Pat Fraley\’s “Everything They Expect You To Know But Nobody Teaches” event in Buffalo, NY 2009

Well it was more like just a Saturday but the hardest working teacher in voice over was in the Nickel City this weekend as Pat Fraley presented his at Crosswater Digital Media.

It was hosted by my primary voice acting teacher, my agent and, best of all, my friend Toni Silveri who has run The Voice Actor Workshop of Western New York for many years (in addition to All Coast Talent). Toni and Pat worked together on voice over projects often when she lived in L.A.

It should be noted that one of the first things Pat spoke about Saturday was how incredibly fortunate we are here to have Toni as a teacher as “she is on par with the best voice acting teachers anywhere in the country.” I know that to be true.

The class was sold out and I wasn’t going to attend having been to a number of Pat’s courses, all of which I enjoyed immensely (as I have often noted here). Toni, however, needed some “day of” help which I was glad to provide cause these events do require some leg work (and I have fantastic legs…they are both short AND stumpy).

Voice Teacher Pat Fraley and Crosswater Audio Engineer Dan Innes

Quite unexpectedly and very graciously, Pat included in me in the class when I wasn’t tending to my primary support duties. As usual, there was a ton of good stuff with some great voice talents (and wonderful people) from across New York, Ohio and Canada. The day’s basic theme (specifically regarding the “tricks” section) was how to stand out and be different in auditions and performances. It’s not a new concept to most but then again most of established voice talents aren’t executing these tricks enough on a regular basis and the new folks are still figuring out where to stand so this is valuable insights for everybody.

My favorite takeaway from the day (and there were many) was the Series of Three Techniques in which Pat discuss the smartest (my term but it fits) way to give a variation on your performance, often request by directors as “series of three”.

Male Voice Talents Dan Nachtrab and Peter K. O\’Connell

One of my other favorite parts of the day was getting to meet up with male voice talent Dan Nachtrab who drove up from Dayton, OH to be a part of the class. Dan and I have known each other for many years via the VO-BB.com so it was a real treat to visit with him not only about voice over but about Dayton, home of the University of Dayton Flyers, the college of my youth that didn’t say “no!”

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