VO-BB - 20 YEARS OLD!

[Michael Prince]

I'm crawling back in to my VO saddle after taking a few years off. I'm hoping a couple of you fine guys and gals might be willing to critique my website and demo... http://www.GoldenMike.com. I'd appreciate any comments or ideas. Thanks! Michael Prince

[mcm]

Michael, you have a very nice sound. A few comments:

Watch your diction; it's sloppy in places. You don't want to over-enunciate as that doesn't sound natural, but words like mature and insured come out sounding like ma-cherr and in-sherred. Your p's are popping too. Your accent is charming, but it is noticeable and might not be desirable in other parts of the country.

Too much compression - everything sounds fuzzy.

I would recommend not mixing genres - you have promo-type stuff along with commercial-type stuff. For a commercial demo, five or six spots of roughly equal length adding up to one minute would be ideal, with a range of consumer products represented (food, cars, finances, etc).

Good luck and welcome back to voice-over!

Mary McK.

p.s. you didn't ask for feedback on your website, but here it is anyway. It looks busy considering that it's beautifully simple, with just one page. If you removed the blue background lines, which add nothing at all to your image (nothing good anyway), and remove the information about where to send checks (you don't need to put your address on a public website, and your clients will get that information from your invoices), it will be a much more visually appealing site. Plus it will eliminate the need for scrolling. You might consider changing the white background to a very pale version of the gold. Maybe. Others who are better at this stuff could give better advice.

[Michael Prince]

Thank you, Mary. Excellent... very constructive feedback. I REALLY appreciate it. Have a great day! Michael

[Bailey]

Michael... Welcome to the VO-BB.
Debates can be found in the VO-BB archives concerning a photo on the website. If you are a recognizable person... no problem.
You have made some changes since Mary's comment... good. The current photo does not come across as "welcome to my website"... more like "keep off the grass". Other than that observation, your website is a bit less confusing.
_________________
"Bailey"
a.k.a. Jim Sutton
Retired... Every day is Saturday, except Sunday.
VO-BB Member #00044 .gif" alt="W00T" border="0" />
AOVA Graduate 02/2004 ;
"Be a Voice, not an Echo."

[Michael Prince]

Thanks, Bailey. I actually laughrd out loud at your comment... but I know exactly what you mean. I already removed the photo, so obviously, I agree with you. Thanks again for the reply. --Michael

P.S. By the way.... keep off the grass!!!

[louzucaro]

Hi Michael,

Re: the site, I would maybe pick a different background...the current one is, frankly, a bit depressing as it looks like a rainy day (ho hum) and at higher resolutions, such as 1920 x 1200, some of your text is lost over some of the background.

Also, is there some reason you posted your demo as a WAV instead of an MP3?

You've got 5 different fonts for six lines of text, which is a lot. I would pick a tone / theme and go with that and not make it too busy.

I think overall the site weighs in more toward the amateur side than the professional, design-wise, so you may want to consider that as you evaluate your branding and where you want to go with it to help reinforce whatever image you promote for yourself as you get back into v.o.
_________________
Lou Zucaro
http://www.voicehero.com

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

[Michael Prince]

All really good stuff. Thanks, Lou. I'd appreciate it again if you'd please take another look & listen and let me know what you think. Thanks again. --Michael

[mcm]

Michael, I thought your website was quite good when I first saw it. It just needed the blue lines removed from the background and the flashing demo link removed. With every iteration now it looks less professional. The font was better when you started - kind classy. Now, not so much.

Having said that, if you want to stay with the Florida voiceover theme, an ocean vista would be nice, but as it is right now it doesn't look professional and you might want to invest in the services of a professional designer.

Having said THAT - you should think about the advantages and disadvantages of "Florida voiceover". What exactly is your goal there? Only to market to Florida clients? Only to market to clients who will accept your accent? You are limiting yourself with this theme.

[richvoice]

Hi Michael,

Reading the comments above, I guess you used to have a .wav file for your demo. When I visited your site right now, I got an .mp3, which is good for loading speed. However, I could tell right away that it was very compressed (in terms of filesize, not audio compression); I saved the file and found that I was right, it's compressed to 24kbps, which, in my opinion, is waaaaay to small. It sounds muddy, and is full of the "squeaky" artifacts that are typical of .mp3s that are saved at lower rates. Personally, I'd never put up a demo for potential clients to listen to at a rate lower than 128kbps, though I guess some are comfortable with 96kbps.

Anyway, good luck!

Cheers,
Rich

[Michael Prince]

Thanks to both Mary and Rich for your comments. This is the process by which things get better. Thank you both again for sharing your time and talents with me. Have a great weekend!

[Frank F]

O.K. Michael,

Lately I do not comment much on demo's as apparently I live in the past and am not "with it" according to the current times; but here goes.

I like what you have presented overall, you have a pleasant voice and good personality within your character overall. What I found distressing is the amount of bass and boominess. The demo has defiantly been EQ'd and compressed to the maximum. These items would be passable for a radio DJ type demo, but for VO - ????

Not that it matters too much, but I hear the "radio" in your demo. As you will note from several current posts in the Chat section of the VO-BB (see: http://www.vo-bb.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=7452 ) the emphasis is more in style and presentation, rather that sell, sell, sell as a Voice Artist. In the immortal words of Don La Fontaine (thanks Moe): "You have to love the words. It's all about service to the words. Always."

The web site: I am going to simplify what has been said by MCM and others... IF you choose to keep the Florida VO thing, then you should not keep the "available nationwide" . Two lines which are a dichotomy make it difficult to understand your focus.

Think about who will be viewing you website and how they will perceive your messages.

Good luck

Toodles

F2
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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

[Michael Prince]

Thanks, Frank. Aside from still needing to re-mix and update my demos, I'm really pleased with the most recent (and almost final) version of my GoldenMike.com website. Thanks again for all the terrific input. My website and VO business will wind up much stronger for it. --Michael

[Jeffrey Kafer]

At the risk of insulting you, I'm going to say that your current site reminds of sites I saw back in 1996. Mediocre transparent .gifs on one giant page with everything centered and a repeating background. And everything is so... large. There's no reason I should have to scroll to see the amount of info you have here.

This is still not a professional image. Please, please invest the bucks and hire a pro. You expect businesses to hire a pro voice talent and not do it themselves, right? Why would designing and developing a website be any different?

Always put out your most professional image. Always. Always.
_________________
Jeff
http://JeffreyKafer.com
Voice-overload Web comic: http://voice-overload.com

[Michael Prince]

Hey, thanks for the feedback, Jeff. As I finalize my updated site, I'll take a look at making the images a bit smaller. Thanks again! Best, Michael Prince