I’ll take mine with a side of Convenience, please…

42nd Street MenuOne of the things I’ve learned over the years is that when I make something easier for my clients it usually pays off.

Convenience is defined as something that saves or simplifies work – or adds to one’s ease or comfort. 

I make it as convenient as possible to do business with me. My website has demos up front and center on the home page of my website. I have contact information on each page. There are links to more demos and hopefully enough information about who I am and what I do to help them take a chance on my voiceover work. After that, it is up to me to provide value.

We love convenience. Savvy business people have always known that people will pay a […]

2018-02-06T06:48:04+00:00April 8th, 2016|Categories: Business, Marketing|Tags: , , |

Time for a Kick Start

I am a working voice talent. I make my living doing this. And as with most voice talent outside the major markets I find that I rely more and more on my own abilities to self-direct. Especially at the audition phase.

As someone who has been doing this a long time, I have lots of repeat clients, referrals and direct leads from my website – most of which don’t ask for an audition because they know me, or they simply like what they hear on my demos and don’t ask for an audition.

But, oh those auditions…

It is true that the booking to audition ratio is getting worse. More agents receive the same copy – which means many more people end up auditioning for the same spot – where in the past one or two agents would submit just a few of their talent.  This is ancient history. And if you are […]

2018-02-06T06:48:07+00:00July 9th, 2014|Categories: Auditioning, Musings|Tags: , , |

Improv and Successful Voiceover Work?

I have long been told (and even suggest it myself) that Improv is a great training ground for voiceover pros. Instinctively I think I knew this to be true. But I have never been able to really articulate exactly why. Edge Studio published an article by Vanessa Richardson that finally clarified it for me.

Spontaneity is the word I have been using when thinking and talking about what Improv training will do to help improve delivery of a script, but it goes deeper than just being spontaneous.

The dictionary defines Spontaneous as “1. coming or resulting from a natural impulse or tendency; without effort or premeditation; natural and unconstrained; unplanned: a spontaneous burst of applause.” Or 2. (of a person) given to acting upon sudden impulses.”

This doesn’t really explain what is actually happening in Improv and how it might relate to reading a script.

It gets more confusing because the word improvise is defined as doing something without preparation.  We all improvise. Every day, all day, we move through our […]

2018-02-06T06:48:13+00:00September 9th, 2013|Categories: Musings, Techniques|Tags: , , , |

Excellent Advice for Self-directing Audio Book Narration

One of the things that a professional voice talent MUST have to succeed is the ability to self-direct. We do so much of our work – at least initially (and in many cases most of our work) – alone. Alone with our doubts, our insecurities, our patterns.

When we are auditioning, the ability to self-direct can be the determining factor in getting the gig. We don’t want to send out the “same” read that 95% of the rest of the talent is submitting. We want our audition to leap off the mp3 and straight into the “book that talent” column.

Last year, I tried my hand at fiction audio books for the first time. I am finishing up the 3rd. And while the verdict is still out on if I actually like this area of voice work, I have greatly enjoyed the process. Discovering how much time it REALLY takes. Is it […]

2018-02-06T06:48:14+00:00January 19th, 2013|Categories: Techniques|Tags: , , , , |

Voices behind those familiar cartoon characters: “I Know That Voice”

I’m thrilled and a bit scared to see that a documentary on cartoon voice actors is in production.

Thrilled, because I know a few of the people in the film personally – one of whom was actually my agent way back in the 80’s before she moved to Hanna-Barbara – Andrea Romano.

Scared because it is more exposure to the business of voice acting – which will probably inspire more and more people to give up their day jobs to try to become a voiceover actor. So they will seek out advice – many asking far too many questions that will point out that they have nary a clue how to use Google to find the basic answers so that they can craft answerable questions.

I have included both trailers. The first one embedded here is lots of fun – but look just below for the other trailer. If you are one of those […]

2018-02-06T06:48:16+00:00July 13th, 2012|Categories: Business, Techniques|Tags: , , , |

What Do Voiceover Folk Say?

The flood of S*%t People Say videos isn’t stopping apparently. Just saw one posted to Facebook by my good buddy Trish, the Dish.

This one was done by a bunch of Australian talent who work in studios. Pretty funny stuff. But considering that so many of us work primarily out of our own studios these days – the bits about the color of the cable or asking for a different set of “cans” – just wouldn’t happen.

But I have so many memories of working in the different studios around town. Some with cans that squeezed your head. Some with cans that fell off because they were so loose.

Watch the body language of the “mushroom” bit. I so wanted to hear what she came up with.

And I do that warm up in the shower! Well, not exactly that warm up, but something goofy.

RMK Management Pty Ltd is […]

2018-02-06T06:48:18+00:00February 27th, 2012|Categories: Musings|Tags: , , |

Are you still doing voiceover work?

As a long time voiceover talent, I get email from past clients on a regular basis asking me if I am still doing voiceover work. I assure them that I am and their relief is followed by a script.

It begs the question though…how many times do clients return to someone and find that they are no longer in business? As technology and services change and it becomes easier for people to hang out their shingle proclaiming their voiceover prowess, it strikes me that many people who get hired today for a project (and may even do a decent job on that project) may not be able to sustain voiceover as a viable business and simply not be around when the client needs an update.

Their equipment may still be hooked up, but their new day job, the one they had to take to put food on the table and pay the […]

2018-02-06T06:48:19+00:00November 23rd, 2011|Categories: Business|Tags: , , , |

Working on another role play for eLearning

It is interesting to see how work evolves and how people hear you. When I started in the business, I did primarily corporate narration and straight commercials with a lot of “sell.” Now, in the past few years, a large percentage of my work has turned to more role playing than straight narration.

eLearning characters make up a big part of that – being cast in multiple roles within programs – ranging from some nebulous African accent, to redneck homophobe, to tough Boss Lady. I have had more than one casting as Tough Boss Lady – working on one right now which sort of prompted this post. But I have also been cast as “soft young Asian woman learning to speak her mind at work.” So I while I do a good tough boss lady, please don’t pigeon-hole me there.

A lot of my radio and TV spot work has also been as a real person, […]

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