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Last month I took a much-needed out-of-state family vacation. My wife also freelances so neither one of us gets paid vacations, and it’s very difficult to take time off. And of course, whenever I do go away, I miss out on the jobs I would have had the week that I am gone – AND – I can’t audition while I’m away, so things are slow the week after I return. It’s a Double Whammy.

Or… it *used* to be. You see, with the advent of excellent quality portable gear, I can now take my studio on the road with me. I use my laptop, a MicPort Pro2 (a tiny little USB preamp and analog/digital converter), and my go-to mic, the Sennheiser 416. I also bring a small tablet to read the script from which I can mount just behind the mic.

While I was visiting Ann Arbor MI to surprise my sister for her birthday, I got a call from my very best client for Political work. He wanted me to record a spot that would air in 6 states, and was I available in the next 2 hours! I’d heard that recording in a car was a great environment for sound quality. So I set everything up in the front seat of my Honda, which was a bit of a PITA to be honest, but it worked out just fine. The audio quality from my recording was certainly good enough for a regional TV campaign, and I made a couple of thousand dollars.

Later than summer I was able to travel to London for the first time, and got a call from another client for a regional campaign. I did not have a car this time, so I assembled a “pillow fort” enclosure to record from in my hotel room. It was a success – it didn’t sound quite as good as the audio quality of my home studio or even the car, but it was totally acceptable for my client’s needs.

I’m happy about making the money, but I’m not happy about the intrusion to my vacation. I guess the trade-off of the portable studio rig is that I may never truly be fully on vacation again, which makes me sad since my vacation time is so fleeting and precious as it is. Unless… I go back to the mountains of Oregon, strap on a backpack and go deep in the woods far away from any connectivity – yeah, THAT’S the ticket!

I’ve been in the talent business for over 30 years now and have thousands of jobs to my credit, but when I was recently asked “what was your favorite job of your career,” the answer was easy. In 2005, I worked on a campaign for the Franciscan Skemp Health System in LaCrosse, WI. Franciscan Skemp had recently been sold to Mayo Clinic and wanted to promote the fact that many of their specialists were also Mayo Clinic doctors, who commuted across the Mississippi to work part-time in LaCrosse. The campaign ran for two years and involved 8 TV spots, radio, newspaper print ads, even a billboard for folks crossing the Mississippi River to see my smiling face.

Yes, this was the most lucrative booking of my career, but the reasons why it is my favorite go further than just money.

For one thing, it was a simple yet brilliant concept that did good things for the client and won industry awards. Health care industry advertising is very stale in my opinion. All spots are pretty much the same – it’s either a few of the most telegenic docs – or a talent like myself – talking about how “we have all the latest equipment, with cutting-edge techniques, and boy do our people really care about YOU.” But instead of having a hired gun say these things, the creative minds at Storandt Pann Margolis turned those clichés around by having me interview the citizens of LaCrosse in public, getting THEM to say amazing things about Franciscan Skemp. This strategy proved to be *much* more credible and effective than the clichéd approach, and the “proof is in the pudding” since SPM won a Telly Award for the campaign.

Here is a link to one of the award-winning TV spots: https://vimeo.com/14071876

I also appreciated this gig because of how I got cast for it over the many dozens of other talented people who auditioned for this. The producers were looking for two things: first, someone who did NOT look like a trendy NY or LA spokesperson who could pass for a super model. Rather, they wanted someone who looked and acted like a stereotypically polite, down-to-earth, sincere Midwesterner. Being a born and bred citizen of Michigan and now Chicago, IL, I had the Midwestern vibe down pat.

Also, they needed someone who could make a quick connection with and gain the trust of a member of the public approached unexpectedly on the street. What convinced them of my ability to connect with people was, of all things, my 16 years in the restaurant business earlier in my life. At my call-back, I talked about how I’ve worked in restaurants ranging from a modest deli in a college town, a fairly upscale place in a blue-collar area, a fine-dining seafood restaurant, and a busy restaurant in downtown Chicago that was popular with tourists from around the world. I’ve had the opportunity to engage with people from a wide range of socio-economic, racial, cultural, and age demographics, and my tips depended on being able to make a quick connection with my customers. The producers bought my pitch and awarded me the job.

The actual shoot was a blast. We filmed the TV spots across 3 very cold winter days in LaCrosse, WI, at various spots in town with a lot of foot traffic: outside the post office, in a shopping mall, and side streets around the downtown area, etc. I was struck by how well the locals spoke of Franciscan Skemp, and that really helped me believe that I was promoting a very worthy institution. The people of LaCrosse were unfailingly friendly and engaging – it’s a pretty happy place! (Might it have something to do with the fact that it has more pubs per capita that any city in the US?. Hmmmmm….).

To sum up, this campaign had a compelling and effective creative approach, won industry awards, was a lot of fun to shoot with a terrific crew and the citizens of LaCrosse, and paid me handsomely. For all of these reasons, it remains my favorite gig of my 30+ year career.

What was your favorite gig?

The stereotype of actors is that they have fragile egos. I like to think that I have a healthier ego than that stereotype, as a result of being a pretty secure person who is well-loved by his family and friends. Yeah, if you saw my collection of 750+ airplane models, you might conclude a mild case of OCD – and I wouldn’t argue – but I’m not a self-involved neurotic, narcissistic either. So I surprised myself recently when I had my own mini-crisis of fear and doubt.

It happened last week, when I started recording VO tracks for my new narrations demo. This major project is the last duck I need to get in a row before I can really begin my next big marketing push of contacting both out-of-state and international talent buyers. So there is a lot at stake here for my career. A LOT.

Well, the results of my recording session that first day left me very disappointed. When I listened back to my tracks, nothing was bad by any means, but there was certainly no spark at all. I knew exactly what was happening: I was having feelings of fear and doubt, and those feelings had crept into my performance. And that is how performance works – whatever is true inside of you emotionally will come through in your read. No matter how good your voice quality is, you cannot fake this – it must be dealt with for anything “magic” to happen.

I started having “imposter syndrome” thoughts, “maybe I’m a hack! Maybe I’m really not that good,” which is not usually how I feel. It was not just a lack of confidence behind the mic, it was my fear of rejection which certainly lies ahead of me as I try to build relationships with new people who can hire me as a talent. It’s not fun to make cold calls, to get “thanks, but no thanks” replies – even IF the people I approach bother to reply (typically in my business, it’s the norm for them NOT to reply at all, as they are inundated with pitches from talent). I hate to admit it, but that prospect is scary to me, and it is one of the factors explaining why it took so long for me to get started on re-inventing myself.

I’m hoping you have read this far, because now I’m going to tell you how I got myself out of this rut. My techniques should apply to people who are not performers, too. I think my plan will help anybody who finds themselves in a crisis of confidence.

The first thing I did was to PREPARE myself better. I got a good night’s sleep. Then I spent less than 10 minutes doing some Chi-Kung moves. Chi Kung is a form of Tai Chi, and it has an amazing ability to calm me and help me feel grounded and present. Then I did a few Yoga stretches a friend had taught me that helped to loosen up my chest muscles – which also helps make my voice more resonant. So physically, I was now well prepared.

Next, I prepared myself emotionally. To drown out that old tape of “you’re not good enough,” I thought of times in my career when I was well praised for my performance. I thought of the time early in my career when a studio owner said “I’ve been in this business for 20 years, and you are one of the top three I have EVER worked with. And I have worked with a lot of ‘heavy hitters’ in the biz.” I remembered more such feedback, ending with a session I had just THREE DAYS AGO when I was in a session at the top studio in Chicago with a roomful of young creatives who weren’t all on the same page direction-wise. At one point, after proving myself a VO Gumby by taking all of their conflicting directions, the lead producer opened up his mic and said, “were all just shaking our heads in here at just how damn good you are at this.” As I remembered each of these very positive events, I could feel my doubt fading away. And then it was gone.

The last thing I did was a technique that is specific to VO, though it would also work for any public speaking. It’s a simple technique that I was taught by my voice-over guru, Marice Tobias. Basically, I read each sentence in a script as it is written, then I put it in my own words and paraphrase it out loud. I’ll go deeper in to the meaning by explaining in greater detail every claim I am making (even if I have to make the details up). This technique is a terrific way to “sell myself” on the ideas in the script, and to communicate with meaning and intention – which a whole other level above merely “reading with words in a pleasant voice.” This strategy always works like a charm, and if you could hear the “before” and “after” of doing this technique, you might be amazed at what a difference it makes. I repeated this before I began reading each new script.

The end result of my second session, after all this preparation, was simply wonderful. It felt totally “on,” and every script I recorded was just terrific! I felt that was actually performing up to my full potential. The contrast to the tracks I recorded the day before, when I was in self-doubt mode, was stunning.

If you ever find yourself in a state of fear and self-doubt, know that you CAN get yourself out of it! I hope you will find some of these techniques useful in doing so. Thanks for listening!

I’ve been extremely busy lately, working on three large long-form narration projects. One is Project Management training for a large construction firm, another is materials to help prepare students for college and their post-graduation job search, and the newest project is narrating World Book Encyclopedia materials for web use. One of the cool things about doing narration projects like these is how much I learn about a huge variety of industries and occupations. I’ve learned a lot about ladder safety, accounting, how large contractors do business, even how to spot all types of insurance fraud. After doing this for 20 years, I’d be a kick-ass contestant on “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire!”

With long-form narration, consistency in energy and clarity of read are both important, but bottom line: efficiency is the key. Companies won’t directly make money off of training, though in the long-run, superior training will improve productivity and worker safety, among other benefits. But unfortunately, training materials are considered a “cost” rather than an “investment” by many companies, so budgets are tight on most of these projects. This means that a voice talent who can work very efficiently will make the producers who hire them very happy clients by saving them money!

Part of what I mean by the term “efficiency,” is that the voice talent will make relatively few flubs while reading. But it also means that the read will be right the first time as much as possible, in terms of inflections and highlighting the appropriate phrases. One strategy that helps is to have my eyes and brain be several words ahead of my mouth. Reading forward like this
enables my brain to have an extra split second to see where the sentence is going and decide how to read it before my mouth actually does the talking. This will minimize re-reads and save much time.

Also, my experience as editing projects I record from my own studio have helped me to discover little tricks I can do to make removing flubs, breaths, and mouth noises much easier and quicker.
For example, if I make a flub in mid-sentence, I will take a deep breath then pause several seconds before I start again. When I go back to edit the audio file, I can look at the waveforms and
determine by sight exactly where I’ve made flubs (otherwise, I’d have to listen to the whole thing to find flubs, which takes much more time). I’m going to listen to the entire file after editing anyhow for a final check, but I’d rather listen to the entire thing once rather than twice!

This experience has made me very popular with producers who have long-form narration clients, including work I voice outside of my own studio. The less time I make them spend in their studio
cleaning up my reads, the lower their costs and the better their profit on the project. Every little thing I can do to speed up the workflow while maintaining quality will be of enormous help
in making the project profitable for my client. If I’m paid by the hour, in the short run it means I’ll make LESS money by being more efficient, but that’s okay – if I can help my clients’
bottom lines, they will call me back again and again. And they do!

This weekend, I attended the voice-over “unconference,” FaffCon 3 in Harrisburg, PA, along with 100 other professional voice talents from the US and Canada, plus Scotland, Tokyo, and Australia. FaffCon 3 was just what I needed to get myself “unstuck.” It was THE best thing I have done to improve my business in years.

An “unconference” is a new concept. Rather than having paid guest speakers (who usually have a book and DVD set to hawk), this was “By the Talent, For the Talent.” Anyone could sign up to lead a breakout session on the topic of their choice, even if they were not an expert on it. Some sessions, for example “Branding and Marketing” were led by a VO marketing genius like Doug Turkel (“The Unnouncer”), others were led by someone who was simply willing to conduct a conversation. This was a very talented, generous, and intelligent group of voice talent who were able to check their egos at the door, and the result was a veritable treasure trove of knowledge that was shared freely by all. I am leaving FaffCon 3 with page after page of “Golden Nuggets,” tidbits of advice that will help improve my business and performance TOMORROW!

So many nuggets – SoundCloud, QR (Quick Response) Codes, how to optimize my efforts on LinkedIn, the best place to buy promotional pens, IABC, SBA, Action Plans, my Mission Statement – I’m still sorting through all of my (poorly) handwritten notes!

On Day 2, I decided to take the plunge and stepped forward to lead a discussion about how American voice talent can get more work internationally. The collective wisdom of the 20 or so talent who participated was eye-opening. I was left with many unanswered questions (such as “do we need to re-tool our American-style VO demos to suit the needs and tastes of international clients? And if so, how?”). I hope to find a lot of answers to those questions by approaching international agents and producers, and I will share my findings here and with other blogs and VO-related websites.

Near the end of the day on Sunday, I was asked my thoughts about the weekend as an audience member on the live “East-West Audio Body Shop” filmed by Dan Lenard and George Whittam. I pondered why some very talented people never make it in the voice- over world, while a fortunate handful of others do? For me, the key was NOT trying to do it all myself. I scuffled along the first 5 years of my voice career until I began working out with other talent through regular practice groups that I took the initiative to organize. The skills I learned from several years of these groups, along with the advice, feedback, emotional support, and accountability partnering is what made all the difference for me. FaffCon is a natural extension of that philosophy.

In the 1990’s, I did some monthly VO for a local car dealer. It was all super hard sell stuff – “club ‘em over the head and grab their wallets” is how I described it. It was sort of a guilty pleasure for me to do that style of work and I was very good at it.

But then one day, another regular retail client of mine – a sporting goods chain – dropped me as his voice. He had heard my obnoxious hard sell auto dealer work on the local AM news radio station and told me “I don’t want my client being associated with that sort of thing.” My work for his client was so different in tone that I bet 99.8% of the listening public would not have realized it was the same guy. But my arguments did not sway him and I lost the account.

I felt burned by this experience and I made the choice that I would stop doing automotive retail work, at least in the Chicago market where I was a well-known brand. What really made the decision for me was the realization that I was often cast in the “warm, authoritative” role for health care, banks, etc., and did a lot of well-paying gigs for those clients – and I did not want to take a chance at losing them like I lost the sporting goods account.

Fast forward to 2012 in Charlotte, NC, host to the amazing voice-over “un-conference” FaffCon 5 (which you can read about in an earlier blog entry). Here I met Cliff Zellman, a producer from RadioVision in Dallas, and one of the very top producers of automotive retail Radio/TV spots nationwide. I attended a breakout session that Cliff ran about improving your retail read. I walked in thinking “I’m damn good at this, I know what I’m doing with retail reads,” but boy did I learn a lot from Cliff. One of the things Cliff spoke about that impressed me was that he was trying to persuade his clients to move away from the stereotypical hard-sell style automotive dealer read.

I began to reconsider my ban on voicing car dealer spots. After all, way back when I lost that sporting goods account? I worked every month for my car dealer client, but only 2-4 times a year for the sporting goods account. Car dealer work is REGULAR work (a rare and valuable thing in the world of VO), and therefore can be quite lucrative – especially if you are fortunate enough to land a regional or national dealer account. I still think it might be a good idea to continue my ban on the hard-sell stuff in the Chicago area, but in parts of the country where I am not overexposed, I have much more to gain than I do to lose.

A strategy that has served me very well these past 5 years or so has been to produce very specific demos for each genre of VO, with the idea that it makes the casting decision easier for the producer (and especially, their client who signs off on a casting decision) if they hear demo clips that are as close as possible to the type of spot they are doing. While a generic “Retail” demo can get me some automotive dealer work, I am convinced that a specialized demo focusing on the Automotive read will significantly improve my chances of being cast. After my great experience with Cliff at FaffCon, and knowing his long track record of success in this niche, I took Cliff up on his offer to do an audition read for his critique. He even sent my critique read back to me as a fully-produced spot (it was a young-sounding, quirky real person script for Kia Rio). He liked what he heard, and I loved what Cliff produced, so we decided to make a demo together.

Cliff listened to my current Automotive Retail demo that I had self-produced from a mish-mash of actual spot clips and some clips that I recorded just for an interim demo – not bad, and it gave him a sense of my range – but it could not hold a candle to what we could do together. Based on his assessment of my particular skills and range of reads I was competitive with, Cliff wrote about a dozen script JUST FOR ME! They were all terrifically well-written and conceived, ranging from Soccer Dad to gritty to a smooth luxury read to quirky young guy to non-announcer to friendly guy to a simulated live event host, and yes, a “screamer” spot that I had a whale of a time recording. Over the span of about a month, we had 4 sessions from my home studio with Cliff directing me remotely. Cliff is such a master at this, he knows exactly what he is looking for and has amazing vision for this sort of work.

After we finished recording the raw VO tracks, Cliff did his magical production work and sent me his rough versions. In every case, I had only the most minor of tweaks. His music selections were *brilliant*. I could tell we had something incredible brewing.
My demo was just about finalized when Cliff played it in front of a VO gathering in Atlanta, including a “heavy-hitter” from LA who pronounced my Automotive Retail demo “THE best ‘genre-specific’ demo I have EVER heard!” Cliff excitedly called me on the spot to tell me the good news. The whole room was abuzz and upon request, he played it several more times.

My new Automotive demo was officially unveiled in early May. Since then, I’ve recorded 5 spots for Cliff for 2 different dealers (one a hard-sell spot, the rest were more “warm and authoritative”). I’ve already paid off 2/3 of the cost of making the demo in my first month!! Talk about ROI! So now I’ve added it to my Home Page and have even re-tooled my generic “Commercial” demo to include a few clips from the Automotive. This is the best demo of my 23 year career, and working with Cliff has been an amazing experience.