Hey guys!
I need to keep my general-release review short so it can be more easily surveyed via other media, but I wanted to give you the unabridged review here on the forums. There is a TON of stuff to cover. Cheers!
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Some of you will understand what I mean when I refer to "
VO Hunger." If you're constantly looking for voice-related learning content to saturate your mind - and satiate your appetite - this would be equivalent to a 24-hour, personally-catered, all-you-can-eat buffet.***
When I first received the Voice2007 bag (with pens, workbook, and DVD), I loaded up the DVD, copied all the MP3 files into iTunes, and synced the entire conference onto my iPod. I listened for over three weeks in many environments at various hours throughout the day. I listened on the train, on a bus, in a restaurant, at a coffee shop, on the street, in an airport, on an airplane, under a tree, in a library, in the rain, in the fog, and in a lightning storm, in a park, on the beach, at a hotel, on a bed, on a sofa, at my desk, at the store, and in or around about twenty other strange places. Eighteen hours of content takes awhile to get through, and I can tell you that, with the convenience of taking these seminars anywhere, you're going to be very happy.
In my long quest to fully understand the journey of an aspiring voice talent, I've come across hundreds of resources. Lucky for me, I encountered the experienced, qualified, and professional voice over educators first. In today's world, it appears everyone wants to tell you how you can "Earn extra income with your voice." Just as often, there are hundreds of offers for so-called "professional demo production" in 24 hours or less.
When you're buckling under the weight of all these choices, it can be a challenge to identify those resources which are truly worthwhile in building or growing your voiceover career. So where does Voice2007 fit in? With all my experience "resource-hunting" online and off, I can say without a doubt that the Voice2007 package is
one of the best in existence.
Even without being at the conference in person, the seminar recordings and the workbook gave me the sort of concise, usable information that I would be hard-pressed to aggregate myself from workshops, books, websites, and coaching sessions. This recorded conference series is unique - you're getting insight from professionals who actually know what they're talking about, and you're getting it in a compressed, effective package. Each contributor brings a different piece of the puzzle to the event, eventually producing a complete voice over picture.
Here's the play-by-play:
- In "Step up to the Mic" Rodney Saulsburry motivates you to build your personality and start a career. His segment was an energetic conference-starter.
- Workbook Companion Comment: Although Saulburry's presentation was structured such that it required little in the form of companion worksheets, it would have been convenient to possess a small presentation outline. Included after his great introduction message are four order forms for his outside training classes.
- After asking, "Is There Big Money in Your Voice?", Connie Terwilliger explains how critical self-evaluation is in a voice over career. Her presentation epitomizes the concept of "practical necessity." Terwilliger discusses how essential it is to look at yourself in the mirror, and often!
- Workbook Companion Comment: Terwilliger includes 14 pages of outlines, written amplifications, tables, and wonderful "self-evaluation" worksheets. These inserts are thoroughly enjoyable and extremely helpful in keeping track of the topics covered during the 2-part presentation.
- Frank Frederick will let you know how to get your clients to love you. He is certainly qualified to deliver the "Love Notes" message. I thoroughly enjoyed the audience's "Love Notes" contributions and general responses, and when one of Frederick's discussion points was unclear to members of the group, they were not afraid to pipe-up for clarifications. He fields all comments, suggestions, and critiques professionally.
- Workbook Companion Comment: Frederick's worksheets are progressive and helpful. They do a good job in illuminating many of the concepts he covers during his presentation.
- Packaged between all the great voice over lecturers there are worthwhile presentations by AFTRA and even Voice123, the latter being ever-so-slightly dated. AFTRA doesn’t push an "in your face" campaign; I found them to be genuinely interested in the wellbeing of talent.
- The tribute to Lenny Weinrib was a great reminder of what it means to be a voice actor. Linda's anecdotes are funny and interesting.
- Chris Wagner's presentation introduces the concept of a "web-presence" to an audience that runs the gamut in terms of experience. His general advice is a great guideline for those looking to get online or refresh their current presence.
- Workbook Companion Comment: Wager's included supplements are helpful when it comes to tech jargon, as are the "web design" worksheets. I thought the small collection seemed a little sparse at first; however, after listening over the seminar, they are more than capable of helping to synthesize his key points.
- James Alburger and Penny Abshire are an incredibly accessible team. Not only are they competent performers; they're also a lethal teaching duo. What the pair manages achieve in the span of 3 hours - and cumulatively through their management of the conference (with Frank Frederick) - is one of the most worthwhile voice-over learning experiences I have ever encountered. These two present information voice-over talent can begin using right away. I won't soon forget the "ABCs of Voice Acting."
- Workbook Companion Comment: Alburger and Abshire have the best workbook companion section of all. Their seminar travels alongside the written words and is very clearly thought out. Consequently, I found myself taking more notes during their seminar than any other.
- The appearance of Don LaFontaine - THE voice-over legend - is a blast. His extremely short (20-minute) panel session was funny, informative, and quite a treat overall.
- Gregory Best's "Negotiating to Win!" seminar was not something I was originally expecting out of the conference, but here we are. A soft-spoken alternative to other presenters, Best is a qualified authority by experience and an excellent source of information on negotiation. Be warned, however: During Best's audio presentation, some inconsistencies in audio leveling (not the fault of Best or the event crew) may leave you with temporarily ringing ears!
- Workbook Companion Comment: Best does not follow his workbook material exactly, but he does cover all of it eventually. His supplements strike me as most effective after listening to the presentation - his points are well organized.
- Bettye Zoller's "Finding Your Voice in the Audio Book Industry" begins with a discussion of broad VO topics (from performing industrial narrations to general acting techniques) and narrows down to specific, applied audio book examples. She solicits the audience quite a bit when demonstrating narration techniques. When you start to hear FM radio at 31 minutes into her seminar, you're not going crazy - it's a technical issue.
- Workbook Companion Comment: Zoller's included pages are comprehensive and useful during the presentation.
- MJ Lallo's "Character Voices and Women in Animation" is a ball, with plenty of information on character portrayal and casting. MJ talks a great deal about methods for characterization in voice, and she goes through a few of the scripts from her workbook selections with members of the audience.
- Workbook Companion Comment: Lallo's supplements include a number of scripts and visual aids used during her seminar. These are fun and practical, even after listening to the conference recording.
- DB Cooper's "Infinite Ammo" is a blast through and through. She's an expert on gaming voice work and does a marvelous job illustrating the gaming world from top to bottom. Even if you stay away from the games released these days, you'll want to listen closely, because you may find work in the industry soon.
- Workbook Companion Comment: Cooper includes a number of helpful guide sheets, as well as some real-world script examples.
- The Hot Seat Demo Evaluation - This was a constructive segment of the conference. Demos are played back for the entire audience, and a number of panel experts contribute thoughts and suggestions. One thing I appreciate from James, Penny, and Frank is that they know how to give warm, constructive criticism. They don't make things awkward, and they still manage to get their suggestions out. Having your demo evaluated in front of hundreds of people can be quite an experience.
- The Business of Voiceover Panel Discussion - This panel segment is SPECTACULAR - probably the most inspirational of all. The recording starts off with questions posed directly to Las Vegas agent Jaki Baskow. The rest of the segment is devoted to recounting the stories of panel members at the conference. Hearing the stories of some incredible VO pros has always been eye-opening and fun for me. You'll pick up valuable advice along the way. Bob Bergen, who, as with Pat Fraley, appeared at the conference but not on the Voice2007 DVD, is part of the panel as well. Every panel member has something unique and enlightening to share. You'll laugh, you'll cry, and you'll smile for the duration of this thing.
- Q & A Segment - Although questions and answers crop up throughout the conference, this is a priceless application of questions, with answers from all the great conference-members.
By the end of the Voice2007 audio compilation, you'll feel like you were there. It's strange, but when Penny encouraged attendees to sign one another's workbooks, my hopes peaked for a moment, because I half expected I'd be able to do the same thing. Silly, I know.
Many seminars included a reasonable level of audience (performance) participation, and most learning seminars included segments where the audience was either encouraged to ask questions or where they simply starting shouting them out.
Some presenters will mention their instruction courses or other paid services during seminars. All contributors are qualified
VO talent and experts within their respective specialty areas. Even still, don't feel pressed to go out and spend thousands upon thousands of dollars until you have asked plenty of questions, talked with fellow
VO talent, and - if I may borrow from Connie Terwilliger - assessed your level of experience. Having said that, James Alburger's book is a staple in the industry. Buy it!
If I could ask for anything more of this product, it would be the PowerPoint presentation slides from the presenters. The work booklet is invaluable when it comes to following along with "the group" at the conference, however, I feel the experience would be even greater if we could see the slides from the lecturers, either digitally or in a printed form.
The choice to place all content on a data DVD may result in some challenges for people with stubborn computers, although I understand why data DVD was chosen over standard data CD. When this becomes available for sale online, I hope to see a clear explanation for those who might be expecting CDs instead.
In addition to providing general conference details, the "splash" web pages provided with the DVD are helpful in instructing the user on how to manipulate the large audio files for playback on MP3 devices and plain audio CDs. I definitely appreciated the attendee testimonials available via these pages; they are a testament to the quality of the Voice2007 program.
While skimming through the files on the CD, I noticed there were two video files composed of Las Vegas news reports on Voice2007. If the links to these files were available on the splash pages, I must be blind, because I couldn't find them anywhere. The extra PDF files (which
can be found via the web pages included on the disk) are worth reading.
As I close up this review, you should take away the following point: The individuals who created Voice2007 are GOOD PEOPLE, the people who presented at Voice2007 are GOOD PEOPLE, and, best as I can tell, the attendees of Voice2007 are GOOD PEOPLE. It's not often one has an opportunity to be surrounded by such a vast collection of fun, good-natured individuals interested in
VO. Since you can't go back in time to meet all these wonderful people, your next best option is to grab the recordings and go to town with them!
If there's anything that sums up my evaluation of Voice2007, it's this: I'll see you at Voice2008!
***After just re-listening to the testimonials, I realized I used a metaphor similar to the one recited by Melissa Reizian Frank from the Voice2007 testimonials. Apologies Melissa! Living in Las Vegas, the idea came to me straight away. When I initially wrote to the introduction to the review, it was before I had even made it past hour 10, let alone the testimonials!