VO Tip of the week!
Welcome to this weeks tip of the week!
Working the microphone: Never blow into or tap a mic!
Studio microphones are delicate and very expensive. Blowing into a microphone can cause severe damage. When testing a mic or giving a level to the engineer, always speak in the actual volume of your performance. When the engineer asks you to read for levels, consider it an opportunity to rehearse your performance.
Tapping the microphone, although not usually harmful, is annoying to most engineers. It´s good to keep engineers on your side, they control how you sound and have complete power in the control room. Remember this basic studio etiquette: don´t touch the equipment!
VO Tip of the week!
Welcome to a new year of VO Tips!
Keep your sinuses clear
Clogged or stuffy sinuses can seriously affect your performance. You can find in any pharmacy nasal sprays, tablets and capsules that help if you have a stuffy nose. However you must be careful when using this type of medication because they will do the job, but most likely also dry your mouth.
An alternative to decongestants is a saline nasal rinse. Rinsing the nasal passage with a mixture of warm saline solution is a proven method for treating sinus problems, colds, allergies, post-nasal drip, and for counteracting the effects of environmental pollution.
Here is our VO Tip of the week!
Relax your tongue!
It seems odd but not only your body and lips get tense, your tongue too!A simple stretching exercise can relax your tongue, and also help relax the muscles at the back of your mouth.
Begin by sticking out your tongue as far as you can, stretching it towards your chin. Hold it for five seconds and then pull it towards your right cheek and then the left one. Afterwards do the same pointing your tongue towards your nose.
Another tongue stretch is to grasp your extended tongue gently with your fingers and pull it. Simple as that. Just take a deep breath and pull your tongue forwards as you slowly say AAAAHHH. It may feel like yawning and yawning also helps open your throat so it´s a win – win!
We welcome Jeremy Redleaf, voice of Sesame St. character Gonnigan
It is great when you meet the person who does the voice of a famous Tv Character. We were pleased to have Actor Jeremy Redleaf Elite Music Studios-EMS Emmy Award-winning multi-hyphenate.
Co-writer/co-director/co-star of “3rd St Blackout,” an upcoming feature fim. “Gonnigan” on “Sesame Street”, Narrator of MTV’s “Guy Code”, “Guy Court” and “Jobs that Don’t Suck”. While visiting family in Miami, Redleaf stopped by our studio to fulfill his commitments with ABC Family Network ABC Family and record Tv promos for up coming shows. @kussyp Rafael Pereira Audio Engineer for the session.
Follow him on his twitter @TheLeafisRed
Pastor Carlos Ortiz ADR’s at Elite!
Today we had the pleasure of working with Pastor Carlos Ortiz in and ADR from a new movie coming out in which he has an important role.
The movie, from Wolfgang Cinema, is called “The Pastor”, it stars Arturo Muyshondt and it was written and directed by Deborah Goodwin.
Muyshondt’s character is a former gang leader who discovers his faith in God after a brutal knife attack. Pursuing his newfound faith, a prison pastor mentors and ordains (Performed by Pastor Carlos), the once violent man. After being released, the new pastor vows to protect and serve his community. This movie is scheduled to come out next year.
Pastor Carlos Ortiz is an important member of his comunity here in Miami with more that 100K followers on twitter @pastorcarloso and his we page is cristovivemiami.com
This week we have exciting news!
Mary Spio is recording her new Audio Book, IT’S NOT ROCKET SCIENCE at Elite Music Studios!
Mary Spio is president and co-founder of Gen2Media Corp., now called Vidaroo, an Internet-oriented video production and distribution company that helps companies produce and put video online. Mary Spio was once a deep space engineer designing satellites at Boeing.
Now a published author, Mary Spio is considered one of the Ambassadors of Innovation in the United States. A Rocket scientist, internet entrepreneur, and popular speaker, in her book Mary Spio presents practical advice for beating the odds, breaking the mold, and charting your own path to achieve true success.
You can find her at her twitter account: @maryspio
Welcome to December!!!
This is our first VO Tip of the month!
SOME THINGS TO AVOID
Dairy products such as milk and cheese can cause sinuses to congest. Stay away from theses products when you know you have a VO job.
Also, clearing your throat with a hard and raspy cough might hurt your vocal chords. If you need to do it, you should try progressing from a gentle hum into a slow cough and always be sure to vocalize and put some air across your vocal cords whenever you cough.
Avoid eating before a session, food can cause your mouth to salivate more even hours after eating.
Our last thing to avoid today is to not cover up throat pain. Doing so will not improve your performance and might damage your vocal cords. If you feel you cannot perform you should advise your agent or client so that alternative plans can be made.
Monday VO Tip!
The voice: a wind instrument.
It’s all about breathing. Your voice is a wind instrument and to do any work with your voice you need to learn how to breathe. Allowing you diaphragm to expand when inhaling allows you lungs to expand more completely and fill with a larger quantity of air than if a breath is taken by just expanding your chest. You should be relaxed in order to achieve this. For a performer, correct breathing comes from the diaphragm and not from the chest.
This, as well as everything else in voice over acting, is better achieved with practice.
So go on breathing and have a Happy Thanksgiving!
