Server Upgrade Means Planned Outage This Weekend!

This weekend, Voice123 will be making a much needed server upgrade to meet the growing demands of its user community.

This does mean the site will have to come down for Sunday, May 31st, 2009, between the hours of 3:00 am and 7:00 am (USA ET).

Some of you may have experienced a slow response time from the web server recently. We thank you so much for your feedback and patience in recent weeks. We hope this upgrade will serve our Voice123 Community by having faster site speed, which makes for a much more pleasant experience.

If you are a Voice Seeker planning to post a project this coming Sunday, we suggest that you do so after 7:00 am (USA ET), or send us the details of the project via email to help@voice123.com, so we can process them for you.

If you are a Voice Over Talent-Producer, please schedule yourself to send your pending auditions and proposals before or after the planned outage.

Cheers,


Juan Salcedo
General Manager

Talent Finds 'Terminator: Salvation' on Voice123!

We are very happy to announce that Voice123 talent, September Day Leach, booked a great job through Voice123, doing promotional materials for the movie, 'Terminator: Salvation', which premiered last Thursday! We thank her for letting us know about this great job, and she agreed to answer some questions about how this came to be.

Q. First, tell us about the job!
A. I was hired for promotional work for the film. I'm on www.skynetresearch.com, and all the cool viral stuff they did including infomercials for the SciFi Channel! It was just really, really cool!

Q. What exact project did you find this work through?
A. This one: http://voice123.com/lv/Corporate_Site_2.html

Q. When did you realize exactly how big the job was going to be?
A. When the production company told me who the real client was, I think I giggled like a schoolgirl for a good half hour! I was thrilled that my sexy, monotone voice was chosen as the most iconic antagonist, Skynet!

Q. How many auditions did you go through to get the job?
A. Just the one SmartCast audition. It was weird because the client hid the real name of the company in the script. I actually thought it was a security firm of some sort.

Q. They hid their name, so how did you know who it was, and what is the process of signing an NDA? Did you negotiate anything ahead of time?
A. I got a phone call while I was in a cab on my way to the NYC voice over mixer that Erik Sheppard, and I held in early December 2008. The production house e-mailed me a copy of the NDA the day before I got the phone call. The name of "Warner Brothers" was on it, so I had an inkling it was going to be a big deal! All it said was that once I found out who the client was, I would not tell anyone in detail about the scripts I would be recording. I had signed it and faxed it back the day before I left for the New York City VO Mixer, and didn't think I would hear back until Monday. They called me on Friday while I was in my cab from La Guardia, going to meet Erik at the NYC (34th St.) Macy's to see Santa. I was all calm and cool on the phone, but freaked my cabbie out a bit when I started doing the victory dance (which looks an awful lot like the "Snoopy dance") in his back seat! When we finally got to sit on Santa's lap (and we have picture proof of Erik sitting on Santa's knee!) I told him that I had already gotten my Christmas present! :) I knew the general price range for the initial recording, but I did negotiate prices as we recorded more scripts. The people with the production house were very nice and professional. All of the sessions were recorded via phone patch from my home studio.

Q. How about other jobs you have booked on Voice123?
A. Voice123 allows me to book the bread and butter jobs that makes it possible for me to be a full-time VO, while at the same time granting me access to career-changing jobs for clients like MTV, Subaru, IKEA, and now, Warner Brothers! The return on investment is incredible! No matter how successful I am able to be in this industry, Voice123 will always be in my marketing arsenal.

Voice123 thanks September Day Leach for sharing her success story with us, and we wish her all the best in future auditions! Nothing makes us happier than to hear people are working in a voice over career they love!

We thank you for reading!

If you have a voice over casting success story of your own you would like to share with us for the future, please let us know by writing us, or in our Voice123 Premium Forums!

Thank you always!

Steven Lowell
Public Relations Manager
My Blog
Twitter: @stevenNYC123

'My Voice Tags' in Your Profile!

Demo tags are finally here! The work put in by you, the professional Voice123 talent, has helped us create a great new feature for helping all Voice123 voice over talents to be found much easier than ever before!

When the new Voice123 Search Feature comes out soon, the very tags you choose to keep in your new 'My Voice Tags' section of your profile, can assist you in being found quicker and easier. Simply put, these are keywords that have been anonymously left on your profile demos by other professional talents throughout the last year.

Demo tagging is a very complex web development feature, which makes it faster & easier for people to connect in order to be hired. Bottom line, you can only benefit from it!

You may check at any time what tags your voice has received in the 'My Voice Tags' option of the 'My Profile' section (you can remove tags you don't agree with). And if you want to tag other talents, you can do so here.

You can never connect if a tag does not match what you are, and because you can remove these tags, while leaving some for others, you now have a voice in shaping the professionalism of Voice123!

This feature works because the Voice123 community made it so, and we thank you so much for being a part of Voice123.

Read more about it in our Resource Center article about Demo Tagging, if you have questions.

Cheers,


Juan Salcedo
General Manager

Demo Tagging Winners Announced!

The demo tagging promotion to give away five premium subscriptions ended last week. Over the weekend, Voice123 spent many hours looking through them to see just who tagged the most demos. We are happy to announce the following five winners of Voice123 Premium Subscriptions!

• Sabrina Sterling
• Robin Rowan
• Ron Reid
• Matilda Novak
• Eluv Eluv

We received over 25,000 tags throughout the past year. Over 9,600 voice demos were tagged, belonging to 8,500 voice talents. The tags left were very professional, and it was a pleasure to see such high community participation!

We thank all who took part in this promotion. You may continue tagging demos as you wish. The ability to see and remove the tags given to you will be available very shortly as part of a new feature to help you increase your online exposure!

If you have any questions about Demo Tagging, and how it will be used, please ask us here on the Voice123 Premium Forums.


Thank you always!

Steven Lowell
Public Relations Manager
My Blog
Twitter: @stevenNYC123

Copy Reading - Some Tips and Thoughts

In a creative industry, there are no 'absolutes', yet the one thing that seems to have changed very little over the last 20 years is 'how to read copy', even with all the technology out there, which changed the way business is done.

Back in the 90's, I read the book 'Word of Mouth', by Susan Blu & Molly Ann Mullin. When it comes to copy reading, I still refer to tips in this book. Of course, the way we do business has changed with online casting, in that it is now more 'do-it-yourself'. So, as someone, who listens day to day to demos and auditions on Voice123, I would like to share some thoughts and tips about copy reading, a main component of booking voice over work.

• Know who you are talking to, always, while you read copy
  Each script has an audience. It is important to sound as if you are addressing someone while you speak. I have always believed that 'if you talk to someone specifically, you talk to everyone at the same time', and if you are listening to a voice over, the voice that stops the audience in their tracks is one that sounds as if it was directed at one person.

• Do not try to sound like anyone else. Be yourself
  In a business with so many talents, you have to sell a product, that being your voice, and there is no other person out there like you. Trying to sound like what you perceive voice over artists to sound like, actually makes you sound inexperienced.
  

• Creativity & originality is a must, BUT know the basic rules first
  I live by the motto, 'You can only break rules, once you know the rules.' That said, true creativity and originality can be implemented when you know what is being done, and should not be done. For example... Announcing in an audition that you are 'Trying something new here...', actually scares people into thinking you do not know what you are doing. Why? Because true creativity and originality that holds the listener's attention requires no explanation, before or after. Just do what you think is best, based on what you know. If you are having a creative block, just change up the cadence, and try inflections on words, even if they make no sense. Remember though... do this when you practice, so that when you audition, it is second nature to you. On this point as well, all creativity you have may be lost if your recording quality is poor.
  

• Repetition and practice is key
  The best way to learn a new skill is through repetition of educated steps. The best way to learn how to read copy is to practice reading it consistently. Doing this in classes and with coaches is better than trying it for the first time when auditioning. You want scripts and copy to become a new language for you. Practice also helps your diction, and also gets you 'out of your head', almost so that you are not thinking so much about how you sound, but more so whether or not you are accomplishing the goal that the script has set before you.
  

I still remember the day I felt like something clicked inside me while reading copy... I was reading something, and I knew while I was reading it, that I was not getting the point across, I was speaking too fast, and that my NYC accent slipped in there by mistake, and it was out of place and not asked for in the script. It was very much an 'in the zone' feeling that came after many months of working diligently with a coach, and classes on what types of voice overs I sell best. I also remember that when I auditioned on Voice123 as a talent, I read the script almost 20 times before recording, just to make sure I knew what the script was really trying to do, backwards forwards.

I hope this insight helps. You can always share your opinions or ask for Demo Advice on Voice123's Premium Forums. Opinions may vary, but you can never forget practice, and dedication.



Steven Lowell
Public Relations Manager
My Blog
Twitter: @stevenNYC123

Demo Tagging Coming to a Close Next Week

Many of you have already taken part in the demo tagging on Voice123. Thank you!

As this comes to a close before the release of our new search feature, we wanted to send one last reminder that the five people, who have tagged the most demos by May 8th, will receive a free Premium Subscription to Voice123.

Tagging demos takes place after an audition has been submitted on Voice123, a function of those with Premium subscriptions. Please remember that tagging is anonymous, and all tags will be available for removal, if you disagree with them once they have been released. If you would like details, read more here.

If you are curious, and maybe would like to know more about this, you can always ask me on Voice123 Premium forums.

Thank you so much!


Steven Lowell
Public Relations Manager
My Blog
twitter.com/stevenNYC123

"If I Never Hear These Questions Again, It Will Be Too Soon" - Bettye Zoller

Bettye Zoller is a member of the Voice123 Coach Partner Program. She has been kind enough to write this article for the benefit of the voice over community. We hope you find it useful.

"Let me begin this article with a couple of wise quotes from veteran broadcasters I’ve had the pleasure of knowing. I won’t mention names, but here ‘tis:

1. If you tell me you are “thinking about” going into broadcasting or voiceovers, I’m going to advise you not to do it. You obviously do not have the passion, the fire, the drive if you’re only “thinking about it.” Go into another line of work!
   
2. It never matters how good someone is at what they do if that person doesn’t sell, sell, sell. A good salesperson will always make more money and have more success in any given endeavor than a talented person will have, every time!”

As a longtime voice, speech, singing, and voice over coach, it is the voice over students who ask questions over and over again, many times, unanswerable questions! So, I decided to write this article in an effort to aid voice performers in overcoming “fear of failure,” the real reason behind these unanswerable questions. First, here are the questions:

1. How long will it take me to make money in the voiceover business?
2. I want to quit my job (retire or whatever…) so do you think voiceovers will allow me to do that without a loss of income?
3. What is the start-up cost involved in becoming a voiceover performer?
4. Do you think it’s worth the money to join an online pay-to-play voiceover website?
5. Do you think I should renew my membership with an online pay-to-play voiceover website?
6. Why am I not winning more online auditions?
7. OK. I’ve downloaded the Audacity recording software and I put a microphone on my computer. I’m all set up as a recording studio but don’t know how to record anything on it. What should I do?
8. OK. I don’t have the money for a voiceover CD demo because I just spent all my money outfitting my computer as a recording studio. Is that ok? I can do the demo in awhile.
9. I just paid to be on Voice123. Now what? Should I have signed up through you, my coach?
10. How do I know which online jobs to audition for and which to pass over?
11. How do I find a good voiceover coach?

Everybody, here are the ‘answers'! (only kidding…), but I’ll try to clarify some issues:

1. Who knows? Ask a fortune teller but don’t pay more than $5.00 and don’t expect an answer from her either.
2. Remember: Voiceovers, just like every other business in the world today or forever in history has or has had a startup period, a build. Voiceovers are no exception. It usually takes two to six years to establish a career if you’re diligent and good and a terrific networker and salesperson.
3. From $500 to $5000 dollars: Ask an architect how much it will cost to build a house for you. What sort of house? What materials? Where? There are too many variables to quote start up costs for anything…ever. But one thing is clear: Starting a voice business is far less costly than many, many other types of businesses.
4. Yes. Joining a pay to play online voiceover site is the foundation of today’s voice business. I predict that in years ahead, our online voiceover work will supercede any other type of voiceover work.
5. Yes.
6. Who knows? Are you auditioning for jobs not suited to your strengths? Are you a beginning voiceover performer or someone who, as of yet, is not very accomplished? Is your accent or dialect or perhaps your poor diction causing the rejections? Do you need more voiceover training? Are you auditioning for jobs you don’t fit? Are you auditioning for jobs requiring a higher level of audio engineering or certain recording equipment you don’t have yet or that you are not capable of providing at this time? Are your audition MP3s noisy, boomy, too low in volume? But also, know that auditioning is “a NUMBERS GAME.” Also, some clients should have chosen YOU but didn’t! (There…do you feel better now?) Let me tell you the story about the client who did not choose me because I reminded him of his ex-wife! (True!) Do you know that statistics show that most small businesses fail because they gave up too soon? There is no explanation for why one person is chosen in most auditions over another equally good person. Learn to live with this fact!
7. Investigate community colleges in your area to find a recording studio course and enroll in it. Perhaps find an audio engineer working at a local recording studio who will teach you privately a few times to answer your questions and give you a start on knowing more about recording. Ask your local library for a book on recording techniques. Search online for articles on websites addressing your concerns about recording yourself. Talk with others in voiceovers who may share information. Query others in an online chat group, on a message board, or in an online email group to get answers to some questions.
8. Every week that you do NOT yet have a “killer” demo (or more than one!) simply postpones your possible successes one week further into the future. The demo is the foundation of everything. You put the “cart before the horse.” By spending your money on the recording gear too soon. First comes study. The demo comes next. Setting up your computer as a recording studio comes down the line. Learn your craft and get good at it before putting in a studio. And don’t do a demo until you’re ready either! Never do a demo with a so-called producer who works with you one hour to day and shoves you in front of a microphone. Your demo should be prepared totally, rehearsed, the copy chosen with great care.
9. Voice123 has a “coaches’ program whereby a coach who is a signed coach with the site can offer a newcomer a free trial period before he or she pays to become a premium member. Take advantage of this trial period by signing up for it through your voice coach. If your coach is not a Voice123 coach, ask the folks at Voice123 to refer you to a resident coach. I help my students who join on the trial program through me to build their page, upload their demos, get a start. Ask your coach for help.
10. “Know Thyself.” If you do not know your strengths, get busy with a coach who can help you identify these areas. No one is good at everything. Only do what you’re fabulous doing. Make a list of your voiceover strengths. Stick with it. Pass over auditions that are not among your best areas. And set limits on “how low you’ll go” with the lowball jobs on the online sites. What’s your asking price?
11. A coach is not “good” for everyone…only good for SOME PEOPLE. Unless a coach is untrained and not knowledgeable, uncaring and unprofessional, that coach can probably impart to you some wisdom, teach you some good things. Everyone should study with a variety of coaches. Study often! And if a certain coach is not your “favorite,” not the “best coach” you’ve had, please do not take that to mean the coach might not be good for others. Everyone is different with differing needs. A dear friend and colleague, the late Don LaFontaine, once told me, “If you gain one useful bit of knowledge from a teacher or a workshop, it’s been worth the money. And when the lesson’s over or the workshop’s finished, ask yourself what the best piece of new knowledge was that you learned.” So true. Great advice!
    

Let me close by addressing the greatest fear of all: I call it, “the imposter syndrome.” When students in medical colleges reach the intern-stage of their education, many drop out. They quit. They become fearful of being a physician because they feel inadequate, afraid, untried. This is primarily because of FEAR OF FAILURE. One thing is absolutely certain and I tell all my students this fact: The one certainty is that if you do not try, you have failed. And you never will know if you could have succeeded or not. But also, one must know when enough is enough, when to quit. Not everyone succeeds at voiceovers. Ask yourself these following questions:

• Are you built to be an entrepreneur?
• Should you find a job with a steady paycheck?
• Are you not good at self promotion or sales?
• Are you shy and fearful of meeting new people?
• Are you unknowledgeable about recording and really do not want to learn it?
• Perhaps you also are mostly computer illiterate? Do you have a speech disorder or accent of some kind?
• Is English, for you, a second or foreign language? Perhaps you should be trying to get more jobs in your primary language.

I constantly dispel the myth that a person who “speaks well” can do well at voiceovers. Not true. It’s much more than only “talking.” It’s voice acting. It’s a REAL BUSINESS! Welcome to the real voiceover world!"

- Bettye Zoller Seitz of voicesvoices.com is also a Voice123 Coach. See her profile for credentials! She coaches by phone as well as privately. She holds degrees through the doctorate from three universities and is the Feagin Guest Artist Professor at Tulsa University in Oklahoma and The Academy of Dramatic Arts this August in NYC.

Difference Between SmartCast & SmartCast Disabled

In the Voice123 system for posting a job, there are two kinds:

• SmartCast
• SmartCast Disabled

However, there is a big difference between the two.

SmartCast is a system that automatically matches what you are requesting to the profiles that best fit what you require. It requires little time to use, and you normally begin receiving auditions within the hour. Invitations to audition for your project will be sent to hundreds of professional talents, who match your needs.

Then, we have SmartCast Disabled. This form is different. It requires that you, not only fill out a form, but that you also MANUALLY invite voice talents, either through our search feature, or from people you have worked with before on Voice123. It involves the use of our private messaging system. In turn, you will be doing the casting yourself, by who you find.

If you ever have any questions about how to post a project, please contact one of our account executives, or myself, for assistance. Post a project, and see for yourself!

Thank you for using Voice123!

Steven Lowell
Public Relations Manager
My Blog
twitter.com/stevenNYC123

'Ya' Never Know!'

The very fact that names can be saved or that talents can be marked as 'preferred' by a voice seeker, means that every audition carries the same responsibility as one that comes with meeting an agent or casting director. Why? Simply put...'Ya' Never Know' who will be listening one day, or who you have struck a chord with in the past.

When it comes down to it, 'people' are using Voice123 on both sides of the community. One side of the community is made up of 'voice seekers' that use the technology to post projects, and hear auditions. Each has their own personality. They have an easy time keeping track of those professionals, who at one point, stuck out to them and planted that all important seed in the brain known as 'I would like to work with that person one day'. However, the needs of clients to hire a talent can be unpredictable, even with all technology in place to cut out the unpredictability factor out!

We give you two examples, which you can find in our Voice123 Forums, that illustrates the importance of professional auditioning, all the time!

Please see the following posts!

• "Never Know When an Old Audition Pays Off"
• "Ya Just Never Know"

These have been written by David Swinehart and Scott Pollak! Thank you to you both for sharing such positive news, and insight, with the community of Voice123!

Being that no 'rule' is absolute when it comes to a creative industry, we point to one common thread that has made talents memorable, as learned in feedback from voice seekers:

One with the ability to choose the right auditions for themselves, combined with an audition and online communication skill that saves the client 'time', which can very well be the warmest hug you can give someone who is using a computer. It is like saying, 'I know what you are going through. So, let's work together.' This understanding is key in establishing long-term working relationships, while working online, too!

Working online can be unassumingly demanding, and being as new as it is, requires some flexibility when working within the community, but if you are always putting your best voice forward with dedication to sound quality and great copy reading, at some point, it will pay off for you!

"Dedication and hard work requires that success is imminent!"

Thank you for using Voice123!


Steven Lowell
Public Relations Manager
My Blog
twitter.com/stevenNYC123

"BOB BERGEN: SO, HERE'S THE DEAL" Debuts in NYC!

Voice123 would like to mention a very special show that is coming to New York City this week. If you have ever been curious as to how to make it in voice overs, this is a great show to see.

"BOB BERGEN: SO, HERE'S THE DEAL"...The story of a nice Jewish boy who wanted to be Porky Pig, will make its NYC debut this week, April 22nd & 23rd, at Don't Tell Mama!

Reservations are now being accepted! You can click here to reserve for April 22nd or click here to reserve for April 23.

If you would like to make phone reservations, you must call after 4:00PM EST @ (212)-757-0788.

Interested in finding out more? Check out the show trailer!

We hope you can make it! Thank you to Marian Massaro passing this information along to us!

Cheers!


Steven Lowell
Public Relations Manager
My Blog