Voice Acting Training and Business Blog

The Case of the Multiplying Job…

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‘Traxer and Beloved Guest Director RONI GALLIMORE shares with us another anecdote on being easy to work with, and how people who work a lot work a lot because they work a lot!

“Mid December, I received an email from Nate saying that I was being check availed for a Schwab project that he had submitted my Narration demo for. (Thank you to Sirenetta & Chuck for producing such powerful tool. This is not the first time it has brought jobs my way.) Then just before New Years Nate confirmed it was a confirmed booking and that he would have details in January.

It started as one session with possibly 2 more to follow. The first session went great. Then a couple of days later, I received a call from Nate saying that the engineers I had worked with at Schwab had referred me to another part of Schwab working on a sister project. (Be nice to engineers, follow direct and be easy to work with – important lessons learned at Voicetrax) The second group wanted to check avail me for the following week. As is customary, session dates move and flexibility is key. When the primary project pushed the second session out by a week and released me for Friday…the second group jumped in to use that session time. Session on, session off & session back on.

Currently the project is expected to have 1 or 2 more sessions to record the rest of the 9 videos.

Such a great gift to know I would be starting the new year with a new client and a large project to work on. All thanks to Nate, Sirenetta, Chuck & of course Samantha.”

Congratulations, Roni! And thanks for the extremely useful reminders about professionalism and flexibility!

Jan

WILL READ FOR FOOD, January 2017!

It’s WILL READ FOR FOOD WINNER ANNOUNCEMENT TIME! But first, we’re obliged to get some “You know we love you…” out of the way (sorry!):

First, deadlines are meaningless unless we mean it. There were strong performances knocked out of contention for missing the submission deadline. Second, mind the details – if you’re instructed to label in order of appearance, that’s how it needs to be or you might not even get heard. Third, you’re Voicetrax students and you’re not slating? C’mon guys! We didn’t think we needed to spell THAT out.

NOW, onto the finalists! We had some really good performances; the only problem was, none of the best ones seemed to be paired together. But the good ones were strong enough we felt that this ONE OCCASION justified a TEMPORARY suspension of judging based on ensemble performance, which is why we’re presenting an edit featuring two individual winners! Congratulations to these finalists for “VO”: KEITH HOUSTON, FAYE JAIME, JIM MCKENZIE, and TOM SAWYER; and to these finalists for “ANNCR”: RHIANNON BROGAN, JOHN GERATY, and CORY SCOTT!

Hear the winners in the following video…

Jan

Coyote In Action…

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COYOTE ALERT:

“Inspiring”… “Transformative”… “Mind-blowing”… “Valuable in so many ways”… “A beautiful lesson in confidence”…

The reviews are in, and Invitational Sam’s Not-So-Secret Secret Weapon with Guest Director and Voice-over Superstar PETER COYOTE was EPIC! By incorporating meditation techniques, paradigm-shifting improv exercises, and of course, BRILLIANT direction through stone-cold narration reads, Ken Burns’ Go-To Narrator presented one of the most exciting and memorable classes ever held at Voicetrax on January 7th.

When we say we’ve got the best Guest Directors, we ain’t kiddin’ – and Peter Coyote took it to a whole new level!

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Jan

‘Traxers In The Corporate Narrative…

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We now interrupt our regular VTSF Blog Programming for this special message from Da BOSS:

“Hi, Guys! Looks like it’s that time again – time to show you more PROOF POSITIVE that dreams + hard work = REALITY! As you follow the link below, I’d like to take this moment to say how tremendously proud I am of Chuck and Vicki for all their dedication and hard work! Vicki and Chuck are living examples of how a dream becomes real when you mix in the right amount of commitment and determination.

And since this is the first proof of 2017, why don’t we just call it ‘Exhibit 17A’? ‘Cause you can bet there will be plenty more ‘exhibits’ in the coming year! : )

Thanks, and I love you all…

Samantha”

SF Chronicle Corporate Video Narration Article

Jan

Resolution Solutions, 2017 Edition

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Happy New Year, All You Crazy ‘Traxers! SO, didn’t get around to making any New Year’s resolutions? Excellent! Let us help you out by offering the following…

BE IT SO RESOLVED:

1. Let’s continue to get homework in on time. Here’s one rule of thumb that will save you a TON of trouble: do not wait till the last half hour before it’s due! That’ll be a great professional habit to develop, by the way. Juuust sayin’.

2. THINK POSITIVE: when Sam asks what you would do to make a take better, don’t whip yourself over what you did wrong! Express your answer instead in terms of the positive corrections you would apply to improve it.

3. Lose those 10 pounds, but watch the timing – if you have a class early in the year with Graziano providing lunch, wait till after. If you have one later in the term, lose a little extra to balance the inevitable gain!

4. “Have you ever been six years old” is not a question about your personal effects, now. Don’t leave behind your water bottle, journal, glasses, umbrella, jacket, diamond earrings, car – well you get the point.

5 – and if you waver on any of the first 4, be SURE to do this – REMEMBER, the reward lies in the risk! Have fun, enjoy the process, and TAKE CHANCES!

Thanks, and here’s to a fantastic 2017!

Dec

‘Traxers Meet For John Muir Health

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Nothing beats meeting fellow ‘Traxers on a job, but one thing comes close – finding a sweet note on the script from the friendly ‘Traxer before you on the same project! JIM EDGAR left this little greeting for VICKI BAUM on a spot for John Muir Health, a radio campaign which will also feature ‘Traxer BRENDA McNABB! And how did Vicki feel about finding that note? “It took me a second to figure out what it was, but boy did it pump me up and make me proud! It was like a virtual Voicetrax fist-bump – must have worked, ‘cause I only needed two takes to give them what they wanted!” It’s just the kind of good will extending across the Voicetrax family all year long – and we wish you nothing less for you and yours this holiday season!

Dec

YAKKO Comes To Town…

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It’s always a pleasure when one of our luminaries comes to town to teach at Voicetrax – and they don’t shine any brighter than Animaniac/Mutant Ninja Turtle/”Pinky” actor ROB PAULSEN! Last weekend, 12 lucky students got to share in the wisdom imparted from one of the most brilliant, prolific and generous practitioners of the voice-acting art you can find ANYWHERE. And we just couldn’t be prouder and more gratified to have him in the Voicetrax Stable of industry-leading Guest Directors. Keep an eye out; you can count on more in the coming months from Rob!

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Nov

The 2016 TOP Voice All-Stars LA Edition

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A long-standing tradition at Voicetrax is our TOP Voice class/competition! After a preliminary round involving auditions from around 30 students, agents and booth directors visit from San Francisco, Los Angeles, and New York to pick the TOP (Truly Outstanding Performance) competitor for a period of remote or in-person auditioning at their agency.

The Los Angeles Edition TOP Voice of November ’16 really amped the stakes up. It was offered to the most elite students/working professionals in the Voicetrax stable, and everybody started with home-recorded auditions – meaning self-direction, so crucial for pros in the voice-over industry, was absolutely paramount from the very first moment in this competition. The first winnowing to 15 finalists was difficult enough, but determining the winner was excruciating:

We could not be prouder of and happier for ‘Traxers Damian Marhefka and Christian Nielson-Buckholdt. But victory was particularly sweet for ‘Traxer/Director Vicki Baum, who kept coming back year after year of not quite making the cut in previous TOP Voice events – SIX years in all. And boy did she pick a good time to win: these TOP Voice Victors have an unprecedented 6 months of remote auditioning with DPN, Los Angeles – the country’s top voice-over agency!

Vicki proves TWO aspects of hard work and perseverance paying off:

She kept at it till she won.

And she became a very successful voice actor on the way!

Congratulations to Vicki, Christian and Damian! And thanks to ALL participants for bringing their best and doing us proud! Take a victory lap, why don’t you…

Oct

Linked In Performances from The Voicetrax Star Casting News

Once again Voicetrax students and alumni are pulling out all the stops and spreading their talent far and wide throughout the voice-over industry. Below is just a small sampling of all the links we receive at our Booking News e-mail (bookingnews@voicetraxsf.com) from our students. Take a look and a listen and witness what it takes to be a true voice-over superstar. We couldn’t be more proud!!

Lara Asmundson, Fathom Impact Travel, narrator:

Owen Baker-Flynn, Roto Rooter, Santa Claus and announcer:

Stephen Barlow, Chuck Kourouklis, Louisa Mackintosh, Schwab investor videos, call-in customers:

http://www.schwab.com/public/schwab/investing/why_choose_schwab/work_with_us

Vicki Baum, Openprise, narrator:

Colin Benoit, Atlassian, narrator:

Jim Edgar, Cissy Jones-Lin, REI, voices:

John Ellsworth, DeMarillac Academy, narrator:

Nina Greeley, Suzuki SV650, announcer:

Rocio Guitard, PG&E, narrator:

Liz O’Neill, Ace Hardware, announcer:

Oct

Inside the Voice Actor’s Studio with Peter Coyote!

Inside the Voice Actor’s Studio with Peter Coyote
Memorial Day Weekend, 2016

When you have a guest as warm, generous, and riveting as Peter Coyote, it’s inevitable: the event is simply magical! Not only was he brilliant, down-to-earth, and completely engaging, he couldn’t have represented what Voicetrax is all about any better if he tried, and we couldn’t be more grateful. Here’s a mere drop in the bucket of what Voicetrax students had to say:

“It was truly a privilege to be in attendance at Inside the Voice Actor’s Studio with Peter Coyote. For two hours, I couldn’t take my eyes off of him. I listened to every word. The advice he gave us in how to survive and thrive in this industry is something every up and coming talent should know. This is truly an experience I will never forget.” – Doug Perryment

“Thank you all for bringing such a fascinating and captivating guest speaker! Two hours went by in a flash. There was so much wisdom coming from Peter on a variety of topics. His view on narration made complete sense to me. He is a storyteller. He views his voice like the white screen in a movie theater, where pictures play out to create a story. His voice is like a canvas for words to play out on, so that you, the listener, can create the visuals to ‘feel’ the story. Chuck did a great job in teeing up information that Peter could just run with and Graziano’s lunch was fabulous! A great start to the Memorial Day weekend!” – Lori Kershner-Wine

“What a great opportunity to hear Peter’s insights on acting. For me the key takeaways from Saturday were that acting is cooperative, not competitive even though you will be auditioning for a part or role versus many others. Peter also referenced sharing and generosity and to be sure to acknowledge the notions of power dynamics with respect to auditioning and to “always keep your power, never give it away” during the process, but do so with a sense of dignity and selfconfidence. But most of all I was taken most by Peter’s grace. A very special event indeed.” Stuart Gove

We thank Peter for one of our most unforgettable events ever… and thanks to all for being part of our wonderful Voicetrax community!

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