However, the Coffee Dates can now be purchased separately, too, on this page.

I’m taking part in my 14th International Radio and Creative Production Summit this weekend, so there will be reports and photos from that experience coming your way, soon. Meanwhile, thank you for your patience.

Fascinating story.

Well, done Darren.

Let’s think about voiceover coaches for a moment. If I ask Nancy Wolfson what she thinks about an audition or a demo, she doesn’t always tell me what I want to hear, but she does always give me an honest answer. I can say exactly the same thing about Marice Tobias. Both of these ladies have taught me a great deal, but the most valuable thing they’ve done is tell me the truth when I need it. If you can’t say that about your voiceover coach, maybe it’s time to re-think things?

Though he’s not been a coach, Dan O’Day has been both a friend and teacher for nearly 15 years. Dan’s another person who unflinchingly tells the truth when I need to hear it.

I have had several mentors who have guided my path through the years, stretching back to the first years of my journey in the early 80s when Armand Ciabattari and Todd Beezley took me under their respective wings. Chuck Wagner and Chuck Gratner both hired me to work for them. Both taught me a great deal. They were, without question, the two best bosses I ever had, at least until I went to work for myself last year. In more recent years, Philip Banks has generously guided me in important ways, in spite of the fact that I annoy him no end now and then.

And there are quite literally too many friends to list them all here, but Rowell and Dan Nachtrab and Janet Ault and Peter O’Connell and Pam Tierney and Frank Frederick and Kara Edwards and (oh boy I really can’t list them all, there are so many more) have each contributed to my life and work in significant ways.

In the days when I was first getting started in voiceover, friendships sprang up in the waiting rooms in casting offices and talent agencies and recording studios. Now, most of my work (like most of yours very likely) takes place in my studio at home. Which is why the VO-BB is such an exceptionally important place for me, the place where I met all but a small handful of my voiceover friends. My favorite spot on the Internet. The place where I know I can find answers, more than a little laughter and a few tears and a lot of love and mutual respect.

You don’t have to join the VO-BB, but I hope you will make sure you don’t allow yourself to get too isolated. We all need people who will tell us the truth.

Only, it wasn’t one small bit of the file. In fact, the piece that sounded normal when I first started listening was one of only 3 small sections that were clean. About three-quarters of the audio was unlistenable, filled with horrible, ugly digital distortion. Disaster. (This kind of thing had only happened to me once before about 8 years ago when my workstation had mysteriously dropped out of record a few minutes into a corporate narration session. That was a phone patch, too.)

What did I do?

Well, first I called my agents in Pittsburgh through whom the commercial had been booked to let them know what happened. They sent off a quick email to let the main producer know about the problem. Then, a few minutes later when no reply had come, I called back in to the studio to let them know what had happened. Everyone was very glad I had called back right away and thankfully they all had time to re-record, as soon as they finished their current session. 10 minutes later, I’m back on the phone with them. We record a few more takes. Everyone is happy and this time before I hung up the phone I double-checked to make absolutely sure everything is recorded cleanly. It is!

The moral of this story? One, don’t leave your workstation running for too many days in a row with giving it a chance to cool down for a bit. Two, if the worst happens and you don’t have a clean recording of something, let everyone know right away. We all make mistakes now and then. People will understand. But, any attempt to cover up or “fix” things is going to make for a bigger disaster than whatever the original problem was. Three, tell the truth. Own up to the problem and make it right. It’s the only way to truly recover.

Mighty nice work, Donovan!

Nice work, Dan.

Get FaffCon Flair!

Well, all the details are on the site in the “what” section, but so you don’t have to click through it’s an unconference for voiceover professionals that’s taking place the second weekend in September in Portland, OR. As of today, there are 2 weeks left to the early bird registration discount. I hope you’ll check out details at the Faffcon site and if you are a working professional voiceover talent that you’ll make plans to join us.

You can read more about this video and the event at the Voicebank.net blog.

Or, something like that. Todd, what can I say? It’s brilliant.

It’s a bargain at the regular price, but if you order by Friday of this week you’ll get an instant 20% discount. You’ll find all the information here.