This is The Inside Voice-over video training blog and I’m Susan Berkley. This week I want to talk about a performance thing that might happen to you. I want to prepare you for those voice-over jobs when you are not alone in your home studio, but you’re actually working with somebody directing you. So this can be in somebody else’s studio or the client or a director can be over the phone or in your headphones. You’ll be listening to them, because I’m remembering a recent session I did for automatic dialogue replacement. So what it was is they had a scenario in a film and they didn’t like the voice of the actress, so they used my voice. It was a very short segment, maybe 10 seconds, 15 seconds total, and it had to do… I don’t remember the exact script, but it had to do with money.

So the line was something like, “So do you mean you don’t have the money?” Something like that. Pretty simple. Pretty straight ahead. Well, the director had me read it. It took a whole hour. He had me read it 100 times and he was throwing direction at me like, do it like you’re actually in the room. Do it like you have attitude, more attitude, less attitude. You’re angry, you’re suspicious, you’re nervous. It’s sundown. You just ate a big meal. I mean it went on and on and on, and because I was prepared and this kind of thing doesn’t phase me, I’ve been doing this for a long time, I was just rolling with the punches. And it wasn’t upsetting me. I was actually having fun because I was getting to act. But if you’re new, you are not going to be used to that because what happens with the newcomer is when the customer, when the client has you do it over and over and over again, a beginner can often think that they’re blowing it, that they’re doing something wrong.

And that’s not true. The director actually has a vision, something in their mind that they want to get and the way that directors and producers of audio and video do is they want to get lots and lots of options. And if they’ve got the time, if they’ve got the money to keep you on the line, they’re going to do it. And then they go back into the studio and they edit, they listen through, they’ve got patience, and they find the take that they want. So if somebody keeps giving you direction, you cannot lose your cool. Just hang in there.

A line that I often will use in a situation like that when I’m starting to feel frustrated is to say, “Hey, by the way, can you give me a line reading? Can you kind of demonstrate for me the way you hear it in your mind?” And they will. And then eventually they’ll be satisfied, but they’ll love you because you didn’t get flustered. You didn’t become annoyed with their creative vision. So that’s a tip for you this week, and I’m Susan Berkley. I’ll be back next week with more Inside Voice-over.

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So what do most people think when they think of a brand? They come up … Or most voice talent anyway that I talk to. They try to come up with some gimmick that is going to make themselves stand out. They think about a cute little slogan like, “The voice you’ll love,” that type of thing or a little logo that they’re going to put on a coffee cup and a mouse pad or on a tee shirt or some other kind of swag or giveaway. They think that that’s branding, and actually nothing could be farther from the truth. Your branding needs to be customer-focused, and actually I love the definition of a brand that comes from the consultant Alan [Weiss] who says a brand is a credibility accelerator that excites passion and justifies higher fees. A credibility accelerator that excites passion and justifies higher fees.

So how do you apply this to your voiceover career? Let’s talk about it. A good brand I think is customer-focused. Alison Smith, who’s a great voice talent in the IVR space, does phone prompts. She has branded herself as the IVR voice. So if you need that type of service, if you’re an end user, she’s the gal you’re going to call. Now, you have to be careful there. What if she wants to suddenly get into e-learning or some other field of voiceover? She’s so well-branded in IVR so she might have to rebrand herself as something else. Same thing for us here at the Great Voice Company. If we ever want to do something completely different that has nothing to do with voice or recording or presentation skills, we’ve got to come up with a new company name, but let’s not go there because a good brand is customer-focused.

Here’s some other examples. I went online and there’s a guy known as the language guy named Mark Frobose who has language learning courses on Audible, and he is one of these guys that speaks like 10 different languages and he’s going to teach you how to do it. So he calls himself the language guy. I think that’s perfect. Then there’s StoryBrand, which is a great course that I took by a guy named Donald Miller who helps companies tell their story in a way that is clear and concise. Because this whole thing is that most people have no idea what companies do. So he helps you fix that problem. See how customer focused that is? So there’s some great branding ideas for you. I hope they’re helpful. I’m Susan Berkley. I’ll be back next week with more Inside Voiceover.

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Number two is people who are not coachable. You have to take direction and you can’t take it personally. You can’t be argumentative. You can’t be hypersensitive. You can’t fight with your clients. So if that’s you, do not apply.

Number three is people who are bitter. Now, I don’t think you’re going to admit that you’re bitter if you’re watching this now, but you’ve seen people out there, maybe you’ve seen them on the various blogs and forums online, and they’re bitching about the competition and about how the state of voiceover today and Fiverr and all that stuff…Those people are not going to make it in this business. You cannot be bitter and be successful at the same time.

Number four are flat-out hermits. People who just want to hang out, never see anybody anytime or talk to anybody. They just want to hide behind their computers. It’s a little antisocial. Unfortunately, they’re not going to be successful at this or any other business.

And then the fifth are people who just are not lifelong learners, that they’re not interested in researching, improving their skills, reading, watching videos to improve.

I think I gave you a pretty good idea. And as far as voice types, these days in voiceover anything goes and we work with all types of voices, and we help people, we coach you to take the voice and the skills you have to improve them and to interpret copy. And we do that at our boot camps. We’ve got one coming up in March, so I hope you can join us. I’m Susan Berkley. Back soon with more Inside Voiceover.

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The next piece of the pillar. The second part is where are we when we’re having this conversation? The conversation, of course, is in the copy, the story that you’re telling about the product or service that you’re advertising. Where are you? Am I in the bedroom? Am I out on the street? Am I in a store? Am I inside that person’s head? That’s valid too. And then finally, the third piece of the pillar is what we call the moment before or the mumble in. Why are we even having this conversation about this product or service in the first place? You need to make that up so that the first line of the script, the first word you say is actually a continuation of a story that you’ve made up, a reason why you’re even having this conversation with me. I hope that makes sense. Once you nail this, you’re going to be well on your way to performing good voiceover. And I’m Susan Berkley. We’ll have the second piece of the pillar next week.

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The second thing you need to do is like to read aloud. You have to be fluid, which means you can’t break down a lot. Otherwise, this isn’t going to be torture for you. You’re going to spend a lot of time in the studio. The average book has a running time of eight, to 10, to 12 hours, and it didn’t take that voice actor 10 hours to 12 hours to read that book. It took multiples of that amount of time, because you break down, you stop, you start. You do need to have the time to do this. The top audio book narrators who were churning them out might be working four maybe six hours a day on this. That’s about the most you can do without straining your voice. Other narrators are given months to complete a project, so they might work one, two hours or more a day. You got to think about whether you have the time.

You also need a great sounding home studio that’s soundproof. You’re going to be doing a lot of recording in it. You’re going to be spending a lot of time, and there can’t be any background noise. Your audio quality must be excellent. You need to know how to edit or be willing to pay a little bit to have somebody else do the editing for you, because there’s going to be a lot of that. If you’ve got acting skills, that’s wonderful. You’ll be able to put them to use. If you don’t there are plenty of narrative niches as well, such as business books that you could do. I hope I peaked your interest. We’re going to have a lot more audio book training coming up for you here at the Great Voice Company. I’m back next week with more inside voiceover.

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It’s really not like that. The equipment has been getting, not only cheaper, but a lot easier to use. So let’s start with the money. How much you’re going to need to invest in your home studio to get started. I got to tell you it’s only hundreds of dollars, and maybe not even that much. You can get a great sounding microphone like the Blue Yeti, for about a $100, or the Apogee is $200. Those are both microphones that I, and my students use as USB mics, and we have others as well. But that’s a great place to start. And they really sound good.

Your software can be free. You can use Audacity or invest in something called Twisted Wave if you’re on a Mac, which is under $100. Very, very easy to use. And then all of the other peripherals, like your headphones and your mic stand, and things like that are really inexpensive. Now the next thing you have to think about is where you’re going to put your home studio. And that is also simpler than you think. So a lot of people think, “Oh, I got to do a big build out and build a soundproof space.” Not so. If you have a walk in closet, that could be a great place for you to start recording. And then over time, you’ll improve that. But many, many people record in closets with the clothing for sound treatment. And they get a surprisingly good, and even soundproof sound.

And then finally, well, how the heck am I going to learn how to use this? Well, that’s why we have a program like Home Studio How To, which you’ll see on our website, how to get started there. We can definitely help you with that. But again, not as difficult as you might think to learn a few skills. And I think if you invest a few hours of time playing with your home studio equipment, you’re going to nail it. It is not that complicated. I hope that’s helpful. I hope that puts your mind at ease. I’ll be back next week with more Inside Voiceover.

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Now, marketing of course is a huge topic. I spent an entire day at bootcamp walking you through my mic-to-money method, but I thought, well, you know there is a key concept that I think if you grasp will be totally worth the couple of minutes we spend together on this blog. That big concept for you as a voice talent is, the who is more important than the what.

Now, what’s the who? The who are your customers. The what is your voice in your studio and your turnaround time and your gear and your ability to perform. All that stuff that makes us great voice talents and makes voiceover so much fun. But at the end of the day, without a customer, you don’t have a business. That is the key point I want you to get.

Some quick tips that are going to really help you. I think the number one thing is an idea that I brought to Voiceover several years ago that many people have imitated, which is that to be successful marketing wise, you really need to target your marketing efforts. Choose a niche. There are over 14 niche markets in voiceover and you really need to target one of them or a couple of them to really see some traction because you don’t have the time, you don’t have the money to market yourself to everyone, and there are thousands and thousands of people who hire voice talent every day.

Also, once you figure out who your niche is, you should spend some time going online and researching the companies you’re marketing to so that when you speak to them you can talk to them about them, not yourself. Because What’s In It For Me is everybody’s favorite radio station, WIIFM, so research your potential customers and talk to them about them.

And then the final thing is, it’s all too easy to become a voiceover commodity these days because a lot of people go on Fiverr or they go on Upwork or they go on Voice123 or voices.com to hire voice talent. And they think, “Okay, for $50 bucks, for $100 bucks, for $500 bucks, I can get somebody to work for me, and there are kind of all the same.” Well, they’re not. Because if you scratch the surface, if you talk to voice buyers, they’re really complaining. They have a problem, which is that in this vast market of voice talent, a lot of people just are incompetent. They complain about quality, they can complain about reliability and they complain about people who have no idea what they’re doing and who can’t take direction. That’s a pain point you need to know about your customers that you can agitate. And by understanding where they’re coming from, they will love you and you’re going to get a lot more business.

Hope that’s helpful. I’m Susan Berkley with this week’s Inside Voiceover.

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I’m breaking this up because I just cut this email from a voice talent that we hired way back in 2011 to do a job for Google. Now this guy speaks Polish so he then became the Polish voice of Google maps and he’s writing now to thank us and he says, “That job made me quite famous in Poland. Being the voice of Google maps opened a lot of doors for me.” That’s how it works. That’s how it worked in my own business. Being the voice of Citibank, as I am, and having done work for years and years and years for AT&T has open tons of doors for me. Got me on to major media. I’ve written books. I’ve done a lot of speaking engagements. I want to encourage you, I want to talk to you about this. You got to get in the game, you got to stay in it, and you’ve got to do great work for your customers so they keep coming back again and again. That’s the voice overgrowth concept of lifetime customer value. I’m Susan Berkley and I’m back next week with more inside voiceover.

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So let’s get going. Here’s the basic gear you need. Number one, you need something to record yourself obviously. I bring a lightweight laptop, I like my MacBook Air, but it really doesn’t matter what you use. Some people use an iPad or a tablet, they don’t have a problem editing on that. I find it a little tough to edit on a smaller screen. You can even use your phone these days, but at least you’re going to need a laptop. You need a folding mic stand, they’re really inexpensive. Just go on Amazon, find one, very lightweight, a pop screen of course. You need headphones and I always like to tuck a few extra USB cords. Believe it or not, they can go bad, so I have those just in case.

Consider packing everything in a small bag or a TravelCube and you put it right into your carry on and that way if the TSA wants to see it, just pull the whole thing out and give it to them. Test your travel gear before you go. Actually set it up at home, record something, send it to yourself or to a friend. Make sure that the audio quality is top notch. Internet access, now even today, it can vary from hotel to hotel, so you want to make sure you can get it in your room, but just call ahead or go online and make sure ahead of time. You don’t want any surprises, especially if you’re going to be traveling to, say to Europe or overseas someplace where internet is not as frequent.

Here’s something really important you might overlook. If you’re traveling with other people, make a plan ahead of time, negotiate how much time you will be alone in the room and how much time you’re going to spend looking at your phone. Boy, oh boy, this can lead to a lot of fights if you don’t handle it ahead of time. And so you might want to spend some of the meals in the room recording so you don’t inconvenience your travel mates. And if you can, look at a picture of the room online or have the hotel indicate where to see it online, so you can think ahead and plan where you might be recording.

There’s lots of ways you can do this without lugging a lot of extra gear. Some people bring bulky foam booths with them or you can even use one of those Kaotica Eyeballs, which is also a bit bulky to travel. It’s like a foam ball that goes on your mic. That will help eliminate some of the room tone. I never bring mine with me. What I do is I just set some pillows up and I put a towel on a desk, stick my microphone there. It works absolutely fine, and you got to make sure you’re in a quiet room away from the pool and the elevator, if you can. So have a wonderful new year, holiday season and good travels. I’m Susan Berkeley, back next week with more Inside Voiceover.

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Number two, make sure your computer recognizes your microphone. It’s a simple setting, but check it out before you start to record. Three is to make sure your software recognizes your microphone. Four is to use a pop screen. Now what is a pop screen? It’s an inexpensive filter that goes in between your mouth and the mike that prevents the plosives, the Ts and the Ds and that extra air from hitting the mic so you don’t have popping noises.

You want to make sure you’re recording into the right side of your microphone. That is number five. And the correct side is where the logo is. Often people don’t even realize that and they wonder why their voice sounds so distant and odd. Number six is to speak about a hands width away from the mic, just like that. That’s a good starting position. Of course, you might want to get in a little closer or farther away depending on how much energy you have in the read.

Number seven is to position the microphone where the air from your mouth won’t hit it, talking either above the mike or right below it, like that, or off to the side. That’s helpful if you’re making a lot of popping noises. Number eight, make sure it’s accurate. After you finish recording, read the script along with the recording to make sure you haven’t missed any words.

Number nine is to save the file in a special folder that you label with the date, with the customer’s name. And number 10 is to email the file to your client, but before you do, check and make sure the format is correct. Don’t send those giant wave files unless that’s what they want. MP3s are the accepted recorded format. So I hope that’s helpful for you, Susan Berkley, and I’ll be back next week with more Inside Voice Over.

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