just voice

Make Your Marketing Dreams Come True: Hire the Right Voiceover Actor!

December 13, 2018 by Laura Schreiber

Between Generations…

When I was in high school, a movie that was supposed to epitomize our generation, Generation X, came out. “Reality Bites” was supposed to be about us. The problem, which my sister and I have discussed at length, is that we just miss being Gen-xers and we just miss being millennials. How much of a problem this is I’m not sure, but I loved the drama of reality bites and wondered why my life was so lacking of such problems. As a teen, I thought this was clearly because I was really not a Gen- xer, not understanding at the time that it was Gen-X in Hollywood.

But what I now appreciate is that being born in between periods gives me an advantage, I hope. I easily identify with and relate to people a little older and a little younger, finding a lot in common with both, and this is essential in helping be the voice of a brand. As a full time, professional voiceover actor who does a lot of commercial work on tv, radio, and internet, I want to make sure that I deliver what my client wants: an advertising package that is memorable!

Get their attention

When my sister and I used to get in and out of taxis in college in NYC, somehow we often said hello and greeted our driver in unison. This in turn would call attention to our high and youthful voices which were then typically commented on. I never minded, especially since it has now turned into a career. That was the beginning of getting their attention. You want to pick a voice to represent your brand that people associate with it in a positive way. When I do youtube videos for the New Jersey lottery, and I get to say the famous tag line “Anything can happen in Jersey,” this is my chance to give my spin on the brand. I imagine being the girl at the party or in the casino that is so fabulous that everyone wants to be with her, the life of the party that no one can resist, and that is the sound I project. As the voiceover talent, it is our job to self direct and coordinate with our clients to create the right image for that brand.

Keep their attention

Casting the right voiceover actor allows you to get brand recognition. Using the same voice for a campaign instead of hiring talents for one-offs allows them to get to know the brand. This brand recognition helps you carefully define the relationship you want your clients to have. This can happen very commonly with on-camera talents, but it happens quite a lot in voiceover as well. For example, I have been working on an on going campaign for a hospital in Florida. It is very important that all of the reads for these local tv spots be the same: warm, comforting, trust worthy, and reliable. That voice is now associated with the brand. When I work with the producer, the only direction he needs t give me at this point is how to pronounce the different names in the spots, because we need to maintain consistency for each commercial. The viewers in that area recognize what the ad is for as soon as they hear my voice, and that is brand recognition.

Stay Current

Choosing the right voice will not only enable you to draw in your dream clients, but it will help you reach across generations from millennials to baby boomers. Why have major brands like Cadillac chosen a millennial female voice for their national tv campaigns recently? Because they know this voice reaches across generations and has universal appeal. The millennial, conversational read is the sought after commercial read of the moment, where it sounds like you are the girl-next-door talking to a friend. If you want to reach your dream clients and keep them listening this is who you need to cast for voiceovers.

Maintaining Relationships

If you want to maintain a lasting relationship with your clients, then you need to cast a voiceover talent who will work hard to maintain a relationship with you! In order to have brand continuity, a professional voiceover talent who can truly deliver will work hard to get to know what you are looking for during the duration of a campaign to bring out all of the nuances of your brand. She will work hard to deliver the best quality audio and let you know that you can rely on her repeatedly. And in the end you will be proud that you chose so well. You want new. You want fresh. But at the end of the day you also want reliable.

It’s not about the voice…

The voiceover is never about the voice. There are so many of us out there who can do the same job, and there are a lot of talented folks. And it is not even about the studio, because we do all have different studios that give you different finished audio. It is about the result of the voiceover that we leave you with, the impact it has on your brand and on your marketing. You need a talent who understands that!

The Best of Things

October 10, 2018 by Laura Schreiber

The Unfathomable

On Friday morning I sat next to my son, in the midst of our grief stricken community, at a friend’s funeral. Tragically our friend had what is believed to be a sudden heart attack while traveling for work in Asia. Everyone was devastated, most of all his wife, his two beautiful daughters, his two brothers, his parents, and his grandmother who is a Holocaust survivor. Taken from his family at just 43, and listening to their tearful tributes, one after the next, the theme that came through is that there is no promise of tomorrow. If today is all that we have, are we making the most of today?

In voiceover, the rhythm of our days varies. Voiceover talents typically talk about our field being feast or famine. But sitting at this funeral, and thinking about the totality of how we live our life, forced me to take a step back and look at my career as a whole and not in microbursts. If today is all I have, then these are some of the reflections I am grappling with.

The Relationships We Build Mean Everything

While voiceover can certainly start to feel like a numbers game in terms of how many auditions an actor submits or how many marketing emails we send out, the building of real, inter personal relationships is far more important. Getting to know our clients and the producers who work with us means so much more than whether we submitted 10 or twenty auditions on Thursday. Remembering to ask how someone’s son’s asthma is or checking in on how the toy fair went out of genuine concern, and letting these folks get to know you, is far more meaningful then submitting into the abyss.

Relationships with our fellow voiceover talents is also so important. I will never forget the first time I heard another talent say “the rising tide in the harbor lifts us all.” The sense of camaraderie in voiceover is incredible. I have blogged before about my womens’ accountability group. In addition to daily contact with these women, I look forward to our weekly meeting and that our is one of the most important hours of my week. It gives me a support, stability, and confidence. I am so thankful for the close relationships that I have built with other professional voiceover actors. I particularly love the women that I have met and am so thankful for this bond in my post sorority years.

Stand Tall and Be Proud

If today were all that I had, I would want my children to know that every single day, all the work that I do is for them. That every single booking, each commercial and phone message, each narration, they all add up and they were all for them. As a momtrepreneur, I have done my best to show them that as a family we stick together and we take care of each other. That I am proud of all of my projects. I am proud of both the actual work that I have done and I am proud of what it represents. I am proud that I figured out how to work full time and get the laundry done and cook dinner, because believe me when I say that was not easy to learn and I still wish that fairies would come into my house and do it all. But nothing means more to me than having dinner with my husband and kids and talking about our day, and I guard that time like a hawk. So I am trying my best and somedays I juggle better than others, but when I look back I am so proud that I have at least figured this out for them. And as far as jobs go, working as a professional voiceover actor is a pretty cool one!

Leaving the Bubble

One of the biggest challenges for me when I went back to work was leaving the bubble which I pleasantly inhabited for the prior part of my married life. In that bubble, even though we live in a fairly diverse area relative to where I grew up in Pennsylvania, most people are from the same socio economic background, lived in NYC at one point, and are quite well-educated. Having attended an Ivy League University in the North East, when I first left the bubble, it was a bit shocking for me, meeting people from different parts of the country with very different lives. I very quickly learned that you could not make any assumptions about peoples’ backgrounds based on their last names, and that despite where we were from and where people went to college, I loved being around other creatives and meeting people who were so different than those around me every day was a joy and an inspiration. It opened my eyes to a new world and I have met so many amazing folks. Leaving my comfort zone was far from easy, but in my travels and at all sorts of industry events I am so thankful to have pushed myself to engage. This is an aspect of voiceover that a lot of folks don’t talk about but has been a big deal for me.

A Last Glimpse of Studio Life

Lastly, but certainly not least, I am so thankful that I spend my days in my professional studio with my dog Violet. Violet, a lovely and sweet Cavalier King Charles Spaniel, is the light of my life. She is the best companion a girl could ask for. If I had all the money in the world I would clone her like Barbra Streisand did with her dog. If tragedy struck today, I would be so thankful that Violet was on my lap or by my feet and brought me the greatest joy.

Do I do accents? Why yes, I sure do!

May 16, 2018 by Laura Schreiber

It’s funny that I spend so much energy to be careful to mask my natural Philadelphia accent, which just seems to flow from within. Just imagine the horror if I had recorded the commercial for Culligan Water as Culligan Wooder as I grew up saying. But regional dialect aside, I do accents in my work quite regularly.

I have family in London so I find doing a generic British accent comes quite easily. I am one of the voices on the UK Tampax channel, https://www.lauraschreibervoice.com/commercial/, and just get my nephews in my head and out it comes, which sounds really funny when talking about Tampons. I can differentiate between central London and South London, but the way my family sounds is my go to British accent.

I have also worked in a hispanic accent. I had to do a spot for Pandora radio as a Latina girl speaking English. Although Pandora has quite an accomplished bi-lingual roster, they needed someone who sounded solidly 13, and that was me. So, I went with somewhere in between Sophia Vergara and Selma Hayek and I gave them a few versions. As the producer himself was Latino I was so nervous to be accurate and not make it charactery. I gave them my standard three takes and it worked!

I have also worked in an array of regional American accents, from generic Southern to New York. What do I enjoy the most? When my family listens to the spot and is waiting for me to come and then they figure out they have been listening to me all along! Sometimes they say that my voice sounds deeper or that they were confused. I love it. I love that just a subtle change can throw even the people who know me best.

Did you just wake up Knowing how to do Voiceover?

April 20, 2018 by Laura Schreiber

While some of us for sure have more comfort in front of the mic than others right from the get go, and some people for sure have natural abilities that come out in one genre of voiceover or another, coaching- or professional lessons in the technique of voiceover, are essential to becoming a professional working voiceover talent.

Professional coaching covers many aspects of voiceover. First, coaching covers acting and performance technique. While the hot buzzword in voiceover right now seems to be the conversational read, a lot goes into the perfect conversational read. From understanding subtext to highlighting the right words, these are all skills that we work on as we build characters for each scrip. Whether practicing for commercial, eLearning, character work, etc… we need to learn how to mark up a script and self- direct.

Mic technique is also taught by our coaches. Learning how to stand in relation to our equipment, how to record, and how to edit properly is all part of what is learned when working with a good coach. Particularly for new talent, the coach should critique all recorded homework assignments and give feedback on all aspects of the recording, from the read itself to the EQ, compression, breaths, mouth clicks, etc. Sending out pristine recordings has to start somewhere.

Coaches should also set the standard for voiceover best practices. From teaching you how to use programs like ipDTL and source connect to talking about client/talent relations, coaches should cover all of this. While many best practices can be learned by some of the industry books, when you are working with the pros you can learn so many tips first hand from their years in the business. From policies on revisions and pickups to basic etiquette, working with a top notch coach is an essential foundation for a voiceover business.

Why should you choose a millennial voice for your voiceover project?

April 2, 2018 by Laura Schreiber

It’s one of those new buzz words like snap chat and LOL, you hear the term “millennial” everywhere – but just who are we talking about? According to the Pew Center for Research, millennials are defined as people born between 1981-1996, so they are presently between the ages of 22-37.Typically, when advertisers think of this core age group, they think of young, fresh, hip- everything that is au courant. So, what better way to describe my vocal sense than millennial and conversational?

Whether we’re talking about commercials on tv or radio, eLearning, or a YouTube narration, what better way to establish your product or company as relevant than to use the millennial sound? Consumers are looking for lots of qualities in advertising, but a huge piece of the puzzle is when it is relatable. Millennials relate quite well to other millennials, so across the board it works well to cast a millennial sounding voiceover actor or actress.

According to a Forbes article from September 2017, there are over 80 million millennials in the United States alone with a combined purchasing power of over $200 billion per year. People like relate to voices that represent them, so with the millennials comprising such a huge market force, it makes good business sense to cast millennials in projects, from 6 second YouYube bumpers to 30 second tv spots- the conversational read epitomizes this trend.

Hit the Road, Jack…

March 19, 2018 by Laura Schreiber

As a voiceover talent, it is my job to make every word come alive and bring the script to life the way its creator intended. So I have been exposed to some pretty sensational writing, and I can tell you that as of recent sometimes the only word to describe a client who is all kinds of wrong is not even found in the English language. The word we need, instead, is the Hebrew word hutzpah.

If you are not familiar with hutzpah, let me share this mornings hutzpadic story and you will get the gist right away. A new and potential client from another country wrote to me overnight. “Sam” offered me $50 and said that was per role for an explainer video, and for those not in the know standard rates for explainers average from $175-$300 depending on the length. He then went on to explain that $50 was for a 3-4 minute script! Yes, I kept reading, mouth open, in shock. Sam then said that as this script was shorter than usual, he would be willing to offer me $50 for two scripts! This is what I call hutzpah! If you’re thinking I was unreasonable, read my blog on how long a short recording really takes!

So, how did I respond? I did actually respond. I thanked him for his interest and sent him a link to the GVAA rate guide, an amazing reference if you don’t know it.

I told Sam that I always maintain industry standards in every single booking, and that when he can afford to pay me a standard rate he should feel free to reach out again. I then wished him all the best in his future endeavors. No need to show hutzpah on my end.

There are a few problems with this situation. In order to send Sam walking, I had to have the confidence in myself and my work that I am worth what I know my work to be worth. I am not afraid to maintain my rates. Sadly, in recent weeks, I have gotten responses from these undesirable clients that they have multiple voiceover actors willing to submit at their rates. As long as folks new to the industry are willing to accept these low rates, they undermine the pay for the rest of us. If you are in this category, you might want to check out https://www.mikecoopervoiceover.com/. Mike often presents about this very topic at voiceover conferences!

Imagine calling a tutor for your child. The tutor is an expert in their field and that is why you trust them to begin with. They have an education in their area, and in the time that you pay them, they are going to share some skills and pass on a specific benefit to your child. You would never have the hutzpah to bargain with them or try to negotiate a different rate. As voiceover talents, we have had countless hours of training, have expensive studios to maintain, and have demos that have cost thousands of dollars. Our rates not only take this into account, but also pay for the session fee and the license for the use of our voice for a given amount of time. Attempting to undermine our rates is just hutzpah and we should never be afraid to maintain our standards.