Don't Buy Cheap Tools!

Simon, dial the way back machine to 1982....

Back in High School I worked with a genius, he taught French during the day and ran a company called Sound Dynamics at night. He was a true teacher. Pierre Paquin. He taught me volumes about sound and sound re-enforcement.

One night we took a trip to visit a friend of his in Cambridge MA, because he was selling a Reel to Reel recorder. A Technics. I had no idea how good a deal I was getting and bought it right there with the recommendation from Pierre.

This machine has been following me around the country for over thirty years now. I take good care of it, and it takes good care of me. The best part is how well it takes care of tape!

When I worked for Berkshire Broadcasting, we had some Revox decks that were brutal to tape. If you hit that stop button, it would STOP cold. You could almost hear the tape stretch. Bah.

But back on topic.

I have a method to my madness. I don't buy cheap tools. Cheap tools don't last and they break when you need them most. Can you imagine buying the cheapest saw blade you can find? There it is, whirling along at several thousand RPM and it decides to disintegrate... good plan.

Same goes with my audio gear. Solid gear. Mackie mixers, Pro-Tools, Neumann, MOTU. With good cables and proper connections. When I go into my studio to record, everything should work. No "fiddle with this till it comes on..." type of idea.

Invest in Yourself

This life is too short for half-hearted attempts at things. Go big, or go home. Seriously. If your goal is to be a voice actor, don't get the cheapest tools you can find and expect to have a positive experience. Now don't go out and buy a Neumann U87 and put in your closet recording space without really treating that room properly, you need to invest wisely. But don't buy junk. And when you need a piece of gear 30 years later. That freaking thing fires up and works and gets the job done. Period. Thank you Pierre!

The Magic of Marketing

Ok. I have an agent. James Pentaudi of Albany talent is one of the people that represents me and gets me work. Great guy, been with him for years and love working with him.

He books me for an on-camera shoot at an Albany studio doing pharmaceutical training material. I'm to play a patient with an unknown stomach ailment. I get the script a week early, it's a couple of paragraphs so I memorize it before the shoot, bring in a couple of oversized shirts as requested, show up ten minutes early, get my make-up done and I'm ready to rock.

Here's the fun part, the actors roster of who is going to be in for these several days of shooting is a long list of names. First and last. Except me.

I'm Monk. That's all it said. 2:30PM, playing the part of Frank Heller, Monk.  When I walked onto the set, the director yells "MONK!" The producer greets me as well. I handed off to the associate producer one of my Monk mugs, and she makes sure everyone knows that she has her own personnel Monk mug.

I am by no means a big fish in this sea, but name recognition, and friendly greetings and working with the same company a couple times on bigger and bigger jobs.... Nice.

Studio Build 28

I can not believe the last time I updated this project was in October 2012!

I have been able to sneak some work in here and there between theater productions. (ah the limelight!) So I figured I would give an update.

Saturday after Valentines Day, we got some LIGHTING DONE! No kidding, I have been using all sorts of standby lights, work lights and such to light up the space. A friend of mine donated some nice lights and I had a Saturday off with no rehearsals on the schedule, so I got busy!



These are the lights above the mix/edit desk. A nice warm glow, that's easy on the eyes.

Here is the other large image/sound absorption panel to the left of the desk.




Here is the door, when closed. The latch fits in the "Hatch" of the rocket ship. (sorry for the blur, must be too much coffee..)





Behind the mix desk are a couple of "Producer" chairs, nice comfortable chairs to listen to a mix or playback. The Rocket Lamp is created from an old theater light, now rewired as a glowing mood light.



And of course the microphone that started this all, my u87ai sitting next to a flatscreen monitor for script use.



Overall I would have to say the room is done, the lighting was the last major thing to tackle. I have a small display case to build for various props and such, (Rocketeer Helmet, lightsaber, raygun...) plus other cool things to art up the joint.

It's a great sounding space, dead quiet and comfortable to work in. Time slips by. I have to give a universe shout out to Mike Sommer who helped with some of the design, his drawings and guidance were what I needed to jump in and tackle this project. There will be a plaque on the wall thanking him!

All that's left to do is wire in a "Recording In Session" light that Scott Nilson gave me. The switch for that is in, I just have to finish the install outside the door.

 soon...

Studio Build 27

The Door.

Work on the door had stagnated as other projects took priority, but I caught a sale on cooler door latches and ordered my Kason 58 latch and assembly!

picture of latch, but mine doesn't have the tall catch, mine is "flush"

Now to finish skinning the interior of the door! The plan was to keep with the theme of retropolis and incorporate the latch with the motif. So I drew out a rocket. (sorry, more spacejunk)

Off to the Hardware Store!

I picked up one sheet of maple luan. I cut it down to 34x86 first.

Then I drew out what would be the hull of the ship on the leftover material and layered over the first sheet.

It's kind of tough to see but it's there. From there I cut out a "Hatch" and a porthole. Typical 40's drawing of a rocket ship. I then drew and cut the fin from the first layer of luan. Here it is roughed onto the door with some screws holding it in place. The panels are bonded with adhesive caulk to the door as well.

Once all screwed in, it will be stained dark to match the door. The pattern will be there, but it won't be so bold. Just a subtle (or not so subtle) hint of a rocket. 

Still more to do

Once the latch is installed, I can finish the door seals, there's one seal installed, two more to go to really tighten up the big hole in the wall called a door.

More on Friday, as this week is packed with rehearsals, performances and helping out other VO talent! WOO!

Tackling the Woodpile

When I worked with musicians on a daily basis, they would often use a phrase, "I'm going to have to woodshed this." Basically meaning they head out to the woodshed and practice a piece till they got it right. They wouldn't come out till they nailed it.

But when I talk about tackling the woodpile, I'm thinking of how we handle 6 cords of wood dumped in the driveway. Three large dumptruck full piles of split wood for the winter.

This is just four cords... 

If you look at this huge pile of wood, it's enough to make your back hurt. It is enough wood for an entire winter, plus some extra.

Every day, progress.

Each morning, for 15 minutes to half an hour we bite into this chaos and create order as we stack the wood into the woodshed. It may only be six or seven wheelbarrow loads a morning, but it is progress. Babysteps toward the end goal. The woodshed is getting full and the piles are getting smaller with the goal of getting everything stacked before snow flies.

Digging frozen wood out of the ice and snow is a real drag.

Ok, you have a fireplace and wood.  So what?

Well obviously this isn't a blog about long cold Upstate New York winters, but it is a blog about voice work and my home studio.

It's the same mentality though. Don't look at the whole pile of work to be done or you'll never start. You'll grab some hot cocoa or a glass of malbec and call it a day. Just do one thing to move you forward each day.

It's the same old story you've heard before, "The journey of a thousand miles begins with one step." But for me, if I think about the whole journey, there's no way I have the energy to take that step. The thought of tackling the Appalachian Trail seems overwhelming to me, however taking a few steps down to the path, well, that doesn't seem too hard.

Nibble Nibble like a Mouse

Each day I move my business forward, it can be the simplest thing; write a blog post, email a past client, create a list of people to send marketing material too, do an audition or two.  Simple small things that move me forward. At the end of the month or the end of the year, I can see how far I've traveled!

One of the great things like an Un-Conference like FaffCon is that it gives you goals and also gives you the chance to look back at what you've accomplished since the last FaffCon. For me it's been the creation of this great studio space as well as doing more and more work and keeping busy. Tiny nibbles each and every day.

I hope that isn't too cheesy.  (Mouse pun intended...)

Distilling FaffCon5!

There's a phrase that I've used in the past, "Education with a firehose!" so much comes at you, so fast that it takes a moment or two to recover.

FaffCon5 did not disappoint!  The Omni Hotel in Charlotte did not disappoint either!  I'm a new big fan of the Omni Experience.

The Connections

Right from arrival and the shouts of "MONK!" and the hugs and the handshakes it was off and running.  Amy Snively (rhymes with LIVELY!) is the ringmaster that knows how to run the show.  Registration was flawless, organization was flawless, everything was perfect.  Really.  If there were any hiccups, none of us civilians knew about it!

The networking starts right out of the gate and the work starts that evening.

Details

Ok, I can't give all the details away here, "What happens at FaffCon, stays at FaffCon." but let me say this, there was no such thing as a dumb question or a secret.  If you needed to know something, you asked and people told you their techniques and tricks.  Ego's are left at the door.

I offered a session on home studio construction, why?  Um... read my blog, you'll see why.  And I'll share any advice or bump I've discovered along the way.  Anything I can do to help out someone in need.  I can't help it.

From there I took in sessions taught by people that are actively working and surviving in the wild waters of Voice Acting.  I met with producers, agents and other talent that have streamlined their business to the point of über efficiency!  If you haven't met Tom Dheere, then you don't know efficient you can truly be.

Just meeting and talking with Jeffery Kafer changed my life and workflow.  My conversation with him about outsourcing my QA and editing was blew my mind.  I walked away going, "Duh, that makes perfect sense!  Why doesn't everyone listen to Jeff?"

More!

Are you getting the idea?  Everyone I bumped into, old friends, new friends was a learning experience.  One person asked me, "Why do you market to other VO talent?" since I gave away mugs with my "mug" and contact information on it.  My response was simple, I see everyone as a potential contact.  You never know who may need a hand or something.  It may not be to hire me, but it may be to ask a question or advice.  And hopefully they won't forget my "mug!"

Doug Turkel, Debbie Irwin, Cliff Zellman, Ok, I have to stop, EVERYONE I spoke to, for even a brief moment was gold.  Seriously.  People share amazing information.

Summary

The next FaffCon will be next fall in San Antonio Texas, I'm hoping at an Omni hotel!  I haven't seen San Antonio since I left basic training at Lackland AFB, so I'm looking forward to visiting again. 

I'm still filtering all the information from FaffCon5 and I have some goals to reach before FaffCon6, so I'm going to GET BUSY!

Studio Build 26

Ah the joy of wiring!

There's something cathartic about running wires and cables. A fresh clean installation with everything running neatly from here to there. Joy joy joy!

We moved gear in last week, and have been busy with other work so getting things rigged up has taken a few extra days.  I was literally behind the mix desk last Sunday, when the phone rang and I had to hustle over the Ghent Playhouse to help with an issue. From there other projects took over for the day.  (Dishes, dinner, etc.)

But today we grabbed a box of cables and wires and got busy!

Dang, they're loud...

I salvaged a couple of APC Powerstack 250's with the intention they would be my power filters and battery backups. I ordered new batteries for them and loaded them into the mix desk rack. They look pretty sweet and fired right up. AND THEY ARE LOUD!

Seriously, 35db at a meter away. Nope, no sir, uh-uh, ain't happening. I didn't work so hard to get a quiet space to introduce two of these noisy beasts to my space. Out they go. They belong in an electrical closet humming away like that. I don't know where I'll use them, but they are going to be replaced by a set of Furman power filters. And those are going to be ordered tonight!

Back to wiring

Ok, so we're creating a short list of needs, longer VGA cables and a few other odds and ends with the goal of really getting things neat and quiet. I'm still in the market for a touch screen which will replace my music stand for copy. The touch feature will allow me to hit record and also move the text as I read. I'll keep you posted on that.

I have some Furman's to order and FaffCon5 is this coming weekend!

I love this life.