Well, "I'm movin' on up"... to a new recording space

 After 14 years of recording voice overs from a good studio location, I was informed the building was being taken over by the owner. It made me a bit sad;and frankly, dreading making a move to a new location. I was very comfortable where I was. As any voice actor will tell you, when recording, silence is golden. Not everyone works from a soundproof booth. So, the challenge is to find an acceptable recording space without unwanted sounds leaking into your recordings. No easy task!. We're all so used to living in a very loud world. We let the noise go in one ear and out the other. But sensitive microphones can pick up everything! And we don't want that. Your neighbor running his weed eater at 8 o'clock in the morning can be problematic. Where I recorded, I was working around the occasional noisy truck coming down the street, or a dog bark or two off in the distance. My Sennheiser 416 microphone does a great job rejecting outside noise. So glad I bought one years ago. It's my workhorse mic. 

I have a fellow voice over friend named Christy who I've known for many years. She lived in LA and recorded mainly audio books from her pro voice over booth. She decided to leave LA and move to Oregon. I remember her telling me how god awful heavy the booth was and what a huge effort it was to break it apart and take it to the new location. That definitely doesn't sound like fun. Time to hire a few, big, burly dudes to help out.

As for my move to a new, suitable recording location, I had a sort of miracle happen. I was able to find a spot right across the street from me! I am beyond grateful. Tears of joy come to mind. I fine tuned my new recording space and away we went. No long moving trips across town here in the very busy traffic of  East Bay San Francisco to relocate my recording equipment. And I actually like my new studio set-up better than what I had.

I have a longtime e Learning client (my #1) who was patient and understood I was going to have to take a break from recording her scripts as the hunt was on for a new studio location. She told me she would rather have her fingernails pulled out in a torture treatment than have to make a move. I think lots of folks hate moving. You're reminded of all the junk you've accumulated that you never use. But once you get settled, you can prop your feet up and take a nice, long rest and be thankful the move is over. I know I am. Cheers!

Funny man Steve Martin on being undeniably good

 I think most folks would agree, comedian Steve Martin has enjoyed phenomenal success in his long career.  So many funny moments on screen. And who could forget his controversial song "King Tut" from the late 70's. He wrote it by the way. Some people weren't laughing and called it racist. (that's for a conversation at another time). He's been known to bring his banjo with him and play at San Francisco's "Hardly Strictly Bluegrass Festival" in Golden Gate Park. Cool thing is it's a FREE event. A day well spent with the talented musicians. I highly recommend it. But just know it gets very crowded. I went one year. "Sardines" comes to mind. (elbow to elbow).

Steve had this to say about being undeniably good. As you grow in your voice over career, keep this in mind. (or any career for that matter).

From A-Z quotes...

"Be undeniably good. When people ask me how do you make it in show business or whatever, what I always tell them & nobody ever takes note of it 'cause it's not the answer they wanted to hear-what they want to hear is here's how you get an agent, here's how you write a script, here's how you do this-but I always say, “Be so good they can't ignore you.” If somebody's thinking, “How can I be really good?” people are going to come to you. It's much easier doing it that way than going to cocktail parties."

Here's a link to a cool CBS Sunday Morning interview with him from the archives. I didn't know he is such an art fan and collector. At the very end of the interview, he breaks out his banjo.

                                                                               

"Pssst! I have something really cool to share with you"

 One of my favorite, top tier, A list voice actors is Scott Rummell; a terrific promo and trailer voice. He's a big league talent you've no doubt heard over the years. A Disney voice, Lee Jeans and much more. He also seems like a very generous and nice guy. 

Here's a link to Scott in an L.A. studio recording a new commercial demo. Watch the process. Much to learn from this. It runs about 20 minutes. You'll notice the session was "light and breezy." The guy producing the demos is Chuck Duran of "Demos That Rock Studio" in L.A. 

And here's a link to a really entertaining TED Talk Scott gave where he speaks about how he got started in voice acting. Very enjoyable. I highly recommend you watch it. It's truly inspirational and also runs about 20 minutes. If you've been sitting on the fence about getting into voice acting, maybe this will give you the kick in the pants you need. Even if you're not a voice actor, check it out. The power of persistence comes through loud and clear.

Scott has a terrific sense of humor and looks like he would be most pleasant to work with in a session. And that's key as a voice talent. No one wants to work with a diva. Follow their direction and make it easy to work with you. If word gets out you're "cranky and crabby" to work with, you'll probably not be on their short list of professional voice over talents to audition for the good jobs you're looking for.

ZZZ! Are you getting enough sleep?

 Without a doubt, sleep, or the lack of it, plays a major role in our daytime performance; whether at work or at play. We spend a third of our life sleeping. The great inventor Thomas Alva Edison slept only 3-4 hours a night and was also a "power napper." He had this to say about sleep:

"People will not only do what they like to do — they overdo it 100 per cent. Most people overeat 100 per cent, and oversleep 100 per cent, because they like it. That extra 100 per cent makes them unhealthy and inefficient. The person who sleeps eight or ten hours a night is never fully asleep and never fully awake — they have only different degrees of doze through the twenty-four hours."

I have never been one to sleep for long periods of time; 6 -7 hours. As a kid, growing up in a rural area of Ohio, my Dad use to write up a list of chores for my brother and I to do while he went off to work to support himself, my Mom, and 9 kids! Yep, a very large family. Kind of like the Waltons. When in junior and senior high, sometimes I would hear a schoolmate say, "Oh man. I feel SO good. I slept in this weekend way beyond 1 PM." I was never one to sleep in. My father made sure of that. Everything was geared toward getting up and getting at it. These days I find I need a bit less sleep. 

If you have a voice over job you'll be doing next day in your home studio or a session to go out to, enough sleep is essential. And yawning in front of the director is not a really good thing to do. As some would say, "a bad optic." I find  sometimes it's hard to fall asleep when I have an important voice over project to get to first thing in the morning.  I'm thinking about the script, the client who is expecting speedy turnaround, my strong desire to give him or her the read they need, and a host of other things. For sure, I've had some sleep issues. Thankfully, there are remedies. 

Here's a link to some 22 surprising facts courtesy of sleep specialist Dr. Michelle Drerup.  It may provide some needed input if you struggle with sleep. Here's one of the facts on the list...

"Being awake for 16 hours straight decreases your performance as much as if your blood alcohol level were .05% (the legal limit is .08%)."  

  

Golf temper tantrums. "Getting to know you...getting to know all about you..."

 Somewhere along the line, I read that upon first meeting someone, if you really want to know how the person truly is, either take a vacation with them...or go golfing together. The golf advice hit home with me, because as noted in other posts here, I jumped into playing golf as a boy with my Dad's guidance and instruction, and I learned a lot about golf etiquette too. For example, don't talk while someone's putting. Be ready to hit your shot so you don't slow up play. There are many other golf etiquette rules; some dating back to 16th century Scotland where golf was invented. 

By the way, there are plenty of road rage folks that bring their "act" to the course on golf carts. BEWARE! Talk about a miserable golf outing for all. Statistically, each year, about 15,000 golf cart related accidents happen nationally requiring emergency room visits. I've seen guys race their golf carts up a greenside slope, jump out in a hurry to go putt, forget to engage the cart parking pedal, then freak out when they see their cart rolling away down the fairway... driverless. If you're a wise golfer, you never treat a golf cart like a toy.

I remember watching the former #1 golfer IN THE WORLD, Rory McIlroy, throw a club in a lake on national TV after hitting an errant shot. It was a shocking outburst and very unusual for Rory; always the gentleman. The announcer said he was having a hard time adjusting to a new set of irons he had endorsed. Apparently so. Adding insult to injury, the announcer actually said the name of the club manufacturer on TV! The golf club CEO must have been foaming at the mouth.  Later in the broadcast, they showed some scuba diver dude who went under water on the lake and retrieved the golf club. I think he returned the 3 iron to Rory. There was a moment of humor. 

We had one big and tall golfer on our high school team who was a hot tempered club thrower. One time, we were on the course in a match when he hit his ball into some trees. He proceeded to hit his next shot and the ball ricocheted off a tree and went further back into the woods. His face reddened, and with all kinds of angry, facial expressions, he took his iron and slammed it into a tree, causing the shaft to split in half. He disgustedly threw the two pieces down on the ground and stormed off to find his ball. Our golf coach usually stayed off the course and behind the 18th hole. Had he seen Dean's temper tantrum, I'm certain he would have pulled him from the match immediately and given him a heated lecture about his unacceptable  behaviour. Back then I played a lot of recreational golf on weekends and avoided this type of player like the plague. Their reputation tended to get around in the clubhouse. Not too many golfers I know like to play with a hot head. I guess the moral of the story is know who you're playing with before you go. And keep your mouth shut when they hit a bad shot. Don't add fuel to the fire! Golf clubs can serve as lethal weapons in the wrong person's hands. That brother in law or stranger you're playing with may turn into another Adam Sandler or Bob Barker character from "Happy Gilmore." The smack down scene is hilarious, isn't it? "The price is WRONG, Bob!"

                                                                    

A 20 million dollar lottery scratcher in my backyard?

 A good friend of mine texted me a link recently to an article about a Bay Area guy who just won 20 million dollars on a $30 scratcher. He apparently was on a lunch break from his airport job (I'll skip giving his name here as I'm sure he's getting plenty of unwanted attention), when he walked into L & M liquor store and threw down 30 bucks to buy the jackpot winner---"Set for Life." This store is right next door to my favorite breakfast place I often go to, "Rosy's Cafe," a cozy mom and pop. From time to time, I've purchased lottery tickets at L&M for Powerball and Fantasy 5 drawings, but never for a high priced scratcher. That's too expensive in my book (unless you hit the jackpot). Even after they take the taxes out of 20 million, he'll be doing just fine. Spend wisely my friend; spend wisely. Watch out for the scam artists bombarding your email with "friendly hellos." Or the long lost "relatives" who come knocking.

L&M will be getting a tidy $100,000 bonus for selling the winning ticket. Let's see if they do any store upgrades. It's one of those old school neighborhood liquor stores and could use a little "sprucing up."