Hello and Happy Celebrate Your Unique Talent Day! Do you have a unique talent? I can burp the alphabet. Does that count?
NEWS AND NOTES!
My next audio book, “Top Short SF Novels 4” will release on Tuesday, November 25. I had the pleasure of narrating four of the short stories. This was a fun batch. I think my two favorite to narrate were ‘One’ by Nancy Kress and ‘Murder on the Aldrin Express’ by Martin L. Shoemaker. Click here to check it out!
Last week I went to a recording session at one of the studios I frequent in New York City. I narrated one of those flashy internal corporate videos that explains the awesome new widget the company is using to make the lives of their employees that much easier. The clients were cool and I worked with a new engineer (new to the studio anyway) who was also cool. We discussed the video, looked at the animatic, listened to the music, then I jumped in the booth and did a take. I used my usual young, happy, guy-next-door “money” voice. They were happy with it.
They wanted a second take so I asked if I should change anything up. The engineer suggested I lower my pitch. I did it that way and they loved it! That’s when the client told me I was one of two finalists for the gig and the other guy had a much deeper voice and did a movie trailer-type read. The decision-makers were split down the middle as to who they wanted, but ultimately went with me. The client was thrilled with my read because they thought it would please those who wanted to book the deeper-voiced guy.
I find it fascinating that the engineer’s instincts matched up exactly with the client’s expectations, and they didn’t even communicate it!
TIP OF THE WEEK: When I was starting out in voiceovers in the mid-90’s , I thought I needed to sound like a “grownup”. You know: deep, resonant, James Earl Jones-like. It took me many years and a change in the industry to realize that my natural sound was what was booking me the majority of my gigs. Over time that young, friendly sound became my “money voice”. The voice that books me so many Explainer Videos, training videos, and audio books.
However, your “money voice” isn’t always what’s called for. When those moments arise, you need to be able to do two things:
1) Listen & internalize the client’s direction
2) Get comfortable being out of your comfort zone
If you can’t do that, you’re a one-trick pony and someday, that trick may no longer be in demand!
QUOTE OF THE WEEK:
People are basically good; if you give them the right tools, they’ll prove it to you every day. Biz Stone
STUFF!: I want to wish everyone a very safe and Happy Thanksgiving. The weather and traffic will be pretty hellacious here in the Northeast so be careful! Also, I will be out of town next week so no GKN Weekly Update until the December 9th. Until then…!
From Tom Dheere’s apartment, this is Tom Dheere: GKN News…
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