VO-BB - 20 YEARS OLD!

[Philip Banks]

Hoozah! Another eureka moment. Worked with a voice over on Friday, she was pleasant, fun, did the job. Worked with one a couple of weeks ago, couldn't make the session the client requested but managed to arrange a session the following morning at 8am and spent well over the alloted time delivering a below average performance. I've discovered that you don't have to be female to be a "Drama Queen".

So, Mr or Ms Voice Over. Step away from your professional clutter and look at how you live, examine your "being". We are all used to giving or receiving advice about, no coffee, sugar, fizzy drinks, cigarettes, alcohol or chocolate before a session but what about the other stuff. No picking arguments with friends or family, no realising you're working with someone who earns more than you and letting them know you hate them for it, no if the studio is the earth then I am the sun attitude - EVERYTHING and everyone orbits me!

If a Voice coach is teaching you to mark copy is he or she also marking and highlighting YOU? They should as it's more important. I've often said that the most impotant note a voice over can attach to the PC monitor reads "It's not about me", that means it's about the project and about what you are being paid to bring to it.

What don't you bring to the VO session?
Drink, drugs, depression (not the clinical problem), bitterness, envy, drama, your love life, your problems, your out of control ego and your "added flake".

Should you honestly believe you're unable to do that, get someone to help you as it will turn your career around and your life too!

[Deirdre]

"It's not about you!"

Boy howdy, that is Pat Fraley's mantra, too.

Yes, we are required to toss up our connection with the copy, invoke imagery, get a feeling for the product, focus on an action, but through it all the object isn't "What can I do?" but "How can I serve the client?"
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DBCooperVO.com
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[Bailey]

In book form it would be called... The Voice Artist next door.
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"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."

[imaginator]

...and that's one of the truly liberating things i find about this work: during a session i can leave most, if not all, that baggage outside the mic booth and be either my best "me" or someone else entirely.

it's the time inbetween sessions where i have to watch it.
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rowell gormon
www.voices2go.com
"Mr. Warm & Friendly Voice...with Character!"
Rowell Gormon's Clogged Blog - http://voices2go.com/blog

[Kasbah]

This is just the advice I need. There are soooooooo many spots (radio/tv) on AFN where the VO work is horrible. More often than not, the video/production mix is also shakey. The message is usually there, but the horrible combo of the above errors makes for a rough 30-seconds.
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Kasbah
http://kasbahradio.blogspot.com/
http://afnbroadcaster.blogspot.com/
http://youdothis.blogspot.com/
http://itastethis.blogspot.com/

[Lizden]

[audio'connell]

What I work to NOT bring into a session is inflexibility, especially if I've had time to interpret the script and there is a director on the session with me. (When there's no director, you pretty much have carte blanche and if they ask you for another take after you've produced, you can usually nail it on the second take).

But I had occasion in earlier years to get attached to the script and how I should interpret it. And then veer only slightly off that path even if the direction required a steeper course correction.

Aside from the stupidity of that stubbornness from a career standpoint (note I mentioned "earlier" years) it’s also “off” from an artistic stand point as well. All performers are tools used to communicate...."something" (scripts, music, theatre et al) but unlike a hammer or screwdriver, we are cognitive tools whose interpretative abilities are our points of difference. Yet, if a director needs our read to become "their" interpretation, we need to do that by mentally, physically and spiritually distancing ourselves from our preconceived interpretation.

Logically you may "of course"! But while most of us will do it, we are still pulled internally, I think, from wanting to do it "our" way/the "better" way. Simply, it’s NOT an easy thing to do.

I think if we can corral and quell that preconceived desire when called to and allow ourselves to be fully directed and perform "the director's" interpretation, we each can evolve more fully in our own performances going forward, finding a level of performance we might not have known was in us.

And well yes, sometimes the director IS just a shit for brains talent-less hack and on those rare occasions (certainly no one I’VE ever worked for) you have to suffer fools gladly.
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- Peter
audioconnell Voice Over Talent
Your friendly, neighborhood voice over talent

[mcm]

I certainly needed this reminder today. I did a VO recently for a client. He paid me over a week ago. Today I had to re-do it because his client felt the read needed to be more forceful. The suggestion was made to sound like "a friendly drill sargeant". I give it my best shot. Then I get "your reading is too casual. You're saying "uh" instead of "a", for instance. It's not very academic."

Reading the article "a" with a long a sound is what people do when they aren't proficient readers. Nobody talks that way. And telling me "it's not very academic" is insulting, after all, I spent 20 years in academia, not counting the years I was actually in school.

But, it's not about me. So I will return yet another read, with the long a sound, without comment. I'll resist the temptation to slip a bunch of letters after my name to remind him about how smart I am. I might crawl under my bed and scream just a little bit but he won't be able to hear me. Not sure I could have resisted any comment without your reminder though, Philip. Many thanks indeed.

[BenWils]

Mary,

You are a true gem. I can't believe the restraint you have being all the degrees you have and being told what you were told. Well done! You are an example of a true pro.

Everyone else...great stories! It is so true in our business that we cannot put our ego and our interpretation first. And Philip, what a great reminder for us all.
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Ben


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

[mcm]

Ben, thank-you, I really appreciate the kind words, but if I were a true gem, I wouldn't be insulted. I would just do the job and not need to rant. Sigh. Maybe someday...

What I'm afraid of, though, is that my client's client will be appalled by the read that my client told me to do. Should I have explained that actually, academics don't talk that way? If you think your client is going to look like a fool because of what he's telling you to do, should you say something? Or just do the work and get out of the way? In this case, I was so outraged at this guy telling me how to sound like an academic that I assumed I was getting in my own way and couldn't tell the forest for the trees. Or something. So maybe I did the wrong thing.

Somebody untie me - I don't like being a pretzel!

[Don G.]

Mary,

That's a tough one. I know that if it were me, I definitely would have said something about the long a "a" (although I would try to refrain from calling him the idiot that he is)..

If I know something is incorrect, I'll usually offer a sort of "Oh. Are you sure you want it that way, because I believe it should be ___." They either thank me and correct it (usually) or say something like "Well, the client already approved the copy, so we better read it as written."

At that point, I figure I've made my point and I'll get paid again for the pick-up session in a few days.

[Deirdre]

I think there are times when you are perfectly within your rights as a professional to invoke the "The Client Is An Idiot" clause and Just Say No.

There are simply some things money can't buy.
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