“Paul, if these weren’t actually letters from actual viewers, would I be able to do this (flap, flap, flap)” – D. Letterman

“Peter, I’m a voice talent (and) I’m considering becoming a premium member of voice123 (as I see you already are). But, I’m wondering about recovering the 195.00 fee.

Does voice123 really turn into work? I’m capable of my own production work, and would put the time into doing many auditions per week. But, does it really pay? Do you get often stiffed by clients? Do you end up doing endless auditions with few results, or is it really all they say it is? I appreciate your time in answering.

Thanks in advance
Doug”

Hi Doug:

Voice over job sites are like any investment.

Are you ready to lose $195?

That’s the question you have to ask yourself when you invest in a site like Voices 123 or Voices.com or those like them.

Here’s another question: how much is an hour of your time worth? You’re going to do a lot of custom auditions and hear nothing back. Likely 90% of the time you won’t get the job. When you dollarize your time, that’s a lot of money wasted. Are you ok with that?

Want another question?

Are you ready to bid on often significantly low balled voice projects created by people who often care less about your voice and more about your price?

Are you willing to join a process where an announcer who sounds like crap will get the job because he’ll do a five page narration for $50 and “the experience”?

Whittling it all down to the naked truth as I see it, past the marketing hyperbole, I believe these questions are the questions YOU have to answer for yourself.

The answer for me was ok, I can swim here. If the water’s too cold (a project with a lousy fee, too many bidders, even poorly written) then I don’t swim there on that day.

I’ve made enough money to cover my expenses on these sites and then some. I also have enough other business from other sources (thank you God!) that I don’t have to rely on these sites. And because of that busier schedule, I may look at not joining back up because I don’t have the time to do custom auditions for these voice-over Wal-Marts.

Does that sound a bit jaded? Maybe I’m guilty as charged but everybody who’s ever worked in broadcasting has a dash of that sprinkled on them.

I recently had the good fortune to meet the owners of Voices.com and they are sincere people trying to run a challenging business in an honest manner. So then in fairness I will refer to them as the Target of voice overs (a retailer I visit far too frequently in my accountant’s opinion).

A shorter, even more curt way to answer this might have been “you’ll have to answer that for yourself.” Or as my Mom said on occasion “you won’t know unless you try.”

Good luck.

– Peter

Tags: commentary, technology, voice 123, voiceover advice by peter k. o'connell, your friendly, neighborhood voice-over talent
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Masochistic.

Gluttons for punishment.

Sadistic wackos.

If you’re one of the folks who requested a link to my Podcamp Toronto 2007 presentation “Pod Presence – aka awesome sounding podcasts”, you have to choose from one of the above descriptors.

If you decide to watch it, you’ll also have to pick one.

In either case, you’ll quickly understand why I remain firmly planted behind a microphone and NOT in front of a camera.

Watch the presentation here. (@ 35 minutes via Quick Time)

Tags: commentary, peter o'connell, podcamptoronto, podcasting, technology, voiceover advice by peter k. o'connell, your friendly, neighborhood voice-over talent
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Have you ever been to an event, not really knowing what to expect only to be blown away from the collective knowledge in the room?

That’s what Podcamp Toronto was like. They took a simple audio process and outlined the future of it and the possibilities for it. Commercially, it’s an impressive future.

No one was profiting from it except to share their knowledge and gain new insight. I learned so much and still have to figure out how to process the stuff I heard but haven’t yet committed to memory.

I would highly suggest you all take a look at these seminars and take notes.

For some months now, a fellow voice over talent by the name of Elaine Singer has been corresponding with me on VO topics. Elaine is in Toronto and I’m in Buffalo (2 hours away) and we’re both in the internet business networking groups, Ryze and Linked In. Yet we never got a chance to meet. (Voice talents love to get together to share industry stories and insights we each other…they’re like war stories only funnier). Well we met at Podcamp Toronto and she was just as charming and smart as you’d guess from her posts on VO-BB. A great new friend!

And in my perspective on the voice lead companies, my attitude has changed a bit having now met David and Stephanie from Voices.com. My read is that they really are as customer centric as their site appears (as has been mentioned by others, their site seems more service oriented than V123 and now I believe I know why). They are sincere in both word and deed; they want everybody to succeed: voice talents to get quality leads and clients to be exposed to quality voice talents.

If you have a podcamp coming to your town, try and get to it. The Torontonians / Canadians / podcasters / bloggers who I met impressed the heck out of me. It would be worth risking your time at a podcamp in your area to see if the local knowledge bank in your area is as impressive as the folks I met with in Toronto.

Tags: commentary, peter o'connell, podcamptoronto, podcasting, technology, voice actors, voice casting, voiceover advice, voices.com by peter k. o'connell, your friendly, neighborhood voice-over talent
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What a tremendous experience. Saturday, I participated in Podcamp Toronto 2007. It was arranged by a group of talented podcasting, sales, marketing, advertising, internet (and pros from countless other industries) to share their knowledge of podcasting (and explain what in some cases is a booming commercial industry).

Billed as an “unconference”, I really wasn’t sure what to expect when I arrived at Ryerson University in downtown Toronto. The “un” upon reflection having experienced it, means a more relaxed and interactive learning environment; it does not mean that there was any less talent and insight shared, in fact, just the opposite.

I like a lot about Podcamp, but what I think I liked most was coming across presenters and podcasters whom I might not have ever met in any other forum; each offered a thoughtful, smart and unusual perspective on this burgeoning industry. Remember that point in your life where you were in a business and someone said “hey you know this web site thing is interesting, do you think we should get on that internet thingy and get us one?”

Here’s you wake up call….podcasting has greater potential than you can possible imagine. This is the ground floor, get in on it.

Two presenters whose sessions I really enjoyed were Mitch Joel of Twist Image, a marketing agency Montréal whose presentation on “Building Your Personal Brand through Podcasting” was spot on. Great reading on his blog as well. The other presenter who was very impressive was Julien Smith, a Montréal based designer, entrepreneur, student, and podcaster whose presentation Giving Your Podcast A Google Presence was really smart. I’m going to have to get myself up to Montréal…it must be something in the water.

And my special thanks for Leesa Barnes of Podnomics and Caprica Interactive Marketing who was kind enough to include me in this experience. A great friend and a great client, thanks Leesa.

I have a bunch of other stories from Podcamp Toronto 2007 that I’ll save for later, including a visit with voice over talent Elaine Singer, the presentation I made to a packed house (boy was I surprised) and a visit with the owners of Voices.com, Stephanie and David Ciccarelli.

Final note, check out http://podcamp.pbwiki.com/ to find the location of the next Podcamp in your area.

Tags: commentary, peter o'connell, podcamptoronto, podcasting, technology, voice actors, voiceover advice, voices.com by peter k. o'connell, your friendly, neighborhood voice-over talent
3 Comments »

If you listen to the majority of voice over demos from most voice talents (especially the guys), you’d think that there must be a billion radio stations out there and each and everyone one is a CHR or Hot AC format (hey, I’ve got one too, so I’m not throwing stones, just making an observation.) The power voice or the raspy voice or the cool everyman voice can be offered by about a thousand voices.

But once a VO’s done his/her few contracts for the month (be honest, we KNOW who gets the majority of the work…it CAN’T be all of us), what else has one got? Well there’s the straight announcer voice that can be altered with a few inflection changes. OK, that’s good.

Let me ask a harmless question: are you a voice actor?

“You mean like impressions?” No, sort of, but more acting.

“You mean like my Homer Simpson impression?” Uh, no.

I mean can you leave your imaging and announcer voice behind and actually become a character with only your voice?

(Silence)

Hmmm. Well, while you ponder that thought, let me just point out that I have a very marketable announcer voice, and I have done my fair share of imaging work. But when it comes down to making money, my voice acting abilities are what sets me apart from many voice talents. It also allows me to pay a mortgage. Oh yes, voice acting isn’t about $50/spot work….did I fail to mention that?

Am I the greatest voice acting talent ever? Yes, when I am in the booth alone or in an ISDN session, that’s what I subliminally tell myself; but in reality, no. However to the producers that hire me for President’s day commercials or St. Patrick’s Day commercials or for video games, I am the best voice because I can bring their character to life like no other.

Can you?

That isn’t a “one-up-manship” question, but rather a way for you to critically look at your abilities.

I know some voice overs who will never be voice actors- the creativity or the vocal abilities really aren’t inside them. They make their money off their “money voice”. That’s awesome!

But if you have some characters inside you but you’ve never really fleshed them out or you’ve never strayed far from the voices you’ve been doing since high school, I’d like to offer you some unsolicited advice.

Get your ass to class.

Voice acting class actually. There you’ll find other voice actors of various professional experiences, abilities and talents who have gathered with a teacher they trust to develop the basic skills they need to create or expand a character repertoire. They’ll help you try new things without pointing fingers or laughing. It’s a group of sincere, like-minded folks who want to succeed and more often than not want YOU to succeed.

Finding a class in your area may take some work. I would start with some professional recording studios that often produce commercials or a college with an acting program. I alternate between two acting classes (mostly because I enjoy the students and teachers at both). The Voice Squad is run by Len Tobin. The Voice Actor Workshop of WNY is run by Toni Silveri who has performed and trained with some of voice acting’s greatest talents including the late but still infamous Daws Butler. There are some great national teachers who often take their act on the road including Pat Fraley as well as James Alburger and Penny Abshire; if they are presenting within a “state” of you, get your ass to their class too. James and Penny offer this voice acting teachers guide too. The Voice and Speech Trainers Association (VASTA) also have a resource page you may want to check out as well.

I also work with and train voice talent through the Voice Talent Workshop.

You’ve have got to stretch not just your vocal muscles but your creative muscles as well. If you think you can act, you need to try. There’s money in them there pipes…you just need to flush it out!

Tags: character voices, commentary, voice actors, voice casting, voiceover advice by peter k. o'connell, your friendly, neighborhood voice-over talent
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Doesn’t that title sound like a National Geographic Special or at least some TV show you’d see on PBS?

Well that’s apropos I suppose since many of the TV programs on cable channels like National Geographic, Discovery Channel and the like all feature off screen narrators; great voice talents like Will Lyman, Hal Douglas (who actually introduces Will Lyman’s demo) and Gene Galusha just to name a few of the more frequently heard, anonymous voice talkers.

Often times people say to me “Why do you talk about other voice over talents?” or inquire as to why I would reference them on my voice over site. The answer is simple and I suppose I should trademark it right here and now as I’ve used it for years: voice over talents are like golfers. Golfers aren’t truly competing against each other, they are really trying to beat the course.

In the same way, voice over talents aren’t competing against each other, they are competing for the subjective ear of the producer hiring for the job. I’ve never met Will, Hal or Gene and I may have even come up for the same job as they have (you never really know half the time) but I can’t sound like them and they can’t sound like me and on any given day in any given studio it’s the producer’s ear that we all compete for/against not each other.

So my hats off to these great talents and other spectacular narrators often ignored by the media but never ignored by the ears of the audience.

Any favorite narrators you would like to include?

Tags: commentary, narrations, voice actors, voice casting, voiceover advice by peter k. o'connell, your friendly, neighborhood voice-over talent
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