Casting Voices

When you listen to the radio, you're likely to be in a vehicle facing numerous distractions and performing actions like catching a green light, stopping for pedestrians, and checking your mirrors. What do you remember from a radio ad?

Amid all the distractions, whether in a car or not, it is increasingly difficult to remember every word that is said in a radio commercial.

This is why experts are encouraging advertising agencies to limit their commercial copy (script) to 80 words or less in order to convey their message.

What are the benefits of less words in a commercial?

1. A more moderately paced voice-over
2. More concise copy
3. Higher percentage of listeners who retain your message

Think of what would happen if you had to write down a commercial, word for word, after only hearing it once. Even if you were solely concentrating on that commercial, it would be hard to remember what was said verbatim, or word for word.

After this exercise, one would be able to jot down key words, or keywords - basically, the words that are most important and best convey the theme and call for action of the commercial.

Take those words, form your copy around them, and be sure that each word is relevant to your script. :30 is not a long time to get in 80 words, so they had better be the words that count.

Where did we get the notion of 80 words or less? Check out Warren Johnson's Unsolicited Marketing Advice blog for more details and helpful tips on how to minimize the length while maximizing the effectiveness of your copy.

Happy writing,

David.

Increased visibility and relevancy is key to support a thriving voice industry, and with your help, there will be no question about where your colleagues will go to get their voice work recorded and receive the best service in the industry.

Greetings,

We are inviting you to trade links with us!

Why should you trade links with Voices.com?

1. Your website will rank higher (link popularity)
2. Potential customers needing your services will be directed to your website
3. You'll help more talent find work, one link at a time

Increased visibility and relevancy is key to support a thriving voice industry, and with your help, there will be no question about where your colleagues will go to get their voice work recorded and receive the best service in the industry.

To exchange links with Voices.com, click here.

To mutual success!

Stephanie and the Voices.com Team

A co-founder needs to be a good communicator, a person with whom you have synergy, and a friend. A healthy business partnership is comparable to a marriage, built on a solid foundation of trust, respect, and understanding.

Greetings,

When it comes to choosing a business partner, it's very similar to getting married.

This week, we were interviewed by Sean Wise, the Managing Director of Wise Mentor Capital, a national venture capital consultancy focusing on bridging the gap between entrepreneurs and capital and a columnist for the Globe and Mail in Toronto.

Sean asked us if we could share our thoughts with him about choosing a co-founder and how it relates to marriage (David Ciccarelli and I are married to each other).

We shared the following:

"A co-founder needs to be a good communicator, a person with whom you have synergy, and a friend. A healthy business partnership is comparable to a marriage, built on a solid foundation of trust, respect, and understanding. When two complementary business people come together to form a company, guided by the same vision and values, they are at the very heart of their corporate family, and nurture the business as parents would their children."

Here's a link to a fabulous article that may help you in your quest, complete with pearls of wisdom from Sean Wise.

Taylor Woodrow Homes and What I Want Podcasting® Bring Real Estate Podcasts to Home Buyers. Taylor Woodrow, a leading international homebuilder with nearly 40 communities in the Western Region and What I Want Podcasting®, a leading podcast development firm has joined forces to offer podcasts of their communities to potential home buyers.

Toronto, Canada (InteractiveVoices Press) June 14, 2006 -- Taylor Woodrow, a leading international homebuilder with nearly 40 communities in the Western Region and What I Want Podcasting®, a leading podcast development firm has joined forces to offer podcasts of their communities to potential home buyers. Podcasting has quickly become a revolution in the way real estate is marketed, reaching online buyers as well as iPod users.

"The ability to reach targeted demographics with high quality video tours of communities and individual homes is incredibly powerful. It gives the user the power to put the choice of home buying in the palm of their hand, and that level of comfort leads to better brand relationships with interested home buyers" says Ryan Hoback, CEO of What I Want Podcasting®.

The Taylor Woodrow launch represents the first foray by a homebuilder into the growing universe of podcasting, which has been steadily increasing in popularity over the last two years.

"What I Want Podcasting® has been a terrific partner in this process. When we approached them about what we wanted to do they helped us expand our original vision to encompass a variety of additional uses for the medium and its application in our business. By expanding our vision they helped us create a value driven integration that kept startup costs reasonable because of the multiple uses of what we were creating." said Mike Forsum, Western Regional President for Taylor Woodrow Homes.

"We’re working to create a deeper, more meaningful relationship with our potential customer by respecting where they are in their lives and how they want to receive information," adds Forsum.

There are 7 different communities that are available in the western region currently, with more communities to follow. These podcasts can be found in iTunes by simply typing "Real Estate" into the podcast search, or they can be found at Taylor Woodrow's site as well as on the What I Want Podcasting iTV Network.

"Taylor Woodrow has incorporated podcasting into their business model to increase home sales by catering to the technological revolution and practicality of the podcasting industry. There has never been such a practical opportunity to market homes with a large national and global reach, while allowing the user to take the home buying experience literally into their own hands," said Ryan Hoback.

The integration of podcasting into corporate business models is becoming much more prevalent. Podcasting offers opportunities for traditional marketing & advertising methods to be extended, while complimenting existing sales activities and offering new revenue streams. There have been over 50 million iPods sold to date, with nearly 80 million portable media players in the United States; in addition, more than 70 percent of homebuyers are now using the Internet as an integral part of the home buying process.

Earlier this year, ESPN decided to approach the worlds favorite rock band, U2 from Ireland, to ask them if they could license some of their music and concert footage along with some fresh voice-overs recorded by U2 for the commercials.

Greetings,

I was reading the New York Times, and was excited to see an article about ESPN and their advertising campaigns airing during the 2006 FIFA World Cup.

Earlier this year, ESPN decided to approach the worlds favorite rock band, U2 from Ireland, to ask them if they could license some of their music and concert footage along with some fresh voice-overs recorded by U2 for the commercials.

U2, avid Irish soccer fans and humanitarians, wholeheartedly agreed and the deal was sealed, recording commercial spots which are now airing on ESPN amidst their 2006 FIFA World Cup coverage. You've probably seen these ads!

Bono, U2s lead singer, is said to be cheering for the Ivory Coast.

Anthem, Ivory Coast, Tartan Army, and Sick Days are available for viewing at the official U2 website.

If you haven't seen them, here's a link to U2s website to view the spots.

Cheers,

Stephanie

P.S. Another classic example of the media using celebrity voice-overs!

A revision, when pertaining to voice-overs, is an alteration made to an existing recording, whether slight or significant. Alterations may include the pronunciation of specific words, the interpretation of a script, or changes made to update the script over time.

Ever wondered what a revision is?

A revision, when pertaining to voice-overs, is an alteration made to an existing recording, whether slight or significant.

Alterations may include the pronunciation of specific words, the interpretation of a script, or changes made to update the script over time.

Most revisions are needed because of changes at your organization.

Generally, revisions are made to recordings that you intend to use for long periods of time, and can be regarded as ongoing updates to the script.

Revisions to your audio recording may be necessary when adding new personnel, products, or re-branding. It's kind of like maintaining your vehicle, ensuring that it continues to run smoothly... revisions to your voice-overs are less expensive, but are just as important :)

Revisions to your telephone system are very common and should be implemented in a timely fashion to communicate information to your customers consistently.

When your team grows, new extensions are added, or voicemail boxes need to be recorded, it is customary to return to the same voice actor who recorded your phone system originally and hire them to record "revisions" to your script.

This is one of the reasons why it is important to maintain good business relationships with voice actors. Some voice actors even have special discounted revision prices for their clients.

It's definitely something you should ask about when you select a talent to record. Knowing this ahead of time may save you a great deal of money in the long-term.

As you post your job on a voice talent web site, you know that you will receive a lot of replies. But quality is more important than quantity, isn’t it? After all, you’re typically looking for the BEST talent—the one that’s suited to your project—Not the MOST talent, right? Wouldn’t you agree that it’s best to have a good talent, rather than a mediocre one, for the same money?

One of our voice talents who is also a client at InteractiveVoices (soon to be Voices.com) submitted an article that will give you the inside track on how to get the voice you want at a lesser cost.

Julie's commentary is written from the perspective of a full-time voice talent who uses the Internet as a tool to find voice-over work.

Seeing through the eyes of a talent will become a major asset to you, so read on!

~~

5 Ways to get the best Voiceover Talent for Less Money

By Julie Williams

As you post your job on a voice talent web site, you know that you will receive a lot of replies. But quality is more important than quantity, isn’t it? After all, you’re typically looking for the BEST talent—the one that’s suited to your project—Not the MOST talent, right? Wouldn’t you agree that it’s best to have a good talent, rather than a mediocre one, for the same money?

Although you will receive a lot of responses to your posting, many of them will be from people who have never done a VO before, or those who really are not good at what they do. I know many great talents who will not even respond to certain postings—and you’ll never know about them because they didn’t respond!

So how do you Encourage the best talent to respond? Easy! Make us like you. We work for ourselves. We can work for less if we like you. Here are some easy ways that you can increase the caliber of talent who respond to your postings—simply by understanding the talent’s processes and seeing things from their point of view.

1. Respect the talent’s time

Don’t demand a custom demo right off the bat. The inexperienced, or non-working (because they’re not good enough) talent will reply immediately with a custom demo. And you may be impressed—till you hear a great talent do that job!

A seasoned, experienced talent is busy doing voiceovers… and will not always have time to send a custom demo if you catch them on a busy day.

Note: For many great talent, every day is a busy day! By all means, attach a sample of the copy. But don’t be offended if a talent responds with a demo rather than a custom read for you.

Frankly, I am not always the one submitting my auditions. My assistant may be submitting them for me while I’m in the studio! Before the Internet, we’d send demos out and a select few would get a “callback.”

A callback means, “I think you have the sound I’m looking for…may I please hear how you sound on my copy?”

2. Leaving your job open till the end date

I have many friends who subscribe to web sites like these for leads. We used to do custom demos as often as we could. Then we’d get out of the studio and go to submit the custom audition—that we worked on especially for a client—only to find that the client stopped the lead. Please give us the courtesy of sticking to your deadline…as we will meet your deadlines! Many of us (and I’m talking about the better talent on these sites—who are very busy working for high paying clients because they’re good) have stopped doing custom demos because of this.

3. When is it worth it for the GOOD talent to make time during their busy VO recording day to fit in your custom audition?

Depending on how hungry the talent is (mediocre talent are hungrier than seasoned talent) and how busy we happen to be that day… if the job will pay at least $500—if not $1000.

When I go into the studio… my priorities are:

a. Jobs that are due today
b. Pickups from jobs I’ve done that need a slight change.
c. VOs from repeat clients who I have a good working relationship with
d. Auditions for people who have specifically asked ME to read their custom copy after having heard my demo and decided they think I may have the right sound for them.
e. Time permitting, auditions for bigger jobs—IF I haven’t already just sent them a demo assuming that it’s better than nothing because they might close the audition before I get to it! ☺

4. Pay in a timely manner

Again, it’s courtesy. It amazes me that some clients need us to rush and make their recording a priority—and yet we have to jump through hoops to get paid. You don’t want to wait 6 weeks for your audio, talent don’t want to wait 6 weeks to get paid. There are practical reasons for this. Most talent are one-person offices.

A few of us have had to hire assistants to keep up with the volume of work and still give excellent service—which is important to us. But keep in mind that most talent do it all… marketing their service, voicing your jobs… re-voicing pickups till you’re 100% satisfied, Invoicing, and collecting. More amazing is that my experience shows that clients paying $2000 or more usually ask if they can pay all or part in advance, whereas clients who I did a $75 job for take months to pay!

If your project is important enough to hire a professional talent to do it, Why not put in the posting that you’ll pay immediately upon receipt of audio?

THAT will get most talent’s attention.. and the caliber of talent responding to your posting will be better. While most talents don’t take credit cards as I do… many of them do have PayPal. Or, they’d love to have a check mailed out immediately.

To encourage clients to pay in a timely manner, and save me collections time, it’s worth it to me to give a discount for this. That’s why I routinely give a “quick pay” bid and a regular price bid. The “quick pay” rate is typically $50 less than the regular rate—IF a client pays immediately upon receipt of audio, by VISA, Mastercard, or Paypal.

Sometimes, if the job is very low budget… the “quick pay rate” may actually be less than half of the regular rate! If I see that a low budget job (anything under $300) would be easy to do and I have time, or I love the copy, or it’s a ministry that I want to support—I’ll cut my rate WAY down… IF they’ll do me the courtesy of quick payment.

5. Respect what we do

I know that there are beginners on these web sites that you’ll have to sift through to get good talent. But there are a lot of great talent on sites like this! (I know—I’ve hired them! Or trained them! ☺)

What we do in unique. And we do it because we love it and we’re good at it.

You pay us because hiring a talented professional IS WORTH IT! It will increase the professionalism of your product. If that weren’t true, you’d voice it yourself. Most people have a voice that’s good enough to do VO. What most people lack is the ability to connect with people, presenting a message in a sincere or effective and believable manner—on a recording!

I include this in my list because, on occasion, I see postings that say (and I suppose this is to try to get us to work for less money) something to the effect of: “I’ll pay what you want as long as it’s not over $50 because I know it won’t take you more than 15 minutes to do it.” or “There are a lot of good talent out there who will work for less so if you want $500 per hour, don’t bother” (yes, I saw that!) That’s a posting I’d delete because if he doesn’t respect what I do, why would I cut my rates so much for him? I don’t like him.

Those postings will receive responses from hungry talent… and the clients will hire them, not even knowing that there are even better talent out there who deleted his posting.

However, were a person to post something to the effect of, “I know your time is very valuable and your abilities are worth more… but I only have $100 to pay for this project. However, I will pay immediately by paypal, or check. Please reply with your demo if you would be willing to do this project for me at this rate,” My demo just might be the first one they receive! Why? Because I like him! I know the same is true for many of my extremely talented VO friends!

I hope this list has been helpful to you. I know there are reasons that people demand custom demos. I know there are reasons that –especially large organizations with lots of red tape to go through—take a long time to pay. But I hope that seeing a little more through the eyes of the talent will be an asset to your future talent searches.

Summer has the effortless ability to make people buy things and get outdoors. This is perfect for industries such as travel and tourism along with seasonal activities and hot spots that get an extra boost from visitors far and near.

It really feels like summer now, doesn't it? The heat, the sudden rain showers, the smog... (cough!)

That aside, we are about to enter into a new season of advertising. With summer come a host of irregular events, promotions, and of course, the summer holidays.

Summer has the effortless ability to make people buy things and get outdoors. This is perfect for industries such as travel and tourism along with seasonal activities and hot spots that get an extra boost from visitors far and near.

People want to get out, explore, do something different...

It's a time for families, vacations, festivals, beaches, concerts, summer sales, blockbuster movie releases, and adventures...

On the immediate horizon, there are national holidays to consider. First, there's Canada Day on July 1st and then there's the American Independence Day on July 4th.

Have you got your thinking caps on for something new and exciting?

Remember that for all the advertising you do in the summer sun, you'll need a champion voice to voice your ad :)

You'll have no trouble finding the perfect voice with us, your #1 Destination for voice-overs.

Have you ever received a demo of your script from a talent only to find that there are beeps or sound effects included in the recording? These added audio clips are called "watermarks". Many voice talent add these short sound bites with the intention of protecting their work while providing their sample at higher quality.

Have you ever received a demo of your script from a talent only to find that there are beeps or sound effects included in the recording?

These added audio clips are called "watermarks". Many voice talent add these short sound bites with the intention of protecting their work while providing their sample at higher quality.

Variations on Custom Demo Protection include:

.: Slight script alterations
.: Names changed or mispronounced on purpose
.: Music beds and sound effects
.: Communicating to you directly in the recording as well as reading the script
.: And rarely, submitting lower quality audio files

Although these may seem annoying, even distracting, they are in place for a good reason.

While the Internet provides many opportunities for securing work, it has also unfortunately been used as a means of stealing creative products, including voice-over demos.

This is particularly true of custom demos of shorter scripts such as telephone voicemail boxes and commercials.

People who steal work are only a small margin of Internet users, but over the years, voice talent and other freelance creative professionals have learned the hard way, often by hearing their audition pieces used commercially without being paid for their services.

Now keep in mind that the use of demo protection techniques does not reflect how talent feel about you as a person or about your job, it's merely a professional decision. This is a very important distinction.

What can you do about this?

Don't judge a talent by their demo recording alone if they took precautions. Take time to consider their voice type, interpretation, quote and proposal. Think of it more like them wearing a hard hat at a construction site or applying sun block while outdoors in the summer.

If you need to present the audio submitted by talent to other decision makers, these precautions may make or break whether the talent qualifies to be presented as an option. If this is the case, contact the talent and share your situation with them and ask for another sample without alterations.

I hope I have shed some light on why talent may incorporate these watermarks or script alterations into customized versions of your scripts.

Does this give you a different perspective?

How do you feel about watermarks or script alterations in custom demos of your script?

Leave a comment!

When you post a job, you likely have a set amount of money in mind that you are willing to pay for voice over services.

Are there any variables in your budgeting that are worth more than others?

For instance, when you are hiring a professional, does their talent have more to do with the amount of money you will budget, or is getting a voice 0ver for less money (and potentially, hiring a less qualified person) the deciding factor?

Some other Factors when Budgeting may include:

.: Caliber of Talent
.: Experience
.: Studio Capabilities
.: Expertise
.: Turnaround Time
.: Service Packages (revisions, etc.)
.: Specialty Services (character voice acting, multiple talents, translation services etc.)

When it comes down to it, there's more to a voice over than just its cost!

Think of all the benefits that the best voice over can yield for your campaigns and reputation.

Now, that's something that money can't usually buy, but it IS something that a great voice over can.

Looking forward to your reply :)

If you work with voice actors in the video game production industry, you've likely noticed a few changes.

Recently, the Screen Actors Guild (SAG) raised the wages for SAG voice actors recording for video games.

"In addition to higher pay, SAG had demanded residuals for successful games -- not unlike the payments actors receive for television shows. The union didn't get residuals, but it did raise the minimum wage to $759 for a four-hour voice-over stint. It also got increases in required contributions to the union's benefits plan in a contract running through 2008."

Source, the Chicago Tribune.

Has this wage increase changed the way that you do business with voice actors?

It's nice to read something about a company that gives back to the community, particularly to wonderful organizations such as Gilda's Club.

I recently read the TELETOON press release dated May 30th about the airing of two public service announcements (abbreviated as PSAs) developed by Gilda's Club Noogieland members on Sunday June 4th, National Cancer Survivors Day.

The organizations supporting this effort were Gilda's Club, the National Film Board Mediatheque, and Toronto-based digital animation producer 9 Story Entertainment.

A number of child members of Gilda's Club were invited to try their hand at a career in animation through a series of workshops lead by commercial animator Bryce Hallett, an alumnus of Sheridan College and founder of Toronto-based Frog Feet Productions.

For roughly a month, these children were able to experience the creative process first hand, ranging from writing storyboards, production, and voice-overs in post-production.

On National Cancer Survivor's Day, these gifted children will see their efforts broadcast on national television.

This first-time joint partnership between the NFB Mediatheque (National Film Board of Canada) and TELETOON allowed participants to access professional facilities to produce their PSAs.

9 Story Entertainment, a Toronto-based digital animation production studio, organized and facilitated the animation studio tour at their premises in Toronto. The 9 Story Entertainment team donated studio time and the expertise of an editor, giving the children an opportunity to add sound effects and voice-overs to complete their public service announcements.

Here's a direct quote from their press release:

"Since the inception of the animation workshops, TELETOON has partnered with arts organizations, with elementary schools, and with kids clubs to promote the idea that all kids, no matter what their background, have an opinion regarding the issues that affect them," says Len Cochrane, TELETOON President. "We are proud and thankful that Gilda's Club, the NFB Mediatheque and 9 Story supported the founding principle of this community-based initiative, and assisted kids with the tools to better express their ideas and opinions".

For the past three years, TELETOON has offered a hands-on experience of the animation process for broadcast. Since 2004, 75 participants have had an opportunity to learn as they create animated work that expresses their unique viewpoints on issues significant to them and their peers (Source, TELETOON press release, May 30th, 2006).

To follow this story as it unfolds, click here.

For those of you who are in media production and distribution, you may have been a part of a similar initiative.

Has your company made a difference in your community?

Share your stories and leave a comment :)