Banjo the adorable Labradoodle loves his birthday hat, a little too much – and Lisa turns 21, one more time! You’ll love the antics in this family friendly caper! Don’t miss “The Adventures of Banjo & The Birthday Girl!” At select drive ins soon.
If you’ve always wanted to learn about the voice over industry and how to prepare yourself for a career in Radio and TV commercials, this is your chance!
SunSpots Productions Orlando studios will be hosting Top Hat Productions’ Voice Over Training Workshop on May 8th from 9am to 5pm.
This unique voice-over training workshop is taught by three seasoned voiceover professionals who own Top Hat Productions, an award-winning audio production company. They will take you step by step through the process of establishing a successful voice-over career. Topics include commercial script interpretation, diction and inflection, creating your voice demo, studio etiquette, finding work, marketing your voice and launching your own voice-over business!
According to Top Hat Productions, this complete workshop is packed with information from 3 well known pros with over 60 combined years in voice-overs. You’ll receive a CD with interviews and samples of actual demos of other pros, and record your first commercial for your demo. You could even earn your investment back with your very first voice-over job!
For more information, visit TopHatProductions.net
Yeah, we’re fools for dancing babies, but babies on roller skate with attitude are even better. That’s a tv commercial that sticks to the brain. Does the product stick the same way? I remember the roller skating babies, but not the bottle they’re selling. How about you? Does a memorable tv campaign sell the product well or just the commercial itself? I do like the voiceover. Go baby go!
I just saw news yesterday of pythons being an invasive species in Florida. Here’s the story from USA today: http://tinyurl.com/msfp78
We had a small invasion of snakes here at SunSpots Productions Asheville…well in the driveway at least. As I was driving back from doing some errands away from the studio I drove up our driveway and found this elongated beastie catching some sun.
From online sources I think it’s a black rat snake. Possibly a female since I saw a baby the night before while I was walking in some grass around the same area. I had my camera in the car with me and was shooting from the window. Here’s a closeup (from far away):
Here’s one once it moved across the driveway:
I’ll have to get my camera ready for this weekend to catch some more wild beasties! Last night, right after sunset, there were 2 juvenile deer trying to get the apples from the apple tree about 20 yards from Bryan’s studio window. They were standing on their hind legs and would jump and hop and sort of fall over when they missed. The tree this year is bursting with apples so I bet we’ll have lots of woodland creatures visiting throughout the fall. So far this summer we’ve seen turkeys, deer, a black bear and snakes. Oh! PLUS, I’ve seen many honey bees on the flowers. After a good 8 years of decline they seem to have returned strong this year. That’s a very good thing. Hey, here’s something interesting…Bryan just told me that honey bees are not native to North America. He’s a flippin’ nature geenyus!
Voiceovers and nature…is there anything better?
Seen any creepy crawly, slithering, jumping, hopping, barking, mewing visitors at your place?
Tom
Story from the New York Daily News online edition about Rachel Ray and her vocal issues. Tuesday, July 14th 2009, 4:00 AM Rachel Ray is planning to be “giving her voice a rest for the next week or two,” says the TV host’s rep. The vocal cord operation that omnipresent TV host Rachael Ray reportedly underwent last week has a very high success rate, which means the ebullient celebrity chef should be back in the kitchen before long. Ray underwent surgery, according to People magazine, in order to remove a benign cyst from her vocal cord, following months of failed vocal therapy. Her rep,Charlie Dougiello, said in People that the toughest part for the chef “is going to be giving her voice a rest for the next week or two.” Most at risk for developing vocal problems such as cysts, nodules and polyps are singers, teachers, sales people and others who talk a lot, says Dr. Clark Rosen, an otolaryngologist specializing in voice disorders at the University of Pittsburgh. “It is a result of overuse or misuse of the voice,” he says. “Rachael Ray speaks very loudly and she has what we call a percussive voice, not a soft voice. Vocal cords are designed to vibrate with each other, but they do need down time or recovery time.” (This is important for us to remember in the voiceover business. Some of us are very active with voicing all day or evenings. Here’s confirmation that we need to take breaks and care for our vocal cords the way a professional athlete would with their muscles. A raspy voice indicates that the vocal cords need a period of rest or have been damaged and need additional care.) Soft and pliable, vocal cords, or folds, vibrate extremely fast in order to give the voice its pitch, explains Dr. Michael Johns, an otolaryngologist specializing in voice disorders and director of the Emory Voice Center. “They vibrate 200 times per seconds for women, and for sopranos, they may vibrate 1,000 times a second,” he explains. “What happens with a cyst is that the delicate mucus membranes break down, and then the folds don’t vibrate in the same way.” The first course of treatment is voice therapy, which very often takes care of the problem. If it doesn’t, an operation to remove the cyst is recommended. Surgery is “generally safe,” Johns says, and it’s “almost always successful” when done by a competent specialist. The toughest part could be the recovery period following surgery. “You have to rest your voice for a week,” he says. “And that means no talking, no whispering, no throat clearing and no coughing.” In Ray’s case, her rep told People that “the minor, non-invasive procedure was a success and she is already resting at home.” Though overusing the voice is definitely a risk factor for vocal cord problems, it’s not known why some big talkers get them and others don’t, Rosen says. “Some guys can sell peanuts at the stadium for 2-0 years and never have a problem, and yet a 16-year-old girl can develop a vocal cord bump after just on The main symptom is persistent hoarseness. Says Rosen: “Anyone with persistent hoarseness for two weeks without an upper respiratory infection should see a doctor. (What do you do to keep your vocal cords healthy and strong? Are there exercises you perform to strengthen your voice?) (Here are some informative links about vocal cord nodules, polyps and cysts: American Academy of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, Merck.com, and the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association
Rachael Ray undergoes vocal cord surgery to remove benign cyst
Napolitano/FilmMagic
e round of high singing demands in the spring musical,” he says.
SunSpots Productions Zak Miller becomes full-time Voiceover Talent
As one of the founding members and manager of SunSpots Productions Orlando recording studios team, Zak Miller has decided to “put out his shingle” and work as a full-time voiceover announcer. Zak’s been working behind the console and mic for over 12 years with SunSpots and produced over 7,500 sessions and personally voiced over 1,700 radio and tv commercials and narrations. You can hear Zak Miller’s voices at SunSpots: http://www.sunspotsproductions.com/Voice_talent_detail.cfm?id=59
Zak got his start behind the mic in 1992 on the air at WCHZ in Augusta, Georgia. Zak says, “That opened the part of my brain that told me I love to voice! I produced my first spot for a horse show at a South Carolina mall. I had no sound effects so I had to foley everything!” From that radio station in Georgia, Zak worked his way to WDIZ in Orlando, Florida working middays as a DJ. Eventually he moved off the air to the Creative Service Department of Clear Channel Broadcasting in Orlando. While there, he voiced for the Orlando Predators Arena Football Team, Solar Bears Hockey Team and various concerts for the Orlando area.
It was Zak’s work on the radio that attracted SunSpots Productions attention. He joined the SunSpots team in 1997, soon after the company opened its Orlando studios location. Within a few years he became manager of the Florida studio. Zak describes his early years at SunSpots Productions, “Being on the ground floor of SunSpots was a very exciting time. To be a part of the growth and formation of a company like SunSpots with the ideals and approaches to the industry will always remain a special memory. To be able to raise the industry standards and what is and was expected from a production studio and talent agent was a great feeling. SunSpots has changed the way I approach life, business and relationships.” One of his favorite memories of SunSpots was, “sitting in the lobby eating Chinese food and thinking of names for the company. I’ll never forget the time that Janet (SunSpots Co-Owner), fellow voice talent Jaz Adams and I spent the day piling sand around the building to keep “Lake Cassidy” from flooding into the studios!”
Zak’s enthusiastic about his career change to jump to the other side of the recording console as a full-time voice talent. “I am very excited about voicing full-time. How come? When you’re able to do something in life that feeds your passion and creativity, your life becomes more fulfilled…My favorite spot to voice is a spot that tells a story. I love to be able to bring a person into a scene with my voice and my inflection.”
The entire SunSpots Productions staff wishes Zak the very best in his new voice talent career. To hear Zak Miller’s voices (he does a variety of voiceover styles) and his voiceover demos please contact SunSpots Productions at 800-355-SPOTS or online at www.SunSpotsProductions.com. You can also schedule Zak through SunSpots web site.
SunSpots Productions is a global supplier of voice talent and creative audio production and is a licensed talent agent in the State of Florida. SunSpots creates award winning audio from their studios near Asheville, North Carolina and Orlando, Florida.
Lots of bad news out there so it’s nice to see something that will definitely put a smile on your face. I love the idea of street theater and this is a perfectly choreographed example of it at work in England’s Liverpool Street Station. Go ahead and shake it at the office!
Fun wasn’t it?
Isn’t it great to see people of all ages and colors get together just to shake their collective groove thangs. Does it make me want to switch phone services to T-Mobile? Not really, but we are talking about them because of this video. As a basic branding device I think they hit the mark. The video is described as “T-Mobile dance” on Youtube so they’ve got their name out there in a very positive way. Wouldn’t it be fun if during political season, the advertising took a more positive, fun approach? Let’s hope that as we shift our values within our global economic crisis we appreciate and promote the good things in our world like cranking up the box and doing a little dance occasionally.
Oh, and when you need voiceovers and production for your audio projects call SunSpots at 800-355-SPOTS. We even edit together music like you’ve heard in the video for dance teams and cheerleader competitions. Yeah, we do it all. It’s a burden we have to live with. 
Tom