Ahhh, Biggest Little Fur Con!

Without a doubt, this is one of my very favorite conventions to attend. It's close enough that I can drive to it. Hotel rooms are cheap. It's in a CASINO, which means there's go karts, bowling, arcades, movies, a CASINO.... lots of different kinds of food, and you can drink ANYWHERE... if it were up to me, every furry convention would be in a casino.

But even beyond the location and the delightful laws of Nevada, BLFC is a very well managed and organized convention with a terrific, attentive staff. The people who put this con together are simply some of the best when it comes to theme concepts and execution, and to creating an environment that is welcoming and fun for everyone. The fact that BLFC only takes up a portion of the casino means that the con gets heavily exposed to non-furries, which is just wonderful, offering the kind of cross-connections you lose in cons where the entire hotel is just furries.

I do have ooooooone issue with BLFC, though.

It is the most challenging con of them all for my Voice Acting Workshop panel!

The first year of BLFC, my panel was put on a stage in the center of the convention, in a huge open space where everyone could mill about. They still use this space, it's an awesome concept, it is TONS of fun, but man, it is no good at all for sound recording. And especially no good for attendees who may be shy about their voice acting skills. The six attendees I had set a record for lowest attendance to my voice acting panel, and the noisy atmosphere made the recordings impossible to edit. Still, I did manage to get this: http://www.furaffinity.net/view/14357640/

The second year of BLFC, my panel was moved into one of the rooms, a much better recording environment. However, the panel only gave me one hour of time, and I had panels scheduled immediately before and after my panel. This was back when I was still using my large microphone setup which took about 15 minutes (at best) to set up and tear down, so I was facing the possibility of having only 30 minutes tops to record. So I decided instead to get crazy drunk on mimosas that morning, get in fursuit, and then conduct the panel booze-sweating in my costume and bringing up volunteers to the front of the room to perform the scripts without any recording gear at all. In truth, it went over very well, and inspired me to host an "Unplugged" voice acting workshop at Rocky Mountain Fur Con later that year.

For this recording, my third year, everything was coming together. My panel was in a walled room. I was given a 2-hour slot. I had a 30 minute buffer on both ends between my panel and the ones before and after it. And this was after I had switched to my new headworn microphone setup, so it was just perfect. I got set up, had plenty of enthusiastic attendees, and we got to performing and recording some great stuff.

Aaaaaaand then the announcer from the main stage started spouting off propaganda in accordance with the "Utopia" theme. From a PA system.

Still, though, I was able to record. You might hear some of the PA in the background during some of these recordings, but they came out pretty clean, a testament both to the quality of the Countryman headworn mics I've started using and the Izotope RX4 audio cleaning software that's become part of my pipeline. (And OMG this software is NUTS how beautifully it cleans audio.) Not my best Voice Acting Workshop recordings, but great considering the situation.

But good recordings don't mean much without good attendees, and BLFC provided WONDERFUL attendees. The crew that showed up for this panel were enthusiastic, cheerful, gave great performances and gave terrific advice to the people performing. It was really wonderful to be able to host the panel for such an engaged audience. Can't wait to bring this panel to BLFC next year!

And see what challenege they have waiting for me in 2016.

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#1 - Deep Roast written by Buck Hopper
Braugh played by  KhordKitty
Joe played by  traxer

#2 - The Shinies written by Buck Hopper
Ricky played by  KeybladeRaccoon
Oliver played by Zack Raccoon

#3 - The Shinies written by Buck Hopper
Ricky played by Kitami Kitsune
Oliver played by Treyn

#4 - The Situation written by Buck Hopper
Paul played by Immaterial
Tony played by Wulflock

#5 - Hoppleganger written by  tazel
Simon played by  farallon
Roy played by Nekuta

#6 - The Blur Effect written by Tazel
Volgas played by Savic
Blur played by  watcherrat

#7 - Djinn, No Chaser written by Tazel
Grizzold played by Goldfish
Djingo played by Trick

#8 - Idle Paws written by Tazel
Johansen played by Nikitty
Walter played by  ScyStorm

#9 - Swamphoof written by Buck Hopper
Runson played by Luxfonjade
Colette played by Twix

#10 - The Jackal and the Ostrich written by Buck Hopper
Lorne played by  slyknuxdragon
Cherry played by ScyStorm

#11 - Top Dog written by Buck Hopper
Foo-Foo played by Starseeker
Kevin played by SlyKnux

#12 - A Sow's Ear written by Buck Hopper
Brooke played by  fraddas
Richmond played by Treyn