1. Dan Akroyd Actually, I’m surprised that Dan hasn’t done more cartoon characters. He’s debuting his voice in the 2010 cartoon movie “Yogi Bear”. He has the perfect personality, as well as voice, for this well-loved character. I’m definitely expecting a sequel.
2. Alec Baldwin He just doesn’t seem like the cartoon type to me. I was really surprised to see his name on the list of those who have done cartoon voice overs. He has two to his credit already: Cats and Dogs and The Spongebob Squarepants Movie.
3. John Candy The cartoon this well-known comedian contributed to was another surprise to me. The Rescuers Down Under was the animated film Candy’s voice is heard in. You’ll hear his voice coming out of Wilbur in this mousey tale.
4. Wally Cox This comic actor provided the voice of a television comic hero. Do you know which one? Under Dog! The wonderful canine spoof on Superman where Lois Lane was characterized as Under Dog’s sweetheart, Polly Purebred.
5. Robert DeNiro Now this was a REAL shocker. Mister tough guy doing a cartoon voice over? Yep. Of course, he didn’t play some wimpy character. He was the King in Arthur and the Invisibles. Still, it’s just not quite what you expect to find on the resume of DeNiro.
6. Mel Gibson This mega-star has two cartoons to his credit. He was the hero (of course) John Smith in the cartoon movie Pocahantus. He also provided the voice for Rocky in Chicken Run. From Mad Max to cartoon voice overs. Shows his versatility, I guess.
7. Gene Hackman This is another name I did not expect to show up on this list. They needed someone who could sound like a general for the movie Ants. I guess Gene Hackman has the voice, personality and acting experience to fit the part.
8. Brad Pitt His cartoon movie? Sinbad: Legend of the Seven Seas. They also had Michelle Pfeiffer in this one, so he wasn’t the only big name hiding his face behind a cartoon character for this film. He also has done a voice appearance for a King of the Hill episode and another for  Oobermind.
9. Burt Reynolds This longtime leading man has gone to the dogs. He is the voice of Charlie B. Barkin in All Dogs Go to Heaven and its sequel All Dogs Go to Heaven 2. He also was the voice of Delgo’s father in Delgo. It’s probably the only movie character Burt played that got killed off before the end of the movie.
10. Val Kilmer The Prince of Egypt was his big cartoon hit. Not only was his voice used for Moses but for God as well. Talk about a great resume line: “My voice sounds like that of a deity.” Pretty impressive. His voice was also used for KITT in Knightrider, no surprise there. He also made the star-studded line-up of Delgo, playing General Bogardus.

Danny Devito, Angelina Jolie, Ernest Borgnine, Tim Conway, Johnny Depp, James Garner, Eddie Murphy, Susan Sarandon and Freddie Prince, all these big names have cartoon voice credits listed on their resumes. For some it has just been a one-time experience but for others, like Freddie Prince, there are multiple titles and characters to their credit.

Occasionally their ‘perfection’ runs into technical difficulties and exposes the reality behind that continuous perfection. Lip syncing has been one of those areas where the technology occasionally has created a bit of embarrassment for some big name stars.

1. Milli Vanilli This is still the most infamous lip syncing bust. What set this situation apart was the fact that this European duo didn’t even sing for their recordings, much less on stage. They were hired totally for their looks with the full intent that they would never actually sing. So they weren’t even lip syncing to their own voices. This was way too far over the edge for the music business. They lost it all when the truth was brought to light.
2. Ashlee Simpson This younger sister of Jessica Simpson, experienced her little bit of technical embarrassment during a Saturday Night Live performance. Her lips weren’t syncing with her voice that was flowing out of the sound system with the music. There was no official acknowledgment from anyone that it was a lip sync mis-cue but the rumors say it probably was.
3. Madonna Not all lip syncing destroys a career, as was the case with Manilli Vanilli. Live performances are totally different from a studio recording, yet the fans still expect to hear from the stage the same musical perfection that they have been listening to on their ipod. Madonna puts on a very physical act when on stage. It is part of the overall entertainment package you expect to get from her. It’d be pretty hard for her to pull it all off and still sound perfect with out some help from a background tape that never runs out of breath.
4. Britney Spears Miss Spears managed to reveal the sound track playing her comeback song as she giggled throughout it during the MTV Awards program. Again, it didn’t destroy her career but wasn’t what her publicist was hoping for, I’m sure.
5. The Spice Girls This group of female vocalists has often been accused of lip syncing. Their appearance at the 2007 Victoria Secret Parade was the event that most people site. Most fans excused it as a necessary use of technology to assist the performance in an unusual setting.
6. The Monkees This was a bit of a unique situation. The four guys were hired as actors for a television program centered around a rock and roll band. Only Peter Tork and Michael Nesmeth actually knew how to play their instruments and they were all expected to lip sync to the vocals during the filming of the show. Only after the show took off in popularity was the decision made that ‘The Monkees’ needed to legitimize their musical talents to a greater degree.
7. Lindsey Lohan This starlet was to have her singing debut on Good Morning America. It was a short lived musical career when she was unable to fully match up her performance with the background tract.
8. Mariah Carey Mariah has had her share of accusations, as well. The singer has no lack of personal vocal talent. Her fans shrug off the rumors, even defending her for preserving her voice for her concerts and recordings.
9. Hilary Duff Hilary’s charge of lip syncing came during her 2008 tour in Mexico. It has always been denied and a faulty piece of audio equipment has been saddled with the blame.
10. Luciano Pavarotti There hasn’t been much debate over this one. The opera singer had recently been diagnosed with cancer and was to sing out of doors during the 2006 Winter Olympic games. These circumstances were considered just cause for providing a sound track for the performance.

It seems to be pretty well accepted that some lip syncing will be done to enhance performances these days. It is just the lip syncing to someone else’s voice that remains an unforgivable trespass as far as the fans are concerned

1. James Earl Jones This man’s voice tops all the lists when it comes to popular speaking voices. His deep strong tones appear sinister as the dark Darth Vadar and yet he provides a voice of wisdom in Disney’s Lion King movies.
2. Liam Neeson This name may not be as recognizable as some but his face and voice would be. His greatest starring role was as Oskar Schindler in the movie Schindler’s List. In addition to his many movie roles, Liam also was known for his narrating abilities for documentaries and providing the voice of Aslan in The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian movie.
3. Mike Rowe Many people now recognize the face of Mike Rowe from the television program “Dirty Jobs” but his voice is heard often on the airwaves as a narrator for many other popular programs including: Deadliest Catch, Ultimate Fighter and American Choppers. His voice is clear and steady. Few people know that he also sang opera professionally before moving to the west coast.
4. Dennis Haysbert “You’re in good hands with Allstate.” This actor was chosen to be the spokesman for Allstate insurance in recent years. His voice demonstrates a calm fatherly assurance. The marketing people knew what they were doing when they selected him for these commercials.
5. Sean Connery Best known for his role of Agent 007 in the James Bond films, his acting career  did not end there. His distinguished looks seemed to only improve with age and complimented the appeal of his Scottish accent. Women in particular love the sound of this man’s voice.
6. Julia Roberts. This actress, so popular in many films, has a voice that is soft and feminine. Her speaking voice would not be labeled as strong and yet its strength lies in its beauty. Her voice has a calming quality that puts its listeners at ease, a unique and enviable trait.
7. Diane Sawyer Ms. Sawyer has established herself as a strong news commentator. The clear tone of her voice has done much to advance her to that position. She is able to speak with authority and yet maintain a gentle feminity within her voice.
8. Anthony Hopkins The British accent has a special appeal to Americans. Mr. Hopkins ability to add strong dramatic tones and also soft spoken clarity are part of what sets him apart. He is able to project personality with simply a change of tone to his voice. He demonstrated that by mastering the calm but sinister sound of evil in the Silence of the Lambs movie.
9. Morgan Freeman Morgan’s voice is distinctive. It is one of those voices you immediately recognize. I’ve often thought that his frequent casting in movies has as much to do with his voice as his acting abilities.
10. Burl Ives Last but certainly not least on the list is the rich voice of Burl Ives. His most famous narration being the cartoon of Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer. Most of us have listened to his wonderful telling of this story year after year. Smooth but strong, there is something very comforting about how he speaks his words.

This list could have certainly included many more than ten names, especially if we went back a few decades to early radio years when voice was all you heard. I’m sure that the voices of many on this list brought back memories of movies or television programs that are automatically connected to the sounds of their voices.

Some people have asked what version of Pamela I was using in the previous video. I use the top package which is the professional version (although my interface is a little different looking from recent versions). It’s definitely worth the extra if you are planning on recording a lot via Skype and you can take a 30 day free trial just to be sure it’s what you want/need.

(apologies for the audio quality – I’m testing out different screen capture software and haven’t quite got to grips with all the settings)

I have since been looking at some screenshots of the latest version of Pamela and I can see that things are slightly different to the version in the video, and although you may not have the tabbed navigation that I have, if you click on Call Recording on the left, the options should appear beneath it as sub-categories.

You can click on the links below to access these programs:

Skype

Pamela

(these are affiliate links)

This video shows you how to go back and take mistakes out of your audio, add a retake and then mix them together into one audio track again. It’s really simple, and the good thing about Audacity is it makes it difficult for you to make any silly mistakes when editing and re-recording.

Hope this helps – let me know if you have any other questions about using Audacity

If you have the option, make sure you click the HQ button on the bottom right of the video in order to see it in higher resolution (otherwise it all looks a bit fuzzy).

Don’t forget to watch my previous Audacity videos for more tips by doing a search on the blog for Audacity Tutorial.

Video marketing can offer so many benefits to your business, whether a blog, niche product or bricks and mortar small business:

• alternative ways for new customers/readers to find you (YouTube is the second biggest search engine on the web now with 3.5 million people visiting EVERY DAY)!
• a way to improve your rankings in the search engines who love video share sites (you can get a good ranking for your videos on the video share sites PLUS the link back to your own website will also improve your site’s ranking and authority)
• a different format for people to consume your information. Some of us like to read, some like to listen and some prefer to watch video – we are all different and if you aren’t offering customers and visitors different ways to consume your content you’re missing out on a great opportunity.

Just as an example, I have mentioned previously how much traffic I enjoy from my series of Audacity tutorials that I posted on YouTube. At the latest count, over 125,000 people have viewed a video within that series and, naturally, it accounts for a good proportion of my website traffic every month (and it’s a marketing method that just keeps giving!)

You don’t need to have thousands of viewers to see the benefits

I recently helped launch a small local business online and immediately created some videos for them. They have been viewed by only a handful of people but are already bringing traffic to the site and helping them improve their search engine rankings. In fact, within days of posting a video, the YouTube page was already ranking on the first page of Google for a highly competitive local keyword phrase, and as a result it has given the main site an almighty boost in rankings.

In fact, I set up a new YouTube account to showcase example videos for We Make Videos for You and I discovered today that 3 of the first page listings on Google for the keyword phrase Video Marketing Example are links to my videos. With 32,100,000 pages competing for that term, I’ll be honest – even I was impressed (go check it out yourself).

Can You Do Your Own Video Production?

Absolutely! You know me..I’m always offering you the Do-It-Yourself approach to audio and video production. But I realised that even with all the tools and software available for creating online videos, many of you are still not making them.

Also, I realised that no matter how many times I tell you that you have a great voice and should use it in your videos and audio, many of you still don’t, and that you’d really like to have videos made for you with professional voice and audio tracks on them instead of your own voice or (much much worse) a computerized voice.

So, that’s how We Make Videos for You was born.

I would love you to go and check it out and see if I can be of service to you in your business. There is a special offer on until the end of November so it’s worth having a look sooner rather than later. Plus, if you let me know that you came via the Audible Marketing site (pop it in the Paypal notes or the video submission form) I’ll do some keyword reasearch for you so you can upload your video with super effective title and keywords!

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This is one area where even the most web-savvy will hold their heads in their hands in confusion and wonder what they should do. While some podcast host providers have attempted to make the options as simple as possible there is still a tendency to talk techie in relation to podcasts.

Perhaps that’s why I’ve been reluctant to write this post (have you noticed a break in the series?) but I’ll give it a go and try not to overdo the tech talk.

Just like blogs, a podcast needs an RSS feed in order to be syndicated. Don’t panic! There are a number of ways to do this and get your podcast up and running.

1. Free Podcast Hosts

There are many options for creating free podcasts. Two of the most popular traditional options are Blog Talk Radio and Talk Shoe. It’s very simple – you sign up and set up a live “show” (or, in some cases, upload a pre-recorded show). Many of them also offer live chat during shows so your listeners can ask questions and participate, as well as offer show players that you can display on your website.

I call these traditional options because more recently a large number of less traditional options have sprung up with the emergence of social media and smartphones. There are services such as AudioBoo and Twaudio that allow you to record and upload audio, and broadcast it online (Tweet it, add it to Facebook etc.). They have an RSS feed so essentially people can subscribe to everything you publish. That makes it a podcast!

Why You Might Choose the Free Option

• It’s Free! No set-up fees and no bandwidth costs
• It’s simple to set up and requires very little technical knowledge
• Great for live podcasts with guest interviews and audience participation
• No need to master recording and editing programs

What’s the Downside?

• Someone else is controlling your podcast and, worst case scenario, you could lose it at the whim of the site owners. True, it’s unlikely, but we’ve all seen websites come and go. The simple answer is always to save copies of any shows you create.
• The free hosts often add their own audio branding and, occasionally, commercials to your podcast (although this is usually only at your request and with a profit share set-up).
• Most of your listeners will probably find you through these websites and so they benefit from the traffic.
• They have control over what is displayed on the website. Nothing sinister, but it still gives you less control over what your audience does next.

2. Paid Podcast Hosting

For those of you who want more control over your podcast then you might want to look at paying for a podcast host.  The SWBN podcast is hosted through Libsyn who are one of the most highly recommended paid hosts. I found things a little confusing initially (all that techie talk again), but they do have a detailed step-by-step process to follow and there’s a community forum and support service.They charge a monthly fee depending on how big your podcast files are each month, so no matter how popular your podcast is they carry those bandwidth costs.

Other podcast hosts will price things differently; for example, Jellycast charges a one-off start-up fee and then you have to upgrade to different monthly plans depending on your bandwidth (i.e. the more popular your podcast, the more you pay).

Benefits of Paid Hosting

• Most of the technical stuff is taken care of so you don’t need to worry about it
• They handle support and technical issues when things go pear-shaped
• Depending on the service, even if your podcast suddenly takes off and becomes crazy popular, you shouldn’t face any unexpected bandwidth costs
• The best services will also offer the option of creating the podcast on your own domain, stats tracking (so you can keep track of how many listeners you have) and some personalization options.

What’s the Downside?

• Paying a fee even if your podcast takes months to become popular (so you may end up paying more than the bandwidth you are using)
• You are still reliant on a third party. That means occasional unexpected downtime (which has happened a few times with Libsyn) and other issues may crop up.

3. Self Hosting Your Podcast

I will go into self hosting more in another post, but this essentially means you are responsible for generating the RSS feed and “paying” for hosting the media files and bandwidth (or paying if you exceed your bandwidth allowance).

You can generate the RSS feed through Feedburner or, if you have a WordPress blog – as so many people do – you can let WordPress generate it (when you upload the audio and link to it within the blog WordPress will include it in your RSS feed).  Or, my personal option would be to install a plugin like PodPress which automatically creates feeds (and offers numerous other features).

Website bandwidth allowances tend to be much higher than when I started podcasting (and I self-hosted my first podcast without ever facing excessive costs). There are also other options for reducing the bandwidth costs, such as using a storage service like Amazon S3.

Benefits of Self Hosting

• You have total control
• No monthly costs unless your podcast becomes really popular
• Plenty of options for personalization, stats tracking and other features

Downside of Self Hosting

• You have total control! That means you are responsible for dealing with things if they go wrong
• Carrying bandwidth costs if the podcast become popular (but that should be a good problem to have, right?)

In my next post, I will cover more on the subject of self hosting your podcast.

It was pretty good for her first try (and I don’t want to sound patronizing when I say that).

A few things I noticed:

• the answering machine audio sounds a bit distorted. That may be because I talk too loud (I like to call it projection) but if it’s possible to lower the recording level slightly that might help.
• the answering machine audio would probably benefit from a little noise reduction to eliminate the hiss in the background
• the levels need to be evened out a little bit

As explained in this video, the best way to get a good, even level is to record at the correct level right from the beginning. If there are still obvious discrepancies  then the volume levels should be evened out using the amplification feature of Audacity before mixing the audio.

This video shows how to do this (on the already mixed audio) and then shows some other features that can help make your audio sound more professional.

I would stress that there is a fine line between enhancing your audio and over-doing all the effects.

Here is the original audio file Allison mixed together:

Download audio file (donkey-podlife.mp3)

And this is it after changes have been made to the amplification, compression and normalization (you should be aware that the 2nd piece of audio has been downsampled to a bit rate of 96 from 128 so the overall quality will also be slightly lower):

Download audio file (donkey-podlife-enhanced.mp3)

This podcast is so small that downsampling to 96kbps may not be necessary.

Note also that Allison has done her ID3 tags homework so you will see the details of the podcast in the mp3 player.

(And my sincerest apologies to everyone in the West Country for my terrible attempt at the accent!)

Ron “Micronet” Harwood of Colossal Marketing reminded me about the Time Shift Tool in Audacity, which is a much better and more precise way of moving and lining-up audio where you want it:

I’ll show you some final tips and tricks for getting your podcast into the right format and sounding at its best tomorrow.