviously the client, then those folks might indeed grab the glory of that $7 spotlight. But they are so sadly devaluing their professional worth (even as a newbie) for such a gig.

It’s a hard, long road ahead for these folks if they think they’ll create a career, let alone a professional reputation from $7 jobs. It’s their decision but I do feel very badly for them and they might not fully understand why.

I know, however, how much I don’t know. Mine is not the only opinion on this producer’s position (or that of the voice talent willing to take a lowball gig.

So tell me your thoughts…it’s OK to disagree with me; just provide your prospective. Or if you agree with me, your perspective is also welcome.

Is my logic flawed? Am I being an elitist?

Discuss.

Tags: radio, tv, voice actors, voice talent, voiceover, voiceover advice by peter k. o'connell, your friendly, neighborhood voice-over talent
53 Comments »

My thanks to the talented and generous Joe Cipriano for posting this clip from what might have been the late 70’s early 80’s LA show “2 on the Town” featuring some of that era’s best voice over talent, including the man who’s voice lured me into this business, Ernie Anderson.

I hope you enjoy this as much as I did.

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