Living the Dream - Audio Guy is a voice talent now?

So right away, I just want to say, that I've worked really hard to be a voice director. I've done everything I can, classes, workshops, workouts, to become the best director I can. I enjoy being in front of the microphone (I was a theatre student), but my passion lies behind the mixer. I mean why just play with my voice when I can play with ALL the best voices in LA.

Anywho, I booked a radio job...

We were casting partner reads, and one guy's partner didn't show up. I jumped in just to help out (it was a lot of dialog, so a partner should help right).

So we booked the job, and even though I'm not AFTRA, the production company liked me enough to Taft-Hartley.

In a way it's kind of embarrassing, as I was there to direct actors. But I guess it means I had the right idea though right?

So there it is. I guess I'm a working actor now too. LOL!

Just kinda weird ya know...
someaudioguy some audio guy business career voice over radio voice acting aftra union guild job

Batman: Gotham Knight - on track for summer release!

I'm really stoked for this, and didn't realize that Christian Bale was going to be working on it.
I love the idea of a Dark Knight prequel bridging the gap between Dark Knight and Batman Begins. Also the anthology aspect of it is pretty exciting. My favorite thing about the The Matrix sequels was it gave us The Animatrix.

And since it doesn't look like we're getting Spawn anytime soon...

So if you're not as big of a Batman freak as I am (cuz if you were you'd have seen this already, natch), but you're interested in checking out how sweet this looks, check this vid out:

RIAA Keeps Settlement Money, Artists May Sue

Despite collecting an estimated several hundred million dollars in P2P related settlements from the likes of Napster, KaZaA and Bolt, prominent artists’ managers are complaining that so far, they haven’t received any compensation. According to a lawyer, some are considering legal action...

read more | digg story
someaudioguy some audio guy music riaa p2p file sharing bittorrent

Video: Audacity Tutorial - how to set up Audacity for MP3 exporting

The blog post TWO days in the making... LOL...

So first off I'm Some AUDIO Guy. I'd just like everyone to keep that in mind when you watch this. I really have no business editing video.

That being said, I've gotten a lot of questions from clients about how to setup recording software, and I tend to recommend Audacity. It's really easy to use, plays exactly the same way between Mac and PC (I don't know of many that do that), and the price is right (free).

The only down side is it can be a little tricky to set up, but once it is, I think the software is solid.

This video is a step by step, from beginning to end, tutorial that covers everything from downloading the software to setting up MP3 exporting, all with a focus on what us VO people need to accomplish. If you're interested in setting up some software to keep yourself in shape, or to start recording auditions, I think this will help.

I'm including two different versions a high and low quality. The low obviously loads faster, but the high quality version is downloadable HERE.

Revver (Low Quality):


DivShare (Download High Quality version):


As always, I'd love to hear feedback, and suggestions for future tutorials.

For those looking for something a little more advanced, you can check out this previous vid I made of cleaning audio in Audactiy.

Thanks for watching!

***EDIT***

Ok having looked at the DivShare streaming version, it's only marginally better than the Revver version (really just sounds better), but I promise if you go to the DivShare page here, and download the original, you can actually read all of the text on my screen.

Sorry folks, I'm still figuring all this screen capture stuff out.

heh-heh...
some audio guy someaudioguy voice over recording auditioning actors business software setup how to help audacity voice acting

Competition for Divshare? esnips gives Div a run!

So here's the dilemma.

I'm cheap.

There it is.

I need free file storage until this whole digital life of mine starts paying for itself (those of you clicking on ads and donating GAWD BLESS YOU). For the run of this blog, I've been trying to find easy and free ways to link or embed media. Most of what I produce for this site is audio (go figure), and all of the video is handled by other sites. I personally use Revver for the few vids I've made, but Youtube, 5Min, Funny or Die, MetaCafe, all have me covered for video content.

Audio, however, has been tricky. I haven't found a good solution, and sites that look like the holy-grail-youtube-for-audio (like Odeo) end up being to slow, or having odd limitations (like only linking to audio not storing it). For a while I considered just making everything a vid and uploading to the video sites, but those files get big, and I don't want to do yet another round of editing once I've already trimmed and cleaned a recording.

Enter the world of online file storage.
I started with sites like YouSendIt and MediaFire, to send files larger than 10MB to clients. As they evolved, it allowed me to add links to posts so people could download my stuff. Later I stumbled onto DivShare, which allowed me to embed a player. Now people could listen to the audio right from the blog, without having to download anything or navigate to another page to hear stuff.
The problem with DivShare is it can have odd periods of down time. It can be really slow to upload, and sometimes the player can get locked up. It's good for free, but I have a hard time relying on it as this blog gets bigger.

In this continuing search for free file storage, I've just stumbled onto a service called esnips. It's a lot like DivShare, allowing for file storage and embedded players, but it also has a community aspect. You tag your info, and people with similar interests and media can be exposed to your stuff.

I'm trying it out now. So far I don't love the players you can embed, but it seems pretty quick. Over the next couple weeks, I might start moving content over to esnips.

Both services offer 5GB of storage for free, and you can pay for more. That's a lot of space for audio, even uncompressed.
If you need free hosting for your demos, or to send audio to clients, I would seriously check out both Divshare and esnips.

Here's the esnips player:

Get this widget | Track details | eSnips Social DNA

And the Divshare player:

Did you win your Oscar pool...

...cuz I certainly didn't win mine.

Transformers let me down, man...

Transformers totally let me down...


Transformers (Two-Disc Special Edition)

RIAA Expert Witness is Borderline Incompetent Says P2P Exp

In a major file-sharing legal case in the United States, a renowned P2P expert has offered his critique of the expert witness report offered by the RIAA. Prof. Johan Pouwelse’s testimony will be a devastating blow to the music industry as he labels RIAA expert Doug Jacobson’s report as “borderline incompetent”.

read more | digg story

Knight Rider ... kinda ... meh ...

So how do you ruin a show about an autonomous, artificially intelligent, swiss army knife, mega awesome, super car?



Easy.



Don't let your awesome car do anything.



Like, AT ALL!



I just spent the last two hours yelling at my TV. "DO SOMETHING!" was mostly what I was pleading. I can forgive stiff performances in a pilot (movie? LOL). I can forgive bad-ish writing. None of these things have been figured out yet. There's no synergy between actors, directors, producers, and writers yet. I'm not expecting gold, just not total crap.



There was no sense to Knight Rider tonight, AT ALL!

The original show was about action, and adventure, and a snarky talking car (woot, William Daniels!). Tonight's "movie" was two hours of dreary, badly lit, non-interesting character back story.

I don't really care that much about Michael's back story and problems. Just SHOW me he can be kick ass. This implausible explanation of him being a former Ranger AND a failed race car driver was just grating. Especially as he didn't get to exhibit skills from EITHER profession.

I don't care about Mike and Sarah, and I especially don't care enough to have them stop KITT in the middle of the night on a deserted desert road to get out (of awesome car) and TALK about how much I don't care about their relationship. I had never prayed so hard for a cheesy flashback...

Bruce Davison is awesome, but I don't care that much about his back story. Really any audience for this "movie" already knew there was a previous "Knight Rider".

I don't care about Mike's Mom, and it's almost funny that neither did Mike, as there was almost no tension or emotional distress over seeing her SHOT IN THE CHEST and die right before his eyes. That's NOT the actor's fault! Justin Bruening is a soap actor. It DON'T GET NO more emo than that.

It's even insulting that they add in Mike being the son of Michael Knight (as if his Mom's death wasn't insulting enough). There was no need. NONE! The Hoff still could've had the exact same scene at the end, and through no fault of the actors, it would've meant exactly the same thing (very little). It was a useless nod to the original, that served no purpose other than to take us away from KITT again, and have more people talk at us.



Here's a hint:

More people talking AT me = less awesome KITT DOING something.



So in the last half hour, men with guns show up, and since I've yet to care about anything else, I can't even care about that. What? They're "hacking" KITT? Well since you've given us NOTHING to go on with what KITT can do (other than shape shifting, and that he still runs on GAS hopefully premium), I care not at all for this contrived techno-plot laziness.



Kilmer does a decent enough job with what he's given, but why did they HAVE to go out of their way to strip KITT of ALL personality.

This defies reason. The best and most memorable of robots/pets/sidekicks have PERSONALITY! It's why we care about them. William Daniel's original KITT was a snarky, condescending, know-it-all. LOVE IT! Data from Star Trek is a puppy-like blabber mouth. LOVE IT! HAL from 2001 is a ruthlessly simple authoritarian, programed to coldly accomplish his task at all costs. Freaked me out!

WE CARE ABOUT ROBOTS! EVEN THE SUICIDAL GM ROBOT FROM LAST YEAR'S SUPERBOWL! They're like our pets, but they also reflect ourselves, where we're from and how far we've come. I hate seeing robots done poorly...

Just as Lassie was about a boy and his dog, Free Willy a boy and his orca, and Star Wars a boy and his Wookie, this should've been a boy and his awesome car. Simple. Easy. HOW CAN YOU FAIL‽‽‽

[See what I did there. I used a GM commercial as an example of something that evoked a reaction, against what was essentially a two hour Ford commercial that evoked no reaction other than blatant frustration over how little I cared. That was for Will Arnett, voice of GMC!]



It's just really sad that the four Ford Focus commercials peppered throughout, were more fun (and better acted/directed), than the show surrounding them. Fun, right? Whatta concept...



This is exactly what NBC did to Bionic Woman. Let's take a fun action/adventure show that people have fond memories of, strip out most of the action, shoot it really dark and "edgy", mire it in dreary emotionless human drama and back story, and KILL any sense of fun. Way to go NBC! I'm sure using the EXACT same formula that failed with your "Dark Angel" clone (not really much of a success in its own right) will totally provide different (and more successful) results here...



*Sigh*



I'm going to bed.

HAPPY VALENTINES DAY!

Just a beautiful day in LA...



I used to have a friend in college that would stalk around the green room.
Anytime some one would wish him a "Happy Valentine's Day" he would grumble and stomp around.
His favorite response was to get in the well-wisher's face, and with a maximum of neck action, wish them "Happy VD".
He wasn't so much a friend I guess, as he was just some guy I knew...

So, anywho...

HAPPY VD! LOL!
I hope you're doing something fun!

Superman: Doomsday - Number ONE on Netflix W.i.N.!!!

Holy crap!

First up, how awesome is it watching Netflix step up its game. They're getting some great flicks up on Watch it Now. Just over the last several days I've caught Grindhouse, Fido, and Superman: Doomsday. Just great!

I was very pleasantly surprised to see S:D at the top of the W.i.N. Top 50. It's a great comicbook flick that's right up there with work like Batman: Mask of the Phantasm. Kind of dark, a little more grown up, a little more sophisticated Superman.

The movie deals with the origin of Doomsday, the death, and return of Superman. That's a lot of ground to cover in 75 minutes, but the film handles it pretty gracefully.
It needs to be said, this is not a movie for kids. This is not Super Friends. The movie is PG-13, and I think that's fair. The art direction is dark, almost grim, and some of the action can be pretty brutal. The theme is totally Superman though, as we watch people struggle and arrive at doing the right thing even though they could be hurt or killed. Anyone can be a hero. You just have to try.

Andrea Romano casts and directs an incredible group of actors. I'm a really big fan of her work, and this is another great example of what she brings to a project.

I was pleasantly surprised with Adam Baldwin as Clark/Supes. He tends to play such cocky characters on camera (Jayne!!!) that it took me a while to reconcile that with the humble and honest Clark he delivers.

I thought Anne Heche turned out a great performance as Lois. Smart, savvy, and strong. My favorite Lois's are the non-victim ones.

I wasn't sure what to think of James Marsters as Lex. Truth be told, I think I've just been really well conditioned by Clancy Brown's Lex from Justice League Unlimited (if you haven't yet, you need to check out Clancy's performance in "The Great Brain Robbery" from Season 2 of JL:U, classic!) that hearing any other voice was going to make me critical. Marsters' Lex is very good, but for me, lacked the authority of Brown, and seemed a bit more conniving than bold.

Ray Wise as Perry White is PERFECT! Gruff and surly without drifting into a J. Jonah Jameson impersonation. Channeling a little Ed Asner, which is exactly the way I've always heard Perry in my head. I love Ray's work, and am very proud to say I got to work with him at Abram's. A great actor that really puts his all into his work (Good Night, and Good Luck), and is very gracious, humble, and fun to work with.

And there are so many other great actors rounding out the cast, John DiMaggio, Swoosie Kurtz, Tom Kenny (woot), Cree Summer, Adam Wylie, a Kevin Smith cameo, and more.

I think the movie's only drawback is its brevity. They have to cover more than a years worth of comics in just over an hour. That means some things need to be left out, like Doomsday's rampage (he originally took out the Justice League), and the "SuperMEN" saga that followed Supes' Death. In the comics four different men stood up to try and fill the void left by Superman before his return. In the movie there is only one.
That being said it's a really fun flick, and if you're a fan of Supes, or of comics, it's totally worth checking out.



And if you have Netflix you can stream it for free!

It's so cool seeing this film topping the Netflix charts...

Ear-Piercing Sirens Used to Drive Teens Away, or Hip High Tech Secret Communication?

Fresh off of Digg's front page.

The so-called "Mosquito" device emits high-frequency noise which is audible — and annoying — to young ears, but generally not heard by people over 20.

OK, so I've seen stories about these for a while. I would really hope that shop owners don't really buy this idea that only people under 20 can hear them. I'm almost 30 and these things drive me batty. Insta-headache.

I just think it's funny that for more than a year now kids have been using the exact same technique to secretly notify each other on cellphones.

Want to make your own Mosquito tone? Fire up Sound Forge (or any editor with a tone generator), and create a tone over 17KHz. I can hear up to 18KHz in my left ear, so I tend to push even higher. You can test yourself, just keep increasing the frequency until you can't hear it anymore. Then just edit the tone (I prefer a series of quick pulses to help differentiate from random noise), and there you have it. A ringtone guaranteed to give me a migraine!

read more | digg story

Scott Brick starts his own blog

Hey all,
Just caught this over at Bob Souer's blog, so I'm posting it on my blog, so we can all go read Scott's blog, and blog about blogging ... blog ...

Smurfing hell...

Seriously though, Scott starts his blog off with a great story on trying to track down Flemish swearing pronunciations. Awesome!

Audiobook narration can be an overlooked avenue in the wide word of VO, and I'm sure Scott's insights will prove invaluable to this community.

Check it out here!

Getting the job DONE! - Recording in an airport with Pizzuto

This was just a funny little story from my pal David:

When David Sobolov, Mark Freidlander and Eric Williams from SAG and myself, were traveling back from the GDC in Austin, we were changing planes in Phoenix when we got a call from AAA for a last minute audition. I had my studio with me in it's roll on case and so we asked the airline personnel if we could set up and record to send an audition to LA.
LOL, after a few quick explanations to gaping mouths and questioning eyes, they shrugged and said sure. I whipped out the Powerbook, mBox, neumann mic, headphones and between airport announcements were knocking takes out when the TSA showed up with the airport police. After a quick explanation of what the gear was and what we were doing with about 30 minutes to flight time, we cranked out, edited and sent the auditions to Abrams in LA using the airport wi-fi...to the applause of the small crowd gathered and thanked them for their silence, patience and understanding...and on to our flight back to LA.

Thanks David!

Dave Letterman's Technical Maintenance Minute - Pro Tools Edition

Yup.
I'm a HUGE nerd.
This is really funny, and funny because it's totally true. When I upgraded from 6.3 to 7.3, I had almost EXACTLY the same conversation with a pal. Sigh...

Anywho, check it out. If for nothing else it's great watching engineers getting all uncomfortable on camera. This video sent in from a reader!!! Keep em coming guys, great stuff!



Thanks Bob W.!

Eisner says WGA Strike is over?

Michael Eisner says the strike is over.

Talking to CNBC:

“They’ve made a deal, they shook hands on a deal,” he replies. "The deal is going on Saturday to the constituents (for a vote)… I think it’s impossible that they turn it down. A deal has been made and (the writers) will be back to work reasonably soon!”

Well that's ... great.

But ya know, I think I'll believe it when I hear it from the WGA.

http://www.cnbc.com/id/23050841/site/14081545/


*** EDIT 9:45am***

Well maybe there MIGHT be something to this after all.
Driving in to a gig on Olive there were NO picketers at WB or NBC.

Dare I Get my hopes up?

Val Kilmer replaces Will Arnett as voice of KITT!

I really should've kept my mouth shut, but I kinda called it.

Variety is reporting that Val is replacing Will as the voice of KITT because Will is currently the voice of GMC and KITT is a Ford.
Says Arnett:

"I was very excited at the prospect of playing the part of KITT in the new 'Knight Rider' movie," Arnett said. "However, because of a long relationship with General Motors as the voice of GMC Trucks, I had to respectfully withdraw from the project."

That kinda sucks, as I was really looking forward to Arnett's sarcastic KITT, but I think Kilmer will deliver.

Dang I'm actually really mad I called it!


Story @ Variety

My Post Calling it (Boo)

Call for Help! - Mixers: NRV10 vs Zed-14?

All right!
I NEED HELP!

I'm kinda stuck, and some opinions from my faithful readers would be very helpful.

I need a new mixer.

More specifically I'd like to replace both my mixer and my sound card in one fell swoop, so I'm looking at Firewire and USB mixers. I've gone through Alesis, and Mackies, and Phonics, and I think I've got it narrowed down to 2 units in my price range. I'm completely torn, so on to the comparison.

The two I'm stuck on are the M-Audio NRV10 and the Allen & Heath Zed-14. I need four or more phantom powered XLR ports, and individual channels sent to computer. Both units do that, so what's bothering me?

The Allen & Heath (typically about $450) is, well, an Allen & Heath. That already makes it desirable. Six mono inputs, 4 buses, USB interface, and 100mm faders round out an impressive feature set. I've always enjoyed the build quality of A&H, and those extra buses are awesomely flexible.


Next up, the NRV10 (Usually around $700) comes from a company I'm VERY familiar with, having used M-A soundcards for YEARS now. I think I like Firewire better than USB (especially when I have to use my dog tired laptop). The NRV10 has fewer inputs, no alt buses (so less routing flexibility), but each channel has individual send selectors, giving it some good (but not great) channel flexibility. Lastly, while the mixer itself isn't quite as flexible as the A&H, it comes with one powerful advantage for me. It will play with the copy of Pro Tools M-Powered I picked up for my FW410.

So there's the question. Do I go with the more expensive less flexible mixer because it uses PT, or do I go with the more flexible less expensive mixer and use another program (I like Sound Forge and Audition, but I do need PT from time to time)? PLEASE leave me some comments with your thoughts!

I need some help guys!

so...

HELP!

LOL

***EDIT 03/24/08***

I GOT THE NRV10!
You can check out some unboxing pics, and my first impressions here!

Pirated by iTunes, Artist Turns to BitTorrent

The Flashbulb, aka Benn Jordan, became so outraged when he discovered that iTunes was effectively pirating his music, that he uploaded copies of his latest album to BitTorrent. TorrentFreak caught up with Benn to learn more about the decision to stop distributors and 'coked-up label reps' from getting all the cash. I'm downloading his album now!

read more | digg story

This was a Triumph - Valve Confirms More Portal!

In what will surely come as a surprise to absolutely no one, Valve has confirmed that it has definite plans for more Portal. WOOT!

read more | digg story

MediaSentry role in RIAA lawsuit comes under scrutiny

Ars always gives an interesting read behind the tech AND the politics. A recent court filing accuses MediaSentry, the RIAA's hired investigative gun, of operating as a private investigator without a license. As a result, all evidence collected by the company could be thrown out. Without that evidence, there is no case.

read more | digg story

Ben 10 set for Spring with Yuri Lowenthal!

Animation Insider has the scoop on the new Ben 10 series 'Alien Forces'.

What can I say? I'm stoked!

Yuri's a pal of mine from the agency days, and one of my favorite animation performers (woot! Legion!).

I'm really interested to see where the show goes. It's not often that a show like this will jump ahead in time to have the characters age. Even the Simpson's haven't aged in 20 years...


Look for it on Cartoon Network!

This is the song that never ends - Spacehog Edition

Even just come back to a song that you had forgotten about, only to realize it's one of your favorite songs of all time?

I just stumbled back on this after talking to my sister. She's been on a big 90's kick, and it just sort of came to me.

Spacehog - In The Meantime

This song almost perfectly sums up 90's rock for me. Not grunge, metal, alternative, just plain old rock, and I'd totally forgotten about it...

Perfeck!

I played it all the way home tonight. All hour and a half of my drive home.

I can't talk anymore from belting the song at the top of my lungs.

It's so good...



Enjoy!

Fanboy post! I recorded Tom Kenny!

That's about it. Yesterday I recorded Tom Kenny. Flipping awesome!

You can see him in action here.

Sweet!