#voiceover

Michael Apollo Lira

Sep 19, 2022
5 min

How not to hatch eggs

When I was young – probably spanning from age 4 through 7, I acquired an adoration for baby chickens. And who doesn’t love a cute baby animal? Be it a dog, cat, chicken, etc., many of us seem to be charmed by the cuteness factor behind the baby critters of this world. I was no exception to this. There was something about baby chickens. Their little peeping sounds, their fluffy little yellow bodies, the way they moved...I just loved that about them. Chicks became somethin

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Michael Apollo Lira

Sep 5, 2022
4 min

Running The Gauntlet

Running the gauntlet - Wikipedia I really like that phrase. I think of it as a clever or snarky way to describe a possibly haphazard journey to... somewhere. I use the phrase whenever I’m at Costco and want one of their delicious $5 rotisserie chickens. It’s no coincidence that these killer $5 deals are in the furthest corner of whatever Mordor-like expanse of a Costco maze you happen to be in. Because if you want this amazing deal, you must venture and traverse treacherous

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Michael Apollo Lira

Jul 17, 2022
4 min

"___ isn't always on time" : Success

You need to believe in what you do. Because if not you, then who? I mean that! The world is callous – it’s moving forward with or without your enthusiasm. Yes, many of us are blessed to have loving family and friends who support us through thick and thin and believe in us. That’s HUGE. But at the end of the day, it’s on you to do what’s needed to ensure your success. Some people live their lives with a chip on their shoulder thinking they’re owed something. Maybe they’re

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Michael Apollo Lira

Jul 7, 2022
4 min

"___ isn't always on time" : Justice

Justice, karma, comeuppance. Whatever you believe in or want to call it…much like love, it isn’t always on time. ... You didn't click on that link, did you? Well then, I'll simply imbed it right here! This has been on my mind a lot lately. Justice, I mean. I think in part because of recent news stories such as: R. Kelly being sentenced to 30 years in prison for sex trafficking going as far back as the ‘90s. Ghislaine Maxwell being sentenced to 20 years in prison for her role

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Michael Apollo Lira

Apr 14, 2022
7 min

Fools Rush In - The Long Winter

I wrapped up my last blog entry with the following thought: “…people generally understand rules. What they don't seem to grasp, however, are consequences.” Every person in the world could write some books of their own that start with those simple thoughts. Today, I’m going to share a story with you that I remembered while writing my last blog entry. And guess what? You're going to find out how it relates to voice acting at the end. This particular story takes place back in

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Michael Apollo Lira

Apr 5, 2022
4 min

Fools Rush In - To Feed The Monster

Sometimes, we charge fool-heartedly into an endeavor without really understanding the whole picture. You can probably think of an instance or two in your own life where you’ve witnessed something like that. We all seem to know someone who has rushed into a relationship that didn't appear to make any logical sense from where you stood, or perhaps somebody who, without really being asked, shared their terrible opinions on social media. Oof - opinions and social media. Now the

50 views7 comments

Michael Apollo Lira

Mar 21, 2022
4 min

The company we reflect

The food you eat, the attitudes you carry, your affect towards the world around you. The people you affiliate with. The company you keep. Every meaningful thing we do in our life impacts not only our own well-being, but the world around us. You reflect what you immerse yourself in and expose yourself to. We’re absorbent creatures. We take in, and we exude. And so the cycle goes. We are often a mirror to the world around us. Our affiliations matter. They can heal and the

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Michael Apollo Lira

Feb 13, 2022
7 min

A doozy of an update

Well hello! I haven't updated for some time. For anybody who regularly reads my blog, I am so sorry for this. There are many things to talk about, and I don't think I'll be able to reasonably cram it all into one blog! But life has been quite busy. And to add to it, my computer doesn't work terribly well anymore. The monitor is failing on it, which means I can only really use it from inside of my recording booth. And while that's fine and dandy for things like recording

70 views8 comments

Michael Apollo Lira

Jan 9, 2022
4 min

Humility in Victory

Harry Potter Mania. I remember it sweeping the nation in the early 2000s. A story that swept up children and adults alike through its well written charm. There were long lines of people waiting for the books on their release days, not unlike what people do today for coveted electronics. Cookbooks naturally followed, with recipes named after either famous characters or certain foods highlighted in the books. And I also remember seeing the news talking about wand making cla

48 views11 comments

How it Started and How it's Going: The Booth

Michael Apollo Lira

Nov 22, 2021
9 min

How it Started and How it's Going: The Booth

It's said that the most important part of your audio's quality comes from your recording environment. Any voice over artist worth their weight in salt has, through either ingenuity, monetary means, or a combination of both, figured out a way to acoustically make the most of the space they have to work with in order to record quality, competitive audio. On a not-as-related note - is salt even worth that much anymore? You may hear varying values assigned to mic quality vs. en

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Michael Apollo Lira

Nov 15, 2021
3 min

You don't know what you don't know

There's a saying out there that goes "you don't know what you don't know". It's simple, yet it speaks volumes when one starts to actually realize just how much is out there that you DON'T actually know. If there's one thing I've learned in life - it's that the more I learn, the less I know. Is that a side effect of learning?? There's a phenomenon described as the Dunning-Kruger Effect that's relevant to this. The Encyclopedia Britannica describes the Dunning-Kruger Effect

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Michael Apollo Lira

Oct 23, 2021
7 min

The people you know

I'm going to start this blog off with a memory and a few thoughts of mine to go with it. If everything happened according to plan, what good would life really be? I think the real beauty in things working out is when they don't happen according to plan. Life and this world are too complex to simply go according to plan. Where does resiliency form in that mix? Extra-ordinary resiliency, adaptability, and growth all generally occur when things don't go according to plan. Gr

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Michael Apollo Lira

Oct 9, 2021
6 min

Mastery

I've seen it said that it takes 10,000 repetitions of a skill to master it. I've also read that it takes 10,000 hours of time to master a skill. Either way, that's a LOT of work to really become a master at anything. Bruce Lee By those standards, I don't think I'm a master of many things - like, at all. Even as far as nursing goes, I haven't spent 10,000 hours placing IVs, giving CPR, placing catheters, etc. What I CAN confidently say is that I've incorrectly done a multi

43 views5 comments

Michael Apollo Lira

Sep 14, 2021
4 min

Where are you right now?

I have a busy mind. It's frequently preoccupied and distracted - more often than it ought to be, in all truth. I often find myself thinking about the future; coming up with things I need to take care of, or creatively scheming what needs to happen in my life to continue to grow and have fun. While it's important to have your sights set forward, it's also incredibly important to be sure you're paying attention to the now. It's where you are! It's where life's happening, and

32 views6 comments

Michael Apollo Lira

Aug 25, 2021
3 min

A watched pot never boils...

...and watched auditions don't get heard. At least that's the conclusion I've come to. Conventional wisdom in the voiceover and voice acting ethos is that it's bad practice and wasted energy to see if any auditions you've sent have been listened to, marked as shortlisted, etc. Checking doesn't change the outcome. If you get it, you get it. Once you've sent it off, it's now off your plate, off your shoulders, and the ball is in somebody else's court. ...except I still like t

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Michael Apollo Lira

Jul 22, 2021
4 min

What do dentists and voiceover coaches have in common?

Skills and knowledge are just some of the things that are constantly changing and evolving in many fields. Did you know that nurses are required to acquire continuing education credits to maintain their license? On top of that, every 2 years we have to renew out BLS/CPR certifications, and for me personally every 2 years I've also needed to renew my ACLS (which is like CPR on steroids). Fun fact: I'm one of like 3 or 4 people in my institution to have scored "perfect" for

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Michael Apollo Lira

Jul 7, 2021
2 min

Time will tell. And in the meantime, time will heal.

This song is a FEEL. The soft, sleepy and sultry voice. The indolent pace of the melody and instruments. The half-awake feel that carries you along like you're floating in a warm, lazy river. Whenever I hear it, I feel like the song wraps itself around me like a light silk blanket. All I can do is drift along with it. Listening to it feels like I'm somewhere between here and a dream. And that's where I found myself a couple of days ago; half awake, physically and mentally

73 views9 comments

Michael Apollo Lira

Mar 21, 2021
6 min

An Unexpected Journey

Some of the biggest opportunities in life sometimes present themselves unexpectedly. And you may not always recognize these unexpected happenstances as opportunity at the time that they present themselves. But things have a funny way of happening in life, and if you try to keep an open mind to new and exciting adventures, you could just find yourself living what you once thought to only be a dream. This particular opportunity interrupted a nap, some number of years back. I

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Michael Apollo Lira

Mar 15, 2021
3 min

"I'm so sad. You've changed."

"I'm so sad. You've changed." -an ex, some years back. I think one of the worst ways you could insult a person is to tell them that they haven't changed over a period of time. Life shapes and molds us, hopefully for the better as we learn and grow. If anything, "you've changed" were exactly the words I needed to hear. I hope she has changed and grown. I recently re-watched The Lord of the Rings trilogy. I remember first watching it long ago in theaters when it first came

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Michael Apollo Lira

Feb 24, 2021
4 min

Sacrifice

Sacrifice. That's a word that can mean so many things, to so many people. When I think about the word, I envision something along the lines of a block of blood-hued clay. Why blood hued clay? A sacrifice always costs something, and it has to be something that means something to a life. I think in the more traditional sense, religious sacrifices were made with blood. But there are other things that constitute "pillars" to pull from when one sacrifices. Time is a precious c

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