VC Radio
Voice Coaches Radio #457 – The New & Improved VoiceCoaches.com
Voice coaches radio everything voiceover
and welcome into this week's edition of voice coaches radio. I am Josh Heller delighted to have you joining me as we are each and every week and once again delighted to be joined by Mr. David Bourgeois and we have some very exciting news and David I know it has been a it's been a long time coming for you it's been a labor of I think love for the most part a little frustration but mostly love and and some some big news in in voice coaches and specifically just voicecoaches. Com. And the, uh, the website, it is, uh, unrecognizable, unrecognizable.
That's right, Josh. It better be. Uh, we, uh, yeah, after taking a lot of time doing research and thinking about what. the front facing website for the company should look like. We, uh, are launching the new website currently, and we're really, really excited about it.
Uh, everybody on the team was involved. We also worked with some outside consultants, and, uh, we took more than a year to develop, um, the strategy for the website, the, uh, UX, the user experience. And really, you know, I think one of the, the biggest Challenge. One of the biggest challenges with anything on the internet is to avoid making any population feel marginalized because they cannot interact with it comfortably.
So we really tried to balance the website to make it. Hip and interesting and up to date, but also make it very accessible and and make the navigation very comfortable and familiar to people who maybe didn't grow up with computers on their lap, you know,
absolutely. And not only that, more convenient for for anyone.
It's no longer, you know, now with with all the mobile computers. capabilities. Uh, it certainly is a lot more convenient for people to access it, uh, you know, wherever they happen
to be. Sure, man. So this is actually a mobile first website. So it was really built, uh, as a mobile site and then adapted to be a desktop site.
Uh, which is sort of a different way of, of approaching things. But if, you know, if you think about the way that you consume content today, uh, I don't know about you, but most of the time I consume content on my phone or, you know, or on my tablet or my laptop sometimes, but, but really it's, I, you know, I've got my phone in front of me.
I've got the annoying weekly report that tells me how many hours I've looked at my phone. Yeah, that's depressing. God, I disabled. No, that's so depressing. So anyway, we, we, we built. We built a site that, that'll be really groovy on a, you know, on a full computer, but it looks great on mobile. Everything is very, uh, clear and, uh, concise and big enough to read comfortably, I think, for most people.
Uh, and there's a lot of great... New assets on the website that we did not have before. Yeah. I wanted to talk about that. The content that's now on there. I mean, there is just an absolute plethora of content, um, you know, far ranging as well from the, you know, there we, we had offered an ebook and things like that, but now there's, there's books.
that are much more specific, much more detailed, and much more wide ranging.
Well, the site gives you access to a lot of capability. Um, you know, it begins, uh, as you know, we do introductory workshops on voice acting. We do these for, uh, school kids. We do it for groups of adults. We've done this through colleges, lifelong learning centers.
Now, uh, We have an interface where if somebody's interested in learning about the field of voice acting without jumping into it You know what? I mean, they can enroll right on our website and they you know in a live class If we've got one coming up in their area, they can enroll in a zoom based class, which is a live web based class.
Uh, and, uh, we limit those to about 10 to 12 people typically. So there's a lot of time for question and answers. And then we also have a, a self paced option that is an animated, uh, pre recorded class, uh, with a quiz at the end and, uh, and it's a, it's a pretty cool product. And they can do that right from the front facing website.
They can, they can find a class and enroll. Um, you know, they can explore professional programs. If the voiceover field is something somebody is interested in actually maybe going into, uh, we also do communication training. We do corporate communication training. So there's content on that. Uh, we're providing some additional services that we have not.
It publicly advertised before, but it's, it's, it's stuff we do. And it's, these are things that we've had a lot of requests for, uh, so things like graphic design, marketing, social media assistance, and branding, um, demo. Updates, demo editing, demo re recording, you know, your demos, your resume, you're going to change it over time.
Uh, we're also doing another thing, Josh, that is brand new. Um, it's brand new as a, as a, uh, dedicated service, but it's something we've run into for 20 years. Uh, it's called a competitor upgrade, and we. I've met many, many people who began down the road of pursuing voiceover, took some classes with a great teacher somewhere, or maybe even started to put a demo together or put together a demo they're not satisfied with.
Maybe they've gained some more skill. We can take a look at where somebody is at. and customize a program to sort of pick them up where they left off and, you know, take them from there. Um, but to your point, content, yes, this is a very content rich site. We have voice coaches radio, which I think we're on right now.
That's the rumor. Yes. That is how many, how many, I know we've been doing this 10 years, uh, how many. How many episodes, like
400? He's, uh, well, yeah, it's well over 400. I think the first episode was in 2008. Unbelievable. Uh, so that's 12 years ago now, and, um, I was, uh, just a year out of college at that point.
So the hilarious part about that is, and horrifying is you listen back to the, these things that are like eight or nine years ago and you hear, um, Mike, I think he used to do this for us before your time with us talking about now when you send your CD to the, like things that we just don't do anymore, but it's fun to listen to this stuff.
What's interesting though, is the beyond the, the medium itself, the process is still kind of the same.
This is, this is true. There is an entire, uh, entire podcast of you and I believe it was Warren Garling. Talk about the man, the myth, the legend. And, uh, it's all about how you may have heard that you can send your demo, uh, via email, but you shouldn't.
You should, you should definitely send a hard CD. I mean, you've seen it. You see, they have, studios have racks of CDs and you want yours to be there so that they can pick it out. You want to make sure it has, you know, labeling on the, on the spine so that they can see it. They can grab it. You know, it's going to, it just occurred to me, Josh, what's going to happen to me.
I see this stuff with these politicians where they pull up something they said like 30 years ago and they put it in a commercial. Uh, boy, how am I going to get in trouble on this stuff
one day?
I mean, I will say for the record, that was true at the time, at the time, yep, yep.
Anyway, there's a lot of great content, a lot of great interviews.
And some of it is even factual. Yes,
some of it is, yes, some of it is even current. Uh, we're doing the best we can here. The industry does evolve quickly, you know, so we do, you do your best to keep up with it. Something new on the site, though, is we do have. A great new ebook section. We have, uh, almost a 50 page getting started guide.
That's sort of a, here's what voiceover is. Here's what it is. And, uh, it, we've got a, a great home recording guide that is, is sort of a home recording primer. It's not designed so much to teach you how to do home recording. It's more designed. To help you determine if home recording is right for you, uh, you know, here's what it is, here's the basic skills, here's what's required, so on and so forth.
Um, we have a tremendous book of warmups and cooldowns and vocal exercises. And for people who are actually Pursuing voiceover. We have a good book on marketing basics, just like how to, how to build a relationship driven voice of a career. Uh, we have some upcoming books. We have a great book, uh, that is almost completed, maybe completed by the time we, uh, wrap this broadcast on audio books.
Uh, it's a very unique piece of the field. And then we have a really great book I'm excited about that we're wrapping up. Um, that's called the socially conscious. VO market. So much of our industry, um, has grown into, well, this entire new sector of our industry is growing, uh, exponentially based on, uh, you know, sort of being responsible human being, uh, whether it's the environment, um, you know, making sure people are well taken care of and provided for.
This is actually, I've identified it as a new segment of the voiceover field, and it's a segment many of our professional clients who are going through programs with us have a real interest in because it feels meaningful to them. So we're putting together a great book about that market, and that is a market that's evolving right under our noses as we speak.
Yeah, it, it, it is, it is fascinating how things, you know, change, I mean, you, you mentioned, and we'll go back to the CDs for a second, when I, I've been here for three years and when I first started, that was one of the packages we offered, 100 CDs, covers and cases. And I think we technically still offer it, but I don't think we would recommend it for anyone in particular.
No, no, no. And that's been in the past just a couple years at this point. So it is constantly evolving. So you do need to stay up on that. And for those of you listening, you came to a good spot to do that.
Here, Josh, I'm looking at going right back to cassette tapes.
Yeah. I mean, when I first started, Broadcasting, I was using minidiscs, which I don't think they physically make them anymore.
I have a bunch of them. I don't know how to play them.
It's funny, man. I just threw a bunch of those away. Yeah. Quality
was great. Quality was, I love the quality of them, but then they were, I remember my, my minidisc recorder broke. I used to do interviews on it for, uh, for the hockey teams and, uh, I called the company and said, See if I could get a new one.
And they're like, yeah, we don't make those anymore. I was like, Oh, cool. Welcome to the future. I guess. Yup.
Has a true story, man. But, uh, now we're excited about the website. It also gives people, uh, we have, uh, we got a great, great frequently asked questions section that is dynamic. Meaning as people ask new questions, it, the, the questions can be added.
to the FAQ. So that's going to grow, I think. And, uh, look for a lot of new content. The, the site is going to launch, uh, pretty content rich, but we're going to build from where
it is. And, and by the way, for, for those listening, absolutely. I mean, currently, or when you get a chance, check it out. And if you do have any questions on it, let us know if there are any issues on it, let us know.
That's, you know, it's.
There's been a lot of work put into it, and we certainly want feedback on it, unless it's bad feedback. In which case, keep it to yourself. We don't want to know about it. We don't want to know. No, if you run into any issues, let us know. I'll break it to David slowly. Yeah.
Please. Excellent. Excellent.
You know, I'm excited about the website. It's a, it's a great front end for the company, you know, in a digital space. And, uh, I think. For people curious about the voiceover field. Um, there's a lot of fun stuff to look at and go over for people trying to determine, geez, is this something I would ever do or not?
I think the content on the website can do a great job in a realistic way of talking you into or out of the field. You know, I think for people who think this is some easy way to make a lot of money overnight. Yeah, I, I hope the website convinces them not to pursue the voiceover field, but for people who think this, Hey, this would be fulfilling.
I, you know, maybe I could use a skill I have and, and, uh, earn some money and have something I'm proud of. And I enjoy, uh, that might be a better candidate. And, and I think, um, I think the content on the website will, will. Lead the right horses to water, kind of, so to speak, you know,
I know it's been, uh, it's been a long time coming.
I know you've put in, uh, many, many, many hours, many, many hours and still are in, uh, in, in this. And it's, uh, I, I think, you know, I, I think our listeners will agree. It's been, uh, it's been well worth it. It's been well, well worth the, uh, I mean, it's easy for me to say it's not my money, but it's been well worth the, uh, the effort and the time and the work put in by, uh, by yourself and, and others here, because it is, it is really a, um, It's a monumental piece of work.
Thanks, man. Thanks. And thanks for bringing up the money thing, where we will send out the memo that we can no longer afford to make payroll, um, at the end of the week.
That's fine. I don't, I
don't, I don't do this for the money.
We do it for fun. Do it for love. It's for love and fun. Yeah. Yeah. No way. It was a big investment, this site.
We worked with some top people on it and it is well worth it. And, uh, we could not have put this together if it wasn't for a lot. of, we used a focus group of students and every single person, even you, Josh, on the team, even you, gave us a lot of input and everybody on the staff had access to this website, um, while it was being developed so they could look at it. and see it come to life as, as we built it. But, uh, we hope everybody enjoys it and we're going to continue to pump new content onto this site weekly. So, you know, and that's the goal, get people coming back and checking in the new content and maybe contributing, reaching out to us for questions.
Outstanding.
Outstanding. Well, David, uh, thanks so much for taking some time to, uh, to chat with us. Congratulations on the, on the site, on the launch and, uh, and we're looking forward to, to big things coming. Uh, thanks so much, man.
Visit voicecoaches. com for more voiceover news and information.
and welcome into this week's edition of voice coaches radio. I am Josh Heller delighted to have you joining me as we are each and every week and once again delighted to be joined by Mr. David Bourgeois and we have some very exciting news and David I know it has been a it's been a long time coming for you it's been a labor of I think love for the most part a little frustration but mostly love and and some some big news in in voice coaches and specifically just voicecoaches. Com. And the, uh, the website, it is, uh, unrecognizable, unrecognizable.
That's right, Josh. It better be. Uh, we, uh, yeah, after taking a lot of time doing research and thinking about what. the front facing website for the company should look like. We, uh, are launching the new website currently, and we're really, really excited about it.
Uh, everybody on the team was involved. We also worked with some outside consultants, and, uh, we took more than a year to develop, um, the strategy for the website, the, uh, UX, the user experience. And really, you know, I think one of the, the biggest Challenge. One of the biggest challenges with anything on the internet is to avoid making any population feel marginalized because they cannot interact with it comfortably.
So we really tried to balance the website to make it. Hip and interesting and up to date, but also make it very accessible and and make the navigation very comfortable and familiar to people who maybe didn't grow up with computers on their lap, you know,
absolutely. And not only that, more convenient for for anyone.
It's no longer, you know, now with with all the mobile computers. capabilities. Uh, it certainly is a lot more convenient for people to access it, uh, you know, wherever they happen
to be. Sure, man. So this is actually a mobile first website. So it was really built, uh, as a mobile site and then adapted to be a desktop site.
Uh, which is sort of a different way of, of approaching things. But if, you know, if you think about the way that you consume content today, uh, I don't know about you, but most of the time I consume content on my phone or, you know, or on my tablet or my laptop sometimes, but, but really it's, I, you know, I've got my phone in front of me.
I've got the annoying weekly report that tells me how many hours I've looked at my phone. Yeah, that's depressing. God, I disabled. No, that's so depressing. So anyway, we, we, we built. We built a site that, that'll be really groovy on a, you know, on a full computer, but it looks great on mobile. Everything is very, uh, clear and, uh, concise and big enough to read comfortably, I think, for most people.
Uh, and there's a lot of great... New assets on the website that we did not have before. Yeah. I wanted to talk about that. The content that's now on there. I mean, there is just an absolute plethora of content, um, you know, far ranging as well from the, you know, there we, we had offered an ebook and things like that, but now there's, there's books.
that are much more specific, much more detailed, and much more wide ranging.
Well, the site gives you access to a lot of capability. Um, you know, it begins, uh, as you know, we do introductory workshops on voice acting. We do these for, uh, school kids. We do it for groups of adults. We've done this through colleges, lifelong learning centers.
Now, uh, We have an interface where if somebody's interested in learning about the field of voice acting without jumping into it You know what? I mean, they can enroll right on our website and they you know in a live class If we've got one coming up in their area, they can enroll in a zoom based class, which is a live web based class.
Uh, and, uh, we limit those to about 10 to 12 people typically. So there's a lot of time for question and answers. And then we also have a, a self paced option that is an animated, uh, pre recorded class, uh, with a quiz at the end and, uh, and it's a, it's a pretty cool product. And they can do that right from the front facing website.
They can, they can find a class and enroll. Um, you know, they can explore professional programs. If the voiceover field is something somebody is interested in actually maybe going into, uh, we also do communication training. We do corporate communication training. So there's content on that. Uh, we're providing some additional services that we have not.
It publicly advertised before, but it's, it's, it's stuff we do. And it's, these are things that we've had a lot of requests for, uh, so things like graphic design, marketing, social media assistance, and branding, um, demo. Updates, demo editing, demo re recording, you know, your demos, your resume, you're going to change it over time.
Uh, we're also doing another thing, Josh, that is brand new. Um, it's brand new as a, as a, uh, dedicated service, but it's something we've run into for 20 years. Uh, it's called a competitor upgrade, and we. I've met many, many people who began down the road of pursuing voiceover, took some classes with a great teacher somewhere, or maybe even started to put a demo together or put together a demo they're not satisfied with.
Maybe they've gained some more skill. We can take a look at where somebody is at. and customize a program to sort of pick them up where they left off and, you know, take them from there. Um, but to your point, content, yes, this is a very content rich site. We have voice coaches radio, which I think we're on right now.
That's the rumor. Yes. That is how many, how many, I know we've been doing this 10 years, uh, how many. How many episodes, like
400? He's, uh, well, yeah, it's well over 400. I think the first episode was in 2008. Unbelievable. Uh, so that's 12 years ago now, and, um, I was, uh, just a year out of college at that point.
So the hilarious part about that is, and horrifying is you listen back to the, these things that are like eight or nine years ago and you hear, um, Mike, I think he used to do this for us before your time with us talking about now when you send your CD to the, like things that we just don't do anymore, but it's fun to listen to this stuff.
What's interesting though, is the beyond the, the medium itself, the process is still kind of the same.
This is, this is true. There is an entire, uh, entire podcast of you and I believe it was Warren Garling. Talk about the man, the myth, the legend. And, uh, it's all about how you may have heard that you can send your demo, uh, via email, but you shouldn't.
You should, you should definitely send a hard CD. I mean, you've seen it. You see, they have, studios have racks of CDs and you want yours to be there so that they can pick it out. You want to make sure it has, you know, labeling on the, on the spine so that they can see it. They can grab it. You know, it's going to, it just occurred to me, Josh, what's going to happen to me.
I see this stuff with these politicians where they pull up something they said like 30 years ago and they put it in a commercial. Uh, boy, how am I going to get in trouble on this stuff
one day?
I mean, I will say for the record, that was true at the time, at the time, yep, yep.
Anyway, there's a lot of great content, a lot of great interviews.
And some of it is even factual. Yes,
some of it is, yes, some of it is even current. Uh, we're doing the best we can here. The industry does evolve quickly, you know, so we do, you do your best to keep up with it. Something new on the site, though, is we do have. A great new ebook section. We have, uh, almost a 50 page getting started guide.
That's sort of a, here's what voiceover is. Here's what it is. And, uh, it, we've got a, a great home recording guide that is, is sort of a home recording primer. It's not designed so much to teach you how to do home recording. It's more designed. To help you determine if home recording is right for you, uh, you know, here's what it is, here's the basic skills, here's what's required, so on and so forth.
Um, we have a tremendous book of warmups and cooldowns and vocal exercises. And for people who are actually Pursuing voiceover. We have a good book on marketing basics, just like how to, how to build a relationship driven voice of a career. Uh, we have some upcoming books. We have a great book, uh, that is almost completed, maybe completed by the time we, uh, wrap this broadcast on audio books.
Uh, it's a very unique piece of the field. And then we have a really great book I'm excited about that we're wrapping up. Um, that's called the socially conscious. VO market. So much of our industry, um, has grown into, well, this entire new sector of our industry is growing, uh, exponentially based on, uh, you know, sort of being responsible human being, uh, whether it's the environment, um, you know, making sure people are well taken care of and provided for.
This is actually, I've identified it as a new segment of the voiceover field, and it's a segment many of our professional clients who are going through programs with us have a real interest in because it feels meaningful to them. So we're putting together a great book about that market, and that is a market that's evolving right under our noses as we speak.
Yeah, it, it, it is, it is fascinating how things, you know, change, I mean, you, you mentioned, and we'll go back to the CDs for a second, when I, I've been here for three years and when I first started, that was one of the packages we offered, 100 CDs, covers and cases. And I think we technically still offer it, but I don't think we would recommend it for anyone in particular.
No, no, no. And that's been in the past just a couple years at this point. So it is constantly evolving. So you do need to stay up on that. And for those of you listening, you came to a good spot to do that.
Here, Josh, I'm looking at going right back to cassette tapes.
Yeah. I mean, when I first started, Broadcasting, I was using minidiscs, which I don't think they physically make them anymore.
I have a bunch of them. I don't know how to play them.
It's funny, man. I just threw a bunch of those away. Yeah. Quality
was great. Quality was, I love the quality of them, but then they were, I remember my, my minidisc recorder broke. I used to do interviews on it for, uh, for the hockey teams and, uh, I called the company and said, See if I could get a new one.
And they're like, yeah, we don't make those anymore. I was like, Oh, cool. Welcome to the future. I guess. Yup.
Has a true story, man. But, uh, now we're excited about the website. It also gives people, uh, we have, uh, we got a great, great frequently asked questions section that is dynamic. Meaning as people ask new questions, it, the, the questions can be added.
to the FAQ. So that's going to grow, I think. And, uh, look for a lot of new content. The, the site is going to launch, uh, pretty content rich, but we're going to build from where
it is. And, and by the way, for, for those listening, absolutely. I mean, currently, or when you get a chance, check it out. And if you do have any questions on it, let us know if there are any issues on it, let us know.
That's, you know, it's.
There's been a lot of work put into it, and we certainly want feedback on it, unless it's bad feedback. In which case, keep it to yourself. We don't want to know about it. We don't want to know. No, if you run into any issues, let us know. I'll break it to David slowly. Yeah.
Please. Excellent. Excellent.
You know, I'm excited about the website. It's a, it's a great front end for the company, you know, in a digital space. And, uh, I think. For people curious about the voiceover field. Um, there's a lot of fun stuff to look at and go over for people trying to determine, geez, is this something I would ever do or not?
I think the content on the website can do a great job in a realistic way of talking you into or out of the field. You know, I think for people who think this is some easy way to make a lot of money overnight. Yeah, I, I hope the website convinces them not to pursue the voiceover field, but for people who think this, Hey, this would be fulfilling.
I, you know, maybe I could use a skill I have and, and, uh, earn some money and have something I'm proud of. And I enjoy, uh, that might be a better candidate. And, and I think, um, I think the content on the website will, will. Lead the right horses to water, kind of, so to speak, you know,
I know it's been, uh, it's been a long time coming.
I know you've put in, uh, many, many, many hours, many, many hours and still are in, uh, in, in this. And it's, uh, I, I think, you know, I, I think our listeners will agree. It's been, uh, it's been well worth it. It's been well, well worth the, uh, I mean, it's easy for me to say it's not my money, but it's been well worth the, uh, the effort and the time and the work put in by, uh, by yourself and, and others here, because it is, it is really a, um, It's a monumental piece of work.
Thanks, man. Thanks. And thanks for bringing up the money thing, where we will send out the memo that we can no longer afford to make payroll, um, at the end of the week.
That's fine. I don't, I
don't, I don't do this for the money.
We do it for fun. Do it for love. It's for love and fun. Yeah. Yeah. No way. It was a big investment, this site.
We worked with some top people on it and it is well worth it. And, uh, we could not have put this together if it wasn't for a lot. of, we used a focus group of students and every single person, even you, Josh, on the team, even you, gave us a lot of input and everybody on the staff had access to this website, um, while it was being developed so they could look at it. and see it come to life as, as we built it. But, uh, we hope everybody enjoys it and we're going to continue to pump new content onto this site weekly. So, you know, and that's the goal, get people coming back and checking in the new content and maybe contributing, reaching out to us for questions.
Outstanding.
Outstanding. Well, David, uh, thanks so much for taking some time to, uh, to chat with us. Congratulations on the, on the site, on the launch and, uh, and we're looking forward to, to big things coming. Uh, thanks so much, man.
Visit voicecoaches. com for more voiceover news and information.
Josh is joined by Voice Coaches President and Creative Director, David Bourgeois, to introduce our new website. The new web site launched this week and features numerous resources including complimentary ebooks, a frequently asked questions section, and more.
