Day 11 - Guest Blogger: Geoff Edwards

*I've had the chance to know Geoff for a number of years. The man is generous, talented and knowledgeable. He has a wealth of experience in all areas of production and it's great to have him sharing a few things here. Thanks Geoff! When Matthew asked me to guest post on his blog I was a little flattered. Then I was a little concerned about making time to get it done and to not look foolish in the process. Finally, I threw all caution to the proverbial wind and got into it.

I am a voice actor. No, I am a multimedia producer. No, I am an entrepreneur. No, I’m a sound designer. No, I’m a video producer-writer-director-editor …my point being that I figured out a while ago not to rely solely on one skill set. So I am all of those things and the internet has helped me to flourish in each. I was an early adopter of the Internet. I built my first web site in 1996. By 1997 coming from a career in broadcasting I had figured out that for a guy with some of my skills the Internet was really a broadcasting network. This caused me to hook-up with like minded people in the streaming media business. By the fall of 1997 along with a couple of side-kicks (a comic and an animation voice actor) I was hosting a web cast that played exclusively Canadian music and that gained a varied audience around the world. I learned a enough about SEO to get my name to float to the top of the Google for several periods of time and at one time I was top of the list of ‘voice actor’ in the world according to Google. Today I work with traditional broadcasters putting a voice to commercials and TV Promos. I am a regular voice for APTN a Canadian broadcasting network. The Internet has allowed me to network and collaborate with like minded people. I work with many talented people around the world including my pal James Farr from Tulsa who is a creative powerhouse in animation and is always honing an intellectual property of some sort and has made some good in-roads into Hollywood. I play the lead character in his Xombie web series. David Bouchard is a bestselling author from BC who allowed me to collaborate with him on seven published works over the last ten years. Our latest project released this summer is a book with a DVD produced by me. And film maker Bob Fugger whose film projects always seemed to find a spot for me to make a contribution, both on camera and in post production as sound designer. I have been lucky to gather around me tools many people consider toys and to ‘play’ with them for pay. Being fully networked has allowed me to do a lot of things across Canada and around the world.

Tools I use every day? Sony Soundforge Pro, for me it is the fastest way for my voice recordings to move from production, to post, to mastered. I edit video with Sony Vegas Pro, its onboard effects and transitions’ are so easily accessible, it helps me get results fast. All my life I have been an avid photographer. I had my first video camera in 1991 and I shoot video and stills; regularly integrating images with Photoshop into video productions.

I can’t imagine retiring from something I get so much enjoyment from. So you’ll find me doing pretty much the same sorts of things for some time to come. You can follow along if you like at www.geoffedwards.ca and www.streamworks.ca