Voice Acting’s Big Fat Problem
This essay won’t win me any friends among my peers in the voice over profession. Some will find it offensive and insensitive. I’m gonna go there anyway. This isn’t my first time navigating controversial territory: I survived hypersensitive political correctness on the college campus. I’m a refugee from buttoned-down, language-sanitized corporate America. I’ve worked in […]
Authenticity: Keepin’ It Real in 2024
Everyone’s suddenly talking the talk about being authentic. But if you don’t walk the walk, your customers will notice…and they talk too. Happy New Year! Over the holidays, I did a bunch of reading – particularly lots of business articles. It quickly became evident that somebody had sent out the memo pushing the first […]
Marge. . .are you okay???
“What happened to Marge Simpson’s voice?” This question lit up social media and the internet after a recent episode of The Simpsons. Marge has always had a distinctively raspy, gravelly sound, but fans of the popular long-running TV series have noticed that lately her voice is considerably rougher – some say even sickly and worn […]
Life, In Subtitles
They’re useful and they’re everywhere – but could overusing them bring us unintended consequences? I’m a bit of a latecomer to Netflix. I only got hooked about a year ago. And as I surfed from one entertainment offering to another, I discovered Netflix’s most nifty feature: subtitles. Those little white words at the […]
Is “Storytelling” in Business and Marketing a Myth?
Recently I stumbled upon an opinion piece written by a self-identified music industry journalist. He expresses a serious gripe with marketing professionals, specifically those in the business of promoting artists and their music. He hates when they call themselves “storytellers.” Deeper into his essay you get the sense that his beef is not just […]
Fake Experts, Bad Advice: Who Can You Trust Online?
* “The Internet” is pretty sure the quote above is attributed to the ancient Greek playwright Sophocles. However, others claim there’s no way to verify he said this. See what I mean about believing everything you see online? I’ve had more than my share of encounters with craptastically lame online guidance masquerading as helpful […]
F*** That Noise!
I sleep in a very basic, low-to-the-ground bed with a wood frame. The other morning while still half asleep I felt a faint vibration that shook the ground and reverberated up through my bed. It was accompanied by an equally faint booming noise, like claps of thunder off in the distance. I dozed off again, […]
AI’s Fatal Flaw: Artificial Ain’t Authentic
Scrolling through my LinkedIn feed lately, I can’t go more than a few seconds without tripping over yet another emotionally charged post highlighting the pros and cons of artificial intelligence. Of course, most of the buzz right now surrounds ChatGPT. I discussed AI and its impact on the world of voice acting in a previous […]
The Hot Trend in 2023? Think for Yourself.
Happy New Year! If you’re like me, you try to stay up to speed on emerging business trends. About this time every year I enjoy doing a good old fashioned Google search to pull up articles specific to certain industries, with an eye on learning what experts and educated observers project will happen in the […]
I Love You, World Cup Announcer Guy
You know exactly who I’m taking about – but in case you need to refresh your memory, he’s the voice famous for doing this: Of course, his name is not World Cup Announcer Guy. That’s just an affectionate nickname I use in my own head. His name is Andrés Cantor, and he is the iconic […]