Hey, this is JD and I am in the lobby of our hotel here
at Sonicon twenty twenty three. And if you are new to Audio Theater Central,
this is not a regular episode, So if you haven't heard the show
before, go back and find another one in the archive and this will all
make sense. But for those of you who've been following our trip here at
Soniccon, we're going to be recapping day two, which was Friday, and
give you some of the highlights. I'm here with Dominic Trice and Josh Rodriguez.
Hey, how's it going. You guys might have to scoot in a
little bit more so we can get your voices on here a little bit better.
But yeah, that's right. So we started off that day. I
think Dominic, you and I were both in Phil Lawler's class, that director's
take on voice acting. Yep, so that was a really great class.
Do you remember which one you were in now with Josh class, Yeah,
you were? Okay, so I great minds think alection, yes, right
right, I was. It wasn't sure which one I was going to go
to at first, but because I have heard Phil teach both years prior,
but there was a lot of new stuff that he covered in this in this
class, So I really enjoyed it. Yeah. No, and he really
delved into the how story should influence the voice actor, and he had to
he had to go over the whole structure of the story to make sure that
you know, in how you how you have to research the character and invent
a backstory for your character, you know, that sort of thing things that
I had heard maybe briefly, but really he went into depth and that was
that was great. Yeah. Phil's experience is unique in that excuse me.
Not only has he written and directed I think like four hundred episodes of Odyssey.
I believe he is has I believe he has the unofficial record for the
most roles on Honesty, but most of them are uncredited. So he and
he's done voice acting and not just with Honesty, but different many different shows.
And so he has the perspective from both behind the glass in front of
the mic. Yeah, and so he's like, he has this really great
perspective on both sides. And so it was really great to hear from him
because he could give us so much information, you know, from both sides
of the mic, which was which is like I said, I don't know
that there's many that have that experience that can really speak from that. I
know there's something like like John Fornoff is now delving into acting, but it's
only been a couple of years. Right, He's fantastic, but he'll probably
have that same experience, you know, over time. It feels very unique
and gifted with his experience to be able to speak to both sides, even
having a little bit of post production experience from Elliot House, right, right,
So yeah, I do either of you guys remember the three e's Oh
elocution was one? Right? I threw a pop quiz at you guys,
and I don't even remember the answer, So I don't feel bad. I'm
trying to think. That's all right, Hey go hang, Our crack research
team is on it. And but just so you know, this is live
to Drive, so there's no editing here unlike another regular episode. And also
we're all a little horse because we've been talking for three days straight and very
little sleep. That's all right. Yeah, Well, Google Drive is letting
me down, so I do not have the notes, but I did write
it down as well, and so it was something that I wanted to make
sure that I energy energy. Yeah, that's right elocution and oh it's right
there on the tip of your brainer ear and you have to have a good
ear like to be listening was the other the other point. So that was
cool and thanks to our crack research team the scenes. So the second block
we had a couple of different sessions going on. I did my masterclass in
the second block on Friday. He was talking about audio drama distribution and with
an emphasis on podcasting specifically. So we went through a lot of those points
and had a full room, which I was not expecting because I was up
against Kara O'Brien and Paul McCusker in the same time slot, so kind of
unfair scheduling there. I was like every master class block, I was like,
there's there's at least two that I'd be interested in, and I wish
that I could go to both, especially when they scheduled Jared and Paul back
to back. But Jared and Todd, you know which one did you go
to? An Now I went to Paul McCusker's Okay, Fundamentals of Dialogue,
and boy, that was a cool class. I mean, just Paul being
Paul and his his normal collected, friendly, caring self. You know,
he brought us. He made the whole class feel personal. You know,
he brought us. He had just had a way of just speaking to us
as he instead of just a teaching lecture. It was it was he took
some questions during it, but and stuff like that, but just the way
he talked made it feel like he was having a conversation with us. Yeah.
Absolutely, both of the master classes I took with him in the same
way. He was just very conversational and and it was really great to learn
from from Philip Klassman. All the things that which I hear he doesn't like
that reference, I didn't hear it come up this this, This didn't this
weekend. But no, just I mean I thought it, but but I've
heard him talk about how he doesn't like being associated because he can't do other
voices. Yeah, so yeah, it was. It was fantastic to see
him again. I've met him a couple of times in the past, and
this is the first time we actually really got a chance to just sit down
and talk and so that was really cool. And unfortunately, since I was
teaching class, I didn't get to take his, So no, I didn't
get I didn't attend your masterclass, JD, but did hear you know in
conversations how a lot of a lot of the one people did the tend really
appreciated what you brought. Oh that's good. That's good to hear that feedback.
I mean, just you have the distribution experience at least in terms of
you know, you're in the podcast industry, y're you know how to get
the word out to people. So just hearing your take on that. Again,
I wasn't able to make it to your class, but I wish I
could have because that's really cool. And it seems like some of the larger,
more influential production housis are listening because you've been talking about these things for
all the years now and they seem to be branching out into into a little
more creative ways distribution. So and I definitely think that your advice and your
consistency with that has had some influence. And so that's a really good thing.
Well, that's that's great to hear. I hope it's it's making a
difference, you know. And I did get a couple of people giving me
some feedback right after the class, and so I was really glad to hear
that. And then so that was followed up by another big block of exhibition
Hall time, which was great, and Newark's rehearsals. Oh yeah, that's
right. I actually got to have bunch with Nato Jacobson and Michael Touche and
his son, and then I went right into the Newark's rehearsal and then came
to the exhibition Hall. Just such a good time to network connect with people.
My probably my favorite part other than Paul McCusker and Jared Pasqual, but
very intentional on behalf of the Chris Nelson and those the organizers of the event.
We had nine hours dedicated to networking and making connections and it was it
was incredible to those that took advantage of that time. It was well worth
the price of admision even more and in so many good conversations, so many
good connections, just a wonderful time. People send me your stuff, you
know, people saying here's what I'm doing. You know. I got to
listen to trailers for some new audio dramas and just talk with people and just
amazing. I don't remember if you and I mentioned this on the last one.
Dominick or not, but I know that Josh and I talked about this.
We really liked the layout of the exhibition hall too. I don't know
if we mentioned it, but much better, Yeah, because it felt you
could walk around and then you could hang out in the middle. Yeah.
Right. And while that was all going on, also John Farnough was doing
those creative speed sessions and he was telling he was telling me afterwards that he
really enjoyed that, you know, because he's such a personable kinder man.
He just loves getting in there and just talking with people. And he said
it he just thrives on that kind of stuff. And so he said he
really enjoyed doing those just sitting down. I think it was a fifteen minute
block and you just got to tell him where you are in your journey and
and just get get straight, uh get advice straight from him where he he
might be able to point you and your next step and things like that.
And so that was a really cool opportunity for me. What a Yeah,
opportunities were what an incredible gift from from John to every one of that participated.
Yeah. Well, mean you would never get that somewhere, you know,
at a different times it's just you know, it's just an incredible opportunity.
I heard from several that sat down with John and they they're excited about
their ideas and he gave them some feedback and you know, fifteen minutes is
kind of a short amount of time, but this a lot can happen when
you know, when you're focused, then when you're intentional. So yeah,
what a great opportunity for upcoming you know, producers, actors, anyone that's
interested Innaudy drummer. It's super cool for sure. And just learning from John
ford Off, you know, like it's like he's part of the big three
of you know, of the writers. Yeah, so well, I mean
there's so many more writers, but the big three that were there. The
next block was Jared Deepest Pall and Todd Busty, and that was the one
that I was like, man, I wanted to go to both of them,
so hard to pick, and I just actually ended up going to the
room that was closest to where I was at the time, right like right
after So I just went right in and there was Jared and so I I'm
not a composer and I have I have no musical ability other thing that I
can sing but I don't play any instruments or what or anything. But I
just was interested, and so I didn't stay for the whole session, but
I just wanted to get, you know, see see how it was going.
And so I know you were in there as well. Down So any
top takeaways from that one, Oh, just Jared's amazing. He was just
kind of delving into his what you need to know as a composer for an
audio drama, what you need to develop and learn, and just good tips
and then just playing you know, how he and then showing us how he
does it and playing us little samples from a melody of certain things from his
This is mostly this class of mostly melody. He was talking about melody and
how and just themes and stuff that he just the basic foundations for for music
writers and just just amazing. I'm playing samples of some of the stuff that
he's telling us, of the stories about the people that played a live instruments
for him, and he would direct him over zoom and and he played the
main theme from Freedom, which is my I think it's my favorite piece that
he's he's written. Okay, it's just I don't know, there's something about
that piece of music that just gets me deep down every time I hear it,
almost every piece of to be But he definitely leaves peace with him him,
Oh absolutely does. I didn't get to attend this session because I was
in Todd to Steve's, but I would highly recommend that anybody that's interested in
you auto drama, whether it's scoring, no matter what discipline it's in,
go out to his YouTube page and watch some of his behind the scene videos
because he goes into several different auto dramas and how his creative process and the
things that he's gone through. So if you want to really look into his
process, which is fascinating, you know, check out his check out his
stuff online. So we have four four more segments left from the day,
and we only have a couple of minutes to try to get this in,
so we'll try to get through this one will The last one's a little bit
quicker, But the next one was a special feature with River Cross and we
had to hear the first episode of their upcoming show or I guess it's already
out already using the whole show, but they haven't released it all publicly yet.
But the first episode of Bridge to Freedom and excuse me, tough to
listen to in parts, but if you are on ATC backstage, you already
heard me do an initial reaction to that. But it's it's so well done,
and I don't know the right word. I start to say it's tastefully
done, but that sounds a little bit weird to use that word considering the
topics that they're covering. But it's very sensitively done. And so it's and
and you know, you wouldn't expect less with people like Todd bus Deed,
Kathy Buchanan, you know those people involved. Todd directed and did post and
Aaron Fullan did the music. So it was just an amazing time. So
you hear that, and then just hear some of the the impacts from Cindy
Finley and Todd just talking about their time in the studio, which I always
love that kind of behind the scenes stuff. So what an amazing ministry.
Yeah, you know, to traumatize children go to Africa using this incredible medium
of audio drama to help and to deliver the gospel to kids healing. Yeah,
the kids that really the rest of the world neglects and doesn't really think
about. You know, what a great thing oh yeah. Oh and then
the next section, Man, this was one of my favorite parts of the
day for it. So odyssey is beginning with Phil Ahler and Paul McCusker and
just those two in a room together, playing off each other and giving each
other a hard time, telling each other to shut up, you know,
like just had us all on stitches, but also just amazing stories. Yeah,
almost like a sibling relationship between the Yeah, yeah, yeah. I
heard from so many people that they really enjoyed that, and that's been the
case every year. If there was a main feature segment at any time over
the weekend, that was like one of the one of the top ones that
people were talking about. Even if they repeat stories the same ones there.
Yeah, still so much fun. But there was a lot of stuff that
I hadn't heard before, I think because Paul this year, he brought,
you know, a lot of memories that we haven't heard. Oh man,
yeah, so cool. Too much to try to recap that, just I'm
just so glad that Paul was able to make it this year. Yeah,
I mean, it's such a blessing. Well, and that brings us to
the next one, which was a new program to me, Main Street Music
show this. I didn't really know what to expect at first, and then
the guy who runs the show and stopped by the ATC table and kind of
explained a little bit about it and gave me his card and twisted my arm
and said, come to it. No, I'm just so. I had
told him that I would earlier in the day. I said, yes,
I'll come to the show tonight. And I'm so glad I did. Oh,
so glad I did. It was absolutely hilarious. It's a sort of
comedy variety show with sketches and fake advertisements and music. Music. Oh man,
that the music they got from Liberty. Did you send a few students
to play bluegrass type music? Yeah? They so good upright, bass and
and guitar and fiddle, banjo. Oh yeah, that's right. He switched.
Yeah, and it was amazing. So yeah, I think they're on
I sat next to him on the plane on the way to Lynchburg, and
I think they're on podcasts or something like that. Drama drama okay, okay,
yeah, yeah, because he was told me that because of some of
the music that they've had in past episodes, they weren't able to release widely
on podcast but Spotify has a deal with Music so they can do the royalty
part on their side, but on Spotify they are on Drama Fi. Apparently
I found that out afterwards too, because he didn't even mention that to me
when he was telling me where to find the show. He didn't mention Drama
Fi. I'm like, okay, but I found out later. And and
the talent that they had, the actress just Daniel Cross and I can't remember
all of the ones, Carol O'Brien, and then Jamie was one of the
other regular members. Right, Jamie and Daniel are regular and they were just
amazing, just just thoroughly enjoyed that. I will definitely be checking out that
show. And then we wrapped up the night with the late night session with
a listening lounge Sentinel Studios first episode of Homicide at Heaven's Gate, another show
that I have already done an initial reaction episode on ATC backstage, and we
had Richie Mills up there talking about it afterwards, and was that his wife
exhorted so she does the graphic design I think for the episode. I think
it's so cool that my husband and wife worked together out in audio drama.
That's pretty awesome. Yeah, and that was it's late night session, but
there was pretty good sized crowd there for being the last late night session.
Intriguing story. Yeah, yeah, yeah, it makes me want to go
check out the rest of the episodes. And they had quite a quite a
few familiar names in the cast on this one, and one that I didn't
remember. I may I may have mentioned this in my initial reaction, but
it was a while ago and I didn't remember until I heard the episode the
other night. Laura rich Creek was was in this production too, So I
don't know if she's in that particular episode orf she just in the series,
because it sounded like they give the credits for the entire season or whatever in
the at the end of every episode. But so, yeah, there was
there was a lot of other words, Andy Harvey's in this, Nato Jacobson's
in this one. So so that was the way we wrapped up the night.
And then it was an exhausting day and it's their long days, but
so so worth it. It's it's so worth it because there's there's just so
much. Yeah, you're learning, you're interacting, just building the relationships with
other people in the space, and so any any final thoughts, Josh,
I always go back to the connections we make and the exhibit hall. There's
you will not find that experience anywhere else this If you are interested at all
in getting into this industry, this is the place you have to be every
time. It's it's helpful, but a fantastic day. Yeah, like you
said, j D, very exhausting, but but you feel really good time
at the end of the day. So yeah, such a such a such
a great educational field day and it's wonderful time. Yeah, all right,
we'll be back with Day three.