A fan sent me these beautiful handmade cards for me to sign. I loved them so much that I just HAD to share! Thanks Julio!
Beautiful handmade cards
Reply
Tag Archives: anndi mcafee
My new venture-Please “like” the facebook page!
https://www.facebook.com/pages/FitMuses/248270531966038?ref=ts&fref=ts
For over a year now I have been working on a new venture and I am ALMOST ready to launch it!! So exciting. I wanted to share my journey with my product, called “FitMuses” with anyone who is interested for many reasons. One is that we all have great ideas. Every single one of us. Sometimes we just have no idea what to do with them, or how to execute them. Let me tell you, it is not easy. But you should do what you love, what makes you happy, what you have passion for. There were many times in this past year that I wasn’t sure if I could actually keep going. I am still nervous about the future! But this is perfectly normal. If you want, please share your personal business stories with me too.
SO…..
FitMuses was created to help women stay motivated, inspired, and entertained as they exercise. Myself and ALL the women in my life know we need to move our bodies as a lifestyle in order to stay healthy. That lifestyle is hard to maintain with all the responsibilities and time contraints we have in our lives. I do it, but I get really really bored exercising. My FAVORITE time to exercise, hands down, is when a girlfriend is with me and I get to hear all the juicy gossip in her life. I get motivated to actually get off my butt and move, I enjoy the exercise because I’m distracted by all the stories, and I exercise longer because of that. I generally just feel happy! But as is the case with life, sometimes my girlfriends are not available. Or they don’t belong to my gym. Whatever the reason, I find myself alone a lot of the time. One day I had my “a-ha” moment. What if I could re-create that experience for women? I AM a voice over artist!!!
That’s how FitMuses was born. I created a mobile app and website, and I recruited a few of my girlfriends, all different ages, shapes, sizes, lifestyles, etc, REAL WOMEN, to share their lives as they exercise to help motivate and inspire other women!! They all have different styles of communication too which is what makes it SO interesting! As a listener, you NEVER get bored. It’s a mix of life stories, advice, music, exercise tips, just everything we talk about when we’re exercising with our girlfriends! I can’t wait for it to be up and running so you (and any woman you share this with that you think may benefit from something like this) can experience it. Listeners can also be a part of the story by giving feedback, asking questions, etc and each of the FitMuses can respond in their “FitCasts” to individual women. It’s like an ongoing conversation between friends!
We are almost ready to launch, but for now I would love it if you could “LIKE” our facebook page. All the news and updates will be posted there so if you do wan to download and use the (FREE) app, you can get all the information on the facebook page. And of course, I will be talking about voice over stuff in my FitCasts! 
Here is the facebook link:
https://www.facebook.com/pages/FitMuses/248270531966038?fref=ts
thanks!
My archaeological excavation!
So a little personal story…When I bought my house almost 10 years ago, I had heard from the neighbors that there was a fallout shelter somewhere on my property. Sure enough, when I searched through the paperwork, there was an old permit filed in 1961 for the structure, along with very crudely drawn plans for its construction. But I knew it must have been buried long ago because I have never been able to visually locate the entrance or air pipe. It has taken me almost a decade to finally get around to to renting a metal detector to find the entrance. I bribed my boyfriend and his friends with a bbq and we finally dug up the old fallout shelter! We were so anxious to see what was in it. Well, sadly, all that remained after our 6 hour search was a dilapidated box spring mattress, cots, and a chest. There was also a “toilet” which in truth was a toilet seat on top of a box. There had been some water seepage and because of that there was some mold and dirt inside. So no hidden gold bars or beatles records (as my brother hoped). Not even any canned goods. But all in all, it was an exciting discovery and an amazing part of our nuclear history. I think I will just make detailed notes about the location of the entrance, write a letter about myself and how I came to own the house and excavate the fallout shelter, and leave it in there for the next owner before I cover it all back up. There are so many unanswered questions. I wish the family that had it built in the first place left some sort of written history for me (or any other future owner) about hwy they built it, or why they covered it up. When did they cover it up? Was it the original family or someone who owner the house after? I guess I will just have to be the first person to leave MY story in the fallout shelter. H?ere are some pictures of our excavation adventure:
Opening the iron door
For the kids?
No gold or silver bars inside. Too bad
A video link to check out
So thesouptv.com posted a link to a video all about the super great host of The Soup (and my boss) Joel McHale. Not only is it fun to watch a day in the life of Joel, but my voice pops up in it at around 7minutes. Just thought it was kind of neat so I’m sharing!
A day in the life of Joel McHale (with Anndi! hahahaha)
Radio spots with Phil LaMarr
So I’ve known Phil for a while now, but we’ve never actually worked together. Today we finally got that chance!! We recorded some really funny radio spots today. I was a super sweet character and he was a cheesy Barry White-ish sort of character. Can I just tell you how hysterical we were? Voice over is definitely work. It takes concentration, skill, and an ability to take direction (among a plethora of other things) to have a successful career, but sometimes, you just get to PLAY! I hope Phil and I get to work on many future projects together. I think we made a great team!
Anndi and Phil LaMarr
Radio spot for AT&T-always ask before you post!
One thing that has changed radically in the entertainment industry is the rules for sharing your work. We live in a facebook/twitter/blogging world where anyone can post anything. However, companies are VERY PROTECTIVE of their products and ideas, so you must ALWAYS ask before you post something you’ve worked on. Remember, if you are working for someone else, you do not own the project you work on.
I am posting a radio spot for AT&T I worked on a few weeks ago, and I made sure to tell the producers, when I asked for a copy of the spot, that I would be posting it on my blog. If you’re not sure if it’s ok to post, DON’T. If you’re not sure if it’s ok to share specific details about a project you’ve worked on, including the name of the project, DON’T. It’s much better to err on the side of being professional and discrete than it is to have an angry client who doesn’t want to work with you again! Check out my picture of me working on the sot too!! I have to give a shout out to my pal Andy at Buzzy’s Recording Studio in Hollywood for being the super cool engineer on this spot! I always enjoy working with him! Click on the link below the picture to hear the spot.
Hope you’re all having a great week!
Soup’s On Friday at 10pm on E!
Here’s a pic of me recording The Soup this week! I watch the show every week to make sure my sound is where it should be. It’s my job to make sure I know what’s going on with the show so that I’m always matching the energy and feel of it.
Voice Over Exercise
Sometimes we are spoiled by our engineers. They soften our Ps when we pop them, they compress our take to get our read within a certain time, or they perform many other little technical tricks they have up their sleeves that help make our jobs easier. But sometimes, an engineer can’t help us out, so we always have to make sure we are practicing our basic skills.
This is exactly what I had to do this week. I’ve been working on a campaign for a very well known acne fighting system, and part of this campaign comprises of reading a list of 1-800 numbers which must be completed in exactly 5.7 seconds. Additionally, they have required TWO clean reads. So here is an exercise for you I have put together (There’s never a dull moment as a VO artist, and there’s always the possibility for a new challenge! You’ll see why in the next sentence):
Read the following script of 1-800 numbers clearly, with each number enunciated (no forty nine, or twenty two, you must say four nine, and two two), all 0s read as “zero” (with the exception of 1-800), without shouting, but also like it’s the most amazing number you’ve ever read (but friendly, and not over-the-top), and get two reads at exactly 5.7 seconds (not a tenth over, not a tenth under).
Call 1-800-254-6007…that’s 1-800-254-6007
Call 1-800-233-3431…that’s 1-800-233-3431
Call 1-800-766-9817…that’s 1-800-766-9817
Call 1-800-694-7009…that’s 1-800-694-7009
Call 1-800-207-7070…that’s 1-800-207-7070
Call 1-800-832-2383…that’s 1-800-832-2383
Call 1-800-944-4746…that’s 1-800-944-4746
That’s just a short list for you to practice with. How’d you do?
This picture is of me reading my list of 1-800 numbers.
VO classes
A lot people ask me to recommend VO classes or coaches. The truth is, I have never taken any, so I can’t personally speak to any classes or coaches. But in my opinion, the best thing you can do for yourself if you’re trying to break in to the industry, or you’re still feeling your way around, is to take classes with companies who cast. Commercial casting offices are great places to get a feel for the audition process and are taught by people who call in actors with whom they have had some relationship. If they know your read, they are more likely to call you in for an audition, and that is definitely a good use of your time and money! With animation, I recommend working with an animation director. Again, who better to teach you the ins and outs of the industry than someone who hires actors AND works with the producers wishes for what they need for their project? Once you get a feel for the voice over world, you can ask whomever you are working with to refer you to someone who works more one-on-one at refining those skills.
The Soup is on tonight!!
Catch me as the VO announcer for The Soup at 10pm on E! Entertainment.
I can’t tell you how much I LOVE working on this show. I record Wednesday evenings, and they play my voice live during the taping on Thursday. We record me saying every possible show they think they will talk about, multiple bumpers, openings, and pretty much anything they can think of that might make it into the show. Then they edit everything together right before they record live, when they have a better sense of what will make it into the show. The show required a high energy read, so I always have to conserve my energy for the end of the day. I think my read for The Soup is the most like me. I just get to have fun and play around, and that is how I am when I’m not at work.
I have been to tapings of The Soup, and YES, there is a live audience. It’s so much fun (except when Joel makes fun of me!! hahaha). The writers and crew are so nice and fun, and Joel McHale is hilarious (and my favorite host!). I am lucky they hired me to be a part of their amazing show.
