Today marks the launch of my new website, TVOG Productions. For many years, folks have said things to me such as "Your voice really reaches out and grabs people", "I could listen to you all day", or "If God had a voice, it'd sound like you". So, last January, I decided to take a voiceover class through my local Rec Dept. After attending it, I decided that I should really get paid to do things I've loved doing for a long time. After the class, I registered for some weekly voice lessons, which really put me through the wringer.
My coach, Such A Voice's Nick Kaiser, really knows his stuff, and soon divested me of the notion that merely having a great voice was all I needed. He got me to the point where, after 5 months of lessons in script analysis, voice technique, audio software, editing, and the popular cork-in-the-mouth exercise, I was ready to cut a voice demo. Off I went to visit Burlington's Sound Loom Studio, and sound engineer Oliver Gebhardt. Although the awesome Oliver and I recorded nine narration and commercial scripts in about an hour, I still had to settle in for the post-production wait of up to 8 weeks!
During that time, I designed business cards, worked more with my recording software, attended online seminars in technique and marketing, and even made a Facebook page for my new adventure, TVOG Productions. "So what does that name mean?", people ask. Well, the story goes back about 15 years, when I was an administrator for a law enforcement website that shall remain unnamed. When I monitored the forums to ensure polite discourse, I sometimes had to delete posts or even user accounts, for violating the terms of service. Inevitably, whiners would surface, accusing me of heavy-handedness, censorship, and declaring that I must think I'm God. After a while, my reply was "Nope, I'm just The Voice Of God". People soon picked up on that, and I became informally known in the forums as TVOG (pronounced 'T-Vawg'). Now, before anyone accuses me of either blasphemy or bible-thumping, please see the first paragraph.
One of Nick's parting pieces of advice to me was to also consider a website. Although I know very little about them, I found a deal too good to resist while ordering my biz cards. So here I am today, proud owner of a brandy-new web address with a 4-page website, and even email. While on leave this week from my day job I can't yet quit, I'm laying out plans to make all this effort seem like the reality it can be. Stay tuned for further website developments, news of voice work, and musings on the journey.
Peace,
David
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