• Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

Nethervoice

  • Home
  • VOICEOVER
    • VO & Demos
    • Faq
    • Clients
    • Testimonials
  • COACH
  • AUTHOR
  • Blog
    • Blog
    • Career
    • Conferences
    • Dutch
    • Freelancing
    • International
    • Money
    • Media
    • Pay-to-Play
    • Personal
    • Promotion
    • Reviews
    • Studio
  • Contact

DOES VO EVER GET ANY EASIER?

Blog, Career

“Does this ever get any easier?” one of my voice over students wanted to know.

“‘Cause whenever I think I’ve finally figured something out, there’s always something else that comes up, followed by another thing, and another thing. It’s so frustrating.”

“It certainly feels that way, doesn’t it?” I said.

“When I was a little boy I told my parents there was no need to send me to school anymore.”

“Why don’t you want to go to school?” my mom asked.

“Because I know everything there is to know,” I answered.

“If only you know what we know, you would know how much you don’t know,” my dad said knowingly. “We’re not going to not send you to school.”

There and then I found out that double negatives can actually be positive, so I did learn something I didn’t know before.

It reminded me of what I learned later on in life, when I was studying the art of the interview. My teacher drew two circles on the whiteboard, one big, one small. The smaller circle overlapped just a tiny fraction of the bigger circle.

He said:

“The big circle represents everything the person you’re interviewing knows about the topic. The small circle stands for everything you think you may now about it. The area where the two circles intersect represents your common knowledge.

The mistake many journalists make is that they will only ask questions based on what they believe they know. Your job as interviewer is to uncover all the interesting things the expert knows; things that no one else knows yet. All the things in the big circle.”

“The problem with voice overs,” I said to my student, “is that what we do SEEMS EASY to outsiders. After all, we’re just talking. That’s what a lot of beginners think as well. When you see and hear experienced voice actors do their job, they make it look like it’s the easiest thing in the world. That does not mean it is.”

“Learning to use your voice professionally is like peeling away the layers of an onion. When you think you’re getting close to the core, there’s always another layer, and another one. And when things are getting really challenging, it means you are learning new skills, or you’re getting to a deeper level.

If you’ve ever learned to play musical instrument or a new language, you know exactly what I am talking about.

It never gets any easier. It just gets BETTER!”

Related Posts

  • THE GENTLE POWER OF STORYTELLINGTHE GENTLE POWER OF STORYTELLING
  • WHY MY LOVE FOR VOICE OVERS IS FADINGWHY MY LOVE FOR VOICE OVERS IS FADING
  • LANCE FULLER: MY WIN IS MY CALLING CARDLANCE FULLER: MY WIN IS MY CALLING CARD
  • THE KING OF THE CLONESTHE KING OF THE CLONES
  • LEARN HOW TO DO VOICE OVERS IN THREE MINUTESLEARN HOW TO DO VOICE OVERS IN THREE MINUTES
  • BEING THE ODD ONE INBEING THE ODD ONE IN
  • READ FASTER BUT MAKE IT SOUND SLOWERREAD FASTER BUT MAKE IT SOUND SLOWER
  • BEING FULLY PRESENTBEING FULLY PRESENT

Share this:

  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • LinkedIn
  • Tumblr

Like this:

Like Loading...

Filed Under: Blog, Career Tagged With: better not easier, Nethervoice, Nethervoice blog, Paul Strikwerda, voice acting, voice actor, voice-over, voice-over blog, voice-over coach, voice-over coaching, voiceovers

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. David Holmes says

    March 2, 2023 at 6:08 am

    Oh, that’s lovely, Paul.
    Thank you.

    Loading...
    Reply
  2. Randy Mahoney says

    March 2, 2023 at 12:54 pm

    There is always something new to be learned. That’s why I do this.
    It does seem overwhelming sometimes.

    Loading...
    Reply
  3. Joshua Alexander says

    March 2, 2023 at 2:52 pm

    “It never gets any easier. It just gets BETTER!” I agree, and I love it! I might add “better…and Better…and BETTER!” Thanks Paul.

    Loading...
    Reply
  4. Kristina Rothe says

    March 8, 2023 at 4:14 pm

    Really lovely post 🙂 keep on peeling those onion layers 🙂

    Loading...
    Reply
    • Paul Strikwerda says

      March 8, 2023 at 5:34 pm

      I’ll be moved to tears, but I’ll keep on peeling.

      Loading...
      Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Primary Sidebar

Subscribe to Blog via Email

Enter your email address to subscribe to this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

Blog Stats

  • 834,480 hits

Categories

Archives

Disclosure

In this blog I may discuss/review products or books that I believe are relevant to my readers. As a service to them, I often provide links to those products or publications.Instead of having a tip jar, Nethervoice is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to amazon.com. In other words, as an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

  • HOME
  • VOICEOVER
  • COACH
  • AUTHOR
  • BLOG
  • CONTACT

Privacy Policy

©2021 Nethervoice // Voice Over Site by Voice Actor Websites

MENU
  • Home
  • VOICEOVER
    • VO & Demos
    • Faq
    • Clients
    • Testimonials
  • COACH
  • AUTHOR
  • Blog
    • Blog
    • Career
    • Conferences
    • Dutch
    • Freelancing
    • International
    • Money
    • Media
    • Pay-to-Play
    • Personal
    • Promotion
    • Reviews
    • Studio
  • Contact
%d bloggers like this: