Just passing this info along as a favor to some friends. And as an FYI — I’ve had voice acting training/coaching with nearly all the individuals listed below and personally recommend them.
– BOB CARTER and SEPTEMBER DAY LEACH in Atlanta, GA — Saturday, September 19th, 2009
September is a full-time voice talent who has worked for such clients as MTV, ABC, IKEA, Skecher’s, Levi’s, Honda, and Toyota, and was the promo voice of Skynet for the Warner Bros feature film Terminator: Salvation.
Bob Carter’s name should be very familiar to anime fans, as he has voiced characters for such popular titles as Case Closed, Dragon Ball series, Samurai 7, Evangelion series, Fullmetal Alchemist, and Speed Grapher, as well as the video games Halo Wars and Street Fighter IV.
The class takes place at Captive Sound Studios this Saturday only in Atlanta, GA from 10 AM – 5 PM. There are only a few spaces left as of this writing. If you live near the Atlanta area, I highly recommend calling September ASAP to get in on this opportunity — at a cost of only $150, this class is a tremendous value and would be a great investment for any actor’s career. For full details on the workshop, see September’s post on TheSouthernCastingCall.com.
To reserve your space, please contact September through her website: SeptemberVoice.com.
And here’s my personal recommendation after attending a previous workshop by September:
I’ve known September for about a year now — met her through some fellow Atlanta-area voiceover talents. She’s not only friendly and personable, she’s a consummate and experienced professional VO talent whose credits and clients speak for themselves. As for her workshop — I have had workshops and coaching with some well-known voiceover/voice acting instructors: Bob Bergen, Bill Holmes, Tony Gonzales, Patrick Fraley, Susan Berkley, and James Alburger. And I personally attended one of September’s recent workshops. She was well-prepared, well-spoken, helpful, informative, and especially knowledgeable of the Atlanta market and the tools, talent, and resources needed to get started and to ensure success. I would highly recommend her workshop not only for aspiring voice actors interested in breaking into the voiceover industry, but also for actors and performers interested in expanding their marketability and increasing income opportunities.”
– MICHAEL BELL and LYNNANNE ZAGER in Burbank, CA —
August 15-16, 2009
Michael should really need no introduction to animation fans, as he’s voiced literally hundreds of cartoon characters over the last 3-4 decades. I did a piece here on the blog for Michael’s birthday with highlights of his voice acting career.
Lynnanne is also a prolific voice actor with more than 100 TV series and feature films to her credit. She also once served as an assistant for animation legend Tex Avery. She shares her history with Michael and as a voice actor via e-mail:
I have known Michael Bell since 1981 when we met at Hanna-Barbera studios. I was a typist, then worked with Tex Avery as his assistant right before he died, typed for Andy Heyward and then was the Talent Coordinator working with Gordon Hunt and Ginny McSwain. I was so fortunate to have landed at HB as a young actor – never imagining that I would end up being a voice actor myself. I only saw myself as a younger version of Meryl Streep doing Shakespeare in the Park.
Today I am a voice actor, teacher and casting director (for ADR kids voices). I teach for the Kalmenson’s and do workshops in ADR VO Acting for Teens and Kids.
The cost of this workshop is is $500 ($100 non-refundable deposit in advance to reserve a spot), and there are only a few spaces left of the 12 available.
To reserve your spot, please contact Lynnanne Zager:
Phone: 818-516-5726
E-mail: lazager@gmail.com
Click here to view the flyer for the event.
– BOB BERGEN in Portland, Atlanta, Chicago, Orlando, NYC
Bob Bergen has the distinction of having lived a lifelong childhood dream to become the voice of Porky Pig, which he has now been performing for a number of animated projects since we lost cartoon voice acting legend Mel Blanc in 1989.
But Bob actually began his voice acting career in the early 1980’s — his first noteworthy lead role in animation was providing the voice of Wembley in the animated version of Fraggle Rock (1987). Bob’s since voiced characters for many, many other animated TV series and feature films.
[A little addendum here from Bob, after my article first posted: “Although I hold a place in my heart for Fraggle Rock, it was in no way my first gig. I’d been in the biz for a good 5 years before I booked that show. Gremlins was a good 3 years before Fraggle. That was probably the first major gig. But I’d still done oodles of commercials, cartoons, etc., before Fraggle.”]
I’ve known Bob for about a decade as well, and have had the privilege of taking two of Bob’s workshops which were a great experience that I heartily recommend to others. The last workshop I took with him, I actually had an audition the same day for a TV pilot. With Bob’s instruction fresh in my head, I used one of his specific techniques during my audition and afterwards I actually booked the role.
Bob has upcoming workshops in Portland, OR (August 15-16), a Voicelympics Vancouver-to-LA workshop/cruise with Deb Munro (September 21-26), Chicago, IL (October 3-4), Orlando, FL (November 14-15), and New York City (December 5-6). Bob will also be a guest at Dragon*Con in Atlanta, GA on Labor Day weekend September 4-7 (I’m also organizing a meet-up dinner with Bob that weekend), and will be performing his one-man show So, Here’s The Deal! during his weekend in Chicago on October 2nd.
To reserve your spot for any of these events, see Bob’s website for further details: BobBergen.com.
Here’s the trailer for Bob’s show:
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T5GQ718GyJY&hl=en&fs=1&]
– PAT FRALEY in San Francisco, Detroit, Buffalo
Pat Fraley has been voicing cartoon characters for more than 30 years, and is widely considered one of the top voice acting instructors in the country. I’ve gotten to know Pat through e-mail and phone conversations since the 90’s, and have promoted many of his great audio products via “Voice Actors in the News” over the last decade.
Pat has upcoming workshops in San Francisco, CA (Saturday, August 8th), Detroit, MI (August 15th), and Buffalo, NY (September 19th). If you live anywhere near these areas and have an interest in enhancing and enriching your acting skills, you really should make an effort to attend. More details are available on Pat’s website at PatFraley.com.
Pat now has his own YouTube Channel where he has been uploading some of the free audio lessons from his website, but the videos include photographs from his workshop events (some of which feature photos of his celebrity guests, like Ed Asner). Here’s Pat’s tutorial on auditioning:
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rEjaw1u9vho&hl=en&fs=1&]
For a calendar of other upcoming voice-over workshops, please visit VoiceoverUniverse.com and VoiceOverXtra.com.
And on a related note, the previously reported teleconference classes being offered by Lani Minella have since sold out. I’ll get an update from Lani to see if she might be hosting these events again in the future.
