NSFW - "Go the F*ck to Sleep" - Read by Samuel L Jackson

Sam Jackson actually has a phenomenal voice for something like this. I would love to hear him on a book like "Oh! The places you'll go", but until then this will just have to suffice.

A Video Response to Apple's "If You Don't Have an iPhone" Commercials

As an Android fan I was tickled by the original version of this video (which only had text, no voice), so I volunteered my services to this tongue in cheek retort to Apple's current ad campaign.
Enjoy!

A Session With VO Artist Paul Kirby

This man is a narration master.
It was my pleasure to engineer an upcoming documentary that he was hired to narrate.

Blade Runner - The Value of a Narration

I'm a little behind on this one, so bear with me.

I just finished reading "Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep" by Philip K Dick, for the very first time. I can't say I loved it. The style of writing seemed to me like a bad translation of Ibsen with some futuristic lingo thrown in. It just seemed to lack the clarity of vision of a good Bradbury or Clarke story (though my fave classic Sci-Fi author is Asimov, so what do I know).

Anywho, having finished the book, I felt it would be a good idea to re-visit the movie Blade Runner. It's a movie I remember LOVING, and haven't seen in several years. As I don't own a copy, I was off to Netflix to throw it on my queue. I was shocked to find that Blade Runner had been added to the "Watch Instantly" list. Sweet!

I plugged my laptop into the TV, fired up Netflix, and sat back to enjoy the flick and do a little compare and contrast with the book I had just read.

Then Harrison Ford's narration clicked in, his horrible, awful, no good, narration.

I actually had to stop the stream and check out the movie details. The version Netflix had on Watch Instantly was the original theatrical version. I've seen Blade Runner at LEAST a half dozen times.

I've NEVER seen the original theatrical version.

I went back and finished the film, but it was pretty painful. Never before had I experienced such a poorly executed, ham-fisted, attempt at whittling down the IQ of  a story. Ford's VO is dispassionate, bored, and horribly incongruous with the tone of the film. It painfully states the obvious, and kills any attempt at audience involvement or imagination. It's insulting how little respect the narration has for the audience's intelligence.

I think I understand now why (at least one reason why) the movie was so poorly received at the box office when it was originally released.

So, ultimately the Blade Runner vs Do Androids Dream comparison experiment was a failure, and now I've got an order in for Blade Runner: The Final Cut.

We'll see how that goes...

Video: Ira Glass on Storytelling

After discussing him so much with Mer of BrainDouche, I thought I'd throw down my fave Ira Glass (This American Life) interview. He has some incredible insights on how to tell stories and engage your audience.
Good lessons for us Voiceover people in here. Check em out.

Part 1


Part 2


Part 3


Part 4

Give Your Brain That "So Fresh and So Clean Clean" Feeling

My last Audio Guy Mail Bag question was so ... interesting ... I had to trade a couple emails back and forth with the author of the question, Mer.
Turns out she's hosting a podcast, and I'm kinda smitten with it.
"Fun" name notwithstanding, BrainDouche.net is a charming storytelling podcast. Mer has a very comfortable delivery, and some silly fun "left field" observations on life. It's very appropriate that she brought up Ira Glass in her question to me, as her first episode is one of the most engaging stories I've heard in a while. Mostly because it's so simple.

That she's so new to producing her own content, I was surprised at how well her individual episodes have come together. She's got a great ear for timing, and her music choices are pretty stellar.

Having just recently gotten into The Moth Storytelling Podcast, BrainDouche is a really good compliment. So good, in fact, I kinda had to add it to my little list of cool sites on the right.

It's a lot of fun, and I think you should check it out.

BrainDouche.net

Audio Guy Mail Bag: How "Bad" Can a Voice Be...

I have to say, this is probably one of the most ... uh ... interesting questions I've gotten in a while.
I kinda HAD to post it up.

Hi Audio Guy,

I'm a recent subscriber to your blog, and I've really been enjoying it, and I thought I'd kick you a question after reading the JS Gilbert article you posted. He said that the most successful voiceovers are the people who have the best grasp of business, but that got me thinking... a modicum of talent and a head for business will get you far, but how bad does a voice have to be before you shouldn't even try? In podcaster land (and I'm sure podcasters are the bane of many professionals' existence now) the answer to the question "is my voice ok?" is always "If Ira Glass can do it, anyone can!" and I'm not sure I buy that. What do you think?

Thanks for your time,
Mer
BrainDouche.net

Wow Mer, where to begin?
I'm very positive on podcasting. I think it's been a huge boon to content. It's been getting people off the bench like crazy, and not only participating, but contributing to the creative process. I probably wouldn't even be writing this blog if it weren't for guys like Leo Laporte, Dvorak, and all the people over at Revision3. I think the user generated content movement has opened up a whole world of commentary we wouldn't have had otherwise. It's showing people that they don't have to "settle" when it comes to entertainment. It's helping develop really interesting community discussion, and lastly it's helping the audience develop a respect for the work that goes into producing quality content.

I think podcasting is going to provide a whole new talent pool for hosted content.

How bad can a voice be before it's not marketable?
Geez, I don't know.
I think as long as a talent is being honest with his or her capabilities ,expectations, and how much time they can personally invest, then any voice can be marketable. Will every voice be capable of the same marketability? No.
Case in point, I had to record a deaf gentleman once. By definition, he didn't have a "good" voice, but that's what we needed. Will he do a lot of voiceover work? No, but he got paid the same for this gig as any other voice actor would.

Don't get me wrong, I don't think this is the same as when we tell little kids that anyone can grow up to be the president, but the cool thing about VO is it covers friggen EVERYTHING. Commercials, games, TV, film, radio, audiobooks, imaging, narration, industrial, phone systems, hosting, scripted, almost every facet of performance has a VO equivalent. If you can't find a niche to work in, it's because you didn't want to.

Now if I had said that "anyone could be Don LaFontaine successful" then I'd be full of it, LOL...

LOL! What do you have against Ira Glass. I think he's actually pretty good. He's engaging, savvy, and extremely authentic, and that's what sells right now.

Thanks for reading! Thanks for subscribing! Thanks for the question!
-Audio Guy

Awesome Narration Find: The Moth - Real Stories Told by Real People

I've just recently been turned onto The Moth - Live Storytelling Performances.

Basically it's a live storytelling slam in NY and LA, where people meet to tell each other stories about their lives.
I've been subscribed to the podcast for a little while now (while also trolling through their archives), and it's pretty great stuff.

People can be really interesting, and listening to folks share can be funny, silly, sad,infuriating, heartbreaking, and sometimes all of those at the same time.

For example here's Dr. Ari Handel talking about how he kinda fell in love with the first monkey he had to experiment on (he studied Neuroscience):


This is some of the most deeply personal and satisfying performance I've ever heard, and I highly recommend signing up for their podcast.

The Moth RSS Feed The Moth on iTunes

Here's more on The Moth (in their own words):

What is The Moth?

The Moth, a not-for-profit storytelling organization, was founded in New York in 1997 by poet and novelist George Dawes Green, who wanted to recreate in New York the feeling of sultry summer evenings on his native St. Simon's Island, Georgia, where he and a small circle of friends would gather to spin spellbinding tales on his friend Wanda's porch. After moving to New York, George missed the sense of connection he had felt sharing stories with his friends back home, and he decided to invite a few friends over to his New York apartment to tell and hear stories. Thus the first "Moth" evening took place in his living room. Word of these captivating story nights quickly spread, and The Moth moved to bigger venues in New York. Today, The Moth conducts six ongoing programs and has brought more than 3,000 live stories to over 100,000 audience members.

Why "The Moth"?

The screen around Wanda's porch had a hole where moths would flutter in and get trapped in the light. Similarly, George and his friends found that the characters in their best stories would often find themselves drawn to some bright light—of adventure, ambition, knowledge—but then find themselves burned or trapped, leaving them with some essential conflict to face before the story could reach its conclusion. So George and his original group of storytellers called themselves "The Moths". George took the name with him to New York, where he hoped that New Yorkers, too, would find themselves drawn to storytelling as moths to a flame. They did. With no advertising, through sheer word of mouth, every show to date has sold out in 48 hours or less.

Thanks Uncle Bob!

Reverend Run Records an Audiobook.

WHO'S HOUSE???

RUN'S HOUSE!!!

Ok, we all know reality TV is anything but real, but I gotta say Run's House is becoming a guilty pleasure. It's WAY setup, and this clip is no exception, but I blog about VO and narration and junk, so it was just too hard to pass this one up.

Apparently Rev Run wrote a book about his family, and will be doing his own narration for the audiobook. I found this bit to be HIGH-sterical, as Run acts like he's NEVER been in front of a microphone before.

Of course nothing goes as planned [cue up sitcom music cue - WAAH WAAAAAAHHHH].



Hey, I think that's an Audio-Technica AT4040 he's on there. Neat, but what the crap is up with the engineer's FORTY track mixer there for ONE mic?

Anywho, I call shenanigans. Tomfoolery. Antics. Mischief. Hijinks. Malarkey.
During the "recording" session he seems really bored and stiff, very unnatural, almost like he's waiting for people to come in and interrupt him.

Like his kids.
Spontaneously.
Just at the same time he's reading passages in the book that are about them.

Right.

Also he's MUCH better at narration than this. How do I know? Well, see, he has this adorable candle lit, bath time, "Dougie Howser" style episode recap with his BlackBerry.

Which he narrates.

Really well.


audiobook voice over narration recording tv reality hip hop

Audio Guy is the Voice of Parental Control Software!

I make no bones about the fact that I am a voice over director first, and recording engineer second. What's neat about working in voice over, is I get to be a talent from time to time.

I know the guys who are starting up CompleteParentalControl.com, and I was asked to check out their script (I used to write a little radio). They wanted to cut their web demo from 6 minutes to about 4. I tried cutting down their script, and then on a whim I recorded myself on it just to see how the changes sounded.

Well they liked my recording. I'm now the voice of their website!

Check it out here!

I don't normally do narration, but I think it came out purty good.

If I do say so myself.

Which I do.

The Daily Show Takes on Audiobook Narration!

Geez! Where's Scott Brick when you need him?!?!

The thing about DVR's is I tend to collect Daily Shows for weekend viewing, and I almost missed this segment, so pardon as I'm a little late to this party.

John Stewart skewers Scott McLellan's reading his own book What Happened: Inside The Bush White House and Washington's Culture of Deception.

I think it's great that McLellan was brave enough to narrate his own book, but lets just say that it was a good thing Stewart had some help from Fred Schneider of the B-52's.

Check it out:


Fred's kinda awesome...

Is WIll Lyman the voice of New Balance?

I think I'm way behind on this one...

Just watching The Simpsons, and heard a really interesting commercial for New Balance shoes.

I was thinking to myself, "huh, that sounds like the BMW guy".

What do YOU think?



Here's the commercial I saw:


Click here to hear Will Lyman's demo.

Click here to see BMW commercial (listen for announcer at the end).


Your thoughts?
voice over commercial voice acting demo voice of bmw will lyman narration vo

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!

"Poetry Girl" Interviewed, Reads Three pieces from "Univer-Soul Language"

Hey all!
This was originally supposed to be a monthly feature, finding authors to narrate their own work, interviewing them, talking about their influences, inspirations, etc.

Alas it was not to be.

Though before scrapping the idea, I did get this killer session with "Poetry Girl", one of the authors contributing to The Univer-Soul Language Vol 1. We spent an evening chatting art, inspiration, writing, and, well, poetry, and she was gracious enough to read three of her poems for us, very sweet and personal work.



That, and her voice is hella sexy...


The Univer-Soul Language @ Barnes and Noble

A Wild Night at Kirbys @ MySpace

Mike Rock the new Announcer for the Chelsea Lately show on E!

Hey all!
Just a great little bit of news about a VO pal-o-mine.

Mike Rock (whom I've written about before), just booked the announcer gig for the Chelsea Lately show on E!

For those of you that haven't read up on him, he was the voice of the Kleenex "Monk" commercial, and also narrated the show Property Ladder on TLC.

What's also kind of exciting about this news is that Mike booked this gig on the road. Visiting his folks, he got the audition from Abram's through email, he punched his Sony ECM-MS907 microphone into his MacBook, jumped into a closet, sent off an mp3, and he became the voice of a show. Incredible!

Voice actors, it's becoming more and more necessary to have a basic understanding of digital audio! It's just too easy now, and it's a vital tool in getting yourself work.



Anywho, congrats Mike, and you've just given me a reason to catch the show!

Some Audio Guy reads you a story, A SILLY story...

Last month I had the opportunity to crash a studio for a couple days, and just for kicks, recorded a bunch of silly stuff.
I might get more of it up, but I was sick as a dog, so my voice kept jumping back and forth from "cool guy gritty" to "just hacked phlegm can't breathe".


Anywho, that nastiness aside, here's "The Emperor's New Clothes" by Hans Christian Andersen:

You can also Download it by clicking on the title in the player.

Enjoy!

Celebs give voice to the People - Free Show in Boston! Star Studded reading of 'A People's History of the United States'!

Are you going to be in Boston on January 8th or 9th?
Do you enjoy political history?
Do you ever wish a group of celebrities would read a book for you, so you don't have to use your own eyes like a sucker?

Then, boy do I have a show for you!

Celebrities will be reading A People's History of the United States by Howard Zinn at the Cutler Majestic at Emerson College. The show will be recorded, and divided into four, one hour episodes. No network has picked up the show yet, but with the current political climate being what it is, and the list of talent is actually pretty cool. I'm sure there wont be any issues selling the show.

Tickets are free, and they need a live audience, so I would HIGHLY recommend checking it out.
From the Majestic website:

Big names, and the rest is history

At long last, Howard Zinn's influential 1980 book "A People's History of the United States" is being turned into a TV miniseries called "The People Speak," and it'll be shot here in Boston next month. The series will star several Hollywood heavies, including Matt Damon, Marisa Tomei, Viggo Mortensen, Danny Glover, Josh Brolin, and David Strathairn, as well as actresses Kerry Washington and Q'Orianka Kilcher, and singer Allison Moorer.

...

And how about this? The music will be performed by Pearl Jam's Eddie Vedder and perhaps Bruce Springsteen, who's a big fan of Zinn's book. "I think there's a good chance Bruce will do a song," said Zinn. "This is exciting."

I'm super jealous. I would totally get a kick out of this! Someone needs to go and let me know how it was!

Cutler Majestic's web site for more info and (free) tickets!

Write up from the Boston Herald!

Wow, worst blog post title EVAR!

Voice Over 101

I'm a sucker for those old black and white educational films...



Heh-heh, teh funnie!

News Sound Bites - high end audio, Telcos given immunity, art of audiobooks, more...

Hey lets get to it!

The Consumerist (through Slate) takes a look at high end audio systems. I think it's funny to do that as most people listen to some form of compressed audio. Even CD's (to an extent) are not full representations of the sounds we hear.

Wired's Threat Level kindly informs us that our government is getting ready to sell us out again, by offering amnesty to Telecoms that spy on us, without the involvements of the courts, on behalf of the American government. Yay! GOOOOOOO WARRANTLESS!!!!

I love reading Katherine Powers' audiobook reviews over at Book World and The Washington Post. This link is out to four more short reviews to check out.

Martin Jarvis makes this book a greater pleasure to listen to than to read, his extraordinary vocal characterizations transfusing it with life. Though one of his American accents is a mutinous mish-mash with a will of its own, its bearer is, fortunately, bumped off early on.

Ahhhh Classic!

Sound Designers, Puremagnetik has released their Technosphere toolbox. I'll let Sonicstate tell you about it:

Puremagnetik has released Technosphere, a sound design toolbox of over 100 sonic textures and composer effects. Produced from a composite of live field recordings, studio instruments and intensive effect processing, Puremagnetik say that Technosphere brings a unique palette of soundscapes, transition effects and scoring tools to the Puremagnetik catalog.

If you're looking for even more Voice and Audio news. Check out The Voice Over Times, which I believe just went live today. I've already checked it out, and they've got some decent talent writing articles, and some very helpful content. That is, go check them out AFTER you've finished reading through my archives...

;-)

SomeAudioGuy Reads you a Poem, a ROMANTIC Poem!

Maybe some day I'll record something that isn't Poe...

Who knows?

It COULD happen...

Anywho, here's 'To Helen (ii)' by E.A. Poe. Enjoy!



And keep an eye (ear?) out for some original work soon from the mysterious "PoetryGirl". It's pretty exciting stuff!!!