Joe Cipriano prefers his Neumann, Finalists for Voicey Awards, Michael Douglas and Technology, Don’t be a Bottom Feeder, Pop Filters, Voicey Finalist John Small in the VOX Box.
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Joe Cipriano, Neumann U 87, Voicey Award Finalists, Voiceys, Michael Douglas, Julie Williams, Colin Campbell, John Small.
Transcript of Vox Talk #15
Male: Episode 15
Stephanie Ciccarelli: You’re listening to VOX Talk, the voiceover industry podcast. I’m Stephanie Ciccarelli, your host and link to the voice marketplace Voices.com. Every show features new and exciting pieces by voice talent from across the world, releasing two podcasts every week.
Let’s take a look at the news.
Male: The Loop, informing you of news and current voiceover events.
Stephanie Ciccarelli: What microphone makes you your bread and butter? While Joe Cipriano prefers to use a Neumann U87, you may favor a different mic in your own home recording studio.
Visit the VOX Daily blog to weigh in on the mics you use and let us know why you prefer them.
To join the conversation, go to blogs.Voices.com/VoxDaily.
On to our next story, the finalists have been selected for the 2007 Voicey Awards. Keep subscribed to the VOX Talk podcast to receive a very special program announcing the winners of the Voicey Awards to air this Wednesday February 21st, 2007.
To learn more about the finalists in each category, visit VoiceyAwards.com
To wrap up, actor Michael Douglas says technology is helping children from across the world to gain a better understanding of humanity’s cultures and religions. The 62-year-old actor is working with Global Nomads Group, which uses technology such as video conferencing to link children across the world to foster greater understanding.
To learn more, visit the links in the VOX Talk blog.
Male: The Biz, helping you grow your voiceover business.
Stephanie Ciccarelli: This week in The Biz, Julie Williams strikes a nerve with commentary on undercutting.
Julie Williams: You know, I just wrote an article for the March issue of my voiceover magazine, the V-Zine entitled, “Don’t be A Bottom Feeder.”
Unless your children are starving in which case, you do what you have to do, there’s really no need to ever be a bottom feeder. I saw this posting online at a website. Okay? “No generic demos, read the entire script, I need it today, I pay $100, job is five minutes long.”
And I was surprised to see that 27 people actually responded to it. Of course, I don’t know what they bid on the job. I sent a generic demo and a bid of $300 and of course, I’m not holding my breath to get the job but that’s okay. I mean, my son isn’t going hungry. Even my dogs are fed so I don’t have to be a bottom feeder.
There is value to jobs like that. I think those jobs are perfect for beginning talent or if your children are starving right now. But you know what? I think if professionals who have been in this business a while are willing to stoop to jumping through so many hoops for so little money, so far below what the standard is, it doesn’t help any of us in this industry. You’re worth more than that.
Stephanie Ciccarelli: Very well done, Julie. If you haven’t yet subscribed to Julie’s V-Zine, visit Voice-Overs.com to get on the list.
If you would like to be featured in this segment, email your MP3 commentary to [email protected]

Male: Tech Talk, walking you through the technological landscape.
Stephanie Ciccarelli: Here’s Colin Campbell of Affordable Announcer with a segment about pop filters.
Colin Campbell: Already started a controversy. Do you process before you digitize or do you just throw it in raw and process it in the digital domain? Well, I guess that’s just a matter of taste. I like to give the digital domain something good to work with first but then again, you’re committed to that and I understand that point of view.
Now, to talk about pop filters, everybody needs one, everybody probably has some kind of pop filter and most professional people use – a “popper stopper” is the slang term for it talking a lot of the other forums people joking about pantyhose and such. You can actually buy a pre-made one. I have one from Samson. It just happened to be with my local music store ahead. It has two layers of nylon type mesh and I don’t know the technical details of whether they’re off set or anything like that. I would imagine they’re just basically two layers of nylon and I still have – I left the old-fashioned pop filter windscreen whatever wind sock on the microphone as well.
So I’m going through a lot of layers before it hits the microphone diaphragm and I can still pop my P’s. So you’d really you know, it’s funny. You have to learn how to suppress those P and T sounds naturally with your mouth as well. It’s – you know, it’s probably one of the things you hear the most in a bad voiceover and it’s just – there is a real estate show on our local cable company’s local channel and it just drives me nuts because they pop their P’s really, really, really badly a lot and I just think, “Can’t they hear that?”
I mean, if I popped a P, I either try to edit it out if I can with a digital editor or I redo the thing and change my orientation to the microphone or just try to avoid it naturally with my mouth.
So anyway, you can make one on your own and some people do. You know, they take a pantyhose and wrap it around a circular item of some sort but they’re not very expensive. I paid $25 for this one and I don’t know. Maybe I don’t think it’s the best one out there because I could still pop P’s fairly easily but at least it’s a help and that’s all I’ve got for today.
I’ll have to think of something else right now. I don’t have an idea of what it might be next time but I’ll come up with something. Thanks. Bye.
Stephanie Ciccarelli: Colin, I really liked your report on pop filters and I’m really looking forward to hear what you have to share with us next week.
Male: VOX Box, answering your voiceover questions.
Stephanie Ciccarelli: In the VOX Box, I’m joined by John Small, a voice talent at Voices.com and also a finalist in the Voicey Awards Best New Voice category. As a copywriter and voice talent, I think you should keep your ears attuned to what John is recommending for commercial ad copy. Here’s John.
John Small: I’m big John Small with (GreatRadiosponse.com). I often have people ask me, “What do I need to do to make my advertising work better?” There are only three things you need to make your advertising work, consistency, frequency and a good quality message, those three things.
Again, consistency, frequency and a good quality message, consistency, frequency and a good quality message. See, I’m giving you some frequency here. Hopefully you’ll remember those three things.
Now consistency means you’re saying the same thing or the same kind of thing. Frequency, you’re saying it often and the good message, well, you’re saying something worth saying and also worth listening to.
I’ve built my company working on that last one. Quite often, people will have radio ads that sound like radio ads.
For all of your blinkity blink needs, call Blinkity Blinks for fast, friendly service. Well, what are you really saying? Absolutely nothing. That’s what everybody is saying in all of their radio ads.
I would be happy to help you come up with a radio campaign that will really cut through the clutter and get you results. You can find me online at (GreatRadiosponse.com) or give me a call, 605-728-3170.
Stephanie Ciccarelli: Thank you for joining us. If you want to be a part of the VOX Talk podcast, there are many ways to make your voice heard. You can leave a comment on the VOX Talk blog, send in your thoughts via e-mail or you can also call us.
Hey, and if you’re still listening to this and you have a podcast, how about a promo exchange? We’ll trade you promos, airing your promo in the VOX Talk podcast and vice versa. You can access the promo on the VOX Talk blog at blogs.Voices.com/VoxTalk.
Well, that’s it for today’s episode. Keep subscribed to receive the Voicey Awards podcast.
Links from today’s show:
Joe Cipriano prefers Neumann U87
Voicey Awards Finalists
Colin Campbell
John Small
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