VO-BB - 20 YEARS OLD!

Neil K. Hess

I am very early in to my career, but I just saved up enough money to get source connect. I am curious how necessary you think it is to have source connect early in your career? Just so you know where I am coming from, I have been in VO for less than a year and my goal is to be full time by September 2014 (lofty I know, but I am optimistic). Your thoughts?

Thanks!
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Scott Pollak · Posted: Sat Jul 13, 2013 4:18 pm Post subject:

Neil,

First of all, welcome to the wild and wacky world we call v/o.

I can only speak from my own experience. I am a 10+ year veteran of doing this work and I do not have Source Connect. Nor do I have ISDN.

Going backwards first, there has been a lot of endless discussion about ISDN and whether it's 'going away', yadda yadda. I choose not to have it for 3 reasons:
- the cost
- the ultimate demise of it (which is still in hot debate)
- the fact that I have studios within 15 minutes of my house where I can rent ISDN studios (and an engineer!) affordably

I may have lost a job or two by not having it in my house, but I simply can't justify the cost.

But on to Source Connect which is, obviously, far more affordable than ISDN and conversely is the 'up and coming' technology vs. ISDN. I actually plan to one day get Source Connect, but I'm gauging the waters to see when it becomes widespread to the point that most clients or producers want it, or use it, or see it as advantageous. I'm sure we'll get there soon, and when we do, I'll jump on the bandwagon. But if you look at leads thru sites like V123, or voices.com, or even those that come from agents, it is still quite the minority that even mention source connect as an OPTION. And usually when they do "phone patch" is an alternative option.

Also, here's my thought, which may be inaccurate: It seems to me that you need direct-to-studio-connection (i.e.: ISDN or Source Connect) primarily if you're doing broadcast or national work. Since most of my work is non-broadcast, other than my NPR stuff, my clients are fine with me recording it and uploading it. Even my broadcast stuff such as regional commercials have been the same way; record at home, (often with phone patch) and upload the files.

This early in your career, priortize where that money will do you the most good. Do you have a professional website, demo and business cards? If not, then those should come before Source Connect.

Is your studio sound top notch? If not, spend money there making it better, rather than on Source Connect.

And so on.

Now......... all this being said, I'd LOVE to hear from those who have Source Connect as to how much usage it's getting and what advantage it's given them in terms of landing jobs.

Best wishes on your career, Neil.
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Scott R. Pollak
Clients include Pandora, NPR Atlanta, Wells Fargo, Cisco, Humana, Publix, UPS, AT&T, HP, Xerox and more.

www.voicebyscott.com

Bruce · Posted: Sun Jul 14, 2013 7:18 am Post subject:

Neil, I'd wait.

As a rule ISDN and its cousin technologies are used by clients with bigger and more important (often in their minds) projects, and therefore they often use more established voice talent. (Of course rules are meant to be broken sometimes.)

There are many talent agents and production houses that won't deal with someone unless they have one of these technologies, and these are the folks you need to be in league with once you have ISDN and such, but they too only want to deal with well established talent.

I'd say build your chops, save your money, rent a studio if such an opportunity comes up, and then if you start loosing jobs because you don't have it, that's the time to invest.

B
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Lee Gordon · Posted: Sun Jul 14, 2013 8:39 am Post subject:

A career is a necessity early in a career. All the other stuff can be added as needed.
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Jeffrey Kafer · Posted: Sun Jul 14, 2013 9:51 am Post subject:

Don't need it. Save your money for things like food.
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Jeff
http://JeffreyKafer.com
Voice-overload Web comic: http://voice-overload.com

Jason Huggins · Posted: Sun Jul 14, 2013 11:42 am Post subject:

I've used it one time, and only had one client even mention it. I'd say wait till the clear market leader surfaces and then see if you need it.

Fran McClellan · Posted: Sun Jul 14, 2013 2:32 pm Post subject:

I have Source-Connect and don't regret the purchase, but I didn't make that leap until I had been about 9 years in. I'm not saying you need to wait that long, but this early in your career, I would first invest in training/coaching (from a reputable coach, of course), a demo that showcases your actual abilities (see previous training/coaching comment), and the sound of your home studio.

Don't forget to add to the "I wanna do this full-time" savings fund. I was kinda forced into full-time since I was laid off from my corporate gig (not complaining, mind you...they did me a favor), but it would have been nice to have some cushion money (thankfully, we saw the writing on the wall and got our big bills paid off beforehand Uncertain

)
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Bob Bergen · CM Joined: 22 Apr 2008 Posts: 981

30 plus years in. Don't have Source Connect, don't have ISDN.

Bailey · Posted: Sun Jul 14, 2013 8:12 pm Post subject:

Bill Roberts · Posted: Sun Jul 14, 2013 10:20 pm Post subject:

Take the money and get a coach, if you buy source-connect now, by the time...or the one time you need it, you will find that it will need to be upgraded to run with your OS. The return on the investment of a coach, would be better than spending money on something you will not be using tomorrow.

With the new movie "In A World" due out in September, we could see thousands more in the business, and source-connect will not give you an advantage over them. but getting plugged into a coach with the cash you have in your pocket will.

That's my 2 cents!

P.S. It must be noted, I am not a coach, just a happy customer!
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Philip Banks · Posted: Mon Jul 15, 2013 1:28 am Post subject:

People will go and see the film "In a world" because they were interested in the first place. For the most part "In a REAL world" few people are interested in VOs or the work.

A few weeks ago I sat next to a movie producer from LA on a flight from Aberdeen to Manchester.

I know he has an office not far from the Century Plaza Hotel, plays golf, has family in Shropshire(UK), has a Maltese dog who likes bottled mineral water and laying by the fire. He doesn't know what I do for a living but does know I can (sort of) fly an aeroplane and that I live near the beach.

Source Connect - been asked a couple of times but have never needed it.

Frank F · Posted: Mon Jul 15, 2013 2:02 am Post subject:

I am still waiting for someone to ask for SC. I have had ISDN installed and removed. When called for; I can go to a nearby studio or two and use one of their booths - but I have only had one call for ISDN in three years.

I do use what I call Virtual Voice (tm) or Phone Patch via VOIP quite often however. I own my own VOIP server and when communicating VOIP-to-VOIP it sounds rather nice on both sides of the session. And, there are new possibilities which make VOIP a cheap, simple, high quality source - much better than SC or ISDN. I have also found clients like the simplicity of getting an edited file more often than not.

Do you need SC now, at this stage of your career? No.
Will you need it in the future? Probably not.
Will you use Virtual Voice (tm) or Phone Patch in this stage of your development? Most likely.

You will need to make your own decision about SC or ISDN, no one here or anywhere can make that choice for you. To sum up the thoughts of most everyone who has responded thus far: "Wait!"

Frank F
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Be thankful for the bad things in life. They opened your eyes to the good things you weren't paying attention to before. email: thevoice@usa.com

Lee Gordon · Posted: Mon Jul 15, 2013 2:16 am Post subject:

Philip Banks · Posted: Mon Jul 15, 2013 3:08 am Post subject:

Of course

Bill Roberts · Posted: Mon Jul 15, 2013 5:04 am Post subject:

Ok...I been flying helicopters, gliders, and fixed wing for 38 years, but I still have a coach...and that was my point...I can't get a free cup of coffee with a pilots license! I met Jack Klugman at LAX in 1976 and he could care less about my pilots license, in fact he could have cared less about what I did for a living as long as I could get him to his destination, he did not even offer me a cup of coffee. Oh...I am sorry if I got side tracked!

Hire a coach!!!

Have an excellent day!

P.S. I used to ride my motorcycle down Pacific Coast Highway...from Santa Monica to Ventura Pier, but who cares!
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VO-BB Member # 764 (Dec 2009)