still ACTING after all these years » VOICE OVER http://txactor.com a Texas based actor spouts off about the actor's life Sun, 25 Jul 2010 13:12:18 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.4 en hourly 1 Voice Over Actor’s Porta Booth http://txactor.com/2008/03/16/voice-over-actors-porta-booth.html http://txactor.com/2008/03/16/voice-over-actors-porta-booth.html#comments Mon, 17 Mar 2008 03:45:29 +0000 txactor http://txactor.com/2008/03/16/voice-over-actors-porta-booth.html A few weeks ago I found the web site of Harlan Hogan, voice over actor extraordinaire. There is a lot of good voice over related material on Hogan’s site and if you’re into voice over work or want to be, I suggest you check it out. When I saw this Porta Booth, I knew I wanted to put one of these babies together for my own use. You may have already seen this elsewhere, but I hadn’t so maybe someone else will be informed by this post. The Porta Booth

Welcome To My Web Site

Okay that little .mp3 clip doesn’t tell you much about the Porta Booth…but I’m running out of time today…and I’m watching DEXTER. Priorities, you know. Let me just cut to the chase and say that in my opinion, this is a little 20 minute project that is well worth the time and expense.

Today between church and the Texas / Kansas Big 12 Championship game, I ran by Guitar Center and picked up a sheet of Auralex Studiofoam (2″ pyramid) which set me back $29 and change. I had already purchased the 14″ x 14″ Whitmor cube as specified on Harlan Hogan’s web site. Let me save you some time in finding your Whitmor cube. You probably won’t find the 14″ x 14″ cubes in a brick and mortar store. Just place your order with Amazon.com and they get shipped in a 2-pack from Target. The cubes will set you back about $12 including shipping. Mine arrived in 2 days. I already had my microphone, an AT3035 Condenser mic AT 3035 Cardioid Condenser Microphone(not the best or most expensive mic available but I like it for home recorded VO demos), so this whole project set me back less than $50. If you don’t have a proper home studio and you’re tired of recording your voice over audition demos in the closet, maybe this is something you want to look at.

Now, folks, if I can put this thing together, simple as it is, so can you. But if you need more instruction, below is a link to a video that shows the steps you need to take to assemble the Porta Booth. For a complete explanation of and instructions for assembling your own personal Porta Booth, visit Hogan’s Web Site.Or…if you just want to spend a little more money, I think Hogan will put one of his Porta Booths together for you and you even get an official Porta Booth sticker…all for $129.00. He’ll throw the whole thing is a compression sac for another $20. But really, he gives you all the information you need for a very quick DIY project. Let me know if you’re using this or something similar and how it’s working out for you.

Below is a Porta Booth video I found on YouTube:

Whoops…I forgot another expense item: a desktop mic stand. I got one from Musician’s Friend for $6.50 or I could have paid $15 for it locally…came out about $3-$4 cheaper ordering online including shipping.

]]> http://txactor.com/2008/03/16/voice-over-actors-porta-booth.html/feed 0 still ACTING after all these years has a new home http://txactor.com/2008/02/25/still-acting-after-all-these-years-has-a-new-home.html http://txactor.com/2008/02/25/still-acting-after-all-these-years-has-a-new-home.html#comments Mon, 25 Feb 2008 14:56:01 +0000 txactor http://txactor.com/2008/02/25/still-acting-after-all-these-years-has-a-new-home.html I’ve spent part of this past weekend moving my blog over from a Google blogspot account to here at my own place on the web. There are some issues I’m still getting lined out but most everything has gone rather smoothly. The ‘trouble’ I’m having now is related to the ‘upload’ directory. I moved my upload directory from my desktop onto my web host server and all the files seem to be there. But they don’t show up in Wordpress unless I upload them again. I can do that but I’m sure there is some explanation as to why it’s not working without manually uploading all the files again. The other thing I’m trying to get sorted out is that my video on one post won’t play. The file is on the server, the player appears in the post, but the video isn’t playing. These are relatively minor issues and when I have time, I’m sure I’ll get it all tracked down and worked out.

In the mean time I have added a VOICE OVER DEMO page and have successfully uploaded some commercial and industrial narration voice over samples.

If anyone has any suggestions about getting the video to work, please don’t be shy. I’m using the Anarchy plugin and it was working perfectly on my desktop localhost installation of Wordpress.

]]> http://txactor.com/2008/02/25/still-acting-after-all-these-years-has-a-new-home.html/feed 0 Agent Adds Voice Over Capability http://txactor.com/2008/02/21/agent-adds-voice-over-capability.html http://txactor.com/2008/02/21/agent-adds-voice-over-capability.html#comments Thu, 21 Feb 2008 12:42:00 +0000 txactor http://txactor.com/?p=68 Great news from my Austin agent, Heather Collier at Collier Talent. She is starting to use Voice Bank for VO auditions for us client actors. I’m really happy about this. Though I haven’t done much VO work in recent years, that’s actually how I cut my teeth in this business. Back in the day… I did many, many VO jobs in Dallas and had some success in L.A. as well. When I moved to Austin, my first agent was DB Talent, the biggest VO agency in this market. I subsequently left DB in hopes of getting more chances at film / TV work and in the process sacrificed the VO work. So, this is good news. I’ve loved working with Heather and Collier Talent and this move definitely puts a smile on my face.

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