Using a Phone Patch in Your Voice Over Home Recording Studio

 How will a Phone Patch enhance your voice over job opportunities?

The latest trend in voice overs is to have your own home studio. This allows you to work from home and to accept work from anyone in the world. Often the scripts are sent to you via email and you interpret the script, record it, and return the finished files to the client. However this process requires that you fully understand the requirements of your client so that you can direct your own performance. But what if the clients wants to listen in and direct you as you record? This adds another layer of complexity to your studio setup so you can supply this capability with your studio gear. An easy and inexpensive way of doing this is with a Phone Patch.

A Phone Patch allows two way communication with the client

A Phone Patch is a electronic box that allows you to connect your mixer or digital audio interface to standard telephone lines. When you talk into your microphone the mic signal is routed to the telephone as if you are speaking into a telephone receiver. And when the client speaks, their voice is routed into your headphones. Also, when properly set up, you can play back recorded tracks for the client and they can hear that as well. Overall the experience feels like you're in a studio with the client in the control room speaking over the "talkback" mic.

Allowing instant adjustment and correction of your performance gives you a much higher probability that the client will be satisfied with the end results. This reduces the need for retakes or pickups at a later date and makes the entire recording process more efficient and quicker.

You should add Phone Patch capability to your studio

Today's voice over market includes online casting. This gives you the opportunity to perform for clients all over the world. And you want these clients to feel as comfortable hiring you as the talent who lives down the street. Directing with a phone patch session will make them feel just like they're in the next room. They will experience your personality. They'll be able to judge your response to direction. You can solve pronunciation questions immediately. You can even chat about the weather or the Yankees chances this year. Remember building rapport with the client is an important part of voice over marketing. We all want to work with someone we like.

Analog and digital hybrids

The actual box that you buy to create a phone patch system is called a "hybrid." There are two types. The older version is analog and passive, meaning it doesn't require a power supply. The newer versions are digital and need power to operate. There are two benefits to the digital version. One is much greater separation of incoming signal from the outgoing signal. A regular phone needs to lower the incoming voice so it doesn't feedback into the outgoing signal. Callers don't want to hear their own voice coming back or worse a loud feedback whine. A digital hybrid can lower (attenuate) the signal by 50 dB. The second advantage is, since the unit is powered, you can supply gain to the signals. That means if you can't hear them or they can't hear you, you can turn the volume up. The analog hybrid does mix a bit of the two signals together but still provides 20dB of attenuation. And usually the phone signals are adequate so yo don't have to turn anything up. Also if you're using a mixer you can supply some gain with the mixer.

Hooking it all up

I can't go into specifics for each piece of hardware and recording software but you will need a mixing board or a separate audio interface to hook up the hybrid. Most of the audio interfaces have "virtual" mixing capabilities which you can access from your recording software. So here's the secret to hooking it up.

The hybrid has a phone connector--the typical "phone jack"-- on the back to plug the phone line into. (You can also plug a regular phone into an additional jack so you can use the phone line as a regular phone.)

The hybrid also has a "line in" connector to which you supply signals that you want to go down the telephone line to the client. And it has a "line out" connector which supplies your mixer with the telephone signal from the caller.

There are five different signals that you will have in a typical session:

1. Your Microphone in--plugged into the mixer providing your voice to the recording software and to the clients telephone
2. The Playback Tracks in--routed into the mixer so you can play back the recorded tracks and hear them in your headphones and have the client hear them on their phone.
3. The client's voice in--coming from the telephone line via the hybrid's "line out" into the mixer.
4.The signal out of the mixer to your headphones
5. The signal out of the mixer back via the hybrid's "line in" to the client's phone for them to hear.

To achieve this you need to create a "mix" of signals for your headphones and a "mix minus one" signal that goes out to the telephone as follows:

Mix of inputs to you headphones:

1. Your Microphone
2. The Playback
3. The Client's voice on the phone

Mix of inputs to the telephone via the hybrid.

1. Your Microphone
2. The Playback

Exactly how you do this is specific to your hardware and software but this gives you the outline of what you're trying to achieve. The important point to note is you DON'T want the clients voice going back out to the telephone (hence the "minus one".) This will create the dreaded feedback loop.

I've been doing mixing for years and this still makes me scratch my head. It's best to write it down and diagram it on a piece of paper. And save the paper so you don't have to decipher it again at a later date!

If you don't have an audio interface or mixer--other phone patch alternatives

Suppose you have a really simple recording system. Just your trusty USB mic and your laptop. Without the mixer or interface you cant use the telephone hybrid but there are other alternatives that can work almost as well. Remember the goal is for the client to hear you when you talk and for you to hear the client give direction. Here are some other ways to do this.

A wireless portable phone and a headset. I used this for years. The portable phone is connected to your landline (or VoIP phone such as a cable phone, Vonage, or even the remarkable MagicJack.) You then plug a headset into the receiver and clip it to your belt. Put the headset on and put your headphones over it. Voila! The client can hear you talk and you can hear them direct.

The same set-up with a cell phone. Simpler cell phones have a headset jack. Newer phones may need an adapter to use a headset but the principle is the same. A similar result can be achieved with a bluetooth hands-free device but I think the audio quality really degrades between the bluetooth and the cell phone.

You can use Skype. Skype is like an internet phone. It's free for Skype-to-Skype calls but there may be a charge for phone-to-Skype. With a little time spent in the "preferences" you can have Skype recognize your microphone as the input device and your headphones as the output.

These alternatives all provide the two-way communication you need for a successful voice over session. The only drawback is you can't directly PLAY BACK the track if the client would like to hear it. I used to worry about this but, believe it or not, I've never had a client ask for a playback!

You should have phone patch capability in your voice over studio

Phone patch capability enhances your voice over service. Being directed in a session can speed up the session, provide a more acceptable read, demonstrate you ability to take direction and reduce the need for picks and retakes at a later date. It will also be required for the more sophisticated--and lucrative--jobs. So use one of these methods to add this to your studio and kick your voice over service up to a higher level.

If you live in the Los Angeles area you should look into my live Voice Over Classes. For those who live in other ares I also offer Online Voice Over Classes which offer the same quality of instruction in a modular, online format

William Williams is a voice over talent, instructor and coach located in Burbank near Los Angeles California. With experience as a marketing director, commercial and animation producer and voice over talent he knows what's required for excellence on "both sides of the glass." For 25 years he has been the owner and operator of Aliso Creek Productions, a full service audio production company specializing in radio, TV, and industrial audio, and voice over instruction and coaching. William has produced or performed in hundreds of commercials, videos and animation projects.

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Using ISDN in Your Voice Over Home Recording Studio

Will ISDN enhance your voice over job opportunities?

The latest trend in voice overs is to have your own home studio. This allows you to work from home and to accept work from anyone in the world. Often the scripts are sent to you via email and you interpret the script, record it, and return the finished files to the client. However this process requires that you fully understand the requirements of your client so that you can direct your own performance. But what if the clients wants to listen in and direct you as you record? This adds another layer of complexity to your studio setup so you can supply this capability with your studio gear. This need can be met with an ISDN connection.

The grandaddy of remote monitoring (listening in, commenting and recording from a distant location) is the ISDN connection. ISDN stands for Integrated Services Digital Network and it provides a constant direct digital connection over telephone lines to a remote studio.

ISDN has two major advantages.

ISDN allows you to send high fidelity (20-20kHz) audio signals from your studio to the remote studio. This allows you to speak into your microphone while the remote studio receives your signal at high quality in their studio. The producer, director and engineer can hear your performance clearly on their monitor speakers as though you were in the other room, so they can hear the subtlety of your performance and catch any stumbles in your performance. More importantly, since the signal is high fidelity, it can be recorded on the remote studio's recording equipment and used immediately. Back in the day, this eliminated the need to send tapes recorded at your studio via overnight express in order to deliver your performance to the distant studio.

The director can also speak to you over a phone quality line to give you performance notes and you hear this direction in your headphones as if s/he were in the control room next door. You can speak back to the director through your mic.

So ISDN has two benefits: High fidelity sound quality for remote monitoring and recording. And real-time delivery through the ability to record this high fidelity sound in the remote location.

So why shouldn't all voice over talents run right out and get ISDN?

One issue is cost. ISDN can cost several hundred dollars to install and set up and there is also a monthly charge for the line of about $60.00. You also need an ISDN CODEC. This is a box that receives the analog signal from your mixing board and converts it to the digital signals that are sent over the ISDN line. This codec can cost around $5000.00. So unless you're doing enough high-end jobs that require ISDN you may never recoup your investment.

And remember, the receiving studio needs an ISDN line and codec as well. It is useless to supply ISDN service to your client if they don't have access to an ISDN studio on their end. Renting an ISDN studio can cost up to $250.00 an hour.

Also, as broadband internet becomes universal, the recording process is changing. You now record your jobs as digital files, not a 1/4 inch tape. So the second and more important benefit of ISDN--real-time remote delivery--has disappeared. You can now record your work in high fidelity on your computer and upload those files to a client's server in a matter of minutes.

ISDN allows two way communication with a remote voice director.

ISDN still does allow two way communication with a voice director in a remote studio. But this communication can also be achieved with the use of a PHONE PATCH, which is a much simpler and more universal means of communication with the client for simply receiving direction. However a phone patch transmits and receives telephone quality audio which is not high fidelity. You should pay close attention to your own recordings and performance to assure they are high quality and to catch mistakes that the client might not hear over the phone.

I have found that ISDN is requested mostly by "media" companies. Companies that produce movie trailers or TV promos, or companies that produce material for broadcast--live interviews, syndicated programs and so forth. Perhaps in the future, casting companies and voice over agents may require it but many of them haven't caught up with the new world of talent with home studios.

The moral of the ISDN story

So what's the moral of the story? Hold off on installing ISDN capability until a pressing need--and the corresponding ability to pay for it-- arises. For now, stick to a phone patch.

If you live in the Los Angeles area you should look into my live Voice Over Classes. For those who live in other ares I also offer Online Voice Over Classes which offer the same quality of instruction in a modular, online format

William Williams is a voice over talent, instructor and coach located in Burbank near Los Angeles California. With experience as a marketing director, commercial and animation producer and voice over talent he knows what's required for excellence on "both sides of the glass." For 25 years he has been the owner and operator of Aliso Creek Productions, a full service audio production company specializing in radio, TV, and industrial audio, and voice over instruction and coaching. William has produced or performed in hundreds of commercials, videos and animation projects.

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Using "Delete" and "Silence" Audacity Edit Commands for Voice Over Recording

Today's voice over talent is required to have their own home studio. And along with the equipment required, you need recording software to actually record sounds to your computer as digital files. One software program I recommend that works just fine for voice over recording is Audacity. In a job where you're rarely doing more than recording one track of audio it is more than adequate for auditions and jobs. Along with the basic skills of recording, playing back and exporting your audio, you find very quickly that you need some basic editing skills to clean up your performances and finalize your tracks before export. Here are two editing commands that can speed up your production and improve your final product.

The "Delete" and "Silence" editing commands

There are two editing commands in Audacity that you'll find very useful. They are "Delete" and "Silence". You'll find them under the "Edit" heading in the top toolbar. Here's how you use them and some useful applications.

You use these commands by first highlighting the section of your recording that you want to edit. You highlight a section by placing the cursor at the beginning of the required section and "clicking and dragging" to the end of the desired selection. (Click and hold down the click button while you drag the cursor along the soundwave to the end.) If you've done word processing you should be familiar with selecting text this way. By the way you can unselect by clicking anywhere on the waveform. To make sure that you've selected only the sound you want, you can press the play button or the spacebar. Audacity will play only the highlighted sound.

Selecting the editing commands

Now you're ready to select an edit. Let's look at what each command does. "Delete" does what it says--it eliminates the section of audio you have just highlighted and pulls the recording together at that point. Just as in word processing if you Delete a highlighted sentence it disappears and the text below is pulled up.

"Silence" works differently. When you select Silence, the audio that is highlighted is replaced by digital silence but the space where the audio had been remains the same.

In the old world of tape, Delete would be similar to cutting out the section of tape you don't want and pulling the two ends together and splicing them. Silence would be equivalent to erasing that section of tape but leaving the blank erased tape in place.

So to perform and edit you highlight the sound you want to edit, hit the space bar to hear that your selection is, in fact, what you intended, and then select Delete or Silence from the Edit menu. Very quickly you'll realize that this goes much faster if you learn the keyboard shortcuts for these commands. They are Ctrl-K (Command-K on Macs) for Delete and Ctrl-L (Command-L on Macs). (I use Kill and siLence as mnemonics.)

So what are the real-world applications for these commands?

First we'll look at Delete. Imagine you're recording a short script and you stumble on a sentence. You wait a couple seconds and repeat ("pick up") the sentence perfectly and continue to the end of the read. You play it back and hear the bad sentence followed by the good sentence. Here's how to fix it. Highlight the bad sentence from its exact beginning to the exact beginning of the good sentence. Hit the space bar to hear that your selection is accurate. Now select Edit >> Delete from the toolbar or push Ctrl-K (Command-K on Macs) and the bad sentence will vanish as the good sentence is pulled up to replace it.

OK, let's look at Silence. This is useful for eliminating breaths. If you look carefully at the waveform of your performance you see small ovals of sound after phrases or sentences. If you highlight one of these ovals and play it you'll hear that it's most likely a breath. There's always a tiny space around the breath oval because you breath out to talk and you breath in to take a breath. Then you breath out to continue talking. So locate a breath on the waveform--look for the oval at the end of a sentence--and highlight the breath. Once again always hit the spacebar to assure you've selected what you intended to select. Now select Edit >> Silence from the toolbar or push Ctrl-L (Command-L on Macs) and the breath will be replaced with silence but the spacing will remain. (Note that if you used Delete the two sentence would be pulled together which would sound very unnatural.)

Practice and perfect your editing to speed up your auditions and your jobs

These techniques are useful for cleaning up auditions and for supplying "finished tracks" if your client requires that in a job. Learning to do these edits takes some practice but it's like knitting: if you practice, it will become so natural you can do it without thinking. Give it a try and soon you'll be Deleting and Silencing like Joe Pesci in Good Fellas!

If you live in the Los Angeles area you should look into my live Voice Over Classes. For those who live in other ares I also have Online Voice Over Classes which offer the same quality of instruction in a modular, online format

William Williams is a voice over talent, instructor and coach located in Burbank near Los Angeles California. With experience as a marketing director, commercial and animation producer and voice over talent he knows what's required for excellence on "both sides of the glass." For 25 years he has been the owner and operator of Aliso Creek Productions, a full service audio production company specializing in radio, TV, and industrial audio, and voice over instruction and coaching. William has produced or performed in hundreds of commercials, videos and animation projects.

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Voice Over Agents

Getting a voice over agent is not like winning the lottery. It does not mean that you suddenly are special, famous, better than anyone else, rich, going to earn a living, going to get jobs or going to go heaven. Oddly enough, the same applies to having a voice over page, but they both help...a hell of a lot!

There are good agents and bad agents, there are honest agents who have built up large businesses through toil and turmoil and those that have stolen contacts whilst on a payroll and started up on their own, there are those that say they are agents and are not, those that say they are not and are, and of course those who use their fame, position or profile. All of them will help.

Some of them will welcome you having a voice over page elsewhere with their number and email on it, some of them will not. In fairness you haven't really got much choice. It's damn hard to get an agent, let alone a decent one, so you will have to do what they say, even if it is unlawfully obstructive or involves you changing your name to something daft.

The oldest agents are the best in our experience, they have seen it all, they were often the starting place for many of todays "offshoot agents" i.e. those that stole contacts then set up on their own. You can easily find out some of the older agents by checking on companies house and looking up how long they have been trading. The oldest agents tend to be best as they are the most experienced and invariably have the most influence with the companies they supply voices to; but the older and more established the voice over agent the longer the waiting list is.

We have conducted considerable research into voice over agents and there are some serious companies in operation. Hobson's for instance is one of the most highly regarded and most difficult to register with agents in the UK, at our last check, they too were the ones doing the most business.

In our research we have also found that you might be in for a rocky ride dealing with some of them. Some are obnoxious, and seem to be incredulous that you dare apply to be on their books. Some are warm and professional and have a rejection policy that is fair, kind and polite. If you ask around and look carefully for reactions you will get to know who is nice and who isn't but be prepared to be insulted. The aforementioned company is not one of those companies by the way.

Smart talent find a way to do both or as much as they can, in that they have an agent who covers large significant types of jobs and allow personal voice over pages feed smaller jobs to them or to generally feed work to their agent. It's not that agents don't bother with small monies, but that they have larger clients budgets and overheads.

Invariably though one thing is for sure and that is, agents will not handle smaller equity based fee jobs very often and your own personal page will not handle huge TVR repeat type jobs very often.

Having an agent is a great thing but, it has no guarantees; some agents have hundreds of voice over artists on their books not working. This is mainly due to the fact that there are so many agents nowadays. You might even find yourself working for years to get accepted by an agent but still finding out that all your hard work has amounted to nothing.

Agents make their money based upon commissions, and they have very high overheads. They have to have posh show off offices in Soho, pay salaries to the people "working the phones" and have to have lots of lunches with people. They work very hard to make their money and even harder to get a reputation from clients, this means you have to be realistic about how they operate. Are they going to use valuable time equity resources to promote you or the person that already brings them ?100,000 a year in commission? This is not to put you off, but to educate you into managing your expectations and of course your ego.

It really is not all that having one, but you can get great jobs from if you do.

Rhubarb are another example of a voice over agent who have been around a very long time, they are very smart and efficient. From our research Rhubarb and Hobson's are among the leaders alongside Rabbit, Yakkety Yak and Lip Service. Without disclosure it would be unfair to "chart" these companies in terms of their artist numbers or revenue, but a calculation between gross revenue and the number of artists might give you a vague idea on your percentage likely hood of work, but it would be very crude.

Sure there are lots of other agents but we omitted the ones that have been rude bitchy or cruel to our artists or us. Don't be disheartened though, however some are, they get you work and that is all that matters.

Voice over agents do change their talent, and the good ones do have listening sessions, this is the good news, the bad news is, if they have someone who they think sounds a bit like you, you won't get a look in. So step one is have something genuinely unique to offer.

Voice over agents also know what makes a good demo so get one and get it in to them, note your application should illustrate that you are aware you may be on pause until their next listening session. You could for instance word an email or note to say.

"I have listened to all your voices and still feel I have something unique to add. Would it be ok to request my demo illustrating this is added to the next time you do a listening session or a refresh?"

If you want to do a demo, a cheap option is to ask a producer to help you edit, record or cut a demo with you for a "freelance fee" alternatively you could contact a company who might do the whole thing for you.

It's also useful to remember that voice agents get about 50 demos a week but if you are unique you will still have a chance. Tenacity is the next piece of advice, being an annoying pest is not. There is a thin line. Treat agents with respect. At best you can hope for a rejection or a date when they may have a listening session. Pick your chase up times carefully and note that it's probably not wise to ring. Yes sales books and seminars will tell you to call, talk to people, sell yourself, push, turn up; but we think that is a tacky and sure fire way to land yourself in the pest bin. British people hate being sold to, especially those that think they are at the center of the universe in Soho or those that are losing money whilst listening to you beg. Keep it formal, business like and intelligent. Sending agents chocolates or yellow pretty bows on CD's won't help.

Make sure you are aware of the above, have something truly unique, and be prepared to enter the most competitive world in the Arts.

Author
Penny Laine
voice over agents

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Voice Over Jobs: Useful Tips For Landing Them

Way back in the day, voice over jobs were only given to members of various voice actors' unions. All of these members had agents, so they had the connections to land the job, but they also had the ability to get into a recording studio with the help of their agent to record their demos. Once they landed the job, they were even able to use the recording studios for the work that needed to be done. Now in 2011, these same jobs that took special invitations, connections and resources before are not only being advertised all over the internet, you can even apply for them on the internet yourself. Yup, anyone can do it.

There are literally thousands of voice over jobs available on the internet today, but even better is that these jobs are no longer exclusive to members of the voice actors' unions. In fact, ordinary people are now filling many of these jobs from the comfort of their own home. Therefore, if you are interested in providing voice over jobs, whether it is narrating a book or doing radio ads all you have to do is land the right job. Voice over jobs are not that easy to come by, you need to remember that the competition in this market is fierce, so knowing a few things to help get you started certainly doesn't hurt. And mark this well: audio quality is as important as ever. Just because audio recording is easier and more accessible than ever does not mean that crappy voice overs are now somehow more acceptable.

One of the best places to go to find voice over jobs is Voices.com, but there are many other websites similar to them out there, all you have to do is search for them. Voices.com allows you to create a free account, so that helps keep your start up costs down. As soon as you get your free account set up, you can begin uploading your demos to help you land the job of your dreams. Even if you do not have any job experience you can still land voice over jobs, you just need the knowledge to do it.

One misconception that people have about voice over jobs is that you need the fanciest equipment to make the best recordings. This is no longer true folks! You can make quality recordings with a $50 USB mic and a computer, as long as you have some audio knowledge. Even if you have never made a demo before there are many websites out there that can help teach some of the basics about creating great audio. Home Brew Audio has some of the most amazing audio tutorials that you will find on the internet to teach you the key fundamentals. What you need to remember is that even if you have hundreds or thousands of dollars worth of equipment you can still produce horrible audio if you lack the knowledge necessary!

So if you want to try out a new career, visit Voices.com for some excellent "getting started" resources, including scripts for different types of demos. Then come on by Home Brew Audio for some recording tips, and start producing your demos. Upload those to your Voices.com profile and you've taken the first step! A paid membership in Voices.com allows you to receive dozens of job postings via e-mail every day. Start submitting auditions for these ASAP. I recommend that whenever possible, you record a custom demo for these auditions, reading from the audition script the job poster almost always supplies. And then be ready to be persistent and patient. It will feel pretty darned great when you get paid for your first voice over job.

Learn to record and produce professional sounding audio from home. With fun and short video tutorials we'll show you how to start with a $0-$5 budget, and then how to improve your studio for a few dollars at a time as your knowledge and confidence increase. If you would like to start doing home recording on computer in the next hour, visit us here: Voice Over Jobs

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Are Voice Overs Better Off Working at McDonald's?

A voice over told me recently that she got an enquiry for a local radio station jobby. She quoted ?100 (which is fair quote for a local station IMHO). And then the radio station replies "eh, how about ?16.50 instead?" So she ended up doing the job for ?16.50. I think this is a prime example of when it's OK to turn down work. Why?

Number 1 - it doesn't look good dropping your rates so dramatically, as it discredits your original quote.

Number 2 - you can't work for ?16.50, you'll be out of business in no time. At those rates you're better off working at McD's as they pay ?5 per hour, but at least they give you 8 hours a day, every day.

Number 3 - remember that radio stations get paid to sell ad space, and not to produce radio ads. They make their money by selling ad space to companies, so to sweeten the deal, they often throw in the production for free. As such, they are normally on a very tight production budget since they are not getting paid to produce work (the production in this case is a business expense). You on the other hand, being a voice over, are being paid to produce work. That's your livelihood. You can't make a living charging 16.50 per job.

I'm not saying you can't get a good "cheap gig." I also know a number of VOs who do tons of work at that price for radio stations. The difference is that they get a high volume of these gigs, and they are quick and easy to knock out. So if people want that price, they gotta buy in bulk. Voice overs could consider selling a pack of 10 or 20 gigs at a discounted rate, so that you guarantee yourself the volume.

Of course there is always going to be some VO willing to do a once-off job for 16 pounds, that's OK, let them have it. But it's important to walk away from those jobs, because they just drive the price down for VOs everywhere. It's a race to the bottom and everyone loses. If more people say no to those McDonald's rates (yes, you will actually be better off working at McDonald's at those rates) it means that companies will have to try harder to find a VO at that price, which means it will cost them more time and effort... more time and effort means more money. Which means... ta-da! The rates go up! Spread the word.

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The Voice Over

Voice of Wembley Stadium, Wembley arena and 350 UK radio stations on a Sunday afternoon this voice over guy is not so much deep and American, more growly and traditionally British, which is just as well as the UK's hottest property right now.

British voice over Howard Ritchie, is one of the fastest growing UK voices, in-fact it is not just being the voice of London's Number 1 hit music station but also being the voice over for more than 30 radio stations in Australia, stations in Dubai, Greece and Malta. In television he is known for Britain's Got Talent launches on ITV1 and is rumoured as a favorite for the X Factor show replacing Peter Dickson if the show decide to er towards a more credible sound in its forthcoming re-vamp.

Howard admits he is not one of those character voices, which he admires so much, in-fact he often talks about his friend Andrew Grantham who is the talking pet guy from You Tube as being his idol.

Whilst Howard is the UK's most in demand voice over right now he consistently talks about how he feels about his talking cat and dog friend Andrew getting 37 million You tube videos. "I will never ever use the word talent to describe what I do when this guy exists" Howard says...

The UK's number 1 voice over agent recently signed Howard. London's Hobson's International now handles all of his television work, which includes commercials and promos across all the channels, and whilst he admits his range of is hardly extensive we reminded him that the talking dog guy probably couldn't brand a radio or TV promo like he can.

When we asked Howard about movie voice-overs, Howard screwed his face up and said that those days are dying fast. "Movie voice overs tend to spoil otherwise brilliant creative and visuals, that is why many movie companies who do post production trailers only use voices occasionally and instead use evocative text where there would have been a voice before" He says " I am working on a spoof series of fake movie trailers which is along the lines of those virtual lyrics things, but I haven't you tubed them yet as I am worried I'll come across like a clown."

Being hailed as the next voice over man it is clear that he will do movies and much much more, but he says that there is a big quandary at his level: "...you have to be good profile for people to want you, but then they don't want you if you have been on other things" which seems like a dichotomy.

He was not always the voice over, he was a DJ and seemed to create some significant success there too although he is adamant that the dance music and club industry's changed so rapidly he said he feels like one of those employees of Rover in the 70s and 80s who suddenly turned up for work and the factory was gone. "As soon as you could buy DJ gear in Argos and John from next door could mix two records together I knew it wouldn't be long before John bought some records and called himself DJ Fire or something equally not cool, so I got the F*&* out" he gestures a pretend spit on the floor in front of me.

He also has a reasonable production back ground having remixed for Ministry and Sony BMG, which he says is actually a disadvantage to him being the voice over he is today. " When I go into a posh Soho studio to do a voice over and the mic sounds like shit I can't believe it, radio gives you too much luxury. "When I go in to Capital Radio the Microphone makes me sound amazing... like someone else... and I always like that feeling" he jokes.

As we left him in Oxford Street Borders we sensed this summer a lot more people would hear his voice than possibly any other voice in the UK, but yet at the same time, nobody would know or care.

We pondered on the notion of being "the voice over" perhaps someone or something that nobody knows, but also everyone knows...

As we descended into Oxford Circus Tube, this time more intently listening to the tube announcements wondering who that was and what was his story.

Author
Penny Laine
voice over

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Pick a Voice, Any Voice!

Some time ago I received a piece of voice over advice that, once implemented, proved its worth: "Don't try to be all things to all people."

Yep, nice advice. There isn't a voice talent in the world that can give a client every single solitary style or delivery. Take it from yours truly. When I first started my voice over business, I tried being "all voices." Naturally, I thought the more I could offer people, the more business I might get. But that didn't work out as well as I thought it would. Why? Well for one, there isn't enough time in life to become an expert at all styles of delivery. Don't bother arguing -- there just isn't. Also (and this is the most obvious reason), it is simply impossible to alter your pipes enough for, let's say, a male with a deep voice to sound like a high-pitched female. Can't be done.

Pick one voice. Pick just one style you're comfortable with and stick with it. Practice it, nurture it, perfect your craft! If you attempt to blanket all possible styles, you might get to the point one day to be "OK" at those different types, but that's it. You'll never be an expert on all of them. Another common problem is that if you try to cover too many styles, you'll often find yourself accidentally "spilling over" from one style to another in the middle of a voice over project. Bad play. For example, have you ever done a high-energy spot, then turn around and do a low-energy spot only to find that you're still too quick or excited from the high-energy one? It happens a lot.

Take note that the truly successful voice over talents out there usually have one distinct style or sound that sets them apart from the rest. You wouldn't hear Don LaFontaine, the "movie guy" (R.I.P.) doing a funeral home spot and you wouldn't hear James Earl Jones doing a high-energy, hyped-up Toyota ad. Unless it's for comedy purposes, you usually don't hear female voice talents trying to do male voices or male voice talents trying to cover female voices. Also, you don't hear young voice actors (again, unless it's comedy) doing older male voices and you really won't hear older male voice talents trying to sound young. It just doesn't work.

The long-standing voice over professionals working today stick to one voice and only a few styles of delivery (if not just one). They've narrowed themselves down and they've focused their practice on just that one so they can be considered an "expert" at that one style. It's a lot easier and more productive to prefect your craft when you limit yourself to just one.

And don't be worried about a lack of or slow-down in business when you limit yourself. If you want to grow your business and offer more styles or voices, try bringing some other voice talents on board. Post their demos along with yours on your website and give them a fair cut from the fee the client gives you. Remember, there are more than enough gigs out there and if you focus on just your chosen style, you can become the expert in demand!

New York Voice Over has been providing quality voice over services for the great New York area for many years.

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Performing International or Global Voice Overs

All hail the Interweb! (tee-hee!) With its global reach, the Internet gives us voiceover gurus the opportunity to branch out and communicate on a level never seen before in history. It's amazing to think that just 20 years ago, no one even knew what the Internet was or what it would mean to society. And now look at us. What would we do without it? Well, one of the things we voice talents wouldn't be able to do is promote ourselves internationally.

This technology allows us to show our voiceover skills to potential clients around the world, but be warned It can be tricky and it isn't something you'll want to dive into unarmed. One of the things to consider upfront is, can you crank out voice over projects in different languages? If so, you have a big edge over the rest. Advertising for voice services in multiple languages to multiple countries can expand your profits exponentially.

If standard American English is all you speak, however, there's a good chance you can snag a well-paying international voice over client. The reason is that English is spoken so widely, many companies outside the United States regularly seek voiceover talents with American accents. That's great news, but how do you get to them?

Simple -- consult the Interweb! Use the Internet to fish around for foreign businesses that may be looking or have use for an American accent. Think about it... there are tons of Americans and English-speaking folks living or working in different places around the world. Whoever they're working for needs to reach out to them in mass communication style every so often. Retail and service outlets in these foreign lands need to reach them as well. Get the picture? There's money to be made outside the U.S. for the courageous voiceover talent.

Once you find these companies, try this. Send your voice demo via e-mail and follow up with them to find out if they can use you. If they don't right then, you will have at least put the bug in their ear and when they do have a need for an American voice talent, guess who they'll call? Create websites for your international voice over services and optimize them accordingly. When you send them your demo, provide a link to your voiceover site so they know you're serious and professional (not just an amateur looking for more money).

One thing to watch out for, however, is that you must be careful and do your homework. Though English is widely known and recognized, the same words can carry totally different meanings in other countries. As an example, where in America a talent might use the phrase, "voice over," a customer in another sovereign country might say "voice actor" and "voice over" may not have much meaning to them. So, it's important to find out the proper industry terminology in that country, otherwise you may not get any clients... just confusion when they see your website. So as not to offend, you may also want to do a small amount of reading on the country you're aiming for. Simple things like a wave "hello" in America could be offensive to someone from another part of the world (be sensitive). Another task you'll need to complete is finding out what the going rate is for voiceover services in that region. Look up other voice talents and research their rates. You won't want to frighten prospective clients away by charging more than the home-grown talent. It's also a good idea to learn about the country's accepted technical specs, so you'll be familiar with the most prevalent audio file formats in that region.

The Internet is a vast and wonderful tool but like any other, research, cunning and patience are key to being profitable, particularly for voice over talents.

http://www.americanvoiceover.net/ has been in business for over 10 years and is your top source for global voice over, voice talent, announcer and narrator services.

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Grab That Voice Over Job And Keep It!

Okay!, So you've gotten to the point where you've secured yourself an audition for a gig and now, you're faced with competing against other voice over talents for the same project. How can you make sure that it's you the prospective client picks? There are a number of pretty simple things a voice talent can do to bolster the chances of landing a gig. In this rough economy, it's extremely important that the talent put their best foot forward and perform well in order to win a bid for a job. At this point in the game, slacking off kills. Below are a few suggestions that, believe it or not, can be easily overlooked.

1.) Promptness counts and counts big! If you arrive late for an audition, despite whether your fault or not, don't even bother with showing up. Customers expect results, not excuses. The best and wisest practice is to schedule an extra half-hour (or more) to your travel time to create a buffer for unforeseen circumstances, such as a flat tire or an accident on the freeway. If nothing happens, you have that extra time to practice you voice over. Win-win.

2.) Dress like it matters. More and more people these days (mostly the younger crowd) seem to have lost the art of dressing for the occasion. They do a voiceover audition, perhaps performing relatively well, but then can't understand why they didn't get the job. Arriving to an audition looking disheveled or like you've just woken up sends a terrible message. As they say, first impressions are everything. You need to have an appearance that says, "I really want this voice-over job," instead of one that says, "I couldn't care less." Now that doesn't mean you need to wear a suit and tie. Dress appropriately. If you're going for an audition where the client and/or the project has more of a "rock-n-roll" feel, then clean black jeans, sunglasses and a snazzy clean shirt might be the ticket... get the picture? Try and project the image you might think the client is expecting.

3.) Be the professional and always smile. One of the quickest ways to kill your chances at an audition is to be uncooperative. Put a muzzle on your frustration. Whatever direction the client gives you, no matter how silly it may seem, take it with sincerity. Be ready for criticisms and meet them with a smile. Don't let it anger you or knock you off track. Criticism is just another way of making suggestions so the client gets a voice over that's as close to what they want as possible. If you want to look at it this way, kiss the client's tushy and give them whatever they want (within reason, of course). There are always those "lines in the sand" where you must eventually put your foot down, but being as flexible as possible shows the client you're willing to work with them and do almost whatever it takes to give them what they need. That goes a long way. And remember... always smile!

4.) Be relaxed and have a good time with it! Customers (and people in general, for that matter) will definitely notice if you're calm and confident, just as much as they would if you're nervous and jittery. Even the top voice over specialists will experience a measure of nervousness during an audition -- believe it, it happens to me all the time. Throwing fright to the wind and convincing yourself to just have fun with it is the single best way to overcome the human body's natural fear response. Joke around some and try to make light of things if they go wrong. Just don't go overboard and make yourself look ridiculous in the process.

5.) Be grateful and bring extra stuff. Customers do love courtesy. Before and after the audition, make sure you thank the client(s) for their time. If they feel you appreciate being put on the roster, it goes that much further toward making the client feel good about you and let's face it -- when selling yourself, emotions are a big part of the game. It's also good advice to bring some extra copies of resumes, demos, head shots script, etc. Doing so will give you that professional look, and you'll always be prepared for the unexpected.

Voiceoverla.net is your #1 source for quality voiceovers and voice talent services in the LA area!

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Quoting for Voice Over Work

Quoting for voiceover work has become more and more tricky for voice artists due to the influx of many weird and wonderful media types. Here are some simple steps to help you quote for VO gigs, and rope them in:

STEP 1: GETTING THE ENQUIRY

Often you'll receive an enquiry via email. The most important thing is to get back to people immediately. Don't try to "stall" them.

Don't email back - phone them. You will double your chances of getting the gig.
Give them something to work with - even though you might need more information to give a proper quote, at the very least you can tell them your usual hourly rates for non-broadcast work

STEP 2: THE QUOTE:

If the ad is for broadcast (i.e. on the radio, telly or cinema), it's pretty simple, you can just follow the standard equity rate card.

If the script is a "narrative", i.e non-broadcast, the standard equity rates are about ?142 per hour
Web usage tends to be around ?220 (and if you charge a studio fee of ?104 you can also).

If it's a weird job that you're not sure what to charge (that is not-for-broadcast, or for a small usage), it's easiest to quote an hourly rate. Normally, the 1st hour would be higher, and then a lower hourly rate after that. E.g. 130/175 pounds per hour for the first hour and then 90/130 per hour after that.

And if you still don't know what to charge - charge what you like. Think about what would make the job worthwhile to you, and quote that. Don't overthink it.

STEP 3: CYA

CYA stands for "cover your **s". In 99% of enquiries, the client wouldn't have given you enough information to do a proper quote. (I.e. they don't tell you how many hours of studio time, length of the script, what's the usage, what media etc etc etc). The worst thing you can do is respond with a long email with 20 questions, asking all these things. I'm not saying, don't ask those questions. But when you get back to people, try to give them something to work with. (Only email them if you have no phone contact number, it's much better to phone).

Tell them your usual hourly rate for non-broadcast. CYA by saying that the quote is subject to seeing the final script, and that a usage fee might be applicable depending on which media the work will be broadcast in. In this way, you've given them something to work with, and at the same time covered yourself for any eventuality.

STEP 4: DOES THE CLIENT HAVE A STUDIO BOOKED?

It's happening more often that clients want VOs to provide finished mp3s (i.e. they don't have their own studio booked). Many VOs have their own home studios, so would just include it in the price of their voiceover quote. But if you don't have a home studio, you are still able to pitch on these jobs:

Just be sure to add another ?130 per hour studio time into your quote. If the job ends up going ahead, make sure to take a ?130 deposit upfront to cover any studio expenses, I'd recommend using Paypal.

Priscilla G.
http://www.piehole.co.uk/
The UK's quality controlled voice over directory

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USB Microphones for Voice Over Recording - Pros and Cons

Voice over recording has become much easier and convenient since the invention of USB mics. Your entire studio can be a laptop computer and a USB mic. But there are some drawbacks in using a USB mic instead of a conventional analog mic. Let's look at the good, the bad and the ugly of USB mics.

First of all, what is a USB mic? For decades microphones have been devices that have converted sound waves into a continuous analog electrical signal. This signal was then fed through a mixer to a tape recorder which then recorded the waveform on tape. When the tape was played back, the electrical signal reproduced was amplified through speakers and the original sound was reproduced. But that was so last millenium! As the new century dawned tape disappeared and sound was being recorded as numbers on a computer--digital recording. To convert sound to numbers (digital), the analog microphone signal was put through equipment that contained an analog-to-digital converter (ADC). These numbers were then passed on to the computer to record. When the numbers were played back through the opposite equipment -- a digital-to-analog converter (DAC) sound was heard once again in the speakers.

Then some bright inventor decided to put that analog-to-digital converter into the base of the microphone and send the digital signal out over a USB computer cable (yep, just like your printer cable!) and thus was born the USB mic. And the world of recording was much better... well, not exactly.

The Good. Convenience. Cost. In its simplest form you can now have a recording studio that consists of your microphone and your laptop (or desktop) computer. The devices are "plug and play" which means they don't require a sound card or drivers to operate. You just plug it into the USB port of your computer and the mic appears in your sound control panel. Traditional analog mics required a preamp, a mixer and then the A-to-D converter to get the same job done. For voice over talent this means you can record with much less investment. And your studio is much more portable. Just take your mic and laptop with you to the Bahamas and you can still nail that "must do" audition or job and send the finished files to the client via the internet. Reasonable quality mics are available starting at around $100. When you get up to around $200 the quality is just fine for VO work. And you don't have to buy all that extra equipment.

The Bad. Not quite professional. Single mic use. Early mic designs used a standard A-to-D chip that was limited to 16 bit/44.1 kHz recordings. Although this is CD quality, many pro recordings use the higher 24 bit/96 kHz standard. But this is changing. The latest mics are using a new chip that provides this 24 bit/96 kHz option. Also If you have a application where you need multiple mics or you need to mix the mic with other signals you'll need a mixer and you'll want to use analog mics. Because the USB mics are seen as computer signals, recording software can usually only handle one, or at the most a stereo pair of USB mics. This shouldn't be a drawback for simple voice over jobs where you're only recording one voice.

The Ugly. No gain adjust. Latency. Some USB mics don't have gain adjustment, or at best they have a level switch. When you do voice overs you might whisper for one job and shout for the next. You need a way to ensure that the recording level is adequate but not clipping in any performance. Analog mixers had "gain" knob that let you adjust the mic level. You shouldn't have to adjust your speech volume or your mic distance to achieve the correct recording level. So no gain knob is a problem. USB mics also have latency. This is a computer processing delay between the time you talk and the time you hear your voice. In the worst case this can be as long as a quarter second. This makes monitoring yourself with headphones annoying or impossible. The latest generation of USB mics has recognized these two problems with the addition of infinite gain knobs and direct monitoring. So you can adjust the mic gain to fit your situation. And now you can plug headphones directly into the mic and hear your voice in real time through an analog headphone jack with a volume adjust.

All In All I Like Them. I think the pros of USB mic far outweigh the cons. The latest generation of USB mics with gain control and latency-free monitoring allow you to sling your studio over your shoulder and take it anywhere in the world. Add a high-speed internet connection and it's "have voice-will travel". Bahamas here I come!

If you live in the Los Angeles area you should look into my live Voice Over Classes. For those who live in other ares I also offer Online Voice Over Classes which offer the same quality of instruction in a modular, online format

William Williams is a voice over talent, instructor and coach located in Burbank near Los Angeles California. With experience as a marketing director, commercial and animation producer and voice over talent he knows what's required for excellence on "both sides of the glass." For 25 years he has been the owner and operator of Aliso Creek Productions, a full service audio production company specializing in radio, TV, and industrial audio, and voice over instruction and coaching. William has produced or performed in hundreds of commercials, videos and animation projects.

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