CommercialVoices offers a special "VOICE-2007 SALE"

As a major sponsor in VOICE 2007 we would like to celebrate its success along with Frank, James and Penny by offering you a special opportunity to join CV as VOICE 2007 is being held. The SALE is from March 27th to April 13th. This Las Vegas event is the first of its kind in North America and we are super pleased to be involved from the beginning. The education attendees will receive will be very valuable in our VO world. Technology is ever evolving and the speakers and presenters are all involved with what's old, what's new and what is coming that is unbelievable. Also our VO Community is expanding with collaboration and also with Bulletin Boards such as
www.VO-BB.com. Drop by and say "hi" to the friendly folks.

This Special Promotion is exclusively offered to attendees of VOICE-2007 and readers of this Newsletter.

Click here for details on our VOICE 2007 SALE.

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Lose the Paper
By Barry Howard

LOSE THE PAPER

This is an idea I adopted some time ago. Recently, I realized it might be worth sharing. (On the other hand, it might have occurred to everyone long ago, and I'm way behind the curve.) Also, it only applies if you have a home studio.

My studio is a walk-in closet (surprise!). I dedicated an older laptop for my computing needs, along with the requisite mixer and mic. Originally, the mic had a stand, and the laptop and mixer occupied slanted shoe racks. My copy sat on a cheap music stand.

When I agreed to record an audio book, I had the author send me the manuscript electronically as a Microsoft Word (.doc) file. I bought a sturdy music stand, figured out a way to mount the mic to the stand, and moved the laptop off its shelf onto the stand. Voy-ola, as they say - I now read the manuscript right from the computer screen. I can mark up the "copy" electronically, and re-mark up, and re-mark up... ad infinitum. I scroll up and down through the copy absolutely silently - no page turning. I have become a one-man "paper free environment". In my case, I network the files out to my desktop computer for editing and clean-up. I use Sony Sound Forge (the cheap version) on both computers.

Our world is rapidly going all-electronic. If you have a home studio, you must have a computer. If you have a computer, you should be able to Lose The Paper (laptop and music stand not required). As a matter of fact, I wouldn't be surprised to find the professional studios putting monitors and mice in their booths someday soon. I think it's the future.

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Welcome to Sound Ideas

Glen Campbell welcomes all CV Newsletter subscribers and readers with an exciting exclusive offer that you will not find anywhere else. Simply submit your name, mailing address. phone number and email address to Glen monthly...that's all there is to it. First he will offer to send you a Sound Ideas Sampler of many of their terrific products and you will also be eligible to win one of two great Production CD's, Captain Audio (450 sfx) or Mzzz Muzic (200 music tracks). Just click on Glen's name to submit. I have been dealing with Glen at Sound-Ideas for many years both in radio and in VO. He is very knowledgeable and professional about his business and is not a sales-hound if you know what I mean. Give Glen a call anytime at 1-800-665-3000 (within Canada) or 1-800-387-3030 (USA), 905-886-5000 (International). Check out their Blue Plate Specials every month for amazing deals!

Welcome to Sound Ideas Online The world's largest publisher of professional sound effects, royalty free music, and your source for a comprehensive selection of production music and production element libraries.Buy direct from Sound Ideas - our e-commerce Web site offers secure online purchasing of more than 200 different sound effects and stock music products for broadcast, post-production, multimedia, game development and other wireless and entertainment applications.

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ACTRA AND PRODUCERS REACH NEW AGREEMENT........By ACTRA

Toronto, February 21, 2007 – Following several days of negotiations the Canadian Film and Television Production Association (CFTPA), Association des producteurs de films et de télévision du Québec (APFTQ), and ACTRA (Alliance of Canadian Cinema, Television and Radio Artists) today announced that they have reached a renewed Independent Production Agreement (IPA).

This deal is a win-win for Producers and ACTRA members......More

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Is there a future in VO.....Yes I really think so.....By Rick Gordon

Here is a link to some amazing information, I assume it is all true. Before you click I would like you to keep one thing in mind....just one thing. China will soon become the #1 English speaking country in the world. This means the need for communication is going to explode in a manner never before imagined.....More

Does anyone have any thoughts on this?

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A news voice should not be a commercial voice .........by Peter O'Connell, audio'connell Voice Over Talent

Well, this will likely put me in dutch with some of my broadcast news friends but I can't sit quietly about this any longer cause it BUGS me...radio news reporters and anchors should NOT be doing commercials...period.

Now before you cry discrimination, the TV news people shouldn't either but I've not seen that happen. I have heard it far too often for my liking on the radio. It's wrong.....More

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The Funnies

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Producer's Corner
Web Site stats

Having come from an IT background in a former life, I was discussing web sites with a friend the other day and the topic of web site stats/traffic came up. He was curious about the meaning and usefulness of these numbers his ISP kept sending him every month. Perfect - if he has trouble understanding these, there must be others - what a great topic for an article or two!

So I will digress from the usual topic of audio production this month to discuss web traffic and web stats.

First off, what am I talking about? Well - if you have a web site, then you very likely get or see some numbers from your Internet Service Provider or web site administrator showing how many people have seen your site, which pages they've gone to, and in some cases, how long they've been there or even where they came from. These are you web stats. They tell you statistical info about your web pages/web site that can give you some useful information about the people that visit, particularly for marketing purposes.

As a matter of fact, CommercialVoices.com provides web stats for all its members.

If you go to your own page and add the word "stats.php" to the end of your URL (e.g. http://commercialvoices.com/platinum/MYPAGE/stats.php),
you will see a page that shows you the year and the hit count for that year.

Clicking on the shows you another page that breaks down the hit count by month... and clicking on a month brings up a page that breaks down the count per page of your section. If you then click on a page, you will then get a breakdown of date, time, and IP address for each hit.

I'll leave you with that to explore on your own until next month, when I'll examine the significance of these numbers in greater detail, using one members stats as an example!

Happy stats!!

Happy Recording!
Bruce Valeriani
Blue Bear Sound

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Web site Tips

Practice what you preach
In the past I have talked about strategies to increase the visibility of a web site in search engine results. As many of you may have noticed, I did not actually employ any of those lessons for my own site - www.crystalbaymedia.com. The reason for this omission on my part was simple. My client base is driven by referral not web site traffic. I actually gain more use from my web site as a means to quickly deliver large files to a client......More
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Tips provided by Crystal Bay Media
Do you have a topic you would like to see addressed in the monthly tip? Email your question or idea to info@crystalbaymedia.com
www.crystalbaymedia.com
Email Glen: Glen McInnis