Category Archives: New Orleans VoiceOvers

Pooyie! It’s a Cajun Airlift – To Houston!

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Cajun Comic & New Orleans Voice Talent LUNO BORDELON plies his trade at Airlift Productions ~ along with some help from his pal Tee-Claude

 

Well, I don’t know exactly how you spent your weekend, but the S.O.S. had come in from Brooks & Company at BB’s Cafe in Houston for some HELP on their phone system – STAT!

Apparently, BB’s business is so booming that management thought keeping their Cajun-dish-craving patrons entertained while on-hold needed some attention, Airlift style –  so the call went out to Cajun Comic Voice Talent Stud-like-dude LUNO BORDELON!

The main problem I had was tracking Luno down – I mean, this Cajun gets around … Italy, Canada, Bar Harbor, Maine … even deep sea fishing in Hawaii!

 While some faux-Cajuns talk the talk – Luno ‘chalks it’, walks it, talks it, hunts it, shoots it, fishes it, and then cooks it up over an open fire!  True-Dat.

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Cajun VoiceOver Artist LUNO BORDELON deep sea fishing – in Hawaii, no less. Pity ‘da poor fish, huh?

 

So, as soon as I could get Luno back on New Orleans terra firma, cher, we got to work.  Make it fun! Make it sing!  Let the BB’s Cajun Cafe crowd know that they’re in for some authentic, off-the-chain damn good Cajun food ~ with a Texas touch! 

After all, so many business on-hold phone messages are so dry … so boring … so (yawn) ho-hum.  Enter Airlift Mike at the controls, punching the buttons ~ as Luno pushes YOURS!

Listen to Luno charming the masses in Houston.  The boy gives good phone.

Pooyie! NOW Houston understands what it’s IN for when they hit the door at BB’s Cafe!  The Real Deal. Authentic. Genuine. No off-the-rack dishes here.  Load-up the wagon, bring the kids.

(In soft disclaimer voice…) ‘No animals were harmed in the making of this phone message.’  🙂

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Long-time runnin’ partners Luno & Airlift Mike – hiding out in a Breaux Bridge, LA cabin (as part of the Cajun-Confidential witness protection program back in the day)

 

Why not tune-up YOUR business phone system today at Airlift Productions Recording Studio, New Orleans

Airlift Mike Spices-UP WWL ~ Cajun Style!

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Airlift Productions’ Micheal Ziants Writes, Voices & Produces “Once Upon A Time” Radio Spot for Frere Jean Cajun Seasonings ~ for air on WWL Radio

 

You know,  it occurs to me that the last few blogs have been all about the rear view mirror …. radio memories of Walton, Johnson, Chapin & Rundgren from the ’70s & ’80s – so let’s tap the brakes a second and re-enter the 21st century ~ 2014!

Tonight “Once Upon A Time” debuts on WWL Radio, with it’s unique-to-New-Orleans totally awesome, 50,000 watt, clear channel AM night-time signal.  I mean, Hello … it covers and reaches 37 states in America!

I was entrusted by Brother John Foods to create ~ conceive, write, voice & produce ~ a sixty second radio spot to promote their one-of-a-kind SALT-FREE Cajun seasonings product.

The spot came out to be so much fun!

Pause to consider, the four most magical words in the English language are “Once upon a time …” for they set the stage for fable, myth, legend and fantastic stories.

And to think, there’s not a Boudreaux, cher, or ‘Ay-EEEE’ shout anywhere in the copy.  LISTEN here —

*** Frere Jean ‘Once Upon A Time’ radio :60 for WWL Radio  ***

The tinkling of the music box, the Chinese bell tree and the evocative music track sure help to set the stage for magic, huh?  And I had a riot writing and developing the story-teller copy points, right down to the idea of rescuing damsels, er ah,  princesses in distress – and their waistlines!

In fact, there’s so much packed into this sixty seconds of airtime that you hear and catch something different in it every time you listen.  In my estimation that is what great radio should be all about.

Using the medium for what it does best … to light-up the imagination – and then take that imagination  to front stage center in the Theater of the Mind!

{ Oh, and could you please clean this place up a bit?!  Apparently some clown spilled popcorn & soda and my feet are sticking to the floor…  LOL, LMFAO, BFF  🙂  ~ the management}

 

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Micheal Ziants – New Orleans Voice Over Talent & Airlift Productions Studio Owner ~ 2012 promo pic

 

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

Classic N.O. Eatery Gets a FaceLift … Airlift Style!

 

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Airlift Productions & Micheal Ziants Add the Voice & Sizzle to Tujague’s Radio spot

 

I was reminded of this gig just last night when I caught the spot on WRNO-99.5-Rush Radio in New Orleans.  Man, how times … and dimes have changed.

When it came time for legendary French Quarter restaurant Tujagues on Decatur to roll-out it’s new Brunch menu and shout it from the rooftops via WRNO, the bat signal went out into the night sky for Airlift Mike.

What followed is kind of like the ‘alley-oop’ play in basketball – Bo Walker (then-production chief at Clear Channel) emailed me the copy … I voiced it and sent it back to him, along with some sound effect cues … he added his music track and mixed it down, then ping-ponged this mp3 back to me … and voila!

Part history lesson, part menu … and all sizzle! And when it all comes out of your car speaker on WRNO or worldwide via their I-Heart radio app, ‘Tujagues Brunch Menu’ radio :60 sounds like this….

 

Yeah, pretty amazing times we’re living in, huh?

Please though, do not attempt this kind of radio production at home.  These men are trained professionals.

Note: No animals were harmed in the making of this commercial.

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Tujagues Brunch Menu Radio :60 Voiced by Micheal Ziants & Airlift Productions

When Is A VoiceOver MORE Than A VoiceOver?

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Veteran New Orleans VoiceOver Talent Micheal Ziants, 2012 Promotional Pic

 

You know, when you think of a VoiceOver in the 21st century it is so much different than a VoiceOver in the 20th century.

In radio & television’s infancy last century the V/O was all about “Announcing” – Loud, shout-it-from-the-rooftops, in-your-face … arresting and intrusive, with letter-perfect pronunciation and tones.  Also read ‘abrasive’.

Just as in all things, the VoiceOver has changed too.  Today, think of the candid, reflective, pensive tones in Morgan Freeman’s work in ‘Shawshank Redemption’, or even DiCaprio’s V/O tones in ‘Wolf of Wall Street’.

While these were movies, indeed all VoiceOver work today – radio, tv,  industrials, software, etc – is the domain of the actor.  The ‘announcer’ is just so passe.

The challenge for the VoiceOver talent today is to ‘inhabit’ the copy, get ‘inside’ the words, convey and emote so as to make the words jump off the paper – and live and breathe … and motivate!

(tone shift…) As America prepares for yet another 4th of July, with hot dogs, apple pie, beer, fireworks and … family, allow me to share a project of mine that takes the VoiceOver and applies it to matters of the heart.

In one of America’s fave romantic comedies, one of America’s fave Brits,  Hugh Grant opens up ‘Love Actually’ with a rather poignant and pointed soliloquy about love and families … and heartbreak.

With poetic license, I changed the name of the airport from ‘Heathrow’ to ‘Louis Armstrong’, borrowed the movie music and a few sound effects and came up with this …

Quiet.  Relaxed.  Pensive.  Reflective.  Real.  Warm. Thoughtful.

You know, in the last century – somewhere between the ‘Mad Men’ and the beginning of the 21st,  there used to be an ad that contained the line,  ‘If you want to get someone’s attention… just … whisper.’

Works for me.  Howzaboutchoo? 

www.AiriftProductions.com ‘moving’ America … from NEW Orleans since 1984

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Airlift’s Micheal Ziants Recording VoiceOvers for New Orleans with Clear Channel’s Production/Creative Director Don Banks, Summer 2013