VO Tips

It feels really good to be back to writing. I cannot tell all of you how much I’ve missed writing posts on this blog. Now, I’ve got plenty of time on my hands, time to get to work.

PERSISTENCE:

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Hey Gang,

Wow, these past 2.5 weeks have been amazing. For those of you who missed my message, I’ve been away getting married, moving, honeymooning, and just relaxing (well, finishing an audio book as well). Now I’m back in action. That means I’m going to be writing some pretty awesome posts on this blog very, very soon.

My next blog post will begin a 5 part series of encouragement to aspiring VO people (who this blog is written for). It will be called “The 5 P’s of Voice Over Success”. I hope you will enjoy these posts.

See you soon,

Michael

In my last post I wrote about ways that you can let go of different things that hold you back so you can move forward.

This post, more nuggets of goodness that can help you hurdle hindrances you might come across in your path to VO glory:

I often find myself reading things WAY too quickly! Take your time! Slow it down! Slowing down what you read allows you to read further ahead and better prepare for what you are about to say. Not all reads should be like an auctioneer or a canned voice (the voice at the end of car ads that somehow reads faster than one can think). Remember, what you are reading is only read by you, it is heard by everyone else. Give it some time to soak in. A little silence between words won’t kill anyone… that is unless you have to cram the copy in. That happens too. Silences can be edited out a lot easier than sound. If you’re reading ahead (like you always should be) and the words get jumbled up in your head: STOP!! It takes a lot of practice, but it can save you or your editor a LOT of time.

The most important think you have as a Voice Over artist is your voice, but the second most important thing you have is people’s perception of you, especially if you’re a freelancer like me. When I’m working at my part time job or telling people what I do, I don’t tell them I want to do voice-overs, I tell them I do voice-overs. This has actually produced a lot of work for me.

I know it’s been said a billion times, but it really is true: you only get one shot at a first impression. I had to learn this earlier in my career, and it’s a hard lesson to learn the hard way. Take it from me: don’t send in your stuff to agencies, stations, any prospective client if it doesn’t sound amazing. Dream of LA or NY, but don’t send stuff anywhere near those places unless people ask you for it. There are seasoned voice pros in all markets who have the corner on those places. I’m not saying you should never try for it, but wait until you have enough ammo before you go charging into battle, if you get my drift. If a prospective client associates your name with ‘wannabe’ or ‘mediocrity’, you’re labeled for life; unfortunately that’s how it goes in this business.

How do you get work in VO? We went over this in my last post, tell EVERYONE you know, literally everyone. With the internet there are literally millions of ways to do it. You should not only tell everyone you know, but you should tell most people you meet. You never know who you’re talking to. Don’t be weird about it though. Working at an electronics store, I have lots of opportunities (especially selling speakers, writable CD’s and DVD’s, video cameras, and microphones) to tell people about what I do. People usually respond with “How did you get into that?” I’m glad I can write this blog to tell them all how.

One last thing: carry business cards. If people don’t have a way to get in touch with you they will not contact you. Don’t make the business cards yourself, please, they don’t look as good as you think they do. Go to a site like VistaPrint that makes free business cards or go to Staples or Office Max and have someone there help you. People are just plain impressed when you reach into your pocket or purse, pull out a business card wallet and hand them a card. Trust me, I see it happen every day.

In my next post I am going to talk about the best investment you can make in your pursuit of VO success: a good website.

Stay tuned!

It’s a pretty simple question, I know, but think about it. If you walked up to a relative and asked “What do I dream of becoming?” what would be their answer? I know definitively that all of my friends, relatives, associates, clients, almost anyone that has ever met me knows that I am a voice-over artist. I usually get around to telling everyone that I meet what I do.

You might think that sounds a little crazy, but I don’t think so. If you like something so much that you think about it all the time… wait… you are that way about voice over, aren’t you? Ah… there’s the problem! You have to be NUTS about VO to be able to do it. I know that I am OBSESSED with being a VO guy and I have been since I was little. Now, you don’t have to go THAT far, but you DO have to love it. That is one of my keys to my success. I love VO so much that I spend almost half my waking moments (and some of my sleeping moments) thinking about it.

“That sounds like obsession!” Well… here’s how obsession is defined: “An influence, notion or fixed idea, which persistently assails or vexes so as to discompose the mind…”. My thought about VO do not discompose my mind, they compose it regularly. They do not hinder my every day activities, they give them purpose and meaning (something I strive to find in every single aspect of my life). Obsessed is one of those words that is overused and thereby loses its true meaning.

In short, IT’S OK to think about your goals all the time!! That’s one of the defining characteristics of very succesful people all throughout history. Begin to cultivate this good habit and you will begin seeing success!!