Tag Archives: Radio spots

Airlift Mike Tosses An Audio Potpourri!

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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” ***

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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.

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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 **

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

Radio-Active Airlift Mike in 2015

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New Orleans Voice Talent Micheal Ziants puts in another ‘day at the office’ via Airlift Productions

The life of a Voice Talent is certainly never boring.  One day you’re asked to be totally serious in a video narration for offshore oil exploration or shipyard construction efforts … and the next day (sometimes the same day) you’re tasked and asked to cut loose!

One of my new fave accounts is a night club just outside New Orleans in Metairie called Legends Encore, a fave hangout for decades for the single- (and some not-so)-and-ready-to-mingle crowd.  Copious amounts of alcohol + really LOUD cover bands = more fun than human beings ought to be allowed to have.

So, my first shot across the New Year bow for Nick and Chad includes a tip of the hat to New Year’s resolutions, exercise, staying healthy, and forgetting Match & E-Harmony-dot-com in favor of the old school approach.

As well as cameo appearances from Homer Simpson and Matt LeBlanc as his legendary Joey character from’Friends’, all cast against Robin & Pharell’s ‘Blurred Lines’.   And it all comes out of the car dashboard radio speaker like this …..

** Legends Encore Night Club Radio :30 ~ penned, voiced & produced by Airlift’s Micheal Ziants **

Yes, having FUN is good for you! If there’s a real resolution in your New Year of 2015, that’s got to be it.

Catch up with us anytime at Airlift Productions Recording Studio … or if you want to go old-school, pick up that phone and CALL # 504.833.8450

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To get that Big Phat Sound nothing beats mixing analog with digital ** it’s Airlift Mike at the Spirit Soundcraft mixing desk, perfecting a compressed mix ** Airlift Productions, NOLA

Sex In The Suburbs ~ Courtesy Airlift Productions

Ideally situated - just off Veterans and Causeway Boulevards, and near the suburbs main mall - Legends Encore is set to take-off... again
Ideally situated – just off Veterans and Causeway Boulevards, and near the suburbs main mall – Legends Encore is set to take-off… again

Imagine being tasked with re-branding and imaging one of metro New Orleans oldest and most established night spots! I mean, there have been more marriages created … and broken in this one little spot on the map than you can shake a wedding band at!

Legends Encore is now the name.  Under new owners and management – Dean St. Pierre, Nick St. Pierre & Chad Prestenbach, respectively – the NEW LEGENDS ENCORE is set to take off.

Long a favorite hangout for those single and ready to mingle, the divorced, separated, disenfranchised, fresh-off-the-backboards in the game of love … Legends has become, well, sort of a … legend.

Now, newly renovated, with so many suspended flat screens that it comes off like a Best Buy with alcohol and burgers, Legends Encore is poised to move to the top of the nightclub heap in Jefferson Parish.

And the improvements to the stage and sound system are epic!

Looking to image the club and make the most of what it has to offer, my first shot across the ‘radio bow’ came out like this.  Blow some dust off your digital device’s speakers with this one ….

 ~ Initial Legends Encore radio :30 written, voiced & produced by Micheal Ziants @ Airlift Productions for B-97 & Bayou 95.7 …. “Legends Never Die” ~

Fun, creative, with swag & attitude, “Legends Never Die” sure accomplishes a good deal in 29.5 seconds.  A call-back to the legacy of decades of parties,  teasing promises of love & sex ( ‘get the downlow on the hook-up’), even a cameo from Mike Myers as Austin Powers!

To say nothing of setting the stage – that’s Legends Encore’s stage – for this club to be perceived as ‘Metairie’s Premier LIVE Music Venue.’  And this is in an area (metro New Orleans, come on) that really knows music.

~ yet another party crowd on yet another Saturday night at Legends Encore, 2708 North Hullen, Metairie ~
~ yet another party crowd on yet another Saturday night at Legends Encore, 2708 North Hullen, Metairie ~

No, you won’t find this spot on Carrie Bradshaw’s ‘Sex in the City’ HBO reruns … but if she ever did time in Louisiana, you sure would.

Just think of me as the digital media matchmaker and toll taker on that ever elusive and always just out of reach ‘Highway of Love’! :-)

Airlift Productions ~ Audio Alchemy from New Orleans since 1984