Dave Courvoisier's Blog

Posts Tagged ‘voiceover’

That’s such a loaded term these days.  But, look…as voice actors we tend to wear lots of hats to keep our business going, and guess what gets lost in the shuffle?  Auditioning.  Practicing. Learning.  Marketing.  Growing. Cold-calling…the CORE activities that define our central goal.

Didja ever consider that other free-lancers like yourself might be able to do some of those un-core tasks off your hands for a fair price?  It’s not that you CAN’T do it…but could it possibly be cost-effective to “farm” out some of that stuff?

Perfect example:  You probably know I love dabbling in techy stuff, be it software, hardware, social-networking, blogging, site-authoring.  But as much as I love it…should I be spending inordinate hours DOING it?  Enter Brett Bumeter, who runs SoftDuit: “…Helping adapt business models to the web with WordPress powered CMS sites..” Brett so deftly, affordably, and creatively moved my old blog to the new WordPress format it made my head swim.  I coulda spent days doing what he did in no time!

Working a long-format naration?   Don’t have the time or motivation to edit the fnal production?  Many voice-actors send off the raw sound-file to someone whose bread ‘n’ butter is audio editing.

Lousy at writing a bio, cover letter, resume?  Send it to a professional writer who can spruce it up.  You’d be surprised how they — like you — produce quality work in a timely manner.

Many voice actors have a CPA or an enrolled agent handle their taxes.  Why not seek the proper expertise for designing your audio-chain?  That can be at LEAST as arcane as the tax code sometimes!

The point is, it pays you to hire a professional to do certain specific tasks, just like you would expect someone to hire you to do the very specific work of voice-acting.

Not only do you benefit from their expertise, it makes YOU look better, and you stimulate the freelance marketplace.

Do a web search for ‘virtual assistant’ or ‘office assistant’, and you’ll find services that’ll do everything from walking your dog, to taking out your dry-cleaning.

Hey, if those mundane tasks are the mental roadblocks that stand in the way of me getting  my next voice-job, then I’d hire ‘em in an instant.

Unfortunately for me, no one offers outsourcing help for my roadblock: the inability to take my own advice!

CourVO

• Listening to Oprah's narration of "Life" on Discovery Channel. Not impressed. Let a real voice actor do it! #VO #voiceover #
• @321com Very cool! May I blog about this? Would you be willing to answer a couple of questions for an article? in reply to 321com #
• Blog article from Voice-Acting in Vegas Voice or Teach? http://snipr.com/uz5xe #
• VoiceOver Blog by CourVO: Voice or Teach? http://www.courvo.biz/?p=2779 #voiceover #VO #
• Voice or Teach? – More and more I’ve been thinking about all the great voice-actors who are teaching: Pat… http://tumblr.com/x2q7nldjz #
• Blog article from Voice-Acting in Vegas CourVO’s Twitter Updates for 2010-03-20 http://bit.ly/dxHMWp #
• VoiceOver Blog by CourVO: CourVO's Twitter Updates for 2010-03-20 http://bit.ly/a2KdUB #voiceover #VO #

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More and more I’ve been thinking about all the great voice-actors who are teaching:  Pat Fraley, Deb Munro, Marc Cashman, Hillary Huber, Bettye Zoller, Harlan Hogan…

Why?…

I mean, is teaching VO more lucrative than DOING VO?

If you can do both, then, of course, more power to ya!…but all I EVER wanted to do was VO…not teach VO.

Do you reach a point in your VO career where you want to teach more than voice?  Don’t you just want to put all your waking energy into getting better VO jobs?…wouldn’t that pay better than putting all your energy into teaching VO?

Do you reach a point where teaching VO is more FUN than doing VO?

I’ve been anchoring local TV news for 30 years, and I’ve never reached a point where I want to coach TV newscasters for money.  I LOVE mentoring others trying to get a leg-up in the business… but coaching people to be better broadcasters?  ‘Doesn’t appeal to me in the least.  I’d rather just anchor.

So I ask…why teach?

The only variable I keep coming back to is money.  It must be more lucrative to teach than to voice.  Maybe ego.  That would motivate some, I guess.

Of course, you can’t just set up shop and teach VO without having DONE it to the point of respect.  THEN you can legitimately hang out a shingle, and expect to get students.  Right?

Maybe the pros who are teaching are just more naturally drawn to teaching or suited for teaching rather than voicing….

This is just stream-of-consciousness thinking-out-loud, here…

I’m trying to understand this.

I’m doing a session at VOICE2010 on social networking, but it’s not because I really want to.  I was asked.  I’m not getting paid.  People say they’re interested in what I might have to say.  Maybe I can help.  I could see where ego comes into it.  It’s nice to be wanted…but I’d much rather spend that time voicing a sweet national network spot at union rates.

Could it be that picking the low-hanging fruit is too irresistible?  I mean, there’re all those eager newbies who say “…I’ve always been told I have a good voice…could I do commercials?…” Do they make it more lucrative to teach than to voice?

Anyone?

CourVO

What I know about finding VO jobs on Twitter would fit on Trish Basanyi’s hat brim.

The woman was an early adopter of Social Media, and continues to lead the pack among her VO peers.

Now, she’s got a boffo idea that she’s parlayed into something of substance….well,virtual substance anyway.

Visit VOICETWEET.COM now and sign-up.  The site is intuitive, simple, accessible, and …well….purple!

Check it out, and be sure to let Trish know if you find something wonky with the site.  She claims it’s just a little side business, but I think it’s got legs!

Thanks, Trish!

CourVO

If China gets to make EVERYTHING…maybe all that’s left for us to do is VoiceOver.

The global marketplace is glowing, and why not?  English is emerging as the language of commerce around the world.  To market a product with a wide audience, at some point, you’re gonna want to put a proper English-speaking voice along with the product/service.

Giving the Brits their due for a piece of the pie, that leaves North America as the source of an authentic English sound.

No one preaches this marketplace more than Bettye Zoller.  She’s been working this angle for years…maybe longer than anyone else.

In preparation for an upcoming Webinar on VoiceOverXtra.com, called “Foreign Job Sources for VO”, Bettye told me: “…for this webinar, I had to do serious research and even get help from foreign sources who gave me more input. It is the hardest research on a topic I’ve done for a long time and I hope as many people as possible will tune in…”

The Webinar is April 5th, the price is modest, and you get a download of the session when you’re done.

Click HERE for more details.

BTW, there’s a preview article of Bettye’s webinar on VoiceOverXtra, HERE.

CourVO

October of last year, I launched into a series of blogs about synthetic voices.  It got a lot of responses, and landed on John Florian’s VoiceOverXtra site, too.

The idea that a machine can even BEGIN to affect the subtle nuances of a human voice for interpreting copy is an outrage to many.  But those are audiophiles.  What about someone with an iPad or a Kindle, who just wants to plow through some required reading?  Would THAT take a Grover Gardner or an Alan Sklar?

Plus…synthesized voices are getting better and better.  Maybe you should refresh your memory with a listen to some of the voices I link to on that previous article ” ‘TOUCHED A (SYNTHETIC?) NERVE!”

In the last few days, a couple of emails from VO friends prompts me to obring up the subject again, ’cause, believe me folks, this is the VO Issue that won’t go away.

See my friend Chris Wagner’s blog “Computers are Stupid” for a look at not only voice, but synthetic image technology that doesn’t require you to have an intimate friend who works for PIXAR.  Chris asks a similar question:  Is this the beginning of the end for actors?

Then, not to ignore the legal/ethical issues that tend to crop-up around (but always lag far behind) these innovations…my VO friend Steve Hammill pointed me to THIS SITE where authors are crying foul on the argument of copyright violations.

Don’t even get me started on the subject of Steven Jobs STEALING the term “voice  over” for his own convenience.  It’s ruined many a Google search for me.

CourVO

….More fallout from my blogs on setting rates.

A Las Vegas friend who has a burgeoning podcasting business, but whose true genius is in marketing/selling, responded to my blog with a fine suggestion.

Scott Whitney is a big fan of Tom Freese’s series of books base on the idea of QUESTION-BASED SELLING (QBS).

You can visit Freese’s website on QBS –  HERE.

But, getting specifically at the point Whitney is making about “the Humble Disclaimer”…you may want to visit directly to THIS QBS page.

It’s a quick read, and true to Whitney’s astute observation, it fits right into the discussion of setting rates.

Thanks, Scott

CourVO

This is Part-3 of a loosely-told story from Dave’s real-world experience in setting rates for a voice job.

Part one is HERE.
Part two is HERE.

You’ll remember, I’d hoped for permission from my anonymous (but quite real) female VO pro to excerpt an extremely well-stated philosophy for setting rates.  She’s now granted that permission.

She sent me the explanation as part of an on-going communication we had over a mutual client.  That client had at one point shared MY rate-sheet with HER as a means of negotiating a fair rate with her after hiring me for a job (he later apologized).

The rub was that HER rate was obviously and significantly higher than MINE; a point she made to me not out of malevolence, but to shake out my own awareness of value.  She was telling me nicely that I was probably not charging enough (a conclusion my own client also later admitted to me).

The compensation policy she’s devised is well-articulated in the comments you’ll find BELOW.  Her arguments are reasoned and powerful.

The whole experience for me has been tangible.  It’s prompted a timely and crucial adjustment in my sense of fair pricing — an issue most voice actors wrestle with endlessly.

Voice coach/actor Bettye Zoller also reacted to my rate-setting blogs with the following comment: “Pricing is the hardest subject to teach others because it’s a very personal experience depending on so many variables. Very complex. You’re brave to put it out there. But no one person can tell another how to price. It’s too dependent on too many circumstances including whether the talent needs the job or won’t work under a certain fee and more.”

I couldn’t agree more, Bettye.

Please take the time to read the measured words below, of  who I would say is now my unsuspecting “VO Rate Mentor”.

Read the rest of this entry »

Conference-calling is a burgeoning business these days, it seems.

Many people use it for communal conversation, and voice actors are no different.

I’ve tried FreeConferencing.com many times over the past few months.  It is free, and it is a no-brainer.  No scheduling is needed, and your conference call number stays the same always.

Now, FreeConferencing is touting a new service called FreeSee.  I’ve only just signed up, and haven’t gotten my confirmation yet, but I can only imagine they’ve added video functionality to go along with their already-reliable product.

See their notice below, including the link to sign up for the FreeSee Beta.

CourVO

Read the rest of this entry »

Thinking back…I’d have to say I get the most spirited reaction to blogs about setting freelance VO rates…and I’ve done a few of those blogs, ’cause the issue keeps coming back for me.

I wasn’t overwhelmed with a response to yesterday’s blog: SETTING VO RATES, but the few who chimed in added much to the conversation.

Perhaps the best post-script to yesterday’s tale was the response from my client.  I’ll save that for last.

If you read the comments to the blog, you’ll see that VO talent Jeffrey Kafer cautioned me to NEVER share my rate sheet with clients.

The dean of VO blogging — Bob Souer — reminded me that it’s great to have a spine about these issues, but reminded me that a spine is flexible, else we would never be able to tie our shoes.

I liked the response that came from a follower on Google Buzz:  “…sounds like a tough thing to gauge, I would imagine though that your work speaks for itself (literally) and that the client would find value in your service. Maybe it wouldn’t be a bad idea to mention on your rate sheet that these are introductory prices and you are building a business so take advantage of these low rates as they are lower than industry standard. I also like the idea of asking for more but that comes with lots of experience and rock solid reputation…”

Voice actor Justin Barrett responded that, “I kinda like the approach of telling the client you’re building a business. However, could that not easily backfire if the client interprets “building a business” as “not yet a working professional”?

The female voice talent mentioned in my tale responded with a wonderfully eloquent and involved email explaining her rationale for not really HAVING a rate sheet.  The response was so reasoned and savvy that I’ve asked her permission to reprint excerpts here so we may all benefit.  If she acquiesces, I’ll post that very soon (tomorrow?).

But here’s the response from my client that I promised above: He called me today apologizing for sending the rate sheet to the female VO talent, saying as soon as he hit the “send” button, he regretted it.  I believe him.  I told him that the whole experience has sharpened my ideas about setting rates, and made me re-evaluate my worth as a developing voice actor.  The conversation ended with a much better understanding of the process for each of us.

But here’s the real kicker:  The client (God bless ‘im) told me in the course of the conversation that “…Dave, I would’ve paid you more for your services…”

Wow!  See?  I left money on the table.  I didn’t ask what I was worth.  My product is undervalued.  I’m not respecting enough myself OR my work.  I’m selling short.

Lesson learned.  A valuable lesson.  I’ve already augmented my rate sheet, and am promising myself to remember to say to future clients:  “Tell me how much you’ve budgeted for this project.”….or….”What is the most you’re willing to pay me, and still feel like you’re getting a fair deal?”

Check back here over the weekend, when I hope to have the sage advice from the seasoned female voice talent who was willing to generously share her thoughts on this issue.

CourVO