Tonight’s menu: A character named Saladin Kader from World War Z is the character I have chosen. I am working on developing an Arabic accent, which is not easy. I believe my accent actually sounds more Russian than Arabic. Give it a listen and let me know what you think. I’ll be continuing to work on Mr. Kader’s voice and we’ll see how I improve when I do characters again next week.
Thanks as always for listening!
Tuesday is audiobooks, so for today’s piece, I chose a passage from Dzur by Steven Brust (part of a really fun series, by the way. You should read them).
Earlier tonight I was cleaning up the catboxes in the garage and practicing character voices as I did so. The more I get into the voice acting craft, the more I think I run the risk of being seen as a lunatic mumbling and gesturing to himself all the time. When I came back into the house, I was trying on a “Loiosh” voice for size. Loiosh is a character in Dzur who is a small reptile familiar to the main character. He needs to sound reptilian and sort of nasty, but in a good way- I think of him as being kind of like a character from Goodfellas or maybe The Godfather. Nasty sense of humor, reptilian, but, you know- loyal.
Anyway, I was coming back into the house saying various lines in the voice I was trying out for him, and my wife gave me The Look. If you do voice work, you’ve probably gotten it yourself once or twice. I told her “It might be a good idea to get used to me saying odd things in strange voices, because I need the practice.”
Anyway, enjoy Episode 12!
Episode 11- this is Monday, so per my previous post, it’s “Commercial Copy” day. Given that we’re near the end of the month, I’ve elected to just revisit the previous stuff I did, specifically the Sears ad from Harlan Hogan’s book VO. I think I’ll have one more episode with this one, then on the first Monday in December will be switching to something new.
Thanks to all the folks listening for your feedback, it’s invaluable!
Episode 10, for your edification. I read another passage from World War Z and discuss the challenges with creating characters that are believable, but don’t get in the way of the story. I also touch on the challenges I’ve experienced trying to create accents that aren’t hackneyed.
Thanks, as always, for listening and I welcome your feedback.
Tape-Delayed in your broadcast area (I know, I’m old). I try to take some of Justin’s advice to heart in this one.
Enjoy!
I’ve recorded the next entry in my ongoing Voice Blog series, but sadly can’t post it as my podcast host is doing maintenance, preventing me from uploading it. However, I’ll be able to upload it first thing in the morning.
Sorry about that, folks!
In which I read a commercial copy piece from VO, Harlan Hogan’s book on the world of voice work.
For reference, the final read was 13.78 seconds, although I didn’t like the delivery much.
Ok, I recorded this 2 days ago, in the dark sitting at my kitchen counter during a windstorm that knocked out power and downed a line in front of my house. Power was restored late last night, but I didn’t have an opportunity to record another episode. Sorry for missing an episode, but barring any further weather related issues, I should be back on track.
Edit: For some reason, the player is having problems, so I’ve removed it and opened a ticket with my podcast host. In the meantime you can download or play the episode directly from here:
Hey kids. Power’s out and the transformer asploded. Oh, and the power line is down in front of my house.
I recorded a voice blog but I can’t simply upload an mp3 with my iPad. I have spent the last 3 hours trying to figure out how to accomplish the simple task of sending a file from one system to another, and have given up, mostly because my battery won’t last much long.
I will post the entry I recorded tonight as soon as I can. Sincere apologies for my failure to deliver the recording tonight.
Voice Blog Episode Six, for your edification, is presented below. I attempted to incorporate feedback I got from Justin Barrett, and so re-recorded the same ad copy as yesterday.
Funny thing is about this process, I find myself caring less and less each day about the stuff that doesn’t work or sounds awkward, even to me- my reaction is more and more, screw it, ship it! I think that alone speaks to how this process is having its intended effect of making me less self-conscious.