I just signed on with Karma Modeling and Talent Agency after having a very nice exchange with the owner, Kenya Taylor-Hayes. This is my first representation in the Georgia area and I’m looking forward to a fruitful relationship.
I just finished listening to the audiobook of Pat Fraley’s Greatest Cartoon Voice Tricks Ever Smuggled Out of Hollywood which I actually found online at my library. Not only is it very informative, but also very funny. Pat does a fair amount of name-dropping, but it never seems like name-dropping. Instead it gives relevance and credibility to the tricks he shows you. He steals (his words) from Frank Muller, Nancy Cartwright, and of course, Mel Blanc, all people he has personally worked with. He clearly demonstrates all of the tricks and gives audible step by step directions. You won’t master any of them quickly, but he gives a great foundation for you to begin practicing from.
If your library has it, check it out. Otherwise buy it here.
Thanks to Dave Christi for pointing me to this: Del Ray and Random House Audio are publishing the final book in the Star Wars “Legacy of the Force” series. To celebrate, they’re offering a free download of the first book, Betrayal, in various ebook formats or audiobook.
You can download it in ebook formats or a free audiobook narrated by Marc Thompson of Yu-gi-oh, Daria, T.M.N.T. fame.
Audiobooks are great. Free audiobooks are even better!
One of the age old debates for voice over talent is the rise of the lowballer - the VO talent who will do a :30 spot for $25 or an audiobook for $200. But Capitalism being what it is, if the lowballer can provide the same quality of voice as you for less, then why should they pay more for your service?
The answer is that last word: Service. Provide service that goes above and beyond and you prove the value of your rate. So how do you go above and beyond for your clients? Take a gander at the following list. I know some of these will be controversial, so sound off in the comments!
Does the client need the reading done in a week? Then give it to them in 6 days. Or even 5. Deliver the final product before they expect it. I did this for a client a couple of weeks ago. They got it 2 days before the deadline, reviewed it, sent me performance notes, and I had the pickups to them before the original deadline. Needless to say, the client was super happy.
This one is the thorn in the side of many a voice talent. The client gives you the script, you record it and they come back a day or two later saying that some muckety-muck in management made some copy changes. Usually, the talent is paid for these pickups, sometimes for the full studio rate. But to go above and beyond, try giving the client a free pickup. I did this last week and the client was floored! I was going to be in the studio anyway, so what’s the harm? Sure, my time is worth money, but making a client so happy that they come back to you outweighs a few bucks i would have made from the session.
Caveat: Don’t let the client take this for granted. This is a gift and make it clear in the invoice that this is typically a billable service. Put the line item in the invoice and then after the subtotal, cancel it out with a “courtesy discount”. That way they and anyone else looking at the invoice will know that this is not something that everyone gets for free.
Paypal is super convenient and easy to use. And for the occasional Craigslist ad it’s a blessing to have it available for upfront payments. But a lot of places won’t use it since their billing departments cut checks. Advertise paypal as one of several payment options you accept along with checks, money orders, even wires.
Everyone wants to get paid and no one likes to bug clients about ponying up the cash for services they are now using to make money. But corporations are sluggish and bugging the client at exactly 30 days of invoicing makes you look greedy and desperate. Yes, you’re entitled to the money. But pushing out an extra 15 days to give the client some breathing room isn’t going to break your bank.
You certainly won’t see lowballers doing this one. But if you’ve had a good paying client, send a thank you note and a gift card. I’m not talking about a $50 starbucks card for a $100 message on hold gig. But if your job was particularly generous, a gift basket or gift card isn’t going to eat into your profits too much. And making a gensture like that will go a long way.
I have to admit, I stole this from DB Cooper. But if you’re doing a gig at another studio, bring a plate of homemade cookies for the producer and engineer. You will be their best friend for the day.
Tell them what you’re going to do
Do it.
Tell them you did it.
The point is to do something extra for the client and make sure they are aware that this is an extra little something you provide. This may seem obvious to many of you, but how many times do you really do it?
I get a lot of requests from folks interested in pursuing voice over. Many have a little experience, some are radio folks, and others are brand new who have always been told they have a “nice voice”.
Instead of rehashing the training, education, and work required to break in, I’ll leave it to me friend Bobbin Beam who says it better than I can in this series of blog posts.
I’m not a huge fan of paying celebrity actors to voice video games. I don’t think they bring that much to the table since people don’t play games to listen to the voice actors in the same way they see movies to see the actors. In other words, the actors do not draw video game audiences. This is not to say I don’t want high quality VO in games. Quite the opposite. I just don’t think we need typical Hollywood marquee names.
That said, I’m a firm believer in continuity of voice when a particular intellectual property crosses media. For the upcoming Incredible Hulk game, they got the same actors from the film to voice their parts in the game. I think this is great from the perspective of a gamer who wants their to be contuinity. Too often, the actors hired don’t match the voices well enough and it’s obvious. Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer game, anyone?
When you hire the same actors, celebrities or not, there can’t be any complaining that the actors “didn’t sound like the actors in the movie.”
Roger Tremaine over at the VO-BB has posted an unedited session (re: outtakes) of Leonard Nimoy narrating a documentary that his station was working on in the late 70s. Rather interesting to hear how Nimoy practically rewrites the script in the booth. And my, what an incredible voice he has.
Thanks for the audio gem, Roger.
If you’re a fan of the video game BioShock like I am, then you know the audio design was the best part of the game and one of the best sonic landscapes in ANY game. Xbox Live’s Major Nelson has posted some of the audio from the game. These are not ripped, folks, these are from the original audio masters encoded at a high bit rate. Download away!
My favorite audiobook narrator, Scott Brick has posted a doozy of a tome on his blog about the challenges of recording audiobooks with regard to different accents the author drums up. He’s certainly not complaining, because as he says “he has the collest job on the world.” I have to agree.
If you have a website, as most of you do, then you may qualify for a free subscription Website magazine. Keep in mind this is a trade journal, so they’re going to have uber-exciting things that don’t apply to voice-over like affiliate marketing and online advertising. But some of it might be useful such as design tips and Search engine optimization.
