Newsletter

January 2009 · Newsletter Archive

“To get something you never had, you have to DO something you’ve never done.”
--Unknown

Winds of Change

Well, last year was a colossal lulu, wasn’t it? Heck, when Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich was arrested for trying to sell Obama’s Senate seat—you know something’s up and it’s pretty funky! With all the bad news about the economy, it’s clear Obama will certainly have his hands full. In the meantime, our current SAG administration has been encouraging us to strike. (Ugh. Perish the thought! Say it ain’t so, Joe. Say it ain’t so!)
But, even with all that...somehow, there’s hope.
I mean, this is no time to curl up and die. In fact, quite the opposite!
It doesn’t hurt to mention the following major corporations came into existence during times of recession (or worse): Burger King, Johnson & Johnson, FEDEx, Microsoft, CNN, Trader Joe’s, GE and Hewlett-Packard, to name a few. So, no matter how contradictory it may seem to all news reports, now is NOT the time to remain static or stand-pat! Nope.
Now’s the time to strike. (I mean that figuratively, not literally!) Play outside your comfort zone. Discover terra incognita.
According to InsideCRM.com: “Recessions, however, aren’t advantageous only to start-ups. Pre-existing companies can also make incredible gains in years where the economy is down. Some of the most recent success stories are those of Google, PayPal and Salesforce.com Inc. From 2000 to 2001 each of these companies thrived, leading PayPal to go public in 2002, followed by Google and Salesforce.com in 2004.”
So, think about that when the next wave of bad news pours over you from the telly. We’re doing far better than other parts of the world when all is said and done. So, count your blessings. You have far more than you think!

Radio, Radio (Vol. 1)

(This is the first in a series of installments that concentrates on one aspect of our business: radio.)
So many of us come to voice-over after experiencing a terrific affinity with radio. Whether that be from years of dedicated listening to NPR, our favorite local rock station, after spending our college years dedicated to DJ-ing for university stations or after wearing out our dad’s old recordings of radio shows from the ’30s and ’40s, like I did.

I confess I’m guilty on all counts.

Problem is: As much as we love radio as a medium, it rarely loves us back--especially to the extent that so many folks have dedicated themselves to it for years on end with little, if any, reward.

By that I mean, most come to this medium upon graduating from any variety of collegiate or technical broadcasting school whereupon armies of dutiful radio-philes then make themselves available to scads of small- and medium-market stations from coast to coast. After some job hunting, they often go to work in a small-town station manning the local airwaves by reading headlines from the Associated Press, National Weather Service and spinning tunes considered suitable to their station’s format and almost always completely dictated by a source that pre-programs their every move.

These folks work a standard 10-12 hour day and are contractually obligated to write, produce and voice about 150 to 200 spots a week for local advertisers that keep the station a float. (Yes, you read that right.)

In addition, these radio devotees (you can call them disc-jockeys), regardless of the market size, are also obligated to host live local commitments for the station such as the opening of dealerships or other businesses, festivals, music events, etc., that the station is committed to sponsoring.

To add to this, stations will change formats (from country & western to all-talk or adult contemporary to classical, for instance) and will change management and hands with great regularity. In doing so, they will also change staff.

This translates either to swiftly adapting to dramatic changes at work or flat-out losing your job every six to eight months and ghosting off to another town, another market and yet another station. This becomes the habitual pattern for many, many people over the years.

Few linger at a single station longer than a year or two, as their pay rate usually increases to the point where the station’s general manager will often force these individuals out to keep their staff costs down. Not that the pay is anything to write home about, anyway. But once you get far enough down the well and radio has you hook, line and sinker, it’s hard to commit yourself to another lifestyle.

Okay, you may be wondering why anyone would want to subject himself to an industry that, without overstating the point here, treats him so poorly. Well, it very simple: for the love of the medium. Besides, it’s the devil they know. Pure and simple.

Ironically, most parents shudder when they discover their kids want to become actors, and applaud and endorse a life in broadcasting. If they only knew at the onset where that road truly leads. Production and management is one thing, performance is another entirely.

To be perfectly honest, I can site far more success stories from individuals dedicating themselves to theater as a career than I can from radio.

It’s not well known, but less than .5% of all those who pursue radio end up at the top of their field with any earning potential or longevity to speak of.

Most who have committed themselves to the field will tell you, sadly, that radio steals your soul, to say nothing of what it does to your self-esteem.

When it comes to transitioning into commercial or narrative voiceover, I’ve yet to meet a single radio professional who did not have the desire to leave radio behind in an instant by becoming a professional voiceover. It’s the true dream most have harbored for years.

You’d think, since they’ve so much experience recording all those spots week after week for the station, these talent would dovetail very easily into a freelance voiceover career. And that might be true, if:

  • The spots they were most familiar with voicing were of national, professional caliber.
  • They hadn’t developed so many habits in their deliveries that limit their reads to mostly sped, over-the-top performances that over sell the product, regardless the style of the script.
  • They were more familiar with taking direction, rather than simply making due on the fly.
  • Were comfortable with delivering as many takes as the client wants, which more often than not is far more than the single take or two they’re most accustomed to offering.
  • They were more unaccustomed to being properly compensated for their work and skills.

Okay, before you think all is lost: a glimmer of hope. Passion goes a very long way and certainly anyone who has spent her time in the trenches of radio has remained there because of a terrific work ethic and a commitment to what she knows well. Not to mention these talent tend to have strong cold-reads. These are wonderful attributes to open with and begin to refocus and raise the stakes on their entire careers. All the other items can be overcome, but it takes a demand for change.

It’s a slippery slope for all of us, regardless of the occupational hazards or Achilles’ heel we must face--and we all have them.

More on radio next month, and the transition from being a modern-day indentured servant to becoming a successful working talent!

Terms from our recently updated Encyclopedia of Voiceover

Anyone who has coached with us over the past 18 years has known that the basic premise at SOUND ADVICE when it comes to performance is, “Never aim to do the exact same thing twice. The goal of every performance is to offer a handful of options within the parameters of the text/direction with each take.” This way we are constantly discovering, constantly creating!

To further illustrate this point may I present a few industry terms, defined.

inflection According to the Cambridge Advanced Learner’s Dictionary, an inflection is “the way in which the sound of your voice changes during speech, for example when you emphasize particular words: His voice was low and flat, with almost no inflection.”
It’s not generally well known, but as a talent we are actually expected to vary the inflection just slightly and within the parameters of the piece, with every take, rather than offering only a repetitive, cookie-cutter read. This is what we mean at SOUND ADVICE as giving them a few options.
With each delivery the inflection, not the pitch, noticeably changes allowing each read to be fresh and spontaneous and therefore more conversational and genuine.
matching When you are trying to re-create the timbre, emotion, inflection, phrasing, volume/proximity, and tempo of a delivery to make a slight adjustment or to correct a minor error in the initial read.
Also, if at a session the client preferred a specific take and simply wants to change a line or phrase they may have you punch in the corrected line. This requires you match the original delivery as much as possible.
Notably, actors (both novice and established alike) often harbor the misconception they are expected to deliver one perfect read and therefore attempt to perfect a single delivery repeatedly, take after arduous take, as if they were trying to match a read.
The truth is there are only three circumstances in which only one specific delivery is required from you:
a. When you are understudying a role onstage. According to Actors’ Equity, you are expected to re-create the original actor’s performance as closely as possible.
b. When you are in a professional touring company of a stage production (such as The Producers or Hairspray). These productions are very strictly choreographed in every way because a very specific product is being presented and the original show is the blueprint for the touring company, which is often followed to the letter. Additionally, these productions are often heavy tech shows and straying from the program could increase the risk of injury to cast and crew.
c. And when adding or correcting a line in a voiceover or on-camera production.
Other than those, matching is not the desired goal as a talent. It’s a tool and nothing more.
In fact, the real objective of a professional, skilled talent in every medium is to deliver a variety of deliveries with every single take, all within the context of the scene, character and circumstance. That takes a great imagination and agility. Mastering the art of variety takes courage and the willingness to truly risk. That gives you an awful lot of rope to hang yourself with, which is why it can be a very scary notion at the onset. But continually building that agility and engaging your imagination fully is forever the requirement of a clever, creative individual. So never underestimate the demands of the profession.
But if you have always thought all that was required of you was to match your initial take, again and again and again, you have thought acting was simply matching until now.
Again, you’re expected to deliver a limitless number of perfect reads, eight to ten takes of this one over here, eight to ten of this one over here and eight to ten of this one over here is the norm. Our job, as talent, is to give the director (or whoever hired us) a handful of options within the parameters of the delivery.
punch-in When a line or phrase needs to be replaced in a chosen take, occasionally you may be asked to punch-in the corrected phrase, term or line. The engineer will play the take back for you minus the segment they want you to correct. Your job is to correct the line while matching the emotion, tempo and proximity of the original delivery, while replacing the item they wish to change. Generally, they’ll play the cue line, followed by a blank space for you to drop in the new take, three times in a row, allowing for a bit of spontaneity and variety within the framework of what’s being asked of you.

Accolades!

Okay, this is one of my favorite things to report: I came home from a long day at work, turned on the tube and every single commercial that came on was one of our clients for nearly a half hour on network television, during the evening news. Who cares about the news! The best stuff was between news segments!

Debbie Ruzicka: Healthnet.com
Dave Shropshire: Centrum Silver,
Helen O’Brien: Red Lobster, One-a-Day, Glade
Debbie Kellogg: Clorox
Robyn Moler: Von’s, Alltel, Special K
Brian Stepanek: DexKnows (White Pages)
Martin Aistrope: Pledge
Nick Sandys: Puffs tissues
Colleen Archer: McDonald’s
…and that’s just to name a few!

Additionally, we’ve noted for years, at SOUND ADVICE, that those pursuing on-camera typically see their on-camera gigs increase dramatically once they’ve committed to producing demos with us. (Years ago, when we kept a stat on this item, our clients typically saw a 40% increase in their on-camera bookings while or just after producing their demos. It’s certainly substantial and worth noting!) Could it be because our process instills greater confidence in what they bring to the industry as a whole, or helps them focus their attentions on what it is they do best commercially, or perhaps this increase can be attributed to added promotion (the return often comes back from a place you least expect). Regardless, here are a few recent remarkable SOUND ADVICERs who’ve booked some wonderful on-camera gigs of late.

Walker Brandt: Splenda, One-a-Day, Swanson Broth, Famous Footwear, Olay, and TJ-Maxx.
Anoush NeVart: (the new) FAME (movie), a national COMCAST commercial, and a pilot!
Robin Karfo: Bold and the Beautiful, recurring role; national credit card commercial and print campaign, slated to air soon. Robin also directed, shot and edited the 10-minute short subject documentary The Art of Gabrielle Boisson
Becky Fox, Stephanie Mello, Tamra Meskimen, Jim Meskimen, RF Daley and Bob Caso all booked various commercials, series, pilots and the like!!

VERY well done, Gang!! And a whole lot more where that came from!

Fresh Start

I LOVE the start of a new year. It gives everyone an opportunity to correct whatever was out last year, set new targets and implement plans that were left unfinished. So, clean out the clutter—now’s your chance to start fresh and truly focus your energies on how you really want your career to go.

We have some remarkable additions to our staff in both our CHICAGO and LA studios!! We’ve also returned to our roots by bringing back the SOUND ADVICE In-Studio Workshops in Los Angeles—and they’ve NEVER been better! We’ve added some HUGELY helpful special guests, this month in the form of TOM BRODEK, voiceover AND professional producer (The Tudors). Tom has many great ‘tales from the front’ to share that are both informative and entertaining.

And not to be outdone—we have the incomparable NANCY CARTWRIGHT, the voice of Bart Simpson on The Simpson’s, Chuckie Finster of the Rugrats, Todd Daring of The Replacements, Rufus on Kim Possible and Phantasamo on Lilo & Stitch, to name a small handful of her many, many accomplishments!

Look and listen for our podcasts that will follow. They promise to be incredibly fascinating and fun in every way!!

Until next month, GET OFF YOUR FANNY AND GET OUT THERE!! Give us a call to help you rev that engine. Wishing you all your very best dreams fulfilled!!

Always, Kate & crew!!