Uncategorized

“The VO Meter, Measuring Your Voice Over Progress.

Hello everybody and welcome to Episode 5 of The VO Meter.

Measuring Your Voice Over Progress.

I’m your host, Paul Stefano, and joining me is co-host, Sean Daeley. How are you today, Sean?

I’m good, how are you?

I am fantastic. So, we are here in Episode 5, and we are just humming along. Last I checked, we are over 200 downloads for all the episodes combined, so give yourself a little hand.

The focus of today’s episode is going to be on interfaces. Why you need them, what they do, and all the ones that you and I have run through.

Yeah, should be a lot of fun.

But first, we’re going to talk a little bit about what’s going on in our respective voiceover careers. So Sean, what’s going on in your little corner of the voiceover world?

Well, the last couple of weeks have been quiet. I’ve just been doing auditions. I was out of town for a week, house sitting and pet sitting for my brother.

So nothing really exciting there. But other than that, it’s like just my usual stable of clients and doing projects for[…]”

From The VO Meter…Measuring Your Voice Over Progress: Episode 5, Audio Interfaces, Dec 8, 2016
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/episode-5-audio-interfaces/id1167313797?i=1000378765675
This material may be protected by copyright.

“The VO Meter… Measuring Your Voice Over Progress.

Hello, everybody, and welcome to a very special episode of the VO Meter podcast, Measuring Your Voice Over Progress. It’s leading into the Thanksgiving holiday here in the US., and Sean and I thought we’d take some time to talk about the things for which we are thankful in the world of VO.

But first, as always, we’ll talk a little bit about what’s going on in our careers and our lives, and then we’ll get into what we’re thankful for. So Sean, how have you been, buddy?

Good. I just got back from the East Coast. We were at MAVO in Virginia, or the Mid-Atlantic Voice Over Conference, and then I got to visit my brother and his fiance over in Boston.

And that was a lot of fun. I haven’t been to the East Coast in a long time. It’s definitely different for a Seattleite like myself.

And work-wise, things have been kind of quiet. I’ve just been finishing up on some narration projects. I’m actually looking to get some more coaching with, particularly, an audiobook coach so I can sort of fill my extra hours with nonfiction[…]”

From The VO Meter…Measuring Your Voice Over Progress: Episode 4, A Very Special Thanksgiving!, Nov 22, 2016
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/episode-4-a-very-special-thanksgiving/id1167313797?i=1000378177845
This material may be protected by copyright.

“The VO Meter, Measuring Your Voice Over Progress.

Hello everybody, and welcome to the second episode of The VO Meter, Measuring Your Voice Over Progress. Joining me as always is Sean Daeley. How you doing, Sean?

I’m doing well, I’m looking forward to this episode.

Yeah, as am I. It’s been a while since the last one.

Oh, about a week, if you’re paying attention.

Well, we didn’t have to put that out there. We don’t know when we’re gonna release it.

I don’t know, well, we’re still trying to work on that. I mean, I know plenty of people who do like quarterly podcasts or, I mean, it’s as often as we… No, I know, we want regularity.

Our fans demand it.

Right, all of our fans are clamoring for another episode already.

So, in the last, since we had our last episode, let’s talk about some of the things that have happened to us, either good or bad in the career path. You can start.

All right, well, I’m really excited because I found the best place to record in my house. And I’m actually back at home visiting family for a while. And my mom’s walk-in[…]”

From The VO Meter…Measuring Your Voice Over Progress: Episode 2, Microphones!, Oct 27, 2016
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/episode-2-microphones/id1167313797?i=1000396387045
This material may be protected by copyright.

Trying to connect my 2 voice over endeavors, I’m going to post summaries of The VO Meter podcast that I co-host with Sean Daeley. Here is the first…

“The VO Meter, Measuring Your Voice Over Progress.

Okay, everybody, welcome to the inaugural edition of the VO Meter podcast, Measuring Your Voice Over Career Progress. I’m your host, Paul Stefano, and joining me is co-host, Sean Daeley.

Hey, everybody, how are you doing? Oh, wait, that’s right, they can’t respond back.

So, this is the inaugural version. Inaugural, inaugural, inaugural.

I usually say inaugural personally, but like…

I like to go with inaugural.

Inaugural.

Inaugural.

Maybe it’s an East Coast thing.

Maybe. Capital is here on the East Coast, so that’s what I’m going with. So, in this inaugural edition of the podcast, I should explain a little bit about the motivation.

So, when I started out, I received a lot of help from the great industry pros all around the country and even the world. And though that period of time was only about one year ago, I feel like I have progressed greatly, and I wanted to do something to give back, to give the community that has helped me so much in getting started. So, I thought, why not start a podcast and get out the information about the pitfalls and things you want to[…]”

From The VO Meter…Measuring Your Voice Over Progress: The VO Meter Episode 1, Oct 20, 2016
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-vo-meter-episode-1/id1167313797?i=1000376894877
This material may be protected by copyright.

Gratitude Post.

Doing some work in between volleyball matches at The University of Maryland. I’m in a beautiful conference room, in the house that Gary Williams built recording voice overs and editing audiobooks. In a week I’ll be recording Coach William’s audiobook. In 2 hours I’ll be back on the mic for the Maryland Tournament vs Coastal Carolina. If you would have told me 30 years ago that I’d be doing any of this, while I was announcing lunch menus, at Springfield High School, doing carrier current AM radio at Towson University while cheering on the Terrapins on TV, or while editing Comcast Cable Guide listings, I would not have believed you. Has it been easy? Heck no. I’ve worked by butt off, and continue to each and every day, but sometimes, as my friend Dr. Robyne has taught me, it’s nice to reflect back with gratitude on how far you’ve come. Oh and did I mention Maryland now has Wawa? What a world.

Whew…it’s been a while.  Not that there haven’t been things happening in my voice over world. It’s just…well you know…life. Plus, whenever I write a blog, I have the constant nagging thought, “Does anybody care?” Heck, Do I? I’m not sure I have the answer to that yet. We’ll see where this goes.

Anyway, a few pretty exciting things  have happened in my life as a voice actor.

First, the podcast that I host with Sean Daeley, hit 100K downloads! Shortly after that we published our 100th episode! To say we are shocked is an understatement. We started out very much on a whim. Partly as a way to stay busy and practice our craft. Then it became a sort of chronicle of our own journey. We would talk about the first commercial we booked. The first time we heard ourselves on radio or television. Our first video game, etc. Then it became a  vehicle for passing on knowledge. The voiceover community is incredibly helpful and Sean and I certainly benefitted from lots of kind souls who helped us along the way. We thought the podcast could be a way to give back. It was, and continues to be. The  funny thing is, we became sort of pseudo celebrities in the VO world. We were sponsors and speakers at conferences, on stage at industry events and the like. People would come up to us and tell us they were fans. Its been 7 years now and I still get surprised every time someone tells me they have listened. I thank everyone for their support and taking the time to lend an ear.

On another front, I’m BACK as a public address announcer! Announcing live sports was actually one of the first ways I ever used my voice professionally. Way back in the early 2000s, I was working for my alma mater Towson University. I took a “forced” hiatus when there was a change in leadership and thought I may be done entirely with that aspect of the industry. Then, I attended an audition for the Arena Football League in Washington at the Capital One Arena where the Washington Wizards and Capitals play. There, I met some other local announcers and got the bug again. I continued to network with many of them over the next few years. Jarrod Wronski and Bob Johnson in particular. The former runs a facebook group about announcing which I joined. I hung around mostly observing, until I saw a job posting by Mark Fratto, announcer for the Wizards and Commanders. I applied, not even knowing for what organization it was! It turns out it was for the University of Maryland, and you know what? I got the job! I started doing fill in for all sports there. Shortly after, I became the full time Volleyball announcer, then Wrestling. Since then I  have been referred to a few other jobs, and applied to a few more.  Before I knew it I was working for nearly every school in the state! I’m currently doing sports at Georgetown, University of Maryland, Towson University, Stevenson University and The US Naval Academy! I even got to work an NCAA Regional and Quarterfinal event! I was asked to work the World Lacrosse Championships, Athletes Unlimited professional Lacrosse, Oh, and some Minor League Baseball for the Aberdeen Ironbirds. I am sometimes doing a half dozen events a week and have adopted the moniker “hardest working man in PA” That’s Public Address, not Pennsylvania!

I have always said on the podcast follow the money and that is now true more than ever.

Okay I didn’t really mean to talk this much about one thing, but there you go. I guess, I don’t really know what people want to read in a blog anymore. I’ve certainly tried a lot of different directions, but for now, I’m sticking with shameless self promotion!

I’ll just leave these two other tidbits of updates for now. In the past 6 months I’ve also done voice work for BOTH PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) and Amazon. Can’t say I expected that, but I am grateful.