VO-BB - 20 YEARS OLD!

[Diane Maggipinto]

I'm one of those who likes to complete questionnaires. Go figure. Didn't read anyone else's (great) answers, so here's a blind stab.

1) How did you decide to get into this field of work?
Radio pay is notoriously low. I figured it couldn't be too hard to make that little money on my own, and be able to take time off when need be.
2) What’s a typical work day like?
There is no typical. A lot of computer time, some mic time, more editing time, and, depending on the season, some hiking or skiing or riding a bike.
3) What do you like about the job?
Nailing a read.
4) What’s the worst part of this job?
Not nailing a read, Read and repeat.
5) What’s the best part of this job?
Satisying (with aplomb) the client.
6) What kind of people survive and do well in this field?
Those with talent, skills, humor, resilience, and, frankly, something special in this dog-eat-dog day-to-day.
7) What kind of training/education do you recommend as the best way to prepare for this career?
I've got a Bachelors in Government. Works for me! I like workshops, and good coaching, and the opportunity to read in front of and be part of an audience among my kind (heh).
What skill and background are need?
Personally, my having editing (tape and digital), extemporaneous speaking, microphone, mixing, and personality skills, honed in radio (and so, also, an understanding of advertising, sort of), helps.
9) Do you think this field is expanding, taking any new directions?
Of course. What isn't? It's gotten crowded and competitve and more accessible, and perhaps better understood and it never wants for talent!
10) What are the perks of this biz?
The opportunity to avoid people, if you so choose. But it's about doing a good job, from making relationships to practicing and expanding your skills. The money's good. The flexibility is good. The lack of commute is way good. One main perk is there are too many to mention, really. It's great if (when) it works for you. Me. Lots of us!!
11) Is there anything else I need to know?
I'm ... not sure. Is there? Only you know.
_________________
sitting at #8, though not as present as I'd like to be. Hello!

www.d3voiceworks.com

[dhouston67]

Oooh, me next! (Late to the party as usual.) Please pardon my snarkiness in advance.

1) How did you decide to get into this field of work? Hawaiian Shirt Day at the office is just not as much fun as TV and the movies make it seem.


2) What’s a typical work day like? Sometimes a typical work day likes to drag on, sometimes it likes to zip along. Sometimes it does both.


3) What do you like about the job? The fact that I got hired for it. Credit to a smart boss. (For once in his life, anyway.)


4) What’s the worst part of this job? Post-production on long narrations.


5) What’s the best part of this job? The worst part (see above) still beats the best part of answering phones in a cubicle.


6) What kind of people survive and do well in this field? To paraphrase PB: those who take their work seriously, while taking themselves much less so.


7) What kind of training/education do you recommend as the best way to prepare for this career? Let's see... go to college embarking on a Music Education degree, drop out, work in radio for a while, do some community theatre in the meantime, work in the medical field for a while, pursue a fledgling music career in the meantime, work in tech support for a while, then slap yourself across the face and do what you love.


8 ) What skill and background are needed? The ability to spell one's name correctly, so that one can insist clients do the same on the paycheck.


9) Do you think this field is expanding, taking any new directions? See DB Cooper's new animated series The Hyrde, coming soon to a mobile device near you. Hint, hint.

Ask any civil engineer: the more roads you build, the more the traffic increases to fill up the lanes. Wherever your voice can sell an idea, that's where you go.


10) What are the perks of this biz? Yes.


11) Is there anything else I need to know? Yes. "Time flies like an arrow. Fruit flies like a banana." - Groucho Marx
_________________
Great Voice. Great Choice. For Voice Talking and stuff.
http://davidhoustonvoice.com
Do That Voice! - The DHV Blog

[Rob Ellis]

I love Banksey's answers, as well as Todd's:

[Lizden]

[alextorrenegra]

1) How did you decide to get into this field of work?
> My wife decided for me

2) What’s a typical work day like?
> Figuring out ways of making the Voice123 service so complex that not even I can understand how it works

3) What do you like about the job?
> Driving people crazy

4) What’s the worst part of this job?
> The people I have driven crazy

5) What’s the best part of this job?
> Being surrounded by loving, warm, intelligent, and, sometimes, crazy people (no kidding here - this is the best industry I have ever worked with)

6) What kind of people survive and do well in this field?
> People that is just a little bit crazy

7) What kind of training/education do you recommend as the best way to prepare for this career?
> Not education at all. Anybody with enough education would know that you need to be crazy in order to manage an online voice marketplace and would simply stay away.

8 ) What skill and background are need?
>

9) Do you think this field is expanding, taking any new directions?
> I definitely hope so

11) Is there anything else I need to know?
> The in and outs of the SmartCast algorithm

[Lizden]

[todd ellis]

oh yeah, alex reminded me.

12. learn how to B***h loudly on the interwebs.
_________________
"i know philip banks": todd ellis
who's/on/1st?

[Deirdre]

Don't think I can top any of the answers that have come before, expecially Banksey's.
Herein is my meager contribution.

1) How did you decide to get into this field of work?
1994, when I got a divorce, and subsequently a Macintosh computer.
Oh-- not when— HOW.
I read out loud all the time and got into radio when I was 14.
The rest is a long stream-of-consciousness mess with includes rock and roll, disco, domestic violence, trans-Pacific and cross-country moves, three marriages and 2 kids, and a home studio.

2) What’s a typical work day like?
I wake up when I feel like it, write things-that-must-be-done on the pad beside my bed, then cruise a bit in semi-sleep mode.
Get up, make tea, look at comics in the newspaper and online, read Dear Abby and Annie's Mailbox and Amy Alkon's Advice Goddess page. Answer or color code email in varying degrees of urgency. Look thru this board and see how things have fared overnight.
Record whatever industrial stuff has rolled in, work for CBS radio (every other week), sometimes an ISDN session.
Traffic at 4 weekdays.

3) What do you like about the job?
Talking. It's the talking I like.
I also like clever production. I like it when I hear is and I LOVE it when I do it.
I especially like having someone tell me they tried a product or service because they heard me talk about it. That totally rocks.

4) What’s the worst part of this job?
D00fus AEs who think they can write— 40 seconds of s&!t for a 30-second bag. People who think anyone can do it, so it has no value. Beastly predator demo-mills that are altogether too happy to exploit your dreams in order to separate you from your money.

5) What’s the best part of this job?
Becoming friends with my heroes.
This board.

6) What kind of people survive and do well in this field?
Nice people. Nobody needs to work with an asshole twice.

7) What kind of training/education do you recommend as the best way to prepare for this career?
It's the same as my advice for someone who wants to be an actor: Get a real job. Take classes of all kinds. Take acting classes of all kinds.

8) What skill and background are needed?
Read aloud every blessed day of your life and shame on you if you don't.

9) Do you think this field is expanding, taking any new directions?
Keep your eye on slashdot and reddit, IGN and YouTube. metaCafe. PennyArcade.com. FARK.

10) What are the perks of this biz?
I'm home.

11) Is there anything else I need to know?
Never stop reading.
Be strong and multi-talented.
Take care of your health.
_________________
DBCooperVO.com
IMDB

[Frank F]

I don't have much to add to any of the afore-mentioned posts - well only one thing to DB's post...