Monday Night At the Board

Ended up engineering for Mr. TK this evening. Always a delight! Good students, fun takes and met a number of budding new VO actors.

07-26-10_1818.jpg, originally uploaded by Jim Edgar Voices.

Perk of Sunday Engineering

05-23-10_1037.jpg, originally uploaded by Jim Edgar Voices.

It was a beautiful Sunday, but I'd been scheduled to run the board for an excellent teacher for animation. Decent coffee (though not Peets), cornbread muffins, pastries, fresh strawberries and fruit.

Not a bad way to make up for not being out enjoying the sun.

John Muir Health Television Ad

Just got this off the wires this afternoon - here's the John Muir Health ad "Expect Life" which should be starting to run through the East Bay (SF Bay Area) markets.


Yep. That's me doing the voiceover. Fun stuff...

Voicetrax San Francisco Idol Finalists Announced

The finalists for Voicetrax Idol, San Francsico have been announced -

Chris Abell
Ned Clarke
Wes Davis
Roni Gallimore
David Gast
Megan Goldsmith
Dan Greenblatt
Wendy Levy
Rob Sandusky
Philip Adrian Vasquez
Maureen O'Donoghue
Jean Pennington
Liz O'Keefe

Big congratulations to the finalists - they now go on to the final round with individual reads. They are vying for the coveted prize of 6 months of representation with Stars, The Agency, in San Francisco.

It's great to see these folks meet with success - I've worked with almost all of them (some pretty extensively) in classes over the past couple years, and there's nothing like seeing their hard work pay off! You all deserve it - break a leg in the FINALS!

Do We Celebrate "World Voice Day" With Feats of Strength?

Thank goodness for the American Academy of Otolaryngology. In addition to teaching me a new medical word I now don't have to look up, they sponsor the US observance of World Voice Day.

"Every year on April 16, otolaryngologist-head and neck surgeons and other voice health professionals worldwide join together to recognize World Voice Day. World Voice Day encourages men and women, young and old, to assess their vocal health and take action to improve or maintain good voice habits. The American Academy of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery has sponsored the U.S. observance of World Voice Day since its inception in 2002." link to source

I must admit a certain prior ignorance concerning this event, but through the magic of social media and the sticky web it weaves, I no longer have an excuse....

World Voice Day 2010

The theme for World Voice Day 2010, "Love Your Voice," reminds people of the value and significance of vocal health in everyday life.

They have provided a fancy pdf which includes 10 ways to love your voice. Embrace hydration, "Kiss but don't yell", "...don't clear your throat", "Think good breath support..." are all helpful hints on how not to destroy your voice.

The rest of the World Voice Day site is fairly pdf-heavy, so I'll let you prowl around there tap on the pertinent links. It seems to have a few good things here and there. Since I plan to continue to rely upon my voice (and, of course, the choices which direct it) for the forseeable future, there's a little light reading in my future. And of course, cupcakes for everyone on World Voice Day!

...and maybe a little 'airing of grievances' for exercise.

Didn't Know It Was Tricky Until I Read It Aloud

part of a continuing series -

"global climate crisis..."
"intricate texts..."

Invitational Character Reality Check - 12/09

A two day seminar at Voicetrax SF with Natanya, focusing on characters, character scripts and how your efforts play in the fields of competitiveness. I've taken a couple of other workshops with her, and as always, Nantanya manages to hone in on the one or two things that your performance needs to really soar. She always provides feedback of the highest caliber.

The class started a few weeks ago, actually. We had to send in 5 character scripts in advance, which she went through and evaluated. This was an excellent exercise in itself, as finding good contemporary scripts which both challenge and present you well is an excellent task.

There were three basic "rounds" over the two days. We listened to a couple of everyone's "auditons" and she went through her notes publicly, talking about the good, the bad and the ugly. There were definitely some common themes - pitfalls almost everyone succumbed to. But, I won't go into detail here, as those lessons are probably best learned individually.

After the playback and critiques, we received a couple new scripts from Natanya, got a chance to digest them, and then started diving into the booth. The scripts were very diverse, from contemporary films to television shows and games for very specific viewing audiences. It was an excellent chance to quickly create a character and then gear the presentation for the needs of the script. It also demanded a quick change between the characters, as each person read their second scripts immediately following the first.

The emphasis of the class focused on really taking these performances and making them competitive. The level of the students was quite high - competency was assumed - so it became a matter of specific tweaks. Sometimes it was just finding something different in the performance, other times it was a different choice in the fundamental approach. It was inspiring to see everyone react so quickly to the feedback and hit the mark.

After three rounds of listen/perform, she had us grab a script which had been given to someone else and use that. It was a good opportunity to show off some stuff which hadn't been demonstrated earlier. I think that may have been the most fun round for everybody - Natanya included.

Another superb, high-level character class. Nice.