Archives for October 2021

Hills, Valleys, and Mesas

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Hello everyone, it’s a wet evening here in Eau Claire, a very wet introduction to Friday, which is also supposed to be just as wet.

Just finished a book for a client in nearly record time, and was properly compensated for it. I haven’t recorded many audiobooks in the course of one week, but in this case, I have. Didn’t even have to work nights. Being able to work during the day has made an immense difference in my workload and how fast I can manage to get it done.

Speaking of workload, went through a spell that was drier than usual. Par for the course, these things happen when you’re freelancing it. This instance seemed longer, even though it was similar to a dry spell I had back in January of 2020. It’s nervewracking, the unknown; not knowing if/when the next book comes in…it can make you a bit on edge. It also lights a fire. I motivated myself to keep auditioning, audition more than I have, seek more opportunities, and diversify. It paid off. There’s something to be said about not taking your foot off of the gas, and now I’m busier than I’ve been in a while.

Part of what I’m working on is audio editing for other people, which is something I used to do, but up until recently, it’s been all my work. I like it, since it seems like it’s working on half a project, which essentially, it is. But I get to work on narrating the projects I choose, and have plenty of time to work on editing/production on the side.

Finally, training with Scott Brick next week. This has been a dream in waiting. Love the guy’s work, and if you’re not familiar, he’s one of the true artists when it comes to audiobooks. His voice can elevate a mediocre book into something special. Hopefully, I can handle what he throws at me.

Alright everyone, stay dry, and have a great weekend!

The Busy Times

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Hello everyone, hope it’s a great morning/day/night wherever you are.

 

It’s been a whirlwind of a week, plenty of things to report on. First, got to call my first soccer game–I caught wind of an app called ColorCast, and apparently, you can call the game of your choice from the comfort of your home on your Apple device. I have exactly 1 Apple product that I use, which is an Ipad, and that got me through it. Went well, and due to how well that went, I now have a show on the app on Monday afternoons at 1pmCST. It’s called “Kickin’ It”, and it’ll be about what happened over the weekend in the world of soccer. Looking forward to it! Show begins on October 25, then every following monday.  Follow the link (and currently, only available for Apple products)

https://app.colorca.st/bMSz/TSGen

 

Also have been working out my audio editing skills, there’s been a ton of opportunity out there for getting editing work, what with all the podcasts that are in need of someone qualified. Seeing as Izotope’s RX9 released this past week, it’s going to give me all sorts of fun things to try out and make better audio for anyone who needs it.  Really hoping I have time to work on some old cassettes of mine, there’s plenty of idiotic gold to be mined there.

Also, I’ve been saying for ages that I’m going to work on a podcast someday. Well, I’m currently working on it. Expect my take on Presidential history and why it matters, coming to your headphones soon. Or stereo. Or whatever. Anyone who knows me knows that I’ve had a borderline obsessive thing about Presidential history forever, so, hopefully, I can bring a touch of that passion to the podcast.

Finally starting to cool down in this neck of the woods, bringing me to my favorite time of the year, fall, or as I prefer to call it, Cardigan Season. Broke one out today, and promptly was rained on while walking my daughter to school. It’s all good, I have plenty of spares.

 

 

 

 

 

The History

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It’s a wonderful Tuesday here in Eau Claire, the fall here is always excellent–when we get to enjoy it. The past few years, we’ve had summer, 2 weeks of fall weather, then winter. Prefer a longer fall and a shorter winter, but alas, things are what they are.

Funny thing was, I was a huge fan of summer. Was. After spending 2 years in Tempe, AZ, I learned that there’s only so much warm weather I could take, and I had enough. When it hit triple digits in October, I was learning the hard way that hot weather isn’t really my thing at all.  The Mrs. and I moved back to WI in 2012, and from that point forward, I was forever grateful for the Midwestern weather. Be careful what you wish for, I suppose.

Finished with a few projects last week, now looking forward to what the 4th quarter of the year will bring. Audiobooks have been pretty interesting this year, with the variety of titles I’ve been lucky enough to narrate. Still waiting on a call from Stephen King or Walter Isaacson, but nothing on my voicemail yet.

For the audio production nerd in me, RX9 is coming out shortly–what this means in layman’s terms is I have more digital toys to play with. It essentially makes everything sound awesome after I record it. You don’t think I sound this great on my own, do you? But, in all seriousness, it’s a brilliant piece of software, and I’m looking forward to playing with it. Might actually get to work on those old cassettes from when I was a young producer at heart.

Been reaching out to various Presidential museums and libraries to see if they’re in need of my services. They’re all interesting characters (in my opinion, there isn’t a single BORING prez, including Millard Fillmore), and anyone who knows me knows how passionate I am about American Presidents and everything about them. The sad thing I’ve found out is there are a few that don’t really have an online or brick and mortar footprint. I know there’s not a ton of people screaming for a Franklin Pierce museum or Zachary Taylor Library, but there are so many stories to tell about how these (for now) guys got here, and how they still affect today’s news.

On that note, time for me to stick my nose into one of my Presidential history books.

 

Well Pronounced

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Couldn’t really think of a decent, short title, so going basic.

 

It’s a warm Friday, and I’m not sure if it’s time to call it unseasonably warm or not, considering how warm the past few years of Fall have been. We get Summer, then it’s Winter.

So it’s been a good week, getting another book finished, although I had to deal with an overwrought throat earlier in the week. It never seems to strike when people are looking for a Sam Elliot soundalike, and that would really be beneficial one of these times. Oh well, eventually another western will come my way.

Been reading the book Shogun, still digging my way through it. Made me think about the amount of time that one would need to invest to create an audiobook of it. Ralph Lister is the narrator’s name, and I have to applaud how the guy was able to juggle back and forth between English, Spanish, and Japanese. I narrated a wonderful book, BESA, that involved having to take a crash course in Albanian pronunciation, and that was TOUGH. Thankfully, I had the author teach me the pronunciations, as opposed to working off of a dictionary, but there was still a steep learning curve. And no, I can’t speak conversational Albanian at this point.

Another was a more recent book, The People of Ostrich Mountain, where I had to learn some Kenyan. Amazingly, I had an easier time with Kenyan than I did with Albanian.  Another book I recently finished had Babylonian, Greek, Portuguese…finding the pronunciations for those (especially Babylonian) was a chore, but I eventually found them.

One of the perks of the job, at least, that’s how I look at it. If you’re pronouncing it right, then it makes it that much more realistic for the listener, even if you don’t understand the language.

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