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SilverSurfer3001
03-19-2008, 04:41 PM
After years of pining for a career in VO's while slaving away in the doom and gloom of middle management manufacturing business administration (a job that was taken to put food on the table but did very little to keep my spirit alive - you could say it was a soul sucking lifestyle), I got the go ahead from my wife to actually pull the trigger on a career option that would allow my spirit to re-awaken.

Anyways.... I'm located in Charlotte NC (which make the classes and agents pretty difficult to find), and have my degree in Mass Communication. A degree that has landed me in Network Sports Programming, network television news writing and producing, and creative direction with a minor agency in the area. My very first radio gig was with the number one rated country station in the area, where I acted as a general hole filler while I waited for a full time gig to open. At the time, all the slots were filled with long timers who showed no sign of leaving their slots and the management was happy with every one of them. While waiting, I began dubbing spots for the stopsets and voicing donuts. It was such a rush to hear my voice without having to speak. Alas at the time, I was offered a full time paying gig with a local NBC affil, where I gladly took the job (a bird in the hand you know...). So - as is expected with my luck - three months after taking the job, the mid-day guy was tragically killed in a traffic accident, and my old PD wasn't happy with me abandoning them for teevee, and I saw my radio career fly away.

While at teevee, where I was a television news producer, I was also the ad hoc voice guy when they needed quick spots to hit the air and could not get ahold of the guy on retainer.

But I ended up leaving that job for 10 years of hell in manufacturing so that I could enjoy a relatively normal life with my newly growing family (weekends and evenings are great for maintaining family life, ya know....).

Sooo.... 10 years later, here I am. We are at a place that will allow me to spread my wings again. :yahoo:

It's amazing how much things change in 10 years.:shocked:

I'm working on re-writing spots to re-make my demo.:'(

I'm getting a handle on digital production (anybody know anything about the compatability of Cubase with Audition and ProTools systems?). :S

I'm trying to re-establish a network. Hello! :bye:

There is a huge amount of information to take in at this place, so I will try to refrrain from asking stupid questions for a little while, until I get a chance to peruse this amazing resource. After that I can make no guarntees on the intelligence level of the questions that wll come your way.

so.... yadda yadda yadda, blah blah blah.

Hello everyone. Please be gentle. Lord knows the clients won't be!

Jodi Krangle
03-19-2008, 06:27 PM
Wow! That's quite the story there. :) I'm glad you're spreading your wings though. It sounds like you certainly have the background for it!

Welcome and I look forward to hearing more about your journey!

All the very best,

--Jodi

JoeActor
03-19-2008, 08:40 PM
Hey SS,

Great intro - happy you've rejoined the living from the world of "corporate undead" (left there myself about 2 years ago).

Plenty has changed in 10 years. Lots of opportunities and also new pitfalls.

Hope we can be of some assistance and support to your goals.

See you on the forums,
Joe J Thomas
Joe J. Thomas Acting Portfolio (http://www.JoeActor.com)

Lizden
03-20-2008, 08:46 AM
Hello!!!!!
Glad to see more sprouting wings!

Peace!

Liz

Steve Royal
03-28-2008, 04:58 AM
Hey SS,
Welcome back to the real world!
I can relate to your story.....The corporate world sux.
Personally, I'm looking forward to soon leaving my suit at the dry cleaners and my ties at a big landfill!
Yep, things have changed a huuuuge amount in the last 10 or so years.
You probably have a lot to catch up on...I know I did!
Let us know if we can be of some limited assistance:bye:
Do you have a demo posted anywhere?
Cheers!

Steve

WayneLHenderson
03-28-2008, 09:48 AM
Welcome Mr. Surfer,

Glad to have you on the boards at Voice-overs.com. Best wishes to you as you head into this career. I am still in the cubicle-land part-time (at least for now).

Since you are re-starting out on this "journey", I would love to have feedback from you as you progress, as part of my new Voice-Over Journey podcast. It is a show where I hope to have other voice actors that are making their livings solely from voice overs, share their progress and suggestions. You can find it in iTunes or at my blog at The Voice-Over Journey podcast (http://voiceoverjourney.libsyn.com/) and you can call in your comments to the show's voicemail at 206-984-1446.

Take care,

Wayne

SilverSurfer3001
03-29-2008, 09:17 PM
Thanks Steve and Wayne!

Wayne I'll have to dl a coupla podcasts. Don't be surprised one day if you hear from the galactic herald - although in real life, he's not nearly as impressive as the title may suggest... ;)

Steve, funny you should ask about the demo... I have set up my account and have been preparing to put up a quick and dirty demo of some spec scripts and auditions that I have done (is that ethical BTW?), and just as go to convert my Cubase files, I get an export error telling me that I hae to have an MP3 Updater patch to allow "unlimited exporting," so I go to the steinberg site only to find that Cubase LE (the software that came with my PreSonus Inspire digital interface) is no longer supporting the update patch.

So here I sit. With a deadline looming for a job that I REEEEEEALY want to land with no way to upload my stuff anywhere.

Soooo... to put it in a nutshell, Steve: Yes I am working on the demos. No I don't have them up, because I have no way to put them up!!! :tickedoff:

Anyone else out there with experience using PreSonus? Will it support Audition or ProTools? HAs anyone evr used Adobe Soundbooth?

Jodi Krangle
03-30-2008, 01:13 AM
Hi Jody. As far as Cubase LE is concerned (which is the program I'm using too), just save it as a .wav (you have unlimited uses of THAT function) and then import the audio file into a free program like Audacity, and export it to an MP3 file. That's how I do it. Of course, I do all my editing in Audacity because I find Cubase to be a giant pain in the you-know-where in that way ... But that might be just me. ;)

Anyway, hope that suggestion helps!

All the best,

--Jodi

SilverSurfer3001
03-30-2008, 01:33 PM
Thanks Jodi. Apparently my Cubase LE came with a demo feature of the MP3 updater. Turns out I need a patch to do that, and they no longer support LE - therefore no patches I am not about to willingly end another 300 bucks to upgrade to the supported version (4) to allow for mp3 uplaods. If I am going to spend that kinda jack, I'd much rather do it for audacity (or soundbooth) or ProTools....

Jodi Krangle
03-30-2008, 01:50 PM
That was my point, Jody. :) No need to spend money on Audacity as it's totally free. And once you've saved files in your Cubase as .wav files (which it never stops doing, so no worries there), you can import the files into Audacity and then export them as .mp3 files from *there*. Make sense? If you want step by step instructions, you're welcome to give me a phone call or a Private Message. Believe me - if a total newb to recording like me can do this, I have every confidence you can too. :)

SilverSurfer3001
03-30-2008, 03:44 PM
You give me hope, Jodi!

PM is on the way!!!

Hang in there with me please...

Julie Williams
03-30-2008, 04:27 PM
Hi Jody,
Welcome to the forum! Adobe Audition also gives a free 30 day trial. It's helpful temporarily... and you might like it. The program itself is only about $300. I prefer ProTools, myself. But without the M Box... when travelling, I do use Audition for editing.

Here are some other free services you can take advantage of as you return to the VO world.
Free VoiceOver Insider Magazine. Sign up at www.voice-overs.com (http://www.voice-overs.com)
Free online calendar of VO workshops all over the world at www.voice-overs.com/calendar (http://www.voice-overs.com/calendar)
And keep checking the forum under Review Products for products you can get free in return for reviewing them.

Also... if you want training, check out voice-international.com for info on Voice 2008.
I am blown away by the calibur of talent that are teaching there this year... You'll have a chance to meet coaches, talent, agents, etc.

Good Luck!
Julie

Jodi Krangle
03-30-2008, 04:43 PM
All answered, Jody. Hopefully it helps.

SilverSurfer3001
03-31-2008, 11:13 AM
It did!!! :D

Jodi Krangle
03-31-2008, 11:18 AM
Yay! Glad to hear it. :D