VO Tips

Even though I haven’t been actively pursuing more voice over work, some has found me anyway.

I’ve done some work recently for a semi-local TV station and I’ve had some other offers for voice over work that I’ve been too busy for.

My point? Two actually.

If you have a website, even for your hobby, people will find it and contact you if they think your work is halfway decent. If it’s out there and people can find it, more than likely they will and it might lead to something.

Which leads to my second point. Diversify.

If you’re any good at more than one thing, try to do as much of all of it as you can, within reason. For example, my studio is set up for whoever needs me for voice over work when the stream of computer work is running a little dry, or even when I’m so busy that I can barely find time for myself but have a hankering to voice something.

This time off has given me more ideas for this blog as well. Looking forward to not only writing about voice over things, but life in general as well.

Stay tuned.

I’m glad you asked!

I’ve been pursuing more profitable adventures as of late. I mean, don’t get me wrong, this blog and the people that read it are awesome, but with my other stuff going on, I don’t have as much time for this blog as I used to.

No worries though, once I get back into voice over work on a more full time basis over the next little while, I’ll get back to blogging more about it. But for now, on to bigger and better things!

Just stumbled on this AWESOME communications control panel called VoxOx. It is very beta, but still very awesome. It will eventually be able to integrate all forms of communication into one application.

It also integrates your phone calls, text messages, emails (at the time of this writing, just Yahoo), and voicemail from all your phone numbers into one interface.

It’s hard to describe, so you’re just going to have to go to their website and check it out. It’s a free download.

Like I said, they’re still ironing out all the kinks, but that’s always a part of beta testing. Check it out!

Welcome everyone to the new home on the web for Voice Over Tips!

My name is Michael Flowers and I have a knack for telling people how to get stuff done. I’ve finally achieved my dream of becoming a voice over artist. Now, don’t get me wrong, I don’t know everything, but I know a lot about how to become better at what I do and help people get started reaching for their dreams- that’s what this blog has always been about.

To get the latest updates on my tips for voice over success, subscribe to my “feed” in the top right hand corner and have the most recent posts from this blog delivered to your email inbox, or, use your favorite feed reader and subscribe that way.

I’ve got some great content coming that you won’t want to miss. I can’t say too much about it right now, but I know you’re going to love it. Stay tuned!

Well, as they say, the third time’s the charm.

And NOW, the Subscribe by email form is REALLY fixed. I just tried it with my own email to verify it (like I should have done the firs two times.)

Now it’s even easier to get the newest posts from my blog in your email inbox, just put in your email on the top right corner of the blog, fill out the information in the pop-up window, and you’re all set!

If you have any questions, contact me.

Sorry about the downtime, I should have announced it, but I got anxious to get the move over with.

I moved away from GoDaddy and moved to HostMonster since they’re better, cheaper, and faster (and a lot less vulgar).

Thanks to those of you who stuck around.

Anyways, here’s a cool site I found that can help anyone who needs help with timing. (I know I do more often than not).

The Online Stopwatch is an awesome resource for voice talent. I use it to time myself on dry reads before I step into the studio to keep my practice on track. I like using the countdown clock because it gives a visual reference you can see with your peripheral vision (without taking your eyes off the script).

I have it bookmarked, you should too.

Thanks again to all of you for hanging on through the downtime. Many more great resources like this headed your way.

My blog has gone international! Welcome to all my visitors from around the world! Hopefully this helps with any language issues that were happening on the blog. If your internet browser is set to your default language.

Scroll to the bottom of the page and click your flag to have this page automatically translated for you!

Leave comments and let me know if it works for you!

TONS of new features have been added to the blog. Just look around, you’ll see!

The biggest and best thing is the new template. It looks awesome. I hope you think so too.

There is also now a NEWS page on the front page of the blog so you can keep up with updates to the site.

The newest news is COMMENTS ARE NOW WORKING!! You DO NOT have to register to post. I fixed that. Whoever wants to post, can.

There will be an actual post this evening, so stay tuned!

Introducing the new look for the site. I thought I would brighten it up a bit. Do you like it? I do. I looked FOREVER for a theme that I thought spoke well for the site.

Yes, there are kinks to work out, and they will be, don’t worry. Thanks for your patience as I make adjustments.

-UPDATE-

Take the poll to let me know what you think. Thanks! (Here’s what the site looked like before!!)

Patience is a virtue, as it turns out, it’s also a key to success in the world of voice over. Some might say “this sounds an awful lot like your last post“… well… it’s really not.

Here’s the definition of patience:

“an ability or willingness to suppress restlessness or annoyance when confronted with delay:”

Many, many, many times over in this profession you will have to wait… and wait… and wait some more. Clients are sometimes in a hurry, but more often than not they have some time to “shop around”.

Clients are always shopping around for the voice that fits the voice they have in their head. It’s part of our job as voice actors to find out what that voice is supposed to sound like and how much (or little) they want to spend (more on the latter in another post). This means that the client may not like how your voice sounds, they may not like your interpretation of the copy, or they may not think you’re worth the price you quoted them. If they start thinking like that, they’ve already marked you off the list and are moving on. This happens all the time.

Here’s something else that tends to happen too frequently, you’re invited to submit an audition for a project, you submit your demo, you make the finals, the final demo is submitted and they select someone else to voice the project.

There’s something that ties all these situations together: waiting, which requires patience.

A boring way to write about patience would be to say “wait”.

I don’t do boring on this blog.

So, here’s a list of some of the things you shouldn’t do while waiting on a client.