"Do I need a voice over agent?"

 Those just jumping into doing voice overs may long for agent representation thinking it will lead to great jobs falling in their lap. Odds are, it won't. Which leads to the question, "Do I need a voice over agent to succeed in the competitive voice over field?" The rather vague answer is "It all depends." You say, "Depends on what?" It depends on what kind of voice over you are pursuing and what your goals are; where you want to go. There are many voice actors making a good living without an agent. They may be thriving in non union corporate narration or learning voice over. Or perhaps are in demand for audio book narration.  On the other hand, if you're looking to land a national TV commercial , you're more than likely going to need an agent. Why? Because capable agents can get you in the door for an audition and hopefully a sweet voice over gig.  Also, they have access to casting/audition notices early in the process.  They have connections.  An agent can't land you the job. That's on you and your audition. There is no magic wand. Having an agent is no guarantee of future success in the VO industry. And getting an agent to bring you onboard can be very frustrating. They may already have a voice talent that sounds similar to you. They have a roster of voice talents they represent and handle. They don't need you at this time. Or,they're just not that impressed with your demo. And when you approach an agent and are lucky enough to present your demo for representation consideration, it's got to be good. Really good. Like the old saying goes, "You never get a second chance to make a first impression." I would say concentrate on your marketing and letting people know you're available and studio equipped at home. Don't get caught up on the fact that you don't have an agent. Remember, they're not magicians. Much of your success will depend on YOU.

About this blog and "time flies!"

 It's hard for me to believe that this blog is now 13 years old. I write this blog mainly for new voice over talents and intermediate. I want to thank a friend of mine, David, for helping me set up the technical stuff. I can create these blog posts at ease. I enjoy writing and try to post new messages at least 2 times a week to keep things fresh. I go to voice over blogs and see the most recent posts were created a year ago or more! That's one thing I swore I would never do; let my blog get stale and abandoned looking. I also knew that writing just about voice over was going to be a huge challenge. There are so many blogs and videos on You Tube talking about voice over technique already, and I didn't want to limit myself to just writing about voice over. I believe some voice over talents start out with good intentions about writing a blog, and then often hit a wall; a writer's block, lose interest and their blog becomes very dated looking. I have two goals with mine; be informative... and be entertaining. 

I've been contacted by folks through the years who visited this blog, and then emailed me with questions about how to get into doing voice overs and make some money. Just last week, a female voice talent emailed me and said she was recording voice overs years ago, and then took a break for 15 years (!) and she now wanted someone that could help her stay focused and motivated as she wanted to get back in. I  emailed her a link to a very popular voice over forum I'm a member of where people freely share. Bob Bergen, the voice of Porky Pig, often drops by to weigh in on discussions. (the man knows what he's talking about). How he landed the gig of being Porky Pig is so inspirational. Check out his website at www.bobbergen.com.

I'm always happy to offer advice and tips. Feel free to email me. Over the years, I've found many people in the voice over community to be very generous with helping others with their expertise. We all start somewhere. It IS very competitive, but it can be rewarding honing your craft, and then landing some voice over jobs to be proud of. 

If you've come to this blog to hear me spew politics or religion, you'll be very disappointed. (you'll have to come to a family get together to hear that!) I'll leave that to other blogs and websites. I have a "no politics" policy here.

If you scroll down to the bottom of this blog, you'll see "Older Posts." Click on that to see posts I did when I was just starting out. There's a bunch of voice over info there too, including a post about Nancy Cartwright, the voice of Bart Simpson. (what a job she landed).

You'll find contact information and my updated voice over demos at the link below.

https://www.johnmilesproductions.com

Good luck on your journey!

"Don't Touch That Microphone!"

Let me say up front that this information is for beginning voice over talents as more experienced ones will already know this. There is a thing called "studio etiquette." It's sort of the "code of conduct" when you go outside your home to record in a studio with a client or customer.

When in the recording booth, never EVER touch or move, in any way, the microphone. That may get you a major look of disapproval (or scolding) from the recording engineer who is there to set up the session. It's his job to reposition the microphone, if necessary. Microphones can be very sensitive and expensive. So remember, while out in a studio, "Hands off!" 

While recording the  script and being directed, should you flub a word, don't whine on and on and beat yourself up verbally. That makes you look like a beginner. And you won't win any points with the director(s). Simply listen to the direction as to where they want you to do the retake.  This is called a "pickup." Typically, you'll go back to the beginning of the sentence where you made the flub and read the line again. By the way, it's no big deal. Even the best of the best flub a word or two. Nothing to be embarrassed about.  

As noted in another post here, arriving late for a session is a HUGE no-no. (No explanation needed for this one).

NEVER make fun of or mock the copy you're recording. The person(s) who wrote it may well be at the session.

After the recording session, come out of the booth, sign any necessary paper work, thank them... and LEAVE. Don't linger with endless chatter. These folks are busy and that's bound to be very annoying to them. It's all about carrying yourself like a pro. It'll go a long way in your voice over career. The business is tough enough as it is. Don't shoot yourself in the foot and look like an amateur.  Be grateful for the work and move on.

It's like show business. If you don't take care of business, there'll be nothing to show!

 As Woody Allen said years ago, "Just showing up is half the battle." 

If you want to find a terrific way to never get hired again to do an in studio voice over session... show up late. You MUST show up on time. The people who have hired you to do the voice over are paying good money to use the studio. If you show up late, you're costing them money. They won't be pleased. Instead of greeting you with a friendly smile and hello as you stumble in, you'll be met with a smirk of displeasure. It will be very easy to see they are not happy with you. And chances are, they've heard all the excuses before. "I got stuck waiting for a train to go by." "Oh, traffic was awful coming into the city...backed up for miles." "My alarm didn't go off." "My dog was out of control." Um, you're not fooling anybody. If you're chronically late to your recording sessions, you'll come off as unprofessional; maybe even a bit disrespectful of everyone's time. Playing the diva role and thinking it's cool to be late, well, you better think again. Divas are a dime a dozen. "Next!"

I once did a morning radio show with a co-host in West Palm Beach. When I was hired, our show started at 6 AM. I'm a morning person by nature and getting up early was no big deal. Later, our program director told us we needed to start the morning show at 5 AM. Again, for me, no big deal. (Not sure how my co-host felt, but I'm pretty sure she was not an early bird.) Now going on the air at 5 AM meant me getting up at 3:30 or so. I didn't have an overly long drive to the station. Patting myself on my back a bit; in the four years we did the show, I was never late to go on the air. Not once. And I had a few late nights out on the town. OK, maybe more than a few.

I was hired to voice a number of learning projects at a studio in San Francisco. I would take BART (rapid transit) from my town in the East Bay, to the city. It took about 30 minutes or so to land at Powell and Market in the city. I would always leave my place early and had about a half hour to kill before the recording session at the studio. That was fine. I was able to grab a snack before walking down to the studio; about a 10 minute walk. It was all very comfortable for me. If you get off BART with minimal time to get to the session, you'll be racing not to be late and perhaps anxiety will creep in. Not especially good for your nerves and voice over efforts. You want to have time to chill out front near the receptionist in the lobby and gather yourself. You might need to use their bathroom. Grab some water. Whatever. I say show up to your session 10-15 minutes early and you'll have enough time to focus and relax a bit. Showing up an hour early is not recommended.

Back to that radio station where I did that morning show. Our on-air time was from 5 AM to 10 AM. The lady deejay who followed us was ALWAYS late to go on the air. Instead of her going on at 10, she'd be late and take over the control board at 10:10 or 10:15. And this was almost EVERY. SINGLE. DAY! My patience was wearing thin. I heard all the excuses. One day she was 20 minutes late to go on the air as I covered for her and kept the music playing. She casually walked in and said "I'm sorry John. I'm always late." "Yep, I see that," I said. (even Mr. Magoo could see that).  She was an otherwise nice person with a pleasant on-air style, but showing up on time was a major challenge for her. And the problem was her showing up late all the time came off as very inconsiderate and unprofessional. The station was not asking her to be there by 5 AM. She needed to show up at 10 AM and ready to go! 10 AM!  Apparently, it was too much to ask.

Veterans of the voice over world know how important it is to be dependable and show up on time. Actually, that goes for everything in life; not just voice over sessions. SHOW UP ON TIME and be the pro that they expect. If you're always late, you better figure out a way to fix that if you want to work in this very competitive voice over industry. 

How's your audio editing?

 If you record from a home studio, one of the basic, but very necessary skills you must master is audio editing. Digital audio recording software includes audio editing functions; compression, de-essing, EQ, etc. As any experienced voice over talent can tell you, the time consuming part of doing voice overs is the audio editing. After you record, you'll be sitting down and going through the audio to eliminate any unwanted sounds...heavy breaths, mouth clicks, distracting popped p's, takes you recorded but do not want to use in the final recording, etc.

I actually like the editing process and handle that myself here in my studio. Some voice artists will job the editing out to an audio editor and pay them accordingly so they can move on to the next voice over. If you record e Learning projects, like I often do, you'll be editing the audio and then separating and labeling the audio files per your clients specs indicated on the script. It can be a time burn and it's definitely a task that you want to stay focused on. No mental zoning out. Sometimes, while editing, you'll hear mistakes you made when voicing the script that you missed when you recorded. You may have to go back in your booth and re-record the sentence with the same pace and tone as the original recording so it can seamlessly be cut in when editing. It's called a "pickup." I have recorded many aviation training scripts where it's easy to make a mental mistake. For instance, the script says "attitude" instead of "altitude," which you mistakenly said when recording. Attention to detail is a must. 

I went to a voice over coach to record a few corporate narration scripts and have her give me constructive input. She herself is an accomplished voice talent as well as a coach and has a very polished voice and delivery. But when she sat down to edit my audio for playback, she said she hated audio editing. Frankly, she looked a bit nervous as she moved the mouse cursor to the audio edit she wanted to make. I'm not sure why she so disliked editing as the audio editing function allows you to click back and try the edit again to your liking. It's "non-destructive" in nature. If you're just starting out, your editing speed will increase with practice and experience. 

One thing's for sure. Having good audio editing skills is a big asset in speeding up your turnaround time. I often have customers/clients who say, "John, thanks for the fast turnaround."

If you're just beginning your voice over career and want more help, a good book I bought off Amazon years ago is "Voice Actor's Guide to Home Recording" by Jeffrey Fisher and voice over legend Harlan Hogan. It's written with a humorous style and is loaded with instructional information about audio editing and way beyond.  They do a great job breaking it all down. It will serve as a good in-studio reference manual. Money well spent.

Ditch the headphones...sometimes

Here's a simple way to make your voice-over reads more natural sounding; take your headphones off when you record. The problem with wearing them in your home studio booth is, too often, voice talents get use to listening to their own voice in the headphones as they record.  I've been taking my headphones off for years and have never regretted it. Especially for those jobs where they want a conversational tone, like e Learning. Overloading your ears with sound is not going to be beneficial.

Now, that said, sometimes you must wear them. If you're at a recording session, you'll need to have them on so as to be able to hear input from the director who is outside your booth; usually looking at you through glass. You can turn the volume of the headphones down a bit as you read script.

I know. I know! You like the sound of your own voice flooding through your headphones and into your ears when you record. You're comfortable that way. Let me ask you something. What exactly are you listening for when you put on headphones inside your home studio booth? If you say unwanted mouth clicks and such, you can still hear those with phones off and read the sentence again. Or they can be removed in editing. I would suggest you try an experiment; take your headphones off in your recording booth. If you're in love with the sound of your own voice with your headphones on, you'll probably be uncomfortable for a while. Stay with it! Your reads will benefit. 

If you're editing audio, of course, you'll want to have your headphones on to check for unwanted mouth clicks and any other undesirable sounds you can edit out. Sometimes studio monitors will not give you super accurate feedback. With your headphones on while editing, you'll hear things you won't hear on your monitors.

A good set of headphones is a must for any studio. I use Audio-Technica. But there are a ton of different, quality brands out there. Sony, Beyerdynamic and Sennheiser come to mind. Do some research online before buying. Stay away from "cheap" headphones. Not all are created equal. Over the years, I've used Broadcast Supply Worldwide to buy my studio equipment and have been pleased with the price, quality, and on-time delivery. Here's a link to their headphone offerings.

"Do I need a website to be a competitive voice actor?"

Those just jumping into the voice over world may wonder whether a voice over website is a must. Some may think it costs too much money to have a website. I believe if you DON'T have a website, you're potentially losing money/business. A well thought out website is your online "storefront." If done right, it gives you credibility. It's a place where potential customers can go to listen to your voice demos, read testimonials (powerful), see actual examples of your voice over work through videos you've recorded for, tells folks a bit about your background, answers questions with an FAQ, and contains details about how to reach you.

By the way, it's not expensive to have your website up on the Internet. You generally pay a quarterly dollar amount. The companies who host websites are very competitive. Do some investigating. You might be surprised.

I won't speak for others in the voice over industry, but I will give you my experience with my website. When I decided to leave my on-air radio career hosting a midday show in Charlotte about 15 years ago to go full-time with voice over, I was fortunate to have the help of our radio group webmaster. I told him I needed a "basic" website put together so I could land voice over jobs. He graciously agreed to meet me at the station on a weekend (a good thing--no distractions in the building) and he put the website together, as I looked over his shoulder. At one point he asked me what I wanted to call my website--"John Miles Productions" Or, "John Miles Creative." I suggested we go with "productions" as it was a bit more all inclusive. So, "John Miles Productions" was born. That website gave me confidence to approach people for work. I was able to send out marketing emails to production companies and direct them with a link to my voice demos. Back then, things were a bit different; I would sometimes receive an email or phone call from someone I had just emailed my information to same day. "Good timing John. I have a voice over job you might want to do." None of this would have been possible without a website.

I highly recommend hiring a competent web designer to create your website. Some voice talents like to put their own website together (e.g."WIX"). In my opinion, that's OK, as long as it looks neat and clean and contains the information I mentioned in the first paragraph of this post. And by all means, there is no need for flash and tons of bells and whistles. The people who may hire you want TWO things from your website. They want to hear your voice demos, and they want to know how to reach you. Put your contact information (i.e. email and phone number) where it's easy to see. Of course, same thing for your demos. There's always been a lot of talk in the voice over industry as to whether to put a picture of yourself on your website. I've taken the "no picture" route. Some feel it's a good thing to have a picture as people like to see who they're dealing with. I'll leave that debate to others. I don't want people judging me by what I look like. I want them judging me by what I sound like. Some voice talents are in their 70's, or even 80's, and they sound much younger. The great, late, narrator Peter Thomas' career spanned 7 decades! He was 92 when he died and still had narration job offers! (You no doubt heard him on TV many times. A real legend. "Forensic Files" was one of his shows.)

After putting off a much needed voice over website update for way too long, a very talented nephew of mine from Ohio put together a wonderful website for me. He did an outstanding job, and I'm proud to have a website I can send potential customers to where they can hear demos and read about my background. A HUGE thank you to him. I have absolutely no eye for website design, and he took copy I provided and made everything work. 

So, the answer to "Do I need a website to be a competitive voice actor?" I believe is... YES. I know there are voice talents who get work from so called "pay to play" websites like Voice 123 and Voices.com and do not have their own website. They use those sites to upload their voice demos and provide background information. That's fine. I just know from past experience that a personal website is a definite plus. I think that those who ignore it as a very effective marketing tool, do so at their own peril.  A website gives you "presence."

Here's a link to my new voice over website. It allows me to put everything in ONE place. And it looks professional. It gives the potential customer/client the impression that I'm a pro and ready to go to work. And that's a good thing.

A funny voicemail message

 So I have a really wonderful friend who retired well from a metro bus building company right here in San Francisco East Bay. Her name is Diane. She's an independent soul and sometimes brings me unique food dishes that she finds on her shopping trips to Trader Joe's- one of her favorite places to buy groceries. 

We chat regularly about the happenings in the news.  She has a good sense of grumpy humor (most of the time) and seems to be enjoying her well deserved retirement. And there's one thing about her that makes me laugh more than anything. And I've told her so. No, it's not the clothes she wears or her hairstyle. Or her sometimes comical takes on what's going on at any given moment around the world. (Don't get her started). No,it's her cell phone voicemail message. Yes! Her strange and funny cell phone  message! Here it is, just as she says it... "Hi, it's Diane, I can't get to the phone right now. Call me right back." I asked her, ever so politely in jest one day, to think about what the caller is hearing. I told her, "Hey Diane, I called your number and was told to call you right back. So, I immediately did and got the same  message every time. 13 times in a row! I was exhausted." (Insert chuckle here). I suggested she record a simple message like, "Hi, it's Diane. I can't get to the phone right now. Just leave your name, phone number and a brief message and I'll call you back just as soon as possible." That was met with a brief moment of awkward silence on the phone. I took that to mean "mind your own business." Which I gladly did. Truly great friends are hard to come by.

"Which way would you like it?"

 Sometimes you'll receive a script to record that contains words that can be pronounced several ways. "Data" comes to mind. Some will say it as (da-tuh. "da" as in
"apple") and others as (day-tuh). Or the word "anti." Some will go with (ant-eye) and others as (ant-ee). Both ways are acceptable. One more. "Multi." You'll hear it said as (mull-tee) OR (mull-tie). Neither is wrong. Check with the person you'll be recording for about how they want it said BEFORE you step to the mike. You'll come off as a pro. And that's the goal, right?

"Make it conversational"

 I often see producers wanting a conversational tone in the voice over. One part of that is lowering the volume of your voice. Don't shout at the microphone! It's designed to amplify your voice.

And remember, we speak in phrases. Usually, somewhat deliberately, as we think about how to express our thoughts. When reading copy that calls for a conversational delivery, don't go racing through it without pauses. A road runner approach doesn't work for conversational.

I do a lot of educational and training narrations. Using a conversational delivery is spot on. 

Here is a link to an online tutorial I voiced having to do with publishing and plagiarism. 

Grand Theft Auto Vice City the Untold Story

On a recent Sunday, I was looking through Craigslist ads and spotted one wanting a voice over for one of the most successful video games of all time-"Grand Theft Auto". I immediately emailed a reply and the producer emailed back with some copy for me to do a quick audition. He liked what he heard and hired me as the narrator. He puts together these types of videos and parks them on You Tube and gets thousands of views.  The one I voiced is about 80's crime and drugs. WARNING: This video is violent. So,  it's up to you.  Here's a link to the video I narrated. It runs about 13 minutes.

Slower is better for on hold messages

So no joke,over the years I have voiced hundreds and hundreds of on hold messages. It's a different style of read. Go a bit slower with your pace so the caller can take in all the information. When you are recording the on hold script and come upon the company's phone number, hours of operation, and address, slow it down. You don't want to go too fast in these sections. All in all, it's a slower voice over than say a TV commercial or radio spot where things move fast .
Remember, when recording on hold messages, slower is better! 

Seller beware on Craigslist!

It's been quite the week here in my studio. I have a decent collection of voice over books that I'm looking to hand down to an aspiring voice actor. They're all in very good shape and on Craigslist under the "For Sale" books section. Last night around midnight, I was in bed and received a text message wanting to know if the books were still available. I replied they were and not hearing back from the individual, I went back to sleep. Next morning, I received another text saying he wanted to buy them and would pay me with a money order  PLUS pay me an extra $40 for them and he needed my name and address. I had been through a similar thing on Craigslist and a huge red flag went up on this.  I texted back and told him to stop trying to scam people. He disappeared. I'm in the Bay Area and his phone number was from New Jersey. In my ad, I specifically stated "Cash Only" and "Must pick up at my place." A variation of this scam involves a bogus check he or she gives you that you can deposit at your bank's ATM, but the bank will discover it's a fraud and you will be on the hook to make good on it.

And earlier this week, I responded to a voice over ad for a job out of L.A posted on Craigslist. A few days later, I received a reply from an "Alex" who said he had a $992 voice over job for me and they were making arrangements to find a recording studio near me so I could record there and they could direct from L.A.. There was some other weird wording about "I must be of a good mind" and other strange stuff having nothing to do with voice over. I emailed him back and said I would not be able to do the job because I had seen this scam outlined before on a voice over forum I frequent. There are a lot more details to this particular scam.  Just Google "Voice over scam" and you'll see lots of links.

So, just be very careful. There are some low lifes that for some time have been trying to dupe unsuspecting voice over talents. One final thing. When I listed my stuff on Craigslist, there was this information below. A good and timely reminder.

Avoiding Scams

Deal locally, face-to-face —follow this one rule and avoid 99% of scam attempts.

• Do not provide payment to anyone you have not met in person.
• Beware offers involving shipping - deal with locals you can meet in person.
• Never wire funds (e.g. Western Union) - anyone who asks you to is a scammer.
• Don't accept cashier/certified checks or money orders - banks cash fakes, then hold you responsible.
• Transactions are between users only, no third party provides a "guarantee".
• Never give out financial info (bank account, social security, paypal account, etc).
• Do not rent or purchase sight-unseen—that amazing "deal" may not exist.
• Refuse background/credit checks until you have met landlord/employer in person.
• "craigslist voicemails" - Any message asking you to access or check "craigslist voicemails" or "craigslist voice messages" is fraudulent - no such service exists.

The voice of Porky Pig and Bob Bergen

I love the story of how the current voice of Porky Pig got the job. Of course, years ago the great master of cartoon voices, Mel Blanc, did the voice of Porky  and a ton of others. Go on You Tube and search his name and there are plenty of videos of his TV appearances. You'll be amazed. Now, about Bob Bergen. At age 14, he "cold called" Mel Blanc's house and secretly taped the conversation with Mr. Blanc.  The first thing Mel asked Bob was, "How did you get my number?" Bob was seeking out advice and Mel was kind enough to help him. Rather than me give you the specifics, you can hear this conversation on Bob's website, "BobBergen.com." Click on where it says, "Cool Clips." By the way, Bob said on a voice over forum board I frequent that every year he has to audition again to be the ongoing voice of Porky.  I'm sure it's a treasured job. One more thing, Bob's one of the nicest guys in the business. Always giving on spot advice to other voice actors and helping when  he can. 

Perhaps my most favorite voice over job...ever

I was tipped off by a good client of many years that his company was filming at locations around the world for a new, inspirational TV show called "In Pursuit of Passion." And, much to my delight, the lady who was hosting the show (Tracy) was looking for someone to narrate it. So, I emailed her and told her of my interest. She agreed to email me a script for a short audition. I did not see any film of the show beforehand so I was a bit in the dark as to the energy needed on the narration. I went with a slightly upbeat take and emailed her a link to download the MP3 audition. She got back to me and said it was a bit too cheery and upbeat. With that direction in mind ( for which I was very grateful), I recorded a second audition and sent that to her. I was happy to receive an email from her saying the second take was solid and we would go with that. There was a total of six episodes to be narrated from places like Africa and Greece. It was a fun but somewhat challenging narration as the scripts contained quite a few proper names. And of course, those needed to be said correctly. I was often able to go to Forvo.com for pronunciations. (One of my favorite sites). I was delighted when she sent me a link to see the completed episodes. The show airs in select markets here and abroad.

A funny aside. A brother of mine in Ohio called me on a weekend and said he and his lady friend were watching a show on TV and at the end in the credits my name "John Miles" came on screen. He asked if it was me.  I scratched my head and told him I didn't think so. After he described a few parts of the episode he watched, it dawned on me it was me! I had recorded the narrations for the episodes the prior year and had sort of forgotten about them. Here's a link to one of the episodes from Africa. I must say, this is in my top 5 of all-time favorite voice over jobs I have done.

"You want to be paid for your voice over? Don't be ridiculous!"

If you go to Craigslist and look under "Gigs" and then "Creative" category, you will often see
job leads for voice over work. I'm use to it now, but my jaw use to drop open when seeing highly
detailed specs for a voice over job with no pay. Zero. Zilch. Nada. If you do voice overs, it should make you cringe. You've paid good money to buy your recording equipment. You may well have taken voice over lessons which are far from free. Plus voice over seminars/webinars to stay sharp and current. You have ongoing business expenses. Your website updates and maintenance. Yearly taxes. And here is someone on Craigslist offering you nothing for your time, expertise, and skill set. You deserve to be paid! I just had a producer approach me on a Friday afternoon who had received one of my marketing emails and was in a rush frame of mind. He needed a 5 minute long voice over for a high tech, corporate video. I zipped him back a very fair quote to which he said "Sorry. That's too expensive for me. I can pay $100."$100 for 5 minutes of professional voice over for a corporate video is extremely low. Plus it's a high tech narration which will more than likely take extra time to record properly. I thanked him for the "opportunity" and passed on the job. Just out of curiosity, I went to Yelp to check his studio and customer comments. He had quite a few complaints about shoddy work and 1 star ratings. Not good. I'm sure he found someone who is desperate for work who recorded it. We all have choices. But sometimes it's OK to say 'Thanks. But no thanks.' Stay away from the bottom of the barrel jobs. Once word gets around you work for free or on the cheap, it will be very difficult for you to charge a fair rate. 

My 20 foot commute from bed to studio

No doubt, working from home has its advantages. Living in the Bay Area, the traffic can be beyond awful. Years ago, voice over talents needed to head out to recording studios to voice projects, now we can work from our home studios thanks to the Internet. So, sitting in traffic jams is a thing of the past. Plus, when clients/customers come calling with rush or urgent requests, we can quickly access our home studios and turn voice overs around in no time at all. If I had a dollar for every time a client or customer said they appreciated my very fast turnaround, I'd be a very wealthy man. For all its advantages, working from home has some caveats. There can be distractions. Working alone, it's important to "self police" your work before sending it out. Stay in the moment. Focus. Allow yourself some mini breaks if you're working on long projects such as e Learning or audio books.  Working from home means no more boring conference room meetings with a bunch of overly talkative sleepy heads. (I will give one former boss credit. He always ordered pizzas in during our meetings.) Rejoice in the fact that you're able to make a living from home and ditch the honking horns and road rage incidents. And water cooler talk was never really that interesting anyway.

 OK, time for another cup of coffee. Sugar and cream please!

Sibilance. Ugh!

Without a doubt, sibilance is one of the most annoying things to deal with in the audio world.  In short, it's a harshness to the ear upon voice over playback. Most often it's a sizzling "s" sound.  Of course, this is not wanted and needs to be "tamed" either during recording or in editing afterward.  Some people's voice can naturally be more sibilant than others. And the position of the mouth to the microphone can cause excessive sibilance. Too close can cause problems. Instead of speaking directly into the mic, position it at a 45 degree angle from your mouth. Experiment a bit with different microphone positions. Also, be wary of very inexpensive (cheap) microphones that can cause lots of sibilance.

In post production, there are what are called de-essers. This is a type of compression application designed specifically to deal with sibilance. Almost every digital audio recording software has some form of de-esser under the effects category. Not all de-essers are created equal. WAVES has just come out with a plug-in called, not surprisingly, "Sibilance." It's gotten good reviews and is sometimes on sale on their website.

Another option to getting rid of annoying sibilance in a recording is to manually drop down the volume (around 4 to 6 db) of those sibilant sounds. When viewing the waveform zoomed in a bit in your audio editor, a sibilant "s" will often look like a small football shape. Just highlight that with your mouse and drop the volume down as mentioned above.

Bottom line, most everyone has some sibilance when they speak. There are ways to deal with it when editing that will greatly improve the quality of your voice overs.

A mighty Craigslist ad

Back when  I was moving from radio guy to voice over guy, I was planting "seeds" to find new business/clients. I have found that emailing people and companies who need voice over to be somewhat effective. Forget about spamming and just shooting out emails all over the place. Try to find a name on the website, so you can personalize the email. Keep it brief!

Years back, I wrote a short, free, classified ad on Craigslist about my services. A gentleman emailed me and said his company (an educational one) had a lot of voice over needs. He asked about my rates and turnaround time. That got the ball rolling. To this day, years later, I continue to get quite a bit of work from them, for which I am truly grateful. You never know where the work is going to come from. Once you get the work, be your very best. There's nothing quite like a satisfied client and repeat business, for which you do not have to audition.

e Learning!

Newbies to the VO industry are often surprised to learn that around 90% of all voice over work is
non broadcast stuff-on hold messages, corporate video narration, audio book narration,
website audio, and learning voice overs. Much of my work consists of voicing learning projects. Many of the scripts that come to me are quite lengthy and detailed. After the recording comes the editing. In many cases, you'll be labeling and separating hundreds of files. I totally enjoy this segment of VO as I am helping others to learn.  And there's a large amount of learning narration work to be had. Online learning, mobile learning, and e Learning is exploding by the second.

While newcomers to this business may be attracted to the more "glamorous" jobs like TV and radio commercials, overlooking non broadcast voice over can be very costly. The key to voicing learning narrations is to speak naturally, clearly, understand key words or phrases to emphasize,
maintain a pace of speech that's not too fast nor overly slow throughout the learning modules and remembering that learners will need a bit of time to absorb what you're saying. Former radio deejays most often will find learning narrations to be challenging as everything in radio is generally said very fast. Slowing the pace of speech down, but not sounding robotic, takes some practice and self awareness. I aim for a fairly conversational tone.

It's been a while since I've posted on this blog. E learning narrations have been keeping me very busy!