VO-BB - 19 YEARS OLD!

[richgates]

Hi Guys,

New poster but I've been lurking for a while. I recently finished my voice demos and would like to get some feedback on them. I have let friends and family listen, but we all know that they are biased.

So if you could take a moment and listen to these and let me know what you think I would certainly appreciate it.

http://www.richgates.com/demos

Thanks,

Rich

[Philip Banks]

I like the sound of your voice, that helps a lot. I hear the work of the copywriters but no influences on your performance.

Am I right in thinking that the demos are all your own work. You voiced, recorded, directed and produced yourself?

Having a really nice voice is a great place to start(not implying you're a beginner) but it's a bit like the handsome or pretty partner. Ever known someone really handsome or pretty get divorced? Same with "Great pipes" (revolting expression), the novelty wears off very quickly. After a while people look for all sorts of subtleties and they include - The ability to take direction, the character of the voice, the ability to make a pile of sh*t sound good, can this person make people pay attention, is it all about the voice or all about the subject?

The demos are good but to really hook producers and directors you need to play around with the subtleties. If you're earning more than $120,000 per year from voice over work what I've written don't mean diddley-squat.

[richgates]

Hi Philip,

thank you so much for the very thoughtful and honest assessment. I did not produce these myself. In fact the only thing I was responsible for was the voicing.

I am curious what subtleties you are referring to. If I am understanding you correctly, I would assume you mean that while my voice is nice, the performance isn't.

Even if I were making a ton of money from voice work it is still good to get the opinions of unbiased people. I finally stopped playing it for friends and family once I realized that they weren't going to say anything negative.

Anyway thanks again Philip. It gives me something to go on.

[Philip Banks]

Nothing wrong with your performance while at the same time there's nothing "ZAP KERPOW" right with it and it's the latter you need.

Rather than take a number of pieces of copy it may be worth finding one piece you really like and playing with your performance, the subtleties.

Imagine a director saying to you that although you're a deep voiced adult male he needs you to come across like an excited child. It's obviously not the sound the director seeks, just the attitude. Same piece of copy, be dismissive of everything except the last 3 words. Find moods, styles, subtleties that require you to forget your voice.

Here's a male voice over problem shared by many. I wanna be Don La Fontaine, I wanna be a movie trailer voice over guy...... Listen I can even do the voice!!! What's the problem with that? If Don's career, spanning over 632 years (estimate) relied solely on his voice it would've lasted about a dozen movie trailers at most. The voice is there, what sells time and time again is the performance. The voice over needs to add to the attraction not become a distraction.

[richgates]

Perfect, that's exactly what I was looking for. I wasn't sure I understand your first message but now it's clear. Thanks again.

[BenWils]

I don't think you could get a better critique than what Banksey said. I agree with him totally. Very nice voice.....learn to move around mood-wise in that voice you have without loosing your signature sound. Very, very hard thing to do.

One thing I noticed....cuss me out if you must......your voice sounds like John Tesh a bit to me. Just an observation.
_________________
Ben


"To be really good at voiceover, you need to improve your footwork and hip snap."

[richgates]

[COURVO]

Ditto.

Very nice voice quality, good diction and pacing... but there was a sameness that prevented me from listening much past :45. I kept expecting you to break out with something that would make me say: "That's the same guy?...amazing!" Also, the segments were much the same length. Short, long, medium. I look for a mix.

My two-cents (and it's undervalued)

Dave C
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Dave Courvoisier - Las Vegas, NV
http://www.CourVO.com
CourVO@CourVO.com
Courvo's "Voice Acting in Vegas" Blog: http://www.CourVO.biz
on your phone at courvo.mobi
702.610.6288
"I'm not a news anchor, but I play one on TV."

[richgates]

[Rob Ellis]

Good, solid demo in my opinion. Could use maybe a little more range of emotion, but the signature voice (which in your case I would estimate constitutes about 75% of the demo) has definite appeal.
Nice website too. Welcome!

[richgates]