It's indeed a small world

Yesterday I was hired to do a voice over for a fledgling company's website. I had auditioned for the job earlier in the day and that afternoon received an email from them that I had won the audition- they wanted to hire me to voice for them. It was a relatively short script that called for a certain amount of enthusiasm, but not too over the top. Job finished, I emailed them a link to download the audio file. Within fifteen minutes or so, I received an email from "Eran" that they liked what I did and he requested an invoice. I emailed a Pay Pal invoice, which I usually do for first time customers. The payment came through within minutes and was from Haifa, Israel. It got me to thinking once again about how the Internet has really made it a very small world. I also voice for clients in Germany, India and Japan when they need an English/American voice over. Count me in as one of those folks very grateful for the Internet and what it allows me to do every day.

A new member of the family

I just added this preamp to my audio chain in my studio, and absolutely love it. A good preamp teamed with a good microphone is a must. I have to say that after reading many of the glowing, online reviews of the Grace M101, it certainly lives up to all the positive buzz. Some even saying it could sell for two to three times as much. I like that it doesn't "color" the microphone sound, in my case, a Neumann TLM 103. And the simplicity and ease of use is a winner.  The Grace Design company is based in Colorado. By the way, there was nothing wrong with my other preamp, I just like what this preamp brings to the studio. Money well spent.

"Natural" and "Believable"

I wish I had a nickel for every time I saw one of the two words above in an audition spec. If you go to You Tube and click on any of the TV commercials of yesterday, say back in the 50's and 60's, you're more than likely going to hear an announcer type delivery that sounds over projected with volume, and a lot of "sell and hype" in the voice. Not to say that those don't still exist in today's advertising world ( i.e.-Hard sell auto commercials or infomercials). Now more than ever however, casting directors are looking for voice talents who can sound natural (non-hyped/ conversational), and believable, while standing or sitting in front of a microphone. That takes good old fashioned experience.

I have found  newbie voice talents tend to often make the mistake of speaking too loudly into the microphone. This results in an affected and over projected voice quality that is far from sounding natural. The key is to let the microphone do the work of amplifying your voice, and "get small" with your voice-less volume. Imagine that your best friend is standing right next to you and you're speaking to him or her. You certainly wouldn't get overly loud in their ear when speaking, so why do it when recording a voice over? Another analogy would be people who feel the need to yell into their cell phones, as if the listening party cannot hear them.

Quick tip:  Recording with headphones off (or maybe just one ear outside the phones), can help you to achieve a more natural sound. What happens is many folks get too caught up listening to themselves through the headphones, which can result in an unnatural sounding voice over. I realize that in studio settings where producers/directors are giving you direction from outside the booth, you'll need to have them on to hear. But if you're voicing from a home studio and self directing, try taking the headphones off sometimes. I think you'll find that  helps to make your reads more natural. Still, there are many  experienced voice talents who can sound natural with headphones on while recording. My advice so far is mainly intended for those just beginning their voice over endeavors and struggling with this issue.

Another part of making the voice over sound natural and believable is not overly enunciating the words. If you're voicing a "real person" type script , you'll want to aim for  more conversational diction. Pronouncing  with over emphasis will make you sound very stilted, unnatural and amateurish. On the other hand, you're not aiming for sloppy either. You have to kind of split the difference. Grab those audition scripts and practice! Sounding natural while in front of a microphone is an acquired skill.