VO-BB - 20 YEARS OLD!

[griffitd]

Hey guys, I just wanted to take a few minutes out of your busy schedule..

I am trying to find my read, but.. I still feel like I am stuck in quick-sand! I was thinking maybe perhaps hire a voice-over coach to help correct some flaws.. or maybe you all can give me some advice!

<a> airforce.mp3

this was done recently.. I want to re-do it ASAP..

<a> infiniti spot.mp3
my buddy helped me do this one..

In any event, I appreciate for your time. Trying to get my feet wet, but I realize that this thing takes TIME to develop!

Aloha
Cam



[url][/url]

[griffitd]

ooopppss brain fart.. I think I messed up.. sorry, I am new to this stuff..

maybe this will work..

http://boxstr.com/files/1658261_2plk2/airforce.mp3]airforce.mp3

http://boxstr.com/files/1658291_tgesx/infiniti%20spot.mp3]infiniti spot.mp3

Mahalo!

CAm

[glittlefield]

On the Air Force spot, you gotta watch those plosives (B's and P's) and the whole thing is done with a sing-song sort of lilt to it. Definitely coachable, though.

The Infinity spot sounds much better, but my ear got hung up on the word "seemingly" because it just stood out from the rest of the copy. Otherwise, I thought it sounded good!

Mind you, my ear isn't as critical as some that will follow.
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Greg Littlefield
VO-BB Member #59

[louzucaro]

What Greg said...

Also, the first spot is very start-stop-ish which sounds odd, and in some segments you trailed off in your delivery making me have to work to hear what you were saying. Also, based on your voice in the second spot, I think you could have done the Air Force one in a more natural voice.

In the second one, as Greg said, sounds much better, but yeah, try to remember what it is you're selling in the spot...if you're going to punch a word here and there more than the others, make sure it's a word that has to do with the sell, and not something random...in the second line, for instance, maybe favor "memorable" over "more" instead of the other way around, which is how it is now. Your sales points and emotions will catch people more than the "common" words.

And watch "lingo" too...you say "red LINE" when most car people say "REDline".
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Lou Zucaro
http://www.voicehero.com

"Well, yeah, there's my favorite leaf!"

[Don G.]

I'll let others comment on overall performance, but I will point out two things I heard that may keep you from being considered "pro".

In the Infinity spot, be careful with "hundred". It sounded like "hunnerd" ("three hunnerd and six horsepower..."). And whenever I head a long A in a spot, I immediately dismiss it as amateur. It may not be fair to do so, but after years of working with clients who want to voice their own spots, that's one issue that is consistent. I noticed it in the line "featuring a seventy-six _______..." (not sure what that next word was).

[Yoda117]

Well, Don and Greg nailed several of my comments, but I have a few more.

The Air Force spot. I don't know what type of processing you used, but it was too much (notice how your voice drops so quickly at the end of each sentence). I found it to be very distracting. Next lower the background tracks. I've done enough spots with folks like that to know that's not how they do it (and you want anyone who listens to your demo to think that it's a real spot). The music tracks are much lower in the background, on average than a normal spot (because they want folks to concentrate on what you're saying, not to think about the music... that's their trick).

So let's talk about what you're saying. Do yo believe it? I didn't think so. I got no love for who you are, what you represent, or what you're trying to tell me. VO is a lot like flying in the sense that you've got to have love. Make your choice, commit to it, even if you're not sure. I just didn't get that throughout the read.

Okay, the Infiniti spot. Maybe it's me, but somewhere in the middle, the pitch of the second half of a sentence went up and I can't understand why. Frankly it sounded like it was an edit from another take. I've done that a few times and upon playback I was left scratching my head. Gotta watch it.

Here's the big thing, and I noticed it for both. Get out of your head. Don' worry about whether you sound alright. Just have some fun with the copy and most of the issues I'm hearing here are going to resolve themselves.

As for a voice coach, that's up to you. I'm a huge fan of continual training. Basically, if you're not working... you should be practicing, training, or marketing, but that's just my opinion.
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Voiceovers by Gregory Houser
Philadelphia based Voice Actor

Blog - A man, a martini, and a lot of microphones

[griffitd]

BIG MAHALOS for you all taking the time to listen. stay tuned for more!


Aloha-
Cam

[Mike Sommer]

I'm coming in a little late on this but here is my two cents.

What everyone said was right on. On the Air Force spot I did catch a few whistles at the end of words, plosives, breathy, and choppy. Infinity was better only because one could understand it.

As Yoda said, YOU NEED TO MAKE A CHOICE. Your first choice is who are you talking to? Pick one person picture them in your mind and talk to them and only them. Next, who are you? for the Air-force spot you could be a commander firing up the troops, for the Infinati spot you could be you telling a friend about this great new car, or a car salesman trying to close a big sale. No mater what, you are talking to ONE person. Believe in who you are talking to and what you are saying and we'll all believe you.

Next be able to deliver the spot in one clean take, don't worry about production yet, most of the time you won't be asked to do that anyway. You should be able to sell on voice alone. And be consistent through the whole read.

For this kind of read I would be using a dynamic mic like a Sennheiser 421 or a EV RE-15. And then I would give it a little chain saw action a la Erni Anderson.
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Acoustics are counter-intuitive. If one thing is certain about acoustics, it is that if anything seems obvious it is probably wrong.