Voice Over Projects During The Past Holiday Season

The Holidays are behind us all now, but in December I had the chance to work in Account Managing for Voice123, and I directly communicated with many voice seekers during that time. In doing so, I came to find reasons why certain voice over projects received fewer responses than others. I would like to share with you some helpful hints on getting voice over projects approved quickly, getting more auditions, and hearing the right voice for your project!

Transparency:

• This is the day and age of transparency. It will help you to be upfront about what the job will be all about. We see sometimes in the ‘director’s mind’, projects may be created under a false scenario; almost to trick the voice talent into giving the best voice over audition; maybe a form of 'method job posting'. However, the attempt to ‘trick’ leads more to confusion. When you are honest, upfront, and detailed about what you need, the artist will speak for you more often.

Details:

• Yes, but it deserves mentioning twice. The most common cause of receiving the wrong audition is because ‘something was left out’. Think of it this way: The time spent now on explaining details is time you will save later when you have to re-post a job because you left an important detail out.

Grammar and Spelling:

• In digital communication, for some reason, people are less forgiving when they see spelling errors or poor grammar. Proofreading what you are about to send in takes only a few minutes, and will help you get auditions. Taking these extra couple minutes tells a person you care about the project; a great reason to audition.

Emails and Phone Numbers:

• Use an email and phone number that works. It helps Voice123 staff get in touch with you, and it also lets us know that you are a legitimate business or person. Voice123 protects your privacy at your request. You will see that in the project posting form.
  

In closing, you may notice I did not touch on ‘budgets’. The fact is, working online is about building relationships. Those who ‘think of the bigger picture’ will work with an honest person, even if the budget may be smaller than normal. Honesty is the strongest foundation of any long-term working relationship. It is the same mindset behind why people find a car mechanic they can trust, and stay with that person for years, regardless of cost...just because they trust them for being honest.

Comments? Let us know!

Steven Lowell
Community Development Guru
Voice123 Facebook
Voice123 Youtube Channel
Twitter: @voice123

Recording Booths: How Do You Do It?

Good day, and Happy Holidays! I am a staff member at Voice123, Leo DeLope, with the chance to write a blog this morning for voice talent. Some of you may already know me from Voice123 Live Chat and help desk emails. As an aspiring photojournalist, I can identify with running into economical obstacles, in the pursuit of working in a career that demands passion. Equipment can be expensive, and not being able to afford it, or not being sure what to buy, led me to the Internet to do research.

I came across the acronym, ‘D.I.Y (do it yourself)’, and fortunately, I found a large community willing to share ideas on how to get work at a great price. In the process, I continue to have fun, meeting new and interesting people from the Voice123 Community. Recently, I found a story of a voice talent on Voice123, who built his own recording booth. It caught my attention because the voice talent took ‘before/during/after’ pictures of the process. I know he is not the only one with proud photos of his recording booth! We would love to see your booths, and talk about how you did it! Being creative can not only save you money, but it can also earn you some free subscription time on Voice123!

Show us your photographs of your booth, and let us know how you did it!

The cheapest and most creative solutions will win a 6-month subscription on Voice123! We promise to share your tips with the voice community and promote you; maybe I can offer ideas that could work for your profile picture. If you would like to see some of my pictures you can go to www.leeooh.com, or check my flickr profile.

Let us know what you think, and how you 'do it yourself'!

Happy recording and Happy Holidays!

Leo Lopez
Account Manager
Voice123 Facebook
Voice123 Youtube Channel
Twitter: @voice123

Soundproofing and Recording Part II: Recording

In our last blog from December 15th, 2010, we shared with you soundproofing advice from voice coach David Zema, as part I of this series. Today, we share part II: Recording!

"There are many tutorials on line for using Audacity and other software for recording. Learn how to set levels for your voice and how to fix some of the unwanted background sounds in post-production until you can set up a quieter recording environment. Using noise reduction and other post- production processes may help, but they add unnecessary time to your busy schedule. The time spent setting up a permanent quieter environment is time better spent than fixing it in the mix for every recording. Learn the best practices for recording sound:

• Get a fast, quiet computer with as much RAM as you can afford.
• Use only 7200 RPM or solid state hard drives.
• Use a second hard drive for recording your audio and not the same hard drive as your operating system.
• Use the best uni-directional or cardioid microphone you can afford.

You are welcome to send me an mp3 of a recent audition recording you have done. I will send back a brief note telling you what, if any background I can hear as well as what I think may be the problem. If you would like a private consultation regarding soundproofing or recording or voice over coaching and demo production, I am available for that as well. Soundproofing and recording take time to learn, troubleshooting and problem solving to get right. Be patient and persistent and you will succeed! - David Zema"

Coming up on Monday, look for a very special blog that will invite you to talk about how YOU, the voice talent, 'do what you do' from home! If you have pictures and info you would like to share from your Voice123 Meetup, please do not hesitate to write us, or share with the Voice123 Community!

Tell us what you think! Was this helpful?

Steven Lowell
Community Development Manager
Voice123 Facebook
Voice123 Youtube Channel
Twitter: @voice123

Soundproofing and Recording: Part I

Last Friday, Voice123 held a Meetup at David Zema’s recording studio in New York City. We all discussed soundproofing and recording from home. David Zema wrote a blog on the topic. Today’s blog will be about ‘soundproofing’, and you will see the extreme limits one must go to when working in the 'city that never sleeps' as a voice talent:

"I have been recording audio since I was 12 years old and shooting video since I was 18. I have sound proofed over twenty spaces in the last 20 years. One thing I have learned about soundproofing is that I am always working to improve it.

When I finally got my last studio to the point that I thought was perfected, I had to move because a noisy performance space had set up operation on the floor below. Their speakers were located right beneath my sound booth. It was going to take layers of lead and concrete to muffle that noise! In 2008, I moved to my current location at 1123 Broadway. The room I rented had previously been a recording studio, and the building has solid walls built in 1896. But it took layers of plexi-glass (acrylic) and homasote to muffle the sounds reverberating up from 25th Street.

Then along with hanging many baffles made of Berber carpeting and soundproofing foam from Marketek, I found a used soundproof isolation booth on ebay. I added more soundproofing materials to the isolation booth and now everything is quiet enough to record. Additionally, I use pipe insulation on an iron based mic stand for a second corner area used for recording. This area uses a cork board, Marketek foam, Berber carpeting and a vinyl mat on top of the carpet to deaden sound before it reaches the mic. Remember that separation of your computer equipment from your microphone will reduce unwanted noise and vibration. Using the quietest equipment you can get is the ultimate goal. Consider a solid state digital recorder that is noise free as an option for small spaces. The microphone enclosure is another option if you can't soundproof an entire room. Materials that have mass or density are used to stop sound.

Homasote and even special sound resistant sheet rock called QuietRock, fiberboard, soundboard, fiberglass insulation and another materials when used properly have enough density to stop some frequencies. However, these materials will most likely need professional installation by a soundproofing contractor to be done properly, or require a patient ‘do-it-your-self’ craftsman with tools and a lot of time. Concrete, sand, lead and mass-loaded vinyl are used in professional sound studios, but are very expensive and not an option for most apartment renters."

Coming up on Friday...Part II: Recording! David Zema is a voice over coach with Voice123. If you are ever interested in sharing a blog, please do so with the Voice123 community, or please email it to help@voice123.com! We would love to hear your thoughts and ideas!

Tell us what you think, and if you found this helpful!

Steven Lowell
Community Development Manager
Voice123 Facebook
Voice123 Youtube Channel
Twitter: @voice123

Usage: Don’t Knock Yourself Out!

Over the past few months, Voice123 has been featuring voice talent through social media. We do so by posting a project, that usually has a relevant theme to what is being talked about online. We somewhat ran into a snag this month, when it came time to promote the shared inbox on this voice job. Only 3 followed directions. Please don't knock yourself out of work doing the same!

Now, I do not like people beating up on voice talent by saying, ‘They never follow directions! (grumble grumble)’. I have heard it talked about before, but I think its unfair to single anyone group out. Why? A statistic recently showed that if you ask 100,000 people to do something on a website, you can expect less than 200 people to do it. In short, everyone is guilty of it at some point e.g. How many can actually say, ‘I read all the terms of service agreements for everything!’.

The problem is...In short, people are just people. Imagine you are a voice seeker, and you post a voice job, and you have a boss to give auditions. Listen to this and think about how many followed the script note: Record your audition in the voice of the VO Job you always wanted, and tell the world why you want it!

There is great talent on here too! However, that greatness has to translate into an online environment, and it may just start with the way one interprets or reads directions!

Steven Lowell
Community Development Manager
Voice123 Facebook
Voice123 Youtube Channel
Twitter: @voice123

Image from IGN.com

Community: Building Community Any Which Way You Can

Meetups!
Voice123 is holding a Meetup this Friday, December 10th, in NYC! You can see that many voice talent are planning to come out! We hope you can too!

We are looking to discuss building home studios that day! Please take a look!

Did you know about other Meetups for Voice Talent?

• Bettye Zoller Meetup Group
• Gabrielle Nistico Meetup group

Organize a Voice123 Meetup!

Skype Calls!
Skype is turning into an important networking, business, and support tool in various ways every single day! Voice talent already use it as a ‘phone patch’ for voice over work, and it is also a way to talk face to face with other voice talent, supporting each other, and building a voice over community!

On Friday, December 17th, I will get to do my first Skype call with voice talent, just to talk about working in voice overs. Thank you to Loren Gursky and Chris Kendall for inviting! You can read more about it on their Facebook group!

Please check us out, too, on Twitter and Facebook for updates, blogs, and great info!

Steven Lowell
Community Development Manager
Voice123 Facebook
Voice123 Youtube Channel
Twitter: @voice123

Trend: Working Around An Obstacle

Over the summer, Voice123 did a survey asking about the various ways that voice talent get work.

You can see that forum post here!

Each month voice talent are surveyed on Voice123, and the most common statistic is that 6% to 10% of Voice123 voice talent can make a full-time living off of Voice123 alone. There is no voodoo behind it. There is a common thread among all of them:

• They have repeat clients
• They know how to market themselves online
• They are talented
• They have a brand to them that requires no explanation
• They think creatively as a voice talent, and as a business

What is meant by ‘creative business thinking’?
As many know, or find out, Voice123 uses a software that aims to fairly distribute auditions among ALL paying subscribers. SmartCast can be viewed many ways, but the end result is that it is still a software with rules, and when these rules are learned, it is only at that point that a person can create his/her own; sounds very ‘Matrixee’.

Do the people working full-time do anything unfair?
No, but they know that believing the way to ‘win more jobs’ is to ‘constantly audition with blind online rigor’ is a mistake. You can only go out for that which fits you, and will not waste anyone's time.

“But what if I am in high demand”?
To get to the point, some voice talent realize that maybe SmartCast does limit them, and they would rather only use Voice123. They realize this because they get work on Voice123; not because they got work somewhere else.

Working Around an Obstacle
Many...but not all...purchase more than one profile, and when one seems to be getting limited, they jump to the next for a while. We never thought of it, but someone did, and it worked for him/her, so they told their friends...and they told their friends...and so on...and so on....This is a great reason to study how people succeed, and not study how others failed. You will always find both, but only one way teaches you how to get work.

Is this ‘cheating’?
It is hard to call something, ‘cheating’, when someone has taught another a way to work a system, by creating their own rule. The web allows for one to create a ‘persona’, but the industry always had stage names, no? A creation always takes on a life of its own. We have heard stories of amazing voice talent creating a false persona, and booking more work from the profile where their approach to work is more of an ‘act’, and they are shocked to find they are rarely hired from the profile where they sell themselves by stating how they have great experience, but more so where they simply can do the job.

Isn’t this a business about 'getting paid by pretending to be someone else anyway'?
To conclude...if you find you can get lots of work, and feel our system limits you, go for a second profile. Clients are reaching the same voice talent, and you are not shelling out a fortune to 'pay for privilege.'

It happens, so we want you to know about it. What do you think?

Steven Lowell
Community Development Manager
Voice123 Facebook
Voice123 Youtube Channel
Twitter: @voice123

Image by Pease on Earth

Usage: 'Tis The Season To Be 123 Savvy!

If you have been using Voice123, or are just starting, and still get nagged by that question, ‘Are they using my audition?’, this blog is for you.

So far in 2010, Voice123 has posted more than 1,000 SmartCast voice over jobs a month. I mention these because they are the jobs that were screened, as private jobs are not screened. :

• January (1073)
• February (1112)
• March (1357)
• April (1280)
• May (1193)
• June (1191)
• July (1085)
• August (1287)
• September (1234)
• October (1268)
• November (1211)
  

Why bring this up now?
Did you know less than 1% of voice over jobs on Voice123 turn into a troubled business transaction; stated as such because dropped communication leads to more problems than one “trying to steal”.

However, we had the higher activity of non-payment and/or troubled business transactions resulting from dropped communication during December 2009, and resolved in 2010.

What you need to know for yourself...
1. How to spot ‘spam’. It is easier for some more than others. Ask around.
2. How to investigate who you will be working with, and how to not overreact.
3. Know when you have to be ‘flexible’ vs. ‘when someone is ‘breaking you’

Perhaps, I have seen this to be very difficult for voice over talent to do, only because they aim to please in a business that has no ‘absolute right’; not to mention for years there was a fear if one told an agent, ‘I am busy.’ there was a fear they would never call again. Fact is...Everyone on Voice123 is a ‘DIY’ business, and sometimes a business has to say, ‘No.’ No one ‘gets in trouble’ for being their own business.

What you should never do...
Never lose your head in a situation. Working online is not war. "Give peace a chance". It may be romantic to be the "working class hero", and really tear into someone, but instant "web karma" will get you...and you will find yourself chasing more business away than attracting from overly emotional business behavior.

"Imagine" what you will find out when you stop to ask questions to protect yourself. Sure it may seem like starting over, but the info is out there for free. Just google it. Cooler heads always prevail.

Never ‘assume’. (see: 4:20). It is always important to laugh off spam. Taking online behavior personally will destroy your spirit. Websites are opinion and trend based, and we all have opinions:




Have a great Holiday!

Steven Lowell
Community Development Manager
Voice123 Facebook
Voice123 Youtube Channel
Twitter: @voice123

Image by Pease on Earth

QA Talk: Boo? NO!...Hiss? Yes.

Voice123 screens auditions for audio quality to make sure that your audition get to the client sounding the way you expected!

This past week, we were looking for topics to discuss that were ‘real-time’ and could directly help anyone who experiences audio issues. A member from QA spoke up and mentioned, ‘Just this past week, we have noticed an increase in auditions with hissing noise’.

The Voice123 Community of talent is the most professional group of voice talent online, so this may not apply to everyone. If you have been experiencing audio issues lately, there are amazing forum posts from the voice community to help you!

David Swineheart offers advice regarding ambient noise!

JS Gilbert and a voice seeker chyme in to assist Kim Somers!

Here’s a discussion on Preamps, and what that can do for you!

Hey! Note from me!
I would like all in the Voice123 community to know that when we disapprove auditions like this one, it is nothing personal. As a voice talent who once used the site, I have learned that, beyond technology, if an extra set of “ears” is not looking out for the community (did that make sense?), more harm is done than good. There are very talented professionals who come on Voice123, but may not be used to home recording yet, and we want everyone to succeed. If something is disapproved, you will be emailed immediately, or within 15 minutes.

We look to build trust with the Voice123 Community, so you can have a job resource site you can believe in.

Steven Lowell
Community Development Manager
Voice123 Facebook
Voice123 Youtube Channel
Twitter: @voice123
Voice123 Meetups!

Photo by Pablo Gregor

‘Faking It’ Just Isn’t ‘Making It’

In Voice123, we see a common issue with voice talent from the United States mistakenly selecting ‘British-English’ for a ‘native speaking language’, but they can only do a ‘British accent’. Feedback has even shown us that job posters may even feel insulted, if they need British native speakers, and they hear poor attempts at the accent.

Many assume, myself included, that British accents once were prevalent in the US, but we completely ‘evolved’ out of them. Not exactly! Look at this article: "Did Americans in 1776 have British accents?"

As a voice seeker posting a job, remember that details are key to the success of what you receive. Specifically choosing a native speaking language of a country will get you mostly what you want, but it helps to specify, 'Native speakers only' in the project description.

Please post a job today!

We have professional voice talent from around the world, and a system to help you find them!

Steven Lowell
Community Development Manager
Voice123 Facebook
Voice123 Youtube Channel
Twitter: @voice123
Voice123 Meetups!

Tips: Saving Some Dough, Make More Bread

Working at Voice123, our staff gets to see the way businesses hire voice talent, and how Voice123 talent are forever changing the ways they deliver work.

We have a new one today, and for those who think, ‘ISDN needs to be replaced’, it is already happening! Saving money on not using services like ISDN is better for your bottom line, and better for the voice talent you hire; less tech costs more payment for labor!

Here is what we are talking about!

• Take a look at this forum post started by Bernardo Ortiz of Voice123!
• Mark Fletcher also offers great information on the same subject!

Now, one can easily say, ‘You just wont get the same quality’, and to that we say:

• “Saying no to technology will set you back for when Skype or Google perfects it, and it is offered at no cost; then the expectation is that you must know how to use it.”

Skype also displays technical information (click that image above), which is helpful for recordings, even if simply using a phone patch. You can read more here.

Skype is also FREE.

Steven Lowell
Community Development Manager
Voice123 Facebook
Voice123 Youtube Channel
Twitter: @voice123
Voice123 Meetups!

Usage: Working In 'Multi-Horse' Towns

A common 'first lesson-learned' in working online is finding out that what you did offline will never transfer into the online environment. It may work if you are only working with those you know, but what happens when other visitors to your voice over website, who do not know you, want in?

If you answered, ‘They cannot, unless I say so.’, you are making a mistake; a bold statement made from hard lessons learned. Their exists grand psychological reasons as to why, but I want to touch on beliefs that lead to failure online for voice talent. Below, I explain why there are no ‘one-horse towns’ online:

No one ‘owns’ it...

• Websites are not real estate. Any business online understands that if they are the first to do something, sure, they cornered a market, but having a market cornered does not mean you have bought real estate! Even more so, if you treat people you talk to online with a sense of, ‘I own you’, you will slowly build resentment against you.

Put away the knife...No need for cut-throats online.

• I remember very well being at auditions and on sets as an extra where I commonly heard, ‘I was here first!’, and watched people make clever moves to be first in line for whatever reason. Online, that behavior (a common survival instinct) is surprisingly viewed as childish through the psychology of an entire world watching and thinking behind the keyboard, brazen enough to share opinions without consequence.
  
• If you think 'paying to be first' helps, you are buying into the offline ‘country club’ ideal and it screams of 1987. The technology has to allow for everyone to build, share, and grow a successful career while keeping in mind, ‘We are all businesses. No one is above the other, until earned...online.’
  

It is good to have competition...

• I notice that some believe the way to work is to claim to be the only one who can do something. Believe me...that is not a good thing online. Why? Buyer options.
  
• One amazing thing by itself is a freak of nature.
  
• Two amazing things gives a buyer the ability to compare and contrast, and in that process, both find work. Without competition, your product becomes very lonely. A creative industry is about ‘expanding on ideas’, so you will be used less by the majority, if you have no one that compares to you.
• Offline, this may not be the case. Online...it works this way. We know we have competition, and many times exactly who, which is good for you if they are doing well. Thank Google for that one.
  

Saying ‘No’ to technology and evil numbers? Bad idea....

• Technology can be scary. Stepping out of a comfort zone can be even more scary. There are some who truly believe that if they learn how to use a laptop or a blackberry, audition online, or learn how it works; that they are somehow betraying their brethren. As a result, they do not learn what to do with it. Why is this bad? Technology never stops.
• Sure, there may be ways to get work, and maybe you do not need the Internet, but what are you going to do when the people hiring start working online more. If you think a business will be ‘loyal to the resistance of change’, after they find out how much easier it is, you will be left behind.
• Life is a journey of learning. We are only as smart as the past and present has taught us to deal with the future.
• As for numbers, simply put...They are difficult to accept because most of the time they prove our gut instinct was wrong.

Greed is a ‘no no’...Sorry Gordon.

• Remember those easy days of ‘Greed is good’, and ‘all I need is a job with benefits’? They are simply gone. These days, there is no such thing as a ‘steady job’.
  
• If you are not passionate and creative, dig deep inside you.
  
• This ideal used to only apply to those in the arts, but now, it applies across the globe. You have to love and commit to what you are doing.
  
• Working online, sometimes you do have to offer something for free (NOT in a job posting), in order to earn more than you would if you made everyone pay.
  
• It does not mean becoming a charity. It means having a solid online business plan, whereby that which you give now, you will be able to take back in volumes later.
• Some have asked me, ‘Why doesn’t Voice123 charge a commission?’. Aside, from it being illegal in New York State to accept commission on a paid service, it goes against the very foundation and moral obligation of Voice123 to operate as a marketing service to help the voice talent ‘do it him or herself’.
  
• If we got somewhat greedy and started charging commission on jobs booked, we may make quick money, but Voice123 would soon ‘go bye bye’ because we disrupted the very fabric of what people like, ‘They can be their own business, make their money, and not worry about subversive behavior’. You cannot build a website on greed.
  

Food for thought...What do you think? Want to know more?

Come to my webinar tomorrow night at 8PM!

Steven Lowell
Community Development Manager
Voice123 Facebook
Voice123 Youtube Channel
Twitter: @voice123
Voice123 Meetups!

Community: Talent Pool Resources To Get The Job Done!

Today, I received a wonderful email from a Voice123 Coach Partner, David Zema, based out of New York City. Yesterday, he wrote customer service stating a talent he coaches had been booked for a job off her demo on her profile, but she was in Memphis, Tennessee. Please see how a community of voice talent worked together, and how it was beneficial for everyone!

Email bag:

"The job for Barbara Ann Davison went off very well in Memphis today. Here's the story!

After a producer of election campaign TV spots heard Barbara Ann Davison's demo posted on Voice123 she was chosen to be the spokesperson. Barbara had recorded about a dozen tags and the body of their campaign TV spot a couple of weeks ago at my studio here in NYC.

The client called yesterday and needed her again right away. I realized she was in Memphis, Tenn. Well, the first person I contacted for a recording studio lead in Memphis was Voice123.

Then I searched the Voice123 database for voice talent in Memphis with recording studios. Your team also helped by getting back to me quickly with alternative studios for me to send to the client. I was able to get all of the information I needed for the producer by being part of the voice123 community. Brad Carson, Voice123 member and radio personality at WKQK/WMFS/Entercom-Memphis, also got back to me quickly as well. He referred me to Dan Barron, the manager of their studios.

I sent all information about the various studios and rates to the producers of the spots. They were OK with the rates of Brad's station, and recorded Barbara doing two tags for high profile senate campaigns today and met their deadline.

Thanks for your help with this!"

Voice123 sends a big THANK YOU! to David, Brad, Barbara, Dan, and the fine people in the city of Memphis, Tennessee for displaying what makes the voice over community so special!

Great community stories deserved to be talked about always!

Write us with your special Community story!

Steven Lowell
Community Development Manager
Voice123 Facebook
Voice123 Youtube Channel
Twitter: @voice123
Voice123 Meetups!

Usage Tip: You Must Come To This Webinar

I can offer no more direct advice than this for Voice123 talent:

• You must come to this Voice123 Webinar I do on the fourth Thursday of each month, in which I show voice talent of all experience levels, how to adapt their talent to Voice123.

The word ‘audition’ does not mean all websites are the same! I will show what makes Voice123 special. I will show you why the software involved is healthy for the voice over industry, while explaining case studies, and stories of how I have seen people get work online.

If you only want to see the recorded session, you miss the no-holds barred discussion, and the opportunity for you to ask me anything (I do mean anything). This webinar is as real as it gets, and so are the people who get work because of it.

Please register today!

As a former teacher of how to use software in previous lines of work, I can tell you this:

If you just started on Voice123, or have never come to one of these before, no matter who you are, two hours with this webinar will save you time, money, and years of trial and error when auditioning in an online environment.

By the way...it is free.

Voice123 Webinars are held the fourth Thursday of every month at 8pm EST.

If you have taken one of these before, leave some comments on how you feel it helped you! (if it did not help, that is ok, too! We all learn from our experiences! Your comments matter to us!)

Steven Lowell
Community Development Manager
Voice123 Facebook
Voice123 Youtube Channel
Twitter: @voice123
Voice123 Meetups!

image:Today in SciFi

Usage Tip: Making The Best of No Voice

Voice talent, voice actors, and entertainment jobs alike all have one thing in common, in that each day they wake up, a new job search takes place, even if they worked the day before. Perhaps the most frustrating thing, if not painful, is to have days when you know you cannot look for work. What can you do? People get sick, and people lose their voice.

However, working online means taking the voice away from the voice talent does not mean one must ‘stay quiet’ or stop marketing. What does one do when faced with the situation of not being able to audition?


Try the following:

• Read this blog about voice overs, and how people are working on Voice123.
• Get involved in social media. See who says what and interact with them.
• Familiarize yourself with websites and web tools by looking around for them.
• Read up on forums, and ask questions you now have the time to ask.
• Look around the search feature. Investigate the competition. Every business does it. I used to select parameters, and listen to people’s demos. I learned quickly who I would be competing with, and also which were voice types that basically sounded like my brand, and had booked work I hope to achieve.(take this example: Chris Emerson)

The amazing thing about all of this...
It is free. You will not hurt anyone by generating your web content, or educating yourself on things that just twenty years ago cost thousands of dollars to figure out. The toughest thing talent deal with online is finding the time to truly invest time in investigating online activity, and networking. As a voice talent online, it is all important, and related to working online.


Make time for rest!
The day(s) need not leave you feeling that you are falling behind because you could not audition. You can even check websites for advice on how to take care of your voice!

Steven Lowell
Community Development Manager
Voice123 Facebook
Voice123 Youtube Channel
Twitter: @voice123
Voice123 Meetups!

Usage Tip: Knowing What To Say, Building Communication

A challenge the voiceover industry always faced, whether online or not, is the process of the ‘business’ communicating to the ‘creative’ exactly what is desired. It may just come down to knowing what to say to get everyone on the same page. Voice123 wishes to give you ideas for filling out your next voice over project form in order to find the best voice talent.



Basics...
Voice talent are less likely to audition for voice over jobs when the description is weakly documented. Why? It is very difficult to give someone what they want when the description is poor, and it may feel like a waste of time, as in this ‘worst case scenario’:

• Need voice for my store
  

The hidden psychology behind a turn-off:
A voice talent may assume by the lack of detail and attention paid to the description, that it is an indication of the person’s feeling towards the importance of the voice over. After they look at such things including grammar, and spelling (because it does matter to them), they also have concerns when they do not see the following:

• Pronunciations
• Request for delivery style
• Logistics of the job
  

Best case scenario...Usage Tip?
When you are filling out a project form, or sending a direct contact email, include the following:

• Special pronunciations
• Delivery style (sexy, sultry, smooth, friendly, maybe something about pacing)
• Logistics: “The voice talent must be available on these dates”
• Budget explanations: Is the amount listed per person, or the whole job? Currency?

In short, you cannot go wrong with details. The effort spent in describing more will lead to positive results when you start listening to auditions! Take your time and relish in the fact you are about to save yourself a great deal of time!

Post a project today!


Brand-tastic!
Taken from our Voice123 Forums, a brand created by voice talent Doug Turkel.

Thanks for reading!

Steven Lowell
Community Development Manager
Voice123 Facebook
Voice123 Youtube Channel
Twitter: @voice123
Voice123 Meetups!

Usage Tip: Requirements In Auditioning

If you did not know, we Voice123 sends auditions back to the talent to submit again, if the audio quality is poor, or the person submitted something other than what was requested. We also email the voice talent what went wrong. Our team has listened to over two million auditions over the last 3 years, and we hear how ‘audio quality’ has become the ‘norm’. Of course, not everyone who auditions will be hired, and that is up to the client.

Feeling inspired...
The inspiration behind this blog came from seeing profiles with amazing credits, but after hearing their auditions, it left me wondering if they knew what it meant to audition from home. I never wish our staff to be perceived as arrogant. We wish only to state how we have seen things change since 2007, and what has changed when it comes to auditioning on Voice123. When I started here in 2007, voice seekers seemed to be somewhat forgiving of audio quality, as long as the copy reading was excellent. As online casting has grown, there has been a subtle shift, which we had started to write about close to a year ago.

What has changed? Usage tip?

• The necessity is audio quality. Make sure you have this nailed down.
• The deal breaker is how one is reading copy.
• Make sure you practice, either with voice coaches, or on your own.

The competition on Voice123 is more professional than ever before, but given the anonymous nature of the Internet where everyone is equal, a person with credits beyond credits, and amazing talent, may in fact lose out only because the audio quality is not there. Therefore, if you are reading copy that is connected and original, and you happen to have great audio quality, if you started 30 days ago or 30 years ago, you are both on equal ground.

What does this mean?
Reading copy is a skill that the best of them will make it look easy. That took practice. By comparison, a person does not become a chef simply because he has the best oven, nor does a great studio indicate one can book voice over work. This does mean that if you get work offline because you have the skill to read amazing copy in a studio, but when reading from home, your copy reading is muffled by a poor mic, you will not have much luck. Indeed, this is what many should never forget; traditional casting and online casting are two completely different ways of getting work that changes the way one ‘does business’, but the creative skill behind the mic must be there. Even with two markets, the same skilled voice talent work in both.

Thanks for reading!

Steven Lowell
Community Development Manager
Voice123 Facebook
Voice123 Youtube Channel
Twitter: @voice123
Voice123 Meetups!

Usage Tip: Leave Myopia For Web Utopia

This type of website usage tip is part 6 in an on-going series of tips to help Voice123 talent work online. It covers the methods to working online that I have seen NOT get voice talent work. Try to follow me...'Deep thoughts' warning.

Where is 'Myopia'?
I consider ‘Myopia’ to be ‘The Land of Believing That Everything We Feel Must Be What The World Feels’, when all we truly have done is created our own world. Anyone who travels a great deal has experienced this. For example:

• You leave the hustle and bustle of your daily life, and go to some far away country where their main concerns are completely different. Then, you return home to realize that friends and neighbors, who never took a break from the daily grind, still believe their grind is ‘what is happening in the world’.
  

When it comes to professional relationships and voice over work, the scope of 'how' talent get work these days has changed so dramatically, that if one person says to another, ‘Do this and your career is over.’, or ‘Do this and everyone will love it.’, this person probably is living in Myopia. Myopia is also the 'Land of Simple Solutions', which never work online, and making judgments before knowing the entire story i.e. Making a decision on how one personally feels. Do people in Myopia get work? Of course they do! But do they limit their opportunities based on the opinions of other members of Myopia, hurting their abilities to work in the future? They will never know.

Web Utopia...and the Website Usage Tip
Regardless of what anyone says, you can create your own world within Web Utopia. Myopians may not understand you, but then again, that is the way of their land, so it becomes a matter of, ‘Who do you wish to surround yourself with?’. Web Utopians think in a manner that is grand, and worldly. They listen, yet rarely care what people have to say when it is negative. They do not label what they do because to label is to set limitations. They also know to sit in one place and condemn another Web Utopian’s method is wasteful energy because they are focusing on building their land.

Not to long ago, I spoke to people from the voice over industry in Canada, Europe, and the USA, and most of them had no idea online casting existed:

• The ‘Myopian’ may respond: “You don’t know? What is wrong with you?"
• ’The ‘Web Utopian’ would respond: “Let me tell you about it. I think you will like it.”

Strange Words...
Yes, I made words up for this blog. There is no need to share Webster’s Dictionary links to correct me. I was illustrating one simple point:

• ‘If you believe you can do voice overs, or believe you cannot do voice overs because of what someone else says; either way you are correct.’

Remember this the next time you get behind the mic!

Steven Lowell
Community Development Manager
Voice123 Facebook
Voice123 Youtube Channel
Twitter: @voice123
Voice123 Meetups!