Holdcom congratulates Amana Tool as our very first “Client of the Month” for 2009!

Founded in 1972, Amana Tool manufactures high-quality tungsten carbide, carbide insert and carbide-tipped cutting tools for the woodworking, plastics, and aluminum industry as well as for hobbyists. Accumulating vast experience and technical know-how over the years, today Amana Tool is recognized as one of the leading companies in its field. Their full line of industrial-quality woodworking tools includes saw blades, router bits, shaping cutters, boring bits, accessories, and more under the Amana, Timberline, and A.G.E. product lines.

Amana’s fulfillment centers - which include their headquarters in Farmingdale, N.Y. and their West Coast Distribution Center in El Cajon, Calif. - stock the company’s entire line of industrial-quality products. In addition, these locations offer a unique same-day shipping service on all product lines to customers throughout North America - a testament to Amana’s commitment to providing the highest quality products and service to their clientele.

Michele Spiegel, Amana Tool’s Vice President, had the following comments on how Holdcom’s message-on-hold service impacts their business: “With customers scattered across North America, Amana Tool benefits significantly from Holdcom’s reliable message-on-hold system. While placed on-hold, customers are kept up-to-date on Amana’s continually changing product line, providing a beneficial and cost-effective way for us to advertise. The unique level of professional customer service and information sharing which the message-on-hold grants is obviously much more advantageous than our callers just hearing dead-air or non-informative elevator music. Amana Tool values quality in every aspect of our business, from the tools we manufacture to our customer service. Customers appreciate the tailored on-hold message because they are continually engaged with Amana Tool throughout their entire call, not just when they are speaking to a company representative. The message-on-hold system affords us yet another way to stay in touch with our clientele and carry out our mission of continually providing top-quality customer service.”

To learn more about this unique, customer-oriented company, visit their website at www.amanatool.com.

For those who recall the experience of popping an audiocassette tape into a tape deck, the question “Is it live, or is it Memorex?” is a nostalgic one. This query was popularized in 1971, when the company (Memorex) entered the consumer market place with a television commercial featuring an all too brief performance by jazz vocalist Ella Fitzgerald, followed by a shattering glass (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bkt8Dwzl6Sg). I don’t suspect the creators of this ad campaign ever anticipated that digital audio would make mince meat of their bread and butter. However, their question was prophetic.

For Holdcom, the question has become, “Is it human, or is it synthetic?”, and it is asked by our clients with ever increasing frequency. I find this somewhat unsettling, since all of our voice recordings are produced with “real”, “live”, “human” voice talents. So, here’s another question…if our human voices are posted on our website (by name) for review and selection, why are more and more customers questioning their biological authenticity?

I have some theories about this new wave of inquiries. One points to the introduction of synthetic voices in many everyday experiences…ranging from computer generated phone messages, to “talking” elevators, to website avatars, to station announcements in buses and trains. The word “genuine” seems to be slowly disappearing from our product labels, and consumers are inundated with “substitutes”, “artificial ingredients”, “additives”, etc. Genetic manipulation is changing the very essence of our organic world, fueling new levels of skepticism about the food processing industry. Photographs are regularly “touched up” in magazine print ads and the media, and our entertainment has become firmly embedded in the virtual world. It won’t be long before holographic concerts will enable fans to “see” their favorite artist performing “live” on multiple stages around the world at the same moment in time.

So it is no wonder why newer Holdcom prospects and clients ask about the voice source of our recordings. Recent improvements in artificial voice development have enhanced emulation, yielding convincing results. “Text-to-Speech” and “Voice Recognition” have become “household” words, driven by applications as commonplace as the GPS in cars and Visual Voice Mail on our cell phones. And yet, though a viable solution for many applications, synthetic speech hasn’t yet crossed the finished line. There’s still work to be done in capturing all the intricacies, variations, subtleties and innuendos of human speech as expressed by human beings. Rest assured, for Holdcom there are no “substitutes”!

Happy New Year Holdcom Voice readers!! We’re kicking off 2009 with a feature on our voice talent Emilie.

Holdcom Voice: So every talent has a story as to how they got into their field… tell us yours.

Emilie: After retiring from a musical theater career due to a back injury, my talent agents pointed me in the direction of voiceovers, corporate videos, commercials, corporate events/tradeshows, and television programs. They must have recognized my love of talking because now I get paid to talk for a living…what a perfect job for me!

HV: And how long have you been working as a voice over?

Emilie: Since 1997…voicing TV and radio commercials; corporate and sales training videos; messages-on-hold, voice prompts and voicemail greetings; Avatars; and narrating television programs. If there is a script…I can bring it to life!

HV: So going from onstage acting where you can showcase your emotions, what is the most exciting/interesting aspect of working as a voice over talent?

Emilie: Taking a script and making it come to life by giving the words and the story a personality. And when someone I know hears my voice, picks up the phone, and says “is that you?” What a great feeling when I get to say “yes!”

HV: And how did HOLDCOM come into the picture for you?

Emilie: Shortly after I relocated to the NYC market from the Midwest, I met another Holdcom voice (Paul) at a networking function. He suggested I give Neil Fishman a call who just so happened to be searching for some younger voices. Talk about being in the right place at the right time!

HV: OK, and outside of the studio – share something unique about yourself with our readers.

Emilie: One of my dreams is to purchase a historic home and renovate it back to its original splendor. I guess I need a lot of voiceover jobs to pay for that dream!

HV: Before we finish – any career highlights you’d like to mention?

Emilie: Truly, every booking that I receive is a highlight of my career in one way or another. For example, my first booking with Holdcom was the first message-on-hold I ever recorded. Thanks Holdcom!

Sample Emilie’s voice at www.holdcom.com/voices - she may just be the voice you want to hear for your next project.

Happy New Year! This is Aaron from the HOLDCOM Production Department. I’ll be writing a new monthly article dealing with technical and audio issues. First off, we will tackle troubleshooting Digidesign’s Pro Tools recording software.

Pro Tools is a great program for recording audio. It’s the recording industry standard, used in many professional and project studios around the world. If you’ve used it for any length of time, you’ve probably run into some of its quirks. Maybe it keeps giving you “CPU Overload” or “Hardware Buffer underrun” errors, keeping you from getting any work done! Maybe you’re working on doing your recordings late at night, and you have to have it in first thing in the morning!

Usually the problems are easily fixed and can be traced back to software. If you’re using Pro Tools and having problems, the first step is to download the Digidesign Tech Folder Utility. It’s a little program that they wrote to delete the Pro Tools preference and disk database files. Go here to download it from Digi's website, unzip it, and find the correct version for your computer and operating system. Run the program, and it will give you a menu. Select the option to delete Databases, then select the option for Trash Preferences. Empty your trash or recycle bin, and restart your computer. You’ll have to individually reset any preferences you use in the Setup > Preferences menu.

Pro Tools is also picky about the computers and software it works with. Make sure to check the Digidesign Compatibility Grid and see if your operating system, all your hardware, and plug-ins are compatible.

The Digidesign User Conference is a forum where Pro Tools users can ask questions and be helped by other users. Go there and search for the problem you’re having. Chances are that someone else has had the problem before and the answer can be found there.

Be sure to check back next month, when I’ll cover input recording levels and microphone placement!