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Major Headline: Voice Actors To Work from Home
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Deirdre
Czarina Emeritus


Joined: 10 Nov 2004
Posts: 13016
Location: East Jesus, Maine

PostPosted: Sat Apr 11, 2020 9:05 am    Post subject: Major Headline: Voice Actors To Work from Home Reply with quote

This Article is all over Facebook today and it chaps my hide more than a little.

I posted a note about it.

I replied (gently-- honest!) to "Voiceover Success" who shared this article with the comment "Wake up to the new new" and their response was:
Quote:
True. But not necessarily New York VO talent. The market place had you going out to auditions and most jobs booked in recording studios. Plus most don't have broadcast quality studios.


I get it that the cities have had to change their methods, but calling it "new" is just disingenuous.
"Top-tier Voice Actors Join America's Underground Voices Working from Home Studios" .
I'm sure there's a better headline somewhere.
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Philip Banks
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PostPosted: Sat Apr 11, 2020 10:04 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Over supply = No one is waiting for a new voice over with a home studio to drop out of the sky.

More important, this being the case for the majority, people failing to make a living from attending studios having been cast from attending auditions will continue struggle. The only difference being they will have lost some closet space and have an extra $1,500 of credit card debt.

No girls I meet like me. I joined an online dating site. For $75 per month I now know the global extent of my lack of appeal.
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Jack Daniel
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PostPosted: Sat Apr 11, 2020 10:23 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Well said.

I know MAYBE 2 people in LA who didn't have a studio, and they are top-tier animation people who never needed one. With their talent and relationships, managing the home-studio hurdle will be a small thing.

That said, I've been surprised at how many VO types are posting about running around trying to get "up to speed" on their home setups. How on earth have they been managing up till now? I would be astonished, if I didn't think that word sounded fancy.
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Philip Banks
Je Ne Sais Quoi


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PostPosted: Sat Apr 11, 2020 10:39 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

BUT at the other end of the market THIS is the future!

Language Alert

https://vimeo.com/406588327
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Lee Gordon
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PostPosted: Sat Apr 11, 2020 10:58 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

We have known, from years of Bob Bergen's posts, that the way things were done in Hollywood, and to a somewhat lesser extent in NY, Chicago, Dallas, and other big markets, was not necessarily the way they have been done in the rest of the VO world. What Bob has understood, that apparently a lot of the LA establishment (including Hollywood Reporter reporters) are just now finding out, is, this is the new normal. And it would appear some still don't realize it's been that way for years. I wonder how many of them also realize it ain't going back. At least, not all the way back to pre-corona virus days.
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Bish
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PostPosted: Sat Apr 11, 2020 11:25 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Jack Daniel wrote:
That said, I've been surprised at how many VO types are posting about running around trying to get "up to speed" on their home setups.
OK... my observations from the NY groups... yes, there are a lot of talent in NY who bounce around from studio to studio... but many (really... a lot!) have decent home studios as well. There are lots of people with StudioBricks or other good quality set-ups to combat the hostile NY environment. While many of these well-equipped talent are having to get Source Connect, I'll opine that those who are trying to fix up both a studio and connectivity are not full-time or treat VO as a hobby-job. Those that are serious professionals saw the need for their own studios long ago... this scrabble is from part-time VOs. These are the people buying up the moving blankets and the Blue Yeti microphones for their hastily modified closets. These are not full-time professionals... or even part-time professionals. They are talented amateurs who book the occasional studio gig. Don't hate me... it's just what I see in NY Smile
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Frank F
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PostPosted: Sat Apr 11, 2020 11:35 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

One of our own, who resides in Japan, has mentioned in recent weeks that the "normal" is now changing in Tokyo. NO ONE was allowed to work from a home studio (exceptions were for work created for outside of the region).

All work has to be booked through an agent, then, a secondary who actually booked the the studio and then the talent. Talent were given just minutes to red a 45 minute script and if the went more than an hour in recording the talent was docked in pay.

Now - the clients are looking hard for (English speaking) Voiceoverist's who have home studio's. And, apparently there are not many.

Life is changing - everywhere.

Frank F
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Bob Bergen
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PostPosted: Sat Apr 11, 2020 11:54 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Just like Covid-19, this too shall pass. I'll elaborate in a moment.

As for the top tier animation actors, more than a few had no home studio to even record auditions. Many would either go to their agent's offices or pay a recording studio to record and send in. Or, just talk into their smartphone.

Many who had home studios had terrible home studios. The week we were all made homebound, a casting friend of mine contacted me. She had a friend in Orlando who was dying of stage 4 cancer and was given 6 months. Her friend decided while she still could, to take a trip to LA and NY as she loved all things movies, cartoons, and Broadway. But the virus "stay at home" order made that trip not possible. So my friend contacted several stars to make videos for her friend. She asked me if I could reach out to the top animation actors and have them send MP3s. I got about 30 back. I would say at least 20 were just horrible! Five were great and five were OK. But the majority of these very successful actors just didn't need anything broadcast great.

Until now.

This is a pure generation gap. We are a generation and a genre of working vo actors who work ensemble. Be it an animated series or feature, our characters must have a consistency in the finished product. Also, acting is reacting. As often as possible we will work together. Not always possible due to busy schedules, but at least they try. And we are always in the same studio as our fellow cast members.

So now we have this generation who never got into this to be a tech. Never had to. And the only reason we are doing it now is to keep production in production. The voices are recorded first. By having the voice tracks in the can, animators can stay business as usual. We are really the only genre in the entertainment industry still in production. Live action film and TV is shot down as is professional theater. I have a buddy who produces a lot of comic book movies. His productions all had to be shut down, and he is terrified his cast will get fat during this time off. )I suggested writing the weight gain into the storylines.)

Will this last after this virus is behind us? I doubt it. Even if every actor has a brilliant broadcast quality state of the art home studio, we are talking about different mics, different spaces, etc. There still won't be a consistency in the final mix.

Now, I do think that this might be a time saver for fixes and whatnot in the future. And show runners might be interested in having pitches recorded this way to save on money booking a studio. Several show runners have told me that they are keeping tabs on those of us who have the best sound from our home studio. If you just need one actor for a pitch, this will work fine. But once we go back into production my gut tells me most of what we have been recording at home now will be re-done via ADR.

I'm on a Netflix series where, before the virus, several cast members are Broadway performers and recorded in NY. Our show runner had to find a studio compatible with the one we use in LA. They make sure the same mics are used. Etc. It's a huge endeavor and a huge production pain. But this is kind of an anomaly. Doesn't happen often, and only needed for this production because it's a musical and they wanted specific Broadway artists.

Every show I'm working on wants it done a different way. One just directs me via Zoom and has me send in a WAVE file. One wants Source Connect. One is going to be sending me a mic, interface, and laptop which is going from cast member to cast member (cleaned thoroughly) so everyone is using the same equipment.

And some studios are actually building state of the art recording spaces in actor's homes. Building booths, giving them mics, all necessary equipment.

When this is all over, most if not all will have a home setup. These can certainly be used for solo vo, like commercials, promos, etc. This is going to hurt our mom and pop recording studios big time. And, I know there will be some veteran voice actors who, despite having a great home studio now, will never want to use it again if they don't have to.

But animation and games will most likely go right back where we left off.
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Frank F
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PostPosted: Sat Apr 11, 2020 3:12 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

In not so many words; Bob and everyone has said the same thing only differently. Home studio QUALITY - matters. A "barbie" microphone is not going to cut it. Recording into your phone while driving in your car is NOT going to cut it.

Then there is the competency thing. How many VOists who have home studio really know how to use Nuendo, etc. And, do yu need a high end audio editor just because someone told you it was the "industry standard"?

Mixing and adjusting the nuances of a project will still be left in the competent hands of the experienced studio engineer. He/She will simply be receiving the bits and pieces of the project via the internet rather than recording it "live" in the studio with a real body standing before a microphone.

Don't get me wrong. I enjoy the sights and sounds of being with other warm bodies. But, the Zoom sessions with the VO-BB folk have proven that "home studio" or cell phone FUN can be a stimulating replacement.

Will the home studio "craze" last" - I think it will. Sorry Mom and Pop shops but it will be easier to book a talent who CAN and WILL record, edit, and post audio for most projects. A multi-voice talent project, can be a challenge at present but this "home bound" VO trend has been growing since the inception of ZIP drives and higher speed internet.

There are still a plethora of young and inexperienced talent which will choose lower "quality" in their closet studios, there are many "old school" talent who will prefer to GO to a commercial studio, and there are those whom are happy to not have to travel to and fro to record a ten minute project and then travel back home or to another studio somewhere else. To each of these I say "bless you".

The future is staring us in the face as hundreds of thousands of workers are finding life at home not too bad. Change is almost always uncomfortable - at first. It is just not what many people have been told since birth what "normal" is supposed to be.

F2
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Bob Bergen
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PostPosted: Sat Apr 11, 2020 3:34 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Oh, I agree Frank, the majority of vo will be from the home studio.

But that is nothing new. The majority has been from the home studios for years.

But the majority is not ensemble recording, as animation is. It’s a tiny percentage of the day to day compared to e-learning, commercials, IVR, etc. If you are doing an audio book there are rarely, if ever other actors to match consistency. But for animated features and series? Home studio logistics just won’t work.
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Jack Daniel
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PostPosted: Sat Apr 11, 2020 5:20 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Bob Bergen wrote:
Be it an animated series or feature, our characters must have a consistency in the finished product.


This is what I've wondered about the most regarding animation. What a nightmare it must be for the engineers dealing with the hodgepodge of sources... For the work I mostly do, the sound from one person to the next is going to be so close in terms of quality that, despite our myriad setups, it is essentially interchangeable. And because (other than SOTs) we are the only voices heard, there is no matching other than to the spot itself.

You might be interested to know how some production houses are handling the editing during lockdown. I know of at least one such house that went so far as to send the editing bays to the homes of each editor! Imagine that logistical and insurance nightmare... But they did it, and it's working.
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Jack Daniel
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PostPosted: Sat Apr 11, 2020 5:34 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Bish wrote:
I'll opine that those who are trying to fix up both a studio and connectivity are not full-time or treat VO as a hobby-job.


Good point. The clamor does seem to revolve mostly around connectivity rather than studios per se (whatever "studio" means to a given person). I just have so little experience with working VO people who don't have good studios and the usual connection tech that the online scramble has taken me aback.

And you're damned right "has taken me aback" is at least as fancy as "astonished."
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Bob Bergen
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PostPosted: Sat Apr 11, 2020 5:35 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I hear ya Jack. Yeah, in animation from the artists to the voice actors, studios didn’t miss a beat and began providing all who do all aspects of the work any and all equipment needed to keep production going. Every series, feature, and game I was working on pre-virus are all actively in production. But all cannot wait until we can go back to our normal routine going to the studios. The good news is animation takes a while. It’s a good year from record to on air for series animation. And the unions have been amazing in this whole thing. Lots to be grateful for.
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Jack Daniel
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PostPosted: Sat Apr 11, 2020 5:50 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

That's great to hear, Bob. Especially as you do so much for the union vis. VO it's nice to know they've had the backs of you animation peeps. I get how important the reaction and playing off one another is to such work, and I can imagine you long to get back to it; but I also don't doubt that that capacity can and will be virtually assisted, though I don't know what that will look like. Certainly something beyond Zoomskype.
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Dan-O
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PostPosted: Sat Apr 11, 2020 6:34 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I know there's an exception to every rule, but, didn't Tom Kane's career explode after he left LA and set up a home studio in Kansas City? He's said many times he's never been busier in animation since the move.

Wouldn't animation folk be calling him day and night on how to do that, especially now? And if the studios are cool with him recording at home, why all the fuss about everyone else?

Bob, I am so curious about this transition you guys are going through. I have never known another life except self-directing auditions at home. I think I've done maybe 12 in-person auditions over the past 15 years while in town for Promax. Seeing people come into the agency for auditions was just mind blowing. Why in the world would someone spend 1-3 hours of their day to do that? There are so many other ways I could use that time.
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