Don Lafontaine (1940-2008) was the voice of the movies.
No one has hard numbers to show how many people have gone to the movies based solely on the trailer voice work of the most prolific and most successful voice talent in history. But I know that I laid down a good sum of money in theaters based on how cool Don made movies sound.
If you think the voice doesn’t matter, then explain why Don Lafontaine was the voice of thousands of movies over his career. Voices matter. Lafontaine proved it every summer when the blockbusters were being promoted.
So if voices matter so much, why do so many people create audio and video products with their own amateur, untrained voices?
Reason #1: They think they have to hire someone on the level of Don Lafontaine and for big bucks to have professional voice work done.
Not True: There are guys who even sound like Lafontaine out there and they don’t cost $5000 per session. (That’s what I heard Lafontaine charged a long time ago when he drove in a limo from studio to studio doing voice work. $5k a pop, all day long.)
Reason #2: No one really thought about how their audio book, podcast, educational materials or other works could be drastically improved by using professional voice talent.
True: Product creators, podcasters and many others rarely give a thought to what their work might sound like to their customers if they hired professional voice talent. The difference is quite amazing.
While Don Lafontaine is going to be sorely missed, the last thing he’d probably want is for everyone to let what he helped to build during his entire career go to waste.
What he built was an industry where thousands of other voice professionals could thrive. He showed the world how important a voice could be when representing products, services, movies, radio ads, television shows or even podcasts.
To see (and hear) a sample of the industry Lafontaine helped create for thousands of talented voice professionals, check out Voices.com.
And whether you need a cartoon voice, a young girl’s voice, a cheesy auto dealer’s voice, or a sophisticated gentleman’s voice, you’ll see right away that Voices.com has them all.
Think about what your next project could sound like with a reasonably priced professional voice talent as your representative.
And remember, “In A World” where voices are like the wrapping paper on an important, special gift, there’s nothing like wrapping your product with the best.
Voice Talent Resources
- Audio Book Voice Talent
- Business Voice Talent
- Cartoon Voice Talent
- Podcasting Voice Talent
- Internet Voice Talent
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Internet Marketers would do better to hire a good editor first and trim their 15-30 minute videos down to 5 mins and then get a PRO voice over.
Andrew Goulding
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