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.

DO NOT:

1) Keep contacting the client for updates. I hate to admit it, but I’ve been guilty of this myself. I get SO anxious to get started on projects and sometimes that gets the best of me. Well, not anymore. A client has never told me this personally, but I can just imagine the look on their face when they see another e-mail from the voice over guy in their email inbox. Like I said, if they even slightly mention you not being right for the job (or even hint at it) they’re moving on (whether you want them to or not). No matter how many emails you send or how many times you call them, they have crossed you off the list and are moving on. No matter how hard it is, just move on as well. The time you spend sulking over spilled milk could be spent doing other far more productive projects (or at least trying to find them).

2) Complete the entire project before confirmation or payment is received. Once again, be patient, don’t put the cart in front of the horse and do the entire 180,000 word project expecting to be selected for the job. Even if it’s a 30 second commercial spot or less, don’t do more work than you’ve been paid to do unless payment is guaranteed (or you’ve received a deposit, which is a smart thing to request). This also means you should not send the entire file to the client in full quality unless you know them personally or have worked with them before. There are people in the world that will accept the entire file with open arms and then take the money and run. You’ll never hear from them again.

One way to prevent this from happening is to let the client sample the file without sending them the final product. I usually save the MP3 in a lower quality that is not suited for any kind of broadcast (around 64 kbps) so they can still hear how I sound but not use the project on the air (DON’T FORGET TO SAVE THE ORIGINAL FIRST!!). I have also heard samples with random noises, beeps, or audio watermarks inserted at points that are impossible to edit out. Don’t do anything crazy, just use common sense in thinking of ways to decrease the chances of the client using the project without you receiving payment for your hard work. Also, make sure you tell the client what you’re doing so they don’t think that your studio is really low quality, that your program inserts random clicks and beeps, or that you’re trying to mess with their mind. Say something like “It’s not that I don’t trust you, we’ve just never worked together before, so here’s the sample you requested in sample quality. (Describe what you’ve done to the file in simple, non-audio-guy terminology).” This kind of practice is highly recommended when not using a hosted voice over service that has a feedback system. If someone steals from you on your website, the only kind of “negative feedback” you can leave is with the police or a lawyer (if you can even find out who the person really is).

More in part 2 of “5 P’s: Patience” next time. Subscribe to my RSS feed at the top of the page to receive my blog updates in your e-mail inbox. It’s a great way to stay up to date with this blog.

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