Building Confidence with Crispin Freeman

Lately I've been listening to Crispin Freeman's excellent "Voice Acting Mastery" podcast series. Crispin is a veteran of stage, anime, video games, animated films and tv. If you're unfamiliar with his work, click here.

One of his earlier episodes has some interesting thoughts on how fear can hold an actor back, and some advice on how to diminish those fears. I thought it was worth sharing. CLICK the LINK below for the podcast.

 VAM 009 | Building Confidence

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Meet Leonard!

Recently I did some work for RUN Animation Studios here in the Seattle area. RUN did a phenomenal job animating this project for a major northwest/global software company (hint-hint).

It's my first real experience voicing a 3D character, and I couldn't be more pleased with the results; such fluid movements from the artists at RUN!

While I can't show you any of the video, I am able to share a couple of screen-shots. Meet Leonard: an optimistic, magical fellow with a bit of Willy Wonka whimsy in him. That is, if Willy Wonka wore a polo shirt.

Remembering the Smurfy voice of Lucille Bliss

Seattle's NPR station, KUOW, paid tribute to Lucille Bliss today. Bliss was the familiar, scratchy, smiling voice of Smurfette and many other cartoon characters in movies and TV Shows ranging from Cinderella to Invader ZIM. She passed away November 8th.

As it turns out, Bliss was one of the first voice actors to make an impression on me. As a child, I played her Peter Rabbit record over-and-over again. It was released by Walt Disney, and featured this story of Bambi's rabbit pal, Thumper.



Take a listen to Katy Sewall's retrospective of Miss Bliss on KUOW's "Weekday" program with Steve Scher. The discussion begins 38 minutes into the podcast. You can skip to it really fast (I promise), and you'll gain a new appreciation for a talent that survived the decline of old time radio and the ever-changing trends of TV animation.

Animaniacs/Pinky & the Brain VO Panel

Emerald City Comicon 2012 was such a treat for me. I was asked to moderate several voice-actor panels with the top names in the biz. My heroes, essentially. And how nice to learn, after chatting with them, that these folks are as down-to-earth and nice as they are talented.

ECCC has just released a video of one of the panels, featuring Animaniacs/Pinky & the Brain stars Rob Paulsen, Maurice LaMarche, and Jess Harnell sharing their stories, fielding questions from me and their legion of Northwest fans.

Enjoy!

Batman V.O. Parody

Game Trailers - E3 2012 - Comedy

Desperate Housewives narrator Brenda Strong

This blurry photograph is, in fact, Desperate Housewives' Brenda Strong and myself. I guess it doesn't really matter if you can see either of us clearly, since we are both better known by our voices.

Below is a great behind-the-scenes video of Brenda at work on DH, which ended it's 8 year run this year.

You can see Brenda acting on-camera all summer in TNT's reboot of Dallas.

The Voices of 95-7 KJR

A quick shout-out to my voice actor friends and long-distance co-workers Ann DeWig and Larry Davis. I had a hand in picking their voices for our station (I fell on the floor and threw a tantrum until I got my way). They sound great! Do you agree?

Maurice LaMarche interview

Cartoon fans know Maurice LaMarche as the Orson Welles inspired voice of scheming mouse 'the Brain' (on Animaniacs and Pinky and the Brain). He also breathes life into Kellogg's Fruit Loops pitchman Toucan Sam! And it's very possible that he convinced some of you to splurge for a Lexus.


On March 29th, 2012 he called me to discuss his experiences on Matt Groening's Futurama, Tim Burton's Ed Wood, and his early career doing stand-up comedy with Rodney Dangerfield and Sam Kinison. We cover a lot of topics and LaMarche busts out a variety of character voices. He is a gentleman. He is an inspiration. Enjoy!



Parts of this interview aired on 95-7 KJR as a lead-up to the 10th Annual Emerald City Comicon, where LaMarche was appearing (and celebrating a birthday). The interview is presented here in it's entirety for the first time.

Billy West interview

Last week I had the chance to talk with Billy West about Futurama, his time with Howard Stern, Ren and Stimpy, and more. He's funny (as you would expect), disarmingly honest on some topics, and gave elegant advice on how to stand out from your competition. This interview took place on March 30th, 2012. Billy was in Seattle for the 10th Annual Emerald City Comicon.

Rob "Pinky" Paulsen interview

Rob Paulsen may be the nicest man on planet Earth. I think you'll hear that in his words and feel it in how genuinely he delivers those words. Rob is the voice of a wide variety of cartoon characters ranging from Pinky (as in "and the Brain"), Yakko Warner (Animaniacs), Raphael and Donatello (Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles), Hadji (Johnny Quest), and many more.


On March 26th, 2012 he called to talk toons, working for Steven Spielberg, the current Ninja Turtles controversy, and his experience with one of my favorite directors: Brian DePalma. It was an honor.

"Batman" Kevin Conroy interview

Kevin Conroy has logged more hours as the Dark Knight than any other actor. He phoned from the Batcave on March 26th, 2012 to talk about 20 years of Batman the animated series, the video-game Arkham City, and how he cuts loose between takes.

Dave Coulier interview (audio)

I had the opportunity to interview comedian, voice-actor and Full House alumni Dave Coulier on March 23rd, 2012. Dave does a ton of impressions, plus shares stories about Jim Henson, Frank Welker, and others.
My favorite story from the interview is how his prep-school principal nurtured his creativity. It has a heartwarming ending. Enjoy!

Aisha Tyler interview

A few days ago, I had the pleasure of talking to screen actress, voice-over artist, comedian and author Aisha Tyler. We talked about all that stuff, plus her passion for games and comic-books. Check it out on my radio blog.
Dan Roberts: Aisha Tyler gets nerdy with me.

New gig: video tutorial

This week I auditioned and landed a gig for Reel World Mornings, a new service for radio morning shows. The video is already posted! Talk about quick turnaround. Sometimes that's how it happens.

There are three versions of the tutorial, depending on station format. It's the identical copy, so you may enjoying hearing each actor's take on the same material. I'm the little guy in the cowboy hat.

To hear the tutorials, click this link. Go to "overview" and then "introduction."

Incidentally, they asked for a subtle twang (not too thick or exaggerated). Then they asked for even less twang! I was starting at, I felt, a +1 on the twang scale, so how would I pull back from that? Well, I tend to drop my g's when doing this dialect, so I added them back in. Bingo! Hit the sweet spot and got the job. Hang on to that trick, it may help you in the future.

Best,

Dan

The Bob Rivers Show interviews Dan

I'm expanding my creative horizons by doing a night-time radio show on Seattle's KJR-FM. This morning the Bob Rivers Show invited me to sit in with them to discuss cartoons, babies, geekdom, and the new gig. Seth Thompson captured the whole thing on video, which you can watch below.

Animate yourself with Dilbert and me!

Some of the most fun I have behind the microphone is voicing Dilbert and his pointy-haired-boss for Scott Adams website. It’s the last thing I ever thought I’d be doing in my life, and I’ll keep doing it for as long as they’ll have me!

In a strange twist, you can now you see yourself (or one of your friends) in one of these Dilbert cartoons… and hear my voice, or one of my cast-mate’s voices, coming out of your mouth. I told you it was strange. But it’s cheap, easy and fun as well as a good way to kill time on the computer.

image courtesy Peanuts Worldwide

Check it out at http://www.pixfusion.com/

Tell ‘em Danbert sent you.

Oh! And if you create one, shoot it my way. I’d love to see it! In fact, “You show me yours and I’ll show you mine.” Ah heck, I’ll go first. Click here.


Contact Dan.

Verizon iPhone

Excellent sound design punctuates this ad for the new Verizon iPhone marriage.
-Dan

The Troublesome Truth about a Voice-Over Career

Spotted this on Bob Souer's blog (of course). Optimism is a great thing, but being aware of the pitfalls of voice-over is also important.

The Princess (Phone) and the Duck

Listen to the story of Aflac's new, friendlier phone-system voice.

Cartoonatics: Cast Members from "Tiny Toon Adventures" and "Anim...

Just discovered Tom Ruegger's blog. If you are a cartoon fan, like I am, this is looks to provide lots of behind-the-scenes treasures! Check out Cartoonatics: Cast Members from "Tiny Toon Adventures" and "Anim...: "In the mid-90's, we made a few 'Tiny Toon Adventures' primetime specials while we were producing the 'Animaniacs' series. This photo was ..."