A few months ago I got a program called LMMS (idk what that stands for), a program where you can create custom music! I forgot how I found out about this, but just recently I started paying some attention to it. It's AWESOME! They have a bunch of digital instruments that you can use (like a piano, guitar, etc), then you can put them together to make something really cool! I've heard other people make music with it, and it sounds amazing! Here's some music that someone else made. I decided to have some fun with LMMS (be aware that I know barely anything about how to use this program), so I made this "Mario video game style" short music:

You can download LMMS for free here: https://lmms.io/download/#windows

Yesterday one of my clients asked me if I knew how to bleep out bad words since one of the guests used one at one point. I didn't, so I looked up how in Audition. It was so easy! All I had to do was select what I wanted to bleep out, then select Effects>Generate>Tones, then set the frequency to 1000. It had just the right tone to sound like the traditional "beep":

Yep! You read the title right! I've been moving around things to make more space so I won't feel so tight when I'm editing or voice acting.

As you can see in the pictures, it's much more open, but not as echo-y (since I put the acoustic foam on the walls). What I'd like to do next is bring in a fold-up table and then put my computer on there, instead of my extremely rickety/shaky jammed desk. What I'd also like to add to my "studio" is get some mixers to make editing faster (those panels with a bunch of sliders). A mixer can add a lot of effects to make the voice sound better, and it has multiple inputs so I can connect all my mics to it at once. I can also control tracks faster in Audition. I saw a video where you can get an app on a tablet that connects to the computer, and then acts as an interface! This looked really cool, so now I'm considering buying a tablet so I can do that! I'd also be nice to get thicker and heavier curtains for the windows in the room so it can also stop the echo from the window.

I have a little trick I use when I voice act, and that's my "sentence technique". What I do is when I read a sentence, I find the most important word in that sentence, and then emphasize it when I read that word. This comes out very handy when I want the listener to notice what's important. Here's an excerpt from a 7-11 ad script:

You don’t even have dog biscuits hangin’ around!

Sometimes I'll even do 2 or 3 words to emphasize, depending on how long the sentence is. In the excerpt above, the word I found to emphasize was "dog", which seemed to bring out the irony in the script (the script was about not having any food in the house, so you go to 7-11). A lot of times the way you read it changes because of your personality, voice, expressions, etc. I've used this little trick a lot now, and learned from an early coach. Sometimes you'll even find your own special techniques that might work just for you. What I'd like to work on is using less saliva sounds and controlling my vocal fry. I think I'll do some research on that!

Yesterday I auditioned for the part of Tails in a casting call I found on CCC (that's right, a casting call that needed the same character I voiced before!). I thought  I would audition because it was a paid part (but a very small amount) and because I had experience playing the character. Although right now I've been hit with pollen allergies, so my voice sounds a little fried. You can see the casting call here.

This is the audition I sent: