audiobooks Archives

Dan’s VO Tip: The Business of Voice Over

April 12, 2022September 21, 2020 by Dan Willmott

There are basically two aspects of your voice over career: The Craft: the style and performance you provide; and The Career: the building of your voice over business. The performance part is fun and exciting, but the business part can be daunting when you are first starting out. Those who have done our classes, know that we suggest you … Read more

Class Spotlight: Audiobooks

April 27, 2020April 17, 2019 by Rosey Tyler

This year, our Audiobooks class in Calgary has been split into two classes! Dawn Harvey, who facilitates our Audiobooks classes, just has so much knowledge to share with our students! First up, we have The Art of Audiobook Narration on the weekend of April 27th – 28th, focusing on preparation and performance, where you will … Read more

The skills and lessons taught so far in the first 3 levels are the building blocks of a successful VO career and have helped me in my journey. Being taught by active VO artists is also a huge benefit as you get real world experience and knowledge.

Graeme was an excellent educator for setting up a home studio. He was very humble, generous and very pleasant to be with.

Scott was an excellent facilitator. He was full of energy and information and had a great sense of humor. He made it really fun and not scary.

Dana’s approach to the material made it easy to take risks in a safe environment, and his wealth of knowledge regarding the local market was invaluable.

Paul is a wonderful,positive and funny teacher. I enjoyed learning new techniques and much more challenging scripts. Paul’s ability to zero-in on any problems we were having and guide us so easily into a better read and more confidence was magic.

I recommend any and all VoiceSpot workshops to anyone who is interested in this field. They are comprehensive and informative.

Doug’s a healthy mix of encouraging and realistic, and brought insightful and meaningful commentary.

This was an excellent introduction/review for being behind the mic. I look forward to more opportunities to enhance my skill. I thoroughly enjoyed the course and was impressed with the individual attention we each received.

Dawn H’s experience and her sharing of it was the most valuable. The way she showed us how she researches the books was phenomenal in the sheer detail. I felt I came out of the class 100 times more prepared to approach audiobooks as a voice over avenue.

Of all of the workshops I’ve taken so far, this felt the most like an acting workshop. Dawn H’s feedback was so astute, and though I sometimes found it hard to achieve, I felt like it gave me a clear direction of what I need to work on to become a better voice actor.

Although the class was conducted in a professional environment, the atmosphere was friendly, casual and encouraged a sense of fun and adventure. I had the opportunity to leave my introverted self behind, stand up in front of a group of people, and not worry about making a fool of myself.

Scott drew out the authentic sound of the voice well by teaching you how to create the environment, your character, and who you are talking to. Then he made suggestions on how to do even better.

This workshop is a very good introduction to VO and I would recommend this workshop to anyone who needs feedback from a professional and who might need a confidence boost!

Graeme was very well prepared with handout sheets that gave us a cost breakdown on building a home studio so I now have a better idea of where to go with a home studio of my own.

Paul Boucher is a fantastic facilitator. He kept the material interesting, and seemed to really want to share with us. I appreciated receiving pragmatic advice about what steps to take next from someone who is so successful in the field.

Scott was kind, intelligent, honest, helpful, and patient. I hope to take a course from him again in the future.

It builds a sense of confidence and teaches you how to express yourself, whether you’re a voice actor or speaking during a business meeting.

Scott was a great teacher and very encouraging to all the class. The facility is top shelf and the experience was very pleasant and rewarding.
I hope to continue my education!

Dana was fantastic. Any questions I had, he gave the most thoughtful and honest answers he could. He is a very kind and supportive teacher.

Dawn H is obviously an intelligent woman who loves the art of audio book narration and this information-rich workshop I felt gave me all the tools necessary to get involved in the industry myself. The class was entertaining, engaging and she made it fun!

I appreciated being given personal advice from the facilitator on the next steps in my own career and being able to share and hear the experiences and journeys of other participants. Paul gave a succinct but comprehensive overview of entrepreneurship.

Doug is an extremely good communicator, not only with his teaching, but also with relevant stories from his many years of experience. He really encouraged us to put what we learned in to practice and to pursue the next steps. Really impressed with not only the content, experiences gained, but also with Doug.

Dan’s guidance was what I found most valuable. Having an instructor with that much experience who’s willing to share their knowledge and to be so accessible is invaluable. Dan used techniques that brought my understanding of visualization techniques to a higher level.

The business talk was excellent. Dana gave us his honest insights as to the Edmonton market, how to build your career, the audition process, etc, which I definitely found useful.

Dana was clear and precise with the information he imparted on us before practice sessions and our recording time. After performances by the students Dana gave excellent feedback on areas where they could improve with their own performance as well as in getting a better understanding of the copies in front of us and ourselves.

Working with Dan was great! He really puts so much effort into relating to the students, making them feel comfortable and guiding them out of their comfort zone.

Doug was patient with everyone, and really worked to make people comfortable. I saw great improvement in myself, but even more neat, I had front row seats to watch my classmates grow as well.

Scott’s feedback was excellent. His “tweaking” encouraged me to fine tune things to hit both the sells and the tone of the script.

Dawn H is a wealth of knowledge! She really knows this industry inside and out.

The class being presented as “play, be authentic, safe and don’t worry, be a 5 year old, don’t censor” built confidence easier over the number of exercises. I learnt so much even just listening to the suggestions for others.

I thought Scott did a fantastic job – he is an excellent teacher – and he shared so much of his experience from his years in the business – never a boring moment and Scott is very humorous. He really was able to help each one of us with detailed advice.

The whole thing feels extremely welcoming, and they give you lots of advice and pointers in the right direction if you’re truly considering getting into the business. That being said, it’s still perfect for someone less serious. For example, it’s great for someone who, say, just wished to get more comfortable behind a mic in general and stumbled upon it ten days beforehand!

It helps guide you in the proper way to establish a home studio if you are confused on where to start and what equipment to purchase.

Paul was incredibly forthright with his information and everything was presented in an order that made sense. His information was current, and he had great insight into the business and working from home and what it takes to set yourself up successfully.

Graeme was an excellent instructor and facilitator. He was well paced and thorough as well as being approachable. It was a real privilege to have someone of Graeme’s caliber and experience instructing us.

Dawn H has a knack for quickly identifying what you need to improve and keeps pushing you to be better. She won’t let you give anything short of your best, or anything short of what the text demands.

The class is a great way to ‘find your voice’ and become more confident and efficient in front of a mic.

Paul is a wealth of information and is someone that really walks the walk. The fact that Paul is willing to share this information in order to cultivate a stronger voice over community in Alberta is such a valuable thing for the aspiring artist.

I really appreciated Doug’s incredible enthusiasm and openness – it was very inspiring.

I think it is a great course for anyone who verbally communicates with people either professionally or personally on a regular basis. I think this course is important to express your feelings properly.

I enjoyed the hands-on aspect where I was actually able to record my own session. I appreciated that Graeme was very frank about costs and how we don’t need to spend big bucks to have a quality studio at home.

I enjoyed the chance to be able to “play” with my voice, and bring it into all sorts of interesting directions that I would probably not do on my own.