Category Archives: New Orleans VoiceOvers

Airlift Productions RADIO work, Audio Book Recording & Production, New Orleans VoiceOvers

Spring Is Busting OUT All Over At Airlift Productions

April 18, 2015 Micheal Leave a comment

It would appear that seeds sown through countless past seasons have now rooted, grown and indeed blossomed. Too flowery? Too poetic? Not so much. Run with me here…

While Airlift Productions clients of last century found Airlift & me via the Yellow Pages (“let your fingers do the walking…”), this Spring’s flowers have all been delivered through SEO (Search Engine Optimization) and that wacky Internet of Things. Really.

Don Draper & Roger Sterling, those dashing Mad Men, would not even recognize the marketing landscape of today! And audio/video production crews of the 1970s and ’80s wouldn’t even have a clue as to what’s going down in 2015.

Through the Airlift Productions website and this blog, imagine the fascinating and interesting jobs produced already this Spring from the Airlift Productions studios here in NOLA —–

Jeorjina Tegel, the right-hand hands-on exec at Right Hat on this job. Thanks for your help, Jeorjina. To call this gig ‘interesting’ would be a gross understatement.

The call came just weeks ago from Elonide, the President of a Boston & Chicago-based Ad Agency, Right Hat, for some help – the job? A :30 radio ad, which would be overseen by the writer Andy, who lives in Manhattan… the spot would be voiced by four different voice actors (all working from their respective home studios), and yours truly was contracted to produce and engineer the finished spot (for a CPA firm) to air – in San Francisco!

All sound a bit confusing? Well, it certainly was ‘out there’ and different. The commercial involved EIGHTEEN cuts/edits – in a thirty second radio ad – and multiple attempts to find the just-right music.

And the entire job … from NOLA to Chicago to NYC to San Francisco began … with a Google/Bing search by Elonide at the helm of Right Hat.

AirliftProductionsRecordsAudioBooksforRecordedBooksNYC — Airlift Productions records “The Boys Who Challenged Hitler” for Recorded Books, New York

Just two weeks ago, the Airlift Studios were really buzzing, as we phone-patched between NOLA and NYC (from the Big Apple to the Big Easy) to record the Audio Book “The Boys Who Challenged Hitler: Knud Pedersen & the Churchill Club”.

Contracted by Recorded Books in NYC, the world’s largest independent distributor of audio books to libraries, schools & the retail market, Airlift Productions warmed-up the mics to record the book’s author Phil Hoose, as he interpreted the words of it’s hero.

Imagine, if you can, 1940s Danish teens, upset by Denmark’s neutral stance, who decide to take on the Gestapo, the Nazis and the 3rd Reich all by themselves … and spearhead Danish resistance. Wow! What a story.

AuthorPhilHooseAirliftProductionsMichealZiantsApril2015 — Author PHIL HOOSE records “The Boys Who Challenged Hitler” at Airlift Productions NOLA April 2015

The sessions ran nine hours across two days, and all the wave files were directed via the Airlift phone-patch and neatly dropped back into Manhattan via an FTP site for use by their editors.

And Andy & his gang at Recorded Books found Airlift and me via the internet and a Google search. As he let his ‘fingers do the walking’ – 21st century style.

Finally, just this past week, the call came into the Airlift Studios from Denver and a big post-production house called High Noon Entertainment. These guys are the driving force behind many of your fave shows from TLC, Discovery, HGTV, Animal Planet & …. well, you get the idea.

As it turns out, the hot new show on The Cooking Channel is a fun one called “Taco Trip”, and it’s star, another fun one himself, is a close buddy & business partner with our NOLA chef John Besh. And he needed to record VoiceOver tracks for the show.

AaronSanchezRecordsVoiceOversFromNOLAandAirliftProductions — The Cooking Channel’s AARON SANCHEZ cooks-up tasty VoiceOvers for TACO TRIP at Airlift Productions NOLA April 2015

Chef Aaron Sanchez blew in the Airlift Studio doors like a hurricane Wednesday morning, we set mic levels, then phone-patched between NOLA and Denver as producer Matt Walker walked the good chef through all his reads for the show.

Again, voila! Within the hour, all the big fat wave files were delivered to Denver, tagged & bagged and ready for air – on flat screens via cable & satellite on The Cooking Channel … all across America!

MichealZiantsNewOrleansVoiceTalentAndAudioProducer — Airlift Mike – like the local fireman down at the firehouse – ready to take the call

Yeah, I guess you could say that Spring is busting out all over at Airlift Productions. And if these are the April showers … what will May bring?

Stay tuned ….

Airlift Productions & Airlift Mike ~ delivering the Goods … from New Orleans since 1984

Morgus & Me, New Orleans VoiceOvers

Morgus & Me + Marriage Insurance? WTH?

April 13, 2015 Micheal Leave a comment

MorgusTheMagnificentSidRideauRecordsAtAirliftProductionsNOLA — Morgus the Magnificent – aka Sidney Noel Rideau – Records VoiceOvers at Airlift Productions … for over a Quarter of a Century! Really.

I guess it would be safe to say that in operating a recording studio in America’s most colorful city – New Orleans – for what is now THIRTY years, that I’ve worked with some pretty colorful characters.

From setting microphone levels for Dr. John and Archie Manning to recording projects with all of the city’s mayors ( Morial-2X to Landrieu-2X), verbally jousting with Mary Matalin & James Carville, even coaching ‘Annie’ Quvenzhane Wallis through tough V/O copy for Chrysler … my most unforgettable – and beloved – character would have to be Morgus the Magnificent!

Sidney Noel Rideau & I go back over 25 years together now; he has the distinction (?) of being the only person who has recorded at every recording studio I’ve ever built, every incarnation of Airlift Productions; He is the eccentric uncle I never had! I love this man.

We first met in 1986 while I was producing radio ads for and operating as the Voice of WGNO-TV/Channel 26 here in New Orleans, and he was reviving his ‘Morgus Presents” TV show. Our first gig together was in my closet-studio Airlift iteration where we recorded all the E.R.I.C. (the talking skull) heavily-reverbed V/O tracks for use in the shows.

SidNoelRideauMorgusRecordsVoiceOverForNewOrleansAtAirliftProductions — E.R.I.C. the talking skull records VoiceOver at Airlift Productions

Our relationship continues to this day. I almost feel as though I’ve become his real-life Chopsley, in that I’ve operated as his behind-the-scenes henchman all these years.

Together we’ve produced everything from radio ads for Cajun seasonings products to public service announcement campaigns for his Internet Story Club teacher-family outreach … but among my favorite sessions with my fave ‘Uncle Sid’ would have to be the one that is the subject of this post – ‘Marriage Insurance’.

As fate would have it, Sid’s Morgus character is also one of nationally-broadcast Coast-to-Coast late night radio host George Noory’s favorites too! And Sid stopped by the Airlift Studios in February 2006 to record a few ‘pilots’ for segments to possibly be used in Noory’s nightly broadcasts. I kid you not.

The proposed segments never did materialize (radio marketing in the 21st century is a very tricky thing), but this never-before-heard audio is just way too-funny and priceless.

It’s for the “Morgusian Marriage Insurance Company of America”, protecting your marriage from divorce, and includes not only Sid’s outrageous take on the state of marriage in America today – but I’ve also left in all the out-takes! I particularly love the way he slides in/out of character, and oh, that laugh …..

**** Sidney Rideau – aka Morgus the Magnificent – takes on the perplexing problem of marriage & divorce for the Airlift Productions microphones in February 2006 ****

Today, Uncle Sid is enjoying retirement on the north shore of Lake Pontchartrain in a tiny hamlet known as Covington, LA with his bride of all these years Dainya. They met in the late 1950s in NYC where Sid was being considered as a side-kick to Johnny Carson, and she was an interpreter at the United Nations.

For true! No, I could not make up a story as unique as theirs.

What a character, and truly fine & gifted, spirited human being this man is. Lucky to have had him in our lives we all are, and to have been able to bask in his light and genius.

Because, at the end of the day (as the white man is often wont to say), in the mythology of the American Tribe – Superman will always have his Clark Kent, the Batman his Bruce Wayne … and Morgus the Magnificent will always be remembered as the man who gave him Life – Sidney Noel Rideau.

MorgusSidneyNoelRideauRecordsAtAirliftProductionsNewOrleans — Sidney Noel Rideau Records VoiceOvers and More at Airlift Productions New Orleans

Airlift Productions ~ Audio Alchemy from New Orleans since 1984

New Orleans VoiceOvers, VoiceOver Marketing

Voice + Over Tips from Airlift Mike

March 22, 2015 Micheal Leave a comment

Everything changes. Count on it. Even – and especially – in the world of VoiceOver. If you want to get addicted to anything – get addicted to change.

Times-PicayuneFrontPage3-22-15AirliftProductions — For the Out-of-Towners, today’s Front Page News for Sunday, March 22nd, 2015 ~ courtesy the boyz down at the Times-Picayune, New Orleans

America’s most fascinating city – New Orleans – is only now beginning to return to ‘normal’ after the developments of the past weeks.

Thrust begrudgingly into the spotlight of national and international news by (1) eccentric millionaire Texas fugitive Robert Durst – picked up downtown in our Marriott (packing a gun, mask, fake ID, and 5 ounces of pot, medicinal I’m sure) on the lam from the law… and HBO, and (2) this weekend’s machete-wielding miscreant (God rest his troubled soul) who decided Friday night to whup-up on some unsuspecting TSA agents out at Louis Armstrong … we’re only now beginning to catch our breath.

But as I type these words, yet another parade, the annual Irish-Italian parade is marching one block from the Airlift Studios, tossing cabbages & other assorted goodies to the eager, jubilant crowds. Oh, and passing out a kiss or two.

You see – everything changes. And the beat … goes on.

When I began my radio and VoiceOver career, the voice artist (we used to just call them announcers) Demo was distributed via the archaic audio cassette and reel-to-reel recording tape. Then, in the early 80s, it evolved to compact disc. Today it just has to be available via a digital file, wave or mp3, and easily downloadable to someone’s phone, tablet, computer, or digital device.

Only problem is, from what I can gather surfing the web and various voice artist sites, many Voice dudes and dudesses are still employing Flash files on their sites to play their voice demos. Not good.

The Flash format is simply ignored by many devices, including many iOS Apple devices, like the ever-present iPad! So the quest began for a more cross-platform compatible approach that would make the voice demo playable most anywhere and on most anything in 2015.

Ah-hah! Necessity being the mother of invention, the solution seems to be – to make Videos out of our audio. The VoiceOver audition demo, sampled, stored and uploaded as a video plays on the iPad, a Mac computer, Android phone & tablet, and, of course, on all Windows PCs. True cross-platform compatibility! For now.

Case in point, I spent the better part of yesterday in the Airlift Studios toying around with Window’s ‘Movie Maker’, available free on most all PCs or as a free download.

AirliftProductionsRecordingStudioNewOrleans — Airlift Productions, New Orleans

Watch – as well as Listen – to my new Commercials Voice Demo on the Airlift Productions Website Welcome Page by clicking here.

OK, so maybe I got a little carried away, a little too artsy-fartsy with it, as I took jpegs from the studio, art work, even a shot from the banks of the MS River, to punch-up every read. As I alternated from serious to light, dramatic to frivolous.

This same video-from-audio approach can also be as simple as displaying a gif image (bouncing analog or digital vu meters, for example) as ‘eye-candy’ while your demo rolls before their ears.

In any event, you’ve got to love the ‘StarWars-ish’ scroll at the top as an attention-grabber, plus the ‘credits’ at the tail, which gives the listener/viewer the opportunity – the Call-to-Action – to get you by phone right then should they choose. Try doing that with an audio-only file.

This approach also gives the VoiceOver talent an opportunity to ‘display the goods’ via YouTube, Vimeo, or a Facebook page near you. Not bad, huh?

Yeah, we used to snail mail our cassettes, reel-to-reel tapes, digital tapes & CDs to chase voice work with UPS & Fed Ex as the middlemen. In 2015, not so much.

Like I said, everything changes. Even the nature of change.

Best of Luck from NOLA as you chase that VO dream.

Comments?

Airlift Productions ~ Audio Alchemy from NOLA since 1984!

Airlift Music Sessions, Airlift Productions RADIO work, New Orleans VoiceOvers

From the Airlift Productions Studios to “12 Years a Slave”?

March 11, 2015 Micheal Leave a comment

So I’ve got the Airlift Studios in the ‘home theater mode’ the other night to catch another blockbuster in 5.1 surround sound. It’s my favorite way to watch a movie. No texters, no talkers, no cell phones! I get to actually hear every word. And imagine my surprise!

McQueen’s ’12 Years a Slave’ – 2014’s Academy Award winning Best Picture – is a brutally painful one to watch for sure. But I reveled in it. For personal reasons. Very personal.

Astonished I was to catch not one, not two, not three, not four… but FIVE different and wildly talented individuals who’ve recorded, laughed and spent time with me at Airlift Productions …. IN THE MOVIE!

There was – for all the world to see – Quvenzhane Wallis, John “Spud” McConnell, Donald Surtain, and that dynamic mother-daughter combo of Deneen & Devyn Tyler! Wow!

And they all comported themselves quite admirably. No. No starring roles, but in very key supporting ones.

QuvenzhaneWallisRecordsVoiceOversAtAirliftProductionsNOLA — Quvenzhane as Margaret Northup in ’12 Years a Slave’

Playing Solomon Northup’s daughter Margaret as a child was little Quvenzhane, all dolled-up. And in the critical closing and final scene, playing Margaret as an adult and mother … was Deneen’s real-life daughter – Devyn Tyler!

In fact, as she cried while holding the lead character (Chiwetel Ejiofor/Solomon), Devyn had the final words in the entire movie! Double wow.

DeneenTylerScreenShotJRL-ICanLearnAirliftProductionsNOLA — Deneen Tyler On-Camera teaching Mathematics for JRL Enterprises & I Can Learn

In scenes where Solomon was seen playing the violin, Chiwetel was faking it, but Donald Surtain – who was in the Airlift Studios just two months ago now, recording with Greg DiLeo – was on-camera and laying-down the REAL thing!

DonaldSurtainRecordsHisViolinAtAirliftProductionsJanuary2015 — Violin Virtuoso Donald Surtain lays down his totally awesome violin tracks at Airlift Productions January 2015

Spud was a plantation owner picking up a slave down along the Mississippi River in the French market and Deneen, as Phoebe, sure cried a lot.

OK, so my work with this talented crew was nowhere near as dramatic.

JohnSpudMcConnelRecordsRadioSpotsAtAirliftProductionsNOLA — John “Spud” McConnell as slave owner Jonus Ray, on-screen in ’12 Years a Slave’

Spud McConnell sold air conditioning installation & maintenance via radio spots for Comfort Engineered Systems, Deneen & Devyn Tyler worked on educational software tracks for John R. Lee and I Can Learn at the Airlift Studios, and little Quvenzhane , the youngest actress ever to earn a best actress Oscar nominee nod, recorded VoiceOvers with me to sell cars for Chrysler & Maserati.

God, but I truly admire, love and respect talent. At the Airlift Productions microphones … and on the big silver screen.

Congratulations, Kudos & High-Fives gang! Proud to work shoulder-to-shoulder with you … and know you I am.

So as Hollywood South continues to explode in NOLA (they’re starting to call Hollywood ‘New Orleans West’!), I’ll see you at the cinema. And next time, the popcorn’s on me.

Airlift Productions Proprietor Micheal Ziants along with the youngest Best Actress Nominee in the history of the Academy Awards - Quvenzhane Wallis - at the Airlift Studios 2014 — Airlift Productions Proprietor Micheal Ziants along with the youngest Best Actress Nominee in the history of the Academy Awards – Quvenzhane Wallis – at the Airlift Studios 2014

To Communicate is the Beginning of Understanding.
Airlift Productions Communicates.

Airlift Productions RADIO work, Audio Book Recording & Production, New Orleans VoiceOvers, VoiceOver Marketing

Airlift Mike Tosses An Audio Potpourri!

March 5, 2015 Micheal Leave a comment

The life of a VoiceOver Recording Artist in 2015 is never boring. I mean, no sooner do you think you have all the answers, than they change all the questions!

In the early days of the craft we were all called ‘Announcers’, as we all tended to speak rather loudly, with perfectly pear-shaped, authoritative tones… think preachers, teachers, parents, carnival barkers and military sergeants.

In 2015 not so much.

Consumers today worldwide are more savvy. And the delivery method has become more personal. The big box styled TV set of the 1950s has given way to personal, pocket-sized screens … and the tinny, brittle speakers have given way to earbuds and headphones.

All that being said, today’s blog is all about mixing it up – as Airlift Productions and I toss an audio potpourri that helps to capture the changes, and runs the gamut from newly-produced radio ads and audio books … to a soliloquy!

This week, tasked to amp-up the crowds at a local night club, like the old radio days – where shock jocks would walk a fine line between good taste on the radio … and the unemployment line – the very first word out of my mouth is (OMG) “S-E-X!” (well, now that I have your attention….)

*** Airlift Mike talks (sort of) for “Legends Encore” ***

Like I said, never boring.

Back to the 1950s for a second. Not only were all TV sets huge pieces of furniture dominating your living room, all books were found doing a Dewey Decimal System search in a library, trees had to die to produce them, and they were read – page by flipped page.

Today, not so much.

In 2015, we google search and download to our personal digital device (mp3 player, I-Pod, I-Pad or phone) and LISTEN to the printed word – again read and cooed into our ears by a sympathetic, compassionate, yet dramatic voice.

My very first fully-Airlift-produced, narrated and read-by-yours-truly Audio Book is now on the market, and available for download on a digital device near you. But, fair warning, it is not for the faint of heart.

Murder in Coweta County, a true crime drama set in 1948 Georgia, well before Dr. King, Selma and the Civil Rights movement is indeed a shocker. It tackles racial prejudice, arrogant power and southern justice head-on. Give a listen to just a bit of Chapter 7 through the Airlift Productions microphones here ….

** Micheal Ziants interprets Chapter 7 of Murder in Coweta County ~ courtesy Pelican Publishing, NOLA **

Download the entire “Murder in Coweta County” Audio Book from the krewe at Pelican Publishing across the Mississippi River in Gretna by clicking either of these links. On sale for a mere $17.60, about the price of a good pizza. And this story will stay with you a lot longer. Truly.

But better strap yourself in for the ride first. And keep your hands and feet inside the car… and your 21st century sensitivities intact.

To wrap-up the Audio Potpourri, the VoiceOver Recording Artist of today is always sowing seeds for future work. We create demos to showcase our reach and talents wherein we cast ourselves in arenas within which we’d like to work.

Well, my favorite Rom-Com ever (and I’ve viewed many with the ladies through the years) would have to be ‘Love Actually’. In the opening sequence, Hugh Grant does this reflective monologue VoiceOver shortly after the events of 9-11, while we watch loved ones embracing at the airport.

Poetic license affords a name change from Heathrow to Louis Armstrong, and for demo purposes, re-casts the V-O with none other than yours truly, and it sounds like this ….

** Love Actually Soliloquy from Airlift & Micheal Ziants **

Airlift Productions & Airlift Mike ~ treating cold, metal microphones like warm human ears … from New Orleans … since 1984.

Audio Book Recording & Production, New Orleans VoiceOvers

50 Shades Of Grey … Matter, from Airlift Productions

February 12, 2015 Micheal 2 Comments

MichealZiantsAkaMikeMcCannWQUEPhotoShoot1985 — Airlift Productions Proprietor Micheal Ziants, in a photo shoot for Q-93/WQUE-FM back in the day, to promote that afternoon M&M Mike McCann Show for New Orleans

As Mardi Gras rumbles through the streets of NOLA yet again (bands, beads & boobs), and just ahead of the opening of “50 Shades of Grey” at a cineplex near you … a few thoughts from Airlift.

It’s kind of funny the way life works sometimes. The Chinese call it ‘wu wei’ …. living with the give and take, the flow of life, but the biggest industrial VoiceOver job I got all last year centered around an unbelievable set of circumstances.

The CEO of this major Chicago-based supply house needed VoiceOver work recorded for a huge upcoming convention in Dallas. As fate would have it, the CEO was female, and her request to the video producer was, “Have Micheal read it like he did ‘The Highwayman’ on his website.”

Now, the read in question came from an audio book on CD that I had finished recording in the mid-1990s, “Soft Words, Warm Nights“, and was a far cry from anything I’d been cast to record at that point. Not even close.

Passionate. Dramatic. Cinematic. As you may recall from high school or collegiate English classes, this epic poem tells the tale of highway robbery, torrid passion, star-crossed lovers, suicide & murder!

Certainly not what one would call ‘commercial fare’.

Yet across the decades, this recording of ‘The Highwayman’ was the clincher. This was the approach, the mic technique, the raw emotion that this woman – the corporate decision maker – based her final decision on.

All that being said, here comes another Airlift Mike stretch.

In her sizzling, poker-hot, best-seller “50 Shades of Grey”, E. L. James set fire to the smoldering libidos of women all across the planet.

And now, just ahead of it’s big box office release, Airlift Productions presents ’50 Shades of Grey ~ the Ziants way’ – no reverb, no special effects, no music. Naked. Raw. Real. Sensual. Oh, and fun!

Plug-in the headphones (no kids allowed) and give a LISTEN to Airlift’s audio book audition track here …

***** Micheal Ziants reads from ’50 Shades of Grey’ *****

To the uninitiated who’ve never heard an audio book, yes, the narrator/reader performs all the parts. It’s all about treating the microphone not as a cold piece of metal … but as a warm, human ear. Making sterile technology & internet downloads all warm … and fuzzy.

It has been said that the most important sexual organ is between the ears, not the legs … the human brain, the gray matter. So, let’s tickle it a bit.

Whether this read influences the next corporate narration VoiceOver job or not is purely an academic question at this point … but for now, let’s just consider this a bedtime story for the 21st century woman.

NOLAVoiceOverTalentMichealZiantsAirliftProductions2014 — Airlift Productions’ Micheal Ziants putting in another day at the office in 2015. “Ah, can I really say THAT on the microphone?”

Airlift Productions Recording Studio ~ Telling America’s Great Stories from New Orleans since 1984!

Airlift Music Sessions, New Orleans VoiceOvers

“Anchors Away” – Airlift Mike Reflects On Decades of Recording Norman Robinson

February 8, 2015 Micheal 1 Comment

NormanRobinsonRecordsVoiceOversAtAirliftProductions — Norman Robinson sat in the Anchor chair at WDSU-TV, New Orleans for over twenty years … and still today records his euphonium and VoiceOvers at Airlift Productions.

I first met Norman Robinson in 1991 at the Airlift Productions studios on Iberville Street. He was fresh off the White House beat for the CBS Network and was the newly ordained nightly news anchor at WDSU-TV here in New Orleans.

Along with John Lee, the founder of the I Can Learn educational programs, he showed up at the studios to record some promotional VoiceOver tracks to help attract some attention to this new and innovative method of teaching.

I was thinking about our first meeting and that first session together as Norman arrived at the Airlift studios this past Friday, February 6th, 2015 to record with me… yet again.

Let’s see, so simple math would indicate that our relationship and friendship now spans nearly a quarter of a century!

L-R.BrianLandryNormanRobinsonRichLenzMichealZiantsAirliftProductionsNOLA — (L-R) Brian Landry, Norman Robinson, Rich Lenz & Airlift’s Micheal Ziants ~ in the Airlift Productions ‘Green Room’, along with a plaque commemorating four years of Children’s Miracle Network Telethon Theme Songs for our Children’s Hospital in New Orleans

In addition to his outstanding contributions every night for over two decades in the anchor chair at WDSU, Norman is quite the musician as well. While foreign to many, the euphonium (sort of a hybrid cross between a french horn and a tuba) is Norm’s instrument of choice.

He played it in the marine band while in the service, and still does today in various orchestras and ensembles around the Crescent City – and for the Children’s Hospital NOLA at Airlift Productions.

NormanRobinsonBrianLandryRecordingAtAirliftProductions — Norman Robinson at the euphonium, along with Brian Landry, the “Soul Men”, laying-down tracks for the 2014 Telethon at Airlift Productions

But it’s more than his chops at the euphonium or at the anchor desk that make Norman so special. It’s his spirit! Charm. Charisma. Magnetism. Gravitas. Norman didn’t just sit in the anchor chair. He inhabited it. He owned it.

In a day and time where even NBC Network News & Brian Williams’ authority and credibility have now come into question, the city of New Orleans always had its fingers on the pulse of what was going on … and believed in and trusted Norman Robinson.

It was that trust, that gravitas, that authoritative weight that brought Norman back into the Airlift Productions Studios this past week to record VoiceOver for a very special project. Just give a listen to a taste of what went down Friday here ….

*** Norman Robinson at the Airlift Productions microphones Friday, February 6th, 2015, talking unabashedly of the city he loves ***

If all Norman did was string words together in that marvelous booming baritone, to many, that would be more than enough, but it doesn’t stop there. His nightly news laughter and asides, and his boundless humanity and love of life on the yearly Children’s Telethons is what endeared him to so many.

Witness this clip provided by his successor Scott Walker, from a cell phone video at our last telethon in June of 2014, as Norman invokes the spirit of James Brown ….

*** Norman performs to make the telephones ring and the pledges come in at the 2014 Children’s Miracle Network Telethon ***

As Norman and I wrapped-up our session this past week, we reflected on our many years working together. And I guess the most interesting part of our conversation was about what lies ahead for us … because we’re just getting warmed-up.

Because, you see, on that great Highway of Life, the most fascinating years, the really interesting ones … are through the windshield – not the rear view mirror!

For more, as they used to say in the ad world, “Watch this Space”.

L-R.MichealZiantsNormanRobinsonHeathAllenRichLenzWDSU-AirliftProductionsNOLA — (L-R) Airlift’s Micheal Ziants, Norman Robinson, Heath Allen, Rich Lenz at the WDSU-TV Studios for the annual Children’s Miracle Network Telethon.

Airlift Productions Recording Studio ~ Audio Alchemy from NOLA

New Orleans VoiceOvers

Airlift Productions Gets “Handy” for the New Year

January 3, 2015 Micheal Leave a comment

NewOrleansVoiceOverTalentMichealZiantsAndTheShadow — New Orleans VoiceOver Talent Micheal Ziants – along with The Shadow – at Airlift Productions, where EVERY day is ‘take your doggie to work day’

One of the things that I’m most thank-full for as this New Year of 2015 dawns is the opportunity to use more of my God-given talents. Long the VoiceOver guy and audio producer, I’ve had few chances this century to truly flex my creative writing & advertising muscles.

You know, ordinarily the client sends along the copy, and as the voice dude and producer, I simply interpret and record those words to a wave file and send them along. What a gift it is to create that string of words … and then put them into my own mouth!

As a case in point, this thirty second spot airing all over the New Orleans TV market for the New Year. Imagine being tasked with pounding the drum (ever so softly) for a local home improvement outfit that is today expanding their services & products … and taking-on Lowe’s and Home Depot. Really? Really.

SouthlandPlumbingStoryBoardMichealZiantsAirliftProductions — Southland Plumbing TV :30 spot for New Orleans ADI – written and envisioned by Micheal Ziants at Airlift Productions, for Nathan Ales of Ales & Associates, January 2015

So, let’s open with a truncated aphorism. A what?!? Yes, a saying that we’ve all heard,”Home is where the Heart is”, and then twist it a bit. Add a colorful N’awlins colloquialism “For true!” And we’re off to the races.

It all adds up to setting the homeboys – a local, family-owned business for nearly 50 years – apart and head-and-shoulders above the ‘big box boys’, all the while playing the strings of the heart.

And it all comes out of the hometown flat screens like this ….

*** Southland Plumbing TV :30, written, voiced & audio-produced by Micheal Ziants; Video editing by Todd Schmidt, on behalf of Nathan Ales at Ales & Associates ***

Nathan Ales and I go back years! He was actually a ‘sales dog’ at Q-93 Radio when I first came to work there in the 1980s, and it was his job to sell that Mike McCann dude.

His affable, quip-filled approach has disarmed many a wary advertiser and always delivered for his clients. I’m thrilled that we’ve re-connected here in the 21st century and the Southland account is one of our first joint ventures.

Nathan Ales of Ales & Associates, along with wife Debbie

So Nathan, with his unique blend of street savvy, charm, and moxie does the selling and lining-up the accounts, I handle creative, voice over and audio production … and then hand it over to this guy – meet Todd Schmidt.

The multi-talented Todd Schmidt - actor, raconteur & video whiz kid — The multi-talented Todd Schmidt – actor, camera man, photographer & video whiz kid

Todd has just an amazing skill set – while not working with the poker-hot TV series “American Horror Story” or finishing-up the new “Trumbo” film (this guy stays way too busy), he hangs out with Nathan and me and brings his video wizardry to our projects. Catch more of his magic here on the web at Schmidt VFX . Remarkable!

Lucky and indeed fortunate I am to be running with these dudes in 2015. Audio … and now ‘Creative’ and Video to-go! What can the boyz and I cook up for YOU today?

Airlift Productions Recording Studio ~ Audio Alchemy from NOLA since 1984

New Orleans VoiceOvers

The New Cuba, Walt & Airlift Mike

December 19, 2014 Micheal Leave a comment

WaltHandelsmanN.O.AdvocateCartoonistCubaThoughtsAirliftProductions — New Orleans Advocate’s WALT HANDELSMAN does His take on the USA normalizing relationships with Cuba – December 19th, 2014 ~ Too Funny!

You know, when you’re in the company of greatness, you just know it, you know what I mean?

The Pulitzer Prize-winning editorial cartoonist Walt Handelsman (today with the New Orleans Advocate, lucky dudes they are) visited the Airlift Productions Studios years ago at the now-the-stuff-of-legend Iberville Street haunts mid-city and what a recording session we had.

This guy had it! Magic! Inventive Genius! Walt possesses a rare gift – the ability, through pen and ink, to ‘speak Truth to Power’ … to throw a few sacred cows on the barbie’ – without even opening his mouth!

That’s why, though, he came to Airlift to record with me.

WaltHandelsmanTestimonialAutographToMichealZiantsAirliftProductionsNewOrleans1994 — Walt Handelsman Testimonial Autograph To MichealZiants “Airlift Mike” during our recording sessions on Iberville back in the day

Contracted by Lenny Delbert at Pan Am Communications to help Walt out that day, I was tasked to record VoiceOver for a video to help promote his convention services – Walt would stand, pen in hand, at a drawing pad projected to a big screen, and lay-out a cartoon panel LIVE to amazed conventioneers!

I was merely the guy extolling Walt’s virtues and dazzling talents, and telling the tale. But, what a party it all turned out to be.

At this time, 1994, Walt was cranking them out for the Times-Picayune, had yet to win one – let alone two – Pulitzer Prizes for excellence in the field of editorial cartooning, leave New Orleans to work for NewsDay – and then return to N’awlins (thank God) to resume amazing us all daily from the New Orleans Advocate.

Who knew this dude had all this greatness in him? I sure did. That day. And as to this day? Well, the cartoon at the top of this blog (from today’s 12-19-14 Advocate) is a testament to Walt’s relevance, timeliness, timelessness … and runaway Genius!

Oh, and Walt, if you just so happen to be reading this … the Rolling Rocks are cold in the fridge, and we’ve got some catching-up to do, my brother.

WaltHandelsmanCaricatureOfMichealZiantsAirliftProductionsNewOrleans — Walt Handelsman’s impromptu caricature of Airlift Productions proprietor Micheal Ziants, beer can on head and all! Thanks for the laughs, Walt, see ya’ in the funny papers!

Airlift Productions VoiceOver & Recording Studio ~ Audio Alchemy from New Orleans …. since 1984!

Airlift Productions RADIO work, New Orleans VoiceOvers

Sex Sells Via Airlift Productions

December 15, 2014 Micheal Leave a comment

Perhaps it’s because SEX is the act that brought us all here, I mean you would not even be alive to be reading this blog post if mom & dad had not done the horizontal hokey-pokey, that it drives so much attention, and as a result – most advertising.

From all makeup products to clothing styles, colognes to beer – SEX and the drive to find it, hang on to it, make yourself more attractive to the other and/or same SEX, it’s allure & mystical powers have driven us all to part with more dollars than any other ad gimmick you can name.

Not to be left out, enter Airlift Mike and local N’awlins radio work for Chad, Nick and the krewe at Legends Encore, radio ads for “Jeff Parish’s Party Palace”.

In putting together the latest spot for the club, I threw ‘lost love’, the quest for ‘new love’, Steve Carell’s voice from ’40 year old virgin’ and the ’50 Shades of Grey’ phenomenon into the audio cuisinart and came up with this, beginning tomorrow on N’awlins radio …..

** LEGENDS ENCORE Radio :30 from Airlift Productions **

Since time immemorial men have dueled under oaks over a lady, fought to the death in arenas over a lady, waged great wars over the loss of a lady. Thankfully, and hopefully, there’ll be less bloodshed on North Hullen generated by this radio ad.

On a tamer note, after years of staid educational software audio work that gave me cause to walk away from the local media scene, it sure is fun and rewarding for yours truly to be back on the radio & TV in my own home base of New Orleans.

And in many cases, as is the case with this Legends Encore piece, writing the spots too! It gives me the opportunity to put my own words in my own mouth.

From TV campaigns for Sue’s Jewelry & Laser Tag of Metairie to some recent political ads … and, of course, this on-going work to help pack the club at Legends Encore, it sure is a riot to be flexing my commercial muscle again for the hometown crowd.

MichealZiantsAirliftProductions — Airlift Productions Audio Spin Doctor Micheal, it’s 50 Shades of Ziants

Yes, SEX sells – 24-7-365… even at Christmastime.

And what if, just what if, at the end of the game (the end of life) … the hokey-pokey really IS what it’s all about?

Airlift Productions ~ Audio Alchemy from NOLA since 1984

Airlift Productions Blog – VoiceOver, NOLA & Micheal Ziants