Win an iPod Touch for your best “Worst” VO Story
August 10, 2009 by: Tracy PattinCONTEST DEADLINE EXTENDED!
With every voice over job, there are new experiences and occasionally great stories. We want to hear from you! Then YOU get to vote on the best story. Best story gets an iPod Touch. Second place gets a $25 Starbucks gift card.
NOTE! You do NOT have to name names!
PLUS! WINNER AND THEIR STORY WILL BE FEATURED IN OUR BLOG.
HERE’S THE QUESTION:
What has been your WORST voice over job? Describe it in 500 words or LESS.
SUBMISSION DEADLINE: Friday August 14th, 2009. SUBMIT IN THE COMMENTS SECTION OF THIS BLOG POST.
Finalists announced: Monday, August 17th
VOTING BEGINS: Tuesday, August 18th
VOTING ENDS: Tuesday August 25th
WINNER ANNOUNCED: Friday, August 28st
-Erica Kelly, COO VideoVoicebank.net
-Tracy Pattin
SUBSCRIBE TO THE FEED
Industry Mixer - Los Angeles
Ok I can tell you the story of the session I was doing at Spotrunner high atop the swanky 21st floor of 6300 Wilshire. Every few seconds as I did my read there was a loud flatulent burst of sound. Evidently somebody had hidden a voice activated electronic whoopie cushion in the booth. But I have another story that has a little more class….
It’s called…
The Mystery of the Audio Book Feedback.
Anyone who does audio books knows it’s the iron man triathlon of voice over. I was reading my first, The War at the Shore, Donald Trump, Steve Wynn and the Battle For Atlantic City by Richard Bronson. I had been pushing myself to do two chapters a day. All told about 9 hours of non-stop voicing and editing. I had recorded the audio and settled in to edit the tracks with a gigantic coffee mug filled with extra strong Costa Rican Blend to keep me going.
As the editing progressed, I started to notice a ringing on every word….UH OH…..FEEDBACK! I had absent mindedly left the headphones turned up in the booth while I recorded without the cans on. The sound from the headphones must’ve been just loud enough to create a tinny, ringing feedback in both chapters I had recorded. Nothing to do but unplug the headphones, go back to the booth and re-record fifty pages of War at the Shore.
After recording new tracks, I took a short break to refill my gigantic coffee mug with Costa Rican Blend and hunkered down for a marathon editing session. The audio sounded clean and I was ready to dig in. PHEW!
After about an hour, the pinging ringing feedback returned! UGH!!!!! How could the audio go bad? I reviewed the earlier part of the track that had sounded fine before. NOW IT HAD THE RINGING PINGING FEEDBACK!
In utter frustration I pounded my fist on the desk….and there was a ringing sound after I pounded. I hit the desk again…ding….I tapped the keyboard…ding. Then I tapped the gigantic coffee mug DING! That same ringing pinging note rang out.
The gigantic, now empty, coffee mug was the culprit. When the mug was full it resonated no sound. But when empty, the shape of the mug, the quality of the ceramic and the proximity to the monitor speakers were an acoustical perfect storm that created the audio illusion of feedback. Sound vibrations were making the mug produce a ringing pinging sound.
And that is the Mystery of the Audio Book Feedback. SOLVED!
Thanks John!