Tonight on Jeopardy!, one of the contestants was a voice actress named Sam Johnston. She demonstrated her prodigious telephony skills during the interview segment: “To speak to a representative, please press 1.”
I’m trying to think… would I exchange Sam’s VO career for my Jeopardy! career?
Probably not just yet.
Yesterday, I ponied up the balance due on my January narration class at Voicetrax. When I looked at the invoice amount, I had to remind myself that I’m making an investment in my future.
I was reminding myself of that very thing this morning, as I was working through my daily reads.
It’s easy to find excuses not to put in the time to pull copy, analyze it, establish my settings, circumstances, and motivations, run a take, listen to it critically, and run it again to fix the things I missed the first time through. It’s work. It’s time-consuming. On days when the reads don’t flow, and I really struggle to come up with a competitive-sounding take, it’s humbling and frustrating.
But it’s an investment.
And if I don’t make that investment every day, I’ll never get where I want to go.
The girls and I got Chinese takeout for my birthday dinner. Here’s the good word from my post-repast fortune cookie:
You will be fortunate in everything you put your hands to.
Dangling preposition aside, I hope that prediction finds its reality in my VO career in 2009.
…I will like the sound of my voice.
It’s strange, really. I first sang a solo on stage when I was ten. I’ve acted since I was in sixth grade. I’ve sung in choruses for a dozen years and in a quartet for three, in front of audiences as large as 10,000. I’ve been speaking in front of audiences several times a week for the past 22 years. I have been a vocal communicator and performer all of my life.
After all of that, my voice still sounds peculiar to me.
And not in a good way.
That’s not to say I can’t listen to and assess my vocal performance. Since I began studying voiceover seriously, I’ve been doing that almost every day. I appreciate the good things about my playbacks to the same degree that I am critical of the things that are lacking in my performances. I’m capable of recognizing a good take — even a great one — just as I can pick apart a take that is substandard.
I’m even getting to the point that Samantha calls “knowing when good enough is good enough.” Not always, but often.
But I still don’t like the sound of my voice.
Even when I love the things I do with it. And that’s increasingly often.
Someday, though…
I will.
This morning, I headed down to Voicetrax in Sausalito for a private coaching session with Sirenetta Leoni. I enjoy the private sessions when I can schedule them — an hour of nonstop booth time, with a chance to experiment and get feedback one-on-one.
Sirenetta and I had never worked together before, so I was a bit apprehensive as I reviewed the four pieces of copy she had pulled for me in advance of the session. There was a beer commercial that called for a naturalistic,”real guy” read; a gasoline ad with a more narrative style; a spot for a fitness club that fell somewhere between the two; and a clip of character copy that might have come from an animated series episode or a video game.
By the time Sirenetta arrived, I had gone through each piece of copy, setting the circumstances I’d learned in my acting classes. I established my character’s persona and surroundings, and the events that had happened immediately before the first line of copy. Since I’ve been told that I need to focus on script analysis, I really concentrated on trying to understand each writer’s intent, and create scenarios for myself that would help me accurately interpret each message.
Once I stepped into the booth, I tried to let all of the process fall into place and just immerse myself in each read. That proved harder today than it usually is for me. Sirenetta was patient, though. I appreciated her analytical approach — her direction was clear and sensible. She praised my instincts and ability to take direction.
We worked the beer spot a couple of different ways — Sirenetta’s ideas, no surprise, turned out better than my own. The wording of the gasoline spot felt awkward to me, and it took me a couple of run-throughs to produce a clean read. The fitness spot went better, though I was disappointed when I heard the playback that more of the nuance I thought I’d put into my read didn’t come through over the mic. The character bit (as Lex Luthor, Superman’s archenemy) felt good. Once we had worked out the kinks, I was pleased with the finished cut, even though the character type isn’t my strong suit.
Lessons learned:
I had fun working with Sirenetta. I look forward to having another coaching session with her.
Next class: Introduction to Narration, Thursday nights in January. Sirenetta said that with my instincts, I should do well. We shall see.
So, here’s the deal.
If you’ve wandered over from my other blog, SwanShadow Thinks Out Loud, I guess you found me.
I’m setting up this blog specifically to journal about my nascent career as a voice actor. Eventually, there might be something here that’s of general interest to the world at large, or at least, my fellow voice talent. For the time being, it will just be my musings about my progress toward my VO goals. I often think best at the keyboard, so this will serve as cheap therapy.
It’s also an excuse to explore WordPress, which I’ve wanted to do for a while.
Enjoy the ride. I’m sure I will.
The Mic Guy: Adventures in Voiceover 