There are some voice talents for whom it’s a stressful process but I really enjoy the process of producing voice over demos. I love reviewing the work, picking which cuts to use, freshening some segments that were poorly produced (and making the voice sound better) and then of course, the fun of picking the order. It’s a really enjoyable process.

Except when it’s my voice over demo that I’m working on.

Don’t misunderstand, I still like the process but the challenge of the effort when it’s your own work is tougher. Why? Because as voice talents we are each too close to our own work to be as objective as we can be for others. We voiced the spots or narrations, maybe we even produced the final production; the client paid us so they must have liked it, it must have been good, maybe even good enough for the demo reel. Or is it?

Look, the demo is the VO’s calling card, our billboard on the audio super highway, and it can be the difference between getting a job and not getting a job. It’s between 1-2 minutes that will decide “feast or famine”.

For my new commercial demo, I knew there were some spots I wanted to add that I just hadn’t gotten around to putting in. There was a national spot for Shell Oil Company and a big regional spot I did for the New Jersey Board of Tourism that I felt should be included, among others.

While as a demo producer I know how to produce great demos…I also know how much I can either “not hear” or “over hear” in my own work. Mistakes in either direction can lead to a “famine” demo.

I needed to call for backup.

The key to this back up process is to go to a set (or sets) of ears you trust. You need to understand your backup’s experience in audio production, voice over and demo production. A great set of ears has respected credentials in all those areas. In this instance, my backup does what I have often done for personal friends in the biz which is to actually re cut the demo into the order that might work better. On my demo, my back up made the right changes, in my opinion.

So as not to over step the favor my back up offered on my demo and risk a deluge of requests of him for demo help, I’ll merely say thanks Frank for your help (there’s only about 250 Franks in the VO biz so good luck sifting through them).

Give this new demo a listen and let me know what you think (it’s OK if you want to critique it).

Tags: commentary, commercials, marketing, narrations, voice actors, voice casting, voice talent, voiceover, voiceover advice by peter k. o'connell, your friendly, neighborhood voice-over talent
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I had an interesting experience last week when audio’connell Voice Over Talent’s Terri and me were invited to speak to a class of radio broadcasting students at Buffalo State College about the voice over business and commercial production.

Buff State has an impressive communications program and boasts a famous or infamous radio station in WBNY, which includes among its impressive alumni Tom Calderone who currently oversees VH1.

Terri actually set up the whole presentation because she’s finishing her degree there (way to go!) while balancing her voiceover work and her other job with the Buffalo Fire Department (and I thought MY days were busy).

Having been in broadcasting for over 30 years and teaching at Buff State for at least 25 years, the class’ professor, Tom Donahue, is a great asset for students and was a great host for we presenters. We shared some terrific radio stories.

Presenting in front of college students is always a challenge…you really have to rev them up…I think we did alright. Students were at a select disadvantage when I presented because I’m a talker AND a walker….I’ll come up to you and finish my point with emphasis right in front of you and look for your recognition….you weren’t sleeping, were you?! (They weren’t…they were all great).

While I’ve neither the patience, education nor the talent for teaching, I fully understand why it can be a satisfying profession. Tom brought some scripts to class and Terri and I would read a couple (watching the students’ eye light up…you could tell they were thinking “that sounds just like on the radio!”). Then, I’d bring them up and we’d try 2-3 takes. The difference between performances from take 1 to take 3 really caught students by surprise.

It’s the kind of surprise some students might be able to build a career on.

Tags: announcers, commentary, commercials, peter o'connell, radio, voice actors, voice talent, voiceover, voiceover advice, voiceover meet-ups by peter k. o'connell, your friendly, neighborhood voice-over talent
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There are many people you can blame for the fact that I will shortly unveil (or should I say unleash? Possibly burden?) my podcast. But rather than have you cast stones at them or start fires, just simply be forewarned.

It’s coming.

The only reason for the delay is the amount of voice over work I have had to do which takes away from my planning time. And for all the "free-form" spirit of a podcast, as my clients will tell you, I’m a bit of a audio production perfectionist. But perfect is a "goal" and the work won’t go away (God willing) so off I will sail into not wholly unchartered podcasting waters.

The title of the podcast is "voxmarketising – the audio’connell podcast". What the h-e-double-hockey-sticks does that mean?

It means that on any given episode you’ll hear insight from me and my colleagues and friends around the globe about the three channels of communication that interest me the most and that I have the most professional experience within: the voice over industry ("vox"), marketing ("market") and advertising ("tising"), all in no particular order. But I had to give my podcast a name; hence, voxmarketising™.

The podcast will evolve as time goes on (as every broadcast or publication I’ve ever been involved with always has) but I’m hoping the focus will be less on me offering my insights on topics of the day (though there will be some of that, no doubt) and more on interviews with experts and insightful folks from whom I have learned a lot and from whom I think you can gain some great practical business knowledge too.

Comments are always welcomed and may be used on the podcast. You can start now by dialing the voxmarketising comment line at +01 716 989 6151 from any phone. You can wish me good luck, tell me to stop before I even get started or throw in your comment about a relevant story that you’ve been thinking about. Leave your name and web site or podcast address so I can promote it and link to it on the show notes (oh yes, there will be show notes).

It will be friendly, informal, very informative and fun. It will not be an infomercial. Podcast posts will appear here on the audio’connell’s voiceover blog on! so make sure you subscribe now by clicking the buttons in the upper left hand corner of the blog.

Tags: blogs, commentary, internet, marketing, peter o'connell, podcasting, voiceover by peter k. o'connell, your friendly, neighborhood voice-over talent
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It’s true, many of us surf the net with no real purpose. One link begets another begets another and so on. The fun part of this blog today is that I can actually remember HOW I got to the link I am about to share with you (even though I didn’t start my surfing with any desire to find an idea for a blog post).

I started at Bob Souer’s blog, whose voice over blog is pretty much read by all in the biz (mine, on the other hand, is read by my wife and now you…but you only found this by mistake I’m nearly sure). Bob was kind enough to write up and link to a post I had late last week. I posted a couple of comments on Bob’s blog and then fished around his site’s links where I noticed the Voice Chasers site. Among other things, it has a forum or bulletin board for people to talk about all things voiceover.

Well, the Voice Chaser’s forum looked pretty quiet except for the news page (thank you Kristy Sproul) which carried a story and a link from ASIFA Hollywood. A member found an old recording of a speech legendary Warner Brother’s character voice actor Mel Blanc gave to the 1966 Annual Awards Luncheon of the Station Representatives Association (no, I don’t really know what that group is either). At any rate, it’s a funny account of the state of advertising from Blanc, who also owned a production company that did commercials.

Note how little the advertising and marketing business has really changed in 41 years!

Tags: advertising, announcers, blogs, character voices, commentary, commercials, marketing, media, voice actors, voice talent, voiceover by peter k. o'connell, your friendly, neighborhood voice-over talent
Comments Off on surfing for a little gold on a sunday afternoon

I’ve mentioned before how I loiter occasionally on VO-BB.com with my fellow voice professionals. Well occasionally, an avatar theme develops if members care to join in. The avatar is the little picture that is featured under your screen name on many message boards…the picture can be your photo, your logo or darn near anything you can justifiable identify in what amounts to a pretty tiny box.

Over on DB’s board, there have been such themes as animals, photos photo shopped in into KISS band members (some were especially odd), the Simpsonization graphics that I wrote of here and then, more recently, comp cards. Comp cards are those cards models and actresses leave behind for agents or casting directors when auditioning for a role; they usually feature one or more “headshots” and contact information etc.

Well, this brings up the old voice over talent argument of whether to ever feature your photo if you are a voice actor. Will your photographic image change in any way a casting director’s opinion of whether you are the right voice talent for a voice acting role (nothing on camera about it)? As I don’t like to do on camera work because I think I’m lousy at it, I always vote no to pictures but also do not begrudge any voice talent who also does on camera work for featuring their photo on their web site etc.

So when the board started posting comp card avatar’s after audio’connell Voice Over Talent Amy posted her recent headshot, I wasn’t going to participate. Until, that is, I got the crazy idea to create a comp card from my Simpsonized photo. THAT seemed most apropos as it’s a cartoon caricature and one of the things I do is character voices for cartoon and animation. Further, it also seemed silly and for me that sealed the deal.

So now on my web site biography, you will find my comp card and I’m also featuring it on my Facebook profile as that’s about the only photo of me I think the web is really ready for!

Tags: advertising, announcers, commentary, peter o'connell, tv, voice actors, voice casting, voice talent, voiceover, voiceover advice by peter k. o'connell, your friendly, neighborhood voice-over talent
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Remember, voice over talents are like professional golfers…VO’s and golfers don’t compete against each other. Voice talents compete for the ear of the producer and golfers compete against the golf course superintendent (well, the course itself actually, but I’ve always felt most superintendents didn’t get the proper credit).

But as performers of a kind, both for voice actors and for golfers, ego “occasionally” rears its ugly head.

There is a “heady” gentleman in the UK who by most accounts as a voice talent who has always been well respected; through his web postings on various voice talent message boards, his thoughtfulness usually appreciated and his humor is sadly lost on a few…but not on me.

His name is Philip Banks and if you need a wonderful, truly British announcer (or some funny character voices too) you should simply call him and stopping your shopping at once. Having spoken to him and corresponded with him at various times over some years, he is quite a thoughtful gentleman. And he reminded a few of us the other day of a phrase he has used before with equal effectiveness each time:

“It’s not about me.”

For a voice talent, no matter the specialty, these are simple words. But their stunning, almost epiphany-like impact because of what they mean to the very core of our professional lives cannot be ignored. Why?

While voice talents are cognitive tools for producers and directors, we are still tools….voices through which messages are conveyed. But it’s the cognitive and emotional part of we “tools” (sentient & egotistical) that sometimes do not allow us to “get out of our own way.” Sometimes we put OUR interpretation of a script, or a line or a character ahead of the writer, producer or director. We can be inflexible.

Note well, I do not mean to say that any voice talent shouldn’t share an opinion if its welcomed. But ultimately, we can take our insights and interpretations too personally so that when a director says finally “do it my way” we feel in some way slighted. Cognitive tools made up of oversensitive wiring with an ego on top; that’s a recipe for a voice talent sundae.

But what we forget sometimes is that the director has a goal, a vision and we’ve agreed to take part in it using our tools (voice over abilities) to help “get him there”. So with her critique or alteration of our vocal performance, we need to remember is not a means to our end, it’s a means to her end. It’s about him or her.

It’s not about us. And that is as it should be.

Tags: announcers, audio books, character voices, commentary, voice actors, voice casting, voice talent, voiceover, voiceover advice by peter k. o'connell, your friendly, neighborhood voice-over talent
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