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The circle may be small, but it’s growning

General

I’m always looking for other folks who blog about voiceover so I can add them to my blogroll. (In case you can’t tell my goal, at least for that part of my blogroll, is to have as complete and comprehensive a list of folks blogging about voiceover as humanly possible.)

Anyway, I ran across a voiceover blog written by Steve Matthews a short while ago. As I was digging through the archives there, I noted this wonderful post he titled “It’s Only Important to a Small Circle of Friends.” Take a couple of minutes to read the whole thing. I think you’ll be glad you did.

Another load

Career Advice, General, Getting started in Voiceover

Short and sweet thoughts from the mind of Philip Banks, posted with his permission, from the VO-BB.com…

Never make a sacrifice but be prepared to invest in yourself.
Before you ask someone else what they think you should do see how long they take deciding “Soup or shrimps?”
Don’t ask if they like your demo, ask them to refer you to someone with work.
Ask your coach about their most recent VO job. If it’s more than a week ago make sure more than a week goes by before you get another coaching session from them.
Job offers should be assessed based on whether they make financial sense or not – Like or dislike has nothing to do with it.
Talk to the big hitters, the REAL big hitters – They’ll give you time.
Is what you’re seeking within your reach? Raise your game and learn to jump.
Wanting to be a Voice Over is not enough – You HAVE to be a Voice Over.
The only feedback worth believing reads as follows – “Payment of invoice No ….”
Is my set up good enough? When switched on does it give a clean feed from the client’s bank account to yours? If so, then it’s just fine.

I would offer only this alternative thought regarding one’s voiceover coach, “Ask your voiceover coach about the recent work of his or her students.” (i.e.: John Wooden was never close to the level of basketball player as were those whom he coached, but his record as to whether he was a great coach or not, isn’t subject to question. Being a great coach doesn’t always require being a great performer.)

An Audacity tutorial

General, Tools

For those just getting started, or for that matter anyone doing voiceover work who doesn’t want to spend money needlessly, Audacity is a remarkably powerful audio editor that is programmed under the Open Source model. Which means it’s free. Even better, there are versions that run under Windows, Mac OS X and Linux. So, no matter which major OS you’re using, this editor is available to you.

My friend Bill Mecca created a tutorial about using Audacity, which he has helpfully posted on YouTube.

A very cool thing that’s happening

General, People

Freedom Radio is a small network of stations broadcasting to the military stationed in that Middle Eastern country, officially a part of the AFRTS. It started almost 4 years ago (October 2003) through the efforts of Chris Eder and 4 of his buddies. The lugged all the equipment needed to run a radio and television station from Ramstein Airbase in Germany all the way to Iraq. Chris contacted me a few days ago to ask if I would help out with a few voiceover pieces he was using for a 36 hour special countdown of “The Greatest Rock Songs of All Time” for Memorial Day.

I said “yes” and recorded several scripts that he sent me right away. He got in touch with me originally through the recommendation of my friend Charlie Glaize, and so asked if I knew anyone else who might be willing to help. Needless to say, I posted his request on the VO-BB and as I expected, a bunch of my friends and colleagues there stepped up to the plate immediately. Now, we’re getting all of the pieces Chris needs recorded and delivered back to him so that he can assemble his special show in time to get it on the air by the end of the month.

If you’d like to know a bit more about Chris, I’ve added his blog to my blogroll on the left under Other Blogs. As you’ll see if you check out this post, Chris really knows how to find publicity. Good for you, Chris. I’m honored and grateful to have even a small part of what you’re doing. Thank you and God bless you.

All North Carolina voice talent are invited

General

We’re having a get-together of all voiceover talent (all levels of experience are welcome) in Winston-Salem, NC on Saturday, June 23, 2007. We’ll gather at around 11:00 AM at the Village Tavern Restaurant for lunch (separate checks!) and then make our way a short drive down to the AMF lanes for a spot of bowling.

I sure hope you’re able to be there. But, and these are important details, we’re limiting the invitation to VO folks only. When we do this again, we’ll look at bringing along spouses and families, but this time it’s just us, please. Also, we need to let the restaurant and the bowling alley have some idea of how many are coming.

So, please, email my good friend Donovan Corneetz with a quick message indicating that you’re planning to join us. Don’t worry if at the last minute you can’t make it or if you’re reading this on June 22nd. We’ll have enough flexibility to deal with whatever comes up. So, what you may ask, is Donovan’s email address?

success [at] doncopro.com

I’m so much looking forward to either seeing you again, if we’ve already met; or meeting you in person for the first time. And if you’re a member of the VO-BB.com, you can read more about how all this came together, here.

Update: My deepest thanks to my friends Brian Haymond and Kara Edwards for joining me in the effort to get the word out to our fellow voiceover professionals in North Carolina.

The quintessential Disney heroine

General, People

Her name is Kathryn Beaumont, and if you don’t recognize her name, you probably do know her voice; especially if you have children. My thanks to my friend Mary McKitrick for posting a link to Kathryn’s site on the VO-BB.

And when you’re done checking out that site, if you have a few moments to spare for a bit of creative license, check out

      this audio file
from Harlan Hogan’s site. With thanks to my friend Greg Littlefield for posting this link on the VO-BB.

Built it yourself voiceover booth update

General, People, Tools

My friend Bobbin Beam and her husband are replacing her small voiceover corner with a built it yourself booth. I’ve been remiss about posting updates here. Bobbin has some photos of the progress in this update post. And a bit about the cumulative costs in her second update post.

This looks like a really cost effective alternative to a pre-fab booth, especially for those who have at least some skill with hammer and saw. I look forward to more updates shortly, Bobbin.

By the way, you’ll find the plans for this do-it-yourself-booth, here.

Google Radio Stuff

General, People

Tim McLaughlin has been following the developments involving Google Radio with great interest. Indeed, his blog is an excellent source for updates. I check it every few days, not just for Google Radio information, but because he does a good job of updating and writing and a variety of subjects related to voiceover in one way or another.

In any case, he’s posted a link to an article in Forbes, so check out his post and the link from there, for the latest.

Expectation of a feeling by way of an experience

Career Advice, General

The title of this post is my summary of Tom Asacker’s definition of branding. I hope you’ll read his entire post. But, if you don’t or won’t take the time, here are a few key quotes…

Our expectations of brands are created by a combination of factors; e.g. packaging (how something looks and feels), promotion (what we’ve seen, heard, or read about it), word-of-mouth (what friends have told us), past experience (the feeling we’ve received from choosing and using it), etc. Great brands become great because those various factors reinforce our expectation of receiving the desired feeling.

The key to brand success is to stay tuned in to consumer’s changing desires, create an expectation that your brand can fulfill those unfulfilled desires, and then deliver on that expectation over time.  And don’t forget that people’s expectations are always changing, based on what they are exposed to in the marketplace.

Don’t get confused by all of the brand and marketing noise.  It’s only going to get louder as the money continues to flow out of mass media.  Instead, get as close as you can to your audience.  Close enough so that you’ll only have to whisper to be heard, and so that you’ll be able to feel the reaction.

Teleseminar with Nancy Wolfson and Anna Vocino

Career Advice, General, Getting started in Voiceover, People

Rather than trying to live blog this evening, I’m just going to pass along what I see are some of the key thoughts. We began with Nancy talking with about some of the core concepts of Nancy’s instruction, the material that forms the basis of many of her private lessons. The thing that is different here is that Nancy (with Anna chiming in from time to time) is doing all the talking rather than the interactive experience that studying with her in Private Lessons is like. (I confess, I like the Private Lessons better; but this has been great review of some of these very basis ideas.

Here are a couple of examples of ways to sound like a real person: Don’t emphasize conjunction words. (and, but, then, etc.) Don’t emphasize “you.” (The person seeing or hearing the commercial isn’t thinking about anyone else listening, so emphasizing “you” telegraphs that this is a [small time] commercial.)

In the question and answer time, one of the questions had to do with “what about those times when the client insists on one of those words being emphasized.” Nancy’s response: Ignore what I said and do what the client wants.

Observations from the demo evaluations: 1 minute and 22 seconds is too long. It needs to be right about one minute. Don’t leave mispronounced words on your demo. Make acting choices and then commit to those choices. Don’t just say the words. Don’t use a slate on a demo unless it’s part of a house reel. Have the first voice that’s heard be our money voice. Don’t lead with a partner voice, because an agent wants to hear money and partner reads suggest “radio” which is the lower paying stuff. Lead with a campaign sound, a Porsche not a Kia.

Lead with our authentic sound, the one that establishes our individual brands. Sometimes, especially for pieces that are TV spots, the background music should drown out our voices slightly, because that’s the TV spots really are mixed.

Nancy has done demos for people all over the world, including people she’s never met in person; by using Source Connect to direct remotely while connected with a studio where the talent lives.

And to cap off the evening, Kara Edwards won a free one year Premium subscription to Voices.com, when her name was drawn out of the hat at the end. (It was a good evening for Kara, as she was also one of the 4 who had her demo evaluated on the spot by Nancy.)

And for more information, be sure to visit BreakIntoVoiceOver.com.

Drawing from the well called Philip Banks

Career Advice, General, Getting started in Voiceover, People

From time to time Philip Banks backs up his Brinks Truck of insight and unloads a great pile of it at the VO-BB. Today was one of those days. Since he has previously given me blanket permission to quote him, I will do so here. And thank you, Philip, for these very thought provoking comments, buried as they are on page 5 of this thread.

I’m a $20 per month member of Voices.com and a $195 member of Voice123. My membership of both sites has helped me spend part of my marketing budget; it remains to be seen how effective this exercise will prove.

For several months I’ve been looking for value in my marketing spend and this has proved increasingly difficult to find. In order to connect with business people I joined ecademy.com at a cost of $20 per month. Most of the members are entrepreneurs (Bilkopedia = between bankruptcies) who talk the talk but do not walk the walk.

Never before have I encountered so many bedroom based CEOs. Why do so many business people spend time networking online, going to local, regional and national networking meetings? Because they have nothing better to do, in other words NO BUSINESS. My final test for ecademy was to place an ad in the so-called Marketplace offering the service of a Voice Over. I didn’t expect a response but did expect to see another ad to appear offering the services of a Voice Over. No disrespect to the other Voice Over, it just confirmed that ecademy was not the place for me.

I was taught a long time ago to test everything I do in marketing and to establish the £ (or dollar) value. As law student I was also taught that the most important question to ask is always the second one because people seldom answer the first. if you combine these two disciplines you will have a powerful marketing philosopy.
We need to be sure why we are doing something, is it business or is it pleasure? Guess what. VO-BB is of no commercial value to me at all!

“OUCH! How VERY dare you, Sir. I spurn you as I would spurn a rabid dog!”

Over 1500 posts, each has been a pleasure. I’m delighted to be in your company and I chose to spend the time I’ve spent thus far on here because I enjoy it.
Having placed the above on record there are sites like voices.com that work the voices but do not work for voices – Here’s what you do. Use the site to fit in with your agenda, never let things work the other way. Do you have a minimum session fee? Do you audition for jobs below your minimum session fee? When someone asks for a custom audition send them a note requesting that they listen to you demo’s and if they feel it’s appropriate get in touch for a custom piece of audio. You feel this may be heavy handed? What if you don’t get the job? There was only a 100-1 chance you were going to get it any way so you’re not losing much.

Pay to play sites – You pay them to get you work, you do not pay them to allow people to collect free auditions.

Agents – The job of an agent is to represent your interests and to help promote your career. An email that reads “do this audition” should always be followed up with a request as to why the client wanted an audition from you in particular. You would be amazed how many agents work on the “mud sticks” principle, that is not in your interest. If you honestly believe it is the following may be of use – You would be amazed how many agents work on the “mud sticks” principle, that is not in your interest

When I moved up to Scotland a journey of over 600 miles I was contacted by an agent. Would I go to a TV studio to audition for character voices for a new puppet TV series ? Qualifier was very important as the audition day was my moving day – “Why does the director and producer want to see me?”
The agent lost her temper, she snapped that she was very busy and this was a good opportunity. I asked the same question again – Keep asking your question until you get the answer. It turned out that the production team were seeing anyone from any agency. I was going to allow 6 people on salaries plus expenses to waste my time, fuel and not pay me a penny. Was it going to be an investment? 100-1 chance or over? No, I doubt it. Did I upset the agent? Yes. If someone took from you (or tried to) around $500, stopped you from doing something more productive and all for no good reason would you mind upsetting them?

The two great motivators in this business are vanity and fear, beat those and your career will go into orbit. Most people never manage to beat either, let alone both.

Live blogging Nancy Wolfson and Anna Vocino’s Webinar

Career Advice, General, Getting started in Voiceover

Voice123.com is presenting their first Saturday Webinar today, with Nancy Wolfson and Anna Vocino. They’re about to get underway and I’ll do my best to present the information discussed in this webinar as we go along. Together Nancy and Anna have a business called Break Into Voice Over.

The webinar is titled The Power of YOU, Inc. …Work Your Brand to Get More Work. (All time references are Eastern US time.)

1:12 PM – A few technical difficulties have led to a bit of a late start. But, we’re now under way. Nancy begins with a bit of background on her approach to training, specifically her concentration on helping each talent discover their own unique brand.

1:15 PM – What is Break Into Voice Over? Using our skills and connections to help your career. Demystify the VO business. Why creative people must act like business people. Increase opportunities to make money at voiceover work. What you need to know about branding.

1:18 PM – Four must haves of our VO Business Plan – 1. Education 2. Inventory. 3. Marketing 4. Means of Distribution. If this seems kind of strange, a business focused, goal oriented way of looking at things rather than talking about acting technique. If we concentrate on performance skills rather than understanding the styles that are actually selling, we can end up with lots of skill, but not work.

1:20 PM – Your demo needs to be “so you.” It has to accurately reflect who you really are. Commercial demos need to be first, and only after we’re starting to book significant work should be branch out into secondary and other demos like animation, character, trailers, etc.

1:22 PM – Consistent graphical content, avoiding corny and over used images like microphones and mouths, that reflects who you really are needs to be everywhere. Web site. CD cover. Business cards. Etc.

1:25 PM – It’s important to focus on the first four points (at time reference 1:18 PM above) and do them in order. Train. A Great Demo. Consistent, accurate marketing. Professional quality home studio, high speed Internet service, web site and other tools.

1:28 PM – One major key to branding your voice is to be narrowly focused, especially at first. Like a hot knife through butter, we need to cut through the clutter to “you” as distinct from anyone else on the voiceover landscape. There isn’t a single “sound” that is the accepted voiceover sound anymore. Because everyone and her cousin can now seek work in voiceover.

1:30 PM – Even if you’re talented enough to do all kinds of things, there’s already others who can do each of those things better than you. Everyone is a unique fusion of experiences, genetics and relationships; and if we can present ourselves as that unique “me”. Being versatile isn’t a distinctive position.
1:34 PM – With national, well known brands, the distinctives of the content (e.g.: Heinz and Hunts catsup actually have different formulas for the amount of vinegar and sugar) are demonstrated in the way the packages are designed.

1:36 PM – So, our graphics need to reflect who we really are and who we actually sound. Thus highlighting our distinctive difference from anyone else in the voiceover business.

1:38 PM – The graphics, demo and presentation do have to match, otherwise we’re undermining ourselves in the process. But, by having everything lined up and consistent, we multiply the power of what we’re doing.

1:40 PM – What do we use to Brand? You and your experiences. Your likes and dislikes. Your demographics including age, place where you grew up, etc. Key questions like “how would your Mom describe you?”, etc.

1:44 PM – Branding Blackjack: What is your “up” card and what is your “down” card? (e.g.: Brad Garrett is such a funny, goofy guy for someone with such a big, deep voice.) Question to examine, how is who I am distinctive from how I look?

1:49 PM – Check out the pairs of voices at this link, which is what we’re comparing and contrasting right now. In each case, the pairs are similar enough they wouldn’t likely be listed on the same agents’ rosters, but distinctive branding sets them apart.

1:53 PM – Good branding makes it easier to book work because it helps agents and clients understand who you are and what you can do. Branding also makes the point to those who make advertising that you understand how advertising and marketing works.

1:57 PM – Places to go and things to do. Register your domain name now! You can listen to lots of examples of other great demos at voicebank.net and Nancy’s site. Also check out the FAQ section while you’re there on Nancy’s site.

2:02 PM – Nancy and Anna are interviewing agents, casting directors, animation directors, and producers for a series of MP3 recordings that will be available at Break Into Voice Over in the near future.

2:06 PM – First question was about catching the eye of those who cast. Graphics have to be first quality or we will communicate that we’re small time, even if we’re not.

2:08 PM – Second question. What are the first 5 things to do for someone new? Look above at the list of the first 4 things. Plus, we have to Available, Affable, and Able. (Clarifying this last point, you have to be able to deliver once you’re in the studio!)

2:11 PM – Third question was about versatility for those already with an agent. Narrow branding is still vital, because it helps the agent get you work.

2:15 PM – Everyone’s situation is unique, which is why Nancy recommends studying privately with her to focus on branding, so that the branding efforts can concentrate on what is unique about you.

2:19 PM – How much does it cost? The answers are in the Break Into Voice Over web site in the MP3 teleseminar for sale there, but bottom line, about $5000.00 if starting from scratch.

Thanks to Nancy, Anna and Voice123.com for an excellent webinar!
(Update: All typos and grammar errors are mine and will be corrected as soon as I can get to them.)

Learning opportunities with Nancy Wolfson

Career Advice, General, Getting started in Voiceover

If you’ve been reading this blog over the last several weeks, you know that I think very highly of Nancy Wolfson. Indeed, I’m currently studying with her.

I’ve previously mentioned that there is a Voice123.com sponsored webinar with Nancy taking place tomorrow at 1:00 PM Eastern (10:00 AM Pacific). You may still be able to register by clicking here. This webinar is free, as have all of Voice123.com’s webinars.

And on Monday, you have a chance to dig deeper, if you’re willing to invest $49.00, in a teleseminar called Acting for Advertising. You will gain more than $49.00 worth of insight. The class will begin at 9:00 PM Eastern (6:00 PM Pacific) on Monday. Go to BreakIntoVoiceover.com to register.

Update: As you’ll see if you read the comments below, Voices.com is sponsoring the teleseminar on Monday evening. Kudos to them for helping us gain more insights into this business of voiceover. I’ve signed up for both of these opportunities. I hope you have, too.

I almost did it again…

General, History

Last year, I didn’t remember my blogiversary until the month of May was almost over. This year, as I was out driving a bit earlier, I remembered that today is the day 2 years ago when I started this voiceover blog. So, happy blogiversary to me!

And thank you, where ever you may be, for reading. I’m so very grateful that we’ve managed to write and link enough material to keep at least a few of you interested.