Bob Bergen has been the voice of Porky Pig for 20 years now. But even before that, as a kid, he set his sights on being the voice of this famous cartoon icon. Find out how he found his way to the role.
Congrats Bob!!
-Tracy Pattin
Describe your first Porky audition.
Well, my first audition was in my agent’s (Arlene Thornton at the time) office. The first callback was for the fabulous Andrea Romano. I had several callbacks for various WB execs. Chuck Jones (co-creator of the Looney Tunes) was at my final callback. I tell this story in my one man show. I rarely get nervous at auditions, but when I went to shake Chuck’s hand my hand was shaking like Katharine Hepbern. Chuck asked me why I was so nervous. I told him, “I’m about to do Porky Pig for Chuck Jones. It’s like doing Jesus for God!!
2. How did you even get the chance to audition for this big role?
I’d already been in the business for about 8 years. So fortunately, having an agent (and an agent who knew I wanted this part badly!!) I was able to read for the part. But I often think about the odds. And there are many. I was born in the Midwest. The fact that I eventually got to LA, was able to secure an agent, AND was able to even do the character at the exact time WB needed to replace Mel Blanc…well, all I can say is I knock wood daily!!! I never take anything for granted and I’m count my blessings”
There is so much advice about the VO audition from “just have fun, you already don’t have the job!!” to Dick Ervasti’s “Treat every audition as a real job” and everything in between. So, how much work should we put into an audition? Do we treat each one as that next possible job or do we just relax, not over-think our performance and get it done quickly, ready to forge ahead to the next audition?
-Tracy Pattin
Voice Talent Dick Ervasti thinks each audition should follow these three important steps:
3 Steps to Improving Your VO Audition Technique: “Now that we all seem to be connected via SocNet, everyone is pouring their hearts out online about the frustrating process of auditioning for voiceover work. For years, I used to share the feeling until one day, in 2003, I turned a corner on the whole matter. Since then my Audition Conversion Metric (ACM) has tripled, and I also get way more FIGs (Found-Gigs, where they just called and booked without any audition) than I used to.” Click here for Dick Ervasti’s 3 steps…
Gustavo Rex began his acting in New York in 1980 in Classical Spanish Theatre. Soon he found himself doing “Sexy voices” for the Late Night soft porn show “Electric Blue.” But his full time voice over career began here in LA in 1989 and it’s been his bread and butter ever since. Thanks to his agents at Cunningham (CESD) he quickly became one of the top Hispanic voice over talents in LA. And even though he did a lot of theatre in New York and TV and film work her in LA, his love is the voice. His work ranges from commercial vo to trailers, animation and narration. He was the voice of Captain Crunch in Spanish, the annoncer for Taco Bell with “dat dog,” launched the Fox Network in Latin America, was nominated for an Emmy for a PBS show called Rock en Espanol and did multiple voices on and directed the animation series Leo the Lion and the Adventures of Honey-Honey. He’s also a Spanish Star Search winner.
New Media is here to stay. Commercials as we know them are changing, morphing, evolving. Will Web commercials provide big opportunities for voice talent? Check out this web pre-roll commercial for NATPE 2010.
Voicebank.net, the standard in voice over delivery, is working harder than ever to help Voice Over Talent no matter where they are in their voice over Career. Voice Over Talent take classes, work hard, spend money and create a demo, but how does that demo sound to an Agent? Is that demo going to get them work?
With over 150 Talent Agencies using Voicebank.net on a daily basis, there is an amazing pool of knowledge that can be tapped into. Some of the Agents will be taking the time to listen to Talents’ Voice Over demos and put together their thoughts on what is great about the demo, what needs improvement and their overall views.
This Voice Over Demo Critiquing Service is now available for an introductory price of $30 per one minute of demo. Talent will received their written critiques back within 10 days.
Don’t miss you chance to perfect your Voice Over Demo!
As voice over artists we are constantly in a state of learning and perfecting our craft. But at what point to we become master of our craft? Or are we always learning? How do you tell if you’re there yet? Check out this piece from On Clive Now:
Recently Bert sent me a copy of his intriguingly titled Homo Competens (Beta Book, 2009), an exploration of competence and how humans acquire this. I only got so far as page 31, when I encountered the following analysis by Bert of the stages in the building of competence.” Read more.
We recently changed our facebook fan page name and that means everyone has to “Become a Fan” again. Please take a moment become a “FAN” of voicebank.net.
Gustavo Rex began his acting in New York in 1980 in Classical Spanish Theatre. Soon he found himself doing “Sexy voices” for the Late Night soft porn show “Electric Blue.” But his full time voice over career began here in LA in 1989 and it’s been his bread and butter ever since. Thanks to his agents at Cunningham (CESD) he quickly became one of the top Hispanic voice over talents in LA. And even though he did a lot of theatre in New York and TV and film work her in LA, his love is the voice. His work ranges from commercial vo to trailers, animation and narration. He was the voice of Captain Crunch in Spanish, the annoncer for Taco Bell with “dat dog,” launched the Fox Network in Latin America, was nominated for an Emmy for a PBS show called Rock en Espanol and did multiple voices on and directed the animation series Leo the Lion and the Adventures of Honey-Honey. He’s also a Spanish Star Search winner.
Just like the mainstream voice over market in the U.S. the Hispanic voice over market has its set of challenges. In tomorrow’s podcast (part 3) Hispanic (and mainstream) voice talent, Gustavo Rex, talks about:
•How he markets to advertising agencies
•Why the Hispanic voice over market is struggling
•Issues with the Unions
•NBC and Telemundo
•Advice for emerging Hispanic voice talent
•Differences between East Coast & West Coast accents
For 16 years, Mark Holden has been immersed in the world of sound as a recording engineer for TV, radio and live radio plays for LA Theatre Works to producing for the music industry and now owns a recording studio in West Hollywood, The Invisible Studios. Mark is truly a sound expert. (So much so he can hear dogs barking in Eagle Rock when he�s at his studio in West Hollywood 10 miles away!)
Written Transcript
{Intro Music}
This voice registry podcast is brought to you by Voicebank.net
Tracy: Hi Everyone I am Tracy Pattin and I am here at the Invisible Studios in West Hollywood and we are going talk everything studio, audio, sound with the wonderful Mark Holden audio engineer extraordinaire. (Laughs) I don’t know what do you call yourself?
Mark: (Laughs) Studio Owner
Tracy: Studio Owner (Laughs)
Mark: Studio Engineer
Tracy: You wouldn’t believe how gorgeous this studio is.
Mark: Thank You
Tracy: This is pretty fabulous. He does umm, I have written about the radio plays, I interviewed Michael York here recently and he does a lot of BBC projects so he I think you are the best person to ask about you know what do we as voice talent need to know. Let’s just talk generalities.
Mark: Okay. Sure.
Tracy: Like anything new we need to know.
Mark: Okay.
Tracy: In terms of let’s say in terms of equipment for our home studios.
Mark: Okay, Umm well there’s not, there’s nothing super new other than some new software from the old people pro tools eight is out now and it adds some nice functionalities some things for musicians and possibly some things for voice over talent.
Tracy: Okay and for those that you don’t know about Pro Tools that is the high end audio recording software. Because some of us work in Garage Band and the PC people as well.
Mark: It is the industry standard, it has been for years it has its own avid who have the industry standard video editing software. So its just most studios have Pro Tools.
Tracy: Is it necessary for us though for us to have Pro Tools.
Mark: Absolutely not Pro Tools is basically you know editing and recording software in the quality of the recording doesn’t have anything to do with pro tools it has to do with your microphone your room uh your analog to digital converters and your microphone pre amplifiers.
Tracy: So this uh recording audio to digital Mark what exactly is that for the people that don’t know what that means.
Mark: Right, analog to digital conversion basically your microphone is outputting a signal to a microphone amp and then in turn is outputting an analog signal which is not 1s and 0s it is an analog audio signal a line level signal. Basically the analogs digital converter, what it does is it converts your signal from your microphone or from whatever sound source into the digital domain that you are you know your computers can then deal with and read. So the way that that happens.
Tracy: Mhm
Mark: Is really important on uh in the audio quality.
Tracy: I mean and are you talking about even for auditions, for a lot of my listeners have their home studio most people have home studios but also need to record sometimes projects at home. That seems to be happening more and more.
Mark: Yeah
Tracy: So let’s talk about what we need for the home studio setup for auditions and what do we need for the home studio setup for actual recording.
Mark: Um I mean its kind of one in the same it just depends on if you are actually doing you know recordings that you are sending to clients that they are going to use. I mean I am sure that they would require a little bit more uh sound proofing a little bit deader space. Where as if you’re just doing and audition they are just basically wanting to hear your voice. Um you know you might have traffic going by and things like that and they probably won’t care too much but if you’re actually sending something to them then you need a lot more treatment.
Tracy: But what can you get away with though what can you actually get away with. Let’s say because of the internet and because of there are a lot of internet projects do you need to have the same kind of set up for those kind of projects versus a broadcast project.
Mark: No I mean if your doing internet podcasting things like that, I mean the internet is extremely forgiving for so many reasons because the quality because you are compressing the audio you know before your sending it up and people are listening on computer speakers and headphones and things like that and people on the internet are basically listening for content as opposed to quality most of the time.
Tray: Okay.Yeah. Good Point.
Mark: Yeah for that kind of stuff I mean if your doing you know voiceovers you know directly to internet, I would think that the requirements you know quite a bit less all though it is nice to have a nice quite room a nice quite dead room if you’re doing voice over type stuff.
Tracy: Yeah you want to sound as good as.
Mark: Yeah
Tracy: Um before we talk microphones.
Mark: Sure
Tracy: What about the recording the room can you do stuff (spooky voice) in the closet.
Mark: Yeah
Tracy: (Laughs)
Mark: Well here’s, well here’s the big
Tracy: Between clothes
Mark: Right, Right
Tracy: Not that I’ve ever done that (Laughs)
Mark: Right and then coming out of the closet and uh breathing
Tracy: So how uh so how so how do you uh
Mark: Basically I mean basically in order to get sound proofing a lot of people mix up sound proofing and acoustics um uh I shouldn’t say sound proofing, sound isolation and acoustics if, in order to get a quite space really the only thing you can do is density you have to have thick walls things that its just more sort of padding sheet rock and dry wall you have the more air space you have
Tracy: Or a cluttered closet like I have
Mark: Yeah. No well cluttered closets are great
Tracy: Cause I actually do admit
Mark: Right, Right
Tracy: Alright everybody I am admitting I have done auditions in the closet between my gazillion amounts of clothes that I need to give away and it sounds pretty darn good.
Mark: Right, but now uh
Tracy: (Laughs)
Mark: Now a cluttered closet is going to be great for sound absorption so its going to sound really nice and dead but your not you don’t have it still doesn’t keep the sound from coming in from trucks and things going by
Tracy: Yeah like if a helicopter comes over
Mark: Exactly a helicopter coming over a truck going by
Tracy: Paparazzi helicopter
Mark: So in the city you know a nice quite closet in a in a internal closet so uh a best thing is to find a closet in your house or apartment that doesn’t uh share a common wall with the exterior wall.
Tracy: Okay
Mark: The best uh isolation is still air, sound travels slower through than it does wood, metal, um your materials sound travels much slower through air. So if you have internal closet in your house or apartment and you can get some doors that seal you are probably going to be pretty good to do auditions and maybe even some performance stuff.
{Outro Music}
Tracy: This has been part one of my interview with sound expert Mark Holden join me next time for Part Two
This Voice Registry podcast was brought to you by Voicebank.net
Coin-Op TV Live – Voice-Over Actors Tara & Yuri
Watch This Episode on www.theStream.tv
In yesterday’s post, I wrote about live streaming (The Stream.TV), a new way to distribute content and its possibilities for voice actors. Turns out The Stream had two voice actors on one of their shows, Coin-OP TV.
For 16 years, Mark Holden has been immersed in the world of sound as a recording engineer for TV, radio and live radio plays for LA Theatre Works to producing for the music industry and now opening his own recording studio in West Hollywood, The Invisible Studios. Mark is truly a sound expert. (So much so he can hear dogs barking in Eagle Rock when he�s at his studio in West Hollywood 10 miles away!)
This voice registry podcast is brought to you by Voicebank.net
Tracy: This is part two of my interview with Mark Holden to hear part one go to last weeks podcast. But what about microphones?
Mark: Okay well it really depends on what you are doing, if your doing sort of broadcast type stuff as opposed to you know voice over for animation and things like. Broadcast type stuff, I mean do you want to know what types of microphones or what brands or?
Tracy: Well just, you know if people want to go out and get some equipment what do they need to get? I mean you don’t have to get into to much detail.
Mark: Yeah, well a lot of people really like the RODE NT1A and
Tracy: Is that R O A D?
Mark: Yeah, no its R O D E it is an Australian company. RODE R O D E N T 1 A. It is a great microphone for the price; it doesn’t have a lot of what we call rejection which means that it actually picks up quite a bit. So it’s a very sensitive because it’s a condenser microphone. So it picks up a lot sort of ambient sounds. Like if I said if you are doing something more broadcast oriented and you want to get really tight in and have that big sort of broadcaster sound. You are better with a broadcasting mic which is a HEIL PR40
Tracy: And how do you spell HEIL?
Mark: HEIL is H E I L and it is from a guy named Bob Heil who actually got inducted into the rock and roll hall of fame a couple of years ago, he helped to create the first live sound console for the Who and the Grateful Dead way back.
Tracy: Okay, so he knows sound.
Mark: yeah, well he makes the great microphones and they are basically broadcast mics but that they have a lot rejection so they have a lot of side rejection, so they are going to pick up more of you right in front of your microphone then they are of things going around in your apartment or your traffic outside and things like that, so those are two really good
Tracy: Okay so I was just going to ask you price, price range
Mark: Yeah, those are two good options the PR40 is a little pricier I think it is around $329 the NT1A is about $229
Tracy: Okay
Mark: But depending on what you’re doing they’re both great microphones. If you are doing voice over auditions the NT1A is probably just less forgiving mic so if you move your head a little bit you know it will sound like your going off mic where as the PR40 it is more of a broadcast mic so you have seen broadcasters on TV or whatever you notice that they just kind of sit there on their mic. So that is what kind of mic that is, so its more of you have to site there right in front of it and do your thing.
Tracy: And in addition to that what do people need to just the basics, for their setup. So they need the mic obviously and then they need the mixing board if?
Mark: Well not necessarily I mean you know a lot of people just use the interfaces. Like for Pro Tools it would be an M Box, M audio has several that can be used with Logic
Tracy: And are they fairly easy to figure out?
Mark: Well that is kind of the million dollar question (Laughs)
Tracy: I mean what is an easy set up? Because already it is like UH, and do they come with think manuals you know?
Mark: No, I mean you can use garage band software to like I said if you have.
Tracy: But I am talking about in the recording process when you have your mic do you need it hooked in I mean you need it hooked into something
Mark: Well you need a microphone pre amplifier and you know your computers with a built in microphone pre amplifiers, laptops are
Tracy: So you can hook it right into your computer?
Mark: Technically you can, it is not ideal because they are really cheap microphone pre amplifiers so and you can start up that way especially for auditions that are stuff will be fine. And then if you want to upgrade there are so many options, I think the most difficult thing for people to overcome when they do this thing for the first time you know when they want to do a little home set up is just the software issues. If they are not really used to you know non linear editing, if they have never done video or audio editing it is something you have to kind of work through. And basically all of the software programs they run very similarly they are non linear editing so you have a timeline and you know you look at the time line
Tracy: And they look like an AKG for those of you who haven’t seen that
Mark: (Laughs)
Tracy: I am sure most of you people have
Mark: So there non destructive editing and recording which means when you erase things and stuff on your screen it doesn’t actually erase the audio files unless you tell it to do that. So they are forgiving as far as they are not going to erase something that you did but as far as cutting things together I think that is what people find complicated.
Tracy: Right
Mark: So most people who are doing auditions have been in front of a microphone and can kind of hear with their headphones, you know if they are sounding distorted. So yeah I mean a very standard setup is a microphone into a microphone amplifier into your interface or your computer and then it is usually plugged in USB and there is usually a headphone output on the interface.
Tracy: And you recommend using the headphones always?
Mark: Always, because there is now way, I mean if there is no one monitoring you there is no way for you to ever know what you’re getting and what you’re not getting
Tracy: Until you listen it
Mark: Unless you want to just do trial and error, you can hear immediately if headphones if your distorting or if your too far away or if you are hearing something else like in your room that’s. If you have your headphones on you may all of the sudden hear your computer fan going and you may want to try and make that quieter.
Tracy: Okay
Mark: Or you may hear your dishwasher running or something like that.
Tracy: And Mark we know you can hear, I always say Mark can hear dogs barking in Eagle Rock which is about ten miles away from here. (Laughs)
Mark: Easily
Tracy: We don’t all have that kind of hearing but okay so do you recommend any particular software PC and MAC for either one? I mean I personally use garage band and I think it’s great, I have used Pro Tools and I mean that is more complicated.
Mark: Like I said they all work on a very similar basic sort of level. The thing with Pro Tools is that it can be very simple and very complicated all at the same time. Where as Garage Band
Tracy: Right, Okay
Mark: Garage Band is very simple I mean you can do some quite complicated things with it but it doesn’t go to you know the realm where Pro Tools does and Logic and some of the bigger ones. But there all you know all of the projects Logic to Digital Performer there used to be one called Acid Pro but I think it is called something else now. Things like that they all work on the same basic philosophy that it is just you know you record you see your wave file you edit it and you send it off.
{Outro Music}
Tracy: This is Part Two of my interview with Mark Holden join me next time for Part Three
This Voice Registry podcast was brought to you by Voicebank.net
For 16 years, Mark Holden has been immersed in the world of sound as a recording engineer for TV, radio and live radio plays for LA Theatre Works to producing for the music industry and now opening his own recording studio in West Hollywood, The Invisible Studios. Mark is truly a sound expert. (So much so he can hear dogs barking in Eagle Rock when he�s at his studio in West Hollywood 10 miles away!) In this podcast, Mark talks about ISDN, phone patch and Skype for recording voice over jobs.
This voice registry podcast is brought to you by Voicebank.net
Tracy: This is Part Three of my interview with Mark Holden. To hear parts one and two go the previous week’s podcast. Well let’s switch over as we kind of wrap up here. There is so much ISDN going on now.
Mark: Well we are ISDN ready here.
Tracy: Oh yes, okay you are ready for everything here.
Mark: We have an ISDN box.
Tracy: You don’t rent out for auditions but for actual projects.
Mark: Yeah, well I mean you know voice over demo’s things like that, professionally done voice over demos or ISDN sessions if you book a client and you need ISDN that kind of stuff.
Tracy: Well you have got a great studio. Well let’s talk about home ISDN setups because I know people have those now. Are they necessary, in the phone patch and all these and Skype and I also want to talk to you about Skype. So let’s start with the ISDN and phone patch and just briefly explain to people if they don’t know the difference what is the difference?
Mark: Well, I mean an ISDN is basically a way to, its sort of old technology but it still works really well and people use it all the time it has been around for several years. But basically it’s a way to connect to a studio directly or a client directly. So what’s needed for that ISDN is very expensive thing to get into for home studios because the boxes the ISDN boxes I believe start at around $3000. And then of course if your or whoever your client is or the studio your working with needs to have a similar ISDN box and then they have to be able to link to each other. It’s kind of cool it sort of like you just appear in the studio even though you’re not in the studio you are just at home doing your ISDN in the studio. As long as you have a nice room and stuff to the studio it sounds to them like you are in their studio. So it is just a way to do that. ISDN’s only something that people who are very working do in a home studio because it is very costly and I think it is about $100 a month for the service as well.
Tracy: Wow, Okay
Mark: It might be like $50 for the home service.
Tracy: So ideally its better to pretty much use a studio to have a client and work out something.
Mark: Yeah, to my knowledge the only people who have a home ISDN box are people who have been working in VO for years and years.
Tracy: Well like the late Don LaFontane who makes millions and millions and millions.
Mark: Yeah, I did several sessions with him while he was at home but he sort of had it down to a science. It is a little more complicated than the average person and expensive than the average person.
Tracy: And did he operate it from his home? Or did he have somebody there?
Mark: From what I understand, I never met him in person when I work with him you would just talk back to him like he was in your studio but from what I understand he had a uh, correct me if I am wrong I think he had a nice booth in his basement area or his downstairs area and he had he used a really nice microphone he used a Manly Reference microphone which is about a $2500 microphone and that was sort of and that was the Don LaFontane sound you know.
Tracy: And then did he operate the ISDN box himself?
Mark: Yeah once you get it installed and somebody comes in and shows you how to do it its fairly simple. But actually you always called in to Don he didn’t call your studio you called his studio. So he basically, if he were to open up the door at 10 o’clock and that was his booking you would already be online talking to him. And he would walk in and say “hello” and that was it, it would be one take and then we were done.
Tracy: Okay and so phone patch just give us an explanation of what that is if you could.
Mark: A phone patch is just a way that radio stations and studios do interviews via the phone and all it really does is it connects a phone line into your audio system so um, the only you wouldn’t ever use that to do auditions or things like that because it is phone fidelity and phone quality.
Tracy: And you can tell.
Mark: Yeah, but it patches that in, if you are doing a lot of interviews and things like that it can be very helpful.
Tracy: So essentially it is for the director, so that they are in the studio recording and you are listening to their direction or they can be on the phone not in a studio you can be recording in a studio.
Mark: Oh that type of phone patch.
Tracy: You could do that as well.
Mark: Yeah that is another aspect of phone patch. When you are not recording an interview, if you have a phone patch let’s say you have a client who is Seattle, Washington or something and you are down here. And they don’t need to hear full fidelity they just want to hear your performance and your takes you just call them from your phone patch box or they can call in to and they can hear your performance via their cell phone.
Tracy: But you still have to be in an actual studio, recording actual work.
Mark: I mean if you are recording actual takes and you would either be in your nice home studio or at a studio recording they are just listening and giving you direction and things like that via the phone patch. So lets a really cool way to work if they don’t really care about hearing your full sort of fidelity voice.
Tracy: Yeah
Mark: And they just want to hear your performance
Tracy: It makes it convenient for them.
Mark: Yeah, I have just done so many of those, I mean I have done phone patches when they are literally on their cell phone driving home and they are listening to takes “Oh yeah that was good”
Tracy: Yeah that’s great (Laughs)
Mark: Or they direct from their cell phone driving home you know, so that’s a neat thing.
Tracy: So and finally about all of what do you call these things these devices, Skype. Explain Skype and how it is useful for voice talent.
Mark: You know I am not actually, I am not super familiar with Skype I have used it a few times basically to call people for free but I am not sure you know what voice talent uses it for or if they use it.
Tracy: Because it does sound well I just know that it sounds like they are on the phone so the quality is really not good.
Mark: Yeah it is definitely low quality. I don’t know what it is but it is probably 64 KVS or you know maybe 96 or something but its definitely not full fidelity at all.
Tracy: Okay, well this has been so great Mark. So basically, what changes have happened I mean we talked about a year and a half a ago we did our last interview you and I. What changes have you seen, do you see any changes coming up?
Mark: Um
Tracy: Any advice for us?
Mark: You know I think its just so interesting to me because one might think it is counter productive for me to give people advice on how to set up home studios because I want them to come to my studio but really its technology you don’t ever want to curve technology its just times they are a changing. So, basically I just feel like we are getting better and better communicating high speed internet and things like that. And you know we should all sort of embrace this type of thing and then when pretty soon we will be able to do sort of full fidelity Skype. Our bandwidths will be so much larger and we will be able to do all of this stuff with great fidelity.
Tracy: Which means great quality sound.
Mark: Yeah a much higher quality sound because it is going to be much less compressed. So as we move through this whatever age we are in and the technology its just sort of embracing something that comes next to be able to communicate better quality faster you know easier. So specifics as far as what I’ve seen, I mean from a professional stand point there is a lot of changes going on right now in studios and things like that. But from a home studio stand point it is really about sort of creating your nice dead quiet space and getting some software that you can familiarize yourself with and just continuing to embrace the changing technology and you know it may seem annoying that you have to upgrade your software and things like that but we all as a professional studio owner we have to do that and it is much more expensive for us to do that.
Tracy: (Laughs)
Mark: So just keep your stuff updated, put a little money into to put the quality up and keep embracing the new technology.
Tracy: And come to you
Mark: Yeah
Tracy: (Laughs)
Mark: I mean if you have serious auditions and questions come over here and check us out.
Tracy: And they can check you out at Theinvisiblestudios.com
Mark: Yeah
Tracy: Well Mark Holden thank you for your great great insights. We will do another one of these with the next round of new technology.
Mark: Alright, Thanks
{Outro Music}
This Voice Registry podcast was brought to you by Voicebank.net join us next time.
It looks like a small broadcast TV studio. Lots of cameras, cable, wires and curtains. People running around with headsets on, a control room with those big windows. Only this is all internet. It’s TheStream.TV’s studio. Live stream TV essentially is live internet TV. It airs in real time instead of recorded shows you see on sites like YouTube . The Stream has a line-up of shows from Coin-Op TV (a wacky show about video games) , The Game Show, The Real Cool Club and others.
The interesting thing is they engage their viewing audience from the get-go making them the perennial guest. One person on each show sits at the computer with a camera overhead, reading and reacting to the plethora of comments from the chat room proving to be as entertaining as what the hosts are saying and who they’re interviewing.
They have sponsors but it’s still an uphill climb. According to LiveStream. Tv’s Brian Grammo, “It’s a technology that is still working out the kinks but it’s getting better and better.”
So what are the possibilities for voice talent? Perhaps they’ll be used for promos just like broadcast television. And if advertising kicks in, then that’s a whole new opportunity for voice actors.
Just like so much of this emerging technology, it’s a wait and see.
Voicebank.net, the standard in voice over delivery, is working harder than ever to help voiceover actors no matter where they are in their voiceover career. Voiceover actors take classes, work hard, spend money and create a voiceover demo, but how does that demo sound to an agent? Is that demo going to get them work?
With over 150 talent agencies using Voicebank.net on a daily basis, there is an amazing pool of knowledge that can be tapped into. Some of these agents will be taking the time to listen to actors’ demos and put together their thoughts on what is great about the demo, what needs improvement and their overall views.
This premium service will be available for an introductory price of $30 per one minute of demo. Actors will receive their written critiques back in less than 10 days.
Don’t miss your chance to perfect your voiceover demo!
Contact:
Voicebank.net, Inc.
Erica Kelly, COO
direct line: 661-877-4355
toll free: 1-877-294-9910
e: Erica@voicebank.net
Gustavo Rex began his acting in New York in 1980 in Classical Spanish Theatre. Soon he found himself doing “Sexy voices” for the Late Night soft porn show “Electric Blue.” But his full time voice over career began here in LA in 1989 and it’s been his bread and butter ever since. Thanks to his agents at Cunningham (CESD) he quickly became one of the top Hispanic voice over talents in LA. And even though he did a lot of theatre in New York and TV and film work her in LA, his love is the voice. His work ranges from commercial vo to trailers, animation and narration. He was the voice of Captain Crunch in Spanish, the annoncer for Taco Bell with “dat dog,” launched the Fox Network in Latin America, was nominated for an Emmy for a PBS show called Rock en Espanol and did multiple voices on and directed the animation series Leo the Lion and the Adventures of Honey-Honey. He’s also a Spanish Star Search winner.
In tomorrow’s podcast (part 2) voice actor Gustavo Rex continues sharing his experiences and insights about the Hispanic Voice Over market. He talks about:
•The Hispanic Voice Over Market and the audition process
•Pay structure. How it’s different from the mainstream voice over market
•Straddling the Hispanic and the Mainstream market. How he’s able to do it.
•The Hispanic Voice Over job. How the delivery is different.
I was at Real Time with Bill Maher at CBS Studios last night for the first episode of season 8. Family Guy’s Seth McFarlane was a guest. Bill Maher asked him about the Sarah Palin controversy over Down’s Syndrome Voice Actor, Andrea McFarlane played a Down’s Syndrome person. Sarah Palin was outraged and felt that Family Guy and that character was making fun of her Down’s Syndrome son Trig.
McFarlane defended the character choice of using a person with Down’s Syndrome to play the role, saying that Andrea “loves her life as a voice actor and is proud to be part of the show.” As a sister of a Down’s Syndrome person, this was great to hear!
Joan Baker, and a panel of experts, will give you the inside scoop on how to launch and maintain a successful voice-over career. Becoming a successful voiceover actor isn’t just about having a standout voice, or inside connections, or even raw determination.
At this Learning Annex seminar you will learn…
- Training – What to avoid and where to train
- The power of the demo – What to include (and exclude) in your all important “calling card”
- Partnering with an agent
- Finding Your Voice/Identifying your niche
- The Business of You/Marketing
- Unions – what you need to know
- And much more
Compost Productions is at it again with their infamous Margaritas, Mojitos and Microphones class this Friday, February 19 in Los Angeles. Once again the fabulous Bob Bergen is teaching the class. (check out my post when I attended one of the MM&M classes.)
-Tracy Pattin
Here’s the blurb for the class:
VO actor and coach Bob Bergen and an L.A. based VO agent will be here at Compost Productions directing this special event. Bob’s credit list is huge, but he is most famous for being the voice of “Porky Pig.” Our other guest director worked for over 25 years as an audio director/producer and currently works as a VO agent at an L.A. agency.
The focus of the evening will be on voiceovers for animation and promo. The event will last five hours, and include a Q & A with the directors at the end of the evening. The cost is $150 and payment is required in advance to secure a spot in the class. For your convenience, you can pay online via paypal at our website, http://compostproductions.com/Classes.html. Just find the Margaritas, Mojitos, and Microphones poster and click the “Buy Now” button. Space is limited and enrollment is on a first come first serve basis. Email us at composthq@gmail.com or call us at (818) 567-1489 for more information.
Don’t miss out on the first session of 2010! This is your chance to partake in a fun night of hard work and hard alcohol!
What: “Margaritas, Mojitos, and Microphones”
Who: Directed by:
Bob Bergen (“Porky Pig” among thousands of others)
Gustavo Rex began his acting in New York in 1980 in Classical Spanish Theatre. Soon he found himself doing “Sexy voices” for the Late Night soft porn show “Electric Blue.” But his full time voice over career began here in LA in 1989 and it’s been his bread and butter ever since. Thanks to his agents at Cunningham (CESD) he quickly became one of the top Hispanic voice over talents in LA. And even though he did a lot of theatre in New York and TV and film work her in LA, his love is the voice. His work ranges from commercial vo to trailers, animation and narration. He was the voice of Captain Crunch in Spanish, the annoncer for Taco Bell with “dat dog,” launched the Fox Network in Latin America, was nominated for an Emmy for a PBS show called Rock en Espanol and did multiple voices on and directed the animation series Leo the Lion and the Adventures of Honey-Honey. He’s also a Spanish Star Search winner.
In part 1 of this blog post on Radio Plays, I wrote about this great opportunity for voice actors and how authentic (or spot on) accents can be necessary. In part 2 on the Radio Play, I talk about the process from the read-through to the record, comparing it to a film or TV set.
After the play is recorded, then starts another huge process; post production. Sound Engineer, Mark Holden, owner of The Invisible Studios, works with the director (Rosalind Ayres) to piece together all the scenes, the best takes. Part of this process is music and sound effects. With sound effects, there are two kinds; computer generated and live foley.
For our foley session, Ros brings in a box filled with potential sounds to go with each scene. She’s marked in the script exactly where those sounds are required. Then we got to work.
Foley is fascinating and fun. I’ve had the opportunity to work with Ros and husband Martin Jarvis (Jarvis Ayres productions) on many foley sessions. You’d be amazed at what makes a particular sound.
First we had to replicate long woolen clothing (these Moliere plays were period pieces taking place in 16oo). Ros had a large woolen scarf that I draped in front of me walking slowing from a corner of the room up to the mic. Suddenly I was transformed back to that time, imagining a woman walking in that clothing.
Next, was a man in armor. Ros used large aluminum cooking pot tops and chains. I had to walk in a masculine way holding the tops against my body with the chains hanging in front. Once again, I became that man in 1600 in armor as I approached the mic. (Ros was in hysterics in the corner because it sounded so real!).
We went on to create a necklace dropping on a cobblestone street, a man in street clothing and a special box with a love letter being looked at then passed along to one of the characters.
When we were done, I felt like I was transported back to the scenes in School For Husbands and Imaginary Cuckold.
Just as the voices bring the play to life for the listener, the sound effects act as other characters, all creating this wonderful aural magic genre of entertainment.
These LA Theatre Works radio plays will go on the air across the Country in the next couple of months. Go to www.LATW.org for more information.
I have in-studio managed many of these plays, often with high profile casts (Alfred Molina, Michael York, Brendan Fraser, Hector Elizondo, Juliet Mills, Stacy Keach and many others) and I’m constantly amazed at the magic that’s created all in a recording studio, all behind a microphone.
The process begins with a table read-through a day or two before the recording. Rosalind Ayres, the director on this project, explained to the actors what the set-up would be in the studio. I marveled at how this was like a film set. She described how they would come up close to the mic for the “close-up” scenes where the character reveals his private thoughts and they would step back from the mic for a “wide shot” when they wanted everyone to hear them. Since many in this cast are film actors, they immediately understood the analogy.
Although they’d always have script-in-hand at the recording, it’s very important that the actors work out the scenes with the other actors so they’re ready to record when they go into the studio. Time is money. And there’s rarely time for a lot of takes.
Once they’re in the studio, just like a film set has marks on the floor, the rug has strips of tape, almost like sun rays streaming out from the microphone as markers. Where they stand and how they move gives the illusion different sized environments, entrances and exits and any other situations to create a particular scene.
Before the actual recording, the actors then do a rehearsal (as done on a film or TV set) and finally they lay down the scenes, usually doing around 3 takes.
So you see, a radio play isn’t always actors standing at the mic, it’s much more complex than that.
Find out in part 3 about creating live sound effects in the post production phase of this fascinating process.
-Tracy Pattin
To hear this play go to the LA Theatre Works website. Moliere’s School for Husbands and Imaginary Cuckold will be airing across the country in the coming months. These plays were recorded at The Invisible Studios in West Hollywood, CA.
There is a whole other world for voice talent. It’s the radio play. This past week I was the in-studio manager for LA Theatre Works’ productions of Moliere plays, “School For Husbands” and “Imaginary Cuckold.” Both were all British casts, except two American actors who can do perfect British Accents.
In Tuesday’s podcast, Amy Stoller, talks about accents and audio books. This is one of the areas where a voice actor doesn’t have to have an authentic accent. It’s more about the characters and attitudes than a perfect accent. But there are exceptions. Because these casts were all British, it was important that the two American actors have spot on British accents. Which they did. The Brits were impressed!
Speaking of the Brits, the radio play is alive and thriving in England. Seems British audiences grew up with the radio play and still love the medium. Why not in America? After all, before television, there was radio. It was THE place for information and entertainment (in addition of course to the newspaper) So why has it not withstood the test of time? (check out an upcoming blog post)
Listening to (and watching) these marvelous actors, Juliet Mills, Emily Bergl, Lloyd Owen, Brian Bedford to name a few voice their characters, makes us realize the magic and power of the voice.
Amy Stoller is an award-winning dialect coach based in New York City. She teaches accents and dialects to performers, and American English speech and diction to non-performers.
She has been literary manager of an Off-Off-Broadway theatre company, casting director for a Brooklyn Shakespeare company and an American musical-in-progress, director of New York workshops and readings, and production manager of two one-acts that journeyed from the US to Scotland.
In tomorrow’s podcast (part 3) with Dialect and Accent coach Amy Stoller, her talks about:
•How we learn accents
•Whether the ability to do other accents is innate or if it can be learned
•The challenge when you begin speaking one language and learn another. What happens to your first language accent if you move to another country and primarily speak that second language?
•Commercials and accents. Do you they have to be authentic?
•The Six Flags commercial British actor who did an American accent for that project
We’ve gotten lots of feedback about the Amy Stoller podcast on Accents, Dialects and Voice Over! Here’s what one of the listeners had to say:
Mary McKitrick responded to the Amy Stoller podcast with these resourceful comments:
“Doing VO with accents can be great fun, and it is definitely worth pursuing this kind of work if one enjoys it and has an aptitude for it. Some relatively low cost approaches if you just want to explore: 1) Gillian Lane-Plescia at http://www.dialectresource.com/ has a series of Dialects for Actors CDs that are very helpful; 2) youtube is a bountiful resource – if you have an actor in mind (e.g., Billy Boyd, Scottish; Simon Baker, Australian) you can look up interviews; 3) Films: e.g. My Left Foot, Dublin); 4) accent archives such as http://accent.gmu.edu/ and http://web.ku.edu/~idea/ 5) theater department at the local college. I was lucky to find a course at a nearby university called Dialects for Actors. Taking language classes from native speakers is a great investment. I’ve been auditing French, German and Spanish classes at the college in my town for years (you have to forget about the fact that you might be 2-3 times older than anybody in the class – ha!). Concentrate on a few accents with which you have some facility, work on perfecting them, read out loud with them, work with a dialect coach like Amy and, ultimately, market them – and have a blast!”
Bob Bergen has been the voice of Porky Pig for 20 years now. But even before that, as a kid, he set his sights on being the voice of this famous cartoon icon. Find out how he found his way to the role.
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