Contest to Find New Announcer for NBC Nightly News

 

audio’connell (Peter O’Connell) is never one to fall by the wayside.  The creative super brain behind voxmarketising has gone on a mission to save American ears.

You might have heard about the choice that the NBC brass made with regard to replacing the long standing voice over recording voiced by Howard Reig for the Nightly News with announcing by Michael Douglas.

At any rate, while thousands of miffed people are racking their brains on what to do about the voice over, Peter K. O’Connell has come up with a possible solution.

O’Connell, who was rather disappointed with the new voice over for NBC’s Nightly News (but loves Michael Douglas’ work otherwise), is holding a contest, albeit an unofficial one, to find the next voice of NBC’s supper hour news program.

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Mastercard Commercial Turns Potential Customers Off?

According to a law student, there is a new Mastercard “worldwide” commercial on TV which “contains one of the most annoying creepy voiceover-jobs of a woman has recorded in quite some time”.

That’s quite the accomplishment in the creepy voice over department, particularly for credit cards, wouldn’t you say?

“…it would make one want to STEER CLEAR of THAT Mastercard credit card… maybe Mastercard altogether. How can you find out who decided to go with that disaster?”

If you’ve heard this commercial, chime in with your thoughts on the creepiness factor should it exist.

Source: LawSchoolDiscussion.org

Voicevertising in the Modern Age

Um, just what is this guy doing?  Apparently, he’s voicevertising.

Just when you thought you’d heard of everything, enter a whole slew of new “vertising” marketing ploys.

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Stewart and Colbert to Return Without Writers

Mr. Stewart, host of “The Daily Show,” and Mr. Colbert, host of “The Colbert Report,” will have to improvise their monologues and interviews without the help of their writing staffs.

In a statement, Comedy Central said, “We continue to hold out hope for a swift resolution to the current stalemate that will enable the shows to be complete again.”

It was unclear why the two men decided to return. The announcement came days after the NBC hosts Jay Leno and Conan O’Brien and the ABC host Jimmy Kimmel said they would resume their late-night shows on Jan. 2.

The CBS hosts David Letterman and Craig Ferguson are also expected to return on Jan. 2. Mr. Letterman’s production company is scheduled to meet with the writers’ guild on Friday to discuss an interim agreement that would allow writers for the two shows to resume work.

A Comedy Central spokesman declined to say whether it had pursued a deal with the guild.

Both Mr. Stewart and Mr. Colbert are known for their political barbs and comedic campaign coverage, and their programs will resume one day before the first in a series of pivotal primary election nights. Comedy Central indicated that the timing was coincidental, since both shows were scheduled long ago to take a two-week end-of-year hiatus.

Both hosts are Writers Guild of America members. The guild, in a statement, accused Comedy Central of forcing the two hosts back to work and reiterated that the studios should resume negotiations to reach a settlement in the strike.

In a statement, the two hosts said they would prefer to return to work with their writers. “If we cannot, we would like to express our ambivalence, but without our writers we are unable to express something as nuanced as ambivalence,” they stated.

Without writers, “The Daily Show” and “The Colbert Report,” which are shown weeknights at 11 p.m. and at 11:30 p.m. and serve as important shows for Comedy Central, are likely to lean on unscripted interview segments. Booking guests may not be easy because some entertainers and presidential candidates have refused to cross picket lines.

Related

Late Shows to Return, but Who’ll Be Talking?

Source: NYTimes.com

Fights over “Distinctive Voices” Ensue at CNN for 360

Just wait a minute…

It appears that NBC wasn’t the only network with its heart set on Michael Douglas to voice their intros.

Reports are in that Anderson Cooper of CNN’s program 360 were considering the very same “distinctive voice” but were steered off course to consider other voices when all of a sudden NBC announces that they hired the Hollywood actor Michael Douglas to introduce their NBC Nightly News broadcast among other station branding voice overs.

“Damn that NBC Nightly News,” writes Anderson Cooper on his blog. “For about six months now we’ve been working on having someone with a very distinctive voice introduce 360 every night.”

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Bob Souer Narrates 774,000 Words for Bible Podcast

Voices.com: It’s amazing that you are recording the entire Bible! Could you please specify which version of the Bible it is and the total word count?

Bob Souer: This project is for the world’s largest publisher of Bibles, Thomas Nelson. We’re using their “New King James” version. Word count is about 774,000.

Voices.com: What has the process been like so far working on such a large and monumental project? Do you do anything special to prepare for your sessions?

Bob Souer: The process has gone amazingly smoothly. I’m in my home studio in Charlotte, NC, connected via either Source Connect or ISDN (most of the sessions have been done with ISDN thus far, but with the new version of Source Connect coming in about a month we’re hoping to be able to move to that system more often) to the main production studio in Nashville, TN. I try to get a short nap before I start my session each day. In a typical week, we record for 4 hours each day Monday through Friday for between 5 and 7 hours on Saturday. Sunday is a day off for all of us.

Voices.com: Which stories are your favorites? Any verses in particular that you enjoy reading aloud?

Bob Souer: Reading the Psalms was a great joy. They lend themselves to being read aloud so very well. Also, some of the familiar passages in Isaiah were very interesting to read in the context of the entire book. In fact, the single most striking thing about taking part in this project is getting an opportunity to experience these familiar stories in the whole context. No matter how familiar an individual story or passage is, it takes on a different flavor when read as part of the whole.

Voices.com: Is there an element of voice acting involved (differentiating individuals in the Bible) or is this project more of a straight narration project?

Bob Souer: We’re not doing “characters” as we read, but as I mentioned in conversation with my friend Dan Nachtrab the other day, the key for me has been to keep in mind that it’s simply telling stories. Even the genealogies are the story of a family, told in a way that sounds strange to our 21st century ears; but still a story.

Voices.com: Which company hired you? Were you given any specific direction from your client as to interpretation?

Bob Souer: The production and editing are all being done at Northstar Studios in Nashville, TN. They have an audio editor and a producer who are overseeing every detail, both of whom are monitoring the script as I read; so very few mistakes slip through. We have pick-up sessions now and then to go back and correct those few places that we didn’t catch as we were recording initially.

Voices.com: How will people be able to purchase / access the recordings and will there be a CD series with all the recordings on them? Have you completed the job as of yet or is there a deadline you have set for yourself?

Bob Souer: This project, as I understand it, is being recorded for distribution as a daily podcast so that at the end of a year, you’ll have listened to the entire Bible. I believe that’s going to take place through the Thomas Nelson website, possibly through iTunes or another distribution site, too but I don’t know the specific details.

Source: VOX Daily Voice Actors Blog

AudioFile Magazine Reveals Top Audiobooks of 2007

Fan of audiobooks?

AudioFile’s editors recommend 45 must-hear audiobooks of the past year.

From great literature to explorations of current events, these audio experiences represent the very best of the medium.

Is your favorite audiobook listed here?

Find out now. Read more

Skywalker Sound Secrets Revealed

CNET asks what makes a good movie? Is it the story? The acting?

What about the sound?

It may be a cinematic element that goes in one ear and out the other, but when you really stop to listen, you may be surprised what an impact sound design has on a movie.

CNET News.com reporter Kara Tsuboi spent a day at Skywalker Sound, putting her ear to the ground to learn some sound secrets. Catch the video of Kara’s day at Skywalker Sound here.

Source: CNET News.com

Citrus Ads To Feature the Voice of Tom Selleck

Remember Magnum P.I.?

Tom Selleck is back in a voice over role with a $90,000 contract as spokesman for Florida orange juice in new 15- and 30-second spots scheduled to air in January.

The Florida Department of Citrus hopes its new OJ ads will have a “magnum” impact of sales.

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Voice Acting in Second Life

Second Life isn’t just a place to hang out and make virtual friends in virtual locations. Turns out, it’s also somewhere people can sell their products and services.

Voice actor Ari Ross, also known as “Voicedude Reinoir” at SecondLife.com, is one such person who has set up shop in what residents of the website lovingly call SL. Voicedude Reinoir’s store is aptly named “Vox Humana “, highly indicative of his voice over services.

Living it up on Linden dollars, business is booming in the Second Life marketplace.

Starting with a gig for American Express endeavors on Second Life and some voice acting for a CSI : NY game in the virtual world, Ari, erm, Voicedude Reinoir, has struck a chord and has giving the community a little something to talk about.

Source: VOX Daily - Read the exclusive interview with Ari Ross. Vox Humana pictured below.

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