NEWS and BLOG

“Once upon a time…”  In every culture, throughout the history of human-kind, knowledge, art, ideas and cultural material has been received, preserved and transmitted orally from one generation to another. This oral tradition or oral lore is human communication handed down over time in the form of speech or song as myth, folktales, prose, adages, ballads, chants, or verse. And […]

How to Help Local Businesses in the COVID Crisis   Most online companies, including voice over artist small business owners, market wide and ignore borders. But there may be an opportunity that is ripe for harvest in your backyard that many of us overlook. Businesses that are already remote can still keep pumping out product and services during the COVID […]

There’s an old saying in business: Good, cheap, fast, pick two. This can be applied to any service related company, and it absolutely applies to voiceover. In our gig-economy, there are many options for voiceover professionals (and amateurs) at various price points and many buyers are tempted to save money by finding the least expensive provider (or doing it themselves […]

A voice over actor’s calling card is their demo – a compilation of spots in a particular style or genre of voice over that highlights the range, attitudes, and expertise of the actor.  Just as any business professional with a portfolio of their work, a voice over actor is wise to re-examine their demo portfolio to make sure it is […]

Targeting your commercial to moms? As a voiceover artist, I’ve been hired thousands of times to play a mom and talk to other moms on behalf of hundreds of brands. And while what we say to moms and how we say it has changed to stay current, what hasn’t changed is the consumer importance and buying power of moms in […]

Insider Low-Down on 10 of our Favorite Mom Voices Who is your favorite Mom voice? (Apart from the woman who gave birth to you, of course) As a female voice over artist, I am always interested in everything audio performed by women and whether for animation or commercial mom voices are one of our biggest roles.. Animated moms and the […]

What You Need to Know about Hosting Services for a Voice Over Business In my voice over business, learning about hosting services meant diving into uncharted waters. Since then, I’ve sorted out where the rocks, whirlpools and shallow spots are in the world of hosting services for micro-businesses like mine. In large part this was due to a couple conversations […]

How to Prepare your Script for a Voiceover Narrator You spent hours, days, weeks designing the perfect course. You slaved over content, sources, visuals and how the course will flow until you have it perfected in storyboard form and now need to take all that meticulous work and turn it into the script your narrator will use to deliver your […]

How to Enrich Your Voiceover Career with the Right Side Hustles Starting a Voice Over career can be expensive and usually takes a few years to establish. Often new voice actors need to supplement their income. Some supporting jobs may be too demanding or distracting and not leave you with enough time or energy to nurture your burgeoning VO career. […]

Undeniable Results with the Right In-store Announcements Voiceover You’ve invested and perfected your marketing, you’ve crafted clever commercials, priced your products competitively and worked hard to get those customers in the door. Now what? Time to focus on the experience inside your store. Including what they hear inside. Selecting the right voiceover actor for your in-store Announcements is a great […]

The Best Voiceover Coaches still Polish their Craft You know the old saying “those who can, do and those who can’t, teach.” This doesn’t apply to voiceover. Or it shouldn’t. I​n​ voiceover, those who can, ​sometimes​ coach. Of those that do,​ the best voiceover coaches still polish their craft. Don’t Trust Your Voice Over Career to Just Anyone – Make […]

Top 10 Voiceover Blogs to Follow Blogs can be some of the best sources of free information in the Googlesphere. But there are a lot of them out there. In fact, Google says 600 million blogs now out of 1.7 billion active sites. That’s a lot of info. But within that astonishing figure, voice over blogs are a sliver-sized narrow […]

Top 10 Voiceover Blogs to Follow Learning from others who are doing well in the the voice arts is a great way to learn more and stay abreast of what works and what doesn’t. I regularly check out blogs of some of the cream of the crop in our industry. Now anyone can talk can blog, but not everyone creates […]

Top 10 Voiceover Blogs to Follow Voiceover is an incredibly fun, but labor intensive profession. People who think it’s easy to “get in” and easy to build a business as a voice over artist are misinformed. But, learning from others who are doing well in the the voice arts is a great way to learn more and stay abreast of […]

Top 10 Voiceover Blogs to Follow Running your own business as a voice over artist means taking care of your craft, your equipment, your marketing, your finances and staying on top of industry trends. Learning from others who are doing well in the the voice arts is a great way to stay abreast of what works and what doesn’t. I […]

How Superior Hosting Services Boost My Voiceover Business Bottom Line When I put up my e-shingle years ago I didn’t know a hosting service from a c-panel from an SSL certificate, but I did know I wanted to transfer the stellar brand I’d built with my voice over business onto the web. Fast-forward through a learning curve and a couple […]

Top 10 Voiceover Blogs to Follow There are a lot of balls to juggle in running your own business as a voice over artist. Staying on top of industry trends and learning from others who are doing well in the the voice arts is one of those spheres. I regularly check out blogs (and podcasts & vlogs) of some of […]

Top 10 Voice Over Blogs to Follow There are a lot of balls to juggle in running your own business as a voice over artist. Staying on top of industry trends and learning from others who are doing well in the the voice arts is one of those spheres. I regularly check out blogs (and podcasts & vlogs) of some […]

Top 10 Voice Over Blogs to Follow Following great voice over bloggers, people who’ve been around the industry for years (this top ten list has a collective 200+ years of experience and wisdom) is an easy way to learn what to do and what not to do to make it as a voice artist. For insight and advice into the voice over industry […]

Top Ten Voice Over Blogs – Number 3 Bill DeWees It’s the second instalment of my list of the Top Ten voice over blogs to follow. For insight and advice into the voice over industry there are a few bloggers who dominate. Yesterday we revealed the first (as in alphabetically first) two awesome bloggers. Today we have two more out […]

Top 10 Voice Over Blogs to Follow   Blogs can be the most insightful and rich source of free information in the Googlesphere. But there are a lot of them out there. In fact, Google told me today that there were 505 million blogs in the world in 2018. Within that daunting figure, voice over blogs are a narrow niche. […]

How to Approach Voice Over for Family Friendly Commercials Summer time and the living is full of family friendly get-togethers and outings and commercials offering advice on what to do to keep everyone happy and how to save money doing it. To be able to serve Mom, Dad, the kids, Grandma and the clients as well, we as the voice […]

Bridging the VO Gap – International Voice Work with Shelley Avellino I don’t know what percentage of VO work is done internationally in the current market, but it’s a lot. Personally, 80% of my voice work is for clients outside my home and native land, eh? Whether you’re an expat working for the US market back home, or live on […]

Voice Actors, Reasons You Need to Be at V.O. North   If you’re a voice actor, and live within driving distance of Toronto, you are in for a treat. The reasons you need to be at V.O. North are more than a chance to learn and grow at an industry specific conference in your own backyard; that you’ll get the […]

Best Voice Over: Spotlight on Health Care Ads Health care ads are a mainstay in advertising and the best voice over chosen to present medical messages is a critical part of creative choice. Healthcare commercials achieve their goals through a few specific avenues in terms of vocal tone and direction: sentimental – those that tug at heart strings, inspirational – […]

Voiceover Read Rate, and How Improving It Increases Your Bottom Line What the heck is a read rate? As a voiceover artist, your read rate is the difference between the length of your raw voiceover file and the length of your finished, edited one. And if you do any long form narration, it’s something to strive to ever improve. For […]

Being Award Announcer at the WTA Grand Slam of Voice Over One of the things I love about being a voice over announcer are the places and jobs it takes me vicariously or in person. This October, one of the biggest events in the female tennis world was held in Singapore. The Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) Finals Gala Evening. And though […]

Why Voice Over is the Key to a Successful PSA Your craft, profession or career, presents opportunities to be of service. To give back. For a voice over artist, performing the VO on public service announcements (better known as PSAs) hits that sweet spot for me. I’m currently sitting in a friend’s living room in LA,  here this week nominated […]

Unlock Social Media Super Powers with Voice Over in Animation Say “animation” and most people think of  series like The Simpsons or Family Guy. Both are definitely hilarious animated TV shows (and contain equally fun voice over characters). But the kind of animations that lengthen website visitor time and unlock your social media super powers are bite sized, often fun […]

Voice Over, An Insider Take on the Exploding iGaming Industry Aside from buying the odd lottery ticket (’cause a gal can dream!), I wouldn’t say I’m much of a gambler. But that doesn’t mean I can’t be part of the ever-growing iGaming industry. I work as a voice-over talent for many clients in the online gambling industry. This photo is […]

Determining Rates: A Formula for a Simple Voice Over Pricing Guide While eating cake in Uncle Roy Yokelson’s Jersey living room this past weekend at the 13th Annual VO Barbecue, I tossed out this blog idea to Dan Leonard, George Whitham, Brad Newman, and a few others and got a thumbs up. So here goes. I am about to stir […]

How to Shoot Your Voiceover Career in the Foot – Worst Practices If you ever get a chance to help out in any casting project, take it. Whether you sign up as a reader for a day, get an summer internship at a casting house or even volunteer to answer phones, being on the other side of the proverbial casting […]

My Voice Over Life: Notes from the Scene of a Shoot I choose not to do a lot of on camera work. At least that’s what I tell myself. (And my agent.) Being a woman of a certain age (and waist size) the opportunities are slim. (see what I did there?) But today I happen to be on set as […]

3 Ways Storytelling is King in Voiceover for Ads and Business So…what’s your story? Or rather what is your relationship with story? Chances are it’s tight. We humans love story. We swim in it, soak in it, eat it up daily. Hourly, even. But have you stopped to consider your relationship with story as a voiceover artist?     Levar […]

Is the Seth Rogan Controversy Good or Bad for Voiceover Industry? A reporter from the CBC (Canadian Broadcasting Corporation) called me yesterday to ask me (a female voice over artist) how I felt about Seth Rogan voicing prompts for the Vancouver Transit Authority. Matthew ____ (I don’t remember his last name) asked if I felt any animosity toward Seth for infringing […]

How Copywriters and VoiceOver People Triumph over Disruption Sipping nectar of the bean and browsing my groups this morning, I was inspired by copywriter chieftain Steve Roller and how many similar cliffs of insanity people in the copywriting and voiceover narration fields have to scale to triumph lately. All because of the (anti) buzzword of the decade “disruption.” That concept we all rallied […]

7 Hot Tips on How to Get Better as a Voice Actor Listening to Drake with my daughter Lisa as we drive on the 401 through north Toronto ticking off To Do and Don’t Forget Lists before I dive full on into family vacation mode…I’m struck by this thought: I get at least one call or email a day from […]

A Voice Actor’s Guide: How to Make your Voice Sound Better Amber speaks too quickly. Her words slam and stumble into each other and she comes across as alternately nervous or excited or uncomfortable in the situation or space she is in. Rose’s voice is thin, brittle and cracks. She sounds much older than she is. From her mid-twenties, strangers […]