/ Voice over training news and company news for Voice Overs. en-us Copyright 2006 CVDG / Tue, 06 Jan 2009 16:14:12 EST Voice Over Training Expert Joins Our Executive Team! We are pleased to announce the addition of Mike Spring to the Executive Team here at Voice Coaches. Friends of Voice Coaches may recognize Mike as a former lead producer and voice over training adviser who was part of our team for two years, beginning in 2004. In addition to audio production, Mike presented voice over classes and lectures for Voice Coaches across the US. Mike, who has since completed college in journalism, will be re-joining our team as Director of Communication. Some of his responsibilities will include continued web and training program development, contributing to voice over community blogs, and development of new training resources. Mike will also work with our sister companies Bourgeois Farmer Productions and White Lake Music & Post, in television and media concept development. Mike brings years of experience as an actor, voice actor, model, musician, and audio engineer to our team. We are delighted to have Mike back on board! /news.cfm/id/72554 Creative Voice Development Group Wed, 15 Oct 2008 00:00:00 EST South Carolina gears up for a series of introductory voice over classes by interviewing Voice Coaches Producer and Director of Marketing Warren Garling. Listen to the interview here! /news.cfm/id/72122 Creative Voice Development Group Tue, 30 Sep 2008 00:00:00 EST Ok, Ok, Here is some info! For about the past 6 months there have been some rumors in the air related to Voice Coaches possibly relocating our main offices and state of the art studios. Many folks were absolutely sure they would soon find us in Saratoga, while more than a few thought they had our plans pegged with a soon to be new address in Silver Spring MD. I even heard from a former client who thought we were moving to New York City. Well. it is true. We are finalizing plans for a move that will dramatically expand our facilities. How dramatically? We will be expanding to a new facility that is more than 7 times the size of our current location. Why? We love a challenge! Actually we have several new business opportunities that have created the opportunity to expand. When? Hmmmmmm, we are working on that! Suffice to say the project is about to begin and will be announced publicly in detail in the coming 6 weeks. Where? Sorry, we cannot comment on that at this point. I will say this however, we are absolutely delighted with the growth and emphasis in the arts community in our home base of Schenectady NY. Schenectady's new resurgence coupled with it's prestigious broadcasting history certainly have served to make it an ideal home so far... I will absolutely keep everyone posted! Enjoy What You Do! David at Voice Coaches /news.cfm/id/71684 Creative Voice Development Group Tue, 23 Sep 2008 00:00:00 EST Voice Over Training & Pro Work Make For a Busy Fall. To begin with, we have had a very interesting 2008 thus far. We have experienced a significant upsurge in the number of students training with us. Part of this seems to be people beginning to look for ways to control their own income. Regardless of motivation, we have been fortunate to meet some wonderful people this year, and we are looking forward to more through fall. On the other side of things, many of you are aware that our studio does a great deal of professional production work. The projects we worked on this month were, well let's just say, all over the spectrum! It began with Voice Coaches" Senior Creative Director John Gallogly being selected to provide the voice for a novelty doll that will soon be sold at places like Spencers Gifts. We have produced several VOs for the doll, with lead engineer Chris Scharling providing recording and post production. Next up, Creative Matrials, a company specializing in tile for contruction of major chains like Dunkin Donuts and Marriott, came to us for lengthy voice over recording for their phone and web systems. Former Voice Coaches student Bean Maier ws selected to voice the project largely because of her ultra professional style of delivery. Next, Working Pictures, a major visual production company came to us for a range of VO production to compliment a project they are working on for New York State. Several voice actors were used including Voice Coaches Producer Chris Laurenzo, former student Iain Bopp, and Tyler West, the daughter of Voice Coaches Premeir Producer Kevin West. And... A deluxe matress manufacturer from downstate New York brought our team in to develop 18 videos showcasing the company's new product line. We shot most of the footage at a photo studio in Kentucky, then returned to our studios to record voice overs for the project with formr student Marie Taszycki. Last but not least, we continued work to support the development of five television concepts for Bourgeois Farmer Productions, a company started by Voice Coaches president David Bourgeois and Televesion Host Evan Farmer. The company is currently finalizing a concept in partnership with media giant Hearst Entertainment. We will always keep you posted of anything exciting that we are up to! Be Well! Anna at Voice Coaches /news.cfm/id/70997 Creative Voice Development Group Tue, 16 Sep 2008 00:00:00 EST Another Country Heard From What’s a retired military man, now working for a private contractor in a war-torn country, to do with his down time? If he’s Pensacola resident Don Madison, currently residing in Baghdad Iraq, he begins voice over training with Voice Coaches. Would it be easier to wait until he’s done with his work overseas to take on a new challenge like voice over training, after all many people put their dreams on the back burner for reasons far less substantial than being half a world away? Madison says, “I’m a big believer in not putting things off until later. I tell my kids ‘there’s no time like the present.’ What kind of father would I be if I didn’t set the example?” Madison’s works as a professional trainer and is currently based in Iraq. The company he represents encourages all their employees to occupy their personal time with new challenges that keep them out of harm’s way while living in the unstable region. So the former military member decided to begin training with us here at Voice Coaches. Madison began his training with voice over training last month. Voice Coaches utilizes their phone link system to connect their producers one on one to clients anywhere in the world. "This is the same equipment we use during our studio's professional production work for entities like Discovery Networks and HGTV " commented Voice Coaches president and Creative Director David Bourgeois. "The equipment has not only extended our reach as a professional training company, it has made the educational process much more convenient to our students" added Bourgeois. After a successful initial voice evaluation, required by Voice Coaches, Madison will spend the next three months studying both the creative and business aspects of the professional voice over field. His training will combine both one on one instruction via phone link, and extensive web training resources. Once complete, Voice Coaches will work with Don to develop both commercial and narrative voice over demos, showcasing his specific voice strengths. "We have the capability to work with studios all over the world through a high speed ISDN connection and thus we were excited to record Don in Iraq, but he has optioned to travel to our main studios to meet our team and complete his demos in person. I am pretty sure this will be the longest anyone has ever traveled to finish their demo with us!" Commented Voice Coaches' Bourgeois. “The great thing about the Voice Coaches course is that I can take it from right here in Iraq.” “But I am really looking forward to meeting my instructors in-person,” he says. Don is scheduled to travel to the US to record his demos with us later this year. We will post an audio interview with Don later this week. Written by: Warren Garling /news.cfm/id/70759 Creative Voice Development Group Sat, 09 Aug 2008 00:00:00 EST Fountainhead Pictures in association with Future Media made our studios home recently during extensive Voice Over Production for their new film "Against The Wind". The film is a 10 minute short that reflects on the aging process through the eyes of "Ned", a seventy year old man. The role of Ned is played by professional actor Michael Hayes. Hayes is a familiar face and voice here at our facilities as we were fortunate to train him in Voice Acting six years ago. "This is the most heavily voiced film I have ever worked on" commented Voice Coaches Producer David Bourgeois who produced Hayes through the marathon sessions along side director Dan Masucci. "The film features narration nearly start to finish, and it is some very very emotional stuff" added Bourgeois. Learn more about Against The Wind at www.againstthewindshort.com. Look for Against The Wind at major family film festivals beginning in April. /news.cfm/id/60954 Creative Voice Development Group Sat, 01 Mar 2008 00:00:00 EST Voice Coaches Producer Chris Scharling had a unique opportunity on January 24th when he was invited to New York City to record successful businessman Donald Trump. The recording Chris was responsible for took place at Trump Towers in New York City, and will appear as part of a major sporting and entertainment event coming up in Arizona in early February. "As with every project, we knew the client's time was important" commented the video's director. "Bringing in Chris from Voice Coaches helped us insure that our client's voice was recorded clearly and seamlessly and further demonstrated our commitment to professionalism to our client and his executive team." To insure quality, Chris used two computer systems to record several channels of audio from microphones placed throughout the room and attached to the client's jacket. "When he walked into the room with his assistants, we got down to business immediately" commented Scharling. "The recording process went very well, although I did have to be careful not to clip the mic to his tie" Chris remembers. "All in all it was a very surreal experience being there in the board room with him" Scharling added. Congratulations to our Chris Scharling and everyone else involved in the production! This story is another example of Voice Coaches Team Members in action in real world voice work and production. /news.cfm/id/58808 Creative Voice Development Group Thu, 10 Jan 2008 00:00:00 EST BFP Launch First Productions During Voice Over Production sessions for TLC-Discovery's While You Were Out, WE Networks Bride Versus Bride and HGTV's Freestyle, Voice Coaches President David Bourgeois and Television Host Evan Farmer began to realize that they had some very similar goals related to media and the entertainment industry. After some time collaborating, the pair announced the formation of Bourgeois Farmer Productions LLC in late October. The organization is dedicated to developing unique concepts in television programming and peripheral content delivery. BFP currently has four concepts in development and have recently contracted to develop two additional concepts, one for a successful television celebrity. "This is a labor intensive process, but it is an absolute blast" commented David Bourgeois. "We've shot everywhere from the Northern Adirondacks in three feet of snow to Hawaii, and met some great people along the way". To date, Bravo, Discovery, Travel Channel, Tru TV, NBC, Spike, Nat Geo, and TLC have taken meetings regarding BFP Projects. "One of the real kicks for me is that I have been able to use three Voice Actors on our projects who we trained at Voice Coaches, that's always a great feeling!" said Bourgeois. "Next week we will use former VC student Bill Dunn on our latest concept." Learn more about Bourgeois Farmer Productions at www.bourgeoisfarmerproductions.com /news.cfm/id/58739 Creative Voice Development Group Thu, 15 Nov 2007 00:00:00 EST Voice Coaches Goes To Work! In early 2007, Voice Coaches created a new human resources policy that offers employees the opportunity to trade 2 days per year of their regular work at our studios for time volunteering for a charitable organization. In early August, our entire team, joined by several former and current clients, took a break from vice over training and spent the day working with Habitat For Humanity. The group left our studios by bus at 7:15am and, once on the job site, were split into two groups. One group worked on the interior of a home under construction and the other group worked to clear a vacant lot. "With temperatures in the high 90's and very high humidity, it was a tough day" commented Voice Coaches' Vice President Anna Bourgeois. "It's very impressive that the folks at Habitat do this every day" Voice Coaches hosted a cookout after the event, and while there was a lot of different food... the most popular item was ice cold water! For more information about Habitat, visit www.habitat.org /news.cfm/id/39999 Creative Voice Development Group Sun, 07 Oct 2007 00:00:00 EST Your Voice Could Be A Click Away We at Creative Voices Development Group always like to remind our students that the bulk of the voice over work they’ll find – 80 to 90 percent! – is in so-called “narratives”: books on CD, training videos, and the like. So, in our efforts to think “outside the box”, we just turned up another outstanding possibility for your narrative talents: the unique and growing field of online audio greeting cards! Naturally, the more familiar “big names” are already involved, like Hallmark and American Greetings. But there are many opportunities as well with smaller companies, like L.A.-based Rubber Chicken. Started in 2000 with some software and a website by actors Steven Rotblatt and Richard Zobel, it now boasts some 15 thousand subscribers. Basically, the e-cards are cartoons with humorous voice over characters – about 60 right now. And Rubber Chicken is beginning to get some bigger bounce, as larger firms like classmates.com are hoping to use the online greeting card service as a fun way to contact missing friends. We at CVDG hope that one day, you’ll be getting “clicked on”, too! Keep up your efforts! Dave Michela /news.cfm/id/42977 Creative Voice Development Group Tue, 06 Mar 2007 00:00:00 EST Success In Voice Overs Won't Come Looking For You OK, In addition to my work as a producer and studio owner for clients including Discovery Network and HGTV, as the president of Voice Coaches, I am also obviously involved in developing aspiring voice over artists from coast to coast. One of the most common questions I hear from those considering voice over training is... "what about the competition?" I've heard this so many times that I have developed a pretty stock answer: First of all, because this is voice overs, you should realize that no two voices are the same and very few voices are even similar. The best way that I can direct you to your greatest potential competitor is to suggest that you find a mirror. Starring back at you may very well be the person who will keep you from doing the things that you want to do for the rest of your life. As harsh as it sounds, when it comes to doing something new, unique, entrepreneurial, or fulfilling, the average person will find almost any reason to avoid moving forward. This is human nature. As humans, we are preprogrammed to survive. We are not, however, preprogrammed to excel. Excelling is something you have to make a decision to do. Unfortunately it's much easier to simply do nothing. For instance, have you ever heard someone say something like "I always wanted to do that" or "I'm definitely going to do that someday". Why not today? Why is tomorrow, or next week or ten years from now preferable? Could you build success as a voice actor? ...absolutely Could you do something you've always known you can do? ..no question Would you enjoy doing what you want to do? ..immensely Will you ever do it? ....that is completely up to you Keep Talkin' David /news.cfm/id/42272 Creative Voice Development Group Wed, 28 Feb 2007 00:00:00 EST Or, What do Presidents and Vice Presidents, Penguins, Pirates, and Pioneers all have in common? All are connected to either the Oscars or the Grammys – as voice over talent played a huge role in recent major movie and recording honors. In film, perhaps the best-known winner is “Happy Feet”, earning the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature. This computer-generated tale of a tap-dancing penguin needed almost 70 different voices for production! At the other end of the scale is “The Danish Poet”, narrated by famed Swedish actress Liv Ullmann. It won the Oscar for Best Animated Short. Finally, former Vice President Al Gore is heard throughout “An Inconvenient Truth”, winner of the Academy Award for Best Documentary. One more Oscar note (and a bass one at that)! That voice you heard during the telecast (before the commercial breaks or as actors headed stageward) was Don LaFontaine – otherwise known as “That Announcer Guy from the Movies” in that cool GEICO spot. The recording industry also singles out the best in voice work. There are two Grammy winners for Best Spoken Word Album. The first is former President Jimmy Carter, reading his book “Our Endangered Values: America’s Moral Crisis”. Joining President Carter are noted black actors Ossie Davis and Ruby Dee, for their autobiography “With Ossie and Ruby: In This Life Together”. On the lighter side, the Grammy for Best Spoken Word Album for Children goes to “Blah, Blah, Blah – Stories about Clams, Swamp Monsters, Pirates and Dogs”, performed by Bill Harley. (FYI – part of it involves a sock-stealing pirate named Dirty Joe!) All of us here at Voice Coaches sincerely hope you win your Grammy or Oscar next year! Best of Luck! David Michela Producer / Voice Development Voice Coaches /news.cfm/id/42504 Creative Voice Development Group Wed, 28 Feb 2007 00:00:00 EST It Isn't All About Getting The First Job! Anyone entering a field like ours can, no doubt, find themselves a bit overwhelmed by the thought of the initial and continued self-marketing efforts required to build success. Unlike fields where individuals are hired for a single job they hope to stay with and retire from, the professional voice over field is very much like any other type of professional acting. Your career will typically consist of you being cast in roles that are appropriate for your specific voice type. While there are many avenues for marketing and many appropriate entities to market yourself to, I want to point out perhaps the most overlooked marketing opportunity available to professional voice actors. Jobs You Already Have In addition to efforts to develop new relationships, one of the greatest marketing avenues available to you is developing and cultivating long-term repeat work relationships. You should clearly understand that those of us who do the hiring in the voice over field have a tendency to re-use the same people. Simply put, you want to become one of those people. As someone who regularly hires voice over artists, I see some talent who come into the studio, politely do their job, get paid, and leave. Once in a while however, I see a talent who takes time to speak to everyone in the session. This type of talent always has an "extra" copy of their demo for each person in attendance. This talent also takes a few minutes to chat with our receptionist and to thank her for the "great" directions. This talent tends to send me a thank you card that's handwritten with a message like "Just wanted to thank you for the opportunity to work with you! The studio was great and you were a big help. Please touch base with me anytime my voice is a fit for one of your clients. I look forward to working with you soon!" Marketing yourself from within an existing work situation will usually offer you a tremendous return on your efforts, after all, we are already familiar with you. If you are interested in long term success in professional voice over work, I sincerely suggest that in addition to being able to do your job as a voice actor, be prepared to impress everyone in the session with your personality and eagerness to assist them in the future. /news.cfm/id/42036 Creative Voice Development Group Thu, 22 Feb 2007 00:00:00 EST As someone responsible for a company that provides voice over training to aspiring voice actors from across the country, I occasionally feel the need to share advice that goes beyond that of any basic voice over classes. Quite often I “accidentally” discover a particular method or avenue for success by observing the habits of previous voice over students who have achieved success. Such is the motivation for this article. I would hope that anyone entering this field would do so with an expectation of success. While individual goals differ, it is important to establish a goal and to develop a series of steps that will lead you to that goal, after all, it is difficult to achieve a goal that you haven’t set. Setting a goal and defining the steps you will take to arrive at that goal is, in simple terms, a business plan. One of the most critical and often overlooked components of building success in our field is establishing a realistic timeline. Most professional voice actors I speak with suggest that it took them between 6 months and a year to begin to work. The main problem with this is that many aspiring voice actors who would otherwise do very well in our field, fail to continually market themselves. This is an unfortunate but very consistent reason that many do not succeed. Regardless of your demo’s packaging, your skill level, or any other advantage that you have going into this field, the ability to market yourself longer than your competitor will often have the greatest impact on your career. Keep this in mind, particularly on the day you decide to give up. /news.cfm/id/40001 Creative Voice Development Group Tue, 06 Feb 2007 00:00:00 EST In addition to providing a base of operation for our voice over training clients from across the country, our studios regularly hosts voice over work for a range of professional clients. Such was the case today when our studios completed fourteen pages of voice over recording for the upcoming HGTV special about the 2007 Outdoor Expo. The voice-overs were directed via a phone link with our studios by acclaimed television producer Joyce Pearson. Pearson, the shows producer, is developing the show for NAHB Production group and HGTV. The recording session took place in our Studio One, with our David Bourgeois handling audio engineering and Voice Coaches’ David Michela and Anna Bourgeois handling timing and notes. Television host Evan Farmer was at the mic for about 45 minutes to voice the session and Joyce joined us to direct via phone link from South Carolina. Voice over classes continued in our other two studios without interruption while we completed the recording. /news.cfm/id/40005 Creative Voice Development Group Mon, 05 Feb 2007 00:00:00 EST