Got to get it together....

Well, I finally slapped together a cartoon demo.... 11 minutes too late to get in on the new tv show auditions.  :-(  Well, it is posted now.  I can improve on it and re-post, but with it out there I will finally appear in the search listings.  Well, it is a start.  The demo is about 2min long, a bit long really.  I need to shorten the clips and add a few more.  Get it down to 90sec.
Ugh!  Tired.  Yes, it was a long weekend, but I spent the last two days sick and unable to sit up and do editing for the demo!  At least the fever went away.

Oh, the other bit of news?  The animation intensive weekend has been canceled....again!

I think I may need to go with the local company and hope they are not offended that I started with someone else.  It is so frustrating, I don't have resources in abundance to sink into this, I have to get things rolling so it can cover it's own costs!  I'm going to need another year of Voices membership in a couple months, plus a replacement computer since this one is 11 years old already!  Well, I did get two likes from auditions in the last few weeks, so that is a start.

Work in the morning, so I better get into bed.  Short week, off Friday and then next week.  I'll save the project in Audacity and go dream for a bit.....

July

I have managed to get a few more auditions in, two of them were even liked!    Yay!    It....no jobs.  :-(  So, I'll have to keep auditioning and trying.  I misses out on the Stella audition, I didn't get my edits done in time and missed it by a few minutes!  Phoo! So I may need to get a side job if I want to be in the class next month.

The GRIND........

Ugh!  It has been a few weeks now since I have tried to do anything with VO.  :-(  Everything just seems to be dragging me off, mostly my energy level.  They still have not finalized the dates for the weekend VO class in town, I'll drop them a line to ask again, as well as congrats for Lee on the Leo award!  Yay!

The Bill DeWees thing was great, and he has such a lot of helpful advice and encouragement.  I feel like I'm failing by not getting something going! I've got to keep my eye on the long-game.....

So, I signed up and listened to a webinar by Bill Wees last night.  He offers to work with VO actors as a consultant to build their VO business the way he built his.  It looks like it could be a good thing, but I can't afford that right now.  He did have useful advice, the presentation wasn't an hour long sales pitch.  I will have a look at what I can glean from my two weeks access to his private facebook group.  Due to the limited time, I think I need to concentrate on getting a decent demo together!  At least then potential clients have something to hear!  He also mentioned a site called fiverr.com.  I haden't heard of it and have yet to check it out.

Oh, I almost didn't get in on the webinar because my laptop is too old!  I did get a newer old phone to work through our wifi though!

Yep, get a demo and then push some work out to replace/update the basic equipment!

Phoo! Weekend just got free.......

Well, phooey!  The class was cancelled due to lack of participants!  Ug!  They said they would re-schedule  for later, so I warned them that the Calgary comic Expo was this month and that it would be wise to give a month after that at least.  We will see if they take that advice or not.

Understandable, but still very disappointing!  I shall have to do some serious work on my accents book before the next one.  Though, now the Expo is an option.  Maybe one day?  No crazy costumes this time though!  Only a couple weeks left.

I'll have to keep pushing auditions, maybe I will get a couple before the class.

Ha! Weekend is looking busy!

So, after some discussion and counting up of what I had squirrelled away we decided that I could sign up for the class this weekend!  YAY!!!!!!!

I get to work with Lee again!  And it looks like this time someone from one of the local agencies will be there as well!  This is GREAT!!!!!

No paperwork from OTM yet, but I did only sign up this afternoon.  I'm sure there will be some sides to get ready etc., and I'll have to get my head into the "go for it" mindset as well!

I know it is only a class, and even with a studio being there there is no "guarantee" I will even get a second look.  But there is a chance, and if I can get my notes reviewed fro m the last class as well as the voice gym this will be a great opportunity to step up my VO game!  I'm so glad there was still room!  YAY!!

Really, I should get a sample sound file or two off to the wonderful engineer at the Forge so he can give me feedback on it when I get there.

Now, I need to get busy with dinner etc here at home!

....aaaand time!

Well, I managed to get a few in tonight.  Missed just as many though, I forgot that the cutoff would be on Ontario time!  I hope that my ability to work with the software improves, as the time it takes me to set up a clip to transfer is fairly large!

Well, I best get some sleep.  I don't need to mess up my paying job over this!

(that, and I'm making so many spelling mistakes I'm typing everything twice!)

I have raw audio for a few more that I should be able to pull apart tomorrow.  For now, SLEEP!

Last ditch push.....

 So, the voice acting workshop is this weekend! I am trying to send in a bunch of auditions tonight in the hopes of getting a job or two.  Not that hopeful though.  I just don' have that "radio" voice yet, and there were no cartoon ones posted today.  I think I will try some non-paying ones on the one website I was looking at.  I've got to get something down to get the ball rolling!

March-ing forward.....

A few more auditions in this weekend.  No jobs yet.  Down to the last week of March already!  Aggg!  It seems unlikely that I'm going to be successful in getting enough work to take that class!

Phoo.

I know that the studio's all will take money and put together a demo reel, and that would be fine if I could get the system started!  Do a job or two, buy a demo set-up.  Get a few more jobs, upgrade equipment/take classes.  But without the first job, I'm kind of left to scrape together what I can and save up for things.  If that is what is needed, I guess that is what I'll do.  I so hoped that I could get to the next class next month!  I'd even do that over Calgary Expo I think!

Anyhow, time to go make dinner.  I'll just have to keep watching for postings that fit me well and learn how to work the sound software better.  I think that will help.

....or win the loto and just buy studio time!

Winter Doldrums

It has been a fight to get down and record.  judging by the one article I read, it is a common thing this time of year in the VO industry.  It was good to read that, it give doubt to the whispers that say I'm just kidding myself with this whole thing.  I re-read Lee's letter to me, that helped too.  It is hard to drive forward though.  It is also frustrating that now is a slow time, when I desperately would like a couple jobs so I can pay to go to the class in April!  Arg!  Unfair!  Bad Form!

I must push harder I guess.

I begin to feel like The Doctor escaping his prison, punching the wall......

Fighting resistance......

I managed to get myself downstairs and record a few more auditions.  It has been a few weeks, and the forces that push to keep me away are very persistent.  But, I managed to zap a couple.  Not the greatest, but NOT submitting means NO chance.  There were three that had closed already, so I sent off three.  Yes, my sleep suffered.  But not doing something towards this was draining what hope I have left for change.  I even sent off a "What the heck is going on" e-mail to a realtor on the coast asking why house prices have jumped so much when the economy has not.

Regardless, I will try to punch out recordings on a more regular basis.  Really, if I am to get to that class next month I'm going to have to get a job or two!  I still need to get a demo of some kind up on my profile.  At this point, almost ANYTHING would be better than nothing!

Time to stop typing and go get some sleep.

I'm not used to this double life of tradesman/artist!

Lee Returns to Calgary!

I have been informed that Mr. Tockar will be returning to Calgary for another Animation weekend!  Yay, but boo!  I have until April to gather the $$$ needed for it!  Ugg!  In an ideal world, I would be getting the odd VO job and could sock away for the class.  I think I'm messing things up somewhere because I haven't even received so much as a comment yet.  :-(  I will need to put some solid focus in on learning some of the technical aspects and hopefully can raise the needed funds to go.  I am also waiting in keen anticipation for the arrival of a gift, a book on accent training out of England!  It is the text for a voice acting class at Ambrose here in town.  Supposedly it arrived on the 10th, but we haven't seen it yet.  I do hope it wasn't taken off our doorstep!  That would be sad! ;-(

OK, time to do the lunch thing!

I've been trying to record auditions every week at least.  No bites yet, but I know my voice isn't a typical radio or announcer style voice.  I keep my eye out for cartoon character offers, but there are few posted on voices.  I still need to get a demo or two together for my profile, and get a sample over to the engineer for a listen.  Still, I'll put them out there.  I expected that it wouldn't just land at my feet!