Around this time of year it’s hard not get a little bit sentimental and gushy. I think that may that’s not such a bad thing. In fact, I find lately that I stop almost every morning to think about all of the things I’m grateful for. I actually list them up first thing in the morning. Once I start, more and more begin to pop up. And when I’m done, I find that I’m rarin’ to start my day.

Usually when I start my day this way, for one reason or another, more and more good things happen. I happen to think it’s more than a coincidence.

It’s pretty easy to think about all the negative stuff going on in our lives. Life can be very difficult – and I dare say most people face real hurdles and challenges on a daily basis. It’s easy to think to yourself: “Gee – I really envy those people who work in the voice acting industry. I hate my job. I’ll never get to do that. It’s so far removed from my life.” But if voice acting is something you want to do, I can give you one piece of advice that will get you one large step closer to actually becoming one.

Just decide that is what you are going to do. Make it a goal that you are going to reach. And I don’t mean that you should say “Boy, I sure wish I could do that. Gee, wouldn’t that be nice.” I mean that you write it down (anything worth doing is worth committing to by writing it down) that you are going to do this. You are going to be a voice actor. And just by doing that one thing, just the act of making that decision and making that goal for yourself, you have taken one giant step closer to making it happen. Don’t worry about how you get there yet. It is a proven fact that if you have a target, you will generally move in the direction of that target.No target – then you are moving around aimlessly.

Step One to achieving anything you want to achieve: Make it a goal. Make the decision and acknowledge your goal. Step Two: Do not give up. Step Three: Persistence. Persistence. Persistence. Those three things will get you anywhere you want to go. Anywhere. And the most solid truth I know I in life: The moment you stop trying, give up, stop moving toward your goal – that’s the moment you have sealed your fate. It sounds obvious, but 99% of all people make this fatal error. If you can make the decision and then stick with it, you will be miles ahead of everyone else. You will be in the 1% — just by doing those three things for yourself.

Happy Holidays! See you in the recording booth.

- Herman Sherman, Bang Zoom! Studios, Burbank, California

The Adventures in Voice Acting production team was invited to speak at the Game Developer’s Conference (GDC) in San Francisco last Friday. This prestigious gathering of Video Game Industry professionals is one of the largest of it’s kind in the world, and Audio Directors and all types of Audio Professionals were in attendance. Our presentation was entitled “Raising the Bar for Voice Acting in Games” and we discussed some ideas about how to improve performances, and generally what voice acting is all about. There were representatives from many top game companies including Microsoft, Square-Enix, Capcom, and Blizzard, to name a few.

On Saturday we held a Beginner-Level Voice Acting Workshop in a busy recording studio in Downtown San Francisco called Pyramind. They were wonderful hosts and the attendees seemed to enjoy the full day bootcamp experience very much. Here are some participants’ comments:

“Very hands on with a teacher who made the lessons personal.”

“Great workshop! I’d recommend it to others interested in this business.”

“I have taken many acting classes. But this course really opened my view about voice acting and I have a higher appreciation for dubbing.”

“I’d take additional classes in a heartbeat.”

“It was very hands on, in your face with real experience. You got to see the work from all angles and how much effort is really put into this. I think more people would sign up if they knew how amazing the workshop really is.”

“I wish it could have lasted longer.”

Tony Oliver led the group through a very intense voice acting workshop, going over everything from basic breathing techniques to getting into character, to how to “work” the mic.

He reported that several attendees showed real talent, and we’ll be watching them!

One of the editors at Bang Zoom put this short clip together and we thought you might like to see a bit of the AiVA Voice Acting Workshop at SDCC. Lance Henriksen, Hynden Walsh and Andrea Romano make guest appearances. Enjoy!

Michelle Rodriguez (The Fast & the Furious, Lost, Halo2) was just as sweet as ever when she stopped by Bang Zoom! Studios for an interview with Rosalie Fox from the Associated Press on Monday. Michelle was only in town for a couple days after being on location on a new film being shot in the Philippines for nearly three months. She’s off to Europe as her career continues to reach new heights. She had worked at Bang Zoom on a large-scale anime series, IGPX, which had been co-produced by Cartoon Network and Production IG. She remembered those studio sessions fondly — even when I pushed her to do take after take on one line.

Michelle spoke at length about her passion for voice acting, and as usual, opened up to share her experiences and insights with both fans and aspiring voice actors. To read what she said in the interview, you’ll have to look for the news coverage or check back again soon. Meanwhile though, here are some EXCLUSIVE PHOTOS of the interview in Studio 2 @ Bang Zoom!

We were invited to appear on another radio show and this time we went down to the station to be on the show. Sound & Vision’s radio station broadcasts out of the Peterson Automotive Museum on Wilshire Blvd in Los Angeles on FM, AM and Satelite to around 1,000,000 listeners. I’d never actually been to the museum before, so being able to walk around the place at 9:00 in the morning before it actually opened was pretty cool.

Along with motorcycles from 1919, and a Rolls Royce the size of a boat from 1925, you can get up close and personal with some gorgeous movie cars, such as Grease Lightning, used in the film Grease and Herbie from The Love Bug.

The host, Mike Etchart, made things comfortable for us, and the show was pretty fun as we settled in to talk about our favorite subject: Voice Acting. There were some good questions, and I think that there is something to learn by listening to the show if you are new to the field.

Several people called in to answer the trivia question asked by Mike “Who played the voice of Bugs Bunny (and Yosemite Sam, Daffy Duck, and Barney Rubble…)?” (listen to the podcast of the show for the answer) and won free copies of the Adventures in Voice Acting DVD. It’s always great doing these interviews with Tony. He’s so comfortable behind the mic, you can hear it in his voice. Me on the other hand, I probably sound like a geek. LISTEN TO THE BROADCAST

We just found out that WIRED may do an editorial or review of AiVA which is exciting news! I’ll definitely update this when we get more info on that.

We did have to cancel our voice acting workshops in December due to holiday conflicts. But we are resuming now, and we’re considering holding workshops soon in Atlanta, Dallas and New York early this year. The first workshop out of California is planned for Washington DC on Monday, February 16th. It has not been officially announced yet, but to sign up, you can go here. It will fill up pretty quickly. There are still a few seats left in the January 17 intermediate level workshop left as well.

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