Well, in a manner of speaking. I’ve started taking a class called “Intro to Voice Over” in Seattle. It’s taught by Scott Burns, a local radio and voiceover talent. He and I met a while back and I ruminated over possible directions to take.

In  the end I decided to go with the class and once that is completed will probably work with Scott on putting together a demo reel and also see about followup classes.

The class is a weekly thing and I’ve only attended one, but it was very interesting. I thought I’d have a hard time learning a craft like voiceover in a group setting- I mean, how much can you learn from watching someone else at the mic, while waiting your turn?

Turns out, a huge amount. Just watching people and listening to their sessions gave me some real insight, which I didn’t expect. My time behind the mic was also fun. As an aside, I’d never spoken into a five thousand dollar microphone. It sounds every bit as good as you might think.

I need to ask if I can bring my own headphones next time- “cans” in the jargon. The ones they had were kind of uncomfortable for me.

The group is 8 people, a mix of men and women and various ages/backgrounds. Some highly talented people in that crowd, too. I found myself thinking competively, which isn’t the purpose of the class, but I think is healthy in the larger context- consider that voiceover is a competitive field and feeling like the efforts of others will spur me to better my performance can’t help but be good.

A few minor bumps aside, we seem to be at home in our new space. Unfortunately my blogroll was lost during the move (all my links got nuked), so I’ll have to rebuild that.

However, I’m off to PAX (http://www.paxsite.com) this weekend, so I’ll be unable to take care of that until Monday. I hope everyone has a great Labor Day Weekend!

I’ve made the decision to change my hosting provider, which may cause some disruptions in my website’s availability. I hope the transition is a smooth one!

As to why I’ve been quiet lately, I was pretty ill for a week or so, and then catching up on my “real” job has been a major focus. I’ve got some plans for taking some voice acting classes next month and working with a voice coach to produce a couple of demos- saving up my pennies for that!

In my explorations of the voiceover world, I’ve discovered that when you ask the question:

How important is a good voice to being a good voiceover artist?

The answers are surprisingly all over the map. At one end of the spectrum, some say you must have a “good” voice before you can do anything. However, it is often left undefined what a “good” voice really is.

It is a good question, wouldn’t you say? When people think of a good voice, they think of movie trailer announcers or radio DJs. However, if you listen carefully to radio, TV commercials and other media with voice work in it (if you want to be a voice actor, you should!), you’ll find that the world of voice acting is much more than “IN A WORLD…” and “SUNDAY, SUNDAY, SUNDAY!”

So what does it mean to have a “good” voice? Well, that depends on what you want to use it for. My voice, for example, is very deep and can even be somewhat gravelly if I want it to be. I have a great voice for doing narrations, audiobooks, and commercials requiring  a nice, warm and friendly “fatherly” voice, or a voice of authority. I’m not as suitable for doing a “young” voice- you won’t hear me as the young groom-to-be on a jeweler’s radio spot, but you might hear me as the jeweler.

Voices are all over the map, and the market for them is similarly all over the map. You don’t need the stereotypical “good” voice to be a voice actor. You must have a sound that would be desirable for some reason or another, and depending on your voice you might find that the number of opportunities to use it are wider or narrower. But the voice is only half of the picture.

The other half of voice acting

Is “acting”. It’s right there in the title: Voice Acting. You’ve gotta be able to act. That means create a character, make it believable, read a script (cold) and take direction. Voice actors have it harder than traditional screen or stage actors in every possible respect. They have exactly one tool to get their message across with- their voice. You can’t be seen in a radio ad or a web site voiceover, and that means you must be capable of carrying emotion, character and whatever else the job needs just with using your voice.

That’s not easy, and I believe it is why so many people think they can do voice acting and then discover they really can’t.

About taking direction- I emphasized that point for a reason. You really do have to be able to take direction- from the producer, the sound guys, whoever is in charge of the project. You’re not in charge. A voice artist is hired to make a specific product, and part of producing that product is to let people tell you what they want and make it happen.

It’s absolutely critical in this business that you check your ego at the door, because if you think you know better what something should sound like than the person who’s paying you, you’re going to learn very quickly how wrong you are.

Conclusion

So, if you’ve got a good voice, great! It’s not enough. If you’re a good actor, great- it’s not enough. But if you can look at yourself honestly and say that you have those skills, that’s a good start. But it’s also crucial to keep training both halves; your voice and your acting ability. I’m taking acting classes and working with a voice coach as I can afford it, and I can’t emphasize enough how important it is. Native talent and ability will get you absolutely nowhere on their own.

 

I met yesterday for a bit with Scott Burns, a voice talent and coach in my area yesterday. I had a great time talking with him and realized pretty quickly how valuable a voice coach can be. I was in the booth working with some cold copy and getting immediate, practical feedback was amazingly helpful. Doesn’t hurt that Scott is a very talented voice actor himself!

At one point he had me read a piece of copy while laughing the entire time- that’s not as easy as it sounds, by the way- and I had a hard time getting through it without actually breaking down in real laughter. When I turned around after the read (I was facing away from the glass, less distractions), he was laughing too, which I take as a good sign. Laughter is infectious, after all. After that he had me read the same piece, not laughing but with the same energy and style, and the result was astonishingly different- I honestly don’t know if it was a good sound for that particular piece, but the idea wasn’t to get a good read for that copy, but to demonstrate how much you can change the “sound” of a piece without really even realizing it until you hear it played back. I learned quite a bit from that.

My real goal with finding a voice coach or instructor is to help me build a skill set. I know I have the raw ability and a modicum of talent, but that’s not enough. Without another person’s ears and their (expert) feedback, I can’t really learn the craft of voiceover. Raw talent isn’t enough, and I knew that, but I was pleased at how much I learned in a short session just “kicking the tires”, as it were.

I could probably do a whole post on the difference between art and craft. I may do so.

Anyway, I have a couple of options from here. I could take a class with some other people starting in a few weeks, or work with an individual voice coach such as Scott. I think both approaches have merit; the first is less expensive and exposes me to other people in a group setting. Although there’s less individual time, you learn from other people in such settings.

The other alternative, an individual voice coach, is attractive but more spendy. It also gives me an opportunity to learn some of the technical side of things, which as a bit of a propellerhead, I’m always inclined to do. I think at this point I’m inclined to go that route with the goal of assembling a set of good demos that really showcase what I can do at the end of the process.

We’ll see how things shake out.

I’ve got an appointment in a few hours to see a voice coach. He’s going to put me in front of a mic, give me some copy to cold read and (I assume) we’ll talk about my sound, what I need to do in order to improve my voice and delivery, and maybe come up with a strategy for same. I’ll follow up with my experience and thoughts on the process later.

Oddly enough, I’m not really nervous. I’m not sure if that’s a good sign or a bad one.

As some of my friends who read this blog know, I’m a DJ on Split Infinity Radio, an Internet-based radio station. It’s a lot of fun and I get to be “spinning the decks” for a few hours every week.

It’s also great practice for improv and vocal control, because when you talk live, you can’t go back and edit it. So it helps me reinforce quality of my audio from the start of the process.

Up until now I’ve been doing music-only sets; kind of what you might hear on the radio with a DJ announcing tracks and talking for a few minutes here and there.  Like I said, fun. Plus the listeners are pretty awesome people and unlike “over the air” radio you can chat with them while the show is going on.

However, next week I’ll be starting a 2-hour talk show called the Declarations of War Broadcast. It’s a show based around multiplayer and online gaming, as I’m kind of a gaming guy and enjoy PVP (player vs player) games. The show will feature interviews, panel discussions and listener call-ins via Skype- not a small undertaking by any means.

This is something I’m really looking forward to as a chance to improve my skills even more, as keeping a 2-hour talk show going will be a significant technical and vocal challenge.

I just completed a promo for the show and figured I’d share it with you all. Enjoy, and if you have any comments on it, let me know.

[audio:http://cyclometh.com/wp/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/DOWPromo.mp3|titles=Declarations of War Promo]

I’m going to do a semi-regular feature here on The Voice of Cyclometh; when I add new entries to the blogroll, I’ll write up a post about the new links and why they’re on the list.

Today’s featured entries

• Jeffrey Kafer’s Voice Blog– Jeffrey is a voice talent in the Seattle area, who formerly worked at Microsoft as a software developer. He was laid off from Microsoft and made a sucessful transition to a great voice career. His blog is both interesting and informative, and provides some great insight into the work of a very talented individual.
• The Voiceover Boblog– Bob Souer has a fun, friendly blog that mirrors his style, and is very informative to boot. Frequently updated, Bob provides lots of links to voice-related resources- stuff like how a Neumann mic is made, which I find fascinating.
• Amy Snively’s Blog – Amy is one of the main driving forces behind Faffcon, an “unconference” for voice artists. Aside from that, she’s an accomplished VO artist and her blog is a lot of fun to read as well as having a lot of good information.

I have a ton more to add, so watch this space.

As I posted earlier today, I was working on reducing noise levels in my office cum studio. And boy, did I ever.

I wanted to get my computer moved out of the room where I do my recording, but needed a way to actually still use the thing. I ripped an old wall heater out, got a hole saw and punched some holes into cabinets that line the wall on the other side.

From there I put in some ABS pipe bushings- basically I went to the hardware store and grabbed a couple of fittings the right size- to provide a cable run and moved the PC into its own space where the noise it makes won’t be in here.

I’ll just let the results speak for themselves, shall I?

Before moving the PC out:

[audio:http://cyclometh.com/wp/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/backgroundnoise_before.mp3|titles=Ambient Noise – Before]

After moving the PC out:

[audio:http://cyclometh.com/wp/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/backgroundnoise_after.mp3|titles=Ambient Noise – After]

What did I learn? Well, the PC was a HUGE source of background noise. After removing it, the recording is practically noise-free. There is a tiny bit, but I think that what I’m hearing is from the sound card itself, which is why I’m glad I have an external soundcard on my “to purchase” list. It’s interesting that removing one source of noise reveals another one that was totally hidden before.

With the amount of noise on the recording, I can effectively eliminate noise entirely from my recordings with a minimal amount of processing, resulting in a far higher quality final product.

The main problem with noise in your recordings is that you can use a noise removal tool like the one in Audacity, but it reduces the overall quality and can really only effectively work when you’re not speaking. When you are speaking, the noise will still come through a bit, but is “drowned out”. The lower the noise floor the better your final product will be.

Oh, and pics!

 

Via Jeffrey Kafer’s blog I found that there’s an “un-Conference” called FaffCon coming up in Portland, OR for VO artists. It’s on September 11th and 12th, 2010.

Sadly, I can’t make it, as I’m already committed to a bunch of stuff in September and didn’t hear about FaffCon until it was too late to change said plans, but I sure wish I could go.

Ah well, there’s always the next one- as a longtime con-goer for various topics, from gaming to fantasy, I love what you can accomplish at a convention/conference and I’m sure FaffCon will be a success. Also, I’m not sure how much I’d get out of it at this stage, but in another year I expect to be much better prepared to really dig into something like that.