Always wanted to get a website Favicon for More Polish

It's the beginning of a new year and not such a bad idea to get a little more polish for the website, even if it's just a tiny measure of prominence on a Tab bar when someone pulls up the site.

These days to say you just discovered something on the web that's new & improved can come as no surprise to an already savvy audience. So apologies to those who already know about how to generate a favicon for their websites. I happened upon Favic-O-Matic while in the mind-set and it's one of the better resources that's easy to grasp and free...with an option of donation that's strictly voluntary.

I used the 16 x 16 px demensions and eliminated the PNG selection from the "images" folder name. The hardest part is coming up with an Icon that'll tell the whole story of your company, business...or you. It's tough enuf to stand out and break thru the clutter. A favicon not only gives a website identity, authenticity a more professional and finished look, but it also gives it some Xtra added SEO (with the provided simple string of coding). So, that's a win win situation all way 'round. Here's Tc & Company's favicon to the right...still could use some tweaking. Ah, and there lies the rub.

by:+Tom Clifford, VoiceOver & Creative Services   

VoiceOverGuy

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Trump's Fiery Fox Battle with Megyn Kelly reaches back to Mid-August...And then Some!

The ongoing hoopla between Fox News Presidential Debate co-moderator, Megyn  Kelly and "The Donald" has boiled over into Trump Opting Out of the latest Debate! This is not the first time Trump has gone toe-to-toe with a celebrity counter-part.

Back in the late 1990's and early 2000's, I was fortunate enough to be a regular on MTV's stop-motion animated Celebrity DeathMatch Claymation series. The show was a comedy that pitted famous celebrity's against each other in a boxing ring and had them fight it out to the d-e-a-t-h of one of 'em...sometimes both were squished, stabbed, bludgeoned, shot, or any other manner of outlandish demise. It was a popular tube watcher at the time and is still a favorite among today's young set. 

Figured when we 1st dipped into the archives in August, for a little Throw-Back Thursday, it could've been with the caveat of having Megyn & "The Donald" duke-it-out at some point.

Click to Play Trump DeathMatch

 

I do a pretty convincing Trump "You're Fired". But, now it's 20 years into the future...and that voice is sorta so-so for today's Trump. As a matter-O-fact, there ain't too much out there right now for the 'Stump-Trump' sound. That sound seems to have some variation of a New York accent and perhaps a bit rough-around-the-edges thing going on as well. From the podium, he spoke the same. Whereas, Trump may opt for the stentorian thing or a wait & see approach.

 

Here's a follow-up to our above post date:

 

It's now 2 1/2 months from our January BLOG  posting and we're eager to announce locating that Stump-Trump sound we've all been listening for! It's a spot-on impression of The Donald...and for that matter, an in-your-face Bernie Sanders impression as well. The Stump-Trump projection was maybe the key all along. With an initial almost whispering Nelson Rockerfeller-esque rasp along with a halting delivery, it came together perfectly. WoW, hats off to both of these dudes... and of course the writers. Haven't heard set-ups and rat-a-tat tat deliveries that were that ;locked-in' and as funny since the early days of SNL & SCTV. 

  Watch as : James Adomian and Anthony Atamanuik’s ‘Trump vs. Bernie’ CNN Interview

by:+Tom Clifford, VoiceOver & Creative Services   

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Axial scale Trophy Trucks get a voice with Tom Clifford

It's Tag-Time again. Been a while and it's nice work for a few words typically at the bottom of a spot.

The folks at Axial happened on my BLOG and called me to voice a short tag line with a brand theme: Outdoor lifestyle – Jeep, camping, rat rods, motorcycles, mountain biking, hiking, King of the Hammers, rock crawling, Baja 1000.

Not being all that familiar with Axial's products, I was gettin set for the likes of a client with some sort of rumble tumble, hang gliding, parachutin - Manly Man stuff...well, sorta. Just a scaled down version. We're talkin; Radio Control Off-Road racing RV trophy trucks. And these aren't your father's 'toy trucks' either.

These trucks are actual to the real deal (albeit at 1/10 to scale) in almost every way. These RTR's have independent front suspension (IFS), functioning shock absorbers, solid rear axle, drive trains, electric 4WD and the list goes on.

Now the funny thing here is, with a tag of just so few words, the tendency is to over-emphasize almost as a (knee jerk) compensation for so little copy... to make every single word stand out. 'Course there's always the 'throw-away' approach. Which will it be. I did tough & raspy - regular, regional - young/older. Did a few with just a hit of a word or two and let the rest speak for itself. About 20 to 30 takes of just (7) words. Click to Play Spot

The Yeti™ SCORE® Trophy Truck® RTR is THE ONE that Axial has been working towards for a long time! We’ve always wanted to build a Trophy Truck®, but we first had to build a successful platform. For authenticity, it had to be solid rear axle versus the commonly accepted independent suspension all the way around. Some would consider this “going backwards.” But Axial didn’t just accept what the establishment said was the only way, we wanted true scale looks with the functionality to match. When we delivered the Yeti™ Rock Racer with its IFS front end and solid rear axle, we knew then we had the key ingredients to deliver the vehicle of our dreams - our very own solid rear axle trophy truck!

by:+Tom Clifford, VoiceOver & Creative Services   

VoiceOverGuy

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Voicing the Beat of David Guetta's Peppermint Experience for New Year's Eve

A lesson in international DJ worship backed up with 55 million " Like's " on FaceBook.

After the folks at Media Mold Skyped about doing a techy VO for world class DJ, David Guetta in Dubai, I had to admit, wasn't all that sure who 'Pierre' David Guetta is. Turns out that David's a French DJ, record producer and remixer that has sold over nine million albums and 30 million singles worldwide. This is what DJ's do these days? He does - with his production company, The Peppermint Experience and a mega following. In 2011 Guetta was voted as the #1 DJ in the 'DJ Mag Top 100 DJs' fan poll. 

The Dubai Media City Amphitheater is doing a special New Year's Eve promotion and wanted all the stops pulled out. This guy fills stadiums like Billy Joel and they wanted an excited VoiceOver take to go along with the techno rock sound track. I checked out some of the pics from David's concerts around Europe and the Mid-East and guess what also popped up - Miami. And it's a sea-of-people at every venue. Techno-Rock partiers all the way, so we used not only a forceful delivery, but changed it up with the Clint Eastwood tracheal rasp and textured them with extensive voice effects for stand-out bullets. We also bill-boarded David's - Listen Tour 2015.

There were some early morning Skype sessions to pinpoint where the breaks in the music were for the VoiceOver to go. The timings were down to the seconds and did some on-the-fly voice recordings to match patterns in music. The time difference is seven hours ahead of us. So, to be somewhat relavent to their time zone, it was up and at 'em at the crack 'O dawn.

Aside, from a few possible tweaks, the video on the below link is slated to run for their event promotions in several areas of the UAE, Lebanon and Kuwait. When you look at a map of the region, Dubai, UAE is a few thousand of miles from let's say - Lebanon. 1500 km's from Kuwait. People think nothing of hopping on a plane to experience a major happening, especially for a New Years gala event.

 Click to Play Video

Here are some photos from the New Years Eve Gala Event on David's Facebook Page:
Click for NYE Concert Pics

by:+Tom Clifford, VoiceOver & Creative Services   

VoiceOverGuy

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516.488.8840

Tom Clifford is Creepin-things-out with the Mortuary's Se7en Deadly Sins Venue

Seven Demented Serial Killer's are featured in this domain with a similar premise to that of the movie "Se7en" with Morgan Freeman & Brad Pitt. Each 'Deadly Sin' character is flavored with a distinctive unique scary voice that creeps you along this venue's experience. It wasn't easy after 4 or 5 voice changes to come up with different sounding demonic voices. Typically, it's the standard deep-ish-throaty quality that's associated with horror. But, there's only so many variations until it's repeat city. So, I dipped into some fiendish characters of yore with higher octaves like, Vincent Price & Peter Lorre and came up with a few menacing character voices.

                 

Click to Play

The Mortuary Haunted Mansion in New Orleans, Louisiana has been the fright venue for many creepy experiences; The Paraplex, Cirque De Fear, Zombie Outbreak and The Mystere Escape Rooms. But, their Se7en Deadly Sins venue is by far the most d-e-m-e-n-t-e-d! We also did an In-Line feature video (below) explaining each character to ticket holders while they wait to go into the event. Taken all in good fun, there's lots of room to go over the top to the point of the ridiculous...and audiences sometimes don't know whether to s-c-r-e-a-m or laugh their heads off (come here, my little piggy piggy piggy..snort..snort...snort). (Rated PG-14)

                         

by:+Tom Clifford, VoiceOver & Creative Services   

VoiceOverGuy

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516.488.8840

Canobie starts off another Season with Tom Clifford

Click to Play radio spot

There's a chill in the air... over at Canobie Lake Park Screeem-Fest. 

Once again it's creepy voice time as the Halloween Season creeps toward us again. Almost didn't happen with a mad rush to have a one & only summer vacation on Labor Day. But, with sketchy cell service off the boat community of Watch Hill, Fire Island and the complete understanding of the folks at Collage Advertising, we were able to pull out all the stops to transform Canobie's family theme park into a scary venue of horror! 

It's a fine line we take with the horror intensity. Voicing the spots are a sort of tongue-N-cheeck with a playful concept and tone of where Fear meets Fun tact. With venues like - Black Hollow Cove, Terror in the Corn and Canobie Hotel we get a chance to lay the creepy-voice on thick. Switching gears we'll do more of a countdown style with their ROCK-tober Fest that's chock full of tribute bands like - Fan-Halen & Led Zep-A-Gain. Thrill Rides, Petting Zoo, why it's fun for the whole family. Check 'em out in Salem, New Hampshire or online at: Canobie.com

by:+Tom Clifford, VoiceOver & Creative Services   

VoiceOverGuy

FaceBook Business Page

516.488.8840

Angie Carpenter Elects Tom Clifford to Voice her Television Re-Election Campaign

This one was a trip down memory lane. Media Mechanix, Centerport, asked to include me in a list of possibles for a political tv campaign. I can do both the folksy & We-Mean-Business reads pretty well. Got lucky and was selected to be spokesperson for Islip Township's current and running-for-re-election Town Supervisor, Angie Carpenter.

Did most of my growing-up in Lake Ronkonkoma, Long Island, which is part of the multi-town - Islip Township. All part of Suffolk County, we had 3 townships that featured beach pavilions at Lake Ronkonkoma (Long Island's largest freshwater lake); Smithtown, Islip and Brookhaven townships.

The parceling of real estate dated back to when three different Indian communities claimed lands on different shores, and these claims remained after the tribes gave separate deeds to the land under their control. The name Ronkonkoma comes from an Algonquian expression meaning "boundary fishing-lake", also earlier written as Raconkumake and Raconkamuck.

Now, I'm back representing the 1st female supervisor of Islip Township. The TV spot which will run on Long Island cable is entitled: Experience that works for you. Click on the Play button below to see which read tone was selected...folksy or WMB. It'll be a short lived gig for me...of what I hope will be a continued stay...and 'then some' for Angie Carpenter. Angie brings a lot of that experience to the job with 6 terms as County Legislator and was also elected County Treasurer.

At least now when friends ask what's new or can they hear or see something that's here on the Island, I can point to the first lady of Supervisor-ship. * (Elected Islip Town Supervisor)

By: +Tom Clifford, VoiceOver & Creative Services

516.488.8840