Homework for Wed., Feb 8, 2012

Start doing this assignment now, in conjunction with the homework that is due on Monday, Feb. 6. You will be doing this anyway!

Listening/Writing Assignment: Pages 10 and 11 in your Workbook.

What kinds of voices you are hearing? TV Spots and Radio Spots.

In addition to figuring out just where voices are used, you also need to start hearing what the voices really sound like. So start taking notes on what kinds of voices are being used for what kinds of voice work. You may do this throughout the semester, but pay attention to due dates.

The following exercises break your listening down into several common areas of voiceovers. Spend time listening to the voices in each of the areas – concentrate on them one at a time. You’ll want to listen for some specific things. First of all what kinds of voices are you hearing? Male, female, young, old, ethnic. Are the voices smooth, deep, quirky, mid-range? What kind of attitudes do you hear?

For the commercials – identify the product being sold. What channel? Is a male or female doing the selling? What kind of voice is it – smooth, raspy, deep, quirky, accented, etc.?

Is the voice calm and soothing, sexy or excited, sarcastic, perhaps even loud? Can you tell if it is a local spot or a national spot? When watching TV spots, watch a few of the hard sell late night spots that show up on the obscure cable channels and you’ll start to understand what I mean.

When listening to radio spots, try to spot the spots done by “personalities” and those done by voice actors.

Fill in the grids provided in the Workbook.

Homework for Mon., Feb. 6, 2012

For those of you who were in the class on Wednesday, January 25, this should not be new. For those of you who missed the class, read this CAREFULLY! It is not a hard assignment, but there are several elements – all of which are detailed in your Workbook.

However, it has been brought to my attention that the bookstore is out of the workbooks (or were on Wednesday), so I will cut and paste from the workbook here to this page.

Reading Assignment: Read Chapters 1-4 of your Textbook, “There’s Money Where Your Mouth Is.”

Listening/Writing Assignment 1 – Page 2 of your Workbook.

Where Do You Hear Voiceover Artists?

This is a critical thinking exercise. Identify where voiceovers are being used. Start to listen: listen, listen, listen. You will hear voices everywhere — voices of every quality, skill, talent. Open up those ears and absorb it all. Name at least a dozen distinct areas where voiceover talent will be paid for their services. There are more than that, but fill in at LEAST 12 areas. Also think about who might be writing the checks for these voices. This will be helpful when you start to think about marketing your voice. Write down at least a few places/people who would be the people writing the checks!

We discussed LOTS of these areas in class on Monday and Wednesday, so I hope to see that you are able to name at least a dozen.

Listening/Writing Assignment 2: Page 5 of your Workbook

Describe your voice

You need to know your basic sound, patterns and tendencies when you speak. So, your first recording exercise is to record a conversation with someone. It could be a telephone call, or a casual conversation with someone. Just start the recorder and then forget about it. Just talk. A telephone conversation would be good, because you can simply record your side of the call.

You will actually do this exercise twice – once on your own after doing the recording exercise and then again in class with a partner. After recording your voice, play it back and critique your voice answering these questions. I would prefer you use the form in the workbook.

1. Voice Quality – smooth, raspy, quirky, powerful, rich, thin, breathy, weak, old, young?
2. Voice Pitch – high, low, medium pitch? Do you speak in the correct register?
3. Voice Placement – throat, front of mouth? Where is your sound coming from in your head?
4. Voice Inflection? Monotone or modulated? Lots of energy? No energy?
5. Vocal Pattern – your voice has a natural rhythm or pattern of inflection. Describe it.
6. Speed – do you speak quickly or deliberately? Many people speak very rapidly.
7. Pronunciation – mush mouth, over articulator, do you have an accent?
8. Breathing – do you tire easily when you are talking? Do you take lots of breaths when you speak?
9. Facial Talk – How much do you move (or not move) your jaw, lips, tongue? Are you great at raising your eyebrows?
10. Body Language – do you use your hands when you talk or do you keep your arms locked in one position?

Listening and Recording Exercise 3: Pages 8 and 9 in your Workbook

Read the Script of Your Choice

This exercise will help you understand if you are hearing your own “voice” and have at least a little understanding of where it might fit.

Record a few commercial breaks off the TV – either using a video or audio recorder. You need about 4 to 8 minutes of commercials so that you can find one that seems “right” for your voice. Pick something with a voiceover part of between 30 and 60 seconds. (20 seconds at the LEAST)

What you are trying to get is the audio from a bunch of commercials from which you will pick one to transcribe. That’s why you need to record the commercials – on an audio or video format. You need to be able to play the one you select over and over until you get the words written down correctly. (Even when you think it is correct, there may be mistakes in the script, so be sure to read it aloud before you record it for “real” to be sure that your script is accurate.)

 

Select one spot from what you have recorded for which you think your voice might be suited. Pick a fairly straight forward spot. Do not go for a broad character for this exercise. Also, be aware that while this is a subjective business, some products are more likely to be voiced by one gender or the other. BUT, if you are a male, this doesn’t necessarily eliminate spots that were voiced by females, or vice versa.

What spot you pick will say a lot about how you hear your own voice and capabilities – which is part of the goal of this class.

Transcribe the words for this spot onto a separate piece of paper – DOUBLE SPACE the copy which will allow you to make notes. Use at least 1” margins. Use upper and lower case font. Answer these questions.

1. Why did you select this particular spot as being suited to your voice?
2. What kind of spot is this? Hard sell? Soft sell? Conversational?
3. Is the spot a local spot or a national spot?
4. Is this a TV spot or a radio spot?

Now, read through the spot aloud at least once, then record yourself reading the spot. Please don’t record over and over trying to “get it right.” You need to evaluate yourself early and often. So, record it once and then fill out the evaluation on the next page. After evaluating yourself, you can THEN go back and re-record it to see how you have improved.

Evaluate Your Delivery

1. Listen to the recorded spot and think about the work you did when “Describing Your Voice.” Now that you are hearing your recorded voice, does your earlier description still hold true? You may notice some new things, or change your mind about other things. Some people sound very different when recorded – especially if using character voices – or if the copy is very traditional announcing copy. Did you hear anything different?
2. Did you stumble on any words? Which words and why?
3. Did you hesitate before saying certain words? Which words and why?
4. Did you say all the words? If not, what did you leave out?
5. Did you add or change words? What did you add or change?
6. Did you breathe in the middle of a sentence instead of at a period or a comma? If so, was it an appropriate breath?
7. Did your recording sound flat (monotone) or lacking in energy?
8. Did your recording sound “sing-song”?
9. How did the words you stressed compare to the words stressed on the original recording off the TV? Did you emphasize many of the same words that the announcer punched? Did the words stand out too much on your recording?
10. Is the length of your recording significantly longer or shorter than the one you recorded?

Homework for Wed., Jan 25, 2012

Here’s your first assignment – due on Wednesday, January 25, 2012…

Your first graded assignment is a listening exercise. Listening to other talent is an essential part of learning. Listen to commercial demos. They are readily available online. Use one of the resources listed here or find other places to listen to demos – for example – do a search for Talent Agent and you will find demos on most Talent Agent websites these days. Listen to both genders.

www.voicebank.net (Voice Over Talent Agency – then select Union or Non-Union)

www.voice123.com

Listen for several things and answer these questions for at least 5 demos.

1. Tell me the name and gender of the “talent”
2. The overall technical quality of the demo. Is it good, great, or not so good? Does the demo sound “real?” Like the samples on the demo have actually been produced for a paying client?
3. The kind of voice on the demo – young, old, deep, rich, quirky
4. What is the pitch of the voice – high, medium, low
5. The acting ability and range – does the voice artist sound like they can act or are they simply reading the words and is there variety in the samples?

Talk about listening…

During the semester I talk a lot about LISTENING. You simply cannot be a good voiceover talent if you don’t LISTEN. To other voiceover talent to start with. And to yourself!

You must learn what works and why! The only way to do that is to LISTEN and ANALYZE. Both with other people’s work as well as your own.

My friend and fellow voiceover talent, engineer and blogger posted an article a few months ago that popped up on my radar. Well worth reading – so that you know it isn’t just me who wants you to start LISTENING!

http://sound4vo.com/the-best-voice-over-coach-is-your-ears/

He reminds us that we have “two ears and one mouth to remind you to use your ears twice as much.”

The Voices You Hear

Part of your work as a voice talent is to listen to other voice talent. To study the voices. To get inside the head of the voices doing the work – AND inside the head of the director hiring the voices.

I found a great podcast called “Under the Influence” that discusses the ubiquitous voices we hear every day every where – and who and why they are selected.

This is great information for anyone thinking they want to go into the voiceover business. You need to know yourself, your competition and why people get hired.

It is about a half hour long. So grab a cup of coffee.

http://www.cbc.ca/video/#/Radio/Under_the_Influence/2184189717/ID=2188883114

 

Looking for a mic under $200? Check out this great review

My good friend Bob Souer blogs on a regular basis and comes up with some gems that are worth passing along. This time he posted a link to a fabulous review of a bunch of condenser mics under $200.

The article is detailed and includes samples for comparison. See if you can find the RE20 he slipped into the mix.

http://recordinghacks.com/2011/12/22/best-200-podcasting-condenser-mics/

Finding your Value as a Voice-Over (repost from Paul Strikwerda’s Blog)

My friend Paul Strikwerda writes a killer blog and I am passing along one of his latest pieces titled “Finding your Value as a Voice-Over.” Here is a snippet from the body of the blog.

Quality calls for experience, dedication, patience and passion. It’s so much easier to be average. Mediocrity can be phoned in. It doesn’t require effort, enthusiasm or attention to detail. It doesn’t ask for sacrifice, continued education or for high-end equipment.

Read the entire piece for valuable insight. And answer the question – “What drives you to be in this business?”

http://www.nethervoice.com/nethervoice/2011/12/22/finding-value-in-voice-overs/

The New Voiceover Toolkit

The New VO Tools

Today’s serious voiceover talent (even those represented by a top agent in a top market) needs a lot more marketing, business and technical savvy than in the recent past. One of the good things about the industry is that there are a LOT more opportunities. But at the same time, there are a LOT more people offering their services.

You still have to have talent and technique to make it in this business, but you need a whole slew of other attributes these days. This is a list of the basic tools you need today.

1. A thorough understanding of the business and where the opportunities lie.
2. A thorough and realistic understanding of your own baseline abilities and potential and how you are different.
3. A plan for finding the people who want to buy what you have to sell.
1. Marketing 101
2. Networking skills
3. Understanding and evaluating opportunities
1. Agent?
2. Union?
3. Advertising?
4. Audition Services (P2P sites)?
5. Direct to companies, ad agencies, production companies?

4. A business sense and ability
1. Negotiation
2. Bookkeeping
3. Collection
5. A demo(s) that shows the people with the money that you have what they want.
6. A place to park that demo(s).
1. A professional will have a personal meaningful Domain name
2. And a simple well designed website
7. High Speed Internet Access (DSL or Cable at a minimum)
8. Recording capability of sufficient quality to record professional sounding auditions and/or record the actual session
1. Acoustically treated room
2. Good quality microphone
3. Clean sound card
4. Professional recording software and the ability to use it.
5. Some technical ability to troubleshoot problems
9. Time to devote to the entire process at all stages of developing a career
10. A true understanding of the costs, time and expertise involved
1. In startup (training, studio, demo, website, marketing plan, etc.)
2. In maintenance (training, studio enhancements, more demos, etc.)

 

Demo Produced from Your Tracks

Another thing we discussed recently in class was sending good clean tracks to a studio who would do the finish work. I do want to remind you that this is to be done ONLY when your have progressed to a point in your voiceover growth where you KNOW that the tracks are up to snuff – ready for prime time – ready to compete.

Just got an email from EDGE Studio announcing this very service. Here are the details. I rearranged the wording just a bit because their last paragraph is very important. Read bullet two – this is one of the reasons I like the work Edge Studio does. They won’t create something that isn’t really marketable.

Read this:  What you need to know:

• We are considerate of casting professionals who will hire you, and so we create industry standard, marketable demos, which accurately demonstrate your abilities (rather than relying on digital software to make you sound different).  This way, when you market your demo, your clients will hear an honest representation of what you’ll give them.
• If we believe the recordings you send us will not produce a marketable demo, we’ll summarize why and will refund you* – we will not create demos that we believe will waste your time and money. (*You will be refunded the full amount minus a $35 office expense fee.)
• Turnaround time will depend on demand; expect 1-3 weeks.

YOU’VE DONE THE WORK, WE’LL MAKE IT A DEMO

Send us your recordings, and we’ll professionally mix them with music and sound effects, we’ll edit and remove mouth clicks and breaths, we’ll process your files with EQ and compression, and we’ll sequence it into an industry standard, professional voice over demo.

It’s a great way to get a professionally mixed demo for $250.

What we need from you:

• 6 or fewer voice-over segments totaling 90 seconds or less (for audio book demos 4 minutes or less)
• Recordings can be dry or mixed with music/SFX
• Recordings can be in a .mp3, .wav, or .aif format
• Any instructions you may want us to follow (optional). Otherwise, we’ll do what we feel is most marketable.
• Any music or sound effect files you want used (optional). Otherwise, we’ll add what we feel makes each segment most marketable.

What we’ll do:

• Remove breaths, mouth clicks, pops, etc.
• Select the most marketable passages and equalize, edit, and compress them.
• Add music, sound effects, sequence it, and master it.

What you’ll get:

• An industry standard .mp3 demo

If you want our help turning your recordings into a VO demo

START HERE!

Do You Need an Agent? (From the LA POV)

We talked about agents and managers in class recently. Do you need an agent? What is happening to agents as technology advances? Just found this video that looks at this from the Los Angeles point of view. It is addressing the on-camera actor, but read between the lines and try to think about how this discussion will affect the voice actor.

One of the key messages here…

You used to be able to show up in LA with talent and nothing else and an agent would take a chance on you. Today, you have to show them that you are worth taking a chance on. “Show people what you can do and then ask people to care.”

Casting Director Ivy Isenberg and Talent Manager Ryan Glasgow have a lively discussion about the changing landscape of the entertainment industry and how it affects everyone from Casting Directors to Agents, Managers and the clients that they represent.

http://www.virtualchannelnetwork.com/channels/reel_deal/ep128.cfm