VO-BB - 20 YEARS OLD!

[SteVO]

Maybe I'm listening to too many great voice over professionals...BUT...as an old radio guy who has decided to take some voice over coaching I am seriously wondering if the two are mutually exclusive. It literally takes a bonk on the head for me to get out of "announcer" mode. In "real life" I can do all sorts of voice acting/ Turn on the microphone and the old radio voice kicks in along with that mentality. There's copy in front of me and suddenly I lose any voice creativity. Is a brain transplant in order? I just want to do some of this part time. Are there others that have made the transition or can the mold even be broken? I haven't been on VO-BB for 2 days and already a dilemma!

[Gp]

You can do it. Keep working at it. It isn't easy for most...but with perseverance you can actually forget about all those radio filled days and nightmares.

[Jeffrey Kafer]

[bobsouer]

What Jeff said.
_________________
Be well,
Bob Souer (just think of lemons)
The second nicest guy in voiceover.
+1-724-613-2749
Source Connect, phone patch, pony express

[Whit]

What Bob said.

[Moe Egan]

It's hard to make the transition. Not impossible, but hard. Like scrapping barnacles off an old pukey ship. I was lucky enough to find an honest VO teacher early on who told me I sucked...and made me work my way out of radio speak.
_________________
Moe Egan
i want to be the voice in your head.
~~~~~

[SteVO]

What my coach says too. I HAD to hear it from others. I had to know that it WAS possible to dispose of "radio guy" and replace him with "voice over" guy!

[Mike Harrison]

Take your headphones off and pretend the mic is your closest friend and converse with it. Tell... don't sell. (Meaning; don't project your voice any more than you would in regular conversation.) If you need to, try putting a photo of a friend or family member (one that you actually like) on the other side of the mic and forget the mic is there. One of the mistakes that can be made - even when on the radio - is imagining you are addressing an audience (a group of people). Fact is, you want to speak intimately with one person. If successful, each person listening will perceive that you are speaking to them alone. You will 'reach' more people that way.

If you feel the need to wear headphones so that you don't pop your Ps, etc. use the headphones long enough to teach yourself the 'sweet spot' where you don't pop, and then take them off. If you do unsupervised recordings and you accidentally pop here and there, you can easily re-record those segments (which will give you great practice matching and editing). Try to only use the headphones if/when you're doing a session where you are being directed (phone patch, ISDN, or in another studio). But if you have to put the cans on again, remember what you learned: converse; don't address. Ignore the sound of your own voice in the cans and listen only for the director and engineer.

A good test at home would be having the headphones connected and handy. Start recording with them off and, at some point while you're speaking, put them on. Try not to change your delivery. After a short time, take 'em off and keep speaking. Rinse and repeat. You'll eventually get to the point where there'll be no difference in your delivery whether you're wearing the cans or not.

At home, unless I'm doing a live session, I wear my Sony 7506's only when editing (to hear every nuance).

Good luck!
_________________
Mike
Male Voice Over Talent
I have taken leave of my sensors.

[todd ellis]

[Deirdre]

One of my students is an "announcer guy" making the transition to "voice acting guy".

I have to beat the crap out of him every week.
I'm glad to say he's made spectacular progress.
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DBCooperVO.com
IMDB

[JBarrett]

I'll echo Mike's recommendation to work sans-cans. I started out wearing them all the time, thinking that it would help. What I didn't realize was how listening to an amplified representation of my voice was affecting my performance. Over time I read/heard several people talk about working without them, and finally tried it. Night and day difference. Like Mike, I only wear them when editing now, or if I need to be directed over Skype.
_________________
Justin S. Barrett
http://www.justinsbarrett.com/

[Whit]

Sometimes I work with the headphones on just one ear. And sometimes I say "hey (insert name of friend here)" and then read the copy.

[Lee Gordon]

I am going to cast a slightly dissenting vote. In my opinion, the two are not entirely unrelated skills. They are different skills, like cooking and baking, or car driving and truck driving. You have to learn which parts of your existing skill set to hang onto and which to repress, but you don't necessarily have to go all the way to square one -- unless you just can't exorcise your radio demons.
_________________
Lee Gordon, O.A.V.
Voice President of the United States
www.leegordonproductions.com
Twitter: @LeeGordonVoice

[Bill Campbell]

I agree with Lee. Depends on the type of VO work your doing.
Almost every network promo voice you hear is a former radio person.

A lot of radio trained people "sell" products better than actors.
Local and regional advertisers want to move product.

Plus there's GOOD radio voices and BAD radio voices. Tom Bodett (
Motel 6 guy) is a radio person (NPR). Joe Cipriano - DJ. Mike Rowe is an announcer (Deadliest Catch, Ford).

Different horses for different courses.

If you have some "radio" in your voice, use it to get jobs that require it. There's alot those jobs, especially advertising.

I did over 400 TV/Radio voice-overs in the last twelve months with my "radio voice".
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www.asapaudio.com

[Moe Egan]

True Bill - it's interesting. There are overlaps of skill sets, but there are skills unique to each craft. During my time in radio, I was mostly a talk show host or news anchor, so I developed a very different voice than a jock or production guy would have. One skill set all radio folks DO have is the familiarity and comfort behind a mic - it's loosing that need to instantly critique one's performance, or gauge the sound as you go that we have to loose as voice actors.

One other interesting insight- My son is a stage actor. I"m trying to get him into VO, but he hasn't developed that Mic Love we need to make it work - he's got the acting chops, but can't squeeze it into the condensed booth- sized, :60 VO form of acting. He's now doing a podcast with a friend (reviewing horror movies) which is helping him get comfy behind the mic in a very none-threatening way. So we're all working our way up or down the bell curve I guess.

I think bottom line, it's a continuos journey, as read styles, and equipment keep changing. We ALL have to keep honing our craft in order to keep that mic on and those invoices going out.
_________________
Moe Egan
i want to be the voice in your head.
~~~~~