Professional musicians can teach us a lot about how to do better voice overs. Guitarists, for example, study the greats by picking a song, listening to it over and over, singing it with and without the music, figuring it out on the guitar, writing it down in their ‘lick book’, and finally mastering the song…

Egads! What’s that slurping noise? Have you ever listened to a recording of your voice and been bothered by the sound of your breathing? Those loud, annoying breaths have no place in a professional voice over and they have to go. You can mute and edit the breaths out of your recordings of course, but…

We lost a great voice last week. The ventriloquist Jimmy Nelson, whom you might remember as the voice of the doggie dummy Farfel from the vintage Nestle’s Quick commercials, died at age 90. In the commercials, Nelson’s human dummy Jimmy O’Day sings the famous jingle: “N-E-S-T-L-E-S, Nestlé’s makes the very best,” and Farfel added, “Chaw-klit!”…

Ever gotten laryngitis? In voice over, it’s game over. The first thing you should do is see your doctor to make sure it’s nothing serious. They’ll probably tell you to head home, drink lots of fluids and stop talking for a day or so. Lots of things can make you hoarse…stress and unresolved emotional issues…

Last month my boyfriend Richard and I took a somewhat impromptu 6-day trip to Paris. We swore we’d pack light and I’m proud to say we pulled it off-just a small carry-on and a backpack for each of us. We had an incredible time. What a pleasure to cruise through customs and right out of…