Sound Advice Newsletter

January 2010 · Newsletter Archive

“Luck is when preparedness meets opportunity” - Unknown

From Host to Post

Currently at SOUND ADVICE we host our clients’ websites with our own web-hosting service. In the New Year we will gradually move from hosting our SOUND ADVICERs’ web sites to simply posting links directly to your demos. It will take us until September to make this transition complete, and we’ll certainly continue to honor our agreement to host you if we are mid-hosting, but we think you’ll find this incredibly beneficial on a variety of fronts.

For instance, at the moment, we handle all of the domain name renewals, content updates, and email management as well as any tech-support issues that inevitably arise. (Ain’t technology a wonderful thing?!) Okay, so this means any changes to our SOUND ADVICE client’s websites have to be sent to us first, before they can be uploaded to the web, and tech-support issues may take a while to be solved. Additionally, since our hosting servers are not equipped to handle the amount of bandwidth and storage space required to give each client their own mailbox, we have to set up email addresses that forward to their personal email accounts. Further, the man hours dedicated to these services is overwhelming in the extreme.

The New Way

By simply posting links to your demos on our sites, we will turn over complete control of your voice-over websites to YOU. You may choose your own hosting services or have us set it up for you. If we set it up, we will establish a hosting account and configure it, then once your website is fully operational, we will send you all of the information you need to log in and start managing your website on your own. You will be responsible for any future renewals, updates, and tech issues.

By doing so, you will be afforded the freedom to log in and change your site as you see fit. It is highly recommended you seek experienced guidance when updating your website and we will certainly offer recommendations for content and for tech support from responsible, stable folks.

You will also have complete access to your own email so that you may receive and send from your own voice-over email address, rather than having it redirected, as we have been doing.

The Future of Posting

Currently the demo list pages on both our SOUND ADVICE and BIG HOUSE sites display links to each of our client’s websites. Anyone wanting to hear your demos has to click through to each individual website and then click on another link to hear the demo. Then they have to backtrack to return to our demo list pages. Producers have repeatedly expressed the desire to hear multiple talent quickly and in a single location, such as our sites. And numerous web marketers have recommended to avoid forcing visitors to backtrack for a variety of reasons.

Moving Forward

So, eventually each SOUND ADVICE client’s demo will be an audio file playable directly from both our SOUND ADVICE and BIG HOUSE websites. This will make it easier for Producers, Potential Talent Buyers and Casting Directors to find the desired talent for their production and encourage them to return to our list for future projects. Lastly, since our pages will no longer link to your websites directly, you’ll be free to change your website to suit your own notions apart from our designated requirements.

So there you have it. We’ll remind you of these changes as we proceed and do our level best to save you money and time when you renew as we transition from hosting to posting!

Now that will be a dramatic advance that will make everyone’s life a whole lot easier.

A Part Time Job...For Any Other Biz

You've heard us say repeatedly at SOUND ADVICE, "If you put a minimum of 20 hours a week into your career, what’s considered part time by any other business, you will stand a greater chance of working FULL time as a working talent. So, by all means--make it your aim to work 'part time'!"

You may have wondered exactly what you should be doing for 20 hours a week to make that happen? Well, the answer varies slightly based on whether:

a) You're just starting out and you’ve only just begun coaching with us
b) You're mid-production on your demo
c) We've completed production of your demo and you're ready to promote yourself like never before.
d) Or maybe you've dropped the ball (which many of us have been known to do at some point) and you need help sorting out the clutter to get organized and effectively move forward.

Fine. Allow me to offer you a few weekly targets in order to help you accomplish your professional goals. This requires you commit yourself, consistently, to the task of becoming what we all want you to be: a steady working talent.

The FIRST 20 hour PART-TIME Checklist© (Prior to Recording Your Demo)

Five - seven and a half hours of vocal warm ups; 45 minutes to an hour of articulation exercises and a half hour of cold-reading three to five times a week, for the first four – six weeks that you are getting started.
Two - three hours of one-on-one coaching a week
Two - six hours of Improvisation, or any group classes that get you playing and “thinking on your feet”, such as our In-Studio Workshop at SOUND ADVICE (which we now offer intermittently, three to four times a year.)
Two - three hours of listening to your one-on-one coaching and the Workshop podcasts. You can usually do this in the car or while commuting.  (We send our workshop podcasts out every week via email while one’s going on, so be sure to check your spam blocker if you haven't been getting them.)
No less than two hours of research such as reading our SOUND ADVICE Encyclopedia, our monthly Newsletter or past issues or of our blogs, to remain up-to-date on changes and trends in the industry.
Two - three hours of 'studying the medium'. In other words, TiVO the hit shows and therefore the commercial styles you should be familiar with (it’s very likely they will be used as a reference at auditions and on sessions). When playing them back, observe the specific items outlined in the book in “Defining What You Do Best”.

Keep in mind: it generally takes TWO weeks to create a habit—at anything. Our training at SOUND ADVICE is designed to establish very good performance/acting business habits. This is the fastest way to develop your ‘product’: YOU!

The SECOND 20 hour PART-TIME Checklist© (Mid-Demo Production)

Five - seven and a half hours of vocal warm ups; 45 minutes to an hour of articulation exercises and a half hour of cold-reading three to five times a week. (This is vital regardless of your skill level if you expect to deliver from the top of your game!)
Two -three hours a week applying "The Ten Principles of Performance"© to your demo copy, playing 'Vocal Solitaire'© with your copy and making yourself familiar with the text without memorizing or getting stuck in a 'muscle memory delivery'©
Two - three hours of tracking (recording the demo tracks).
One - two hours prepping the graphics, ordering the materials you’ll need to promote yourself.
Two - six hours of Improvisation, group classes that gets you playing and “thinking on your feet”, such as our In-Studio Workshop at SOUND ADVICE (which we now offer intermittently, three to four times a year.)
Two - three hours of listening to your one-on-one coaching and the Workshop podcasts.
Two - three hours of 'studying the medium'. In other words, TiVO the hit shows and commercials styles you should be familiar with (it’s very likely they will be used as a reference at auditions and on sessions). When playing them back, observe the specific items outlined in the book in “Defining What You Do Best”.

The THIRD 20 hour PART-TIME Checklist© (Post-Demo Production)

Four – five hours of vocal warm ups: for no less than 30 minutes of articulation exercises and a half hour of cold-reading four to five times a week. (This NEVER goes away. Make it your constant.)
Two - three hours of 'studying the medium' (in other words, TiVO-ing shows you watch routinely as well as those that are well-known, but not your target market, commercials and all. Play them back to study the listed observable items detailed in the book.)
Five hours compiling and getting your promo together and then out to both AD AGENCY contacts and potential TALENT AGENTS (locally and nationally). (Promotion is on-going and never goes away. It takes persistence and due diligence on your part. So don’t let up.)
Two - three hours of brush-up coaching sessions a week.
Two hours of our In-Studio Workshop at SOUND ADVICE (which we now offer intermittently, three to four times a year.)
Five hours of:
- a) Listening to past coaching sessions in their entirety and in their actual chronology,
- b) Re-reading the 'Encyclopedia' in it’s actual chronology (rather than jumping around) and,
- c) Reading our past SOUND ADVICE Newsletters, especially the last six months through to the most current.
A minimum of two - six hours of auditioning a week. (The equivalent to an average of eight – fifteen auditions a week.)

Please note: if you've dropped the ball and need to build your ‘part time’ commitment to your career a week, just apply the FIRST 20 hour Part Time Checklist©. That ought to get your game back up to par. Dedicate yourself to six - eight weeks of building your stamina back up and sharpening your agility to make you extremely competitive and confident in your skills.

You now have a proper game plan, and you know what you have to do to move from being 'unknown' to 'KNOWN as a professional!

So, go get ‘em!

Everything Old is New Again

The following quote is believed to have come from Akhenaton (c.1375 BC). I thought it particularly relevant considering as talent our job is to animate the text and because at SOUND ADVICE we consistently maintain no one will play the part quite like YOU! Seems an age-old notion.

Case in point: Akhenaten, meaning Effective spirit of Aten, first known as Amenhotep IV was a Pharaoh of the Eighteenth dynasty of Egypt. Aten is a name of a god at the time whom Akhenaten believed should be worshipped as the one and only god. He said, “Something is added to thee unlike to what thou seest; something animates thy clay higher than all that is the object of thy senses. Behold, what is it? Thy body remaineth perfect matter after IT is fled, therefore IT is no part of it; IT is immaterial, therefore IT is eternal; IT is free to act; therefore IT is accountable for its actions.”

Amen to that, Brother

Resolutions

Whatever goals you may have had last year, whether they were met and surpassed or not quite realized…now’s your chance to start again—fresh! That’s the beauty of a New Year: it offers new hope and opportunity.

At SOUND ADVICE we’re dedicated to offering you our best guidance, the most current technology, production and expertise on every aspect of your career! You’ll be hard-pressed to find a group as skillful, knowledgeable and committed to your career as YOU are!

We wish you dreams fulfilled, hard-yet-steady work in a field you love and camaraderie from a team of talented professionals intent on helping you help yourself!

We wish you success!!

- Kate and all of the SOUND ADVICE staff, near and far!