Bob Souer and Kara Edwards were so kind to join me for dinner last night as I stopped by Charlotte, NC. And I also enjoyed having lunch with Brett Mason who has a great story about how he started in radio.

In the voice over business, it’s rare you could go into a city and NOT have someone in your voiceover network who you would know. For such a individualistic business, our networks are getting stronger all the time. My thanks to Kara, Bob and Brett.

Tags: commentary, voice actors, voice talent, voiceover, voiceover advice, voiceover blog, voiceover meet-ups // 2 Comments »

Family Guy creator Seth MacFarlane had hoped Fox wouldn’t continue production of his show without him when MacFarlane did not report to work in support of the Writers Guild of America strike, saying of the idea of producing his show without him: “it would just be a colossal dick move if they did.”

Well they are and it is.

Look, I get that they may own the show (at least partially assuming MacFarlane didn’t entirely get squashed during the last negotiations to bring it back after it was cancelled) and I also get that Fox has a network to program.

But these characters are critical to the show and while others can impersonate the voices, it would be a bad move long term. This strike will end but the bad feelings may not regardless of future revenue possibilities.

And woe to the voice talent who takes the interim gig…like he won’t be black balled. Except for maybe one or two exceptions, he may get lots of money short term but he’ll likely be back to doing convenience store ads for basic cable as soon as the strike is over.

Tags: tv, voice actors, voice casting, voice talent, voiceover, voiceover advice // 2 Comments »

When surfing the web, I still find it interesting how a search to one site or blog begets another and then another. Then, as in this forthcoming example, when you find something interesting and you want to credit them…you have to do some hard and fast remembering.

So here goes, real quick. I’m reading Chris Brogan’s blog the other day and he profiles a friend of his from the web, Gary Vaynerchuk of WineLibrary TV. On Gary’s site, like on this newly revamped site, Gary features his social network links so that if you’re on the network as well, you can link up.

Or as he titled it, “friend me up”.

That darn phrase has stuck in my head for more that 24 hours (that’s part of my “stickiness” test). I don’t know if Gary created it or stole but now I’m claiming it as part of the title of my social network section to the right of this post. –>

If you’re on any or all of these networks, click on, sign in and “friend me up.” Thanks.

Tags: blogs, commentary, social networking // 2 Comments »

I simply have no idea how the woman does it but Stephanie Ciccarelli at Voices.com has come up with another very niche and cool blog post featuring an interview with professional golf voice over talent David Cook (well I suppose the fact he’s a Voices.com member might have something to do with it).

Yes, I said professional golf voice over talent.

“What the…?”

Just read it, it’s a very nice short story.

Tags: blogs, commentary, voice talent, voiceover, voiceover blog // Comments Off on golfing voice talent

Well, it’s a blog and a podcast so you can’t really taste it but to say “see the difference” seem so ordinary and that’s nothing like what I want this blog and podcast to be about.

So, we look different.

The reasons for the design change were many:
• Finally inaugurating a podcast, I thought such a big shift in communication deserved a new look. Hey if CBS did it for Katie Couric and NBC did it for Meredith Viera, well I certainly play in those leagues! 😉

• The other look began to strike me as a bit cluttered and that was certainly my fault. I was adding widgets and elements that individually looked attractive, but when I stepped back seemed visually confusing

• Some of the newer blog templates had features the old one didn’t

So what should you notice about the changes here?
• A big change is the name. What was once called voiceover blog on! is now called voxmarketising. That name was conceived for the podcast because congeals my favorite subjects: voice over, marketing and advertising. Then I quickly realized:

a. Those are the same things I blog about
b. Why confuse readers and listeners with two different brands and if you add the audio’connell Voice Over Talent web site, three brands.

So it seemed to me branding them voxmarketising – the audio’connell blog and voxmarketising – the audio’connell podcast will be easier. Plus people will just call it voxmarketising after a while and know it’s a blog and a podcast. Aren’t you sorry you asked?

• Less graphic stuff but easier navigation (and more to come). This stuff is still being worked on but you’ll notice for example you can connect to me easier on all my social networks under the heading “social networks and links”. So if you haven’t connected with me, please do. Recent posts can viewed more quickly

• Better marketing for the podcast. By clicking on the ever present album art, people can immediately go to the voxmarketising podcast page

• Easier to subscribe. This is oh so important, especially as I build the podcast, and it will continue to get better, but be on the lookout for improved subscription tools

• Updated blog links. Boy had I fallen behind on this. Some links were old or dead (people just stopped writing for like six months so I dropped their blogs) and some new bloggers hadn’t been added. If you’re one of the new ones, return the love

So, it’s a fresh face with some new tools and some old favorites (me, I hope) still around. Let me know what you think. Thanks.

Tags: blogs, podcast, podcasting, voiceover blog // 1 Comment »

[audio:http://www.audioconnell.com/clientuploads/voxmarketising/voxmarketing_episode100_102507.mp3]

Click here to download the episode!

â–º (0:00) Show Open: (Voxmarketising Episode #100/ Show date: October 25, 2007)

â–º (1:00) Welcome:

â–º (1:55) Oversight (Stuff You Might Have Missed):
Podcamp Boston 2- http://podcamp.pbwiki.com/PodCampBoston2

Voice Talent In Trouble- Will Lyman’s narration work for the Internet Innovation Alliance ticks off PBS and WGBH http://broadcastingcable.com/article/CA6487874.html

A Younger You: Voices.com looks for early recordings from today’s voice talents
http://blogs.voices.com/voxdaily/2007/10/old_audio_recordings.html

Voice Over Marketing- Review pending regarding Voices.com’s new book “Internet Marketing Plan for Voice Actors”.

New Gadgets- The very new AT&T Tilt instead of the i-Phone

A New Kind of Press Release- Social Media News Releases

How Business Reacts to Social Media- Mitch Joel’s link to a report from McKinsey & Company http://www.twistimage.com/blog/archives/mckinsey-reports-on-how-businesses-understand-social-media-and-web-20/
Sad Spirit Robert Gorell at Grokdotcom on how bad Spirit Airlines customer service has become. http://www.grokdotcom.com/2007/10/24/spirit-air-you-dont-have-to-turn-on-the-red-light/

A new Holiday: Holiday Inn gets a $1 billion makeover from logos to mattresses and everything in between

â–º (10:22)VMT Interview (On voiceover or marketing or advertising or all of the above):
Steve Chazin, Marketing Apple, on the turning tide of the i-Phone

â–º (19:22) Popular Demand (Voice Comments, Emails and Blogs Posts from Listeners):
Voting on the voxmarketising podcast slogan with advice from Leesa Barnes http://www.leesabarnes.com/developing-your-unique-podcast-message/

â–º (21:04) Show Close:
Comment Line – +01 716-989-6151
Email – peter at audioconnell dot com
Blog – audioconnell.com/blog (Subscribe)
Add us to your Linked In or Facebook

Tags: advertising podcast, commentary, marketing podcast, podcast, podcast episodes, voice over podcast, voxmarketising podcast // 1 Comment »