Voice Talent Peter K. O’Connell recording at Creative Sound Concepts in Atlanta, GA 2016

Living now in Cary, NC (outside of Raleigh) means my family is a lot closer to our family in Atlanta…but it’s still a six hour drive (oy!)

But it was very much a worthwhile (albeit whirlwind) trip, enjoying family and friends for this Thanksgiving weekend!

From a voice-over perspective, it was a REAL whirlwind.

You would think that voiceover might take a break around Thanksgiving but not in my case. A new national client needed a spot recorded while I was in Atlanta, so over to Creative Sound Concepts I went for a great session there. Happy client, happy life.

Voice Talent Peter K. O’Connell and Voiceover Agent Jeffrey Umberger in Atlanta, 2016

To make it even better, I was able to grab a late lunch/dinner with my friend and my agent Jeffery Umberger. He has a number of very cool action items planned for 2017…plus he had all the scoop on the Atlanta voiceover market. We could have kept talking for hours. Always great to see Jeffrey.

Voiceover Talents Peter K. O’Connell and September Day Carter at September and Bob Carter’s “Neighborhood Studio”, Atlanta 2016

Talking off like a rocket in the past few months is The Neighborhood Studio owned by September and Bob Carter. Both have been friends of mine for sometime, but it was great to catch up with September at the new studio (Bob was working) and see what they are doing with it…it’s more than just VO. Trust me when I tell you that if you want an update on the Atlanta video game, film and VO market, September has it but she was shooting information at me like a firehose!!! We had some great laughs about that.

Voice Talents Sean Caldwell, Jill Perry, Kelley Buttrick and Peter K. O’Connell, Atlanta 2016

Then finally, I was able to catch up at breakfast with Jill Perry, Kelley Buttrick and Sean Caldwell (and Sean’s terrific parents too!) There were so many conversations, I couldn’t keep track so here’s a quick summary: Sean liked CB radios when he was growing up (as did I), Jill Perry loves Al Green’s music (me too) and Kelley cannot be trusted around HVAC electrical outlets.

So appreciative to all my Atlanta friends and colleagues with whom I was able to connect. I hope your Thanksgiving was as fun as mine.

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MINNEAPOLIS, MN, November 3, 2016 – – Jason Mitchell Outdoors Television, the popular fishing show broadcast on Fox Sports Net North and Fox Sports Net Midwest, has secured male voiceover talent Peter K. O’Connell as the show’s announcer. O’Connell voices the show sponsor bumpers as well as narrates certain video packages within the program.

Broadcast across 10 states, Jason Mitchell Outdoors host Jason Mitchell is a well-respected outdoorsman with a legendary reputation as an extraordinary guide, hunter and angler as well as a gifted writer, communicator and promoter.

About ‘Jason Mitchell Outdoors Television’

Jason Mitchell Outdoors Television is a regionally broadcast television show available throughout the Midwest on both Cable and Broadcast, covering North and South Dakota, Minnesota, Iowa, Nebraska, Wisconsin Indiana, Illinois, Kansas and Missouri on Fox Sports Net North and Fox Sports Net Midwest. This informative and educational half hour show features and showcases some of the greatest fishing opportunities in the region along with techniques, guests and tactics that viewers find informative and enjoyable to watch.

About Peter K. O’Connell

From Fortune 500 companies to companies that think $500 is a fortune, multi-award winning male voiceover talent Peter K. O’Connell has shared his voiceover skills with a wide variety of companies globally. Some of Peter’s clients include General Electric, Kraft Foods, PBS Television Network, Shell Oil, Deloitte Canada, U.S. Army, Starz Cable Television Network, BlueCross BlueShield and SunSetter Awnings.

Known as America’s Friendly, Neighborhood Voiceover Talent, Peter is a natural born storyteller whose voice-over work has been featured in radio and TV commercials, corporate narrations, political commercial voice-overs, TV network promos, e-learning narration projects and other media productions. Originally from Buffalo, NY, now living in Raleigh, NC, Peter owns audio’connell Voiceover Talent, a division of O’Connell Communications, LLC. Peter can be reached via audioconnell.com.

NOTES FOR EDITORS

CONTACT:

Peter K. O’Connell Your Friendly, Neighborhood Voiceover Talent

audio’connell Voiceover Talent P.O. Box 5493 | Raleigh, NC 27512-5493

PH. +01 716-572-1800 EM. peter@audioconnell.com W. audioconnell.com

COMPANY MEDIA CENTER:

http://www.audioconnell.com/media

PETER K. O’CONNELL VO CREDITS:

http://www.audioconnell.com/clientuploads/pdf/PDF%202016/OConnell_Peter_Voice_Over_Resume_160926.pdf

COMPANY NAME SPELLING:

Use lower case letters- audio’connell or audio’connell Voiceover Talent

COMPANY NAME PRONUNCIATION:

au·dio·o’·con·nell (awe-de-oh-oh-kah-nel) or au·di-o’·con·nell (awe-de-oh-kah-nel)

Tags: commentary, media releases // Comments Off on MEDIA RELEASE – Fox Sports North/Midwest Fishing Show Hooks O’Connell

I looked up what the anniversary would be for a sixth anniversary.

It’s candy or iron. What?

It’s no wonder wives often get mad at husbands on wedding anniversaries…look at our gift choices.

“Dear, for our anniversary, would you like a Snickers bar or this I-beam strapped to the back of my 18 wheeler?”

Voice Talent Peter K. O’Connell on his first day of MOVEMBER 2016, growing facial hair in support of Men’s Health Problems including Cancer and Mental Health

But I am thinking about anniversaries because today is November 1st. It’s not a big anniversary or birthday month in my house but it IS the start of MOVEMBER, a charity I have been supporting for 6 years.

I cannot remember exactly but I think back then, my friend and fellow voice talent Jeffrey Kafer captained a team that I was a part of and I just kept doing MOVEMBER every year after that.

The reason I started doing MOVEMBER, in addition to the chance to not have to shave for a month, is to raise money for men’s health issues: prostate cancer, testicular cancer, mental health as well as suicide prevention. Some of those problems have hit my family (maybe your too) so I wanted to help.

This year (as in recent years) I am captaining a MOVEMBER team with some of my friends from MVO: The Voice-Over Guys including Dustin Ebaugh and Tom Test. The funds donated to them as individuals goes towards our MVO team (as do my individual donations.

So if you’ve read down to hear, I would ask that you please either donate to MY EFFORT and to THE TEAM’S EFFORT (if you’re also pals with Dustin and Tom).

As always, thank you!

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Tags: silliness // Comments Off on thank God it’s almost over

Well maybe not letters so much as emails. Often the emails are clients or prospects wanting a quote on a voice-over project they are working on.

But almost as often I get emails from people wanting to break into the voice-over business. Many established voice talents receive these types of emails.

I try and answer them as honestly as I know how, even though I know most want me to paint a rosy picture of their voice-over future for them. I don’t do that but nor do I want to shatter their dreams.

Every person has a right to try to follow their dream and it’s not my place to knock them down. Nor is my place to set false expectations.

Just as an illustration, I will share with you an email I received this evening (yes, on a Sunday evening). Such an email on a Sunday is not so uncommon, as many people are facing the prospect of another Monday at the job they don’t like with great dread. I know that feeling from my past lives and I am not unsympathetic to their plight.

So anyway, here is the email I received and my reply. I’ll leave it to you to decide if I am a helpful realist or a soulless dream crusher.

“I am a 22 yr old kid looking to fulfill his dreams. I’ve wanted nothing more than to be involved with voice acting since I was little. It’s truly what makes me happy and I do believe I have the talents to do some great things. Just looking for someone to take a chance with me. Just want one shot. I cant do an office job anymore. It isn’t the life for me at all. I’m miserable. I need to be around people and to make others happy.”

Here is my reply:

“Fortunately for you, you have an objective. A goal.

Now you need a strategy.

Know this first and foremost….working in voice-over is pretty much running a one-person business. You’re in an office 90% of the time and a studio 10% of the time. Those % can vary but not much on average.

Do you want to run a small business? I know you think you want to be in voice-over but what you’re really saying is I want to run a small business. You’re saying I want to take the financial risk (money is not huge for many), I want to be responsible for sales, marketing, human resources, accounting and toilet cleaning. It a one person gig and you do it ALL.

Are you ready for all that? ALL of that?

I’m not trying to scare you…I’m just offering you the facts. Your dreams of what voice-over could be will not jive with what the reality will be. It is hard work. Hard. Work. 24/7/365. And in all of this, I haven’t even mentioned turning on the mic.

If you have the financial resources to withstand significant dry times (no VO jobs) and start -up costs (studio, marketing etc), if you have the acumen run a small business and the personality to create positive business relationships, then consider starting your new voice-over business up on the side. Keep your day job and work VO in your off time. It can be done and is done by thousands everyday.

Take a look at my free e-book and see if that helps you on this proposed journey as well. The Voice-Over Entrance Exam can be found at www.voiceoverentranceexam.com

Go in with your eyes WIDE open to the work ahead.

Be afraid. Be worried.

Then, as you’re consumed by uncertainty, do it anyway.

You’re 22. If you fail, you’ll recover. But what happens if you succeed?

You miss 100% of the shots you never take in life. Just remember to take SMART shots, not emotional shots.

I hope this helps. Good luck.”

Tags: commentary, voiceover advice // Comments Off on letters, we get letters…

People are nice. Mother Nature, sometimes not so much.

People have been calling and texting us during the weekend and in these past few days making sure we are OK in the aftermath of Hurricane Matthew, which started last Friday and moved up the east coast over the weekend. Many states were hit but it seems North Carolina got more than it’s fair share of damage. Worse, fatalities here are in the teens and may still rise.

Our experience was misty rain all day Friday. Significant and steady rain ALL day Saturday (around 5″ in Cary to a high of about 9″ in Wake County, where we live). Sunday was sunny, cool and breezy, like nothing ever happened — Mother Nature’s way of clearing up the atmosphere.

We did not see much TV over the weekend so we didn’t see how the national news was portraying the storm in our area. It seems much of the talk was about eastern North Carolina so I can understand people’s concerns about us. We are in Cary, NC, just outside of Raleigh.

As you can see by the amateurish graphic (made by this amateur) we were on what turned out to be the safer side of the storm. But as you can see, safe by not much. People nearer to I-95 and east were hit much harder and some rivers have yet to crest but will almost assuredly to do so, causing still more damage in those areas.

Knowing that hurricanes are much more damaging than Blizzards (especially in areas built to combat and recover from blizzards like Buffalo) doesn’t prepare you for the uncertainty that hurricanes bring. Indeed, the weather folks were often citing the hurricane’s ‘cone of uncertainty’ — which follows not only the expected track of the storm but also a significant area around the track where the storm could unexpectedly alter its course.

We are fine and we are glad. But we are also thought-filled about the folks to the east, STILL dealing with mess, destruction and even death. It’s just another day for us.

Not for them. Not for a while.

Here’s one place you might be able to offer some help to those folks who need it in eastern North Carolina.

Thanks for checking in.

Tags: buffalo, commentary, nc, raleigh // Comments Off on hurricanes are not blizzards and other lessons from hurricane matthew