Hart Voice Overs

Tom Dheere has written a great post on the RogNog blog about voice actors and tax time.  He starts off:

I’m going to see my accountant this afternoon to get my taxes done. So, for those of you who’ve never filed your taxes as a performance artist, let’s cover the basics… (click the sentence for the rest of Tom’s post)

Check it out.

This weekend I was painting my voiceover booth when I realized how much painting and voiceover acting have in common.  Now I bet you’re saying to yourself, “Brian you’ve sniffed too many paint fumes.”  You’re probably right but humor me and keep reading.  I think you will agree with me in the end.

I spent a part of my life as a professional painter almost by accident.  I worked with a construction company for a while and ended up being quite good at painting so eventually the boss made me the “go to” painter.  I mention this so you know that I actually do have a legitimate perspective in comparing voice over to painting.

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Twitter is an amazing tool.  Links get “tweeted” and “re-tweeted” and it can be a real time suck.  Sometimes a great nugget comes along like this gem I picked up from Anthony Mendez‘ timeline today.  So thanks Anthony.

Last month Grace Smith,  owner of Postscript5 Web Design in Ireland, posted How To Say No To Spec Work Requests on her site gracesmith.co.uk.  While her specialty is web design the post is relevant to anyone who produces creative content.  It’s a good read and she has a template letter you can modify for your own use when turning down speculative work. Check it out.

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One Additional Note:  Speculative work is not the same thing as an audition.

I understand the thought of hiring a voice actor can be overwhelming to many so I have written an article called “How To Hire a Voice Over” as a service to my clients and prospective clients.

I have done my best to explain the process as concisely as possible but the article does have a good amount of meat in it.

If you find the online version hard to read you may download the PDF version instead:

How to Hire a Voice Over by Brian Hart

Please  leave a comment if you find “How to Hire a Voice Over” helpful,  if you find that I need to clarify or correct any information, or  if you have your own thoughts on the process you would like to add.

The article begins after the jump:
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photo credit: Calil Souza

Dan O’Day emailed to let me know he is hosting a live teleseminar on how to develop a website for voice actors on February 24th at 9pm Eastern time.  It really caught my attention since I am currently creating Hart Voice Overs.  According to Dan the teleseminar will be 100 % Non-Technical and discuss why “your website isn’t working for you and how and why you need to fix it immediately.”  I subscribe to some of Dan’s newsletters and check his site often.  He is always full of great information.

Registration is $79 and a download of the teleseminar will be available to those who register.

For more information go to Web Sites For Voice Actors

photo by Brian Hart 2010

Ah, the weekend.  Time to practice  my sheetrocking skills.  This morning I’m sanding the first skimcoat of joint compound and applying the second coat in my new voice over booth.  Ultimately there will be three coats of joint compound before I’m ready to prime and paint.

The basic application of joint compound is the same in a studio as it is in a home and there’s plenty of information available on the web for you to read.  But there are some other considerations you need to keep in mind for a studio project. (more…)

This is so cool! Some of my fellow voice overs brought life to Axe Cop. Check it out:

If you don’t know the story: read the origins on the Axe Cop site.  Dave D’Andrea plays Axe Cop.  Lee Gordon and Bob Souer are also in it.  Leave a comment if I need to add someone’s name to the list.

photo credit: dichohecho

How do you stay in contact with clients and potential clients?

One of the easiest and most inexpensive methods available today is with a well crafted newsletter.  But how do you actually deliver it to your customers?  Sure, you can use your regular email program and send it to ten or twenty addresses at a time – how inefficient.  Let me offer a few suggestions I think you’ll find much less frustrating and a better use of your time.  (more…)

Creative Commons License photo credit: myuibe

Dave Courvoisier made an interesting post on his blog the other day about how to record decent quality audio on your iPhone.  It’s a good read and short.  Check it out.

So now you can find auditions, record an audio sample and submit it all from an iPhone.  Pretty cool.  My biggest suggestion would be to find a nice quiet spot to record though.  One option?  Believe it or not – your car.  Automotive engineers work hard to make today’s car interiors quiet and acoustically pleasing.  So take advantage of their hard work and go record an audition on your lunch break behind the wheel, just don’t drive while you do it.