Thanks to my friend David Houston for pointing me toward this interesting interview with Chris Patton about his work on the anime’ called Guyver. Even if you’re not a fan of this genre, you’ll gain some valuable insights into the world of voiceover. Read. Enjoy.
And don’t forget to visit David’s blog while you’re at it.
General
How do you treat your clients?
Stephanie, at the Vox Daily blog from Voices.com asks this question in a post well worth a few moments of your time.
Voice acting
I’ve written previously a number of times about some of the gems of wisdom posted at the VO-BB.com from UK voiceover talent Philip Banks. A comment from Philip posted today in a thread called Be better tomorrow than you were today is so good that I want to highlight it here, since it’s buried in this thread that runs to 3 pages.
Voice Overs are pre-occupied with their sound, their approach and more than ever with the technology. Voice over actors (that can be by training or inclination) tend to look beyond the mic, pop shield, chest rumble, pipes and 10db extra on the top end.
The approach of the voice Over actor is what do I do for this not what does this do for me. That is better for the production.
A liitle while ago I saw a movie trailer, it was the Voice over’s first pro movie trailer. I don’t remember the movie, the title, the plot or anything else because the approach was not the Voice Over Actor approach, the trailer was all about him and his sound. We’re about 12 months on from this epic production and this voice has not done another movie trailer.
I think to get the best out of a voice over career you need straight A’s for having good ….
Acting
Attitude
Ability
Affability
Availability
Get straight A’s and you’ll do very well indeed in your voiceover career.
Helping others
Karen Commins relates her recent experience with helping others in a post on her blog from yesterday. I just love reading stories like these.
Read. Enjoy. Go thou and do likewise. You’ll be glad you did.
Reality check
A discussion group I take part in at Yahoo.com centers around the world of voiceover work. Recently Dave Stone posted some thoughts I thought so valuable that I asked him for permission to quote them here.
You want to do voice-over work? You want to build a client list and a track record? Then take the job for the money being offered. Smile. Expect that you might be put through the mill so that the client gets the read he wants out of you. Smile. Read the line. Now, read it again, but differently. Smile. Expect that if the producer or client aren’t having a good day, you may – unfortunately – take the brunt of that. Kindly thank the client and the producer when they’ve finished with you and you’re sweating because the booth wasn’t air conditioned. Expect not to get a check right then and there. Expect that you might even have to wait 30, 60, or 90 days or more for it. Expect that you even might have to call or send a second invoice before you get it.Some or all of this may not happen, but it is reality. Again, this may not happen, but if any of it does, you’d better learn to deal with it. If you can’t, then you’ve got an ego problem, and you’ll need to dealwith that first.
In our subsequent communication, Dave offered some additional thoughts, also well worth a moment of your time.
There are, of course, other scenarios voice talent could encounter. One example, which would probably take place in a commercial rather than narration session, would be having to take direction from as many as four people (producer, director, writer, and client). This means first, not losing one’s cool, and, having to interpret all of the direction and deliver… something. Many newbies don’t realize, that in addition to this being an extremely competitive industry (which means, of course, you have to be at least ‘good’ to get anywhere), doing voice-overs also requires a thick skin because there is so much rejection, frustration and something more that I just can’t name right now. Above all, there is absolutely no room for attitude. Those just beginning their careers need to know that if they really want to reach the status of ‘always working’ and ‘often called-back,’ it’s going to take quite some time and dues-paying before they are called to the studio to have money thrown at them.
You’ll find this Yahoo.com discussion group about voiceover work, here.
Acoustic treatment of your room
One more from Michael Minetree today, because this is really worth pointing out. Michael has prepared a very valuable and thorough discussion including graphics on how to improve the acoustics of your home studio space.
Read. Apply. You’ll be glad you did.
Operation Voice Talent update
While I’m posting about Michael Minetree, there’s an update on his site regarding his contest for new voiceover talent.
Congratulations to the Top 10.
You might find this fun
Michael Minetree has offered a challenge to voiceover talents, just for fun. You’ll find the details in this post at his site.
Good to Great
Some months ago I was cast to provide narration for a new television project that is going to run on the Public Broadcasting Network in the US. As you might guess from the title of this post, it’s a program about the remarkable business book called Good To Great by Jim Collins
Now comes this television film based on the book and on subsequent application of the book’s research in a variety of fields. (All of the images are screen captures from my preview copy of the program and are copyright Scott/Tyler Productions 2007.)
The film was written and directed by a very talented man named Sam Tyler.
And narrated by
I must say, it was a great honor to be chosen for this part. The production company was Northern Light Productions, people with whom I had previously worked on another PBS program I’ll tell you about later. Top quality people all around.
Wild Hogs and Pat Fraley
Pat Fraley has written a fascinating account of a recent ADR recording session for Disney, that’s published on Vox Daily, the blog at Voices.com. I think you’re going to love reading this story.
Ready for anything?
Elaine Singer, a talented voiceover artist, blogs about her work and life. As I was reading her blog today, I took a moment to look over a previous post I’d somehow missed, written a few days ago. As you read, you’ll discover that when you’re working in voiceover, you really do have to be ready for anything!
What a difference a professional makes
As my friend Brian points out on his blog, if you are in charge of an important business presentionation, and if that presentation is going to run without someone delivering comments “live” in the room, you need to get more than the pictures and graphics right. You need a professional voice.
That voice might be Brian’s, or one of the other voices you’ll find linked over on the left. It might even be mine. (My demos are at just below the top of the page on the right.) But, just as you wouldn’t do your own surgery, you need a professional voiceover to really deliver your story.
You’ll find voiceover people in all kinds of strange places
Standing in the spotlight
The weekend of August 15 and 16, 1997 was the time when my understanding of voiceover took a leap to a whole new level. I’ve written about this experience several times previously, just look at the History and People categories and you’ll find lots of posts about the International Radio Creative and Production Summit.
But this post is about something that happened at my 10th consecutive Summit, the one in 2006. The final session each year is called the Critique-A-Spot-A-Thon. Those of us foolish enough to subject our work to public examination turn in one promo or commercial we’ve written, produced or performed for a live, on-the-spot evaluation.
You hear each promo or commercial played, and it’s then followed by that evaluation; in front of everyone at the Summit. Sometimes nice things are said. Most of the time, it’s more painful than that. But, in every case it’s a fair and honest evaluation. And in every case, I’ve learned something valuable in the experience. This time I learned more than I usually do.
First, before you hear this audio, note that in general as each evaluation is given, you just stay in your seat and listen along with everyone else. If Dan has a question, he’ll ask you to respond; but most of the time you just listen to your spot, listen to the evalaution and then Dan moves on to the next one. Here’s what happened to me. You’ll hear my spot first, and then a few minutes what followed.
Summit 2006 with Dan O'Day and Bob Souer
I can’t think of a better illustration of what taking part in the Summit is like each year. Because while being called up to the mike like that doesn’t always happen, there are many opportunities to jump into the action.
As I’ve written each year since I started this blog, whether you are full time in voiceover, work at a radio station in production or just do a little of this kind of work on the side, you’ll gain a lot from attending the Summit.
For those who’ve made it all the way to the end of this post, Dan has a great deal for you. A special offer on the audio recordings from the 2006 Summit (14 hours of actual seminar time) and a bunch of extras that will make the purchase very much worth your while. You can download Dan’s PDF about this offer right here. But, the deal ends October 31, 2006.
Operation Voice Talent, round 2
The second round of the Operation Voice Talent contest from Minewurx Studios has just begun. You can read all about it in this post from the studio’s blog. Or listen to the podcast about this round of the contest,
here
.
I wish each of you well, as you take this next step in pursuing your dreams.
Kudos to my friend Ralph (edit)
Ralph Hass, a talented voiceover artist in British Columbia, Canada has been selected as the voice for the Buffalo Sabres NHL team. Good for you, Ralph. You can read his blog post about this good news here.
Update: There’s a very nice write-up about this news that’s been added to Vox Daily, the voiceover blog from Voices.com.
Thoughts about accents
You’ll find some valuable and useful thoughts about accents in this post at Vox Daily, the blog from Voices.com. It’s well worth a few minutes of your time.
And while we’re mentioning Voices.com, I see that the “beta” flag has come off of the Voices.com logo.
The voice behind Spongebob
With a great big top of the hat to David Houston’s blog, here’s a link to a profile that should a a bunch of fun to read.
It’s a Joy to Meet Nice People
The book The Power of Nice
And on her blog, Mary C. McKitrick provides us with a wonderful story that illustrates this fact quite vividly. Read. Enjoy. As you do, you’ll be reminded that Mary herself is a mighty nice person. Then, while you’re thinking about it, pass it along. The niceness I mean.
Voice Over Times
I’ve just added a link to VoiceOverTimes.com in my voiceover blogroll on the left here. It’s a discussion forum that’s been around for a while. The archives are filled with valuable insights and comments. And my friend David Houston is one of the new moderators there. I’m sure it’s going to be a site worth visiting often.
By the way, David also blogs about voiceover here. He’s posted a note about his new moderator role here. And while you’re there, be sure to note the post right above, linking to a press release about his very fine voiceover work.
I first learned about VoiceOverTimes.com through the blog at Voices.com. Their most recent post about the forum, including a note about David and his fellow forum moderators, is here.