Edoardo Ballerini is a two time winner of the Audiobook Publishers Association’s Best Male Narrator Audie Award (2013, Beautiful Ruins, by Jess Walter; 2019, Watchers by Dean Koontz). He has recorded nearly 300 titles, from classic works by Tolstoy, Dante, Kafka, Whitman and Camus, to best-sellers by James Patterson and David Baldacci, and spiritual titles by The Dalai Lama and Thich Nhat Hahn.
On screen, Ballerini is best known for his role as junkie "Corky Caporale" on The Sopranos (HBO) and as the star chef in the indie classic Dinner Rush. He has appeared in over 50 films and tv shows, including a series regular role in the critically acclaimed Quarry, (Cinemax) and recurring roles in Boardwalk Empire (HBO), 24 (Fox) and Elementary (CBS).
Ballerini's work as a narrator has garnered international attention. Articles on his work and career have appeared in The New York Times, The Guardian (UK), Aftenposten (Norway) and MediaPost (US), among others. In 2019 he recorded Robert Alter’s translation of The Hebrew Bible in its entirety. In 2020 he added Leo Tolstoy's War and Peace to his growing list of titles.
He is also a two time winner of the Society of Voice Arts Award, and was recently named a “Golden Voice” by AudioFile Magazine, an honorific bestowed to only 30 narrators in the magazine’s 19 year history.
Other authors Edoardo has voiced include Tom Wolfe, Eve Ensler, Italo Calvino, Carson McCullers, Jay McInerney, Stendhal, Stephen Greenblatt, Jeffrey Deaver, Danielle Steel, Chuck Palahniuk, Louis L’Amour, Adriana Trigiani, Isabel Allende, Stieg Larsson, James Salter, Paul Theroux and Jodi Picoult.
Besides narrating audiobooks, Edoardo is also a regular contributor to Audm, where he voices articles for The New York Times, The New Yorker, Vanity Fair, Atlantic Monthly, The London Review of Books, and many other publications.
He is a graduate of Wesleyan University and lives in New York.
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/05/13/magazine/audiobooks-edoardo-ballerini.html
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/03/books/audiobook-narrators-diversity.html
Sarah is a fan favorite for her sweetly husky voice and her passion for creating a unique audio adventure every time. She has brought over 100 books to life in audio.
Providing full narration and production services from her Midwestern home studio, American actress Sarah Puckett provides a clear and passionate read that engages listeners.
Sarah is professionally trained in narration acting, production, and audio engineering, blending these elements together to create a unique listening experience that draws the listener deeper into the story.
Kabir Singh is a professional voice actor and street poet for hire. His voice is perfect for connecting with young, urban audiences as well as the African-American community. Kabir is available to provide outstanding voice over services for commercials in the sports, electronics and motivation advertising sectors and much more. Clients include Nike, Pandora, Microsoft, T-Mobile, Nintendo, and the NBA.
Cindy Kay moved 11 times before the age of 5, grew up in a multilingual/bicultural family, and came to audiobooks from teaching. A narrator with a home studio in Salt Lake City, Cindy Kay is Chinese-Thai-American and has titles with The Audio Flow, Bee, Blackstone, Highbridge, PRH, Recorded Books, Simon & Schuster, and Tantor. She's most recently been working in Literary Fiction, Nonfiction, Erotica, and Thriller.
Join Mike Lenz as he spends time with his good friend and VO colleague Tom Mailey. Tom is no stranger to the entertainment and communication world, having started in theater at a young age and then moving into radio, television, and a career in public relations. Tom is relatively new to the VO industry, having started about 2 years ago. Tom discussed the challenges and successes he's had in the early stages of his VO career.
Do you know your "why?"
On this episode I update you on my journey in the VO world and cover some topics that are critically important to focus on in your journey:
1. Understanding your "why."
2. Having perseverance.
3. Not falling into the comparison trap.
4. Defining what success means for you.
Enjoy!
Jocqueline Protho is the Founder of The Audio Flow and Three One Six Audio - an audiobook production and publishing company serving indie authors. She has always loved audiobooks and with over 20 years of experience in talent acquisition, it was only a matter of time before she combined both of her passions. Jocqueline prides herself in helping indie authors bring their stories to life with a new way to do audio that is making its mark in the industry.
Marguerite Gavin (Shannon Parks) has been a professional audiobook narrator for over twenty years with over 500+ titles, numerous Audie nominations and Earphones awards, and a devoted fan following. She has been described as a “genre-defining narrator” by Audible.com; having a “sonorous voice, rich and full of emotion”and as having the “coveted ability to disappear as the narrator, letting the story take the limelight it deserves”in Audiofile Magazine.
Her narration spans nearly every genre from mystery, science fiction and fantasy; romance; and children’s fiction to a huge variety of nonfiction and documentary work. She is also a seasoned theater veteran, acting and directing in hundreds of productions.
As a highly respected acting teacher, she was on the graduate acting faculty at Catholic University of America; directed children of all ages in Shakespeare for many years; and now coaches narrators in the art of acting the audiobook.
She is the lucky mom of two (almost grown -up!) children. Marguerite is blessed to live at the Delaware seashore where she can usually be found in her recording studio; at the theater or frolicking in the ocean.
Proud member of SAG/AFTRA/AEA
On this episode I provide an update on my journey. I discuss the voiceover consulting I'm now doing as well as provide a discount on my friend Tim Tippet's Audition Ready Audio Course. I also talk about my journey into the audiobook narration world and how and why my audiobook work has increased dramatically. Lots of fun stuff on this episode.
Here are some links:
Voice Over Consulting - https://mikelenzvoice.com/consulting/
Audition Ready Audio Course - https://votechguru.thinkific.com/courses/audition-ready-audio-course?ref=6e5f9e
Laila Berzins is a Voice Arts Awards nominated LA Based American voice actor with a decade of experience, comedian, and songwriter extraordinaire, providing a wide variety of accents and delivery styles. Her deep & resonant voice works well with Commercial, Corporate and Promo reads, while Laila's experience and personality in Animation and Video games will leave you with VIBRANT audio and a smile on your face! Broadcast Quality Vocal Booth, Source Connect, IdPTL, Phone Patch Capabilities, happy to work under tight deadlines and with various time zones.
A big kid at heart, Laila has oodles of fun with every project she joyfully undertakes. She works in numerous cartoons for clients like Disney, Nickelodeon, Cartoon Network, Warner Brothers, YouTube and Funimation, in games like God of War 4, Final Fantasy Explorers, World of Warcraft, Star Trek Online, State of Decay 2, Atlus Fenrir for Sega, and Smite. She also lent her voice to various narrations for Microsoft, Lyft, Nike, Motorola, Weight Watchers, Toyota, and Intel, and commercials for Target, SoCal Gas, Google, Nature Valley, and Hidden Figures.
LA Based female voiceover artist Laila Berzins vocals are warm, smooth, silky, young, seductive and professional. Her numerous male/female character voices range from young to old, and sweet to sassy. Musically she is a natural Alto, with both the upper resonances of a younger woman, and the diction and lower range of a more mature woman.
Growing up, I was always the entertainment in the family. I could be found recording radio programs (just to hear the announcer) or making voices and sounds with my mouth. After a while, my mother would get a little fed up with all the noise, and yell, "Tony, quit exploding all over the house!" Deep down I know she loved all those sounds I made...pew pew...
Fast forward through high school and working overnight at a "traditional country", AM radio station (yeah that's a thing). Afterward, I moved on to college where I interned for promotions at Radio Disney, Providence. Promotions was fun, and that's where I discovered the pure, raw energy of live events.
For 15 years, I worked up the ranks in the live event industry with my core being a creative director, producer, and show director. I produced shows all over the US, Puerto Rico, Asia, and Europe. The entire time working in production, one thing always stuck with me...voice over work.
Being a voice talent never left me. Whether I was being cast for commercials, a video narration; or even being a live announcer in the Georgia Dome! I recorded in studios while on the road, or MacGyver'd a studio in my hotel room.
Now, as a full time voice talent, I get to be part of brands like Pedigree, UPS, GQ Magazine, Deloitte, and many more! This is what I was built to do. I'm fortunate to be that final piece for a production team; adding the "voice" to all their hard work.
Let's connect! Drop me a line and let's put a voice to your project (see what I did there with "voice"? It's a pun.)
Project credits: Walmart, Liberty Mutual, Subway, Comcast, Marriott, Cox, Intel, Suzuki, Yellow Tail, MetroPCS, Pearle Vision, and Stonyfield Organic.
Specialties: voice acting, voiceovers, live event, live announcing, show production, theme development, radio, explainer videos, elearning, video production, audio production, product launch, brand launch, technical director, producer, creative direction, presentations.
On this episode I talk with voice actor, composer and audio engineer Tim Tippets about his Audition Ready Audio Course.
I took Tim's course and worked with him one-on-one on my Effects Stack and was blown away by the improvement in the quality of my audio!
The Audition Ready Audio Course takes the mystery out of the technical aspect of voice-over that many of us struggle with. With a straightforward teaching approach Tim makes complex topics easy to understand and better yet, easy to apply.
I was so impressed I entered into an Affiliate partnership with Tim and on this episode we share with you a special promotion exclusive to my podcast listeners that will get you a significant discount on his course.
Listen all the way through the podcast to get your special discount promo code and then go to mikelenzvopodcast.com and click on the Audition Ready Audio Course link under the Sponsors section on my home page to access the course and enter the code.
This course is one of the best investments I've ever made in my career and it will help you no matter where you are in your journey.
Enjoy this episode and don't forget to take advantage of our special promotion!
Maria Pendolino is an award-winning voiceover artist. A professional working actor for more than fifteen years, Maria’s style is natural, friendly, relatable and sassy. Trained in musical theatre, film, television and voice, Maria’s conversational delivery is youthful and on-trend – perfect to represent and speak to Millennials and Generation X.
Maria specializes in commercials for TV, radio and the web, e-Learning and corporate narration, explainer videos, promos, in-show narration, character voices for animation, telephone systems, radio imaging and more.
A two-time award winner, Maria received the 2017 Voice Arts Award for Best Voiceover in the e-Learning category and the 2018 Voice Arts Award for Best Voiceover in the Consumer Sales Video (Explainer) category.
Maria’s professional home studio, based in Buffalo, New York, is equipped with state of the art audio equipment and offers remote connectivity options including Phone Patch, Source Connect, ipDTL and ISDN. She is a proud member of the Buffalo-Niagara Chapter of the National Association of Women Business Owners (NAWBO), the Buffalo chapter of the American Advertising Federation (AAF) and World-Voices (WoVO).
On this episode Mike provides an update on his journey. May has been a busy month of traveling and Mike discusses some of the lessons he learned, the importance of being diverse in your work, making sure you provide yourself with some down time to allow yourself to get in touch with your true purpose. Mike also talks about his short film - The Good Life - which will begin filming this summer!
Links:
Go Fund Me Page for The Good Life Short Film:
https://www.facebook.com/thegoodlifefilmshort/?modal=admin_todo_tour
Facebook Page for The Good Life - Short Film:
https://www.gofundme.com/the-good-life-short-film
Emily Pick's voice is described as
SOUND
APPROACHABLE, WARM, HIP, FRIENDLY, SEXY, INTELLIGENT, BELIEVABLE.
Emily's career has included Commercial, eLearning & education, announcer, podcasts, character, accents & dialects, animation, tourism, documentary.
Emily has a full home studio with live director/producer patch in capability.
Raw files or finished audio delivered quickly and cleanly.
Wow!! So hard to believe we made it to 100 episodes. I'm so thankful for my amazing guests and for all of you who listen to my podcast!
On this special Episode 100, I asked my guests to come back and share a short clip of advice. Over 50 former guests responded, sharing incredible knowledge and insight.
This episode is loaded with so much inspiration and information, you'll want to write these knowledge bombs down!!
Thanks again for listening and here's to 100 more episodes!
Mike
Jenn Meyer is a proud Second City graduate, and professional full-time Los Angeles based voiceover artist who has lent her voice to A-List clients such as Disney, Mattel, Google, Red Robin and much more. From animation studios to big brand ad agencies and internal marketing campaigns, Jenn’s Voice has been sweeping across the nation. Most recently Jenn attended Faffcon “the voiceover unconference” in North Carolina where she taught Improv to voiceover artists. Currently, you can hear Jenn as the promo and trailer voice for Barbie’s new movies Dreamtopia “Festival of Fun” and Barbie “Dolphin Magic.” When Jenn is not behind the Microphone in her booth – you can find her behind the Microphone at various Karaoke venues in L.A. or jamming with friends on her Ukulele. To learn more about Jenn and her latest voiceover news you can visit her website at www.JennMeyerVO.com.
Join Mike on this episode where he updates listeners on his journey into on-camera commercial work. Mike also discusses several important lessons and insights he's learned over the last 6 months and shares some scriptures that provide touchstones for Mike as he moves forward on his journey in faith!
On this episode Mike inteviews writer, producer and voice actor Dustin Rubin.
Dustin is a Voice Actor Providing VO for Commercials, TV, Radio, Narration, Audiobooks, Animation, Video Games, PSAs, E-Learning, Documentary, Corporate, Explainer Videos, Telephony, Explainer Videos, Non Profit, Promos & Trailers.
Member of SAG-AFTRA
Member of World-Voices.Org (WoVO)
Member of Trailer Voice Artists
Recent Work:
Promo: Campaign for "TKO Total Knock Out with Kevin Hart" on CBS
Sketch: The Late Late Show with James Corden (various)
Commercials (TV) Clorox, T-Mobile, Wisconsin Cheese; (Radio) Reliant Energy
Animation - Nathan's Kingdom (feature)
Video Games - Telltale's "The Wolf Among Us" (ongoing)
PSA - California Science Center
Audiobooks - "My True Love Gave to Me", "The Watch", "Running the Books: The Accidental Adventures of a Prison Librarian", "It's Not Just Who You Know". All from Random House
TV Narration - "I Forgive You" on GMC
For more info and samples, please visit dustinrubin.com
On today's episode, Mike interviews voice actor and podcaster Jessica Lewis.
Jessica's voice is described as Humorous, Engaging, Collaborative, Creative, Visionary, Nerdy. Life is short; enjoy those you work with!
Jessica has a friendly and clear American female voice, and has worked on projects from tv and radio commercials, narration, on-hold messages, corporate and explainer videos, e-Learning, video games and more!
She's a small-town country girl who has traveled the world. Hard work and innovation are in her blood. Empathy's her gift and creativity & resourcefulness are her super powers.
You can find out more about Jessica at jessicalewisvoice.com.
TrueTell™ founder Dave Walsh has enjoyed a truly multi-faceted career on both sides of the Hollywood glass, as successful artist, coach and director as well as studio executive.
Walsh has been a key national and international voiceover talent for almost 20 years, fronting signature campaigns for commercial and television icons including AT&T, HBO, Honda, Entertainment Tonight (ET), Modern Marvels, Shell, NBC’s
The Biggest Loser, Wells Fargo, The E! True Hollywood Story, CBS’ Big Brother and Hyundai.
Dave has also spent the better part of the last decade coaching and cultivating the voiceover careers of some of the most established artists in the United States, Canada and Latin America.
As executive at CBS/Paramount Television and owner of his own research consulting firm, Walsh Media, Dave was a marketing force behind some of the most established franchises in television history including ET, Frasier, Cheers and the entire Star Trek series library.
The TrueTell™ is the merging of these diverse yet powerfully synchronistic career paths. Walsh has dovetailed his offbeat, quirky passion for identifying and branding the true value of voices with his recognition of the business culture’s general apathy yet hunger for authenticity in both communication and behavior.
He believes this true “tell” is the key to building greater fluidity and trust in business practices as well as individual confidence, better performance and overall success.
On this episode Mike interviews trilingual voice actor Drita Dumont. She discusses her transition into voice acting and how she applies her VO expertise to to her other business in translation services. We also talk about the importance of staying positive and focusing on progress not perfection!
On this episode Mike updates listeners at the 6 month mark of his journey into full-time voice-over and podcasting. Topics include the process of working in the margins for 12 years, moving into on-camera work and the importance of continual improvement through coaching and achieving balance in your personal and professional life.
Issa Lopez is a bilingual voiceover talent, actress, singer and spokesperson with global, national, regional and local on and off-camera credits. As one of the most in-demand Spanish-English voices in the freelance world, she has been recognized among the TOP BILINGUAL voiceover artists available.
With 24 years of experience providing exceptional voice products in both english and spanish, Issa’s voice can be heard in practically every realm of voiceovers as well experience with jingles, singing, songwriting, and demo projects.
Jack performed for years as a stage and film actor on the East Coast before moving to San Francisco, where he became part of a national touring sketch comedy group while teaching comedy and writing. After a performance, he was approached by a VO producer to try his hand at the craft. Some fits and starts later, he committed fully to the craft and moved to Los Angeles, where he is a full-time voice actor. He has studied with many of the great voice acting gurus, both remotely and in person, and is a strong proponent of working with the best to keep growing as a talent. Jack voices trailers for major motion pictures and games, promos for television and radio, and documentaries of all kinds, in addition to countless TV, radio, and web commercials. His studio is also part of soundBOX:LA studio group started by Tim Friedlander, and Jack fully owns the fact that he is a hopeless gear addict who loves the tech side. Recent work includes the movie trailer for Super Troopers 2, the national TV and radio campaign for Love Never Dies, a TV and web campaign for Jack in the Box, and ongoing narration for a YouTube channel with over 2 million subscribers, Strange Mysteries.