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Welcome!
Voiceover Island.com is your source for outstanding voiceovers
delivered same-day via the web for radio and TV commercials, corporate
and educational videos, PowerPoint presentations, podcasts, audiobooks,
animation and more.
Recent
projects have included recording Philadelphia matchmaker Steve Ward
for his VH1 reality show Tough Love, radio spots for advertisers
in the New York City area, plus an audiobook production of Robert
Louis Stevenson's classic story, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde,
performed by yours truly Charles ("Chuck") McKibben for
AudioRealms.com.
You've also
found Philadelphia's ONLY studio for PRIVATE VOICEOVER TRAINING
and COMPLETE DEMO PRODUCTION!
Ask
me everything you want to know about starting your own successful
voiceover career by phoning...
(215)
677-2295
or
by e-mailing phillyvo@comcast.net
...but
first, please read more about how and why my VO training is the
affordable, intelligent choice!
I'm
Chuck McKibben, and I've been fascinated by the world of voiceovers
ever since I was a boy. I began my career as a radio announcer in
1963, in my teens; by 1972, I was employed by Hollywood's
legendary "Man of 1,000 Voices," Mel Blanc, to be
his personal recording engineer and audio producer.
This
was followed by 30 years in New
York as the Broadcast Production Director for two major advertising
agencies, and also as a successful freelance voiceover artist. I
introduced "My First SONY" to the world as that product
line's spokesman in 'the '80's (you can view my first spot for SONY
on YouTube); I was the senior promo voice for Time Warner
Cable of New York City through the '90's; and I was the signature
voice of New York's top Lexus dealership, Lexus of Smithtown, for
a remarkable run of 15 years, among many credits. I've won numerous
broadcast production awards, but more importantly, I've received
the friendship, trust and respect of my students. Being thought
of as their mentor has become the greatest satisfaction in my life.
Recently,
I got this email request from a prospective student, very similar
to hundreds before. It said:
"I
am seriously interested in starting a voiceover career, and was
researching classes on-line when I found your website. I took a
one-day class at a local college, and they said my voice was really
good, but the cost of their course seemed very high. That's why
I'm looking around. Could you please send me more information about
your lessons, so that I can compare and decide who to study with?
Also, would you tell me honestly if I don't
have what it takes to be in voiceovers?"
Here's
how I answered that request. I'm hoping it will provide answers
to your questions, as well:
"Thanks
for your inquiry. Did you by any chance just attend a local 'Introduction
to Voiceovers' presentation from a company that charges about $3,000
for their 'course'? Naturally, they require you to put that whole
amount on your credit card right up-front. Their
so-called 'casting director' probably raved about your great
natural talent, so you're tempted to 'go for it,' in spite of the
huge price tag.
They may seem to be 'endorsed' or approved by a college or
university, because that's where they hold their presentations,
but please know the truth: all they have done is rent a room.
They're not actually connected with any real educational institution
in any way. And you most certainly do not have
to pay anything like $3,000 to train for a career in voiceovers.
BY CONTRAST, I price my training at just $50 per one-hour lesson,
pay-as-you-go. I ask for nothing in advance. I don't fill you full
of false praise, but instead tell you honestly about your weaknesses,
as well as your strengths. I've turned away potential students who
had little reaIistic chance of succeeding. I produce your demo in
class as a part of your studies, and unlike the restrictions imposed
by some VO teachers, you are free to take away any and all recordings
you make in class. They are yours, with no strings attached and
no extra 'demo production' fees.
You
get completely customized, one-on-one lessons in my world-class
studio by appointment (you set the appointments to fit your schedule).
Come once a week, every other week, or even just once a month, as
you choose. There is no 'one size fits all' cirriculum, because
that doesn't work in voiceovers. You study with me at your pace
until you decide you are ready to end your training, and begin competing
successfully in the voiceover industry. Simple as that.
I offer 46 years of experience in the voiceover field. I have been
an award-winning broadcast producer, director and nationally-recognized
voice artist in both Hollywood and New York for longer than many
people in the business have been alive. I had the rare honor of
being the personal recording engineer for Mel Blanc, the most famous
voice artist of all time. I'm on the lists of private coaches endorsed
by Voice123.com and by highly respected VO textbook author/authority
Harlan Hogan (harlanhogan.com). My bio is on Wikipedia, and Wiki
has included my name in its short list of 'audio book narrators.'
I also happen to be the only private voiceover coach in the entire
Philadelphia area, but even if there were others, I would still
have to say, quite candidly, that I don't think you could study
with a more knowledgeable voiceover instructor, or a more dedicated
mentor.
I do hope to meet with you sometime soon. Thanks again for contacting
me. Please phone (215) 677-2295 anytime, and let's have a nice chat
to get acquainted. No obligation, of course."
I've helped get many VO careers established through the years, by
providing COMPREHENSIVE CAREER TRAINING that includes ALL
the skills that are now considered essential to becoming a WORKING
VOICE ARTIST. In other words, I don't just teach my students how
to read scripts; I teach them how to SUCCEED IN THE VOICEOVER BUSINESS.
Let's
say you wanted to be the next big singing star. You'd have to know
much more than just how to sing. You'd have to learn about the entire
recording business...how to get signed by a label, work with
agents and managers, get promoted, create albums, get your songs
on the radio, go on tours and all the rest.
Fortunately,
it's not nearly so hard to become a well-trained voiceover artist,
but you absolutely WILL want to learn all the things that I teach,
including:
How
to record and edit your own digital voice tracks (even if you're
technically challenged!);
How
to
create an inexpensive yet great-sounding home studio;
How
to market your voice to the world via the internet; plus...
How
to succeed in traditional auditions with agents and casting directors
(I have decades of insight as a producer to share with you!)
As
my student, you'll RECORD EVERY LESSON in a BROADCAST-QUALITY STUDIO,
BUILDING YOUR DEMO IN CLASS! Your best readings are never wasted
as "practice." This is the FAST TRACK to producing your
completed samples, with no need for a separate, extra-fee demo session
at the end of a number of lessons. I always "bank" your
in-class readings for later inclusion on your demo...and you'll
take home a CD of your work from each lesson, or an mp3 if you prefer.
My
rates are about HALF of what voiceover teachers charge in New York.
This is PRIVATE, ONE-ON-ONE TRAINING that delivers the RESULTS you
want in a hurry, yet is AFFORDABLY PRICED. I can't see any reason
why voiceover lessons should be priced any higher than music lessons...and
I especially can't see why you should pay anyone thousands of dollars
in advance for your training!
With
me, there is NO UP-FRONT FINANCIAL COMMITMENT...no minimum number
of required lessons. Simply pay as you go, as you would with a piano
or singing teacher. TAKE CLASSES AROUND YOUR SCHEDULE...days, evenings
or weekends, every week, every other week, etc. I'm flexible, and
will work with you to make lessons fit your budget and your lifestyle.
Call
me at (215) 677-2295, or e-mail phillyvo@comcast.net
for your FREE, no-obligation consultation via phone...and
if you don't get a same-day response from me when you leave a message,
PLEASE CALL AGAIN! (Please
DO NOT send inquiries to my former "Optonline" address
in New York, which is no longer in use.)
I'm
certain you have lots of questions, and I look forward to speaking
with you. (If I'm not available, please leave a message and I'll
get back to you.) Also, check this site frequently for new information
as it becomes available. Thanks!
SOME
PERSONAL NOTES:
WALTER
CRONKITE: A PERSONAL MEMORY. With the passing of the greatest news
anchorman of the 20th century, I am reminded of the extraordinarily
gracious way in which he greeted me and a group of voiceover students
from the Mel Blanc School of Voice way back in 1972. The students
and I, having ended classes sometime after 11 on a Tuesday night,
were having a late snack at a Denny's on Wilshire Boulevard in the
Beverly Hills area when two of the world's most recognizable personalities...Walter
Cronkite and Lorne Greene, of "Bonanza" fame...walked
in, accompanied by their wives. It's hard to describe how surrealistic
it is to see "the most trusted man in America" and "Pa
Cartwright" together, walking through the door of a hamburger
joint, even in a town where celebrity sightings are routine. It
was as if the TV had suddenly ceased being just a box with flat
pictures on it, and had sprung into living, breathing three-dimensional
reality...at Denny's, of all places. (Well, even very famous people
go to fast-food restaurants when circumstances dictate.)
Apparently,
Mr. Cronkite was in LA covering 1972's presidential campaign events,
and I'm sure that all he and friend Lorne Greene wanted to do was
get a bite to eat after a long work day. My four or five voiceover
students (I was the Mel Blanc School's instructor on the subject
of demo tape production) were mildly interested in meeting Mr. Greene,
and we sat there trying to guess what he had in common with Mr.
Cronkite (answer: Greene had been a popular newscaster in Canada
before hitting it big as an actor). However, Walter Cronkite was
clearly the bigger draw for them. They kept debating, "Should
we just go up and tell him how much we admire him? Do you think
he'd be annoyed? When are we ever going to have this chance to express
our admiration to him personally again?" Nobody mentioned Greene's
feelings. ("He's an actor; they're used to fans bugging them,"
one said.) But Walter Cronkite was a broadcasting icon, a
man of enormous reputation, the man who had been our trusted guide
through the moon landing and President Kennedy's death. More people
trusted what Cronkite had to say about the Vietnam war than what
President Johnson or Richard Nixon had to say. Cronkite was that
important. So
the decision was made: we're going to say "hello," and
Chuck will be our spokesman for the group.
Approaching
their booth, I began by saying, "Mr. Cronkite, Mr. Greene,
please forgive us, but we simply had to meet you. My name is Chuck
McKibben, and I work for the cartoon voice man, Mel Blanc. These
nice people with me are all students of the Mel Blanc School of
Commercials and Voice, and we simply couldn't resist this opportunity
to express our admiration in person." I thought he would just
say "thank you," and that we would then walk back to our
table. Instead, Walter Cronkite stood up, smiled broadly, introduced
himself (as if we didn't know who he was) and shook hands with every
one in the group. He introduced his wife and the Greenes, and
began to ask all about Mel's school. Lorne Greene, on the other
hand, stayed seated, muttered "hello," and looked peeved
at the whole affair, not saying another word (I certainly couldn't
blame him; we knew we were being pests). Ever the inquisitive news
reporter, Cronkite seemed genuinely interested in learning all he
could about Mel and his school. We must have spoken for ten minutes,
while Cronkite's meal got cold. The conversation became so extended,
thanks to his enthusiastic questioning, that I started to wonder
if I should keep standing there or pull up a chair so that he could
sit back down and eat. Watching Walter Cronkite on CBS, you just
knew that "Uncle Walter" would prove to be a wonderfully
friendly, kind and gentle man if you ever had a chance to meet him.
And that's the way it was.
And
now, my regular message about "keeping it green" in PA.
Much as I want to see business do incredibly well and bounce back
to radiant health in 2009, it is important not to neglect our surviving
natural areas, We're all left impoverished when they're taken away.
Asphalt parking lots aren't things of beauty, and they don't produce
clean, fresh air. My most depressing experience on Long Island,
my home for decades, was watching as they "paved paradise and
put up a parking lot" (to quote the song Big Yellow Taxi),
clear-cutting 10,000-year-old forests for industrial parks and strip
malls. It was painful to see the trees go, one last surviving parcel
of land at a time. Only when it was basically too late did Long
Island's civic leaders begin to demonstrate any environmental awareness.
By the time they thought of saving any open space, it was almost
all gone. Even a pro-business newspaper on the Island stated that
development had gone unchecked for too long.
Aside
from all the environmental arguments, including the preservation
of the world's richest topsoil, that took millions of years to be
created and will never be replaced in millions of years to come,
there is a business reason to preserve natural areas. If
you want to attract the best and brightest employees and businesses
to a town, quality of life matters. For this reason, the
new Parks Commissioner of Philadelphia has just announced that they
intend to add 500 acres to Philly's already great park system. Bravo,
Philadelphia! Way to go. For an excellent, eye-opening discussion
of what must be done NOW to keep our world (and specifically, Pennsylvania)
livable, please visit www.davidhanauer.com/buckscounty/sprawl.
I hope you're enjoying a very pleasant, and
very green, Summer!
Chuck
McKibben,
July 2009
A
LITTLE MORE ABOUT YOUR INSTRUCTOR: You'll find interesting recollections
from the Mel Blanc era in Chuck’s
background. Following
his sojourn in the movie capitol, he became
the
Broadcast
Production
Director of two New York ad agencies, writing, producing and directing
hundreds of commercials while building his own successful voiceover
career. He added private voiceover coaching to his activities in
the mid-'80's; years later, he again established new standards in
the quality of voiceover training in the "Big Apple" as
Dean of the New York Voiceover Academy. Today,
Chuck McKibben is a respected national authority on the subject
of voiceovers; for example, The
Los Angeles Times featured
him in an interview on July 26,
2006.
Entertainment reporter Deborah Netburn asked him for tips on voiceover
career preparation while noting his "perfect, unaccented diction."
(Click the LA Times link above to read the article.) Chuck's
own
long, successful run as a voice artist includes
work
for "blue chip" advertisers like SONY, RCA, Michelin,
Crain’s New York Business, the NY Metro Energy Council, Kirlin Securities,
ExecutiveHealth Exams and New York's WLNY-TV; years
of imaging and promos for Time Warner Cable of NY; plus
countless spots for retailers and automotive clients. His
track record in the luxury-car market is highlighted by a remarkable
15 years as the spokesman for New York's premiere Lexus
dealership. He's also been the spokesperson for both
the Cadillac and Honda dealer groups of the New York
region.
Please
note the link below to Voice123, the biggest voice talent
resource. To
see just how many job leads are being offered on the web, and what
they pay, click on the Voice 123 icon below, and get a
free basic membership. Also, as an instructor officially
recognized by Voice 123, Chuck McKibben can arrange a FREE Premium
Trial Membership for his students. Please ask for details. Producers
can use Voice 123 to build a great cast, while letting Voiceover
Island handle all the production. Also, you can check out many of
Chuck's talented proteges who have demos on the site by typing-in
"Chuck McKibben" as a search in the Voice123 talent database
(this will locate those who have listed him as their instructor).
New voice talents looking for the widest possible exposure are encouraged
to click the Voice 123 logo below, as well.
Website
created by Theresa Landolfi. Entire contents, including the names
"Voiceover Island," "Philadelphia Voiceover Arts"
and variations including "Philly VO Arts" are Copyrighted
© 2006, 2008 by Charles McKibben.
All Rights Reserved.
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