Voice Actor’s Haiti Response: "I Cried … Now What Can I Do?" by Jean-Marc Berne

Voice actor Jean-Marc Berne watched TV news of the Haiti earthquake. “I couldn’t help but sob at the images of rubble and dead bodies,” he says, “wondering if any of them might be an aunt or a cousin of mine.” But living in New York City, what could he do to help? Plenty. He made raising funds a personal mission, and at the request of VoiceOverXtra, shares his story …

be like mr. rogers

The more I hear and read about Fred Rogers, the more I am saddened by the fact that I never got to meet the man. His focus on helping children develop into the best people they could be, his efforts to help them understand the world around them and their new feelings and experiences as a part of that world were trail blazing, understated and worthy of praise beyond words. As a kid, I didn’t get. As a parent I do. I bring this up because my friends over at the Copyblogger blog,

Open or closed?

Do you keep your hands closed, holding tightly to what you know? Or do you live with your hands open? Take a moment to walk through these questions with my friend Pam Tierney.

The Dishwasher and Mary

My friend Mary Morgan provides the voice for the powerful (and, warning, rather intense) video intro to the game The Dishwasher: Vampire Smile.

9 Years and Counting…

Today we would like to take a moment to pat each other on the back for receiving this certificate of excellence from the Better Business Bureau (BBB). I mean, we know we’re good — but it certainly feels good to get that validation nine years in a row from someone whose job it is to rate businesses according to customer satisfaction, “honesty, integrity, ethics and trust”. “I’m really proud when I look at our record with the Better Business

What’s in a Contract?

Like any successful voice-over artist will tell you, becoming a pro in this industry takes more than the voice-over training. There’s a website to build, marketing to plan, Pro Tools to master, and then there are little “details,” like what information to include in a contract. Make sure you have your ducks in a row when you land your first voice-over job so that you look like the pro in the client’s eyes that you sound like! Sending the client a contract is a good

Hockey Heaven / Boyns and his Boy

Hockey heaven today at the Olympics!…unless Canada loses to the U.S… When he was a kid, he’d be up at five Take shots till eight, make the thing drive Out after school, back on ice That was his life, he was gonna play in the Big League The Big League ~ Tom Cochrane and Red Rider / 1988’s “Big League” from “Victory Day” ~ This is a classic rock anthem with a sad story behind it. The VoiceActing.com blog had a great story recently about Andy

Skeleton Gold! Red Skelton

Jon Montgomery of Russell, Manitoba won a gold medal yesterday in the Skeleton race at the Winter Olympics! He uses his voice in a unique way to make a living. As you’ll notice, Jon also has a great sense of humor and should consider following in Red Skelton’s footsteps. “I live by this credo: Have a little laugh at life and look around you for happiness instead of sadness. Laughter had always brought me out of unhappy situations. Even in your darkest moment, you usually can

Career: DISCIPLINE – Not A Bad Word … Really! Apply It To Your Voice-Over Career & Joy Of Life, by Miata Edoga

Would you describe yourself as disciplined? It’s probably not the word we’d use to describe how we move through our days, weeks, months and years, says Miata Edoga, an actor and president/founder of Abundance Bound – an organization supporting actors, voice actors and artists. But discipline in these five areas will not only help our voice-over careers – but also enhance our joy of life (yes, even having fun) …

This is a great reminder

I just saw this post on Voice Over Xtra. This is a great article. Do I do all of this though? No. For example, for certain reasons, I rarely eat breakfast. I need to exercise waaaay more often. And so on… ahem.  But this article is a great reminder to do all of that. Clicky here to read “Discipline – Not a Bad Word, Really! Apply it to VO Career & Joy of Life”