Double Dutch

“He was so learned that he could name a horse in nine languages; so ignorant that he bought a cow to ride on.”
- Benjamin Franklin

All of a sudden, the lame world of voice-overs is up in arms. Why? I have one word for you “VoiceJockeys”.

The website Voicejockeys.com describes itself as “a virtual meeting place for voice over talent and people in need of their services.”

Yep, it’s yet another on-line casting service trying to cash in on a market of hopeful but clueless voice-over newcomers. The more the merrier, right? At least these jockeys were honest about their intentions. According to their website they offer:

“(…) professional voice over work at a fraction of the cost. “

You might wonder: How do they do it, these clever casters? VoiceJockeys discloses their amazing strategy on their website:

“(…) we bring you directly to the source, the actual talent, not to a fancy agency or casting service. We empower you to make your own casting decisions and basically “try before you buy” entirely cutting out the middle man.”

Hold your horses… does that make any sense whatsoever? If there would be no middle man, wouldn’t the voice-seeker be contacting the talent directly, instead of VoiceJockeys?

VO-LAW TO THE RESCUE
Tipped off and ticked off, attorney and voice-actor Rob Sciglimpaglia Jr. decided to go over the VoiceJockeys talent contract with a comb as fine as only attorneys can get their hands on. In part one of a three-part VoiceOverXtra series, he concludes:

“I carefully reviewed the rates and contract that is posted on the web site for this company, and it is straight out of the dark ages concerning protection of the rights of the working voice-over artist.

I liken it to a SWEAT SHOP for voice talent.”

Sciglimpaglia spurred into action and offered to represent VoiceJockey voice-overs pro bono, as a group, in an effort to secure new contract terms. According to VoiceOverXtra:

“(…) he is already negotiating with VoiceJockeys, and he started a blog to report on similar companies that “prey” on voice actors with low pay and excessively restrictive contracts.”

BETTER LATE…
Rob’s right: Voice Jockeys.com is not the only on-line agency taking you for a ride. They are one of many sweatshop-services in a market that thrives on exploiting the hopeful, the desperate and the ignorant.

The fact that some members of the voice-over community apparently needed an attorney to analyze the fine print of a contract, doesn’t speak well of the level of professionalism in this industry. Always do your homework before you sign on the dotted line. It’s number 3 on my list of 10 classic mistakes why people leave money on the table.

I fully support Rob’s mission, and if you’re a regular reader of this blog, you know that I take the issue of fair compensation and reasonable rates very seriously.

MIRROR, MIRROR
But reading Rob’s review could lead people to believe that “cheap paying companies” as he calls them, are the only ones to blame for sliding fees and unfair terms & conditions. That’s like blaming the fast food industry for the entire obesity crisis.

The only reason these business practices are perpetuated, is because people are falling for them. Sweatshop services exist because they feed a need. They prey on predatory pricers (or “poachers” in Rob’s words), and they appeal to those who want something for next to nothing.

What’s more, some colleagues have been defending bargain basement rates with arguments such as:

• we live in a capitalist economy and prices are determined by market forces
• setting minimum rates amounts to price-fixing which is illegal
• underbidders aren’t underminers; the low end of the market does not affect the high end
• lowballers have the best of intentions: they need to make a living too
• stop beating a dead horse; nothing will ever change
• Don LaFontaine never bothered to mount campaigns against people who voiced movie trailers at a rate below his

SOLIDARITY
As a freelancer, I have worked in many different industries. In no sector have I ever encountered so many colleagues who were ready to justify rip-off rates for whatever reason.

Could it be because some of them are also in the business of hiring voices? Is it because they don’t have to survive on a voice-over salary? Is their partner perhaps the main breadwinner? Or is there something going on, at a deeper level?

In the end it boils down to a matter of mentality. Let me spell it out in black-and-white terms:

Some people primarily operate from a ME-mentality. Others operate from a WE-mentality.

WORLD VIEW
The question: “What’s in it for ME?” is a powerful driving force behind human behavior. It focuses on immediate benefits to the individual, regardless of the impact on the community. It comes from an age-old survival instinct that puts self first.

In this vision, there are winners and losers. An oil spill in the Gulf is just an unfortunate consequence of a fossil fuel based economy. Who cares about the environmental impact, as long as it’s not in my backyard and I can keep on driving my SUV? It’s the price of doing business.

The question: “How does this affect the GROUP?” focuses on how individual fates are connected through a network of relationships. It looks at the long-term consequences and collective future rewards, rather than at instant individual gratification.

In this vision, we’re all in the same boat, sharing the same ocean. An oil spill in the Gulf is a signal that we should be serious about renewable energy, preserving this planet, instead of polluting it perhaps permanently. The world is our backyard, and we look dumber in a Hummer.

My question to you is this: which horse are you betting on?

SHAKESPEARE
The beleaguered King Richard III is a classic sell-out character. He is desperate. During the final battle his horse, Surrey, is killed and the King can no longer flee. Hoping to secure his survival, he offers his meaningless empire with the infamous iambic pentameter:

“A horse! A horse! My kingdom for a horse!”

It was a bad barter, and we all know how the story came to an end. Richard the Third was left at the mercy of his enemies because he had devalued his Kingdom. He died at the hands of the Earl of Richmond.

HERE TODAY, GONE TOMORROW
We all know how easy it is to get caught up in the excitement of the moment. In a few days or weeks, the drama of VoiceJockeys will be forgotten, or looked at as an isolated incident. New sites will emerge and it will be déjà vu all over again. Does it have to be that way?

Shakespeare’s Richard III starts with the following opening words:

“Now is the winter of our discontent”

Perhaps this VoiceJockeys episode could be the start of our “winter of discontent”.

OUR POWER
I once read that globally we spend more money on advertising than on education. It’s a scary statistic, but it goes to show how much money is spent and made in product promotion.

Let me ask you this: Can you imagine commercials without voice-overs? Can you think of documentaries or industrials without narration? How about instructional DVD’s, Public Service Announcements, Voice Response Systems…

All of the above would not be possible without voice actors. We can make or break a million dollar campaign. We can engage and motivate an audience. We can warmly welcome old and new customers. We can entertain and teach at the same time.

We are voice-over professionals.

Then why don’t we insist that we fully deserve and should get a significant slice of the pie? Are we lacking respect for our own profession? Are we degrading our training, our background and our craftsmanship? Are we devaluing our crucial contribution to advertising, marketing, education and cultural enrichment?

If we don’t take ourselves and our work seriously, why should others? Ultimately, we get what we deserve, and if we feel that we don’t deserve that much, we should stop complaining about rates going down and the cost of living going up.

Or we could start by charging reasonable fees that are a reflection of the added value of our work, as well as the respect for our talent!

It looks good on paper doesn’t it? It sounds even better, read by a voice-over professional.

Then why do I get the feeling that we’ll be having this same discussion in a week, a month or a year from now?

Here’s why:

You can lead a horse to water, but you can’t make it drink.

Are you thirsty, yet?

Paul Strikwerda © 2010
www.nethervoice.com

PS Even the best teams need a coach. Read all about the brand new Internet Voice Coach  website in the next installment, and  be sure to check out a very special offer for readers of this blog.

Some voice-over casting sites have an interesting way of dealing with members complaining that they haven’t had much luck. Here’s what these sites say:

“Auditioning is great practice! Even if you didn’t get that 100 dollar job, at least you’re honing your skills.”

Oh, please… Give me a break!

WORDS OF WISDOM
At the end of a two day “voice-over intensive”, the trainer looked at her students one last time. By the expression on her face they could tell she was about to say something significant.

Her velvet voice had sold millions of sheets of the softest bathroom tissue known to mankind. Anything that came out of her mouth was as good as gold. Star-struck, the students all listened like attention-deprived orphans, waiting to get one last bit of tough love.

“People,” she said, as she took stock of her class, “this weekend was just the beginning. Now it’s up to you to go out there and break a leg. Make me proud! Audition as much as possible. It doesn’t matter what for. If you can’t make it, fake it. It’s a numbers game. The more you audition, the greater the chance you’ll eventually get hired. If I can do it, you can do it!

I mean…. never in my wildest dreams could I have imagined that my biggest achievement would come from the smallest room in the house. But didn’t the Romans coin the phrase: ‘Pecunia non olet’? Take it from me: once you’re on a roll, you just keep on rolling… wherever your destiny leads you.

Now, before you go, be sure to check out the table with my products. Only today they’re 15% off. And if you sign up for the next seminar, you are eligible for an early bird discount. All credit cards are welcome.”

TRAINING TALENT
Business was booming. As the economy went down the drain, enrollment for voice-over trainings was up. Kindergarten teachers, homemakers, librarians, retired car salesmen, fired call center assistants…  All of them had a dream: to become the next Don LaFontaine.

Don had it made. Working from home or being chauffeured from studio to studio in a limo: that’s the life! No need to learn lines. A glorious set of vocal chords was all that was required. And a membership to one of those online casting sites of course.

But a few months after the training, things were not going as advertised. Take John, for instance. He used to work for a local radio station, until a fund drive didn’t go so well. “But,” said John, “at least I have a background in broadcasting.”

John sent out about 12 to 15 auditions a day, and hadn’t had one single bite. He’d spent a small fortune on the set-up of his home studio, and it was about time he got some return on his investment. When he called his trainer for some advice, he got an assistant on the line.

John explained that he hadn’t been so lucky lately, and asked her what he should do. “Sir”, she said, “How about I sign you up for our next seminar? It’s called “Winning Auditions” and that will really take you to the next level. But if you can’t make it, you should definitely buy the CD, recorded at a live training in Vegas. It’s powerful stuff!”

IT’S A MYTH
John’s story is not uncommon. He had fallen for a fallacy: the idea that you should audition as much as you can if you want to break into the business. And if things don’t work out, no problem. Doing demos is great practice! Really?

I’m not buying it. It reminds me of the exit of one of the participants in a conducting competition. He was a young guy who already had spent a great deal of time in front of various orchestras. Yet, after the first round of the competition, the jury decided to send him home.

“How is that possible?” the young conductor wanted to know. “I probably have more experience than the majority of the people in this contest.”

“Experience, yes” said the chairman of the jury. “But there’s good experience and bad experience. I’m afraid your experience wasn’t very good. Have a nice day.”

A SLIDING SLOPE
In my mind, you practice to audition; you don’t audition to practice. Take the Olympics. If you’ve been glued to the TV as much as I have been during the last Winter Games, you’ve noticed that competitions usually start off with qualifiers. Some athletes will tell you that these qualifying rounds are actually more stressful and demanding than the real thing. It’s during these qualifiers that you have to prove to the world that you’re worthy of a top spot. That’s not where you learn it. That’s where you earn it!

What would happen if Lindsey Vonn would go into a qualifier with an attitude of

“It doesn’t really matter if I don’t make it. I can at least look back on some great practice rounds.”

It’s a totally different mindset. A very different energy. It will never get you on the podium.

NUMBERS DON’T ADD UP
The secret to winning auditions doesn’t lie in how many you can crank out. Anybody can do ten a day, even my talking parrot. Ultimately, it’s a matter of quality, not quantity. And in order to deliver quality, you need to be qualified and that’s where practice comes into play. Practice and training.

No one would dare to audition for a Broadway show after a two day tap dancing seminar, no matter how famous the teacher might have been in his day and age. It’s simply ludicrous. They’d never let you back in.

And that’s what could happen if you start sending demos to every producer who’s posting a job that vaguely meets your criteria, when you’re not ready and when you’re not really going for it.

If you can’t nail it, you will fail it.

That’s not something they teach you at that 2-day voice-over class, is it? It gets even worse. In a weird way, it’s often easier for us to remember the bizarre and outrageous. One stupid mistake in one race can haunt an athlete for years (think of Dutch skater Sven Kramer).

One dumb demo can ruin your chances for a long time. That’s why it’s so important to be selective; to be prepared and to give it all you got… and then some.

THE NEXT CHAPTER
Radio Station-John didn’t buy that voice-over seminar CD recorded in Vegas. He didn’t sign up for the next training either. Instead, he had a professional critique his demos and he worked one on one with a coach to get rid of his “announcer voice”.

He no longer auditions for every job on the voice-over planet. In fact, something strange happened. The pickier he became, the more success he had. And instead of spending most of the day recording demos, he actually had time to develop a solid business plan.

John’s a smart guy.

He gave himself a second chance to make a first impression.

How about you?

Paul Strikwerda © 2010

PS Text-to-speech software is a blessing for some, but will it put voice-overs out of work? Find out in my next blog.

Back to www.nethervoice.com

Having a website is not an accomplishment. Nessie the Hamster has one. Famous dead people do too. I have even seen sites in loving memory of unfamous dead hamsters! Some of those websites get more visitors in a day, than you hope to have in a year.

Here’s my question: if you have a personal website and you’re not getting any traffic, what’s the point? You might as well give the money you’re sending to your Internet Service Provider to a worthy cause, such as the Don LaFontaine Voice-Over Lab.

If, on the other hand, you want to use your online presence to your advantage, you better roll up your sleeves and get to work! (Unless you’re too busy auditioning for that $100 narration of a 300 page audio book…)

iCrossing is a digital marketing agency with specific expertise in social media and 12 offices worldwide. Last year, Nilhan Jayasinghe, their VP, wrote a paper entitled; “Optimizing for users, not search engines. Building a sustainable brand in a connected world”.  He says:

“As search engines become more sophisticated, they will increasingly incorporate user data to validate their results. The numbers of people visiting a site; the time that users spend on a site; the depth of their engagement; whether they return over a period of time; how many people add it to their social bookmarking tools such as Digg; all will potentially be taken into account.”

If you’ve read my last blog, you already know that the new Google is going in that direction. And where Google goes, others follow. In my opinion, there are at least two things you must do to take advantage of this development. These are the things that will drive people to your website; keep them there and make them come back:

1. Start writing for people, not for search engines: offer fresh & relevant content.
2. Stop “telling & selling”. Instead, engage your visitors and begin a dialogue.

Here are a few ways to do it:

1. Offer FREE STUFF. Paradoxically, some companies are making lots of money by giving things away for free. It’s called the “freemium model” whereby some content is offered at no charge, while premium content is not. Seattle-based Big Fish Games distributes more online games than anyone else, at about 1 million a day. You can try almost any Big Fish game for free; but there are add-ons that players have to pay for.

A few months ago, our colleague Peter O’Connell made his e-book “The Voice Over Entrance Exam” available at no charge. I’m pretty sure that this brought new visitors to his website. It did something else too: it established him as an expert. Here’s a third bonus: free resources get links. Isn’t that what I just did?

2. Contests & Awards are another way to drive people to your site. Videovoicebank.net organized a contest, and voice-overs were invited to share their professional horror stories. Not only did the Videovoicebank-team manage to engage their community; for days, visitors could enter their email address and vote for their favorite story. I wonder what they’ll do with those email addresses…

3. Provide a resource that will benefit your target-group and (of course) offer it for free. Veteran VO-artist Mahmoud Taji compiled a voice-over directory of casting websites for “the benefit of established and up-and-coming voice over talent who want to secure more voice over work through the Internet.” He asked everyone in the industry to help out, and this is just another example of how to get people involved. So far, Taji has a list of 239 sites, and you might add a few to the directory.

4. Quizzes and Games on your site are a fun way to make people come back and spend more time with you. British talent Emma Clarke is the voice you’ll hear for a majority of the London Underground lines. Her website is terrific and it has games, spoof audios and even an online “Emma flip book”.  One of my favorites is a fridge magnet game where you can move the words around to make your own sentences and phrases – and have Emma speak them for you.

5. Actress Amy Walker (above) became an overnight sensation when her YouTube video 21Accents went “viral”. “These days, it’s not unusual to see a search engine like Google pull up a YouTube video in its top 10 results,” says Linda Girard, co-founder of online marketing consulting firm Pure Visibility in Ann Arbor, Michigan. “The best way to maximize this trend is by uploading your video to various sites and attach good, searchable terms to the clips in order to get those high rankings.” (source)

6. Then there’s the old trick of offering limited Deals & Discounts. Bristol-based voice-over talent and SAVOA-member Alison Pitman offered a promotion of 25% discount on all message on hold voice-over recordings. Particularly if you’re also offering individual coaching and voice-over classes, never miss an opportunity to throw in an early bird special or a web coupon. Irresistible offers turn browsers into buyers.

7. Develop an ongoing relationship with your visitors (colleagues and clients). Answer their emails. Follow up with them. Ask them for feedback. Use social networking sites to connect. Take an active part in your community, online and offline. Send email newsletters using a service like Constant Contact or Aweber. It’s all about building your brand and positive reinforcement.

8. Blogging benefits business. Internet marketing company Hubspot surveyed over 1500 small businesses. They found that those with blogs attracted:

1. 55% more traffic
2. 97% more inbound links
3. 434% more indexed pages

Blogs are a very effective way to create valuable content; to connect, to interact and to build relationships based on trust. Nilhan Jayasinghe put it this way:

“The closer that Google and others get to reading real interaction, the better they will become at separating the sites that look relevant from the sites that are relevant. Inevitably, it will become ever more difficult to fake the quality of a web page.

Given that this is the case, by far the best way to rank highly for a given term is to offer what the search engines are getting progressively better at finding – content that is genuinely useful to those people searching for that term.”

How to come up with quality content is going to be the topic of my next installment! In the meantime, how did you manage to increase your web traffic? What worked for you and why? What was a waste of time and money?

Paul Strikwerda © 2009

www.nethervoice.com

PS What makes people click? Click to find out!

Did you hear the one about the three voice-over actors bragging in a bar?

“My condenser has phantom power”, says the guy with the spooky voice.

“My shotgun produces killer demos”, retorts the man in black.

“My ribbon has a suspended diaphragm”, snaps the girl in the Hogan baseball cap.

Waitress: “Anyone ordered a Blue Bottle?”

Unidentified customer: “No, I just got a Snowball.”

“Can I get some MixCubes on the side, please?”

Waitress: “Active or Passive?”

TICKLES
Hearing voice-overs talk is like listening to a Monty Python skit. It can be slightly surreal and silly. One thing’s for sure: many VO’s have opinions. Strong opinions, especially when it comes to gear.

Whenever people take themselves too seriously, I’d like to tickle them a little. If you ever plan on messing with the mind of a VO-pro, go to an online voice-over group and type in the following words:

“I am new to this business and I’d appreciate your advice. What’s the best voice-over mic?”

Unknowingly, you just released the beast. If you honestly believe that the Yankees-Red Sox rivalry is a big deal, wait until you get voice-overs started on their choice of mics…. You’ll soon discover that some VO-Pros suffer from a condition the psychological community calls “Microphone Envy”. So far, there is no sound treatment for this auditory affliction.

Here are some of the comments these hired voices might make about their precious sound catchers (in order to protect their identity, I decided to name all of them ‘Mike’).

Gear Geek-Mike: “My mic has a 32 mm gold sputtered thin Mylar capsule.”

Show-off Mike: “Mine has a retail value of $7,775. I got it for 7 grand on Ebay.”

Frugal Mike: “My cheap Chinese mic sounds almost like your pricey German one.”

Model Mike: “But I cut a deal with the Germans to endorse this microphone”

Macho-Mike: “Mine is bigger and better.”

If you happen to be in the market for a microphone, these message boards might not be the best place to solicit advice. In fact, I highly recommend not asking anyone for any recommendations. Period. Not online. Not in the shop. Trust me, you’ll sleep much better. Do your own homework instead.

Researching mics can be good fun. Why not fire up your laptop on a rainy Sunday afternoon, and listen to a few microphone tests. The fellows on this page always manage to crack me up… They’ll say something like this:

(test: courtesy of Nethervoice Sound Laboratories)

Sound engineer Jeff Dykhouse of How Audio, posted “Getting good Sound for Voiceover”, a 20-minute microphone throwdown, featuring the Neumann U87, Sennheiser ME66 Shotgun, Sennheiser 421, Rode Podcaster and the MXL UBS .009. It’s actually quite informative, and you can brush up on your Bible studies at the same time!

To end this audio tour, I invite you to visit the online microphone museum, the brain child of retired Professor S.O. Coutant. I’m especially fond of the gallery of “celebrities with various microphones”.

MY CHOICE
And finally, many of you have asked me what microphone I use to bring home the bacon (which is not an easy thing for a vegetarian). Well, here’s my pride and joy: the Avantone CK-6 Large Capsule Cardioid FET Condenser Microphone. As you can see, it comes with a custom retro shock mount, an elegantly padded genuine wooden mic box and a padded aluminum storage/travel case.

If you experience a sudden attack of “Microphone Envy”, remember this:

Writing about microphones is like ice skating about food

It doesn’t really make sense. Just as you can’t get wet from the word water, you don’t know if a certain microphone is the one that will flatter your voice the most by merely reading about it or by staring at a picture. You’ve got to give it a spin and use your ears.

So, have you heard the one about the two voice-overs in a bar?

With tears in his eyes, the first one exclaims:

“Why did Don LaFontaine have to go before his time? It is so unfair.”

The other one thought about it for a moment, took a deep but silent voice-over breath, and replied:

“I guess God wanted his voice back!”

Paul Strikwerda © 2009

www.nethervoice.com

PS Voice-over veteran Harlan Hogan  teamed up with microphone maker MXL, and commissioned a voice-over mic that -in his own words- “will sound great on about 99% of the population”.

It’s available on an “Audition it, return it if you don’t think it’s right for you basis”, in a package with mic cable, case, shock mount for $249.00. It’s called The Harlan Hogan VO: 1-A Signature Series Microphone, and can be ordered directly from voiceoveressentials.

Harlan also put together a USB package with his new mic and the nifty CEntrance MicPort Pro preamplifier.