The Return of 24, Amazing Marvel Universe, Nancy Wolfson Teleseminar, Getting Rid of Dry Mouth, Voice Changing Software, and Character Voice Demos.
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24, Kiefer Sutherland, Stan Lee, Marvel Comics, Nancy Wolfson, Julie Williams, Adam Fox, Character Voices, Anna Vocino
Transcript of Vox Talk #5
Male: Episode 5
Stephanie Ciccarelli: Welcome to VOX Talk brought to you by Voices.com. My name is Stephanie Ciccarelli, co-founder of Voices.com and your host for today’s show. VOX Talk is about you. It’s a podcast that helps you grow in your voiceover career.
Each episode will begin with news and current voiceover events in a segment called The Loop. Then we’ll explore business development and hot trends that will set you apart as a professional voice actor. Next on the list is Tech Talk, a segment where our team will review products and guide you through the technological landscape. Lastly, we’ll answer your questions and play audio feedback in a segment called VOX Box.
Now that we’re ready to go, let’s move on to our first segment.
Male: The Loop, informing you of news and current voiceover events.
Stephanie Ciccarelli: If you’ve been waiting all these months for Jack Bauer to return, the past couple of days have been extremely exciting. Fox TV’s runaway hit series 24 starring Kiefer Sutherland as US superhero agent Jack Bauer took the air last night and I might add, with some bite. The two-hour season premier on Sunday and the shocking double episode on Monday were unbelievable and exactly what fans of the hit show were expecting to kick off another great season of 24.
In other news, Marvel has released amazing Marvel Universe, a book that mixes the digital audio of Stan Lee talking with excerpts from 50 comic books compiled and explained by Roy Thomas. Attached to the side of the book is an audio box with 68 numbered voiceovers. Stan Lee is the creator of Spider-Man, the Fantastic Four, X-Men, The Hulk and many more characters in the Marvel empire. He worked his way up from being basically an errand boy to becoming the editor. Last seen in the cameo in Spider-Man 2, Lee has stunned faithful comic readers for near half a century. His commentary on the book is definitely the best part.
For more information, see the links at the VOX Talk Blog.
And to wrap up, I’d like to direct your attention to a free 30-minute tele-seminar called The State of Voiceover Today hosted by Los Angeles voice coach, Nancy Wolfson. The tele-seminar will take place this Wednesday, January 17th, 2007 at 7:00 pm Pacific Standard Time. A variety of topics will be discussed in the tele-seminar running the gamut from voice casting to home studios.
To learn more, visit BreakIntoVoiceover.com. If you have any news or voiceover related item that you would like to send in, send it to [email protected].
Male: The Biz, helping you grow your voiceover business.
Stephanie Ciccarelli: This week in The Biz, we’ll be hearing from our weekly correspondent Julie Williams with some insight about dry mouth.
Julie Williams: One of the most annoying things to hear on a voiceover is dry mouth. In case you don’t know what that sounds like, it’s sort of a clicking type noise that I can’t just do on cue but it sounds kind of like (inaudible). It’s very difficult to edit out some of those sounds believe me, I’ve tried. Some of the causes of dry mouth are dehydration, certain medications and coffee. If you have dry mouth, you can hear it when you’re doing your voiceovers and the best thing to do is dump the coffee, have a big glass of water, swish it around in your mouth and the clicking will be gone for about 10 seconds.
To get rid of dry mouth for a longer period of time, take a bite of an apple. For some reason it works better than water in helping the mouth stay moist so the moral of this story is always bring an apple with you to auditions, to sessions or if you’ve got your own studio, always have a bowl of apples around for you or any other voiceover person that’s coming to your studio.
Stephanie Ciccarelli: Thank you, Julie. I’ll start keeping an apple at my desk when recording the podcast.
Send in your comments and feedback by leaving a comment on the VOX Talk Blog or by sending in your audio feedback to [email protected].
Male: Tech Talk, walking you through the technological landscape.
Stephanie Ciccarelli: This week in Tech Talk, Adam Fox, a VOX Talk correspondent will be sharing his commentary on voice-changing software.
Adam Fox: Well hi, everybody. Today I’d like to talk a bit about how studio tools can help any of us voice actors expand not only what we offer to clients but to help us all use those muscles that quite often sit in the corner and gather dust while we’re doing our day to day commercial production.
Let’s talk about voice altering effects for a moment. Defiant Digital that I operate with my partner Bob Oakman does all the standard stuff that we all do but because we both made our foundations as professional musicians and quite often work with a lot of professional musicians, we get some great opportunities to really tweak and play with signals.
Let’s look at pitch shifting. Here’s a sample of a dry voice acted as a child.
“What a funny, funny people those earthlings are.”
Now let’s take that same snippet and pitch shift it.
“What a funny, funny people those earthlings are.”
Now here’s the part of his mom giving her opinion.
“No, your father said you can’t have a human.”
Now let’s hear what it’s like pitch shifted.
“No your father said you can’t have a human.”
See, not only does it shift the signal but by doing so, creates two totally different and unique voices that don’t sound like me anymore. This can be very helpful for making one actor sound like several or making male actors sound female and vice versa. We can cover other tricks and tips to help you get the most out of your studio tools and future segments. Until then, here’s the completed piece. Enjoy and thanks for listening.
“What a funny, funny people those earthlings are. Look at them. Scurrying around in their little carbon-based life form (vastness) thinking they’re the big guys on the block. Humans are so cute. Mom, can I keep one?”
“No.”
“Oh, mom, come on …”
“No”
“I’ll keep it really clean.”
“No, your father said you can’t have a human.”
“I’ll take it out for a walk.”
“I said no.”
“Oh …”
“No.”
“Oh, come on, mom. I promise I’ll clean up after it.”
“Oh sure, that’s what you always say but the next thing you know, I am taking it out and walking it. I am cleaning up after it.”
“Oh come on, mom.”
Stephanie Ciccarelli: Thanks, Adam. We’re all looking forward to hearing more from you.
Male: VOX Box, answering your voiceover questions.
Stephanie Ciccarelli: Last week, we received a question about what goes into a good character voice demo. I thought we’d answer this by including some audio from a stellar character voice demo recorded by Anna Vocino.
Female: I attend Montessori School. It’s a challenge but I happen to be gifted.
Raymond, stop the car this instant. Raymond!
Because here in the Midwest, we’re strong. We don’t have these kinds of weaknesses that you guys have. Where you from? San Diego? Yes, that’s a weak town. Up here, we’re hardy. We have to deal with the snow. Okay, if you don’t mind I’m going to chill out here for a little bit. I’m going to pop in a mix tape. I listen to these while I drive.
All right, today. We are going to learn how to send a fax. As you know, fax machines are rather antiquated but I don’t mind because I simply adore saying the word “fax”.
I’m preparing for my French oral exam.
What the hell is this? What am I supposed to do with industrial-grade carpet swatches? I want a refund.
Mom, when are you coming home? Okay, I’ll tell Mrs. (Clewicky) that we have to be in bed by 8:00.
Unless you are mentally incapacitated, I strongly suggest you high-tail it up to the witness stand and talk.
Oh, I’m sorry. Excuse me. You’re going to have to remove all cell phones and pagers. It makes the electrons jumpy.
This has caffeine in it. Darn it. I left my Albuterol in my locker. Allergies, allergies, allergies. Well, have you ever had a citrus migraine?
Can I borrow a pencil and a piece of paper?
I totally forgot to tell you that short film, the comedic short film that screened back at the LA Shorts Fest, we got accepted into Slamdance. We’re going to Park City.
Don’t mess with Maria Guadalupe Margarita Teresa Santanos.
Try to put your hat on without using your hands.
Can I interest you in a (samoa)? Tag along, (cin mint)?
Name one reason why I can’t be a household name? Go ahead. Name one.
Stephanie Ciccarelli: Anna tackles several different characters, accents, and voice ages that exercise her versatility and highlight her strengths, all hallmarks of any good character voice demo.
If you have something you would like to share, perhaps a tip, a comment or a suggestion, send in your MP3 file to be included in the VOX Box by e-mailing [email protected].
Thank you for joining us today. If you’d like to learn more about our service and how we can serve you, visit our website Voices.com. Bye for now.
Links from today’s show:
24 on FOX TV
Nancy Wolfson’s BreakIntoVoiceOver.com Teleseminar
Adam Fox
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