DigiDesign Reel Tape Suite, British Voice Association Tips, Are Scholarly Journals Obsolete?, Vocal Warm Ups, Adam Fox’s Recording Commercials Part 1, and the Sacramento Radio Contest tragedy.
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DigiDesign, Reel Tape Suite, British Voice Association, BVA, Jeremy Jacobs, Vocal Warm Ups, Adam Fox, Commercials, Sacramento Radio Contest, Nintendo Wii
Transcript of Vox Talk #8
Male: Episode 8
Stephanie Ciccarelli: Hi there, this is Stephanie Ciccarelli. Welcome to VOX Talk. Have we got an exciting episode for you, or what. Ready to go?
Male: The Loop, informing you of news and current voiceover events.
Stephanie Ciccarelli: Just when you thought analog went the way of the dinosaur, Digidesign, creator of ProTools, recently announced their new Reel Tape Suite, a suite that creates analog tape emulation effects. The Reel Tape Suite provides simulated tape saturation, simulated tape delays and also simulates tape machine flanging effects.
For more information, go to Digidesign.com
In other news, the British Voice Association has posted a list of tips for keeping your voice healthy called “Taking Care of Your Voice”.
To wrap up, are scientific journals obsolete? USA Today reports that since the advent of desktop publishing and new media distribution, scientific articles that would have usually been submitted to established peer reviewed journals are now being presented independently using video, voiceovers, and blogging. There’s yet another great opportunity for creativity to blossom and your voice to shine.
As they say, there has never been a better time to be in voiceovers.

If you have any news to share, send it to me via e-mail. You can reach me at [email protected].

Male: The Biz, helping you grow your voiceover business.
Stephanie Ciccarelli: Have you ever got up before the birds to record? I’m sure there are many on-air talent who can identify with this one.
Coming from a classical singing background and years of 7 am rehearsals, I find it really helps if you are up at least one hour before you are expected to perform.
During the interval between sleeping and recording, you may have possibly eaten your breakfast, had a drink, showered, and dressed – all things that prepare you mentally for a full day of work.
Getting up is one thing but warming up is another. Have you tried humming?
A loose, gentle hum is a nice way to ease in your facial muscles and create space. It gets your resonators going which in turn will help restore your vocal tone quality after sleeping for several hours.
One of my favorite exercises is the lip trill, or lip trills. They sound like a motorboat – here, I’ll demonstrate for you.
Of course, articulation, phrasing, range, breathing and stamina exercises are all important as well. You can learn more about vocal warm ups on the VOX Daily blog at blogs.Voices.com/VoxDaily.
If you have any questions or topics that you’d like to see covered in this segment, e-mail your suggestions to [email protected]

Male: Tech Talk, walking you through the technological landscape.
Adam Fox: Well, howdy all and welcome to another edition of Tech Talk. We got lots to cover today so let’s just dive right in. I hope you guys don’t mind the multi-part episodes because today, we’re going to start a three-part segment on what goes in to producing a completed commercial spot.
Now there are plenty of projects that simply require dry voiceover from the talent and that’s just fine. Less to concentrate on, you crank it out and send it off but Bob and I have found over the years out of sheer necessity that having the know how, the gear and being “Johnny on The Spot” can oftentimes book the job and not to mention show the client the ease and convenience of coming to you but it’s a great way to increase your revenues as well.
So let’s talk step one. Scripting. Most of the time, we get a completed script but there again, the more you offer, the better the results can be for you and since all of us are by nature in the medium, it’s not that much of a stretch to make that available to the client.
So let’s just say for the purposes of this exercise that we have our script. So now what? Well, I mean we all know what to do. That’s what we do for a living but let’s just for a minute break down the mechanics. Script in hand and reviewing the copy, what we’re really doing is interpretation. Interpretation is the most basic tool that we use in this business and since voice actor contains actor, well it’s natural, right?
Well, what makes that agency pick your audition from everyone else’s? Sure it’s the right voice for the job, right? So what is that? Basically what that is, is how the agent listens to the read and by the sound of your voice and your interpretation of the copy, find it the right voice to convey the message that they’re hoping to get out.
So we have our script and we dialed in the interpretation for the read. Now, what’s next? Well, I think it’s time to get recording. What do you say? If we’re doing dry voice, we just open up our software, we record the copy, we do a few tweaks here and there and then, it’s done, right?
Well, let’s just say for demonstration purposes that we’re going to do a full spot, background music, ambient sounds, the whole shebang-a-bang.
Let’s start with music. Well, we’re going to base our music on the overall read. How do we interpret the spot? Is it a fast read? Is it a slow read? Is the narrator excited or is it a thoughtful and moody kind of spot. For these next three producing-segments, I’m going to use a sample script from the royalty-free package that you can buy right here on Voices.com.
We’re going to use the Super Speed Nation example from the computers and electronics section and don’t be afraid here to play with the script a little bit. This one is really for demonstration purposes and it’s a royalty-free script so it’s not for a client’s job or something where they’re asking you specifically for a certain type of read and not to vary from the script. This can really help you to feel more relaxed in front of the microphone. Hey, improv, another acting exercise, right?
Okay, here’s part of the dry read.
“Who am I with? I’m with Super Speed Nation. They are the fastest, most reliable internet connection on the planet. I can even talk to relatives overseas through my internet connection without missing a beat.”
Now see how I played with the copy a little bit to make it sound more like a natural phone conversation between two friends?”
Well, looks like I’ve run out of time again. I just got to stop being so chatty but I guess when you love what you do and after all, I do talk for a living. So in the next segment, we’ll put the background music in the ambient sounds end and then we’ll finish the whole thing up in segment three.
Well, until next time. Go ahead and shoot me those e-mails. You can contact me either at AdamFox.Voices.com or at my production company’s website at DefiantDigital.com. I can cover questions and comments on air in future podcast segments. Thanks again for all your great kudos and comments and thanks for letting me into your computer. Buy for now.
Male: VoxBox, answering your voiceover questions.
Stephanie Ciccarelli: As you may know, there was a terrible tragedy in Sacramento, California due to a contest held at a local radio station where contestants competed to win a Nintendo Wii. A 28 year-old wife and mother died as a result of the humiliating demands presented by the radio station personalities, fully knowing that the contest could potentially cost someone their life.
This outrageous event leaves more questions than answers. What I’d like to ask you is this, do you think that some radio personalities go too far?

Well, that’s all she wrote for this episode of VOX Talk. You can send in your comments and audio feedback to air on the podcast or join the conversations brewing at the VOX Daily blog. Until next time.
Links from today’s show:
DigiDesign Reel Tape Suite
Jeremy Jacobs Professional Presenter
Are Scholarly Journals Obsolete?
Vocal Warm Ups
Commercial Scripts for Radio and Television Ads
Adam Fox
Comments
Sacramento Radio Station Wii contest:
Yes, I think some radio personalities do go too far, but I wonder if their program directors are paying attention and can pull the plug on things in time.
When I was on the air, it seemed my program director was listening every second of the day (often I would get a phone call if I had more than two seconds of ‘dead air’).
That said, I think that some radio stunts are harmless, but each one should be researched carefully before implementation.