The Voice of Brian...
Thoughts of a Voiceover Actor
Voiceovers | Charlotte Voiceover Talent | Voiceover | Radio Imaging | Audio Editing
Voice-Over Training
Ahhhhh, more like "Voice-Over Boot Camp" THIS WEEKEND in Los Angeles with Julie Williams, Vanessa Hart and Marc Cashman. If you have been in voiceover for any length of time, you know the names of all the "Three VoiceKeteers".
Voiceover and Punctuation
Voiceover talent always enjoy a well written script. Edge Studio knows that sometimes the copy voiceover actors receive may not always be written by professionals, for understandable reasons. Regardless of how the copy is written, there are things we as voiceover professionals can do to iron out any wrinkles and provide our clients with the best possible final product.
Take a moment to read: "Handling Punctuation Like a VO Pro"
VOICEOVER TRENDS in 2012
Like many of you, I use Google Reader to keep track of blogs that I keep tabs on. One of those helpful resources I look to often is Dave Courvoisier's Voice Over Blog. I saw "12 Trends: MUST READ!" listed and headed over to read. Good information for anyone in the voiceover business - from beginner to professional.
Thanks for posting the link, Dave.
By the way, if you are new to the business, there is another helpful resource to view each day and that's Vox Daily, from Voices.com - they put together the information Dave links to!
Microphone Shootout
Well known voiceover pro, Bob Souer, has another helpful post on his blog - this time he points us to a microphone shootout.....and affordable microphones at that.
For this article and continued quality posts, visit Bob's blog using the link below:
Who Does The Voice At The Airport?
CBS NEWS recently ran a story that featured a voice you have no doubt heard - no not mine, but that voice at the airport.
UFC on FOX Airs Marines Promo
This is a promo I voiced last week for the Marines. It aired during the event, "UFC on FOX". In voiceover, we often do work that we don't get to hear on the air, whether that be radio or TV. When we do have the opportunity, it's a great learning process for the voice actor. We can hear how the final mix sounds to the ears of general public – far removed from our studio. In my case, our TV's have surround systems and since I have a subwoofer in my studio, I was pleased that the translation from what I heard in my studio was very close to what I heard on the air....that is always a confidence builder....especially when it comes to me producing a spot for radio, web etc.
Below is what aired Nov. 12th during "UFC on FOX"
Pro Tools Tips For Mac
Over the years, I've found keyboard shortcuts, tips and production "must knows" that have really accelerated my workflow. Below is a culmination of things I have either discovered on my own, learned from others or found on web videos etc. These are all from a Mac perspective, but I believe that on a PC the ALT key is equivalent to the Mac's Option key...so perhaps this will be beneficial to PC folks as well.
These are in random order as I learned them...I simply kept a "draft" email going and added as I learned. So, forgive any typos grammar issues. While there are certain to be other ways of doing some of these, this will prove helpful for some.
I'm currently running Pro Tools 8 on a Mac Pro w/Snow Leopard
DUCKING MUSIC FOR VO:
On VO Track, assign BUS 1 to the track (a single fader will appear...you'll need that to control ducking level)
On Music Bed, Insert Compressor/Limiter Dyn3
Near upper left of Comp/Limiter, click on the little KEY and choose Bus1 (what this is doing is saying that Bus1 from VO track is going to tell the Comp/Limiter when to kick in...it's being controlled by the VO).
Now go over to the right of the Comp/Limiter and you'll see Side-Chain, click the little Key to turn it on
Finally, locate the single fader that popped up when you created the Bus on the VO track. Use the fader to set the ducking level to your liking!
DARTHY VADERISHY For Fun:
Drop down -2 Semitones using the Pitch-Shift plugin, then add D-Verb "Large Plate" at 25% (or to taste), Then under the Modulation plugins, choose Chorus and then StereoDeepChorus
SHORTCUTS MAC
WANT TO RESET WAVEFORM HEIGHT TO DEFAULT:: Control + Option + Command + [
OPTION/ALT KEY: This basically an ALL kind of key, so for example, if I click MUTE while holding down the OPTION key, it will mute ALL the tracks!
COMMAND KEY: If you hold down this key while adjusting any values/levels etc, it will do it slowly so you can FINE TUNE a bit better
"PUNCH IN" RECORD: If you want to re-record a portion of audio but would like to hear the stuff that comes before so you can get the flow. Highlight the area you want to record in (give some extra room at the end just in case you go long) and then using the OPTION key click where you want Playback to start and where you want it to end. Little YELLOW FLAGS will show up at the top of the window. Now, just make sure you are in QUICK PUNCH mode and track is set to record...off you go
JUMP TO BEGINNING OR END OF A REGION: With Tab to Transients OFF, simply use your TAB key. If you want to SELECT/Highlight the region while jumping, just hold down SHIFT while hitting TAB key
WANT TO SELECT A REGION WHILE IN PLAYBACK: Use the DOWN & UP ARROWS. Click the DOWN ARROW for the start and UP ARROW for the end. When you stop the PLAYBACK, you will now have a highlighted region!
WANT TO EXTEND A REGION SO IT BUMPS UP (BUT DOESN'T GO PAST) THE NEXT REGION: Hold down the CONTROL key while extending and it won't go past the next region...butt's right up!
WANT TO MOVE ONE REGION IN LINE WITH ONE ON A DIFFERENT TRACK: Highlight the region that you want the other one to line up with. Now, hold down the CONTROL key while clicking on the region you want to move and it will snap in place!
WANT TO DUPLICATE A REGION AND HAVE IT SNAP TO WHERE THE CURSOR (PLAYHEAD) IS: Click to place the PLAYHEAD where you want the duplicated region to go, then hold down CONTROL-OPTION and click the region you want duplicated. It will copy and snap to the PLAYHEAD! NOTE: CONTROL-COMMAND will put the END of the region at the PLAYHEAD.
WANT TO TOGGLE BETWEEN WAVEFORM VIEW & AUDIO LEVEL VIEW: Make sure the little a/z button is turned on in the near top right of the window or you can find it in the bar above the wave form window. Now whatever track you are on, simply hit the MINUS KEY on the Qwerty Keyboard (NOT the minus key on the numeric portion of the keyboard)
WANT TO SEE YOUR ENTIRE SESSION ON THE SCREEN: Click OPTION-A
WANT TO SET YOUR FADER TO ZERO QUICKLY: Hold down OPTION key and click the fader
WANT TO MAKE THE TRACK OR MULTIPLE TRACKS BIGGER REALLY FAST: Click on the track or slightly highlight multiple tracks and then holding down the CONTROL key, use the UP/DOWN ARROWS
The Edge Factor Show: "GNARLY METAL"
The latest episode of the incredibly shot, edited and produced show The Edge Factor is now online.
The Edge Factor Show
The Voice of Brian is the narrator for the surging program The Edge Factor Show - and this show has really created a huge buzz in the manufacturing world! A big thanks to Francois Driessen and Jeremy Bout.
Here's their latest Tease!
Olivia
It was 1997 and my wife and I were about to have our first of two children. We didn't want to know whether a girl or boy would be our joy, but decided we did want to work on names. I knew for sure if we had a girl, Olivia would be her name. I always liked that name for a couple of reason....sappy as they may be. First, I was a huge fan of the Waltons growing up and Olivia Walton was such an awesome TV mom. Secondly, the beauty and sweet voice of singer Olivia Newton-John had kept the name Olivia in my head. That said, we believe names are important and have meaning and so I actually prayed about the name Olivia and a Bible scripture came to mind...when I looked it up, it said "...and your children shall be like 'olive" plants in your home". Well, back in the days this was written, that simple line would have meant really good things and when I saw the word "olive" and how close it was to the name Olivia, it was a done deal.
Why all this sappy, non-voiceover stuff? I'll tie it in here:
Well, I've been a subscriber to Voices.com's services for many years and they were a large part of helping get my full time voiceover business on solid footing back in those days and I still have the very large majority of those clients I first obtained through Voices.com.
This morning I saw a note posted by Voices.com Co-founder, Stephanie Ciccarelli, who says that she's been busy lately and enlisting the help of guest writers on the Vox Daily blog because.....you guessed it, she and her husband David welcomed their fourth child into the family – Olivia!
Stephanie is such a great asset to online voice talent and I'm very happy that the Ciccarelli family has added another Olivia to the world!
CONGRATULATIONS David & Stephanie and a heartfelt "Welcome Olivia" to their newest addition.
Read what Steph has to say on VoxDaily
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