It was pretty interesting….Take a look:

The latest videos covered everything you need to set up an in-home studio, a video tutorial of a multi track audio editor, and how to get that multi track audio editing software absolutely FREE! Plus a lot more!

These videos are not currently available on the public blog…They are offered to people that have signed up for the newsletter first. As time goes, I plan on also posting these to the public blog.

Until now, these videos were only available to the students that took my Voice Over Success Formula course and classes….but for now they are only available to anyone who signs up….And it’s so easy!

Just look to the upper right hand side of this blog to find the form….Just put the email address you want the stuff to be sent to…and that’s it! I don’t use the address for anything else…just this Voice Over info….PROMISE!

After you sign up…leave a comment or write me back to tell me what you think, or if you have any questions.

Real quick tip I’m not sure I’ve shared yet…

Today I was auditioning for an internal corporate video that had a lot of industry jargon that I was not familiar with. So, I went to a couple sites that I always use for getting the proper pronunciations. And as usual, it worked great!

These sites actually give you the phonetic spelling of the word, but they also give you audio examples of how to pronounce the word, as well. VERY COOL!…..VERY helpful!

Remember….The last thing you want to do is to mispronounce a word on a clients copy. So first…Ask the client if you find words you’re not familiar with, (don’t be shy…they’ll be glad you asked.)  However….if the client is not available, then these sites are the next best alternative.

Check them out here:

http://forvo.com/languages-pronunciations/en/
http://www.thefreedictionary.com/
http://inogolo.com/pronunciation
http://dictionary.reference.com/
And here’s another I just found recently from the VO-BB bulletin board:
http://www.howjsay.com

So, now there’s absolutely no excuses!     Have fun pronunciating!  (Save you time looking that one up….I know it’s not a word!  haha)

This kind of relates to the last post, but a former student sent me a demo to listen to.

She couldn’t figure out where the faint hum was coming from in her recording. She was asking if I thought it might be the microphone or something else. Wellll…..after listening several times, very closely, I realized what the low hum was….

TRAFFIC! Outside her window….the same window she cracked open to let some of the warm fresh spring air into her studio.

Remember as the weather gets nicer and you open those doors and windows to let a little fresh air in…You have to close them again, tightly before recording. Or you too may find yourself scratching your head, wondering where that “low hum” is coming from on your next recording.

Just a quick tip….Talk soon…

Actually, there is a way that you can kind of have your cake and eat it too. Simply stick to a simple schedule….nothing fancy or complicated. Literally block out specific time during the day when you work on your training or marketing….Then go out and have fun in the sun…AFTER you’ve finished your work.

I’m working on a simple scheduling technique that I’ll be releasing soon (maye today or tomorrow,) that will increase your productivity by at least 400% AND give you plenty of free time!  Don’t believe me? Well, just check back….

AND….Be sure to sign up to the newsletter on this page to keep up to date and to get free videos, tutorials and reports that I don’t always put on the blog.  Maybe this scheduling technique/report will be one of those bonuses. 

A legend in the world of broadcasting has been replaced.

     vs      

Water Cronkite was the Voice Over for the CBS Evening News with Katie Couric. However, since his death in 2009, the network has decided to replace his voice with that of actor, Morgan Freeman.

This is not meant to be a diss on the TV legend, but a decision based on the fact that if they need customized intro’s to the CBS News, in the future, they’ll need a voice actor who is………well……Alive.  Morgan Feeman is a great choice, in my book. Good luck!

But recently it hit me. Since I’ve really started blogging and coaching so much more…I’ve been heavily emphasizing that this is Voice Over ACTING…Not just a disconnected voice, over some cartoon or visual imagery. It’s ACTING…and in the truest form!

So…That being said…I guess I really have no right to be upset or deny a fellow actor the right to practice his or her craft. We’re all in the same pool…just different areas. And if you really want to look at it as: “The glass is half full”, this is really a great wake up call to a lot of the seasoned voice actors to step it up…go back to get some more training/coaching…expand your offerings, etc.

Whatever the case… Don’t let this deter you from pursuing the dream and becoming the absolute best and most successful Voice Actor you can be! Bring on ALL contenders! Famous actors or not! 

___________________________

Screen Actors Guild thesps have thrown a wrench into the world of videogame voice work, rejecting a tentative deal for a new contract and asking employers to return to the bargaining table.

The American Federation of Television & Radio Artists, which covers the lion’s share of unionized voice work for vidgames, is sending out the same deal to its 2,200 members who work the contract with a Nov. 12 deadline for response. AFTRA’s national board OK’d the deal Saturday with “an overwhelming and strong” recommendation for a yes vote.

Click here to read the rest of the story…

This is actually written for Voice Over Directors…from a Voice Over Actor’s perspective, but it’s always good to get a feel for things on both sides of the microphone!
_________________________________________________________

Advice for directors and producers, written from the perspective of the voice-over actor. Intended to improve the recording session experience. Use this article as a crash course, or to tune up your directing skills. These tips apply to voice acting of all types. The terms voice-over actor/voice-over talent/talent/actor are used here interchangeably.

When you are in the director’s chair at a voice-over session, the process can sometimes become a struggle for both you and the talent.  You have a vision you need to share with the voice actor, a person who knows far less than you do about the product, message, or concept.  At the same time, you hired that actor to bring his or her own unique skills to the project.  Unlike the making of a film or a stage production, you do not have weeks to rehearse and analyze the script.  The studio clock is ticking and that alone adds an element of anxiety to the recording session.

The following tips apply well to both in-person and long distance sessions. Because I want to bring you more than just my own opinion as a voice actor, I have enlisted the help of some of my talented voice-over friends.  The opinions of Diane Havens, JS Gilbert, Bill Painter and Kevin Cooke are included here.  As artists we may not reach consensus, but I am including the areas where we find agreement.

THREE QUESTIONS YOU MUST ANSWER FOR THE ACTOR

For the actor’s sake, always supply this information: Who is speaking?  To whom are they speaking?  How are they speaking?  When you answer these three simple questions for the talent, communication is well underway and confusion is reduced drastically.

1) Who is Speaking?  Diane Havens: “The first thing I expect to hear from a director is the role the voice will have in achieving the intended impact.  Make everything into a role, because that’s what it is — who is speaking?  Neutral bystander?  Impassioned preacher?  Wry humorist?  Helpful teacher?  Caring nurse?  Smiling enthusiast?” 

If you are not getting the performance you want, it is sometimes helpful to imagine and suggest an alternate idea.  For example, the script may call for the role of the fairy queen attempting to calm her warriors.  If that’s not working, suggest the actor play a life coach teaching mediation to stressed-out execs.  Any number of roles may produce the voice you need.

2) To Whom are they Speaking?  The age, gender, geographic region, and socio-economic group of your intended audience all factor into an effective performance.  I would be a very poor voice actor if I used the same voice delivery for an arthritis medication and the National Football League.  Communication is everyone’s goal, so help the talent develop an accurate mental picture of the audience.

3) How are they Speaking?  Provide clear descriptive words like “excited, surprised, reluctant, certain, exasperated.”  The greater variety of words you can provide, the better you will be able to communicate the ideal you are hearing in your head. 

Bill Painter: “I’d recommend hitting the books. Keep a good dictionary or thesaurus at hand — and use it.  The more accurate your description, the more likely an actor will be able to understand and deliver exactly the tone you’re after.  Use colorful, terse, meaningful adjectives.”

Descriptive words will tell the actor how they feel but not WHY they feel that way.  This is important because actors like to dig up their own emotions to apply to the scene.  “Backstory” is an acting term referring to who the character is, how they feel, and why they feel that way. Backstory provided by the director in voice acting can sometimes serve to confuse rather than to clarify.

JS Gilbert:  “Often the director will provide way too much backstory to the actor.  Backstory doesn’t often work because I have analyzed the copy on my own and determined my own set of ‘who and why and what and where’, which may not process well with the backstory a director may give.  For example, I may have determined that I am an avid user of a frozen enchilada dinner and the commercial calls for me to extol the virtues of the product.  I create a backstory that has me speaking to my friend Charlie who occasionally has to fend for himself at dinner time.  The director starts giving me direction like, ‘Pretend that you work in the supermarket and you’re telling a shopper about the great things you’ve heard.’  This breaks up my organic process, but more importantly, it does little to relate what in fact the director is hoping to get from my read.  This often can happen when recording video games and animation to the point where instead of direction, the talent is simply getting fed the entire storyline and plot.”

So allow the voice actor to arrive at his or her own authentic emotion.  It does not really matter what excites him or why.  What matters is that genuine excitement is expressed in the voice.

THREE THINGS THE VOICE ACTOR HATES

1) Line Reads: A ‘line read’ is when the director says the line and instructs the actor to repeat it exactly, as a parrot would.  “No, no, no, instead of I LOVE the way YOU smell baby, say it like this, I love the WAY you SMELL baby.”  You may have a very legitimate reason to phrase something precisely.  In that case, explain this to the talent before they start recording.  You are the boss and we will gladly give you what you ask for.  But you could ask for a line read, and then ask for a different interpretation. You might be pleasantly surprised by a new twist.  The problem arises when you feed a voice actor your delivery line by line, and we can’t help but wonder why we were hired in the first place.

2) Vague and overused phrases: As the best example, the word “conversational” is overused to the point where it has lost meaning.  Instead of saying, “Make it more conversational”, it would be helpful to say something like, “Toss off that last phrase like it’s something you’ve discussed a million times”, or “I don’t feel like you are speaking directly to me.”

3) Too many cooks in the kitchen: Directorial input from several people is confusing and very hard to follow.  A strain is added when we must interpret the meaning and weigh the reactions of different personalities.  We appreciate the director who remains the spokesperson for the group, summing up the input from the agency and the clients and whoever else might be involved.  We prefer to take direction from just one person.

THREE THINGS THE VOICE ACTOR LOVES

1) Specificity:  We love it when you are specific.  Kevin Cooke: “Things I love?  Producers who tell me why they want another read.  I’ll read all day to get it right but if they don’t provide even a nugget of information as to what they want different from the last read, we’re stuck.  Like saying, “That was good, let’s do it a couple more times.”  I’m going to pretty much do it the same way, thinking they liked it but want a few more similar reads in order to hit gold.  I find myself rereading it more than 3 or 4 times, and then I realize the “That was good” comment really wasn’t true!  Flattery will get you nowhere – quite literally!  What specifically do you want to hear that you’re not hearing?”   The voice actor will also appreciate specific audio references like a voice clip you might provide.  A reference to the talent’s demo or to their audition is always very helpful.

2) Context before we record: If you are able to provide any context to the project before we begin the recording session, please do.  A draft of the script, a character description, an answer to any of “The Three Questions”—all of this is useful, nerve calming, and welcomed by the actor.

3) Receptivity:  Actors are trained to be open, receptive and present in the moment.  Remaining “open” means you might surprise yourself and everyone else with something unplanned and perfect.  We adore the director who is also open and receptive, who lets us play and allows the unexpected to enhance the process.  Bill Painter: (referencing a favorite director) “His genius was his absolute lack of what I call pride of authorship.  He didn’t care if the words weren’t exactly what he’d written; he was committed to the best possible message, and if it was the result of an actor’s input, so be it.”  Remember that creative gems are forged in an environment of receptivity, so keep an open mind!

Because I want to bring you more than just my own opinion as a voice actor, I have enlisted the help of some of my talented voice-over friends.  The opinions of Diane Havens, JS Gilbert, Bill Painter and Kevin Cooke are included here.  As artists we may not reach consensus, but I am including the areas where we find agreement.

THREE QUESTIONS YOU MUST ANSWER FOR THE ACTOR

For the actor’s sake, always supply this information: Who is speaking?  To whom are they speaking?  How are they speaking?  When you answer these three simple questions for the talent, communication is well underway and confusion is reduced drastically.

1) Who is Speaking?  Diane Havens: “The first thing I expect to hear from a director is the role the voice will have in achieving the intended impact.  Make everything into a role, because that’s what it is — who is speaking?  Neutral bystander?  Impassioned preacher?  Wry humorist?  Helpful teacher?  Caring nurse?  Smiling enthusiast?” 

If you are not getting the performance you want, it is sometimes helpful to imagine and suggest an alternate idea.  For example, the script may call for the role of the fairy queen attempting to calm her warriors.  If that’s not working, suggest the actor play a life coach teaching mediation to stressed-out execs.  Any number of roles may produce the voice you need.

2) To Whom are they Speaking?  The age, gender, geographic region, and socio-economic group of your intended audience all factor into an effective performance.  I would be a very poor voice actor if I used the same voice delivery for an arthritis medication and the National Football League.  Communication is everyone’s goal, so help the talent develop an accurate mental picture of the audience.

3) How are they Speaking?  Provide clear descriptive words like “excited, surprised, reluctant, certain, exasperated.”  The greater variety of words you can provide, the better you will be able to communicate the ideal you are hearing in your head. 

Bill Painter: “I’d recommend hitting the books. Keep a good dictionary or thesaurus at hand — and use it.  The more accurate your description, the more likely an actor will be able to understand and deliver exactly the tone you’re after.  Use colorful, terse, meaningful adjectives.”

Descriptive words will tell the actor how they feel but not WHY they feel that way.  This is important because actors like to dig up their own emotions to apply to the scene.  “Backstory” is an acting term referring to who the character is, how they feel, and why they feel that way. Backstory provided by the director in voice acting can sometimes serve to confuse rather than to clarify.

JS Gilbert:  “Often the director will provide way too much backstory to the actor.  Backstory doesn’t often work because I have analyzed the copy on my own and determined my own set of ‘who and why and what and where’, which may not process well with the backstory a director may give.  For example, I may have determined that I am an avid user of a frozen enchilada dinner and the commercial calls for me to extol the virtues of the product.  I create a backstory that has me speaking to my friend Charlie who occasionally has to fend for himself at dinner time.  The director starts giving me direction like, ‘Pretend that you work in the supermarket and you’re telling a shopper about the great things you’ve heard.’  This breaks up my organic process, but more importantly, it does little to relate what in fact the director is hoping to get from my read.  This often can happen when recording video games and animation to the point where instead of direction, the talent is simply getting fed the entire storyline and plot.”

So allow the voice actor to arrive at his or her own authentic emotion.  It does not really matter what excites him or why.  What matters is that genuine excitement is expressed in the voice.

THREE THINGS THE VOICE ACTOR HATES

1) Line Reads: A ‘line read’ is when the director says the line and instructs the actor to repeat it exactly, as a parrot would.  “No, no, no, instead of I LOVE the way YOU smell baby, say it like this, I love the WAY you SMELL baby.”  You may have a very legitimate reason to phrase something precisely.  In that case, explain this to the talent before they start recording.  You are the boss and we will gladly give you what you ask for.  But you could ask for a line read, and then ask for a different interpretation. You might be pleasantly surprised by a new twist.  The problem arises when you feed a voice actor your delivery line by line, and we can’t help but wonder why we were hired in the first place.

2) Vague and overused phrases: As the best example, the word “conversational” is overused to the point where it has lost meaning.  Instead of saying, “Make it more conversational”, it would be helpful to say something like, “Toss off that last phrase like it’s something you’ve discussed a million times”, or “I don’t feel like you are speaking directly to me.”

3) Too many cooks in the kitchen: Directorial input from several people is confusing and very hard to follow.  A strain is added when we must interpret the meaning and weigh the reactions of different personalities.  We appreciate the director who remains the spokesperson for the group, summing up the input from the agency and the clients and whoever else might be involved.  We prefer to take direction from just one person.

THREE THINGS THE VOICE ACTOR LOVES

1) Specificity:  We love it when you are specific.  Kevin Cooke: “Things I love?  Producers who tell me why they want another read.  I’ll read all day to get it right but if they don’t provide even a nugget of information as to what they want different from the last read, we’re stuck.  Like saying, “That was good, let’s do it a couple more times.”  I’m going to pretty much do it the same way, thinking they liked it but want a few more similar reads in order to hit gold.  I find myself rereading it more than 3 or 4 times, and then I realize the “That was good” comment really wasn’t true!  Flattery will get you nowhere – quite literally!  What specifically do you want to hear that you’re not hearing?”   The voice actor will also appreciate specific audio references like a voice clip you might provide.  A reference to the talent’s demo or to their audition is always very helpful.

2) Context before we record: If you are able to provide any context to the project before we begin the recording session, please do.  A draft of the script, a character description, an answer to any of “The Three Questions”—all of this is useful, nerve calming, and welcomed by the actor.

3) Receptivity:  Actors are trained to be open, receptive and present in the moment.  Remaining “open” means you might surprise yourself and everyone else with something unplanned and perfect.  We adore the director who is also open and receptive, who lets us play and allows the unexpected to enhance the process.  Bill Painter: (referencing a favorite director) “His genius was his absolute lack of what I call pride of authorship.  He didn’t care if the words weren’t exactly what he’d written; he was committed to the best possible message, and if it was the result of an actor’s input, so be it.”  Remember that creative gems are forged in an environment of receptivity, so keep an open mind!

The agreements for each union cover performers working in commercials made for and reused on television, radio, the Internet and new media. If you are a voice talent that belongs to one of these unions, get the latest by clicking here to get the details.