January News
Stay Safe • Happy New Year • Stay Healthy
our Brad Venable
January 07 2021... the world lost an incredible talent, a mother lost an incredible son, a wife lost an incredible husband, many stories and characters lost their incredible voices... and we all lost our incredible friend.
Brad... We will love you always and keep you forever in our hearts.
You only needed to meet Brad once for him to become one of your favorite people on this earth, but for those of us lucky enough to call him friend & family were truly blessed. Taken far too early in his life and career, Brad had so much more to give us. He was humble, he was sensitive, he was extremely talented and man did he have one of the biggest hearts that cared for everyone he met. Brad was truly one of a kind.
The voiceover world will never be the same without you.
To his amazing wife Kathryn and his family, Our hearts and souls and voices go out to you.
If you'd like to donate to Katie & Brad's family
during this hard time to show your love and support of Brad,
Here are a few collections currently accepting donations.
The Brad Venable
Coaching Scholarship 2021
For every $25 donation you will get one (1) entry into the raffle.
For every $100 donation you will get five (5) entries into the raffle.
No limit! Update on Drawing Below
Due to the overwhelming and amazing contributions and generosity we have over 1,000 names (4,000+tickets!) to enter and draw from.
We will take the week to organize an effective LIVE announcement and draw names (Hopefully) Friday!
Which means, we'll leave the GoFund me open for more donations and entries until Midnight Tonight (01/25/2021 12:00am PST).
It's been a little over two weeks and the outpouring of community love has been incredible. It doesn't fill the void many of us have, it never will,
but it does and will help in so many ways. On behalf of everyone that loved Brad... thank you. Check back soon
Donate & Enter Here
ALL donations will be collected and given to Kathryn Venable.
We hope to make this a yearly scholarship in remembrance of Brad.
More coaches that Brad loved are already lining up.
If you'd like to be included email
--> More info Here <--**
**Please note, we've incredibly reached our max goal of $20k on our PayPal funding page within 3 days over 250 contributors! All entries are accounted for and now we have moved to a Go Fund Me Page where you can continue to enter into this opportunity!
Save this photo to your phone and share on Instagram!
In memory of Brad’s legacy, the Advisory Board of the SAG-AFTRA Foundation’s Don LaFontaine Voiceover Lab has elected to posthumously honor Brad with the Don LaFontaine Spirit Award for exhibiting the same dedication and generosity of spirit that legendary voice-over artist, Don LaFontaine, was so well known for.
More Donation Oportunities
His friend River Kanoff is accepting via Venmo
Our friends at CODA are also collecting funds for his wife Kathryn to use in any way she sees fit. If you would like to join them in donating please send donations to dubbingupdates@gmail.com via paypal or google pay
(First name: Dubbing, Last name: Updates). Please write “Brad” in the note/subject line
• If you'd like to add photo's and memories to this gallery.
More on Brad Venable
Listen to Tim, Jay and Brad in this wonderful podcast.
**If you know of anything else that needs to be linked here. Please email
Voice Over & Covid-19
We've never experienced anything quite like this. Now more than ever, it's a time to stay connected to your family and community online. Keep each-other safe, healthy and well informed.
Loss of income/Disaster relief
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Check out this page to look into filing for unemployment
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SAG-AFTRA members should apply for this disaster fund from the SAG-AFTRA Foundation
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The Actor’s Fund has financial assistance programs for ALL actors
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The VOC Relieve fund
The VOC has set up a fund account to help those in dire needs. It's funded by generous donations by everyone in the community. If you'd like to help and can spare a lil extra change, please do. Chip In
And here's a link to one of our
With tons of home studio set up info
Brand New MUST HAVE audio plug ins!
Don't believe me? Watch this!
An amazing VO Business Management Tool!
Thanks to our amazing member Dani States, she's offered VOC folks a 60 day free trial!
Let us know what you think!
Online / Weekly
VO Workouts
$10 weekly workouts! The Voicecaster's Virtual VO Workout Group (VVOWG) is an on-going virtual workout for VO talent of all levels who want to practice their auditioning skills and get feedback directly from The Voicecaster's team of casting directors! We do two groups a week with a variety of commercial copy and you can submit or pass as you please!
Sign Up Here!
Created by Jay Preston, Tim Friedlander and Brad Venable for the VO Community!
Voice Actors Network's WORKOUT GROUP! Every other Thursday from 7-10pm we will get together to go over recent copy for animation, video games, promo and commercials! We will limit capacity to 10 participants, actors will provide their own copy. Direction and feedback will be provided by Voice Actors Network owner Ben Pronsky, and the occasional special guest, but we will keep it an open "classroom" style format. Industry insights will also be discussed. Zoom link will be emailed the day of our workout.
Sign Up Here!
A MUST TAKE Course
VOC member Tim Tippets, the Audio Guru himself has turned his 1 on 1 course into the most comprehensive and easy to listen to and learn online course!
If you were like me, and thought, I'll never figure out the tech side of audio. I don't know what EQ means, I have no idea how to use all the stuff that comes with my editing program other than RECORD..save.. um... WELL, I'm telling you, I know, after 1 hour, can tell someone about EQ. Get in on this my friends. It's game changing. Go Learn!
Stacey Stahl and the incredible agents over at In Both Ears have partnered with Redirect Health to bring an accessible and affordable healthcare option to all voice talent (and other performers, too!)
Please note, In Both Ears is only serving as the portal for Redirect Health to make their health insurance options available to voice talent and fellow artists, so you do not need to be represented by us to take advantage of this opportunity. We are not qualified health insurance professionals, so if you have any questions about the coverage, plan, or any specifics, contact Redirect Health directly using the links available on the website.
In Both Ears believes that everyone should have access to affordable healthcare and we’re excited we have the chance to make that possible!
You can find more info here: https://www.healthcareforvoiceactors.com/
"We hope it proves useful to you all in some way as you move through the new year." ~ Stacey
Our Industry Today
STAND UP FOR OUR RATES!
It's always there, lingering but some months it seems like the wave of low ballers is out of control. Just want to serve up a little reminder. It's up to US to keep the industry standards of fair rates going strong. Union and non-union alike. There are fair rates for the usage rights of your voice. These rates vary based on where the ad will be aired, how long it will air, how it will be used. Your session fee and so many other factors it can sometimes SEEM easier to just say, "yup, I'll do it for that rate". But you are missing out on soooo much money when you do that. And you are also encouraging this low ball behavior.
The Non-Union Rate guide is here
The UK Rate Guide is here
The VOC members weekly and daily educate new clients on rates. Some clients don't care, and find someone else (if they can). Some clients had no idea and raise their rates. Some clients don't have the budget for the usage they are asking, so they bring it down from a 3 year buyout to a 1 year custom buyout. Some clients know FULL WELL what it should be, but they were hoping the voice they loved would be a bottom feeder, and they quickly come up with the extra money. We've come to understand that they all aren't trying to save money on the talent level. They just simply don't understand the industry standard rates. This is another reason why work through an agent or casting house is the absolute best! THEY deal with all that for us. So encourage work through your agents and encourage fair rates!! Don't be afraid to "lose a job" if that job is a loss for the vo industry. Stand up for your Rates.
Pay to Play sites aren't going anywhere and many have brought our industry to an all time low. Agencies, Producers, Directors and Actors alike have begun to take a stand and create new and better ways to work in today's crazy market. Here are a few incredible key sites you should get to know!
Powered by the highly successful Voice Casting Hub, VOICEOVERS.com (the name literally says it all) is a powerful hybrid voiceover platform built from the expressed needs and specifications of voiceover entrepreneur and Buyer alike for the efficacy and efficiency both expect in the “On-demand Century”.
VOICEOVERS.com is intelligent technology for Buyer or Talent. The unique philosophical difference at VOICEOVERS.com is rooted in empowering voiceover Talent to build fruitful careers. A site that supercharges careers is THE resource buyers are seeking – the entire process and in-turn, business, is elevated.
It also features the industry’s first comprehensive rate calculator, D-CypherVO. Others exist but fall short of being a useful and consistent tool. Finally, you do not have to think or understand rates, it is all done for you.
They are an active group of agents who regularly collaborate to address industry issues, and support each other in our efforts to stem the tide of rate erosion. They also work to educate people about industry terms, rates and issues, as well as collaborating with other groups.
It was designed by producers, ad agencies, and some of the best agents in the industry with Matt Dubois at the helm as Developer through his company Cloud 9.
Some of the features include:
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Easily cast and manage all of your voiceover projects.
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Find and work with top voiceover talent agencies.
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Review, share and approve auditions from a single platform.
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Search and listen to voiceover demos from top agent represented VO talent.
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Union and Non Union Voice Casting made simple. $200 per project, no hidden fees.
Cast. Collaborate. Select
