business Archives - Rebecca Haugh

Awards for Voice Actors!

animation, business, creative professionals, improvisation, life, small business, voiceover

There are many professional awards Voice Actors receive for their acting. Here’s a hot list of the big ones.

Annie Awards

From their website: Honoring excellence in the field of animation. An Annie Award is animation’s highest honor. Since 1973. Founded by ASIFA – Hollywood.

From their website: The Audie Awards® is the premier awards program in the United States recognizing distinction in audiobooks and spoken-word entertainment. Publishers and rights holders enter titles in various categories for recognition of achievement. Finalists are selected, and then one winner is awarded in each category at the Audies Gala.

Television Academy Emmy Awards

From their website: Founded in 1946, the Television Academy is dedicated to honoring excellence in television while promoting creativity, diversity and empowering storytellers through recognition, education and leadership. Learn about the history of Emmy awards for voice-over performance via Wikipedia.

Critics Choice Awards Documentary Best Narration

Per their website: The Critics Choice Association (CCA) is a group of broadcast, radio and online critics as well as entertainment journalists who review films and documentaries as well as scripted and unscripted television. The CCA was officially formed in 2019 with the merger of the Broadcast Film Critics Association and its sister organization, the Broadcast Television Journalists Association.

SOVAS Voice Arts Awards

SOVAS is Society of Voice Arts & Sciences. From their website: The Voice Arts® Awards is uniquely designed to honor the community of performers and craft professionals who perform, direct, produce, cast, engineer, and publish media where voice acting is a central creative element of the work. Categories here. Since 2013.

One Voice Awards

Awards program as part of a conference, once in the USA and another in the UK annually. From their website: The One Voice Awards continues to be the only truly independent voiceover award running today. There’s no “Pay To Win” here. Anyone can submit, and anyone can be in with a chance of winning an award. Since 2018. Categories here.

Let me know if I’ve missed any.

Does Improvisation Make You Be ‘More’ You in Voiceover?

animation, business, creative professionals, improvisation, life, small business, voiceover

Most people in voiceover know that improvisation is an important skill for their success. My main point about learning improv, is that it helps you be more you. There are a variety of benefits we get from improv in addition, but I believe this is the ‘gold’.

Why is ‘be more you’ important?

Most VO coaches and teachers and agents will tell you this in a class or webinar. I’ve heard it hundreds of times, and now say it. And it’s true! If you don’t understand why “being more you” is bottom line, you are probably either new to voiceover or a naturally born great actor doing it instinctively!

The importance of “be more you”: The people hiring you want to hear the alliance of authenticity plus the meaning of the scripted words, as intended, come through your voice.

This is why I say you are “performing” a script, not reading it. The difficulty for voice actors is nailing that alliance in a natural way with words we don’t naturally use in conversation. Oh yeah. That!

What does ‘be more you‘ mean for voice acting, then?

The short answer is, you perform a script as if it were real words you just thought of, like in conversation. Authentic. Believable. Natural.

Isn’t that what you already do when you read a script aloud?

You’ll have to answer that question for yourself. Some think their answer is ‘yes’. Are they being hired again and again and making a living at voice over?

Some think the answer is ‘no’. That when you read aloud you are not speaking as if you are in conversation, naturally. You might sound clear, articulate, with some emotion. But in the majority of cases I believe reading aloud is different than excellent natural acting.

For me, and many other high level voice actors, the target is personal authenticity aligned with the intended meaning of the script coming through your voice. Acting is a skill. So is improvising. And when I read the books of Amy Poehler and Tina Fey, I believed them when they said that improv made them either better actors or helped them actually act.

Improvisation is a door opening to ‘be more you’ when acting.

I believe this. Acting, as defined by Meisner is, “living truthfully under imaginary circumstances”. After studying hard, with some struggle, I found some golden moments while studying Meisner in Hollywood back when I lived there. I felt that ‘knowing’ feeling of living truthfully while pretending under imaginary circumstances. You learn to tap into your instincts, your gut, your whole life experience to play pretend with someone else’s words.

For me though, I found that process difficult and slow, and sometimes even emotionally painful. It was also expensive, and didn’t seem to work as much with voiceover. I think Amy and Tina had an outstanding point. In my own words, I think improv helps you put your life experience into your skills as an actor, or voice actor, if you are willing. Just like Meisner, but easier, and usually more fun.

I think improv is the way to find the alliance of authentic and scripted meaning for VO.

Rather than simply following the adage for voices actors which says “picture your are talking to XYZ friend/family member/loved one”, improv gives you a strong foundation to create that imaginary circumstance. And, improv lets you use your life experience and interests to do that. Even if it does take practice getting good at it. It’s fun!

Are you into knitting, or rebuilding engines, or bar tending when you have guests? Do you spend time playing video games or reading history or playing with your kids? All of this is beneficial within improvisation. You bring your life to improv and play with things you love. And that, my friends, helps you bring your life – YOU – to voice acting. Jump into improv with the thrill and gusto of knowing everything you ever experienced can be used in it!

That, friends, let’s you then apply improv freedom to the structure of a script.

For some, this means a sense of freedom, and of play. Great! Wait – hang on. For others, it’s a bit scary because it’s like uncomfortably exposing the real you to the world. Or feels that way. What if the real you isn’t interesting enough, or not good enough? What if they think you are weird? What if…

Fear scares a lot of people away from improv.

In these cases of fear, you need to begin your improv journey in a safe space with a group leader who understands and teaches you to push but not break your comfort zone. Adults learning new skills sometimes feel vulnerable or uneasy, thinking approval from others is needed. The people in your training and the teacher’s strength to guide can make a big difference. You will be asked to stretch and pull at your comfort zone in expressing yourself, when led by a good improv teacher. Don’t let fear stop you. Do a little research about where you want to study improv, and give it a shot.

Passion from your life experience can be very contagious and uplifting for all! By sharing it, you add new perspectives to improv scenes that cannot be duplicated by anyone else when you are truly authentic. Your unique points of view will always add good flavor to the improv meal! And that, my friends, leveraged to your voiceover scripts, will have “you being MORE you”.

There’s always a little more to this, and you do need to know your VO basics in tech, microphone proximity usage, and script analysis to know the writer’s intent. I suggest you learn all that first.

Then, embrace opportunity with the fear. Learn improv.

AI Synthesized Voices in Voice Over: This Moment

business, creative professionals, instructional design, post-production, production, small business, video design, VO tech, voiceover

A Groundbreaking Moment

As a professional voice actor, I’m witnessing remarkable advancements in artificial intelligence (AI). It’s making a profound impact on the voice acting community. AI voice cloning, or synthesizing, technology has raised critical questions, concerns, and opportunities as well, within the profession.

It’s crucial for voice actors, video producers, casting directors, talent agents, and other industry professionals to be smart and fair to each other during the rapidly changing landscape.

In this blog, I’ll explore the impact of AI on voice acting overall, touching on narration, advertising, and eLearning. Keep in mind these are only a few of the impacted aspects of voiceover recording. Additionally, I’ll share the transformative concept of ‘fAIr Voices’ by the NAVA VO association as part of the way forward.

A Changing Landscape

AI revolutionizes voice acting as we knew it. AI is creating voice clones and synthesized voices that mimic human speech. This technology streamlines VO production, reduces VO costs, and offers flexibility in VO content creation. There are concerns regarding ethical and legal implications, such as unauthorized voice recordings and future job displacement.

We’ve already seen this with high profile cases. Earlier this year longtime voice actors Steve Blum, Kara Edwards, and Stephanie Sheh used Twitter to ask fans to let actors know when their voices are being used on AI voice apps. “I know AI technology is exciting, but if you see my voice or any of the characters that I voice offered on any of those sites, please know that I have not given my permission, and never will,” wrote Blum. Canadian voice actor Bev Standing sued TikTok for unauthorized use of her voice in its text-to-speech feature and the case was eventually settled. This highlights the need to protect voice actors’ recordings. Unauthorized websites copying and selling voices without permission are faced with strong opposition.

On the plus side, the AI voice “revolution” is charting new paths for voice recordings. Celebrities and non-celebrities can consider cloning or making a synthetic voice of themselves. This means at least our voice recordings might live beyond our human selves, and with our permission. And, it could give voice actors the opportunity to have that ‘clone of themselves’ they always wanted. Why? Book more jobs, with your voice clone working 24/7. If it’s in the voice actors control, and of a certain approvable level of quality, fair prices…. These are possibilities.

Narration

Narration is essential for storytelling. AI voices expand narrative possibilities. AI-driven text-to-speech (TTS) systems generate lifelike voices, providing an alternative for certain projects. While TTS technology offers convenience and speed, it currently lacks the depth, emotion, and human connection that a skilled voice actor brings to the table. However, skilled voice actors possess unique qualities and expertise. They bring depth, emotion, and human connection that current TTS technology lacks. So, their unique qualities and expertise ensure authentic and engaging performances.

Advertising

For decades, voice actors have played a vital role in delivering impactful commercial messages. While AI voice clones offer cost-effective solutions for some ads, do they or will they capture the nuances and emotional range of human voices? Voice actors, because they are humans, connect with audiences, conveying brand personality and authenticity effectively, if they and the team behind them are good.

ELearning

The eLearning industry works a lot with voice actors. Much of the work is collaborative, although not all. But in this collaboration, voice acting contributes to instructional content development. AI-powered voice synthesis again offers fast and effective voiceover recordings. Flexibility to make changes is high. Still, the synthesized or clone voice has limitations that do not match human capacity (yet).

‘fAIr Voices’

Ethical and legal concerns surrounding AI voice cloning require attention. ‘fAIr Voices’ is a coalition launched by NAVA, National Association of Voice Actors. They ask companies who work with voice actors to pledge the fair use of those voice recordings.

There is concern in the voiceover industry as synthetic voice creation websites have become more prevalent, allowing anyone to create a very realistic sounding version of any actor’s voice from shorter and shorter sound files. “Our voices are our livelihood,” says Vice President of NAVA, Carin Gilfry, “and if we don’t have control over how those voices are used, we can’t make a living.”

The #fAIrVoices campaign calls for:

The ability for the performer/artist to actively consent to use of their voice being synthesized or cloned.
Explicit limits on use of the results and proceeds of an AI/Synthetic voice.
Ability to opt out, or term limits for AI/Synthetic voice use and Machine Training.
Appropriate payment for use.
Clearly denoted exclusivity.
Safe storage and tracking of the performer’s voice, likeness, performance, and all products created from them.
Clear and explicit terms of service regarding the training, use, and/or distribution of AI and synthetic voices on any website voice actors use or are members of.

Undeniable Impact:

Voice actors bring the human flaws, authenticity, emotion, and engagement to their voice recordings. Creative professionals and their companies can help prioritize a smooth transition to the future, hand in hand with voice actors. I suggest everyone offer transparency, respect, and maintain accountability with potential or actual AI utilization. Engage in discussions, collaborate with stakeholders, and consider ‘fAIr Voices’ concepts to bridge us to the future of voice acting.

By blending technology capabilities with human artistry, industry professionals deliver outstanding voice performances that captivate audiences. Let’s forge ahead, shaping a harmonious and innovative industry that embraces AI’s possibilities while preserving real human expression.

Storytelling – Three, Two, One

business, creative professionals, small business, VO tech, voiceover

Storytelling is a vital…

You probably already knew that storytelling is vital in your creative projects, for sure.

I still voice a lot of scripts that don’t do storytelling. I assume that’s because clients don’t believe it’s worth the effort? You tell me.

A vital piece of your creative content.

With a riveting story, you can lead your audience anywhere, and they’ll follow.

Here are some simple ways to see your content with stories:

Character Appeal

Get your audience on your characters’ side–whether it be a fictional person or a real life customer–and make sure their goals are clear and bold. They need to be appealing enough for audiences to root for them to achieve their goals.

Obstacle Tension

The obstacles in your characters’ paths inform the stakes and tension of the story. The quality of the challenges will dictate how much audiences are engaged in your characters because they get to show how resourceful and layered they are.

Bold Conclusion

Start strong, and end even stronger to leave a lasting impression. Even if the ending’s a foregone conclusion you can still make it affecting, moving, and even surprising with a captivating finale.

Let me know if you have any comments, as I’m always happy to hear from you.

Pro Voiceover: ROI in eLearning Courses

business, creative professionals, instructional design, small business, VO tech, voiceover

What Is ROI?

ROI is an acronym for ‘return on investment’. For example, hiring instructional designers is investing money into a business endeavor, an e-learning course. Calculating ROI helps everyone understand the value your course creates. Within e-Learning courses, are you asking about ROI for hiring a professional voice actor?

Let’s put this in the hands of the experts – the Instructional Designer. You are ready to develop your virtual reality, game-based, micro-learning or video-based eLearning course. You’re drafting design elements, and pondering…

Will you hire professional voice talent (VO)?

Using a pro voice actor has positive effects for your learners within an excellent instructional design. VOs work as hired actors, narrators, and characters of varying ages in mock scenarios.

But what’s your ROI with hiring a pro VO? Are these challenging questions popping up:

The budget is set… So leave out the VO and save on that budget line item?
Some colleagues pull aside an in-house person to save funds.
Others say it adds time to hire a professional VO.

What’s your ROI if you do or don’t hire a VO? Are there hidden costs? Apply top-level considerations to your unique project.

Pros and Cons of In-house Recordings

Is your project a short course with limited audience, limited use, and the audio recording quality is not an issue? Then it probably makes sense to keep it in-house. Whoever does the in-house recordings will do their best with the experience, time and focus they can offer.

On the flip side, there are a few typical issues that can cost more time or produce sub-standard audio quality:

Usually non-pros require more recording time, and fixing errors time, compared to pros. The average unskilled person needs about 4-5 hours of work to create 1 finished hour of audio. A pro can get it done in 2-3 hours.
Will they edit for you, or is that your chore? More demands on your time?
Using in-house doesn’t mean ‘free’. Their regular work is being delayed. Whose budget does that hit?
Audio can be distorted with office background noise, or from non-professional equipment, or both. Will you receive clean undistorted audio?
Vocal expression may not fit the course. For example, monotonous tone, or inability to engage the text vocally, or not sounding authentic or conversational. Will the spoken word recording be vibrant and appropriate?

Audio should enhance the instructional experience. The spoken word recordings should enhance the script you’ve developed. Audio should never detract from the course nor distract the participant. Still, a non-pro may be your only option. For some projects, if you can live with these results, then stick with in-house audio.

Professional Voice Talent Recordings

Is your course for a larger audience, with broader use, and high audio quality a requirement? You probably already know it’s time to consider using professional voice talent. A course like this is representing the brand of the company it’s created for.

Here are typical benefits of hiring a pro voice talent:

Spoken Word Experience
A professional voice talent offers many years of experience with all different types of e-learning projects. She understands what you expect.

Audio Expertise
Professional voice talent have pro studio equipment and deliver high-quality audio recordings of your script. She stays up with trends in her industry, from varying styles of vocal performance, to the latest technologies for recording. If you need audio edits after the initial recordings, your VO talent should provide new audio that seamlessly blends into the project.

Trained Actor
Pro VOs are experts delivering a performance in front of a microphone (as compared to on stage or in front of a camera), and speaking to the intended audience when recording, to generate and maintain audience interest. Additionally, gaming and scenario-based courses often incorporate re-enactments or dramatizations that require acting skills.

Professional Commitment
Pro VOs are a business people that will aim to quickly turn around your projects and readily accommodate your deadlines.

Your Brand
Consider the impact that a professional production will have on your brand identity. It’s a business investment signaling to participants of the course that you value quality. Professional audio can convey a brand’s message in mere seconds.

What’s the ROI?

The most common ROI formula is net return divided by the total cost.

The simplest way to think about the ROI formula is to add up the value of benefits (return) and dividing it by the cost.

If you say something has a good or bad ROI, then explain how you measure it. Each ROI case will be specific to the course you’re creating.

In conclusion, the choice of VO for e-learning projects is one of many crucial elements within the design process. The ROI will depend your budget, your experience with either in-house or pro VOs, and what the overall experience should be for your course participants.

Let me know if you think I’ve missed anything, as I’m always happy to hear from you.

Reigniting Old-Fashioned Thank You’s

business, celebrate, creative professionals, small business, voiceover

Optimism in a Tradition

I re-started a company tradition in November 2019: Hand writing thank you notes to first time clients. People don’t do that much anymore, with our keyboards and computer devices. Saying a formal ‘thank you‘ to new clients after delivering excellent voiceover continues a new relationship graciously. Anyone else write real thank you notes in today’s world besides me? Tell me. Relatively, I think I’m safe to say I am in a small group doing this. Based on the fun replies, my clients notice.

This tradition exists for several reasons. One, it’s good for business, sealing new relationships memorably. Two, it’s fun to write with my hand using a real pen on real paper. (I used to have a thing for calligraphy too. There really is a visual artist within me.) Three, it’s a positive celebration of collaboration (and celebrating achievements is also a company goal). This tradition gives me great joy.

How’d this all start?

Early in my voiceover plus on-camera career, there was a lot more person to person meeting up. Thank you cards were extra effort, but, were appropriate and recommended. Some years into my career, my focus became solely voiceover. Everyone evolved as business morphed radically with the internet expansion. In person meetings fell away, with email and on-line activity replacing them.

Even if it’s an extra effort, I like writing cards and saying thank you. The personal touch of new meetings via Zoom isn’t the same either. Physically putting pen to paper, and for a moment, switching from digital devices to physical implements is tangible goodness. So in November 2019, I decided to bring back my old tradition.

Printing branded cards, I was set and haven’t looked back. My hands always write them. I don’t care if it’s cursive or some mix in between. Fetish or not, I like the touch of a smoothly rolling ballpoint pen on real card stock paper and it’s matte surface. I fondly consider the collaboration as I write, noting something specific that was special. It is physical creation in the end, another creative expression.

Do I go to the post office every time?

Fortunately or unfortunately, no. I take a simple photo of the card on a good background, cleaning up lighting and composition with a photo editor. Next I send it digitally in email, through the internet to my newest business collaborator. The idea of going to the Post Office when the pandemic started was a safety issue, being what we knew then. It’s either closed or crowded, now that it’s safe, so – still a hassle.

Regardless, I want immediate gratification for my client. The US Postal service speed of delivery has been hammered in the last couple years, which makes digital delivery expedience and avoiding crowds at the local postal office preferred. *Thank you Internet of things... who do I send that card to?

Overall Positive Impact

Sending thank you notes is sharing optimism. It sets the stage well, showing appreciation for being selected in a competitive market. Each time my very special, unique, thank you card, I consider this.

Sending the note as quickly after voiceover audio has been approved has more impact. Send it as soon as possible. In a way, it’s like sealing up my VO with a professional, congenial, unique, memorable bow.

I have a stack containing every single thank you card that I write. It’s a kind of a visual metric for my effort. It’s hard to take a photograph and help you see what that looks like. There are over 100 cards. Below is my best attempt at a pic.

The big picture?

It’s creating optimism in new relationships. Looking forward and back at the same time. Looking at what was done, how it felt and how it went. I feel a sense of accomplishment and appreciation with every card I write, and it grows with the stack. And that, my friends, feels great. I think my clients feel it too.

Make a Fortune in your Pajamas?

business, celebrate, creative professionals, small business, voiceover

The State of Voiceover Fortunes in Pajamas: 2021

So many people were jealous of remote workers – working from home – in PJs no less!! That’s the silly concept anyway. Maybe that’s true for some people. For me, I do like to get dressed for my day. Comfy clothes – that’s a story for another blog!

Pajamas aside… Can you make a fortune as a voice actor?

Back in 2017, there was public information about the global voiceover market, touting it to be $4.4 billion USD with $800 million of that in North America. This was based on 2015 data and includes the full scope of money put into voiceover spending, not all of which lands in the voice actor’s bank due to production companies, managers, talent agents, etc.

What’s some real workforce data about being a voice actor?

Voice actors independently choose their path and, even if we know our own statistics, how do we compare to a larger swath of voice actors? We already know that the big money is in animated TV and film and that some of us may get there. We also know that corporate videos, advertising, audiobooks and eLearning are where most of the work is, overall.

Voice actors do chatter about not having data, in social media groups and amongst ourselves at conferences. But it’s all anecdotal. And as we turn the corner into the 2020s, technology is growing up and disrupting some of the human work of voiceover. So probably there have been lots of changes since 2015 data. Personally I can buy current voiceover market data as it was presented in 2017, but I would have to pay at least $3000 for research data access. Not gonna happen.

A group of voice actors conducted a survey to get real, present-day overall statistics of the voiceover acting workforce.

It’s a beginning, and it’s exciting. The data was gathered Jan-Feb 2021 regarding activity in 2020. Mid-2021, their first free, public report about “the state of voiceover” was released. I want to give a roaring shout-out to the folks at Voice Actors of NYC and their associates who showed excellent initiative and created this framework as an extraordinary view into our individually stitched-together world.

Being the first assessment of its nature that I’m aware of, I think they started with the correct fundamental approach and topics about the voice actor profession. Additionally, the data collected seems good. Here’s what they said about the data collection process: “The most encouraging trend we saw in the data collection process was that the results stayed roughly the same after we reached 250 responses. From the 250th response to the 1244th response, the data was nearly unchanged. This tells us we have a fairly representative sample of voice actors.”

I’ve highlighted these key results here: Annual Income, Expertise Level, Genre of work, Union impact, Covid19 impact, Locations, Auditions, Talent Agent impact.

Gross Income of All in 2020

The majority of respondents, 48%, earn $8K or less, with less than 2% earning over $350K. (K=thousand)

37% earn between $8-40K
10.3% earn between $40-75K
9% earn between $75-150K
5.6% earn over $150K with 1.9% earning over $350K

graph of overall income in voiceover — Overall Income, courtesy Voiceover Survey

Gross 2020 Income by Experience Level

You have to be a professional level to earn at least living wage, overall.

$8K or less per year: 94% Beginner, 72% Intermediate, 20% Pro
$75K+ per year: 0 Beginners, 0.8% Intermediate, 27.4% Pro

Experience Level & Union Status

The majority of respondents are non-union.

52% Pro. Of these, 49% non-union
32% Intermediate. Of these, 81% non-union
16% Beginner. Of these, 89% non-union

Type of genres voiced most often

Commercials
Narration
E-Learning
Explainers

Union Work

75% full union earned $75K or less
15% tried to convert work to union, more than half of these found it challenging and confusing

Covid19 Impact

41% of voice actors had increased income in 2020 vs 2019, regardless of Union status. By experience level, Intermediate and Pro also saw the majority of income growth.
74% already had a home studio.

Voice actor locations

Los Angeles area (17%)
New York City area (30%)
53% live outside either area

How many auditions typically submitted per day?

70% do zero to four auditions
Only 3% do 15+

Note: By experience level, Pros generally do more auditions on a daily basis.

Overall daily:

Percent Income from Talent Agents

41% respondents receive 0% income from Agents
18% receive 1-10%
7% receive 100%

Note: 64% have Talent Agency representation; of these, 56% have more than one agent. A majority of Pros have agents, whereas only a quarter of Beginners have agents.

So, can you make a fortune in your pajamas by being a voice actor?

Pajamas? Easy. Fortune? Define that. Can you earn “a very large sum of money”? Can you be rich? According to this survey, less than 2% earned $350K+ in 2020. The majority earned $8-40K. The median household income in the USA for 2020 was $67.5K (statista).

Of course, you can make a fortune – somebody is! But can you make a fortune too? The odds are: no!

According to TheRichest and CelebrityNetWorth websites, the top 10 voice actors, who are uber-talented Hollywood level actors from top TV animated shows, have a net worth between $6 million going up to $500 million. Only if you’re in the top percent, maybe top 0.001%, can you earn a ‘fortune’.

A better question: Can you earn a decent living as a voice actor?

Yes. And, not so many people are even doing this. The majority of respondents in this 2020 data earned from $8K-40K, which is less than the median household income for the USA in 2020.

What is a decent living? That depends where you live, if you are also sharing a life with others, have dependents…. Again, define that and then look at the data. Yes, working from home is lovely and has it’s perks and drawbacks.

I think the most important thing is to look at the priorities of life, and how you want to live it. Can you run your own business by putting in the time and energy to develop your skills while you do what you can to build a clientele?

Feel free to contact me with specific questions or thoughts. I look forward to it.

You can find all the data from the survey here: https://www.voiceoversurvey.com/. Many thanks for the graphical images courtesy of this survey.

Audio Trends, Branding, and the Client Experience

business, online vo sessions, production, VO tech, voiceover

Voiceover is part of many creative elements within a project serving a business need. It could be for internal onboarding or training of employees. It can be direct consumer advertising campaigns or part of a marketing mix. It’s sometimes embedded within products for sale, from audiobooks and podcasts to film. And that spans from Alexa to Disney, from Yahoo to the old ‘Got Milk’ campaign. Even with simple or sophisticated phone systems, the voice is still a part of the experience within the brand.

As content marketing expands in all markets, in multiple channels, the opportunities for branding also multiply. Will the opportunities for voiceover bloom, as well?

There are exciting new trends in how audio is created or used in marketing and to enhance the client experience. It’s a new way of considering business, impacting audio and, yes, even voiceover.

Have you heard about sonic branding?

A strong trend to consider – sonic branding is a unique sound of your brand or company or even a specific product. We’re not talking about the ‘jingle’, although I’d say that fits under this umbrella. From what I understand, sonic branding considers not only the elements like music, effects, voice and theme but additionally who is the audience, what pleases them and draws them in.

You create a unique sound that is always included in a specific experience. I suppose it’s similar to using a company logo for any media. Insert the sonic brand wherever the audio fits, just like you would your logo. I’m hearing of multiple audio-only agencies sprouting up to assist companies with creating and managing their sonic brand. One, in particular, MassiveBass, created a new data-driven sonic branding tool using brand archetypes and values matched to music, to create unique sonic branding strategies. And recently one well-known brand, MasterCard, launched its own sound for all ads and purchase moments.

As the big companies embrace sonic branding, will your team as well?

Other exciting new audio trends…

There’s a whole new platform in audio-only called Clubhouse. An exclusive audio-only invite-only social app, gaining huge traction since launch March 2020. It features spontaneous and scheduled voice-only conversations centered around specific topics. Companies are sponsoring events here, so I’m told. As membership grows, and you get invited, invite me! Although I’m hesitant to add more social media, I’m very curious and would love to ‘get a hear’!

Podcasts are not so new, however, are rising in popularity for businesses. Podcasts with branded original content targeting B2B, B2C and internal audiences are growing. It seems to have taken a while for businesses to figure out how to embrace them beneficially. I’m noticing how podcasts are targeted to support onboarding, employee development, product usage and probably more. Some companies have invited me to voice specific product line trainings distributed via podcast, using other voices for different product lines. Another client is using my voice with internal business podcast intro/outros, matched with script and music to uniquely identify the specific sales topic. This company uses star performers’ voices, as well.

These are the biggest trends I see that also seem to have longevity built-in. Although I’m less sure about Clubhouse, unsure about the ‘trendy’ part of sonic branding, and quite sure about podcasts. Let’s check in after another year!

Staying Focused

accountability, business, small business, voiceover

I had SUCH a problem with ‘holding focus’ recently, like others have.

December 2020 was a quiet close to a year that had a lot of big ups and downs. Christmas and New Years provided some relief and relaxation. In fact, memes around New Years were funny, particularly this one, which made me literally laugh out loud:

Meme: Just wait til 2020 turns 21 and starts drinking — Just wait til 2020 turns 21 and starts drinking

Then January 6th, 2021 happened. U.S. news of politics and culture had me “attention-captured”. It’s like that saying about driving by an accident on the road. You can’t help but stare. And this was one big, long accident. News and reaction was everywhere, from email inbox to social media to podcasts to online streaming. How could I not be concerned and affected by all the news about the US election, the Capitol riot and its momentous ramifications?

Awareness is step 1. Do you find yourself with a lack of focus?

Whoopsie. I caught myself. I realized that the news about political culture of the USA had jumped into my daily ‘to do list’ like a bad habit. I even recognized that this new habit was taking up the time I gained when I gave up my multiplayer online game.

I recognized I didn’t want this to continue. I wanted to make an adjustment and not only get my time back, but to choose my priorities more consciously. I knew I wanted to keep appraised of further news and reactions, yet wanted to get back into the swing of my normal flow, attending to not only urgent but also important matters.

With that awareness, I made my a personal and professional decision: Hold. My. Focus.

Step 2 is diagnosing what’s going on in your specific case.

What was causing my letting go of ‘important’ when the world news calls ‘urgently’? What was the actual problem? Distractions? I found some good quotes for this:

Lack of direction, not lack of time, is the problem. We all have twenty-four hour days.
– Zig Ziglar

Focus is a matter of deciding what things you’re not going to do.
– John Carmack

When walking, walk. When eating, eat.
– Zen proverb

Sometimes, it’s that you can’t be still. That you’re almost, maybe, addicted to being distracted. In a podcast I listened to yesterday, they discussed many issues that can cause lack of focus distractions:

Checking email
Checking social media
Checking the news
Checking all of the above on your phone

Or maybe it’s that you’re worried about something, and those thoughts invade your focus: worried about a loved one, a health prognosis, financial or legal issues.

Or maybe it’s darn hard to remain focused because you’re working at home now, and you simply get interrupted by other household members.

I think for me it was a combination of being worried about what I was reading in the news while being inundated with news updates to my email inbox. STAYING focused while being distracted appeared to be the difficulty.

There are various ways each of us may realize we’ve been distracted. The important part is recognizing you need to re-focus, and examining your life to see how and why you lose focus.

Step 3 is coming up with solutions.

You can’t box yourself into a one-size-fits-all answer. You have to look at what works for you personally. When you’re ready to get rid of distractions, come up with a system or process that allows you to focus and eliminate what was distracting you.

Part of my own personal solution was accepting that I had been distracted. The news was also emotionally and physically draining. Acceptance and recognition also led to me pardoning myself! We can be so tough on ourselves… or at least I can be. I had to let myself off the hook for time lost, pick up from there, and bring the re-focus.

In my case, it was a little bit of ‘cold turkey’ or forced abstinence from news during certain hours. I’m also filtering the incoming emails to a ‘read later’ folder. Best.Thing.Ever!

I’m certainly going to read the news and keep up with American culture. I’m simply re-focusing on higher priorities first.

What solutions have you found for yourself when needing to re-focus?

Have you learned helpful tactics? I’d love to hear from you about it. Drop me a line!

Celebrating Client Gems of Wisdom

business, celebrate, creative professionals, production, small business, voiceover

10 Years!

I’m celebrating my tenth year working from home as a female-owned small business. I have wonderful clients whom I’ve learned a lot from. They hold a variety of positions, from producers at digital production companies to ad agency creative directors to eLearning instructional designers. I have a wonderful time collaborating on their projects and keeping in touch over the months and years. These long-term business relationships bring insights and gems of knowledge. This blog post celebrates the gems of wisdom that I’ve learned from my dearest clients.

Ask for Auditions

All clients on most continents can ask for a free audition prior to finalizing which voice actor is hired. Listen to your shortlist of voice actors with a few lines of your script. Like me, most voice actors appreciate the audition opportunity – it’s my way to show you how I fit your brand! Fun fact: Before the internet, auditions were actually paid for, and managed via talent agents.

Let’s Share All Details

There are simple but important details associated with hiring voiceover services to ensure everything runs smoothly. Ask for a brief overview when either considering me or having selected me from an audition. Things like audio specs, usage, copyright, timing and invoicing are important. I have a checklist so we can review and finalize all expectations and parameters in writing with full transparency. Most importantly, no surprises!

Pay How You Want to Pay

I’ve learned it’s important to accept payments from you in a variety of ways, and not frustrate you with mysterious online systems that feel cumbersome. I’ve had to jump through some hoops and get around obstacles, and I’m able to handle most every request. Paypal, Checks, Direct Deposit, Wire Transfer, etc. A client from my old home town, Doug, asked me to share this with VOs:

“Please accept my payment with a plain old check or credit card. I don’t need to sign up for ACH or any esoteric invoice processing system du jour.”

Discuss Relevant Script Background

As appropriate, I’ll ask lots of questions to help qualify what you’re hoping the outcome will be and take suggestions. Many times you can benefit from the broad range of experience that I have, which might improve the piece. Two wonderful clients told me:

“Writers love to talk about their work, and there will be takeaways about the character or scenario that you might not have otherwise got from just the script.” – Anthony

“Every brand, company, etc. has its own ‘voice’. Sometimes, they don’t even know it. But I think a great VO actor will learn what the voice is and be better able to adapt their delivery to match that voice.” – Matt

Communicate When Stuff Goes Wrong

There are moments no one, you or VO actor, can control… weather, technology, personnel changes, and so on. Mother nature can sometimes wreak havoc on a local level, either for the VO or your location. It can also feel like havoc when technology fails us, either through the internet or within local electronics. Layoffs or management turnover can mean my ‘person’ is no longer working for your company. In any of these situations, patience and professionalism are the best recovery systems from small changes to large disasters. This includes everyone doing the best to communicate directly, appropriately, and earnestly.

Some Clients Only Work with a Voice Actor Once

For certain clients, every project is so unique that a new voice is found for each one. It’s a bit dismaying to voice actors like me, who want to cultivate an ongoing relationship and develop recurring work with you. Regardless if the project was super fun, creative and energizing, it doesn’t always mean more work. So, I’ve learned to enjoy the experience within the journey.

“As a small production company, we make an effort to use a variety of voice talent so our website/work doesn’t get repetitive. As much as we would like to find one person to work with and stick with them, it just doesn’t make sense. The unfortunate reality is that every project is unique and we almost never reuse a voice talent unless it’s an ongoing series.” – Scott

No Client-VO Relationship is Forever

Many of my clients have worked with me for many years. And there are client relationships that last only a few years or are based on a finite advertising campaign or branding strategy. I accept the transitory and subjective nature of the work that I receive. I’m also confident and work on my craft, knowing there are new clients on the horizon.

Some Clients Work with a VO Actor Consistently

Let’s end this list on a high note for me! My returning clients are fun because of the personal relationships that develop, and the success of creating voiceover recordings that consistently meet or often exceed my client’s expectations. As we work together, I learn a lot about your needs and deliver accordingly. It’s a professional, mutually collaborative and creative partnership, enjoyable personally and professionally. This is what I strive for.

Recently I had a fun conversation with a partner company’s new employee. I shared insights about the VO industry and what it’s like to run a VO Actor business. My history in video production, advertising, cable tv operations sales and marketing all prepared me to run an owner-operated business in voice acting. I’ve learned, stretched, grown on all counts, from audio engineering or VO acting skills, to marketing and all the administration. I started with a dream and continue with lots of support from loved ones, mentors, virtual teams and wonderful clients. Thank you!