VO-BB - 20 YEARS OLD!

[Bruce]

We've got stacks of wax, tons of tunes, and pounds of sounds for ya this Sunday cause it's the 20th is the above named day!! Anybody celebrating?

I just remember dreaming about being a deejay during my teens, and then during my 10+ year career in the biz they were mostly heady days.

It's not true for everyone I guess, but that route plus the on-camera acting I did really helped me transition into VO.

Anyone else start in radio? Did it help or hurt you getting into voiceover?

B
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VO-BB Member #31 Enlisted June, 2005

I'm not a Zoo, but over the years I've played one on radio/TV. .

[dshetterly]

We've upped our wattage... now up yours!

My 23 years in radio gave me that "announcery" style that I've been spending the last 10 trying to shed. But hey - I have a killer radio t-shirt collection and saw some awesome concerts for free. Now, about the tinnitus...
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www.dereksvoice.com

[Lee Gordon]

To those who celebrate.

I started in radio almost 50 years ago (Yikes!). Actually, it was even longer than that with campus stations in high school and college, beginning in 1967, but the first job for pay ($2 an hour) was June '69.

In some ways, the "radio announcer" was always just a character, so it's not something I've had to spend years getting away from. Besides, in '78, I transitioned from on-air DJ or newscaster to production guy, and that was great preparation for the VO career.
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Lee Gordon, O.A.V.
Voice President of the United States
www.leegordonproductions.com
Twitter: @LeeGordonVoice

[BruceG]

I worked in radio part-time (while holding down a full-time job and trying to balance a family) for 12 years, in a variety of formats. I was on-air and also handled production chores when they were available. I've done editing with a grease pencil and razor blade...and was thrilled with the transition to digital production in the mid-late 1990s, especially when it came to recording phoners on Vox-Pro. The big downside to the advent of this new technology was the elimination of on-air jobs, particularly part-timers. I left "the biz" on my own accord in 2001 but tried years later to get back in with the help of an old radio-buddy. No dice. That led to my journey into the voiceover world.

Working in radio definitely gave me an edge with audio editing, recording and post-production, but the "announcer syndrome" was definitely an issue starting out.
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"What was that? An exhibition? We need emotional content." - Bruce Lee, Enter The Dragon

[todd ellis]

i have respect for anybody who can use one of these:



... or knows what this is.


bonus points -

ever throw the WRONG 5" piece of tape in the 3 foot wide pile of 5" pieces of tape on the production room floor? i'll bet lee has.
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"i know philip banks": todd ellis
who's/on/1st?

[Mike Harrison]

That there's the EDITall S-3 splicing block, used with single-edge razor blades to edit 1/4" magnetic audiotape, optimally having only a single track of signal (monaural, recorded the full width of the tape). It can also be used for half-track professional stereo recordings with decent results.

While the 90-degree groove is used to simply attach leader tape to audiotape, the 45-degree groove is used for the actual editing of audio. The reason being, as the microscopic gap in the tape heads is at a 90-degree angle (straight up and down), a thump would be heard as the 90-degree splice passed over the play head because it perfectly matches the head gap. A cut of 45-degrees, however, will pass over the 90-degree head gap more gradually (albeit still fairly quickly), reducing or eliminating the chance of any extraneous noise.

Editing was done by slowly moving the tape back and forth (aka rocking) over the play head until the correct spot was heard (a good editor has to know what he's listening to and what to listen for). That point on the tape was then typically marked with a grease pencil or china marker. A second edit point, usually further into the recording, was located and similarly marked. The editor would roughly cut the tape between the two edit points and then press the two lengths of tape into the splicing block, with one of the marked edit points aligned on top of the other, mid-way in the edit groove. Placing one corner of a sharp razor blade into the top of the groove, a swift cut was made, slicing both pieces of tape simultaneously. A dull blade and/or an apprehensive cut usually resulted in a ruined and irreparable edit. The unwanted portions of tape were pulled out of the splicing block and discarded. The two cut ends of the tape still in the splicing block were then slid away from the groove and butted tightly against each other without overlap. A piece of adhesive splicing tape (about a half-inch) would be laid over the edit point and pressed firmly to secure the edit. The edited tape was removed from the splicing block and auditioned.

From this process came the adage that still lives today: "The best edits are the ones nobody hears."

The photo below shows a later model splicing block, replacing the 90-degree groove with one of a steeper angle (I believe it's 78-degrees), which is designed for editing tapes having up to four tracks.


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Mike
Male Voice Over Talent
I have taken leave of my sensors.

[Bish]

Cultural differences:
I was once having a conversation with an American contemporary regarding the magic and mystery of tape. I was never a DJ or in radio production... but spent a lot of time splicing tape for... well, because I'm sad and enjoyed making tape loops and musique concrete.

I was waxing eloquent about the joys of a good chinagraph pencil and he had no idea what I was talking about. "Oh, a grease pencil!" he eventually exclaimed.

Bloody colonials.
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Bish a.k.a. Bish
Smoke me a kipper... I'll be back for breakfast.
I will not feed the trolls... I will not feed the trolls... I will not feed the trolls... I will not feed the trolls.

[Lee Gordon]

[todd ellis]

i always said "china pencil" --- so i guess i'm a special kind of slow.
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"i know philip banks": todd ellis
who's/on/1st?

[Dan-O]

Glad to see DJs getting their day. It's kinda like the pool scene in Caddy Shack.



/so, whatever happened to International Voiceover Month? Did they finally come to the realization no one really cares?

[Philip Banks]

[todd ellis]

there are a LOT of people out there who deserve an agressive headbutt
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"i know philip banks": todd ellis
who's/on/1st?

[Dan-O]

If i chose a day to celebrate VO it would be March 31. Just to give most people a day to figure out it's a joke.

[DougVox]

[todd ellis]

this actually makes me want to splice some tape --- like build a foghat concert promo.
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"i know philip banks": todd ellis
who's/on/1st?