Wednesday, July 16, 2008

prey for Cas Walker

The dream of almost everyone who has done a commercial voiceover is to become a cartoon character. I've always been a fan of the voices behind the drawings. When I was casting the radio dramas we did at KLOS, I would be sure to get some talented voice actors to work alongside the more well-known celebrities. Jess Harnell was in all of my productions. At other times we had Nancy Cartwright, Christine Cavanaugh and the legendary June Foray. Mark Hamill was in several of our productions. He is known for his on-camera performance in "Star Wars" but truly shines for his voiceover work as the Joker in "Batman: The Animated Series" and other roles.

The topic of voiceovers came to mind when my friend Sandy Weaver Carman left a comment on my blog entry about downloading a Mark Twain audiobook. DC radio fans will certainly remember Sandy as one of the best deejays to ever grace the market with her work at Q107 and WAVA. She recently launched her own voiceover business and a blog that will help push her name to the top of the search results.

Sandy's blog inspired me to add some newer samples on my own voiceover page. I recently did a couple of radio commercials using character voices. Although I have yet to become the voice of an animated cartoon character, publicist Zane Hagy asked me to create a voice for Ronnie Raccoon, the spokesplushy for Saving Little Hearts, a charity for kids with congenital heart defects.



One day last week, there was a slight advertising emergency at the radio station. A local used car dealer wanted someone to do a superhero voice for their new commercial. The others who had tried it weren't "whitebread" enough. Strangely, I was asked to give it a try. Because of the circumstances, there was a rush to get it done. On my way to the studio, I saw that the script called for three voices. I thought it might be funny if I did all of them myself. If it didn't sound right, they could still get somebody else to be the announcer or the woman in distress. Gene Wooten added some reverb and the perfect music. Bottom line: the client loved the spot and wants to do more. Former radio PD Gishelle Diva Gish called the request line on Sunday to tell me that she too thought the spot was good. Click here to take a listen for yourself. C'mon it's only 30 seconds!

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4 Comments:

Blogger Barry said...

If you or anyone else would like some voiceover or character work, give me a holler. I've done radio voiceover commercials and have always wanted to do more of that...

7/17/2008  
Anonymous Sandy Weaver Carman said...

FABULOUS spot, Frank! I hope the superhero spot becomes a staple and proliferates to dealerships around the country, making a nice revenue stream for you. Will you still remember all of us "little people" when you're known as the next Mel Blanc? ;-}

7/17/2008  
Blogger bean said...

sounds great......very reminiscent of the old 'chicken man' radio series! i'm sure you appreciate what a compliment that is.

7/17/2008  
Blogger Meaghan said...

That bit was hilarious! Great job. I think this talent deserves a bigger market; maybe somewhere on the Mid-Atlantic coast or a big city in the Mid-west.

7/25/2008  

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