tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-74158893221411158082011-09-14T12:44:56.079-04:00Let me tell you a bit about what I do...Jimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10276019471087074882noreply@blogger.comBlogger171100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7415889322141115808.post-55395236695824632402011-04-21T12:50:00.000-04:002011-04-21T12:52:13.394-04:00

I stopped blogging on my other blog, Suldog, about two weeks ago. It may end up being permanent, but will likely be an extended hiatus (and we all know how painful that can be.) Basically, I found myself with nothing new or interesting to say. What follows here will not change that.I'm putting this out here because...1) It's lunchtime and I'm bored.2) I'm interested in seeing how many of my

Jimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10276019471087074882noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7415889322141115808.post-1978630084872717292010-12-17T08:50:00.002-05:002010-12-17T08:54:51.897-05:00

A little something for Christmas, for those of you still following this blog.Grand Uncle JimFirst things first: This is a story about an Irish family. While my name is Jim, and I’m an uncle, I also have an Uncle Jim of my own. There is an Uncle Jim mentioned in this story, but he’s not that Uncle Jim, although that Uncle Jim is the one who told me this tale of the other Uncle Jim. Actually, he’s

Jimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10276019471087074882noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7415889322141115808.post-54450376727180066202010-05-19T09:00:00.002-04:002010-05-19T09:02:21.576-04:00

A short time ago, I offered my readers a chance to quiz me concerning my profession. The lovely Karen, from Karen Cooks, took me up on the offer, and asks a very good question (three of them, actually, as well as two requests for elucidation):Years ago I met a guy on-line. We eventually talked on the phone and he had the most wonderful voice. When we finally met in person, I found that his voice

Jimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10276019471087074882noreply@blogger.com28tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7415889322141115808.post-18669538178420955092010-04-22T10:55:00.000-04:002010-04-22T10:55:00.517-04:00

It's been over three months since I posted something here. Sorry about that!It's not that I didn't have anything worth writing about. There's always something interesting happening at Marketing Messages, and the people I work with are fascinating and extremely talented. It's just that I was unable to get at what I wanted to say in a concise manner that would do the subjects justice. For instance,

Jimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10276019471087074882noreply@blogger.com33tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7415889322141115808.post-43561697621072527892009-12-22T14:15:00.000-05:002009-12-22T14:15:24.815-05:00

I work in a fun office. That's not to say that all day long we do nothing but joke around - we work hard at what we do, and we do it damn well - but we all have a decent sense of humor and, no matter what else is happening, we can count on a few laughs each day. I work with a good bunch and I'm glad I know them.One of our recent office traditions here at Marketing Messages is taking photos of the

Jimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10276019471087074882noreply@blogger.com15tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7415889322141115808.post-53514675960429691332009-11-24T12:57:00.000-05:002009-11-24T12:57:00.154-05:00

[This is a partial repeat of a post from April. You'd think, since I haven't posted anything at all to this blog in quite a while, I'd have some original material for you. Well, the words are mostly taken from an earlier post - a few small edits, here and there - but where I'll point you to at the end will be all new and shiny! So, if you think you've read this before, either you did or you have

Jimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10276019471087074882noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7415889322141115808.post-39053712818993143172009-08-12T16:09:00.001-04:002009-08-12T16:09:32.275-04:00

In a place with as much talent on the roster as Marketing Messages, there will inevitably be some turnover. This week, we lose Sarah Colvin.(If I had said, "...there will inevitably be some turnovers", then we'd be discussing Sarah Lee. We aren't, though, and it's a shame, too, because then I could break out my collection of baking puns.Oh, what the heck.I used to be a pilot in a bakery. I'd take

Jimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10276019471087074882noreply@blogger.com12tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7415889322141115808.post-33808336548976855432009-07-15T09:26:00.000-04:002009-07-15T09:27:11.507-04:00

Marketing Messages is located in Newton, Massachusetts. At our building, we have a fascinating insect population for two months out of each year. Every July, the Cicada Killers come out to play.If you've never encountered a Cicada Killer, you're missing something big. And I do mean BIG. They are the largest damned wasps I've ever seen. Here is a picture that provides some idea of their size.And

Jimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10276019471087074882noreply@blogger.com29tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7415889322141115808.post-83597750410187458742009-06-26T10:08:00.002-04:002009-06-26T10:10:53.895-04:00

My job at Marketing Messages calls for a vast number of differing skills. I do voice-overs, of course, but I also produce and engineer recording sessions involving other voice-over professionals; I edit recordings; I mix recorded voice with music for our Messages-On-Hold; I put together music-only (Music-On-Hold) productions; and a few other more peripheral duties (shipping, drinking coffee,

Jimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10276019471087074882noreply@blogger.com39tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7415889322141115808.post-27616555185757661372009-06-04T14:45:00.002-04:002009-06-04T15:27:49.660-04:00

I've got to tell you a short funny story. Since it happened at work, I figure it's fodder for this blog. First, though...Marketing Messages!Music-On-Hold!Excellent Digital Announcers!(That should keep our marketing guru satisfied. He told me, when I started this thing, that having links to our website was important. Usually, the links I include are legit, in that they're pertinent to the story

Jimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10276019471087074882noreply@blogger.com13tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7415889322141115808.post-64332140797129961322009-05-29T16:15:00.000-04:002009-05-29T16:16:33.754-04:00

Much of what I do - recording voice-over artists, mixing Messages-On-Hold and putting together Music-On-Hold productions, or editing Auto-Attendant Messages, for example - is somewhat repetitious work. What I mean to say is that the general tasks are the same from job to job. And, if I constantly worked with the same client or talent or music, the routine could easily become mind-numbing.However,

Jimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10276019471087074882noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7415889322141115808.post-34708257081559513462009-05-20T09:05:00.004-04:002009-05-20T16:59:50.640-04:00

One of the things I've had to do on occasion, as a voice artist, is audition for a client. This is a relatively painless procedure - until they tell me that I'm not right for the part, at which point I break down in tears and contemplate suicide.Just kidding. If there's one thing you need, as a performer of any sort, it's thick skin. If you can't take rejection - and sometimes for no apparent

Jimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10276019471087074882noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7415889322141115808.post-24842352775867746962009-05-13T11:33:00.002-04:002009-05-13T11:35:51.165-04:00

"Talent" is another term for an on-air professional in radio or TV, as well as for voice-over professionals. If you have the chance to listen in on the production end of a TV broadcast, for instance, you might hear the director say, "Cue Talent!", and that means, of course, that he wants the floor director (or someone else outside of the booth) to give the announcer a signal that he or she should

Jimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10276019471087074882noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7415889322141115808.post-43026497630862157342009-05-05T08:43:00.002-04:002009-05-13T11:35:14.120-04:00

A few days ago, I was working on a production for a client of ours, a place called Small Engine Warehouse, and it occurred to me that it might be a good one to share with you, in order to show some of what's involved in bringing one of our productions to completion. I won't give you every detail, but some highlights may prove interesting.First, here is the script from which our voice talent

Jimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10276019471087074882noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7415889322141115808.post-81272319337183168022009-04-30T09:38:00.002-04:002009-04-30T10:38:47.398-04:00

My apologies for leaving you without new material for a while. The reason for the long time between posts is that I've been working on making our company website better.Now, I'm not a techie, even by the wildest stretch of anyone's imagination. At one time - and not too long ago, when you consider the entire history of mankind - I actually believed that "HTML" was pronounced "hittamill". So, I

Jimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10276019471087074882noreply@blogger.com19tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7415889322141115808.post-88258522499397532882009-04-13T08:07:00.002-04:002009-05-01T12:51:02.382-04:00

Get it?Music Director? Notes?OK! OK! I'll get to the point.My work, as I explained in the first piece published here, involves doing voices for advertisements and telephone applications. If that were all that was involved, I'd be a very happy man indeed. I'm a big ham at heart. Give me a script to read and then let me imagine that many thousands of people will hear me? I'm in heaven.However, that

Jimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10276019471087074882noreply@blogger.com18tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7415889322141115808.post-13515775216139927612009-04-03T11:12:00.009-04:002009-04-03T11:49:40.232-04:00

Here at Marketing Messages, I perform a number of different functions. My actual job title is Music Director, but I’m also one of the people on-staff who engineers recording sessions. In addition, I occasionally do voice-overs for our clients.When people ask me what I do for a living, and I tell them that I do voice-overs, they’re genuinely interested in hearing about it. They ask, "What have you

Jimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10276019471087074882noreply@blogger.com14