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What will you do with the keys?

Career Advice, General, Getting started in Voiceover

Jonathan Fields writes a very interesting blog about growth, career, entrepreneurship, health and happiness called Awake at The Wheel. I try to visit every few days because there’s always a bunch of thought-provoking stuff there.

Recently, Jonathan told the story of two individuals who walked a very similar path, and to each of whom he gave some time and salient business advice. While Jonathan’s post doesn’t have anything specific to do with voiceover work, as you read, I think you just might conclude as I did that it actually does.

Scripts and voiceover

General, People

My friend Dave Elvin emailed this afternoon to pass along a really cool document filled with tips about how to format a script to help ensure your voiceover talent will be able to read your copy most effectively and efficiently. The document was written by voice talent Shelley McIntyre and it’s available to read or download as a PDF at her web site.

Good stuff, Shelley. I hope lots of folks read and find value in what you’ve prepared.

What not to do

Career Advice, General, Getting started in Voiceover

If you’ve been in the voiceover business for any length of time, at any level, you all ready know that one of the keys to doing well is marketing your services. So what kinds of marketing choices are you making right now with the economy running at less than top speed?

My friend Blaine Parker publishes an email newsletter every Monday. Today’s edition quoted extensively from Marketing Consultant David McBride and a newsletter he’s recently sent to his clients. I’ve been given permission by both Blaine and David to republish this information here.

HOT POINTS for the Week of June 9, 2008

OK, THE ECONOMY STINKS—HOW ABOUT YOUR MARKETING?
Some months back, you may recall a discussion of advertising in a recession. The evidence shows that businesses who advertise in a downturn end up being winners. The businesses who circle the wagons and stop advertising are the big losers. In that discussion, there was some evidence provided.
However…

Through the efforts of Marketing Consultant David McBride, we have a new truckload of documentation. These facts will make stout-hearted advertisers quake in their boots, will send women and children fleeing for the exits, and—best of all—will make savvy marketing folk rub their hands in glee. Much of the following information is excerpted, with permission, from Mr. McBride’s own column to his clients.

A hearty thanks to Mr. McBride for allowing the use of these golden arrows. He has proffered bold bullet points to help keep smart businesses at the table.

HISTORICAL FACTS
These tidbits solidify the notion to advertisers that we aren’t making up a load of self-serving tripe. Since 1854, there have been 29 recessions, on average one every 4-5 years. During each recession over the past 50 years, consumer spending went up, not down. During the above mentioned 50 year period there have been nine periods of economic recession ranging from seven months to sixteen months – an average of eleven months per recession.

A sales comparison study conducted among 200 companies in 1923 (some cut advertising and some increased it) revealed that those that had the largest sales increases were those that advertised the most. So, we have plenty of recessions from which to draw examples.

We also have plenty of recessions to prove that smart businesses survive the downturn.

WHAT’S IN YOUR CEREAL BOWL?
As a consumer packaged good, there is little more reliant on marketing than breakfast cereal. Walk through the cereal aisle and look at the ingredients listed on the box. You will find precious little difference between the products. It’s all packaging and marketing.

One famous story of recession advertising involves Kellogg’s and Post cereal companies in the 1920’s. Both were vying for the position of #1 in the breakfast cereal business. When the Great Depression hit, Kellogg’s kept advertising steadily while Post scaled back. When the depression ended, so did the struggle for number one. Kellogg’s emerged dominant; and remains there today.

LIKE GLADYS KNIGHT SAYS, KEEP ON KEEPIN’ ON
A study initiated in 1947 follows the performance of companies through successive recessions in 1949, 1954, 1958 and 1961. The study compares their annual advertising spending with sales trends and profits before and after the recessions. The results?

Companies that cut back experienced a decrease in sales and profits. But wait—there’s more. And worse. Those same companies continued to fall behind the companies that maintained ad spending levels.

Ouch.

Similar studies done in 1970 and 1974-75 reached similar conclusions. Companies who cut back their advertising lose, plan and simple.

HERE NOW, THE “COMMON EXPERIENCE OF COMPANIES THAT CONTINUED ADVERTISING”
That quote comes from Vice President for Research at McGraw-Hill, Dr. David Forsyth. It’s also reflects the common experience every business wants to enjoy. In 1974-1975, companies who continued advertising experienced sales growth 15% higher than those who cut advertising. By 1978, companies that continued advertising had sales of 132 percent above 1973 sales levels.
Other figures from the same study analyzed 600 U.S. companies between 1980 and 1985. Firms that “maintained or increased their advertising expenditures” during the 1981-1982 recession averaged “significantly higher sales growth” both during the recession and for the three years following. And in 1985, sales of “aggressive recession advertisers ” were 256% higher than those companies which “did not keep up their advertising.”

For anyone not interested in doing the math, that’s almost double the 132% advantage in 1978.

Hmm. Spending money means making money. How ‘bout dat?

PULL THE PLUG ON YOUR ADVERTISING, AND YOU MIGHT AS WELL BE PULLING THE PLUG ON THE DRAIN
And the subsequent sound is that unseemly sucking as business circles the bowl on the way to the bottom. Mr. McBride points out that…
Economic downturns, recessions, depressions, whatever the case, the experts agree: this is no time to pull the plug or even scale back advertising. Those companies that become more aggressive have the opportunity to bury their competition [emphasis added] and build momentum. You may have heard this before, “A rising tide lifts all ships”. Hear that, ALL ships! And in a robust economy, that’s fine, but you now have the opportunity to be the lone ship rising in your category.

That’s a good one. “Be the lone ship in your category.” How many advertisers ever think about that possibility? As Mr. McBride warns…

“DON’T LOSE THIS OPPORTUNITY”
After we pull out of this one, we probably won’t have another chance like this for several years to come.” It’s like capitalizing on any boom. Or, in the case, capitalizing on an implosion. Recognize it early, then do the smart thing. And history has proven, time and again, the smart thing is aggressive, ramped up marketing in a media market where the competition is cowering in fear and has left the building.

THERE ARE PLENTY OF WAYS TO CUT COSTS DURING A RECESSION
Advertising is not one of them.

Better bookkeeping, smarter spending, cutting waste, negotiating terms with vendors and lenders—Mr. McBride notes that all of these are places where costs can be controlled. And frankly, even in the best of times, these are places where costs should be managed well.

But advertising? Cutting that is the same thing as firing your best salesmen. And exactly how does that help you sell anything? Full speed ahead and enjoy the ammunition.
As always,

Blaine Parker
Your Short, Fat Creative Director in
Los Angeles
www.shortfatadvertising.com

I hope you can see the connection with your voiceover business, or for that matter your any kind of business. If you decide to cut back on your marketing and advertising now, because you’re feeling the pinch of the economic slowdown … you’ll continue to feel that pinch long after the economy recovers.

Again, my thanks to Blaine Parker and David McBride for this excellent material and for permission to use it.

That audio player

General, Tools

From time to time I get and email asking about the audio player I use on this blog and on my main web site. If you’re using WordPress as your blogging software or the foundation of your site, it’s a simple as can be. Just install the free WordPress audio player plug in and follow the very simple instructions on how to put an audio clip on your site.

If you’re not using WordPress, don’t despair. There’s a clear tutorial available from Mindy McAdams about how to use the WordPress player on other sites.

One other note, this player will only play MP3 files. No other audio formats are supported.

Voice123 and anonymous tagging

Career Advice, General, Getting started in Voiceover

Stephanie Ciccarelli has posted on Vox Daily about the firestorm currently raging over the new opportunity members of the Voice123.com have to anonymously tag the demos of other talent. Lots of people are very upset. Many are concerned that giving other talent the ability to add tags (or keywords) to demos is a very bad idea. They fear that some unscrupulous talent may choose to add harmful or negative tags to the demos of other talent, knowing that these tags or keywords will influence the way those demos show up in searches on the site.

This is certainly a very real possibility. In theory, if everyone who does the anonymous tagging takes a professional attitude toward the process, there could be some value to the experiment. The idea, as Voice123.com presents it on their blog, is that both the talent doing the tagging and the talent being tagged are anonymous to one another. Here’s a snip from their blog …

This is currently a community experiment, giving talents the unique opportunity to anonymously tag a description of another talent’s demo, also anonymous.

Now, Stephanie, over at Voices.com’s Vox Daily, asserts this experiment is designed to add search engine optimization information to the Voice123.com site …

Why does [Voice123.com] want you to tag demos?
Simply put, they want their customers to do their search engine optimization for them.

I wanted to get the straight scoop on what this whole deal is about, so I clicked through the announcement email I received the other day to see how this tagging process works. Within a matter of minutes I could see at least 2 flies in the ointment that I don’t think the folks at Voice123.com thought through very well when they started this entire project.

First, not everything is as anonymous as the folks at Voice123.com suggest it will be. Why? Because many voice talent have slates on their demos. If you can hear the person’s name, he or she isn’t anonymous anymore. I discovered this because the third demo I tagged had a slate. So did the seventh.

And second, in the comments to their blog post, the Voice123.com team suggests that this community tagging experiment is analogous to StumbleUpon. I’ve been part of StumbleUpon for about a year and I can tell you the key difference is that there’s nothing very anonymous about StumbleUpon. If you’re a member, you can learn the user ID of everyone who has tagged or reviewed your sites.

But, at the end of the day, this is a big deal only to folks who see Voice123.com as one of the key components in their voiceover career. If you are a serious professional, I hope you’re not putting all (or even most) of your eggs in the Voice123.com or Voices.com baskets. I’m a Premium Member with both sites and make well more than enough to renew every year; but I am not counting on either site to provide most of my work. Some of my work comes through these online casting services. Some comes through my agents. Some comes from people finding me directly on the Internet. Some from existing client references. Lot of different sources. At the end of the day, it’s my responsibility and no one else’s to find my work.

I’m not going to get all that worked up over this latest move by the Voice123.com team any more than I get terribly worked up over a bad rating on an audition at Voice123.com (yes, I’ve actually had a one-star rating for one of my auditions there) because Voice123.com is not the be all and end of my voiceover business. (Nor is Voices.com.) Besides, if some malicious folks decide to put bad tags on my demos it can hardly hurt me. At present a search on Voice123.com for North American English speaking middle-aged male voice talent has me somewhere around page 114 of the search results.

As my friend Philip Banks says, there is a move toward quality among the people doing the hiring, as the great flood of new, inexperienced talent has washed through the Internet tides. Rather than expend a tremendous amount of worry and energy on what Voice123.com is doing, turn your energies and attention to honing your craft, your marketing and your work. The dividends those efforts pay will make all of this other stuff fade into obscurity.

How much do you have to spend?

General

In the Yahoo Voiceover Group this morning, a fellow named Mike posted a question about how to go about using a different sound card with his Mac. As he often does, my friend Ed Helvey posted a thorough answer to the question and dealt with a number of related questions at the same time.

Here are Ed’s comments, quoted entire.

Hi Mike —

ALL equipment is a subjective choice. It’s similar to the views expressed in a very good article in Mix magazine last month. The author, Paul Lehrman, reported on the work of two scientists who examined, what I’ll call, the psycho-acoustics of sound reproduction. They found in studies and research that – the quality of current CD’s as a delivery medium is more then adequate and that most (vast majority) people in the study could not make definitive “technical” listening quality differences between the plain old CD and the SACD’s or DVD-A formats (which use higher sampling and bit rates then the plain old vanilla 44.1, 16 bit CD). True – extremely critical and astute audiophiles, who can and do afford listening systems and environments that may cost well into the tens of thousands and even hundreds of thousand of dollars, may detect the differences. But, the other 99% of the market don’t. In fact, in other articles, by some of the top recording engineers and producers with lots of Grammys and Platinum records, they concluded in their own independent listening “shoot outs” that if the final product is going to be a CD, just record it in 44.1, 16 bit in the first place and eliminate any dithering issues or other conversion artifacts by using 48K, 24 bit or 96K, 24 bit. The fact is, with digital, if the final product is going to be delivered in 44.1, 16 bit – no matter what sampling and bit rate above that that you use, it won’t matter because the actual quality will never be greater then the delivery system. A lot of people are beginning to realize that so much of this is all based on marketing ‘hype.’ Just like the differences between Fords and Chevy’s, Cadillacs and Lincolns, Mercedes and BMW’s, Kleenex and Kirkland (Costco brand) tissues, etc., etc. – it’s all based on personal bias – and maybe a bunch of “status.” Returning to Lehrman’s article – the scientific consensus was that it is the quality of the artists, the performance and the recording techniques – which are determined by the knowledge, experience and TALENT of the engineer/producer and all parties involved in the production of the
product. In other words, a great engineer/producer/talent (and we often wear all three of these hats in our VO businesses) can turn outFANTASTIC products with good, basic, well designed (not necessarily determined by expensive or cheap prices) equipment and systems based on their knowledge, talent and experience. While, at the same time, the most expensive, highest quality, most advanced equipment and delivery media in the world can turn out lackluster products in the hands of people who don’t know how to use it optimally and don’t have the experience, knowledge and, maybe, not the talent to “HEAR” the magic. A great performance will sound great on a plain old CD, an SACD and even an mp3 through a pair of decent quality headphones or earbuds.

Now, to apply that to your question. I would say the same concepts apply. $200? $500? $5,000? I sincerely believe it’s not the number of dollars that someone attaches to a piece of equipment – nor the “brand” or model. It’s first, knowing what the sonic requirements are and how to deliver a great performance product that will sound optimum in the end delivery medium for the audience intended. Since much of our work ends up on AM or FM radio, Internet Web streams, industrial videos, telephone messages on hold, audio books, film trailers and so on, most moderately priced equipment (including microphones) that are designed for professional use will do the job MORE then adequately. That is, IF we, the talents/producers/engineers, know our jobs, learn from and gain experience, are knowledgeable – AND TALENTED enough – then we can deliver the product that will do the job. Neumann or AudioTechnica mics, Presonus, D.W. Fearn or Manley mic preamps, Mac or IBM platform PC’s, OS-X or Windows XP/Vista, ProTools, Garage Band, Sound Forge, Audition software, JKAudio or Comrex hybrids or ISDN codecs, MBox or Edirol, Zoom, M-Audio, Tascam, Sony hand held flash recorders, Monster Cable (major hype) or Belden or Mogami cable, etc. If you read the specs, they will all meet professional standards. If you look at them on a scope and run the same tests through them, they’ll all look similar. Now, it simply gets down to whether you can afford a Ford or Chevy, choose one. Or whether you can afford a Cadillac or Lincoln – choose one. Or whether you can afford a Mercedes or BMW – choose one. They will all do the same job, within the same operating requirements required by the job and standards determined by the industry and “authorities.” So, now it’s all about personal preference. Will you feel better and more professional, more capable and more justified if you invest close to $3,000 in a Neumann U87 or will you feel less capable if you have to “settle for” an AudioTechnica AT4050 at about 1/5 the cost? Will you win in the “audition wars” because you have a U87 or can an excellent talent with a good, clean decent moderately priced system using an AT4050 (or even less) walk away with the “plum?” In other words, once you get beyond the basics – it’s really about status, personal preference and “does it look cool” – like the StarTrek bridge, or a high tech laboratory, or a Vintage Analog Tube studio from days of old? Believe it or not – a LOT of our buying decisions are based on aesthetics (which is why the manufacturers spend a small fortune on the design of what the gear looks like). Will you buy it because someone else has it? Will you buy it because the “Big Guys and Gals” have it? Will you buy it just because you can afford it whether you really need it or not? Will you buy it because you think it will IMPRESS the prospective clients?

So, as far as your question about the sound card. The sound cards that come in most computers, Apple’s included – are . . . adequate. You have to typically deal with less then professional interconnections, less control and perhaps, they don’t have the headroom that would be desirable. But, IF it’s all you have and all you can afford, can you learn to use it to your best possible benefit and deliver a product that will meet the client’s requirements? But, after all, when the dust finally settles, the client really doesn’t give a hang about what you use – what they care about is CAN YOU DO THE JOB AND DELIVER A PRODUCT THAT MEETS THEIR REQUIREMENTS. That is really what determines professionalism – not how much money you have invested in your system. Remember in the early days – you didn’t even have any gear – you just went to a studio where someone else provided all that stuff. The client was paying you for your talent and ability to deliver their message – EFFECTIVELY to their audience. Sound cards for $200 or more or $200 or less? How do you put it into the iMac where there is no provision for it? Well, the first thing is that in this case, the iMac may not have been the right choice of computer for this kind of application. But, in reality, that is a moot point, because, you can buy an excellent external USB or Firewire interface that will do the job and you can find excellent units for more or
less then $200. Just find the one that has the right knobs and switches for you, color coordinates with your studio decor, has the specs you want (they’re all basically the same), is within your budget, if possible – and . . . oh yeah – I almost forgot – SOUNDS GOOD TO YOU! In the end, it’s all about the sound not the price. And as long as the equipment meets the basic professionally accepted standards and you have the EXPERIENCE, KNOWLEDGE and TALENT to g
et the best from it, then the price doesn’t matter.

Sorry this was LONG, but I believe all of us are as susceptible to marketing hype – just as we believe our clients are. “Hire us at AFTRA rates because we’re professionals, have high-end, professional equipment, have attended lots of workshops and get regular coaching and have 350 years of experience and therefore are better for your job then the non-union guy who’ll do it for $50.” All great IF it meets the client’s budget and the $50 guy just happens to have the delivery that meets the client’s requirements. Let’s hope we can continue to get away with that marketing hype for as long as possible – we’ve all invested a LOT to get where we are. But, as the world changes and the economy is impacting budgets more and more – this could change more and more. Change is inevitable – nothing else other then death and taxes are guaranteed.

Oh yeah, and a little PS here – for all of my esteemed colleagues on this forum who have graduated to Neumann’s (or maybe Peluso mics – EXACT replicas of the Neumann mics hand-built in southwestern Virginia and now being used world wide) and Manley tube preamps, ProTools and all kinds of other high end gear – Good on you. I don’t
mean any negative toward you or your choices. I drive a Cadillac automobile – because I LIKE IT – A LOT! But, I started out driving a 1956 Plymouth Savoy – and I’ve had lots of Fords, Chevys, Plymouths and VW’s over my lifetime. It’s been my preference for the last X number of years to drive a car in the Cadillac class. So, again, I
say it’s all about preference and if you can afford the great high end gear – terrific – as long as you didn’t use the food money or the kid’s college funds to get it.

Enthusiastically,
Ed Helvey
The Virginia Sound Man

Pat Fraley teaches in Phoenix on June 28 – updated

General, Getting started in Voiceover, People

Pat Fraley will be holding a voiceover workshop in Phoenix on June 28, 2008. As I write this, there are still a few places left. Details on registration and so forth are here. You’ll notice there’s a discounted registration price until June 14th or until the event is sold out, which ever comes first.

Update: Pat emails this morning with a link to a new free lesson and with further details about this unique class in Phoenix. First, the free lesson. Pat talks here about how valuable it is to listen back to what you’ve recorded.

[audio:http://patfraley.com/FreeLessons/AlmightyPlayback.mp3]

Now, here’s what he wrote about the Phoenix event on June 28th.

Participants record commercials and sketches. While they are cast and rehearse for their next round, the engineer and I process and “produce” their efforts. When they come back for their next round, they hear their produced efforts from the previous round. They record, record, record. No lecture, just practical, hands on work.

It’s a very valuable day inasmuch as they get to hear what they will actually sound like produced. This affords them the opportunity to hear their microphone technique, ensemble work, and efforts to adjust their performance for being over the phone or in a snow blizzard in a meaningful, realistic and fun way.

I’m going on about this, because it’s just such a pleasure to see light bulbs go off over student’s head, and have a hoot of a time all at one event.

This sounds like it will be a load of fun. For further details and registration information, check this page.

Graduation Day

Career Advice, General, Getting started in Voiceover, People

My friend Dave Christi has recently graduated from a unique school. My friend Dan Nachtrab calls is The Fast Track to Self Employment Academy. Here are a few bits of advice Dan gave to Dave and that he has in turn given me permission to pass along to you, in case you too have or soon will graduate from this same, uh, institution.

  • This is a job. Treat it as such. Put in your eight plus hours a day.
  • Thank your wife for helping you pursue your dream.
  • Make a plan and set goals: One Month, Three Months, and so on. When you hit a goal, celebrate it with a gift to yourself.
  • Thank your wife for helping you pursue your dream.
  • If the mic is off, the marketing hat is on: networking, SEO, defining your mission statement, labeling mailers, etc.
  • Thank your wife for helping you pursue your dream and buy her a gift. (Massages packages are nice.)
  • Practice your craft.
  • Be happy. It rubs off on others.
  • Only share your successes with your closest, dearest, jump-in-front-of-a-bus-to-save-you friends. Others will knock you down and try to keep you in your current place. Why? You make them realize they gave up on their dreams. (This might include family members, not just friends.)
  • Thank your wife for helping you pursue your dream.

Thank you, Dan. Good advice.

It’s what you do that matters

Career Advice, General

Tom Asacker, one of the people I turn to for insights into matters of marketing and branding, offers some cogent thoughts about brands in his recent blog post. The golden nugget of which is …

… today [branding] really isn’t so much about what you say – people are tired of empty rhetoric. Nor is it about how you look – frankly, people are beginning to tire of all of the “engaging,” yet meaningless imagery. Instead, it’s about what you actually do to add value to people’s lives. It’s about what you truly care about and stand for, and how you bring it to life through passionate and compassionate real world actions.