Karen@KarenCommins.com

Karen Commins

Award Winning

Atlanta Audiobook Share-ratorâ„¢

Archives for 2006

Another masterclass weekend coming up!

Last month, I was privileged to participate in a Women in Animation masterclass in New York City with Pat Fraley and Hillary Huber. Tomorrow, I’m jetting off to the other coast for their audiobook masterclass in Los Angeles!

The Saturday class filled so quickly when Pat announced it that he opened a session on Sunday. I am grateful to have snagged one of the 12 spots in the Sunday class.

While I’ve completed 2 commercial audiobooks in my studio, I am very excited at this opportunity to learn better audiobook performance and marketing techniques from Pat, Hillary and their guest instructors. In addition, we will be creating a new demo! In preparation for the class, Pat sent an .mp3 which demonstrated numerous styles of audiobook reads, and he gave us guidelines about selecting copy for our demo.

Check back here for the complete updates on this story from your roving reporter, who will soon be on the streets of LA! 🙂

 

Laziness and voice-over won’t mix

Last night, Drew and I had to pick up a few things, so we combined all of our shopping at the world’s largest retailer. I think you know its name, so I won’t mention it, much less give it a link. The people parked in front of us walked up to their car as we finished unloading our bags from the shopping cart into our car.

As I pushed our cart to the cart return area just down the row from our car, I noticed stray shopping carts abandoned all over the parking lot. People rolled the carts out of the store to their cars and just left the carts wherever they stopped. People couldn’t be bothered to walk a few steps to put their shopping cart in the designated area.When I walked back to our car, I noticed that the people in front of us were in their car. As Drew put our car in reverse, the people in front of us started driving forward. In other words, they couldn’t be bothered to put their car in reverse; they had actually waited for me to come back so that they could drive straight through!

Drew and I have made a promise to each other that we would not spread negativity. It may sound like I am breaking that promise to repeat this story now. I admit I was very irritated to notice 2 pieces of evidence of such extreme laziness. Since old habits die hard, I was ranting about the carts and the other driver to Drew.

I’m telling this story now for 2 reasons:

REASON #1 When you change the way you look at things, the things you look at change. (Wayne Dyer)

In order to stop my wave of negativity over the parking lot situation last night, I had to change my thought process. Rather than think that people are too lazy and irresponsible to return their shopping carts, I had to consciously choose another, better-feeling thought. I decided that having the carts scattered throughout the parking lot provided a necessary job to the strong person who had to corral them and run them back into the store.

Rather than think that the person in front of me was too lazy to put her car into reverse, I decided that maybe her reverse gear didn’t work or she was having transmission problems. In fact, I even thought that if she had put her car into reverse, she would have hit someone, which would have caused us to be a witness to the scene and made us get home at 3AM! Suddenly, it was easy to feel gratitude instead of irritation!

Sometimes it’s very easy to get mired in negative thinking, especially when it’s something really important like your voice-over career. It can be easy to be critical of yourself if you aren’t seeing the kind of break-throughs that you expected or the jobs are few and far between. However, keeping a positive mental outlook and being persistent in your efforts will get you where you want to be. The thoughts you think are a conscious choice.

Former talent agent Wally Amos, who invented the Famous Amos cookies, is credited with this quote:


Keep your thoughts positive because your thoughts become your words.
Keep your words positive because your words become your actions.
Keep your actions positive because your actions become your habits.
Keep your habits positive because your habits become your values.
Keep your values positive because your values become your destiny.

REASON #2 Without ambition, one starts nothing. Without work, one finishes nothing. The prize will not be sent to you. (Ralph Waldo Emerson)

I realize that I’m the only one who cares about my change in thinking last night at the store. (Okay, Drew cared, too.) However, the trend toward laziness is prevalent in our society, and I notice it constantly rearing its ugly head on all of the voice-over groups that I monitor. Every few days, someone will ask one of the perpetual questions:

“How do I get started in voice-over?” (I also frequently receive this question via e-mail. I always respond by asking people if they have read the information on my web site and suggesting that they start with a book. I refer them to my recommended reading list.)
“What equipment do I need?”
“How do I get an agent?”
“Which on-line casting web site is best? Do people actually make money from them?”
“What do I need to do for marketing?”

We live in the age of information and technology. The archives of all these groups contain an amazing bounty of information from a wide variety of people. In addition, plenty of free information can be obtained from my web site and many others on the Internet. Numerous books on voice-over have been written, and bookstore shelves are overflowing with marketing books that have brilliant ideas ready for implementation by the new businessperson.

My suggestion? READ. Read anything and everything that you can about voice-over, especially if you just getting into the field. Whether it’s an Internet forum on voice-over or some other subject, read the FAQ and the archives to see whether your question has been answered. Chances are excellent that you aren’t the first person to have the question. Don’t just jump in and ask the question because you’re impatient to be on your way and you want to take the easy road to get there.

There are no shortcuts to your success. You not only should do your own homework, but you will have to do some actual WORK (yes, even more than pushing a shopping cart to its designated area in the parking lot) if you expect to have a voice-over career. Even if I and other people told you everything we know just because you asked the question, we can’t do things for you. You’re trying to build a career, not a bologna and cheese sandwich.

If you want the prize, be prepared to work for it. By the way, the people who you think are overnight successes usually have been working diligently for about 10 years.

 

A Tale of Two Web Sites

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times,
it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness,
it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity,
it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness,
it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair,
we had everything before us, we had nothing before us,
we were all going direct to Heaven, we were all going direct
the other way–in short, the period was so far like the present
period, that some of its noisiest authorities insisted on its
being received, for good or for evil, in the superlative degree
of comparison only.

Was Charles Dickens really writing about the French Revolution in his novel A Tale of Two Cities, or could he perhaps have been writing a prediction about my move of my domain name to a new web host?

It was the best of times because I have a new web site. Along with a new design, the site contains updated demos, pictures of my beautiful new studio with its stunning Parisian theme and testimonials, as well as expanded informational content. It was the worst of times because the site design has been completed for some time, but I haven’t been able to launch the site. My main domain karencommins.com still points to Earthlink’s servers, while the new site can be previewed under either the KarenCommins.com or KarenVoices.com domains on 1and1.com servers. If you have clicked the logo on my blog, you have already seen the new site.

It was the age of wisdom because I developed the new site under a different domain. Furthermore, I was wise to shop around for a new web host who offered better pricing and customer service than I was receiving from Earthlink. My web site would never go down when I made the transition from the old host to the new one.

It was the age of foolishness to think that something that should be an easy task actually would be.

It was the epoch of belief when I started to make the DNS changes to move karencommins.com to the 1and1.com name servers. I believed I would access my account on Network Solutions, quickly make the change to my Whois record and routers everywhere would know about the change within a few days.

It was the epoch of incredulity when I learned about the snarled mess with my domain registration. I own the domain karencommins.com. Network Solutions is the registrar. However, my Network Solutions account did not reflect my domain.

It was the season of Light when the Network Solutions rep explained that Earthlink was one of their wholesale accounts. While Network Solutions was the actual registrar, Earthlink had registered the domain on my behalf. I therefore needed to contact Earthlink and request that Earthlink make changes to my Whois record for that domain.

It was the season of Darkness when I had to call Earthlink. First, the people on Earthlink’s support lines could not understand that changing my DNS record is a separate issue from changing my web hosting account. Earthlink refused to change my DNS record to a different web host, even though I would continue to pay my monthly web hosting fee to Earthlink and even though Earthlink was obligated to service my domain registration. Earthlink promised to release its stake on my domain registration so that Network Solutions would have total control of it. A phone call a week later had me going through the same scenario, only to learn that nothing had been accomplished.

It was the spring of hope when I called Network Solutions again and was offered the opportunity to convert my wholesale registration to a retail account. I had to fill out a form and provide proof of my identity and fax it back to the company.

It was the winter of despair (even in May) to learn on a subsequent phone call to Network Solutions that my first fax was never received. My despair continued when, after receiving confirmation that my second fax was received, I did not hear anything from Network Solutions. They told me that the paperwork could be processed in 3 days or less, yet 3 weeks passed without any communication from Network Solutions. At least I could shake off my despair by going on vacation with Drew!

We were all going direct to Heaven when I called Network Solutions earlier this week and found out that my paperwork had been processed! Apparently, I didn’t receive the notification because I somehow had 2 accounts, so they merged the information. HALLELUJAH!!!

After over 6 weeks of effort that included at least 6 phone calls and 2 faxes, I FINALLY am able to enter a simple change to my DNS record that will cause my current domain to match up with my new web site. You might think that I have already made the change and am just waiting for the replication to occur around the world. If that were the case, though, I wouldn’t feel the need to tell the story about it in pure Dickensonian fashion.

I truly think things happen for a reason. For instance, a monumental traffic jam in New York on Sunday 7 May prevented me from getting to the airport in time to make my flight home. The next flight was delayed an hour due to weather problems in Atlanta. I had the opportunity to calm a terribly irate passenger who was in the same circumstance with me. She was railing at the Delta agents because all of the eateries in LaGuardia — such as they are — were closed. I told her that if being late was her worst problem in life, she had no real problems.

I said there was some reason we were delayed. We weren’t meant to be on that earlier flight. We might have run into bad weather that would have made us sick. Maybe we would have had to circle Atlanta because we couldn’t land. I would much rather be standing in an airport than sitting on a plane!

I also reminded her about all the things for which she could be grateful. She was standing there in seemingly good health and had not been in a wreck in the incredible traffic jam in NY. She was so much better off than the vast majority of the world’s population, most of whom would be glad to trade places with her right then. She not only said she saw my point, but she stopped having her tantrum with the Delta agents. (BTW, after hearing this exchange, the Delta agent who was helping me granted my request of upgrading my husband’s ticket to first class at no charge!)

Maybe the Universe put all of these extreme delays of moving my domain in my path for a reason. Maybe I need to do a few more things on the new site before I launch it to the world. I know it has a few missing links and a couple of pieces of incomplete content. At least now I can make the change whenever I’m ready!

I started this entry with a famous quote from Charles Dickens, and I’d like to end it with another that, while less famous, sums up my ordeal in moving my domain name:

Reflect upon your present blessings, of which every man has many
not on your past misfortunes, of which all men have some.

 

Congrats to the Audies winners!

Last week, I was on vacation with Drew in Ft. Lauderdale. Otherwise, I would have liked to attend the annual Audio Publishers Association (APA) meeting and Book Expo America conference, held this year in Washington, DC.

The Audie Awards are juried awards in the audiobook and spoken word industry for the finest work in numerous categories, similar to the Grammy, Oscar and Emmy awards given in other mediums. The APA and Audiofile Magazine created a wonderful multimedia presentation that contains sound clips and reviews for all of the finalists in this year’s Audie competition. I’m thrilled to see that my friends Barbara Rosenblat and Mel Foster were the narrators of award-winning titles, while another friend Alan Sklar scored 3 nominations.

Producing quality audiobooks is a major undertaking, and I congratulate all of the people who participated in creating the books nominated for the 2006 Audie Awards. I hope to be with all of you next year in New York!

 

Women in Animation Master Event

I have wanted to take a class with Pat Fraley and Hillary Huber ever since I met them in 2003 at the Audio Publishers Association Convention in Chicago. I finally got my chance this past weekend (6-7 May) in New York City, when I attended the 2-day Women in Animation Master Event. What an amazing, motivational, intense and downright FUN time!Before I talk about the class, I wanted to mention that Drew and I spent Friday as a play day in New York. We first went to see my friend Jeff Berman, who owns SoundHound, a premier New York audio production facility. Jeff gave us the grand tour of his magnificent operation, and I can tell you it would be every voice talent’s and director’s dream to work there! The studios are a striking blend of muted colors mixed with several natural textures so that they are an aesthetic delight to behold. You feel such a sense of tranquility from the moment you walk out of the elevator and into his space. It’s no wonder that people were busily working in every suite when we were there.

Attendance at the Women in Animation class was limited to 12 participants, and I signed up as soon as I received the e-mail from my coach Susan Berkley. Pat has given voice to thousands of characters in cartoons, movies and audiobooks. When Nancy Cartwright, the voice of Bart Simpson, wanted a coach, Pat Fraley is the person who helped her. Hillary uses her character voices in audiobooks, where subtlety is key. They were the perfect complimentary team to each other.

Spending 16 hours over the weekend in Pat’s workshop was like being at a premier comedy club; we were laughing the whole time! However, while the subject matter was fun, all of the attendees were intent on getting as much from the sessions as possible. In fact, we even had homework prior to our meeting! We each received copies of Pat’s 2-CD set Cartoon Voice! and were instructed to listen to them at least once before the workshop convened.

It’s easy to do a silly voice. However, being able to replicate that voice on command and being able to think and feel like the character would is a skill set that takes some time and practice to master. In audition situations, you don’t have the time to come up with a new voice on the spot. You need to be ready to go with a voice that fits the description or picture but make it SEEM like you just thought of it.

Pat said numerous times throughout the workshop that we should be goal-oriented in the class. He wanted us to walk away with usable skills and be on our way to creating character voices that are, to quote Pat, evocative, unique and fully developed. We learned about character archetypes and the elements of a character voice. By analyzing the script, you can determine the archetype being served by the lines, and you may already have developed a voice that fits the archetype. In many cases, the class exercises caused us to invent the basic voice that could be further developed.

We each had the exciting opportunity to work one-on-one in the booth with the incredible and wildly energetic animation voice actor Candi Milo. Under her excellent and fast-paced direction, I discovered that I can do a pretty good voice for a little boy, especially since I naturally have a lower pitch and speak with the right cadence. I was thrilled to have this voice emerge because the market continuously demands women who can perform young boy voices.

In addition to some new voices, I found new uses for some of my existing characters, primarily developed in the audiobooks that I have completed. I was delighted to learn from Hillary that my snobbish old woman character named Aunt Freddy in the 2 audiobooks that I have completed could be parlayed into a mean old woman archetype just by the way I chose to deliver the lines.

Leslie Zaslower, who casts talent for Nickelodeon, enthusiastically spoke to us for an hour and graciously answered a wide berth of questions. Among other things, she explained the production process and gave us advice on structuring our demos. I introduced myself to her and asked how I might get my agents to send auditions to me for roles with little boys’ voices. You better believe that I will follow her suggestions!

All of my fellow participants are extremely talented and funny ladies! I was impressed to see a couple of newcomers in the class. It takes courage to take the plunge and actually DO SOMETHING about following your dreams. I thoroughly enjoyed the warm camaraderie through the whole weekend and feel that I made some wonderful lasting friendships. I’m looking forward to making a new demo and applying my new skills as often as possible!

Harry Potter – 1, Censorship – 0

I heard on the news that the Gwinnett County Board of Education unanimously ruled to keep the Harry Potter books on the school library shelves. A local mother who reportedly had not even read the books had started a movement to have the books banned because she claimed they encouraged witchcraft.

As a citizen who lives in this county, a suburb of Atlanta with the largest school system in the state of Georgia, I am pleased to see the Board’s ruling on this matter. The Harry Potter books are an unparalleled phenomenon in encouraging kids to actually READ. I could understand if the mother thought that the extraordinary narrator Jim Dale had cast a spell on her kids when they heard his captivating voice create over 100 memorable characters in the audio versions of those books. I think every book was nominated for a Grammy, and I know Dale’s enchanting performance won at least one of those coveted awards. If you haven’t heard him, you can download all the books on iTunes.

I wonder if this same mother is as vigilant in monitoring the video games that her children play. As a voice actor who has had roles in 2 games and hopes to work in many more, I certainly am not opposed to the video game industry. However, I do think that many games glorify violence and are not suitable for children. I don’t have children, but I believe that parents should select games and other materials that improve their children’s minds.

The Harry Potter books do improve childrens’ minds. As the kids read, they are using their imaginations. Once you start to use your imagination, you learn how to solve problems, and you realize that anything is possible.