Video summary
After thirteen years of broadcasting since March 20, 2011, Dan Leonard and George Wham announce the conclusion of their show, *Voice Over Body Shop*, citing personal health challenges following recent back surgery for George and evolving family responsibilities as primary reasons for stepping away. The hosts reflect on the program's technical evolution from early struggles with live streaming via Ustream and Wirecast to adopting V-Mix and finally settling on StreamYard for stability during remote production needs sparked by the pandemic. Despite this farewell, they emphasize that their mission to teach proper audio setup so everyone sounds good will continue in different formats, ensuring the community remains supported even as the show's format changes.
A significant highlight of the final episode is the launch of an AI-powered chatbot named "AI Dan and George," which indexes nearly thirteen years of transcripts to answer user questions without hallucinating information not present in their database. This tool allows users to search for specific topics, guests like Tom Kenny, or technical discussions for a monthly fee, currently offered at $10 after a two-week introductory trial period with proceeds supporting equipment needs. The chatbot demonstrates its utility by citing specific video sources, such as explaining how to itemize quotes for clients referencing Episode 2036 or offering advice on audiobook narration preparation like vocal warm-ups and hydration, all while maintaining accuracy based on over ten million characters of training data.
The hosts also share personal anecdotes about their journey in voice-over, including George's history of running a full-time business before joining another company due to exhaustion, which eventually led him to found "George the Tech" with a focus on simplicity rather than complex industry standards like Pro Tools. They discuss equipment preferences, recommending the Earthworks Ethos microphone while noting that acoustics matter more than mic choice, and showcase unique studio solutions like using sound-dampening material from surplus warehouses or an unusual glass fish tank setup where critical placement overcomes parallel surfaces. The episode honors community members such as Pat Sweeney with special "Pat on the Back" stickers to commemorate his legacy and thanks long-standing supporters like Lee Penny and technical director Sue Marino, who served for seven years before her retirement.
As they conclude after a decade and a half of operation, Dan and George express gratitude to guests including Jeff Holman, John Bailey, Scott Parkin, and Bill Holmes while acknowledging viewer support from around the world. They address the difficulties of in-person gatherings outside Chicago due to conference schedules but emphasize that friendship requires discipline and giving, encouraging viewers to maintain connections despite distance. The episode ends with a final note on their open membership program featuring tech meetings and VIP support, along with an offer for a 10% discount using the code "VBS fan" for those who wish to continue supporting the show's mission globally.
Read the full video transcript
hey it's time for voice over body shop
one more time believe it or not and uh
George and I are just going to talk
about the last 13 years essentially
little reminiscing a little bit of
sharing some of the fun show art you
know the YouTube thumbnails that Dan's
been making all these years on his own
you guys may not know that he makes them
himself so he'll talk he'll be showing
some highlights on how he does it yeah
and we have a a very special
announcement that everybody's going to
love I think you're going to love our
little our little fun new feature that
we've built on the website and which
we'll be demonstrating tonight stick
around for that that's right and if
you've got a question throw it in the
chat room depending on where you are
we're going to answer we are you know we
on Facebook we're on on YouTube how long
are we running tonight until we're done
hour and a half no she Sue only has an
hour so having a heart out I can keep
running the show if you got to walk out
of here yeah anyway time for voiceover
Body Shop one more time
[Music]
now voiceover Body Shop is brought to
you by voiceover essentials.com the home
of Harlin Hogan signature products
Source elements the folks who bring you
Source connect vooh heroes.com become a
hero to your clients with award-winning
voiceover training voice actor.com your
voiceover website ready in minutes
voiceover extra your daily resource for
voiceover success and by World voices
the industry Association of freelance
voice
talent and now here's your hosts Dan and
George well hi there I'm Dan Leonard and
I'm George Wham and this is voice over
body shop or V
[Music]
BS
so back in before Thanksgiving in the
before time no in yeah not the before
times yeah no sometime last year now
it's in the after times right um what
happened well we were decided we were to
take some time off mhm and uh we we
prescribed it yes we we said okay well
the holidays are coming up everything is
is just a mess and let's let's just take
it easy for let beat let's maybe reframe
the show give it a makeover right we
wanted to talk about podcasting a little
bit podcasting yeah exactly and then uh
the week where we would normally do the
show came along and I'm
like I'm not into it right now after
after a bit of a vacation and you
started realizing that you didn't mind
missing the Rel the responsibility show
my Sunday mornings were very busy you
know because we would get up we'll watch
the Sunday morning talk shows and I
would sit there and I would put out the
banners doing a lot of and and promoting
the show and stuff and I want to really
enjoy my coffee on Sunday morning and
and you know and because just the way
things were lined up like I've had
enough yep you know I we we've been
doing this show since 20 March 22nd 2011
holy cow so we just passed that magic
years years yeah so you know it was how
did we get the thumbs up on screen is
that a new Facebook feature or a new Mac
feature Mac Fe oh you must have somoma
oh maybe I have Sonoma well maybe Sona
who knows what's on there I don't know I
turn on the computer and it's there in
the morning and it and it works Zoom
feature you have to say something upbeat
there you go this is great you can get
okay um but uh yeah it it just turned
out that I'm like I'm I the thought was
is I was like ready to retire I was
about to turn 67 there was lots of stuff
going on if you read our our message in
in Facebook uh about what was going on
and and and there was a lot of surgery
between now and then uh and yeah I mean
I had back surgery 10 days ago I would
show you my scar but that would really
be showing off yeah don't the last thing
you want to see is my on the air here so
uh but uh you know I I I can't lift
things yeah but I can walk standing up
straight yeah which I not done for for
years I mean everybody thought I waso
that way yeah yeah and uh but now I'm
like walking straight I mean the next I
was walking around the block the next
day it's amazing what they did
incredible yeah I mean they had to take
a big piece of my you know one of my my
my uh ver out scrape off all the you
know the arthritis that's in there from
all those years of playing hockey and
and sitting like this the irony that
being active all your life made you
almost completely inactive right right
you know and because of that I couldn't
I couldn't do anything I couldn't play
golf I want to learn how to play pickle
ball although I'm really late to the
party
uh so you got to wait till it gets cool
again yeah yeah maybe like 75 80 when
you're in the retirement community I'm
in a retirement we're playing banana
tennis banana tennis Oh I thought we
were doing pickle ball what are you uh
you yeah trying to say something funny
here yeah the pickle ball is what we
used to play street hockey with oh yeah
so now they're like well why don't we
just play tennis with it and now every
commercial you see people playing P
nobody's playing tennis anymore they're
all playing actually have a funny story
about that so Atlanta I was hanging out
with some voice actors some young young
voice actors and one of them told me
that she was looking for an apartment
but there pickle ball court but it had
no the problem was is that it did have a
pickle ball court and the damn things
are noisy it's like T Tonk Tonk TK you
know and she's like so she was she was
she literally said I'm running outside
I'm so sorry for not having your name at
the top of my mind right now I'm going
to look you up because this is it's a
great story but um she she ran out she
she went she's like I'm going to look at
my apartment now I'm they're like okay
she's like let me going to go on my I'm
going to go in there and shut the door
and just see what I hear you know she's
like well wouldn't you know it when I
was in there there was no pickle ball
going on so I came back another time
prepared and she said I came back put a
microphone in the room brought her
equipment set it up in the
apartment hit record ran out to the
pickle ball court and started hitting
the pickle
ball sound like then ran back
upstairs I was like that is freaking
genius but that's what we do like when
we evaluate people's home Studios for
noise issues we tell you to put up your
mic right record the environment what
are we here what are we going to have to
fix right yeah hilarious why don't we go
back and really talk about why we
started this show yeah some of the
exciting things that led up to it that
was back in 2011 when the world was a
very different
place uh but George and I met at at a
voice
conference uh because you were brought
in as a replacement for somebody who had
been deported so everybody knows who I'm
talking about uh and uh you you had a
slide presentation on PowerPoint y that
was just a little over the top a little
bit to TMI right there was just too much
information in this Sledge right and I
was responsible for producing that room
at that particular conference and I'm
watching these slides I'm like oh my God
he is going to go way over people's
heads you could tell you you knew this
was way off Target right because we do
the same thing we help people with home
Studios this even back in I started
doing this about 2005
2006 and I run like listen this is way
over over your head over everybody's
head let's go through these slides and
let's take a few out yes and we took
about two-thirds of them out as I recall
I said you do this they're going to be
kissing your feet at the end of this
well this this this slide right here I'm
going to show you guys if I can this was
the first slide I was going to show
everybody as this is what you should
have in your studio so no guarantees I
can actually get this on the show but
I'm going to try but um if I go to share
and stop screen and share screen again
and present it has to be within chrome
doesn't it I can you share other apps I
have no idea I'll just share my whole
screen okay let's just let it go let's
just let her rip all right chaos ensues
here we go this is what I was going to
show to the students who I didn't know I
mean the first 10 voice actors I
probably set up were all promo people
right with ISDN and all this crap so I
was like this is what you need in your
home studio T Dan's like oh my God
no in fact I still use the slide as sort
of a joke you know like I'll show this
as the first slide like at BO Atlanta I
did the mic to MP3 which is really kind
of everything I know about recording you
know within reason and the first thing I
would show is this one you know and it
just be like just kidding you know
people sitting in the audience
going yeah just a tad intimidating very
intimidating we can cut out about five
or six things that are on that in that
picture Dan Dan Dan talk Dan talked me
down real and he's here here's look at
this well look at that there's there's
heavy Jordan This is slide one of that
thing and here was here's all the stuff
we're going to talk about and it was uh
it was going to go off the rails quickly
and Dan and Dan reeled me back in and
I'm so glad that you did Dan yes and we
became fast friends after that yeah I
also remember you were you were
promoting that that mobile system you
know yeah vo to go vood to go yeah and I
was pretty impressed with that yeah and
we stayed in touch and we did a couple
of podcasts together MH and then we
decided let's do this as as as an actual
podcast but let's see I can't remember
why we decided to do it on cam oh so we
could demonstrate stuff right and uh no
it wasn't even that we decided to do it
on camera from my perspective because I
couldn't find a way to do live shows
that didn't have a video attached right
there was no platform that I could find
that was as simp we used Ustream right
and there was nothing as easy as Ustream
right because we had a pay per viewer
too which was yeah there was nothing
really as easy and straightforward as
that to just go live and I was like well
I guess we'll just have a static picture
of you and me on camera or are just
sitting like there and then that's it
and I was like well we have a camera
let's just be on camera right that
was that was a huge
mistake cuz being on camera live
streaming video is a big pain in the
tus T you got to say that just more FL T
tus there you tus a big pain in the tus
we have gone through more changes to how
we produced the show I mean can you let
me see if I can remember all the the
variations of how we've done our show
started with Ustream so that was me at
my home on my LA on a desktop computer
with a very complicated mixer which I
didn't even need but I had for some
reason you called it the
Medusa and then whatever webcam I had
and then you on in Buffalo me and me and
Santa Monica you in Buffalo and we would
use Ustream and we would go live and we
would actually we it was really
complicated because we were taking calls
from by Skype right right so we were or
or was it some other way we you and me
were on Skype right that's how everybody
was seeing us but then we were taking
calls by pots like landline phones maybe
it was by I think it was by Skype I must
have had another phone system I think I
had a second I know guys I'm sorry I had
another computer that was dedicated to
Skype duties right and that
was right right and and and so we had
that set up for because we were trying
to be Car Talk wanted to take calls well
I mean I Dan's been in radio I didn't
know that the way these shows mostly
work is it's 100%
pre-recorded you know I didn't realize
that like what they do in the magic of
how Car Talk is so seamless and so
well-run is that it's all pre-taped
right and they can edit it it's all TI
edited oh you're going to be calling at
such and such a time and I thought like
we were trying to get callers to call in
at the right time it was a a nightmare
to do was really hard right and then so
pretty quickly we realized live cins
wasn't going to be a thing and then we
had Pat Fry on yeah and uh and and and a
few other people that we knew Bob Bergen
was one of our B ber and Pat was Pat was
number one right maybe Bob was number
two yeah and then uh there were a bunch
of other people we started bringing on
as guess but we but we that first we had
Tom
Kenny yeah Tom Kenny was a heck of a get
yeah I got to think thank Tara Strong
for that one cuz Tara invited me to this
um it was like a fundraiser event for
saving animals and she Tom is a huge
animal lover like Tara and she invited
me and she was like it's going to be fun
if you want to come Tom's going to be
there I'm like oh I'd love to get Tom on
our show long story short he uh I gave
him my card you know when he they were
doing the they had the lineup where
people were having their stuff signed
you know and I said hi to him I said
gave him my card and he was super kind
and he was like sure I'll come on the
show not only did he come on the show he
literally came into my house to be on
the show in the flesh right I mean that
was and that's when we used to do the
show where you and I would talk Tech for
the first half hour yeah we would no
hour we would you and I did tech for a
solid hour yeah and the guests had to
just wait right and we had two huge
stars that did this Tom Kenny and June F
Jun for for for a yeah yeah very late in
her life but she was great I me she was
pushing a book at the time and uh you
know and I had the opportunity to go hey
Rock watch me pull a rabbit out of my
sleep and she's like but that trick
never works it was it was fastic she was
the voice of rocky rocky squirrel but uh
and uh yeah and and then we then people
wanted to be on the show so we got a lot
of you know the the top people in the
business if you're looking for the Tom
Kenny one by the way that was before V s
that was we were East West audio body
shop that's right so you're going to
have to dig a Little Deeper to find that
right eventually the chat bot's going to
have everything from east west audio
body shop in it too oh good it's going
to it's going to have literally
everything we've ever done it just takes
more time to scrape it all but anyway
well we haven't told him about that yet
but we'll get to I know I know I'm
getting ahead of myself it's that decaf
oh okay uh yeah but it was it was fun
and it was I mean nobody else was doing
it and certainly nobody was doing it
about voice over no there wasn't really
there wasn't a talk show I don't
remember there specifically being a
podcast there may have been a podcast
out by that point I don't really recall
right um but there certainly wasn't like
a talk show and there certainly wasn't
like a show about just Tech right we
really thought we were going to do a
what two hours about tech I think that's
what we initially thought yeah and we
realized that's just that's just too
much yeah well yeah not only that and we
were doing it on a Sunday night yeah we
would do it live on a Sunday night and I
remember the m is getting really upset
because I was you know in in a spare
bedroom upstairs where my studio was and
Jacob's room was right next to it and
she got really upset because you're
gonna keep Jacob up to keep him when you
consider he's now 27 years old gives you
an idea yeah that was timeline 13 years
ago um you know so it it caused tension
but some of the great you know remember
my my um uh ear nose and throat doctor
that's when I literally learned about
what an auto rhinologist is right and
how to say it that's right and he's you
know I don't know I don't know if Joel's
still practicing and that was quite a
classic yeah yeah I mean we we were
singing on there we we the thing it was
like the early days of Television
because there were no rules it was
actually more like cable access well
yeah it was it really was um but we were
we were doing it by by by Skype right
and and then we were capturing that
which was pretty new techn well that was
another classic moment right so there
was an episode where Skype died died on
my computer like in my studio I couldn't
get Dan back on Skype so I got Dan on
Skype on my phone I had it on my phone
so there's a whole 40 30 40 minute
episode where I'm holding Dan in my hand
and talking to Dan like this right for
the whole and it's just his voice coming
out of the speaker getting picked up on
my Mike and that's how we did the show
right because The Show Must Go On The
show must go on and it always did yes I
mean there were only a couple of times
when it just it went totally kblo I mean
they would it would break up every well
yeah I can think of maybe one show one
or two ever in our history where we just
didn't go on the air that night right I
mean maybe I mean we always got on the
air one way or the other that's right
even if it was late even if it was Stat
or like freezing right there there
actually a lost episode there is but oh
there's a couple of those actually
there's a lost episode and I'm going to
this is a I mean you guys probably don't
know we did a whole episode with you
remember this guy say the name and then
I'll remember the episode I'm trying to
remember him now we're talking like 500
shows
Mark
growl oh yes oh we did an entire we
tried to do an entire live show from his
studio studio right we were we were
touring people Studios we were over at
at uh uh Dave and Dave and we were at we
were at voice tracks West we were over
at at uh the the soundbox LA Tim freed
Landers and we were doing remotes we
were just we had no idea what the heck
we didn't realize that the internet was
going to be such a problem we didn't
realize that you can't walk down the
hallway on a smartphone and have it
seamlessly stream audio from the
catacombs of a giant building yeah no it
was a total disaster it was so bad that
we literally didn't air that one right
maybe one of these days we should glue
that one back together glue it back
together or recreate it really cuz Mark
is now you know he's not retired but
he's not in he's not in California
anymore I know that much so we Studio's
still there Studio's still there and
kicking yeah but that was that was an
example of things were where things went
so poorly right that we didn't even I
mean cuz it was live if you were were
there that night watching it really you
saw well you were the only ones that saw
it right and it was a total mess right
and we had the say you know it's you
know East West audio body shop every
week it's Apollo
13 and then things stabilized a little
bit and yeah for a while yeah and not
for long so then so then let me see the
next iteration of the show
after it really kind of went pretty much
the same way until you moved here right
right we may have moved from you stream
to something else I think that's when we
moved to wirecast wirecast wirecast was
the sort of the pro version of Ustream
right so we moved to wirecast and and
then things pretty much ran along and
then Dan moved here yeah yeah and that's
where things got very interesting well
one because you and I were always doing
the show from opposite coasts yeah that
was the East West there there was the
one time when I just sort of showed up
in your studio yeah CU I was out here
for unfortunately my stepfather passed
away and they my mom lived in in in
Orange and I came out and was like it's
working Lee we see you yeah he's in the
chat and uh you know and then suddenly I
just walked in I'm like Hey we're
together then there was the party we had
at Ang Ganges our third year anniversary
show where we had probably about 20 30
people in in that huge apartment of hers
and we were demonstrating Studio suit
and yeah that was great that's that's
another classic I'm realizing now a a
lot of these ones that we remember
fondly were eabs episodes yeah they were
cuz we
had we were Fearless yeah like let's see
if this works yeah yeah it was a
different era yeah so so but that even
that episode even was before you moved
out here that was when I decided to move
out decid because Larry Hudson who I
know is out there said oh you're GNA
love it out here if you come and move
out
here so I I conin the misss to come out
here you had a lot of reasons to move
out yeah I mean I mean my son at an
animation school and uh you know and
this is the Center of My Universe the
business the weather well the the
weather yeah remember there was the one
intro we had I said okay go down on the
beach and shovel some sand with my kid
yeah right and then I had to wait for a
snowstorm and I went out into the
driveway and so was you flipping sand
and then me
going uhhuh and shoveling shoveling snow
that was a great intro yeah yeah and uh
we should do is put on on the website
just have an archive of like all the old
stuff oh yeah you know all the old
intros the old intros kind of like Mark
CL has a a library of outtakes and stuff
on his website by the way those are
classic it's fix in the mix I think is
their website fix inthemix.com and
there's you have to go to the bloopers
area right there's some gold on there
man
Shater you know like oh yeah that's that
one's a legendary like there's some
really good stuff on there anyway the
thumbs up yeah now one of the things
that I would do every Sunday morning
yeah because we would shoot the show on
on Monday night like we're doing right
now is I had to create a banner for
Facebook and for the the promos that we
would send out to our mailing list and
in various other places y uh and there
were a few that were my favorites you
know and how did I do them I would like
all right I would just go and go you
know Google two guys doing this or two
guys playing baseball or guy and I would
I would and I'd look at all these
pictures and I'm like okay we'll try
this one and thankfully this is way
before generative AI art right no this
was me using key u uh keynote keynote
and so you were using keynote all these
years yeah to make those banners yes
that's awesome cuz I knew how to do it
exactly it was easy well let's look at
some of those um put that one this was
this was fairly recent I loved this one
because
I had to you have to find the right
pictures to go with it you know like the
pictures of us so I had to be looking
this way and you had and I would go
through Facebook and all the pictures
that were taken CU I don't remember I I
this one slipped by me I don't remember
this one this is the Beetles on the roof
shot
yeah Fant Let It Be it's fantastic you
know and you know but there's things I
had to fix you know I'm like okay I have
to put the sky here but make it look
like we're actually there no there was
the one I did with the wri brothers some
of them people have no idea how much
work you put into it to make it look
that show the next
one uh and then Jacob started drawing
these characters of us yeah and look how
perfect that fit into those yeah it was
a no-brainer I think we did it with Yogi
Bear and a couple other ones yeah yeah
what's the next one there Sue oh now one
of the things that I I have a real
propensity for and I this really came
out of I think a trip that Marcy and I
took to uh to Eastern Europe we were in
Czechoslovakia we went to the Museum of
Communism which if you're ever in Prague
go to the museum of Communism it's it's
very revealing it was actually quite
interesting but I had this thing for
Soviet propaganda art yeah because it's
great stuff even though it's like big
brother is watching sure and this one
was you know two guys one guys holding
like a a sickle or something like that
and and then you had Lenin pointing like
that and I'm like let's see if this one
works and that one worked really well
for some re I mean you are quite a
history buff so that makes absolutely
yeah by the way there's a great
documentary on Netflix called um Turning
Point the bomb in the Cold War oh yeah
watch it if you guys don't understand
what's going on in the world right now
watch that it's a great review of the
Soviet Union and how Putin came to power
and why we're in the mess we're in it's
all just a little bit of History very
repeating exactly Shirley Bassie mhm
can't remember the name of the group
that did that
it's I oh propeller heads propeller head
that's right boom listen to that one
Shirley Bassie was the one who was
saying Goldfinger that's
right she sounds great still yeah know
she can still 60 years later she's
amazing yeah what was that next one look
an airplane yeah airplane yes heck yeah
yeah I this it was the the 40 th
anniversary is your mic on oh can be
yeah we're you're on line one there you
could be interstitially it sounded like
it was just one two one two pot it
up my channel
one oh it's on robot mode okay never
yeah the it's one of the keypads on yeah
don't yeah make sure you turn that off
before I have to do anything for uh did
you turn that on on purpose no she was
just playing with it no I was I didn't
touch
it I thought you doing never mind
anyway this is an airplane clearly so
you know it's like how do how do you I
had to find a picture now you'll notice
that's the same picture of
mey yeah okay which yeah it is that's
right same angle but flipped right so
okay and actually it's the same picture
of you I flipped it the other way that's
right nicely done is that Striker
Striker uh Striker Lesley neelon yeah
yeah you're you're the captain and auto
the
autopilot yeah yeah and auto the
autopilot right I thought that would
that would work now this was for the the
uh the interface shootout we had oh yeah
so I'm like okay I got still this is
still a good piece of uh content for
those that want audio interfaces yeah I
mean audio interfaces have changed a
little bit you notice we haven't done
one since because it's a big pain in the
neck yeah really we had I mean I had to
record all this stuff and then we had to
chop it all together yeah you know
that's the thing we do the show live and
it made things a lot easier because then
we were just like okay you know cut off
the end you know and then cut it into
two shows and yeah doing the show live
is a part of the secret sauce of how we
can we could maintain doing this so you
would think doing it live makes things
harder well it it does make certain
things harder I mean like I said I was
getting into the point of how we've
changed the way we do the show and when
Dan moved here we had to rethink
completely well we have a studio to do
yeah we have a studio we had we have
multip look at this great SC we have
yeah of course if we have multiple if we
have a studio we need multiple cameras
right how are we going to have multiple
cameras how we going to do that we fig
that out we well we we we had a first we
had a pretty good MacBook Pro that we
thought was good enough still sitting on
the couch over there dead battery and
all but was that before or after the Mac
Pro I think the Mac Pro was before the
MacBook Pro yeah so we had a cheese
grater MacBook you know the big tower
Mac right we had one of those and it was
a beast it was a 12 core monster that we
got on eBay and still wasn't enough no
because well then we had well then we
had the PC which I really refer to as
the Beast we had to get the PC because
it turned out that wirecast is what we
were using doesn't work on a so
unstable it was terrible we had that was
the re that was the main reason this
show became Apollo 13 was because of
wirecast we would have so many problems
every other show we would have to do
troubleshooting to get things wor it was
a nightmare right so then we're like
let's scrap it so I was at
NAB I saw I think it was Kerr carac yeah
doing uh doing live appearances from NAB
and I'm like what are you guys running
this one what are you guys using they're
like oh it's v-mix I'm like oh vmix
let's get v-mix so I'm get on the whole
v-mix thing right and they're like it's
Windows only I'm
like okay all right well uh let's get a
custombuilt PC so we had a custombuilt
PC just to do v-x yeah and that thrusted
us back into PC World and Sue had to
learn the v-mix interface with Windows
and it was it was quite learning a
learning curve and a half right but it
was stable right v-mix was way more
stable and we did do the live show in
vmix for a long time and then then you
discovered streamyard well we discovered
streamyard because then we had the
pandemic oh right so all then we had to
do the show remote we had to do the show
remote so that first it was remotely
control I was trying to get sued to
remote control the studio v-mix computer
and then listen to the show via I think
it was Skype or was it Zoom it was on
Zoom yeah so Sue was list trying that
was the that's how she was trying to
hear what Dan and I were doing that was
the ifb so sue could hear us live even
if we weren't on the air right it was so
complicated and it did not work out well
it was just a train wreck and a half
yeah so that's when we discovered
streamyard right which is what we're
using now it changed everything
because super easy like if anybody while
while I have my gripes about streamyard
it does weird things like why Dan and I
were jiggling up and down before and I
don't I don't know but anyway it's super
easy it's still doing it but is it doing
it now
yeah it's a weird software it's all
based on the web it's on Chrome but in
terms of you want to get a live show out
in the air with the least amount of
absolute headache and frustration yeah
it's probably streamyard it's and it's
getting better all the time it's got
more features but that's and that's yeah
now 5 years four years running yeah
streamyard yeah so now you're all
probably you know we're we're just
shooting the poop here about well that's
going on it's it's the top of the hour
here it's like yeah it's it's like 11
o'clock in New York holy cow in North
Carolina oh that's right we've only been
on we've only been on for a half hour
that's right okay so we it's uh I guess
it's time for the big announcement
should we because you guys are like what
what are you guys going to talk what is
it what is it well you know when we we
decided to stop doing the show we're
thinking well how do we how do we
promote the stuff that we have we've got
so many hours of material that's the
thing there is so much useful Evergreen
content any question you would ever have
about voiceover was probably answered on
this show by all the guests we've had on
all the you know you know coaches and
producers and uh if you look at 13
nearly 13 years all right let's say an
average of an hour per episode cuz they
were split in half well well there was
an hour and a half originally for a
really long time it was a full hour and
a half right well mostly because the
guest would continue to talk and I'm
like okay how do we get in the Stop and
yeah I mean well the shows were
literally each Monday nearly two hours
right remember yeah I'll never forget it
so so you add all that together and then
when we split the show into Tech talk I
mean it's got to be like over a thous
hours of content maybe a lot more if you
include EBS easily because we did over
300 shows as EBS yeah and then we we did
like 250 shows with a guest yep and we
did4 Tech
talks you you do the math yeah I mean
that's how many hours material insane
amount of useful content right so then
it was like how do we make this usable
and consumable in as going on as go and
then give me my Sunday mornings back
right so if you go on like Google or if
you go on YouTube and you search for
things you can get lucky and find like
an episode where something was brought
up or somebody was a guest but beyond
that you don't get much more useful
information and then you got to comb
through the episode find what you're
looking for well remember Jack deia used
to kept a transcript of what we were
doing in the good old days we would
actually have a live Human doing show
notes I'll bet you Jack's watching too
but uh
we really did and so we decided that um
there needs to be a better way to find
stuff I mean even for my own personal
use I would be frustrated I would see
things on Facebook people talking about
a certain topic I be like oh my gosh we
talked about this at nauseum on our show
if I could only
find what's the poignant thing that we
said or the moment in the show where we
said anyway we found a way and you found
a way because I don't understand of this
stuff we found a way you kids in your
your AI and and we found a way and it
looks and it looks something a little
bit
like this uh right
here this is our this is our new AI now
it I'm already logged in so it's not
letting me show the screen blank the way
it would normally show it but you can
see John's eye peering
through this is now how we uh you can
find everything we've ever talked about
on the show this is our AI Dan and
George yeah and so we've built a chatbot
it this is now how you can access all
these years of content everything that's
ever been said on the show every guest
every topic and we talked about
everything every question like you guys
have ever asked everything that's been
spoken on the show thanks to let's face
it excuse me modern technology machine
learning AI
this is all findable now right and so we
we used a service that allows us to well
it's not a c secret because it literally
says on the bottom of the website what
it is yeah powered by custom
gp. we use I found a thing called custom
gp. while I was sick in bed with covid
the first week of the year and we were
able to use this tool set to scrape and
get site maps and find as much useful
information that Dan and I have spoken
online as possible ingested into this
thing and create this tool and it is all
you have to do is ask it a question it
is awesome and here's a few things if
you guys have done anything with AI type
tools you're probably quite accustom of
the fact that they hallucinate yes this
has been it makes up stuff this has been
a rather controversial part of any chat
bot chat GPT type tool set right what's
so cool about um this chat chatbot
system is it doesn't hallucinate if what
you're searching for is not
definitively locatable it's not going to
make it up the language model it doesn't
make it up so for example I typed in the
question a little bit earlier um are
there any episodes where
suino was seing on camera well that may
have happened at some point but however
because probably we never said her name
suino right or something like that the
the the database of everything we've
ever said doesn't know where that is so
it says sorry we don't have an answer we
recommend getting help from Dan and
Georgia go to the website or you know
we'll help you somehow you know so it
won't make up an answer but it it comes
up with all kinds of good stuff right
and the better your question the better
the answer right like you can throw at
it tons of details and it will formulate
some pretty useful stuff so I if you
guys have some good questions in the
chat I will start throwing them in there
and you guys can search it and see what
it comes up with and see so give me some
good questions while Dan thinks of
something useful to say well I mean we
it's easy to find this because we put it
on all of our websites it's on of course
vbs.tv yes it's at the very top if you
look you look right above us if you're
watching on our on our website it says
does it say yeah the chatbot thing you
click on that it'll take you to the
chatbot it literally says the best shop
talk in voiceover is now in chatbot form
and then right below in yellow it says
introducing AI Dan and George chapot
click here to learn more so the way it
works if you click on that if you click
on that it's going to take you
to yes it's going to take you to a pay
wall so um at the moment it's priced at
20
bucks we think maybe that's a little
introductory P an introductory price of
$10 we're going to drop it down to 10
bucks a month and so what happens is
once you log into this thing you got to
put in your credit card info but what
it's going to do is it's going it's
going to give you 14 days two weeks to
hammer on this thing and play around
with it and see if it's actually useful
for you and what you're doing and what
you're learning and if it is then it
will start billing your card you guys
know how free trial subscription stuff
works it works like pretty much all the
other cancel at any time but why would
you want to right so so we're going to
we're going to adjust the price maybe
we'll take a break later and I'll fix
the price and um and you guys can start
playing around with it but we we are
really proud of this it's it's the way
to get information we never thought
possible and it's every question that
you could possibly have about voiceover
I mean performance C you know improv
every Tech question we've ever covered
uh you know by the way we'd like to have
your questions because George and I
would still like to do what we do best
which is answer your questions
yeah well just we're actually kind of
working on a question from Justin
because Justin Ramos answer said Dan can
you tell us of your daily vo routine
compared to when you first
started as compared to now you know like
checking emails auditioning checking
p2ps and then a question for me from
Eldorado to gtt what is what have you
what have you done about your routines
holy cow that's a whole show it is one
question well I can I can do you want to
get to you want to get to that one right
now sure yeah what's my routine like
well let's see I get up at 7:20 every
morning then stay in bed till about 8:20
yeah I'm retired you know I I I I'm
collecting my Social Security I don't
have to answer to anybody except except
the M yeah yeah and uh and and Mishka
and sometimes Jacob Mishka is the dog uh
and uh but I will come out here after
breakfast because this is a separate
Studio this is G this is the great thing
about this place when we bought it it
was a recording studio the first you
know when we when we first bought the
place and so we George and I worked it
to reconverted into a voiceover studio
and a television Studio which is why we
look so darn good on here we got lights
we got everything is you know of course
there was all the cable that was in here
which is now sitting in a closet it's
enough to support you know you know a
tank hanging from it um uh but you know
I I'll I'll go check my my email uh but
when I first started it was yeah it was
a lot of going to the
pdps uh and looking for auditions and
firing those out and was there a point
where you just decided I don't need to
deal with the p2ps anymore yeah about
four or five years ago well when one of
them really went South with how they
were managing things I remember actually
going to their office and saying you
can't do this as were a lot of other
people Y and I came home and I
immediately took myself off of that one
I was on the other one that had a
numerical name to it we're not saying
the names because we don't want to come
up in AI search right but anybody that's
been watching our show dipped a toe into
voiceover business knows what we're
talking about and I built my business on
on those right you know the one was very
good before they decided to change their
management plan uh and they changed
their priorities they they really did
that's what it was it it suddenly we
were no longer their customers we were
their Comm it yeah and I didn't like
that very much uh but I built a good
solid clientele from that uh and a
couple of big contracts with uh a couple
of companies that were constantly
sending me stuff and
then and then I started doing stuff like
I became president of a local board
which I'll never recommend uh
because what what do they say the road
to hell is paved with good intentions
yeah um you know and and and and and no
no good deed goes unpunished there's a
lot of that uh and I became very
philanthropic and started doing that
that started to take away from my time
from doing voice over then for some
reason we started doing this about a
couple years later and that took up time
but we were doing the show to promote
the fact that we were Consulting with
people on home voiceover Studios and a
lot of people were getting into the
business and they needed assistance with
that I spent about 50% of my time doing
voiceover and 50% of my time helping
people with their own Studios and 50% of
my time taking care of my
dogs and 50% of your time being a dad
that's right 50% of your dad being a
time being a husband right right so now
now I get to do all that stuff actually
uh and today you know it's it's pretty
easy because my clients send me stuff
they've been doing it for years I count
on you right you're a trusted voice
right and and people keep sending me
stuff through my specimen collection Cup
on my my my web page and it's you know
it's a nice leisurely life out here in
Southern California where the sun is
shining except for this winter uh and uh
you know I you know it's not bad and
because it's so
relaxing I I don't need the stress of
trying to put this together every week
right you know getting a guest and and
you know that sort of thing so I not
that I didn't like doing it I just got
tired of doing that when there were
other things in my life I needed to be
doing like looking after my family and
you know make up for all the time that
you know perhaps I was maybe not paying
as much attention to them as I needed
sure because this is a place great place
to come out and hide yes yes more than
anything and you all know what I'm
talking about I never had that place to
hi died in my house grow with my
daughter growing up and uh my daughter
my daughter when she was able to when
she was at the age of being able to run
and walk was disruptive uh I don't know
if and she would always run and walk
onto the show as she would love to stick
her head on the show do you ever
remember hearing her banging on the door
to my office oh absolutely very loudly
like I mean like a kick drum boom boom
boom boom boom you know like a
monster so my kid was very disrupted so
I mean things have not in terms of my
business and what I do things really
have not changed uh I still don't do
voiceover as crazy and stupid as that
sounds the more I say it to myself I
never I never dipped my toe in the
voiceover business um I still run my
business full-time there was a
distracted moment where I just decided
to join another company from 2013 we
won't mention any 2017 I joined another
company cuz I was you know I was tired
of running my my own business cuz it's
freaking exhausting sometimes and
stressful and um so that was a little
distraction but but since then you know
that was before I joined that company I
was alerado recording Services I met my
buddy Graham Spicer who helped me do a
remake of my company a Rebrand we moved
we changed to vo Studio Tech Graham and
I joined this company we worked there
together for four years then we both
were asked to leave and we did and we
went off to do new things
and that's when I started George the
tech I had to come up with a new brand I
had to come up with everything literally
in one night and that's what I did
sometimes inspiration hits you got to go
for it I I was kicked out the plane and
I built another plane from spare parts
that I had still strapped on to me as I
plummeted the
Earth managed to not crash into the
ground and then fix the plane and the
planes gotten a little bit better now
with our latest iteration of George the.
Tech the new website which launched a
year ago now um it's been quite a
journey and quite quite a process but
it's the first time we built something
from scratch from the ground up and it's
been a huge amount of work huge amount
of work it's probably I
spend not so much now but for at least 6
months to eight months it was probably a
quarter of my time was like just keep
getting the website where you see it now
and and improving it and and now it's
coming up with services that meet more
people's needs and then building a team
that's especially since the new site
came out quite a quite a list of people
you got working with you know it's been
a huge part of our huge priority is was
to to have more more people that have
more Specialties not only am I just one
person I just didn't want to continue
trying to pretend that I'm an expert at
everything right I'm just I'm not an
expert at everything I'm not an expert
at Studio One I'm not an expert at logic
I'm not expert
Protools I can get around in these
things I'm open K and Reaper which is
why we tell people not to use those
things makes it a lot easier you know
some people end up getting training from
somebody who's an expert at one thing
you know like there's a guy for Studio
One there's there's schools that still
teach Protools to brand new voice actors
don't understand that at all but anyway
keep it simple kids I don't want to
learn everything new and I don't want to
convince people that they need to learn
these crazy new things so my job is to
be the advocate for the voice actor oh
really has been finding the right tools
things that are easy reliable and
efficient that's really my thing and and
that's what I still do at as George the
tech right um just trying to stay
relevant and I guess the only thing
that's really really new other than the
chatbot experiment is um I've just
decided while I was at vo Atlanta it
would be a good time to launch a new
membership so we actually have a
membership program now now I've offered
this for years but only to
under the radar yeah not like online
just you know a client of mine that's
really busy I'm like you know you're
hiring me a lot let's work something out
so I do have a number of VIP clients who
I see on a regular basis or help them
well now really it's open to everybody
now so if you're interested in getting
like a more of a flat rate type support
you can do that um on George the. Tech
you'll see a menu item for memberships
and see what you think see if there's
something there it's useful to you we
have bonly meetings where we just talk
Tech it's ask me anything you can get uh
access to sound checks which is your
specimen collection cup and unlimited
access to the chatbot which we're going
to demonstrate here in a little bit
actually I have a question for our great
for the VBS chatbot hey I also forgot
that I became president of world voices
Oh you forgot that little thing uh yeah
that's also taking up a lot of time
right now my my term is up in October uh
but you know we I I decided to take the
organization
and it the times have changed and what
we originally came up with I don't think
was really as relevant today as it was
back in 2012 when we started it yeah and
uh so we're really marketing our our our
searchable directory of our professional
members voice over. Biz yeah uh and
we're promoting it to the people who
hire us and they are hiring people from
there so if you join wovo as a
professional member if you qualify you
can be on there and that's like you know
is it a pay to play well it's $99 a year
to be a member of the organization but
we got other stuff we've got our demo
player it's a very minimal cost right
yeah uh you know for a Professional
Organization absolutely I pay more than
that for every other organization I'm a
part of yeah and then then we've got uh
woocon which is which is going to be
more like fafc con this year in Chicago
which going to be great a bunch of you
know what fafc con is in a nutshell
explain the facon facon is an
unconference uh where it's not where you
bring in lots of big speakers to attract
people it's members helping members
essentially uh and and expert you know
people who everybody's got some sort of
expertise in something uh and their
voiceover some people are really good at
accounting some people are really good
at marketing some people happen to be
fairly good at home studio stuff you
know until they they don't know and then
they ask you and me about it uh and then
or somebody else who's going to give
them some long complicated answer and
uh but we have you know we've got videos
on stuff we have you know distinguished
speaker series we've got
webinars uh you know that sort of thing
but the fafc con model was people would
get together on the first night and and
say what do you want to talk about and
every would write it down and everybody
would look at the cards and go well I
want to talk about that and you'd put a
sticker on it so the ones that got the
most votes was it limited to 100 people
100 people back then yeah we're going to
probably keep this to 150 yeah uh and uh
so imagine 100 people in one like you
know conference room sitting there with
posted note type things you know writing
down what their topic is they want to
talk and then it's more of a discussion
than it is presentation some people come
with you know sort of yeah I mean
there's definitely a lot of people that
are coaching you know that kind of have
aiel like I did but it's non-commercial
yeah it's not like we're we're pushing
people you know buy this guy's book and
buy this you know which is by the way
something that I have a big problem with
in our business right now if you've only
been doing it for a year you're not
qualified to teach other people how to
do it you know I I spent you know 12
years in broadcasting and and have a
degree in broadcasting I know how all
that stuff is everybody else is just
guessing now they're getting online and
going trying to create a TV show or a
podcast that's what I used to do is it
was the public service programming on
Saturday and Sunday morning you know
intro body outro boom put on big reel of
tape put it on there on Sunday morning
hit the button and watch Sunday morning
TV while that thing's running for half
an hour and then wait got to go to the
next one you know that sort of thing uh
that was that was my life for for a few
years uh but uh where was I going with
that what were we talking about it's not
that's what happens when it's not
important but I do I do have a question
for the chat Bo oh good so here we go
I'm GNA and the question is Sho show me
the chat box would you so this question
came in from Justin I think it was from
Justin sorry who was the one that said
here's a question for the chat Chris did
Chris Chris Walsh did okay so here's his
question all right we're GNA paste this
into the chatbot together kids and Watch
What Happens real time so go to the
chatbot paste and the question is for
the chatbot search on which episode did
Mark Cashman explain what to say to
clients if they want to know what they
are paying for what did he say look at
that let's see what let's see what we
get
so Mark Cashman discussed what to say to
clients if they want to know what they
are paying for in VBS episode 2036 he
mentioned that when giving clients a
quote it's important to itemize the
three things things they are buying
before than just one this approach helps
clients understand the value of what
they are purchasing and clarifies the
breakdown of services
provided
boom gold come on
guys I mean that's pretty useful it
right and then right below that um it
says where did this answer come from and
then so there's the video there's
references to the actual episode of when
that was mentioned now it's interesting
it shows four sources yeah so I don't
know how it deres which well Mark was on
the show a bunch of times so yeah it
does show multiple times when he was on
the show um but it says that this is uh
this was the best answer to that
question so guys you have no idea how
complex this is I I watched um I watched
the a highlight reel of the Nvidia
keynote oh Nvidia is the biggest company
that you probably don't know about
unless unless you're a gaming nerd you
don't know but they are I think the
second or third biggest most biggest
company in the world like right up there
with Microsoft and Apple and um they are
the ones that build the processors the
servers the chips all this stuff that
make stuff like this work it's
unbelievably complex it it just seems
like a search engine but what it's doing
is it's searching through in our case of
this particular chatbot the library it's
called The Language model is built of uh
just shy of 10 million
characters and so it's searching through
all that figuring out what's the most
relevant way to come back to you with
your from your query with something
useful that really makes sense and then
formulating a very well-written response
but what set again what sets this apart
from just your generic chat GPT by the
way I have a chat GPT account from up Ai
and it's pretty freaking cool I I make a
lot of chat Bots but this one is
absolutely has guard rails it will not
it will not hallucinate if it can't find
the answer that's relevant to your
question and it's not within the
database it will simply say I don't have
an answer for you refine your search a
little bit yeah yeah just come up with a
bit different question because it's not
going to make stuff up kids and that's a
really big deal about this so how do you
like that yeah there's one maybe we can
throw some more in there later if
anybody comes up with them are there any
questions for me and Dan that's the
question well we asked for them there
should be some got in here
uh
um we while you're doing that we of
course we have toh thank U Jeff Jeff
Holman who Mr Jeff Holman yeah who's
probably out there watching going why
can I participate because you know we're
just this is a shooting the breeze
episode yeah it's a very loose yeah but
he would he would monitor our chat room
and uh shout out shout out to Jeff
hullman Hollywood Jeff Holman yeah yeah
Hollywood hullman yeah and you know I
can't remember his IMDb it's probably
still hidden on our oh got a question on
on screen now yeah thanks Jeff that was
you were you were was a real help you
loyally helped us almost from the
beginning of the pandemic yeah yeah when
we really needed it yeah so thanks Jeff
so we got another question here yeah
this one came from Lena Del Robo which
is actually a new name to me um Hey guys
you're the best and I've really enjoyed
your shows thank you congratulations and
thanks for everything what are your
thoughts on the Earthworks icon mic it
does it does need no it says Needs no
interface I found it on Sweetwater okay
so that must be the earthw worth icon
USB mic yeah so they make two versions
the USB and the XLR um I don't know have
any I don't have any personal experience
with that model but I do have its
brother okay called the ethos oh I
remember you're talking about the earthw
works ethos right and I have nothing but
great things to say about the ethos it's
been fantastic um I have not used the
USB variation of the icon so I don't
know uh I don't have anything specific
to say about it I would I'm sure there's
some good YouTube on the US remember
specifically the USB version cuz right
they make you know when you have a USB
mic it's going to have different quirks
right and different behaviors than an
XLR mic know it may not have quite the
gain that you'll have with an interface
or stuff like that but is it yeah I mean
is the self noise going to be as clear
is there going to be more noise some a
lot of times these USB mics they kind of
cut corners on certain components to to
physically put them in the mic and
there's just they're not always the most
clear sounding right there are some good
USB mics I mean we you know we know the
siser makes one senheiser makes new4
digital digital yeah it's and the road
nt1 fifth gen which is an amazing mic in
an fabulous price point two probably the
best USB mics going they have a Common
Thread between them is that they have
zero knobs buttons switches or Jacks
it's all software driven just a USB
cable right so everything happens in the
computer there's no headphone jack but
they are uh really good sounding USB
mics but I yeah the if you're really
looking at ethos um I mean if you're
really looking at Earth Works check out
the ethos super impressive uh mic that
can easily do voiceover work as well as
podcasting and broadcast stuff yeah then
again the the the bottom line on all of
this is if it picks up your voice and
it's a fairly good microphone it
probably doesn't matter whatever mic you
have is the mic you have it's this space
around you that matters it's it's always
it's the Acoustics and the louder you
talk the more the Acoustics come into
play I've been enjoying watching Dan
tonight because Dan has been W been like
backing way off and all this stuff and
talking and it still sounds like he's
right in front of the microphone right
isn't that amazing this is this is the
Harlen Hogan uh v1a by the way that's
the classic right there and the reason
for that is this room's Acoustics are
very well done right they're very
there's this whole wall behind us that's
behind this green screen is one
ginormous acoustic panel we're actually
it's called the studio studio suit hey
let's show it here this is a good time
to talk about Studio suit for for a
minute minute cuz it's long gone but
there it
is this is what's behind the green
screen everybody if you've ever been
wondering what's back
here but it works dude so what is Studio
suit while we're talking about Studio
suit was something I found in a
warehouse in
Buffalo uh somebody thought it was they
were tents and this guy had bought an
entire truckload of these things from
some government surplus thing was wasn't
it um Quanza Hut insulation it was it
was insulation for a quan Hut like they
would put these up in the out in the
field and have these huge rolls of the
stuff and they would right roll it out
you know and and and so this guy I knew
who owned this we this Army Navy Store
was like I'm going to use this people
can soundproof their Studios with it cuz
that's the stuff you talk about it's not
soundproofing it's sound dampening
material yeah it's dampen yeah and it's
it we put it in people's closets it was
F it was it you didn't need a Bas trap
it just sucked sound into it and you
know and I can talk right into it and it
doesn't bounce anywhere it's incredibly
absorptive in fact that one episode we
were talking about where Dan is
assembling a booth out of PVC is
actually using the studio suit would
hang hang it from PBC pip and it worked
exceptionally well but it had a couple
little minor
issues some of them had a little bit of
a mil problem right it it it took a two
or three bottles of FaZe to really get
it smelling because they they were
outside they were out in this pallet
outside for 10 years so they smelled
like a Boy Scout tent and that is a very
that is a very um divisive odor I don't
know why for me milde smell doesn't
bother me cuz it's like nostalgic it
reminds me being in my parents' basement
well that's what I was going to say it's
like weird Barbie it it smells of
basement weird
Barbie yes exactly um yeah no that smell
was very nostalgic it didn't bother me
but for many for other folks uh yeah
maybe not the best choice in an enclosed
room but um and the other problem was
was it was in these massive things and
there was a 40 foot roll and I had to
cut them into 8 section manageable and
that was not easy which is why I stopped
doing it but the people who have
and it's all still in a warehouse in
Buffalo no I I yeah maybe I don't know
who knows where it is now I don't know
if Rob what Rob did with it but you know
that was stud it came in these big 10
foot long green cigars of canvas green
canvas
bags and uh it's essentially loose
yellow fiberglass in a canvas wrapper
right is what it is and it and it works
really well works really well and I
still have yeah piece I think I got a
couple pieces sitting in the in this in
the in my voice Booth over here yeah
there might be some still around well
there's somewhere around this door over
here oh no that's that's not panels I
made that's something you made yeah all
right there was another question Sue had
on the screen a minute ago let's see if
we can grab to that
one she's scrolling scrolling dang it I
had it on screen and you guys Patricia
hi Patricia how would you prepare your
voice for audiobook
narration uh and since you don't do that
anymore you no no yeah I gave that up
about 10 years ago I mean there's a lot
of you guys out there doing Audi books
while you while you come up with an
answer I'll search for it on our chat
bot yeah you know to me audio books were
always high effort low reward uh but um
how do you prepare how do you prepare
your voice for that you warm up I come
CAU here in the morning and go la la la
la I I do scales I you know you
go oh oh do the vocal exercises to
really loosen up your voice uh but doing
a long session of audiobook I mean where
you read an entire chapter and uh you
know long form narration is physically
exhausting can be you know I mean it was
I mean when I have to talk all day as
not not being a voice actor I get
physically tired and I can feel it in my
throat I feel how tired I am yeah I yeah
I was in really good shape back in those
days and I and I could do if you're in
good good physical condition mhm and I
was working with a trainer back then and
I was able to uh but the door swung open
and a in a fig newton entered as grouo
marks once said
uh but you know
I you have to be in good physical
condition really to do voiceover because
there's so many people that try to read
a sentence and take a breath every five
seconds you know right you should be
able to read an entire sentence without
taking breath look think about how much
editing time you save just by doing that
but what did the chatbot come up with it
came up with a bullet list of stuff okay
which is you know chatbots are really
good at making lists and by the way I
have been using my own personal George
the tech bot you know my AI George for
like a month and a half answering you
guys' questions on Facebook and Reddit I
don't know how much you if you've seen
answers from me that are remarkably well
written in verbose yeah possibly broken
down into eight to 10 bullet points yeah
was probably my chatbot um I've been
using it a lot but uh the answer U is
it's eight points warm up your voice and
there there's you know there's more
details for each one of these but warm
up your voice just like Dan said stay
hydrated thank you for the reminder I
forgot because I I I don't stay hydrated
I I I don't drink at all I mean I got to
water intake but practice reading out
loud if this is something new for you
understand the material you're reading
pretty important it helps it really does
help work on your breathing proper
breathing technique very crucial I'm
just repeating what Dan said see look
how look how relevant this is it's all
up here create a comfortable recording
environment extremely important for
audiobooks when you're going to be there
for hours and hours recording um rest
your voice how how long would you go
between breaks how long did you know
before you're like I got to take a
break
more than two hours yeah hour I mean I I
could do a chapter in an hour and I
would stop you would take a break I'd
take a break have a drink you know and
go back and go back at it okay although
generally what I back in the back in the
day I would record and I would edit the
chapter you like to do it as you go yeah
that would be my tendency I I would be
so like it would be so in my head what I
just recorded and I would just be
thinking I got to edit it I got to edit
I got to edit I got to edit it I can't I
can't let it go that would be me I would
I'm the same way you know are you coming
for lunch yeah I'll be there in a couple
minutes exting
this yeah yeah and the very last one
which maybe the most important bullet
point of all is seek feedback and
training listen to people get advice
from professionals don't think you know
everything and just because you have a
chat poot doesn't mean you you have all
the answers and get help because or ask
us you know get help get help get help
yeah great question yeah
so but and KES we've been doing this all
these
years the thing is is the more you do it
the year all the years that you and I
have spent building home voiceover
Studios very specifically I mean did we
know everything when we started no of
course I mean what an old George Carlin
joke how do you start a path you got to
hold the grass down yourself at first oh
that's a great line I remember that well
Carlin had a bunch of them uh but we
learned you know the more experience
nobody has as much experience at home
Studios as you and I do no this has been
an absolute Obsession for a very long
time yeah and you know everybody else is
like oh here's how you be an engineer
you don't have to be an engineer yeah
you got to learn Pro Tools that's the
industry standard there's nothing which
industry are you talking about yeah
let's talk about which industry we're
talking about right you know you're not
a recording engineer you're a voice
actor your job is to capture your voice
in the proper acoustical environment
with the right levels and now levels now
ai is controlling that stuff well Ai and
and and 32-bit float which is a topic
I've been I have been teasing that I'm
going to do a webinar or a video on
32-bit float for a very long time and
it's time so I'm going to be doing that
soon because it it's the question keeps
coming up more and more often and I've
got two perfect devices to test I've got
the road n15th gen yeah with the 32-bit
float USB ad converter magic sauce right
and I have a zoom UAC 23 32 I think it's
called which is sort of like their
Scarlet 2i2 right it's an audio
interface with no gain knobs oh it has
zero gain the evo4 is like that too well
it it will set a level has a Smart Level
that's a whole another thing so smart
level setting this is becoming more of a
thing especially now the new Scarlet 2i2
fourth generation came out it has auto
level and safe modes I'm still dubious
on the safe mode I was watching all
these YouTube videos trying to get a
better explanation basically a limiter
or that's what I don't understand I
don't know if it's a limiter where it
when you get to clipping like zero it
brings the level down for just a for a
moment and then back or if it drops it
down and then leaves it down right if it
was me the way I would want that feature
to be is if you do get to clipping that
it would drop the level by I don't know
let's say 60b just like that and then
for the duration of the entire rest of
the project it would be six down because
then if you're editing the audio you
know the precise moment where the game
changed and now you can just make your
adjustment and post right you just take
the first half and drop it down by six
boom you're done so I don't I don't know
I I the jury's still out on that now
speaking of the Scarlet you notice I
didn't mention the Scarlet solo do not
get the Scarlet solo fourth generation
because because channel one yeah is the
guitar car channel two is the is the mic
they flipped it on us and now so if
you're trying to use just a mess with
you it's so irritating now I mean a lot
of like Zoom type programs just
automatically hear both channels and
it's a piece of cake but your doll isn't
going to work that way so if you're just
used to plug in in a mic to channel one
hitting record you're going to get zero
on your track unless you go into the
settings switch the inputs now I know
that sounds easy but trust me it's a
pain in the neck when it's not the
default right and so I really don't
recommend the solo the 202 2 I2 fine the
4 I4 has much more complicated software
if you geeking out on making mix minuses
and all this crap go for it it's fun to
be a geek I mean if you want to play
with stuff but you don't need it for
doing voiceover catch it clean up front
and and you know we've only been saying
that for 13 years and sure let's grab
some more questions
John oor of all the home Studios you
each have worked on what ones were your
favorites and why can you remember
anything that you worked on that just
stands out uh let's see what's the one
that flashes to your brain immediately
oh some of the ones you know when you
would go
into these big expensive houses you know
I'm suddenly in this Mansion up in you
know in Ceno you're in the Gated part of
the Gated part right exactly G of the
gated community yeah you have to go in
there and like I'm here you
[Music]
know okay you go in there and you're
suddenly in this very very nice
closet you and you see the kind of
clothes people wear and and that sort of
thing and I've done that many times and
you realize they have a they have a
perfect Booth already right because they
have this huge closet right there's
clothing on maybe all four sides if it's
a big one right and you put the mic in
there it's the one I mean we I've done
so many it's the ones that look
impossible and you just do make a couple
of little
adjustments and it sounds good the way
it is because as you always say if it
sounds good it is good uh yeah I I mean
I won't mention any names but you know
there are a lot of places where I've you
know they're a challenge I go into a
place and I sniff as I like to say all
right what does it sound like over here
okay all right if you place yourself
here this is The Sweet Spot put the mic
like
this and you I just you know rinse and
repeat and it it I always get it right
because you know I don't want to I don't
want to over complicate it I'll show
people how to how to edit
properly um but you know there's there's
not one that was a favorite I love doing
all of them you know unless someone was
a real pain in the ass which which was
very rare we just a little Looney Tunes
it's pretty rare yeah I mean working
with regular we're working with people
right you know yeah and and you know and
of course there were a lot more people
trying to get into it who had no
experience at recording right so right
you know that's the fun part for me was
you know quickly setting up but then
explaining the business to them yep like
I mean you I like you know I'm always
making this joke that's the that's the
extra special sauce of having one of us
there physically with you or working
with you right there's so many other
things that just flow out because we're
just been in your we've been in these
environments so many times and we find
little things to improve or tweak exact
little tips you know yeah and uh you
know trying to deal with background
noise and uh you know I always said well
you live where you choose to live you
know if you're next to a construction
site you know you're you're so that that
that reminds me of that one
time okay actually let me show you I'll
show you my favorite Studio before we go
on
my favorite Studio to this day is still
is still this one that one yeah I've
been in that one Speaking of the
impossible studio right look at this
thing it's a freaking glass fish tank
right how can that possibly how can that
possibly work the glass is all parallel
there's no slanty glass right the room
is basically a square right you know so
it's glass glass glass Square big huge
countertop and there's a glass window on
the opposite side also perfectly
parallel right so every rule is broken
in this
space why is the glass slanted though in
most
Studios not for acoustical reasons
there's two well there's two reasons one
one is no glare so you can see through
the window that's the bigger one like
yeah in radio Studios it was like you
know okay three two one you try looking
through the door of your studio bricks
or really any door glass door that has
double layers of glass and all you see
is yourself right all you see is a
reflection so that's one huge reason why
the non-parallel glass is the norm um it
can help in a small Booth too because
the sound now reflects downward you know
instead of right back at the mic you
know but it's not necessary and and this
is an example of that why does it work
well it works because mic placement is
critical we we have the Acoustics all
full focused on one one location where
the mic is the entire ceiling of the
booth is one gigantic bass trap right so
there is no resonances or anything the
whole thing and every square inch that
isn't glass or wood has acoustical
paneling on it so um it's I put that
drape in there thinking well we're going
to need a drape cuz it's going to
reflect right nope he never closes the
drape so this this one is a real
favorite of mine it's got stained class
in it cuz that window was already on the
outside of the house like what are we
going to do with that glass window well
we should frame it out so you know this
one's a favorite but there you go you
can see where the two mics are located
he's he's facing right into a huge it a
beautiful Studio panel you know and that
one's still uh that's Howard Parker it's
still in use today and so yeah that's
that one's that always comes straight to
mind when that question comes up yeah
it's always fun to see how people have
already set up you know and then it's
like no you you you know one you're
talking into the side of the mic o or
you're talking on the wrong side of the
mic demonstrate every we yeah let's
demonstrate that everybody needs to hear
the wrong side of the mic right talk
into the logo or if you got a road into
the Gold Dot not across it the the Gold
Dot kids the Gold Dot you know something
just came to mind yeah one one of my
favorite shows that we did well actually
I ended up doing it was the one I did
from
Hershey the the Russian talk show you
know where I you know I'm like is
anybody here a floor director at a TV I
do that totally cable access yeah and
and and we we did it it was all with
analog cameras and I had a one of
those old Sony hany cams with the RCA
cables plugged into a Radio Shack right
TV switcher like I want to watch the I
want to watch a VHS click right that was
the switch right you know there was the
genlock was a a little late but you know
it was a little flunky but it worked but
it was fun it was you know we're I'm
like hey I'm here at facon here let's
talk to this person and oh God that was
a lot of fun you know again it was there
were no rules it didn't matter yeah we
just went for I think I think people
need to start living their lives that
way it's like well yeah there are rules
you know you stop at a stop sign and you
know things you don't kill other people
and but there are rules comes to live
streaming and doing a show just go with
there very few rules we've been doing
for the last hour and 15 minutes here
exactly exactly but maybe you know do we
have any more questions or uh yeah I
know there's more in there all right
well let's answer a few
more I'm changing the price on the chat
butt okay good this is the other thing
while we're doing this show he's on the
internet going oh I gotta have something
for Tech talk that's why the laptop is
always right in front of me
like oh wait a sec I hear some at the
door
fun there problem Pro product price
changed excellent1 it's $10 a month come
here you know we've also had several
dogs that have been in the studio we had
Ari all those years and Tink now we have
Mishka
Mishka Mishka likes to lick
microphones lick the mic lick and why
not lick it lick it lick the mic can to
lick the mic
h a question okay so has a question from
somebody from Greg
Hernandez what's your favorite part of
vs is it the interviews or the tech talk
Tech talk Tech talk Tech Tok TK to T to
TK Tok T Tik Tok yeah no I I mean it was
it was fun meeting some really cool
people absolutely I mean we I mean Fred
melam met in here people who are you
know fairly big stars Debbie daberry was
always a pleasure to talk to uh and some
of the cool people that we've met and it
was interesting you know when they would
come and they would be in my house and
they'd come here and they'd sit here and
I get to look up their nostrils and
everything it was It was kind of cool
but you and I just shooting the poop
here about all this stuff because I mean
clearly we've had some the highlights
are pretty obvious and we've talked
about them a lot like June Fay coming
into the studio who's passed on by now
and just her live interaction with Dan
and just she was am amazing we yeah um
gosh I
mean you know and and we had some great
coaches on too I mean so many great
coaches you know Dave Walsh she was
always fun to have on and Mark Cashman
and uh John Bailey I mean it's we've had
some friends of the shows over here John
Taylor John Taylor where where is John
he's out in he's out in um Palm Springs
oh he's in Palm Springs yeah he's loving
his life in Palm Springs good for him um
John John search for any episode with
Johor and you will laugh um but John
Bailey became another friend of the show
yeah I just if if we were like dang it
so and so got booked yeah called John
see if John do it and he would write
back who
cancelled we bring him in John Bailey is
fantastic guest yeah if if you go to the
chatbot that's a picture of JN in the
middle of the the guy in the middle is
John he doesn't look anything like that
now yeah and you know and Scott Parkin
you we had some fun times with Scott
Parkin because he would always bring a
bottle of rum oh yeah who who who were
the who were the uh the guests we had
that that would bring booze it was it
was Scott yeah and it
was compost Productions oh oh um yeah um
oh no this I'm have to use the chatbot
I'm GNA have to use the B Bill Holmes
sorry Bill it it it it came it was in
back in the of my mind sorry Bill Bill
Holmes those two guys would show up to
the studio usually with shots yes and so
within the first hour we were getting a
little bit SCH knocker and getting
pretty pretty pretty loose on the mic
yeah yeah that those those were fun
shows and uh you know it was just fun if
it wasn't fun we wouldn't do it yeah you
know and and when it became
more it still was fun but it was still
more the labor of it of the grind of it
well and but the but the it's not
shoveling snow no it's not and it's not
mining coal no it's not although there
is a certain pleasure to shoveling snow
like I'm proud of this driveway as it
starts snowing again
hly but uh well we didn't have the snow
well we had the snow but it was for us
it was the leaves should we wait till
all the leaves fall out of the trees
before we start cleaning up the leaves
right yeah and then and then are the tip
of my tips of the week which were well
planned out Productions we got we got to
do
packages be our talking for hours
pre-recorded packages and those are
those are still on the internet those
are on U I think those are still on the
V OBS website and you know you can type
in tip of the week and it'll give you
all the different tips of the week that
I made uh Chris Anthony lown thank you
for speaking the voice of Barbie we had
Barbie of course we had Barbie thanks
Chris yes we had the voice of Barbie
yeah yeah I mean come on I mean where
else can you the funny thing was is
people would would recognize me places
I'm sure it happened to you too I'm
walking down the street in Pebble Beach
or in uh Carmel By the Sea people don't
recognize me because I'm usually wearing
a helmet and I'm on a bike going 15 20
miles an hour I'm walking down the
street my my son had just graduated from
from from uh Middlebury College in in um
uh
Ventura and uh no not in Ventura up in
up in the the Monteray Bay up in
Monteray and uh so we went into uh
Carmel By the Sea which is a beautiful
little town absolutely and this guy's
standing on the corner I'm walking by
there with my mom and go he goes aren't
you Dan
Leonard I'm like yes I watch your show
like great my mother was very impressed
you know uh it happened in a Subway a
couple of times you know people see the
mustache and they were like oh you're
you're the guy that has that show on
voice
over so clearly we were we were doing
pretty well and then people would send
me mustache stuff there was so much
mustache
stuff what who I was trying to get her
attention without getting distracting
you but it didn't work no well you're
going like this I mean no no I just want
to make sure s Sue had to go at some
point oh okay yeah at some point at some
point well we'll we'll finish up in five
minutes here five or 10 you want me to
run all the best wishes oh yeah sure we
have best wishes from people we do I got
to let Misha out all right you let that
hey Bonnie that's my cousin Bonnie in
Pennsylvania she's just a little older
than me and she was my one of my best
Pals grow growing up hey Bonnie thanks
for saying that Trey Mr Trey kendri
Mosley who has his own podcast of all
right good to see you fellas says Trey
Alicia Hurley says Where can we find new
tech talk like all the new gadgets
George talks about well I guess moving
forward I guess my other show now the
pro audio Suite it's probably the place
to go because that's where I'm releasing
new content and you know so yeah check
that out it's a very different vibe um
definitely more geeky um but yeah it's
called the pro audio suite and we
release stuff every week so that's one
place to go um Paul Sager thanks for
everything you to thanks for saying that
thanks Paul yeah oh man Justin Rama says
yes thank you Jack I watched all of eabs
and thanks to him I was able to take
notes easier so he's thanking Jack
deulia for doing all the manually
written show notes right which is things
that just AR I'm going to be happening
anymore because of AI um Joan Covino
says thanks for sharing your expertise
humor and insight over the yours thanks
Joan yeah we recognize a lot of names
but that one I didn't remember
Alberto Alberto Franco in uh in Portugal
it's 3:00 a.m. and he's watching live
from Portugal you rockberto you do I
mean Al also I know that he works like
Pacific time hours cuz that's where all
the clients are but thanks he's an
interesting guy CU I so great yeah it's
like well you know you speak P because
he's in Portugal he speaks Portuguese
portugu and I once said oh so you you
could do you could do stuff in Brazil he
goes they don't speak Portuguese in
Brazil that's some that's some other
language well that's like saying that
you speak Spanish but you're from Mexico
versus from Spain I mean you know these
are very different dialects but yeah you
can understand it right um Bill Hein
says thank you I've immensely valued
listening to the two of you over the
past 18 months and as I've started my
and as I've started my vo Journey so
much learning so much more to learn #
thankful all right thank you Eddie Mr
all
caps sure hate to see you two masters go
thanks for everything thanks Eddie
you're a great supporter of the show and
Sue
too thank you too Sue by the way the
desk that Sue is sitting at is thanks to
Eddie Yeah Eddie found this desk at
Costco he's like he had one he's like I
got to get one for the show he says you
guys want to get one of these he's like
I want to get you this desk we could we
couldn't say no couldn't say no he
showed up and he brought this freaking
super cool electric lift desk in the
studio five roughly five years ago and
it's been here ever since thanks thanks
it's moved around a little bit but you
know thanks Eddie you're awesome uh
Larry Hudson our old buddy I'm over here
all by myself lasting laughing
hysterically out loud you guys have
created an amazing Legacy of greatness
yeah man that means a lot Larry Larry
lives up in the mountains up in
rightwood yeah he's 10 foot the snow up
there I mean they really get an hour
from here and suddenly there's you know
all that snow Yeah man we love Larry lar
Larry by the way Larry again I was
mentioning Larry was the one that told
me you gotta move out to California
you're gonna love it here yeah that was
that Larry that
Larry um Diana costell Meritt oh wow go
back oh jeez Good Times love y'all nice
Buffalo gal yeah I remember hanging out
with her at um fafc yeah VL fafc con
that kind of thing we we miss you I we
haven't talked in a long time did she
have the T temporary tattoos I don't
know I feel like she had temporary
tattoos and we were sticking on
everybody and laughing our oh that might
have that might have been going on at
one of those conferences but speaking of
stickers not to get you know not to get
oh but there's a sticker on the back of
that mic I'm going to mute it for a
second while you while you take it out
of there but there's a very special
sticker on the back of Dan's mic that I
know will be very hard hard to show on
frame
we we had this
tradition in wovo there's
um this guy Pat Sweeney Pat who was a
you know big fan of our show uh one of
those people he was like my grandmother
every he had a different relationship
with everybody and everybody loved him
because he was just a super duper guy
and you know and he he passed on and uh
so we have this thing you know he used
to say I'm GNA you you're G to give you
give somebody a golden nugget and we
give them a slap on the back and we came
up with these stickers and say a pat on
the back yeah and and that's that's his
Testament and uh boy we miss you God he
was such a we miss you Pat yeah there's
so many great people I don't want to get
into a list of people we've lost because
I can't hold it together I'm not a
professional um but uh there have been
quite a few that we've lost over the
years that have been our clients and
Friends of the show and all that stuff
and Pat I'll never forget you I'm glad
you have that sticker on your mic CU
it'll will always remember you know to
you always give out give out advice and
I know you like looking at Pat but Pat's
on the back of the mic oh I
know part of it but kids that's the back
of the that's the back of I'm talking on
the wrong side here aren't I okay there
we go now I'm in the right side anyway
that's where the back of the mic sounds
like well it's 9 o' here in California
love you Lee Lee hey by the way and Lee
Penny whatever we say for Lee penny for
being Lee Penny Le Lee was a very early
on supporter of our show as well coming
into the studio helping us with some
tech stuff early on um Big Time support
of our show thanks Lee for being there
all these years um God it's been a blast
it's been a blast yeah so I guess that's
going to wrap it up it's going to wrap
it up if you want to eternally I know
I'm getting a little for
CLT um Talk Amongst yourselves
we'll have some coffee and we'll
talk um it's been a great time and uh
we're going to be continuing to do
things just in different formats and
different ways but if you want to keep
tapping into our knowledge vbs.tv and
you'll access our our chatbot our chat
bot there for now $10 for $10 a month 14
days free trial play with it test it and
if it works well and by the way Dan
you're going to be giving this chat bot
to some supporters of our show yes and
to members wvo members so if you are a
wvo member World voices member in good
standing you're going to get access to
the chatbot for free yep and everybody
who were making repeat subscription
support of our show who were sending us
money like like on PBS sending your
dollars people would send us money and
it it it helped with the equipment and
all those things and we were and people
did it for years and years and we really
appreciate we're going to we're going to
find a way to give you guys access to
the chatbot too so use it enjoy it share
it tell people about it and uh we want
to keep helping people for years to come
this way so I I guess that'll put a wrap
on it that'll do it man into a always a
pleasure fortunately we live in the same
town we can still have lunch of course
but but we have to go to Chicago to
woocon CU that's the only that's how it
works the only time you see people from
La is when you go to a conference
somewhere else City yeah you try to get
together with people in La it's almost
impossible I got to cancel I can't come
like see everybody knows that you know
it's it's it's very hard to make friends
here you have to do have to be better
yeah everybody has to you it's it's a
discipline it is you know uh you know
making friends and keeping friends and
being friends and and being friends
means giving and you know and and I
think everybody needs to learn that and
and do that some people are better at it
than others and but when you have
friends that makes the world a much
nicer Place absolutely man you know
thank you and it's always been a
pleasure working with you doing this
show you would have thought that we'd
been doing it for 13 years I know and
Sue thanks for hanging in with us so
long I mean you've been our longest
continuous uh technical director and you
know gosh seven years you've taken off
so much stress off our shoulders doing
this a lot though definitely I feel like
I could each someone how to set up their
their audio yeah no I mean Sue Sue is an
incredibly versatile person she has so
many skills you guys Tau Sue what's your
email address my can I plug your
email it's my last name I'll put it up
really quick marinos Su
gmail.com.com if you need her for
anything production podcasting live
streaming setting up your studio setting
up your lighting properly yeah she knows
that stuff she's brilliant yes but you
know I we're still in business you've
got George the tech I've still the home
studio master and you know you can send
your stuff into my specimen collection
box and V OBS fan 10 off coupon code I
think it still works on my website oh
good if it doesn't tell me I'll fix it
but exactly it should still work 10% off
yeah and uh you know it's what we love
to do is teach people how to do it right
because if some body sounds bad it makes
everybody sound bad but if it sounds
good it is good by the way I'm Dan
Leonard and I'm George whittam and this
has been voiceover body shop or V
BS thanks everybody you've been
wonderful thanks everybody big
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