Monday, December 12, 2011

Fire Up Those Articulators

Here's a fine Monday morning video - some very talented UK voice actors cruising through some exceptionally impressive tongue twisters:


Some excellent warm ups in there!

Monday, October 24, 2011

Jack Webb & Johnny Carson Getting Twisted

I love tongue-twisters. And I grew up watching Dragnet (the color version...).
So, this was pretty fun to see:

Wednesday, August 10, 2011

Autodesk Vault Software Overview Video

This one was kick to work on - I actually got to see the "finished" whiteboard which was used on the project. That was an impressive piece of felt tipped artwork!



The production team was excellent to work with and the clients had a good sense of where they wanted to be in terms of tone - a good balance between being knowledgeable, warm and easy to relate to. The focus here was on providing information to folks who had a good grasp of the subject matter already - no need to "sell" anyone. Just help them understand how the new Vault software would break down barriers and let everyone communicate directly.


Thursday, July 28, 2011

CPG.org Web Video Voiceover

Here's a quick little project from a couple months back - It looks like the new CPG.org website went live. I did the voice for the video tour. The production group did a nice, clean job on the video and wanted a simple, warm, conversational read.



(If the embedded video above doesn't work for you, click through and play the video on the CPG.org site using the link below.)

Mel Blanc Radio Interview - 1971

For many people in voice acting, Mel Blanc is one of the nudges of how we got there. Of course, with Mel's characters, "nudge" might not be quite as accurate as "frying pan to the face"... But, the characters that he voiced (as well as those of Dawes Butler) surrounded me growing up, and still provide inspiration and - at times - moral guidance.

Big tip o' the mouse to Sirenetta Leoni over at Inside Voiceover, who shared this wonderful interview with Mel Blanc over at Speaking of Radio.

Friday, July 1, 2011

Tip O' the 'Trax Talk Blog

Got a nice little mention of the Hitachi video project over on the Voicetrax SF "Trax Talk" blog yesterday! They linked to the one which featured fellow Voicetrax alums Gavin Hammon, Mark Middleton and Aly Casas. I actually got to play two roles in this one - the stressed IT Manager and the concerned Boss. Great fun! Hopefully, I'll get the chance to work with these very talented people again very soon!


Tuesday, June 14, 2011

Box 'o Foam!


Box 'o Foam!, originally uploaded by Jim Edgar Voices.

Mmmmmmmm! Just got a box full of new foam to tune up my booth and isolate my monitors.

Thursday, May 12, 2011

FireEye.com: The New Threat Landscape


The fine folks at FireEye.com have rolled out their new site upgrade - I'm providing voice for the video "The New Threat Landscape - Are You Protected?" - just go to FireEye.com and click on "Watch The Video" link (there's a cycling display of three options right now on the main screen - just look for the one which gives the video option).




Direct link to the video:
http://www.fireeye.com/resources/videos/two-min-intro.ogv

Sunday, April 24, 2011

Me talking to, uh...Me

One of the projects I've been working on has been a series of product videos for Hitachi. They've been rolling out some IT Operational Analysis software for the US market. If I have the specifics correct, the animations were done for the Asian/Japan market originally, and have been adapted for use in English-speaking markets.

I was lucky enough to land the role of Cary, the IT Manager, who, as the episodes continued, ended up talking with his future self (or past self, depending upon your perspective...). So, in the third of the series, I got to have a dialog with myself:



This has been a fun project, and there should be another episode available before too long.

The other two are here:
Episode 1 - Hitachi IT Operations Analyzer - About Analyzer

Episode 2 - Hitachi IT Operations Analyzer - Simplified Network View

Thursday, April 21, 2011

Thanks for the votes so far!

Had a couple of projects I was working on and hadn't checked the tally with the Neil Gaiman "American Gods" audiobook contest - there was a pretty nice jump in the past day or so!

Thanks to everyone who navigated through the registration page - which then jumps you to a land far, far away from my read page. I must say that the fine folks at bookperk.com might want to tidy up that unnecessary routing...

They have actually begun posting the leader board, and it reminds me a little of bicycle races from my past, where you look up to see the fast folks waaaay up the course. Fact is, I could use another 250 votes if I want to bridge up to the leaders.

The tendency would be to be a little disheartened by that - but honestly, I"m incredibly buoyed by the fact that I've received votes from more than just my wife and brother and sister. Thanks again to everyone who voted, and if you get the chance to do so again (you can vote once per day - hint, hint...), I would greatly appreciate it.

Sunday, April 17, 2011

Audiobook Contest Follow-up

I had a couple of people contact me after they had trouble voting at the Neil Gaiman American Gods audiobook contest. I didn't realize that you had to register at the bookperk.com site to vote, and when you first register, it kicks you away from any page you had entered on (hopefully mine) and you have to find my voting page again before you could cast the vote.

So, here are some updated instructions:

1 - If you haven't already registered at the bookperk.com site - go here to do so -
http://neilgaiman.bookperk.com/engine/Welcome.aspx?contestid=29933
2 - Then, go to this handy, easy-to-remember url - http://tinyurl.com/vote-jimedgar - to vote for my read.
3 - If for some reason, you get bounced from my page, you can search for me here - using the search term jimedgar (yep, my name, without a space)

Yep, it's a little clunky, but I do appreciate the effort!

Also, if you want to know a couple of other folks who I strongly recommend, visit the page for
Angela Noble and
Matthew Moy who are both a couple of great actors and fine people.

Thursday, April 14, 2011

One of Those Shameless Self-Promotion Stunts

Well, me and (at the time I posted this, anyway...) 660 of my closest friends. Seems that on the 10th Anniversary of publishing American Gods by Neil Gaiman, they are going to release a new edition as well as a new audiobook. The audiobook is kinda where I (and you) come in. They have opened up a spot in the recording to a contest - basically, it's a big honking cattle call.

So, I've read and submitted an excerpt from the book, and I need a bunch of people to vote for me to make it to the final round. Here's a direct link to my page (you may need to register on the site) -

http://neilgaiman.bookperk.com/engine/Details.aspx?p=V&c=29933&s=7800400&i=1#SD


(I'm also stashing a quick little widget over on the left side)

So, head on over and give a listen. If you like what you hear, I'd appreciate your vote.

Thanks!

Sunday, April 10, 2011

Sue Blu Character Workshop

One of the great things about Voicetrax classes and weekend workshops remains the high quality of the teachers who work there. This past weekend, I was lucky enough to nab a slot in a Animation Character Workshop with Susan Blu - someone who, quite literally, has written the book on Voice Acting. (There are others out there, obviously, but it was actually the first book I ever got on VO, and it has become a bit dog-eared over the years.)

I really love all aspects of voice acting, but animated characters are serious fun. (For those of you who read this, but have little exposure to the different disciplines of voice work, I'm talking specifically about television animation - which can include everything from preschool cartoons to primetime, to latenight, over-the-top, pushing the boundries kind of stuff.) It's all high energy, fast paced work with super focused intensity.

Actually, this clip of Charlie Adler gives you a sense of the difference -


Thanks Charlie! But, back to Susan...

It's truly impressive to be a room with someone who can recall a role from 20 years ago and - without missing a beat - bring that character immediately to life. Susan worked with us on deriving characters from very interesting and non-obvious places. She'd be explaining a technique do create a new character and then say, "well, I used this to come up with..." and suddenly, this whole other person appeared in front of us. It was a stunning transformation which happened a few times.

We all got a significant chance to have her direct us on copy, coax us further on characters and share words of her significant experience with us. There's really nothing like working with excellent directors to help you cut through the fluff and get focused. It was certainly a highly talented pool of students, and by the end of the workshop, everyone had raised their game noticeably. Another high quality weekend honing the craft.

Thursday, February 10, 2011

Straight Outta Emeryville...

Nice little video via the NYT this morning - some glimpses of quality voice acting, cool studios and the amazing campus of Pixar.

Wednesday, February 2, 2011

Gig Bound on a Beautiful Tuesday

Fog hovering just below road level.

Sunday, January 9, 2011

An Evening With Billy West


Spent Friday evening down in Sausalito enjoying an interview with Billy West, who was in town at an "Inside the Voice Actor's Studio" event put on by Voicetrax. For the non-voiceover-centric among you, Billy West has voiced a chunk of memorable characters - (references here and here to get you started) such as Ren & Stimpy, several members of the Futurama cast, and currently the Red M&M on their television commercials.

Giving voice to cartoon and animated characters is a big chunk of the siren song which has drawn me to this line of work. The characters of Daws Butler, Mel Blanc and June Foray fired my imagination and became real to me because the actors behind the animation brought such depth to the characters (and the writing and situations were such inventive roller coasters of storytelling).

Billy has continued to bring the commitment to craft forward. It was a rare treat to listen to his rapid patter of reminisces and views. Character work is a tricky combination of physicality, mechanics, commitment and above all - acting. To pull all those things together is a bit of a magician's trick. To consistently do that over a period of time is significant work.

There were a myriad of ideas sown which I'm still considering this morning, inspiration which hopefully will carry my own energy forward a bit, and substantial laughter and love for the craft.

Big thanks to Voicetrax for pulling this together!
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