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Having VO Industry Friends Matters

November 16, 2022 by Laura Schreiber

Sometimes things Go Sideways

As a well-established professional voice actor I wish I could say that when I recorded my first audiobook everything went well, but that is not the case. I learned quickly that narrating audiobooks is vastly different than recording a 30 second spot. Actually, the recording was fine. I marked the manuscript on my iPad just like Sean Pratt taught me. I used iAnnotate and I was proud of how the audio and the editing when. The snag happened quite unexpectedly when I uploaded my audio to ACX.

Learning the Ins and Outs of ACX

If you have never used ACX, when you upload your audio it has a tool that immediately measures the quality of your audio. So my audio was immediately flagged as being insufficient for their needs. You get a little orange or red, depending on the screen settings of your monitor, triangle with an exclamation point in it. ACX is kind enough to tell you precisely what is wrong with your audio. In my case, my RMS, or Round Mean Sound, levels were not within the precise range of -18 to -23. Mine were between -25 and -27.

First I called an engineer I work with regularly and he had gone to both college and graduate school for audio production and he had no idea what an RMS was. I sent him a photo of my audio because I could see there was a meter for it in my DAW, which is Twisted Wave. His best guess was to play with how I normalized it. No dice, nothing made this better. And I had already applied my commercial effects stack to the ENTIRE recorded book. At this point the only thing I had going for me was that I had saved the RAW audio. Note, ALWAYS save your raw audio!!

The Meltdown

So at this point, dinner was not being cooked. The audio couldn’t be uploaded. I was in my booth in tears. For someone who has been in VO for years, I was loosing it completely. Just then, I happened to have been, over several days emailing back and forth with Jack de Golia. I had questions for him about some programs I could use for audiobooks, and I had the luck of getting an email from a friend at that moment.

I told Jack I was having a meltdown. Jack phoned. He asked what was going on. He talked me off a cliff. He also showed me how to use the analyze function on Twisted Wave which I never knew was there. Jack actually showed me quite a few thinks that night.

He told me I needed to call George Whittam and that I needed a stack specifically for audiobooks. The only way to meet the A CX specs is with such a stack. I had no idea. The thing is, you don’t know what you don’t know until you’re in the trenches. I did in fact reach out to George. I paid extra for the stack, and I was very quickly back in business.

When I had my Meltdown, I had people to call

I was lucky, the right guy happened to reach out precisely at the moment I needed him. If you don’t know Jack de Golia, his is a brilliant voice talent best known for his work in eLearning and Audiobooks although he excels in other genres too. He is a coach as well and is based in Las Vegas Nevada.

So let’s dissect why I had a friend like Jack in the first place? Jack happens to be a really nice guy, and exceptionally good at what he does, so he’s easy to be friends with in the first place. But how did I maintain the friendship on my end? Well, I have made the effort to go to voice over conferences for years. I had attended Jack’s sessions at past conferences like WoVoCon. When I would go to other conferences like DevLearn in Las Vegas, I kept in touch with Jack and we had lunch. Over the years I also sent correspondence emails because his friendship and the friendship of my industry friends is extremely important to me. I did not have a crystal ball and I had no idea that Jack would one day come to my rescue, but I did know he was a good guy and I valued having him, like so many others I have been blessed to meed in my life.

The Take-Aways

I can tell you that while we all work alone in padded foam booths, we are stronger together than we are apart. Whether we are two months in are ten years in we always need good, smart folks who have our backs. It is worth making the effort to spend time with people on your visit. It is work keeping in touch with people beyond the reach of social media. Make actual friends. It is so important and it is what will make all the difference.

Lessons From My First Audiobook

November 15, 2022 by Laura Schreiber

Why Try A New Genre at This Point in My Career?

You might be wondering, as a full time voice actor with pretty stellar commercial bookings, why would I go after a new, and frankly uniquely different genre now? Well, if you are new to my blog you might not know that my twins left for college this year. So at the age of 45 I became an empty nester in the snap of a finger. My life was turned upside down and for someone life me downtime is not desirable. I need to be busy every second. The notion of learning a new skill set, something I could get lost in and spend hours studying, became very appealing. When I started in voice over many years ago, long before I ever had a single client, I looked at the study of the craft of commercial voice over as my full-time job. It served me well. My passion for a given genre can lead me to success when I apply that passion to the detailed study of it. So, non-fiction audio books, here I come!

Working With an Awesome Coach

As a voice over coach myself, I can tell you that learning from a top coach is essential to success. I started to work with Sean Pratt. He is a perfect fit for me. If you don’t know Sean, he has a very specific curriculum. He takes you through both the craft or study of how to work on the copy, and also teaches you about the business side of audiobooks. I LOVE my lessons with Sean. I love the homework he gives. I can actually feel myself learning. I very much enjoy working through the assignments. The challenge, the struggle, is something I have not had for years. His curriculum is excellent. I am confident that next year, after going through all of the lessons, I will be prepared to work in audiobooks.

Applying the Skills

In our last session Sean told me it is time to start putting myself out there and auditioning on ACX. Sean advised me that I need to get titles under my belt. Fortunately, I have a sense of where my voice fits in and what kind of texts I want to read. I seem to have a decent booking ratio here two, and in the first to weeks I actually booked to books. After doing my elated happy dance in the booth and celebrating with my husband, the real work of recording the books began!

What I didn’t Know…. The Tech

Well, if I thought I was learning a lot from Sean in terms of technique and craft, I can’t tell you how much I learned from actually working on a book. Initially I began marking my script in iAnnotate just as Sean recommend. I was using my trusty Apple Pencil and quite happy. I realized I needed help with iAnnotate so I paid for Karen Commins’ videos. They are outstanding by the way, as are all of her resources, and if you are new to audiobooks like me her website is a must visit!

Organizing the audio and staying organized was the next part of the learning. I found myself writing notes both on the iPad and in my booth. I also found myself creating lots of different subfolders in dropbox that were new to me due to the length of the audio.

I was quite pleased with everything and it was time to upload it into ACX when I hit my first major snag. ACX has something that analyzes your audio when you upload it. I had processed it same as I always do for commercials and eLearning. The same stacks that make producers all over the world happy got flagged. I learned about something called and RMS and apparently my number was too high, which actually meant my sound was too low. If you are on Twisted Wave, this is the meter on the right side. Well, I was in a panic. I had no idea what to do.

All these years as a full time talent and it was like I was starting over. I was at a total loss. I called an engineer who does commercial and explainers and he told me to normalize it. I did that and I was still not within the range. If an engineer who went to college and graduate school for this couldn’t help, how on earth would I sort this out? I went to YouTube and I did find videos with others talking about the issue, but most of them used Audacity or Audition as their DAW, not Twisted Wave.

In the midst of my break down in the booth, I heard from a friend and fellow coach Jack de Golia. G-d his timing was good. He told me I needed to reach out to George Whittam (AKA George the Tech) for a specific stack just for audio books. Hallelujah. There was hope in site. If you don’t know George, you can actually pay for 911 emergency service to get bumped to the front of the line in cases like this, otherwise it takes about a week.

I got online and both emailed and Facebook messaged George. George is a G-d-send, and angel, and a genius all wrapped up in one. To me delight he was available and helped me right away. I followed the steps of sending my audio and my gear. George followed up, within the hour, (I actually think it was less) of sending me a stack and a video just for me about how to work with all of this.

I got lucky. George happened to be free when I needed him and I had a friend who could point me in the right direction. Crisis averted! This is the very short abridged version of the story that skips the details of missed dinner, a very supportive husband who tried hard to do what he could, and me acting like a toddler having a tantrum. The good news is that very night I submitted the book to the ACX specs. I wish I could say I behaved better, but I did learn so much!

Sales Funnels For Voice Over

March 17, 2022 by Laura Schreiber

Marketing to Voice Over Clients

Note: this is not a story with a happy ending. If you want to skip to the follow up blog, click here.

In voice over, we talk about marketing endlessly. How do we get clients? Voice actors love to talk about marketing. We love to talk about our CRMs. Building client relationships is another hot topic. A few weeks ago Robert Sciglimpaglia started talking about sales funnels for voice over. Diana Birdsall, fellow VO Coach and I got super excited. Why? After years of emails and LinkedIn outreach, sales funnels are different. And why work with Rob and his daughter Mary Brainard? Put simply: they are fantastic.

You might be wondering how a voice actor/attorney and his daughter teamed up to do this? Well, Rob explained that it was always his dream to work with his daughters but none are lawyers. Mary actually studied English and Psychology in college. At present, Mary does copy writing and marketing for companies with six and seven figure budgets. Mary and Rob decided to team up and bring Belair Creative to the voice over community so that we can benefit from their marketing expertise. In just their first month on the scene, business exploded for the father-daughter duo.

Explaining a Sales Funnel

A sales funnel is a fancy word for a sales process. If you picture a tube or a pipe that is wider at the top and narrow at the bottom, that is what a funnel looks like. In a sales funnel, as people move through the funnel, there are more people at the top and fewer at the end. This is because not everyone wants or needs you services at the moment they are pulled into the funnel. You can work to maintain contact with all who have come into the funnel through follow up emails, calls, and social media. Also, it came up in our clubhouse chat that funnels should really be used for experienced voice actors who have their business up and running. If you are new to VO and just starting out, this is not the system for you. You can try this once your booth is set up, your website is up, and you are ready to seriously invest in your business.

Knowing Who to Target

Just like when you mark your script and you have to understand who you are talking to, in marketing you have to understand who your ideal or dream client is. Some other people might call this a buyer persona, although Rob and Mary did not use that terminology. Anyway, instead of sending out endless emails in hope of a reply, Mary uses targeted videos well-placed in social media groups so that they land where you want them. Often, clients need talent but don’t know where to find them so they end up on casting sites. By going directly to them, and finding the clients where they are, we are making ourselves easy to find.

Some Sales Funnels Have More Steps Than Others

Every clients is on a different path in their journey. Some might be ready to buy your services today. Others might be ready to purchase next month. Maybe some might never be ready to take action. It’s possible funnels have more steps because they want to qualify the potential clients. Other funnels have more steps because there are different types of funnels. Some have a survey, a questionnaire, or a form. The main goal could be information for a mailing list. Another main goal could also be the sale of services. The funnel is based on what you want to accomplish. Belair creative does a three level funnel that includes video, a survey, and scheduling an appointment.

When Mary and Rob work with voice actors, they are aware that different talents need varying degrees of handholding when setting up their sales funnels. They basically set up a system so that someday we can maintain it ourselves. Through the funnel, we can learn where our clients come from. We will get data both from the CRM and from social media. In order to run a solid funnel, you need to know who you are talking you and what you want to specialize in.

The Downside to Sales Funnels

We asked if there is a downside to sales funnels. Mary said she thought a lot about this. She said if you set it up and did not use it that would be a downside. Or, if you got too many new clients and you could not manage them all, that would also be a downside.

Why Sales Funnels are Unique and Some Final Thoughts

As Diana astutely pointed out, so many voice actors are on pay to plays and do direct marketing. What we all want is jobs in our in box every morning, right? We asked Rob why this is the next great thing. He said that in addition to finding clients where they are, so much of the funnel process is automated. From follow-up emails to scheduling appointments, automation helps drive the campaign. Mary also offered that doing a funnel allows you to be more in control of your business. You get unique, specific data about who is purchasing your services. By reaching out you are building relationships and staying top of mind. Getting clients is really important, and that is what funnels do.

In business it is really important to be careful who you take advice from. There have been many conversations about being cautious of “the next big thing.” We have all scene recent promises that sounded wonderful and did not pan out. You probably know already that I do not have a crystal ball. I can’t guarantee that every funnel will get who we need to get. What I do know is that you can waste a lot of time marketing to the wrong people on your own. Rob has been loved my many in the VO community for years, and once you meet this father daughter team, you will see why Diana and I were so delighted to share them with the community.

Pickups and Revisions: What’s Your Policy?

January 31, 2022 by Laura Schreiber

Why Voice Actors Need a Policy for Pickups and Revisions

As a full-time, professional voice actor, I love working with repeat clients. I love delivering finished audio I can be proud of, and over the years I’ve come up with a few strategies to reduce the number of pickups I have to do. It is important to understand the difference between pickups and revisions, and how live sessions come into play.

Just What is a Pickup

A pickup implies that you, the voice over talent, have made an error, and typically any and all performance errors are covered by the actor regardless of the size of the job’s budget. This could mean that you misread the script, it could mean that there is an odd noise in the recording and it is obscuring your work, or it could be a performance error. Perhaps you were meant to sound calm and relaxed and the client feels you give off an agitated vibe. Any of this constitutes a pickup. When I book a job, I do ask clients to give me the courtesy of asking for pickups and deliveries within 48 hours of when I give them the finished audio. Most do. Some don’t. How flexible you want to be is up to you, and makes a difference in how you feel about your relationship with the client.

What is a Revision

A revision is different than a pickup. A revision implies that the client has changed the script. Typically this means that they got your VoiceOver audio back, reviewed it, and then decided to make tweaks. For me, for jobs over $250, I include one round of minor revisions which I define as less than 20% of the script within 48 hours of delivery. If it is after 48 hours or more than 20% I charge $75 per 30-minute revision session. If the revisions are more than 40 percent of the script I adjust the rate. If the script starts to look more than 3/4 different and it is a long narration, then it becomes a new job, and negotiations begin. This is not common. In all my years as a VO talent and coach, the two times this has happened, the clients were upfront about the revisions and offered me a new rate before I even had to start worrying. If you are noticing, they are noticing. In terms of the turnaround with revisions, again, you have to decide what you can live with. For example, I work with some eLearning companies that take quite a while to review their work. For me, this is not a problem and I am happy to wait.

Throwing a Live Session into the Mix

So you have a session for Source Connect, Zoom, or Skype. Wonderful. What should your pickup policy be? Audio from a live session is always final delivery. Period. The session should not end until the clients have what they need. This is the industry standard. If the client comes back after a life session and wants a re-record, you are entitled to a fee for an entirely new booking. Basically, you have made yourself available to however many people from their team are on the call, from the producer, to the creative director, to the folks from the brand. They have plenty of time to give direction, chat, and get all that they need from you. You are not in any hurry. If, after the spot is produced, they decide to take the work in a different direction, that’s fine. They can pay you for another session.

Tips to Avoid Pickups and Revisions

In the end, here are some tips I have come up with that leave me having to do very little pickups.

On jobs under three and a half or four minutes, I deliver at least two takes. If a client has options, they are less likely to come back to you wanting more.
I deliver wilds of the end. If there is a talk line, give them lots of options of the end as you would in a live session.
If there is something that may have an unusual or unexpected pronunciation, either try to call the company and hear how they say it, or fine it on YouTube and avoid having to do the retake for that. If you can’t find it, give them wilds of the word or sentence with different pronunciations.
Try to review your audio several times before you submit it. If you are new to VoiceOver, this is a reminder that you need to do your editing for correctness to script before adding EQ/Compression/Effect stack.
If you have a long narration, I actually edit page by page. I go through each page twice before moving on to the next one. I catch my errors and it gives my voice a break.

Ultimately Why Pickups and Revision Policies Matter

In the end, we want our clients to have a great experience working with us. We want them to come back to us over and over again. If we lay out our policies clearly, and there is no room for ambiguities, communication should be seamless. Expectations should be clear. Relationships are built on trust, and when policies are consistent, because there is, in fact, an actual policy, it is much easier for a client to understand what they are being charged for and why.

As a Working Mom, What Does it Really Mean?

October 24, 2021 by Laura Schreiber

Emma’s Enthusiasm

As a working mom, I have always tried my best to give my kids a lot of time while still putting my heart into my small business. As a full-time professional voice over actor and coach, even when I’m not “working,” I do talk about my business and my business ideas a lot with my family, and have for many years. Well, I am now realizing what a huge impact that has had. This week we had amazing news. My daughter was accepted to her dream college: a six year doctoral program in Occupational Therapy at Elizabethtown College. Besides celebrating this glorius achievement, Emma has countless ideas about how she intends to use her degree. She keeps coming into the kitchen and saying, “Mom, I was thinking…” and then shares her latest vision for a potential future career path. This is not just exciting, this is the result of a being surrounded by women chatting about goals, brain storming, and planning for how small businesses grow.

The Precedent We Set

What We give our kids — My sister Julie Levin and I give my twins so much love. In addition, we are both small business owners so they see what goes into making a business work.

As mothers and working women, our children hear and see the examples we set. For years, my children have either been in the room or been in the room adjacent to my accountability group meetings. They understand the importance of setting goals as a small business owner, having a plan, and follow-through. They not only hear me talking, they have heard my industry friends (well, more like voice over family) for years. They have been exposed to what it takes to grow and maintain a small business. They understand that hard work and perseverance are essential, and that follow-through is everything. They have always been around my meetings, and I have always discussed ideas with them. My children watched me build my business from the ground up. The result is that they not only see what is possible, they actually understand how it is done.

Getting Your Kids Involved

As solopreneurs, we actually have the luxury of getting our kids involved and having them take an active role in our business. Many voice actors have their children actually doing voice over work. Last summer, my son Jack had a recurring gig as an eLearning narrator. This was extremely fulfilling to him. Not only did he learn about how to interact with clients and gain greater insight into the industry, but he learned about taking direction and leaving his emotions outside of the booth.

Another great way to get your kids involved is to hire them as assistants or interns when they are old enough. Last summer, both of my twins worked for me. I had my son doing research for direct marketing and sending cold emails. He learned so much about the process and follow through. I had my daughter doing all of my social media, with a focus on my instagram and instagram stories. She actually organically doubled my following. They did an outstanding job and were delightful. We used a google spreadsheet to coordinate our tasks and stay on the same page. They learned about team work, collaboration, and the ins and outs of my voiceover business.

What Values You Want to Instill

Precedent and Values — Everything that I have in me comes from my mother.

When I think about why I work so hard as a voice actor, I want my children to understand so much. Beyond the income I generate that our family depends on, I want them to see that voice over is a unique industry because we are a group of people who come together to lift each other up. I also want me kids to see that if you work hard all day, every day, you can have great success. I want my twins to see that you can make your dreams happen. And if my voice over business has showed them anything, it’s that you never wait for someone else to bring you happiness and your happiness is not dependent on others. In order to succeed in voice over and in many other industries, you have to have thick skin and listen to your gut. You must be able to tune out all the negativity and you have to be very selective about who you accept guidance from. My prayer for my children is that they have been surrounded by strong women and all of this has been planted deep within them. As a working mom, I hope that their internal compass is so strong, nothing can sway them from their path.

My Emma has so many ideas already. I hope that as her years in her program go on, her ideas become more defined, and her dreams are well-within her grasp. I can’t wait to see What Emma does with her degree!

So, when I ask the question, as a working mom, what does it really mean? It means that if I can not only pay the bills, but follow my passions, AND teach my kids by doing to follow theirs, and in doing so instill a set of core values, I believe it is a worth while endeavor indeed.

The Travel Rig Low Down

June 27, 2021 by Laura Schreiber

Our Clubhouse Panel

Every Friday at 2 PM Diana Birdsall and I co-host a Clubhouse in our room “Ask the VO Coaches.” I am always excited about our awesome panels, and every week I might say it’s “the best one ever,” but holy smokes was this an awesome panel! This week, just in time for your summer get-away, we talked about travel rigs and what gear you need and what you don’t need to bring with you on that much needed trip. Whether you’re going to the beach, to the mountains, or just to see family you missed during covid, we talked about it all, and we talked about it with some of the best in the field! We had George- the-tech Whittam, Dan Leonard, Dave Scott, and Rick Wasserman. So, here’s a review of some of what we chatted about in case you missed our beyond awesome chat!

What’s the Point

The point of a travel rig is to be able to provide continual service to your clients. If you are booking work daily and earn your income from VO, you likely have or need a travel rig. If you are earning your income from voice over, odds are you provide your clients with good quality audio. The goal is to continue to do that on the road. Can you match your home studio? The consensus was probably not, but you can do your best. Dave Scott, video producer with All Systems Go AV, explained that when they cast a voice talent, they need good quality audio. If they are doing an explainer, and there is likely minimal music behind it, there is not a lof of wiggle room to mask reflections. If they are doing a commercial, at least there is a music bed behind it that gives some additional flexibility. It is always important to be transparent with the client and let them know you’ll be out of the studio, and work from there.

The Gear

So you’re probably wondering what mic and what pre-amp you need? You’ll hate me for saying this, but it depends. It depends on how much you travel and what your budget is. Rick Wasserman also brought up the important distinction between what sounds the best and the “in a pinch or in a pickle” scenario. Ideally, you have time to test your gear and determine what compliments your voice, and you are not recording in a pinch, but rather in a planned and controlled scenario.

There are some great travel mics for your travel rig, including but not limited to:

Apogee 96K
Apogee Mic Plus
Apogee Hype
Sure MV51 USB
Rode NTUSB

For travel Preamps, Dan and George were clear to point out that all tested well in their shoot outs, but that they like the:

Steinberg UR12
Scarlett Focusrite Solo
Mixerface
Rode Ai1

Portable Booth Vs. Pillow Fort

Most traveling voice actors start with the pillow fort. At conferences, we typically all post photos of our pillow forts on social media. So, how do you know if it’s time to make the investment in a portable booth like George and Rick’s Tri Booth or the Vocal Booth to Go? Again, the answer is it depends on how much you plan to work while you travel, how much you travel, and how much you book. If you are just doing it to audition, you would not want to spend the money. If you are, however, booking substantial work daily, one of these booths will come in very handy.

https://youtu.be/lvdIGgVXb9Y tri booth video

During our panel professional voice actor Dave Braxton also joined to talk about recording in a car. He explained that it not only provided the ideal sound proofing, but also offered an escape from his family. While chatting about this, George shared this video from Rode which talks about how to do just that.

https://youtu.be/C6gE2_VdImU

My Rig

My own rig has evolved a lot over the years. I know use:

a Vocal Booth to Go
a Sennheiser MKE 660 Microphone
a UAD Apollo MK II Thunderbolt Preamp
a Ninja clamp (essential to good positioning of the mic)

My thoughts as a Coach

We talked a lot about on the panel how having good mic technique matters. You have to set yourself up for success and going out and buying expensive gear doesn’t not mean that you will start booking. Once you are booking, then upgrade. Once you have steady clients, give them the curtesy of letting them know when you’ll be our of the studio. Don’t start new projects on home gear before a trip. Always let them know, and plan ahead,