The Adlib
Chapter 9The Adlib In the world of voiceover, adlib is considered to be anything that wasn’t previously prepared and not included in the original script; many refer to it, incorrectly, as an improvisation. Improvisation is when the words, notes, or meter, are not scripted at all, whether they be words, music, or both.IMPORTANT NOTES Make no mistake…the very best ad-libbers...
Read More Dealing With Direction
Chapter 7 – Dealing With The Direction That You Are Asked To Perform – “Good, bad, sad, glad, mad, happy, snappy, crappy, nappy, lappy, lippy, snippy, dippy, lead, plead, greed, bleed, smell, dwell, yell, kvell, heavy, light, mean, delight, please, thank you, I don’t care, neat, sloppy, well aware, I told you, scold you, hold you, revere,...
Read More Goals & Aspirations
Chapter 4 – Goals & Aspirations – I’ve been privileged to work and be taught by some of our industry’s most recognized dynamos. I consider myself a gleaner. If a guy or gal had even a modicum of success, the Kalmenson sponge (that’s me) was there to look and listen. Many of da harv’s tricks are nothing more...
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Veteran’s Day 2021
– November 11, here in Los Angeles – One day A lifetime A veteran is a veteran Is a veteran Is a veteran… One alone Or all for one And one for all… They stood They walked the walk… Many still with a vaunted stride For me and my buddies, we were all in...
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The Tag
The Tag Lo and Behold Now we come to the topic that helped me to know there might be a chance for me in this business. It was the very first time I saw a commercial voice over script. My reaction was severe; the semi-nausea was instantly created by the lack of Shakespearean substance. After all… there were...
Read More It’s Nice Work If You Can Get It
Chapter Three It’s “Nice Work If You Can Get It” While I try never to dodge a question, this is the kind of inquiry that demands an insertion of my personal disclaimer: I have been around this business for enough years to provide me with substantial knowledge of what I don’t know to be a...
Read More From Then to Now
From Then to Now In the earliest days of radio, a big basso voice would come on the air telling you where he was emanating from. That was common fare in the early forties when this young man was introduced to the true marvel of conviction that could be sent over the airwaves by the human voice. Those experiences...
Read More The Kalmenson Story
“Our Story: How We Met” As told by Cathy Kalmenson “Lookin’ for Love” was a top pop hit. Back in 1980, I was fresh out of college, and a newly born “career girl” (as we were called back then) fortunate enough to learn the world of advertising at one of the top ad agencies in America:...
Read More Our Voice Over World
Our Voice Over World And with magic on my mind: I recall a day from a distant time in my life very many years in my past when from out of nowhere things began to enter my mind with regularity unsought—not asked for—or with expectancy. They were mine alone, for I possessed at the time...
Read More Fifty plus years of voice over…
As told to Harvey by da harv: Fifty Plus Years of Voice Over …And I still can’t get myself to write a how-to book (until now). Some things I almost know for sure, other things are no more than an inkling of what may be the right way to get there. But of certainty and a fact of life, albeit...
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