Another great night in Rochester, NY for 6th Annual RAF Freelance Creative Expo, held at the Memorial Art Gallery Ballroom.

While only about 90 minutes away from me I don’t spend enough time with clients in the area so this is a nice time to catch up with some old friends and make new ones. In fact my thanks to Ken from Studio 2B for shooting the pic of me at the booth.

Lots of great leads to follow up on. My thanks to everyone who visited my table at the expo.

Tags: advertising, audio'connell voice over talent, commentary, marketing // 2 Comments »

Got word last night off the wiki from Connie Crosby that Podcamp Toronto is set for February 21 and 22 again at Ryerson University (a great set up for the camp).

Now I am pretty sure already that some how that date could interfere with my son’s first birthday party unless we do it the weekend before or the week after….and if you’ve got people traveling from out of town, the later in February they have to travel to Buffalo, the better. So we’ll see how THAT discussion goes.

But be that as it may or may not, save the date and stay in touch. It should be great, especially if YOU are there.

Tags: blogs, commentary, pcto09, podcamptoronto, podcamptoronto2009, podcasting, social media, social networking, technology // Comments Off on podcamp toronto 2009

One of my new agents emailed me to get my updated voice over demos (thank you Pastorini-Bosby). While I was attaching the cuts to an email, it occurred to me that I never properly finished my narration demo update that I had started in May (hey, don’t laugh, paying jobs come first!)

So I spent another two hours to fix some parts and voila (that’s a word my friend Mary McKitrick taught me) here is the finished product:

[audio:http://www.audioconnell.com/clientuploads/mp3/Peter_OConnell_Narration_Demo_081001.mp3]
Click here to download Peter O’Connell’s narration demo!

In it, you will hear that I am:
* tall
* short
* happy
* sad
* confident
* unsure
* serious
* jovial
* thoughtful
* scatter-brained
* newsy
* conversational
* and most of all available for hire as the perfect choice for your awesome narration voice.

Tags: announcers, audio production, commentary, narrations, voice talent, voiceover // 3 Comments »

If you ever hired for or been trained by a professional in presentation skills, sales or call center ops, chances are you have heard of Mike Aoki of Toronto. He also does some great motivational talks as well.

I first met Mike up in the T dot when we were both active in Ryze (I dropped my membership but still have friends from the group, Mike included). He’s a talented guy and good people.

Well out of nowhere, Mike drops me an email today about an online Newsweek article about political voice overs and how campaigns choose their political voice over talent. He came across it in his reading, I might not have ever seen it without his ping and I thought the article and video was great.

Even more impressive was Mike’s selflessness on my behalf. Thanks Mike!

Tags: commentary // Comments Off on a friend who looks out for you

I am not what you would call a baseball fanatic. The Buffalo Bisons (for whom I have voiced commercials) counted me among their season ticket holders until it became clear they were not going to be able to secure a major league franchise.

Now that the New York Mets will have the Bisons as their Triple A Baseball affiliate, Mrs. audio’connell, who is a die-hard Mets fan, will likely drag me and the audio’connellettes to a game or two next summer. It will be fun.

But the reason I bring up the topic of baseball today has to do with a wonderful tribute I read, among many, with the closing of the original Yankee Stadium. Nope, I’d never been to a Yankees game and was not really a Yankees fan. But I absolutely get the history and magic of the place.

So I come across the Bronx Banter blog (try saying that three times fast as a VO warm-up exercise) and a post written by a guy named Ed Alstrom who plays the organ at the stadium. He was reminiscing about his most cherish stadium memory, the voice of Yankees Public Address Announcer Bob Sheppard.

Please read the whole tribute here.

Even I, who have never been to a Yankees’ game, know Mr. Sheppard’s voice, which first was heard on April 17, 1951 when the late Yankees greats Joe DiMaggio and Mickey Mantle were in the line up. As the late, former Yankee player then play-by-play man Phil Rizzuto might say “Holy cow!”

I totally can relate to how a public address announcer sets the mood. For me it was at Buffalo Sabres games. Our public address announcer was a gentlemen named Milt Ellis whose vocal timbre was somewhat similar to Mr. Sheppard’s. Goals, penalties (especially after bench-clearing brawls) and even weather updates if the snow got bad during a game…he made it all sound great.

And wouldn’t you know local broadcasting historian and WBEN-AM newsman Steve Cichon has a tribute to the retired Mr. Ellis on Steve’s amazingly informative web site.

So to all you public address announcers out there, remember you do have an impact and people do know you as part of the fabric of the game.

Tags: commentary // 1 Comment »

My dear wife, amazing mother of my two awe-inspiring children and the person whom I frustrate on a daily basis, married me ten years ago today.

I know I am lucky. I know I am unworthy. But I also know she’s still the one I want to grow old with.

My life is a gift, not a guarantee.

She is the gift. She has given me the gifts.

She has allowed me to believe in me.

I am grateful and rather speechless.

Cue the music.

Tags: commentary, voiceover advice // 8 Comments »