Elite Music Studios, is very proud to have been a part of Ricky Martin’s inspiring project “Santiago The Dreamer In Land Among The Stars”, the Grammy winner's new book which teaches kids to follow their hearts, this is the first of a five-book series. 

The voice actor, Daniel Lara,  will perform the leader voice in English, and Daniel Fernandez in Spanish.

The picture book was inspired by Martin's own childhood, published in English and Spanish on Nov. 14, 2013.

E-learning remains a gold mine of voiceover jobs

Today’s technology has open up vast new job opportunities never imagined 20 years ago. 

In a digital era where businesses iterate much faster, it's vital to include a contingency in your business plan for knowing when you need to shift. It’s been around for almost a decade, and the e-Learning remains a gold mine of voiceover jobs.

Major corporations are using e-Learning voice over modules to shape the mental fabric of their workforce, and are looking for voice actors who can record materials for them. So you need to sharpen your skills in terms of interpreting this copy correctly, it’s important to learn how to use the proper tone. The diction and the pace have to be appropriate for the subject matter. 

It also requires stamina because the roads can be long...

As a voice over talent, you don’t have to limit your search for work to commercial, promo, trailer, animation and audiobooks. Go after this e-learning explosion that is right there in front of you, begging to be dealt with.

As per Wikipedia, e-Learning refers to the use of electronic media and information in education. e-learning is broadly of all forms of educational technology in learning and teaching.

A big variety of e-Learning tools is available, from e-books and pdf’s, to videos and power point presentations, to interactive lessons and webinars. Many of these e-Learning methods need narrators who can bring the material alive and make the video personable.

Expressive voice character and timbres can add creative richness to the video’s message. Right now you have opportunities to find a good job if you consider using your skills as a voice actor for e-Learning services.

Look at some of the voice over opportunities that are available in this genre.

The mythical king of punk

Today at Elite Music Studios the mythical king of punk, Iggy Pop, is recording via ISDN with BBC radio in London. He is conducting a saga of Music shows "Iggy Pop Rocking Rebels"; "Heartbreak and Heartaches". The show will broadcast on Christmas day and New Year Eve's 2013 at BBC Radio. 

A chance to hear some of the big interviews held at 6 Music with artists who have made, and continue to make, their mark on the musical world.

Iggy Pop  American singer-songwriter, musician, and actor, considered one of the most important innovators of punk rock and related styles. Though widely known as an innovator and "godfather" of punk rock  Iggy's music has encompassed a number of styles over the years.

He is vocalist of influential band The Stooges,having become known, since the late 1960s, for his outrageous and unpredictable stage antics.

Once again celebrities, producers and voice artists,  come to our recording studio, seeking our unique blend of production assistance and great ambiance.

Give your business the right voice

A voice over is a narrative technique in which an unseen actor’s lines are heard over visual elements in a movie or commercial. Choosing the right voice actor can transform your advertisement from simple to extraordinary, so choose a voice that will make your audience “like” you the most.

The voice over industry is growing faster and stronger than ever, reaching markets linked with new technologies. Corporate and commercial projects are still the bread and butter jobs for the voice over business, but the increase in voiceover demands for videogames, apps, GPs, text to speech, Internet publishing, would give talent the opportunity to stretch their vocal cords more often and see more opportunities to work on different projects.

We offer multilingual professional VO talents for Business Narration, Cartoons, Jingles, Movie Trailers, Radio & TV commercials, Telephone IVR, Videogames, Dubbing, among other voice services in Spanish, English, Portuguese, Italian, French, German, Mandarin, etc.

Choose a voice to sell your product that establishes an appropriate relation between your idea and your target. Give your business the right voice.

In a world, a movie set in the world of Hollywood voice-over talent

It is well known that voice-overs for film previews have been almost exclusively performed by men. Don LaFontaine, American voice actor famous for recording more than 5,000 film trailers,  and hundred of thousands of TV advertisements, video game trailers, became known for his “In a world….” phrase, he poked fun of his cliche phrase at various events, including the Geico commercial.

In A World, three words genetically, male oriented, and not uttered by a woman in a movie trailer. Until now, where Lake Bell makes her writing-directing debut, as well as leads the cast in.... “In A World” the winner of Best Screenplay at Sundance.

This upcoming movie is all about an actress trying to make it in the voiceover business. Motivated by her father, the king of movie-trailer voice-overs, to pursue her aspirations of becoming a voiceover star with all of the trials and tribulations that come with her career. She sets out to change the voice of a generation.

The title somewhat  refers to the intro that begins so many trailers for movies set in the future. The man who has undoubtedly uttered these words more than anyone else was Don LaFontaine, who over the past 25 years cemented his position as the “King of Voice-overs.”  Aside from his continuing work in the trailer industry, he has also been the voice of NBC, CBS, ABC, Fox and UPN, in addition to TNT, TBS and the Cartoon Network. Based on contracts signed, he has the distinction of being perhaps the single busiest actor in the history of SAG. In September 1st, 2008,  La Fontaine died at the age of 68 following complications from a collapsed lung. 

Offering an amusing peek into a seldom-visited corner of showbiz, this movie could kick up some theatrical returns with judicious handling and the help of smartly nurtured word-of-mouth.

In  a World opens in limited release on August 9.

Apple announces iTunes Radio, Pandora’s replacement?

Once again, it was that time of year, June 10, the first day of the Worldwide Developers Conference held in San Francisco, where Apple brought the spotlight on iOS 7, and unveiled the new “Pandora” like service, iTunes Radio... a free Internet radio service featuring over 200 stations, who lets you listen to music stations featured by Apple and created by you yourself.  iTunes Radio evolves based on the music you play and download. Sony, Universal and Warner are all on board.

iTunes Radio has been considered a major threat to Pandora, the first mover in online radio. Although is said to more closely be similar to Pandora's model, Apple's lead over Pandora, is that it already knows your preference. Using your iTunes library, the company already creates Genius Mix playlists, and predicts which artists you may be interested in on iTunes.

Pandora minimized Apple's new service in a statement to CNBC and stressed the hold it has on intellectual property in the radio streaming space. "Apple's new feature is an evolution of their iTunes offering to bring it on par with other streaming music services that have added radio into their feature sets. We have spent the last 13 years singularly focused on redefining radio and benefit from unrivaled intellectual property, deep experience in delivering personalized play lists, and ubiquitous product availability across every platform. We make it effortless for our more than 200 million registered users to connect with the music they love anytime, anywhere," the company said in its statement.

iTunes Radio will offer music fans access to thousands of new songs every week, as well as serving up exclusive music from new and popular artists before you hear them anywhere else; will also be home to special events including live streams direct from the iTunes Festival in London and other exclusive iTunes Sessions. You can also ask Siri “Who plays that song?” or “Play more like this” and Siri will make it happen, or tell Siri to pause, stop or skip.

Apple’s iTunes Radio is set to launch, this fall,  in iOS 7 initially in the U.S. before rolling out internationally over time. The service is free to use in an ad-supported version, and iTunes Match subscribers can enjoy using the service ad-free.

References: Apple.com, CNBC.com

The Growing Popularity Of Audio Books, an art-form adaptable to new technology

With the arrival of the Internet, broadband technologies, new compressed audio formats and portable media players, the popularity of audio books has increased significantly.

Due to the growing acceptance, people involved in this business are becoming more powerful. There is a huge demand for them, especially now that people use portable audio equipment on a regular basis. People can find audio books online,  download from  iTunes Audiobooks, libraries who offers audiobooks for free, and some other who like to buy audiobooks CD format.

Over the time, figures show released that downloads have greatly increased this market, a format that first achieved popularity with the invention of the cassette and extended beyond childhood the experience of being read to.

Producing audio books consist of a narrator sitting in a recording booth reading the text, while a studio engineer and a director record and direct the performance. Audiobooks are distributed on  CDs, MP3 CDs, and downloadable digital formats.

The advent of the Internet has introduced powerful means of delivery, many titles are now available on-line for download on to computers, tablets, and phones, or one may listen to website audio streams without having to download anything.

They are considered a valuable learning tool because of their format. Unlike traditional ones or a video program, people can learn from an audiobook while doing other tasks, although it should be noted that this can detract from the primary task, assuming the learning is not the main activity. The most popular general use by adults is when driving an automobile or traveling with public transport, as an alternative to radio. Many people listen as well just to relax or as they drift off into sleep.

If your  production required to record audio books, at Elite Music Studios, we have the greatest voices in English, Spanish, Italian, German, among other languages to give live to your creativity.

 Reference: Wikipedia

ISDN Session for HBO

Bush Garden- Radio campaign

Voiceover talents: Maria José Villa (8) & Diego Castillo (15)
Project" "Bush Garden" Radio Summer Campaign. ISDN patch session.

RadioShack - The Seer

Our talented voice artist  Omar Amador is the voice for this campaign. An ISDN recording session done in our studio Elite Music Studios. Miami, FL

A great tool for your voiceover business

The market opportunities for voiceover business have been expanded over the years. 4 years ago, audio producer Bob Merkel, created Voicezam, a voiceover demo player.

You can upload your demo to the Voicezam page, then the process will splits into pieces which can be played individually, you can email, post, send, and share out anywhere. 

“It’s a player that encourages listeners to remain engaged until the very end, as a tool where every track has its moment to be heard” said Merkel.

As a member, you can have a lot of control over how the player looks, including the order, naming, and you can customize the player. 

First month is free, then you have a basic membership of $19.95.

Great application that you can have on your own. 

For further information visit: http://www.voicezam.com/public/mainpage.aspx

Voiceover Recording & Animated Films

The Croods is a 2013  3D  computer- animated film produced by DreamWorks.  It features the voices of Nicolas Cage, Emma Stone, and Ryan Reynolds, among others. It was written and directed by Kirk DeMicco (Space Chimps) and Chris Sanders (How to Train Your Dragon).

Nicolas Cage gets animated in the voice booth for the new family friendly adventure; Cage plays the father of a cave family forced to leave their home and head out on an incredible journey into the unknown. For their tale DeMicco  and Sanders  chased actor around the world for roughly three years to record his voice as Crood paterfamilias Grug.

Is interesting to know how the voice work is recorded. In most animated films the characters’ voices are recorded first, this gives the actors much more freedom to do what they want with the character voices rather than being restricted by the animation. 

This way can use the sound file and precisely match the animation to it, capture the actor's performance in the animated character. Also, animators usually look at video of the voice actors recording their lines and use certain mannerisms, facial expressions etc, in the animation of those characters. Essentially, it isn't just about doing the voices but also becoming part of the animated character. By the time the actor is performing, they have the storyboards worked out so that there is some sort of visual guide for everyone.

The film made $63.3 million internationally, including $16 million from overseas previews the weekend before for a worldwide  of $108 million. Most critics enjoyed the film, although a few reviewers groused that it failed to achieve the emotional high points of classic children's movies like "Toy Story" and "Up."

App to find Voice Actors Worldwide

Voices.com released a mobile app for BlackBerry 10 users. The company connects businesses with voice actors around the world, making it easier than ever before to find the perfect voice on time and within budget. 

TO READ MORE VISIT EMS Magazine

Live Radio Interview

Last week we had a great live interview with Professor Richard Daynard aired on Radio Boston,  hosted by Meghna Chakrabarti and Anthony Brooks.

Professor Daynard is at the forefront of an international movement to establish the legal responsibility of the tobacco industry for tobacco-induced death, disease and disability. He is president of the law school's Public Health Advocacy Institute and chair of its Tobacco Products Liability Project. He has been the principal investigator in grants and contracts from the National Cancer Institute, the Massachusetts Department of Public Health, the American Legacy Foundation and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.

Dubbing- Simultaneous English VO

Dubbing project, original interview was done in Spanish.

Simultaneous voice over recording

One of the core multimedia services is the precise dubbing of spoken audio content in video productions.  Dubbing is the post-production process, used in a video production, in which vocal recording occurs subsequent to the original recording stage; is widely used, is a more universal method of converting video productions for many markets.

With a wide listing of bilingual voice actors, Elite Music Studios have the experienced in recording foreign voices and replacing them in movies, TV series, marketing  & corporate videos, e-learning that could be useful  for any project.


This was a great session done at our studio for a corporate video.

Helping teens stop smoking.

 

Listo.gov when a disaster strikes

Our family may not be together when a disaster strikes so it is important to plan in advance: how we will get to a safe place; how we will contact one another; how we will get back together; and what we will do in different situations.

Ready.gov has made it simple to make a family emergency plan.

Elite Music Studios recorded the voices for the Spanish project Listo.gov  a production work done by Human Interest Films, LA.

ADR -Automated Dialogue Replacement

 Is the process of re-recording the original dialogue after the filming process for the purpose of obtaining a cleaner, and more intelligible dialogue track.

ADR is recorded during an ADR session, which takes place in a specialized sound studio. The actor, usually the original actor from the set, is shown the scene in question along with the original sound, following which he or she will attempt to recreate the performance as closely as possible.

There are variations of the ADR process. It does not have to take place in a post-production studio, but can be recorded on location, with mobile equipment.

Our today’s ADR was a remote session with the Actor Kevin James for his upcoming comedy movie Here Comes The Boom. 

Celebrities at EMS

Our clients  in London, New Zealand, Latin America and throughout the U.S., have recorded ​​via ISDN live radio interviews, commercial voice overs, narrative TV series, ADR’s for movies, IVR sessions, without disrupting the daily activities and obligations of the actors. 

We also offer convenient after hour sessions as we adapt to the demanding schedule of actors and all of our clients.

Despierta America

Recording session with Karla Martinez, from the popular morning show Despierta América on the Univision Network, for  the lifestyle website Que Rica Vida.com