Double Dutch

If I were to make a top-ten of the hardest words in any language, this word would be my number one pick. It’s also one of the shortest. This simple sound has destroyed countless careers; it has propelled people into the depths of depression, and it has broken many hopeful hearts. It is the horrible, ugly word “NO”.

“No” is every salesperson’s nightmare. “No” has turned rejected lovers into vindictive maniacs. And -as any parent will tell you- “No” can turn the sweetest kid into a manipulative monster. In fact, this two letter word is so destructive; one could make a case for it to be banned from our vocabulary because of the damage it has done over the ages. But I can predict what our linguists would say to that: “No”.

Here in the States, the nation is watching another season of “America’s got talent”. I pity the three judges who have to sit through a never-ending parade of geriatric belly-dancers, tone-deaf Whitney Houston wannabes, drag queen contortionists and hip hoppers with egos bigger than their beefed up physiques.

They all believe that they’re the next big act to hit the Vegas strip, worthy of a million dollars. All I can think of is: who opened this loony bin… and who is going to close it? I have to admit: in this crazy context, the word “No” can actually be a blessing!

We might watch these voluntary victims of reality TV with amazement, but voice-over talents actually have something in common with these strange folks. We too, audition. We might not do it on national TV, but time and again we have to face the final verdict that could shatter our dreams into a million pieces. Or not. This is what I learned about rejection dejection.

Lesson number one: The greatest disappointments are always well-planned. Yes, you’ve heard me: we are setting ourselves up for disaster. Expectation and disillusion are twins. Evil twins. The more we expect, the bigger the disappointment.

Watch “America’s got talent” for a few minutes, and you’ll see the following tragic story unfold: a camera zooms in on a middle-aged librarian who’s showing all the obvious signs of a sedentary lifestyle. The talent tells the interviewer: “I’ve been blessed with a unique gift. Since the moment I took my first breath, I knew I was destined for greatness. I am definitely going to blow the judges away. This is the moment I have been waiting for all my life.”

He steps up to the microphone; introduces himself to the world, and starts rubbing his hands together. This better be good! The next thing we hear is a sound that can only be described as someone breaking wind to the tune of “America the beautiful”. Yes, we’re blown away alright!

The audience starts yelling; the judges hammer on their red buttons and moments later, our handy hero is crushed and crumbled under the weight of humiliation that will haunt him for the rest of his librarian life.

Lesson number two: know your strengths! Small fish wanting to play in the big pond better bring something extraordinary to the table; otherwise the big fish will have you for lunch.

One AGT-episode featured a self-professed ‘celebrity impersonator’. He was so bad that -even though he spelled out which impression he was going to do- no one got it. I know voice-over artists who make a decent living pretending to be someone else. Some of them are so good, it’s frightening… they sound even better than the original! But unless and until your impersonation is spot-on, don’t tell the world you’re the next big thing. People might get the wrong impression…

Lesson three: get a reality check (before going on reality radio). In other words: go for a second opinion. Get as many second opinions as you can. And please, don’t run to your mother for feedback. She’ll love you no matter what. That’s her job. What you need is an honest opinion. Go to a pro. Not one of those people who get paid to chat you up so you’ll enroll into some vague voice-over academy.

A good coach will analyze every ounce of your talent (or lack thereof), and expose you for what you are. A great coach will also tell you what you need to do to improve. A superb coach will teach you the tricks of the trade.

Back to the show for lesson four: have a recovery strategy. I am still floored by how ungraceful some of the untalented are in defeat. They become defensive, they come up with excuses, they blame the judges… it’s always something or someone else, isn’t it?

Don’t get me wrong, I’m all for positive reinforcement. But America’s upbeat culture of programmed positive praise has led to a distinct lack of self-awareness and humility. Thus, smiling small town heroes turn into angry big town, big time losers when they hear the dreaded word “No”.

This begs the question: how should one prepare for possible rejection? Should we simply expect not to expect anything? That way, we won’t ever be disappointed. If you don’t strive to win, you’ll never lose. Could that be the answer? But what about our hopes, our dreams and aspirations? Isn’t life about taking risks, shooting for the stars and about being the best one can be? Had we been playing it safe, we’d still be staring at the moon, instead of landing on it.

Here’s the good news. There is an effective way of dealing with denial. It’s no magic bullet, but it will certainly keep you grounded. It is part of what I call my ‘Ultimate Auditioning Strategy’. I have refined it over many years, and I’d be happy to share it with you.

Here’s the thing: this strategy works for any type of audition. I have taught it to musicians, stage actors, public speakers, job seekers, sports people and yes… to voice-over artists.

The Ultimate Auditioning Strategy

Whether you’re applying for a job or for a part in a commercial, there comes a time when some of us have to face our greatest fear: the fear of rejection. Especially the people-pleasers, the doormats and the perfectionists of this world, have a particularly hard time in the hot seat. If you happen to be intimately acquainted with one of those people, this is for you.

MINDSET
Having been in the voice-over business for over 25 years, I am absolutely convinced that a successful try-out is only in part based on vocal cords, experience and skills. Most of it has to do with being in the right mindset. Let me give you an example.

One of my cousins is an amazingly talented guitar player. His technique is truly breathtaking, only paralleled by the likes of Tommy Emmanuel and John Williams. Every time he plays for me in the comfort of his own room, he sets his six strings on fire. If he wanted to, he could be up there with the Paco Pena’s and the Yngwie Malmsteens.

Unfortunately, no one has ever heard of him. Why? Because he never thought he was good enough, and somehow, he wasn’t able to summon the courage to get on stage and share his gift with the world. He was and is his own biggest stumbling block.

Do yourself a favor: don’t be like my cousin! If you have talent, there’s no failure in “going for it”. However, if you don’t, the game’s already lost before it even started.

VITAL COMPONENTS
The way I see it,  a successful audition is the result of three vital ingredients: competence , confidence and being at the right place at the right time. Some call the last component luck, but as Samuel Goldwyn once said: “The harder I work, the luckier I get”.

Now, let me share a few things that have helped me tremendously. Even though some of the fundamentals I am about to describe apply to cattle-call situations, most steps are relevant to those who audition on-line as well.

The first ‘secret ingredient’ is the fact that my Ultimate Audition Strategy starts long before I step up to the mic. It’s made up of a number of “empowering beliefs” that have become part of my DNA (Dutch Natural Attitude):

1. Treasure your talents and know your limitations.

2. Build on your strengths and work on your weaknesses.

3. Hone your craft, while learning from the best.

BEING THERE

4. When it’s time to audition: come prepared and always arrive early.

5. Dress professionally. Don’t make a beginners mistake by thinking that it’s only about the way you sound. Plus: you won’t be the first voice-over actor being offered an on-camera job as the result of an off-camera audition.

6. Before you’re called in, find a space to center yourself and mentally rehearse what you’re about to do, picturing a positive outcome. Don’t allow others to distract you.

7. Be confident, not cocky. Your attitude should be an asset and not a turn-off.

8. Leave your troubles at the door. If you can’t do that for an audition, how are you going to handle personal problems during a recording session?

9. Realize that the client needs you as much as you need the client. Connect with them from the very first moment you walk in. Remember: a smile is the shortest way between two people.

10. Make it easy to work with you: be open to suggestions; follow directions, relax and have some fun.

11. Once you’re in the hotspot…give it all you got, and then some. If you know that you gave it your all, there is no such thing as failure. Only feedback.

12. Make your first read a good one, but never make it your best. Give the director something to work with. It’s her opportunity to show the client what a genius she is…

13. Do not criticize the hand that might be feeding you. Generally speaking, badmouthing others (including your colleagues) doesn’t make you any better either. On the contrary.

14. Be gracious and grateful. Thank the casting crew for the opportunity, and make sure that your last impression is a lasting one. Hand out your cards and demos before you leave, if you haven’t done so already.

15. When you’re out of the limelight, find a quiet place and imagine stepping outside of your body; put yourself into the voice-seekers shoes as you evaluate your own performance. What went well? What could have gone better? What can you do next time to “kick it up a notch”? What do you need to do to get there?

What you do next is absolutely crucial:

16. Let go of the outcome. Forgedaboudit! Put your performance in a balloon and release it. If it comes back to you, celebrate! If it doesn’t, know that someone else in this universe is jumping for joy.

17. If you don’t hear anything back, realize two things: delays are not denials. Even though we live in a world of instant gratification, patience is still a virtue. If it’s a “No”, understand that auditioning is a process of selection, not rejection. Just because they didn’t pick you, doesn’t mean your audition was crap. Just because you didn’t get the part, doesn’t mean you have failed in life. Even the best chefs can’t please every single diner.

18. Embrace the fact that living is learning, and that we often learn more from the things that don’t go as planned, than from the things we’ve already mastered.

19. Move on! This industry rewards the go-getters, not the whiners and the finger-pointers. As long as you know that you did your best, and that you took something useful away from the audition experience, your time was well-spent.

Paul Strikwerda © 2009

www.nethervoice.com

What’s the link between a rice beverage and voice-over work?

In a recent “Taste the dream” contest, Rice Dream offered prize winners the chance to experience their dream job for 3 days. As you can see, the ad agency that came up with this campaign thought that our line of work qualified as a ‘dream job’, because they put a picture of a voice-over person on the milk carton.*

Don’t get me wrong, I absolutely love what I do for a living, but since launching my business  nethervoice, I have received several emails, asking me for a reality check. Most of them go like this:

Dear Mr. Nethervoice:I am James Kumbatani, the grandson of the late Mr. Oshia Bumbayashi, grand chief of the Olali tribe. Mr. Bumbayashi left me in charge of his personal fortune valued at seven million….

Sorry, wrong email. Here’s the one I was looking for:

Dear Mr. Strikwerda:

I am an aspiring voice over artist and my dream is to break into the business. People have told me that it’s not as easy as it sounds. Do you agree? What did you bring to the table that -in your opinion- gave you an edge over other voice-over professionals? Thank you for your time.

Penny Whistle

This is what I wrote back:

Dear Penny:

Great voice-over talents make what they do sound so natural and easy, no wonder why so many people believe anyone could pull that off in a heartbeat. In reality, voice-over artists are no different from other performers or athletes. When people hear a great pianist play or watch a well-know sports star at the top of her game, they usually don’t think of all the years these pros had to put in, in order to get where they are now. Long before I became a full-time voice over pro, I learned some things that -as you put it- gave me an edge.

1. Sight Reading: thanks to the never-ending encouragement of my mother, I’ve always been an avid reader. During my days as a news anchor for Dutch International Radio, I got used to reading last-minute news flashes and intros without skipping a beat. Today, I can print out a script, glance it over and take it into my sound booth and press ‘record’. A few minutes later, my demo is on its way to the client. If I’m working on an actual job, however, I apply a different strategy (see 3 & 4).

2. Foreign languages: growing up in Holland, I was exposed to many different languages and accents. I speak Dutch, English, German and some French & Portuguese. I also know some Latin and Hebrew. Unlike many Europeans, Americans usually aren’t polyglots, and I do my very best to take full advantage of that. Knowing how to pronounce unfamiliar names of people and places has been a great help in my career. Some clients like working with me, because I’m able to record the same commercial in four different languages.

3. Translating & Proofreading: I also work as a proofreader/translator, and I’m a professional nitpicker when it comes to scripts. Last-minute submissions often contain slips of the pen, and my clients are always grateful when I spot those mistakes and correct them. It shows them that I’m not just reading anything people put in front of me. It’s a great opportunity to show my clients that I care as much about their reputation as they do.

The other day, I was recording a Dutch commercial and the director asked me to translate some last-minute additions right there and then. No problem! I regularly receive international copy that was translated with the help of translation software. That’s usually a BIG red flag! I often end up correcting the work of a robot before I start recording a script that was supposedly ‘translated’.

4. Journalism: as a former newscaster, checking my sources has become second nature. Sloppy copywriters have handed me scripts with incorrect website addresses, wrong phone numbers and even company names that were misspelled. I always verify the information provided, no matter how reliable the source. Another thing I do is research the company I’m dealing with. Not only does it give me a feel for the corporate culture, I also check in with the Better Business Bureau and research the reputation of a particular business.

A word of warning: even though a company might have a good BBB rating, things could still be fishy.

A few months ago, I was approached by “European Immigration and Translation Consultants” in Florida. This company asked me to translate a birth and a marriage certificate. They received my work the very same day and they thanked me by writing out a bad check. Of course I ended up paying a fee to my bank. I asked for a money order instead, with the penalty added to the bill, but the agency refused.

After some more research, I found out that the con-sulting company was run by a con artist who was wanted by the Canadian authorities. Of course I filed a complaint with the BBB, but the company never responded. All the bureau could do was giving them an “F” rating and close the case.

5. Here’s the last thing that I believe gives me a bit of an edge: my love of music. As an amateur musician, I developed a sense of rhythm, diction and melodic lines that is very helpful when it comes to getting into the groove of the music in a commercial or a narration. As a cornet-player and  singer, I’m blessed with increased lung capacity and breathing support. Singing is great gymnastics for your voice. It’s a fun vocal cord workout that not only gives you the stamina to complete a long recording session; it also enhances voice projection, diction and flexibility.

Penny, if you’d like to learn more about this business, I suggest you read Harlan Hogan’s “Tales and Techniques of a Voice-Over Actor”. In it, Harlan quotes Dick Moore of the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists, AFTRA.

Moore says that of the eighty thousand AFTRA members the union represents, no more than a hundred people do most of the voice work.

So, in order to stand out, not only do you need to be outstanding at what you do; you also need to bring something special to the table. There are thousands of hopefuls out there, and all of them believe they have a fantastic voice.

Ultimately, it’s what you can do with that voice that makes all the difference.

Best of luck to you.

Now I’m off to have a cold rice beverage.

Cheers!

Paul Strikwerda © 2009
www.nethervoice.com

* this contest has expired

Some things in life are too true to be good. Other things seem too good to be true. But today something happened to me that has never happened before: I won  a prize. Not just “a” prize. I won top prize: a $500 gift certificate to Sweetwater Sound, thanks to Voices.com!

THE CHALLENGE

A while ago, voices.com invited their voice-talents to write about their experiences with the site. Since I became a member only a few months ago, my career has gone to a new level, and it was easy for me to sing the praises of Stephanie and David Ciccarelli and their team. I can honestly say that I did not write my endorsement for the sake of winning a prize, although I’m absolutely thrilled about the gift certificate. I wrote what I wrote because I felt that voices.com truly deserved it.

Too often in life, we hear people criticize one another mercilessly. Some folks even seem to get a weird kick out of it. Entire corporate cultures are based on putting workers down, instead of lifting them up. I never understood why. I don’t think I want to understand. Well-deserved praise, acknowledgment and  recognition are highly underrated, and that’s such a shame. I think we’d sell a lot less Prozac, if people would start focusing on what’s actually right.

THE HALF-FULL GLASS

What would happen if you -as of today- start praising people for the small things and for the big things they do right? I’m talking about the student who bags your groceries, the working mother who serves you lunch; the studio engineer who makes you sound great…. And how about the owner of that voice? How often do you give him or her a pat on the back?

Well, that’s quite the introduction to what I had to say about voices.com. Here’s my winning entry:

“You have an amazing voice, and people have said that you’d be perfect for audio books or radio commercials. Now what? Even if you are the most amazing talent in the world… if that world doesn’t know anything about you, you’ll have as much impact as the sound of one hand clapping.

If you want to be in business, you need a store, a cash register, a marketing & advertising campaign, a way to get your product to market, and first-class customer service. As voice-over talents, we have a huge problem: our product is invisible.

That’s where voice-over websites come in. They can make the intangible, tangible. All of a sudden, the invisible can have a worldwide presence in the market place.
Now, not all voice-over sites are created equal, and as they say, the proof of the pudding is in the eating. But before I say anything else, here’s a word of warning: I am probably going to sound like the guy who does all these “too good to be true infomercials”. So, just hear me out, be a skeptic, and make up your own mind.

Two months ago, I decided to challenge Voices.com. I wanted those Canadians to prove to me that their pudding would be worth my investment. So, I signed up for a month-to-month membership, and as soon as I did, the auditions started rolling in. Sixty days later, my dollar-a-day membership plan paid off big time. Not only did I get some of the best voice-over projects in my career, with 2300 dollars in the bank, I had earned more than 38 times my investment.

Numbers don’t lie, but they only tell part of the story.

For me, the true value of Voices.com is not only determined by the return on investment. Long before I became a paying member, I discovered that Voices.com is more than a store. The website offers an amazing wealth of voice-over information for newbie’s and seasoned pros alike… Just log on and you’ll find free podcasts, expert blogs, anything from technical tips to current rate info.

Voices.com helps beginners to hone their craft, and it gives a platform to established talents to share their insights. Instead of having to reinvent the wheel, I learned from their mistakes and more importantly, from their successes.

Here’s the thing: I didn’t get into this business because I’m a marketing genius. I’d rather spend time in front of a microphone, than drumming up new business. Thanks to Voices.com, I can focus on what I do best! I can’t even imagine how much money I’d have to spend to reach the number of voice-seekers Voices.com reaches each and every day. They make the connections, they do the legwork and they promote my skills. And at the end of the day, Voices.com even makes sure that I get paid.

Well, that’s my story. But be a skeptic and do what I did: put Voices.com to the test. The proof of the pudding is in the eating. Bon appétit!”

I word hard and I consider myself very lucky. Someone once said: “The harder I work, the luckier I get”. Well, today was certainly my lucky day. Now, let’s get back to work. Cheers!

Paul Strikwerda © 2009

www.nethervoice.com