Greetings Voice over pros,

I spent 15 years in the radio and television business in the 1970’s 80’s and 90’s. I didn’t make much money and I was at too many radio stations to mention (I can’t even recall the call letters of some). My voice is nothing special, but I never had trouble finding work.

I found my niche in commercial production. (The guy at the radio station who makes the local commercials). I was in demand because I could take copy and bring it to life with a combination of music, sound effects and voice intonation. I mastered the art of using a recording studio to make myself, and my clients sound great.

I hated being “on the air,” giving the time and temperature and keeping to the tight formatics of each station. The fun was in the production studio! That’s where creativity had time to incubate and grow into something special, even with the lamest of copy.

In order to actually support a family, I left it all in 1991 to pursue another career in insurance sales. I was good at it. The one-on-one problem solving for people was very rewarding, but marketing, convincing anyone to even talk to me about their life insurance needs, was…. Hell! I hated cold calling with a passion (instead of loving it like the company seminars preached).

After 5 years, and better financial results, I left it to pursue teaching high school social studies and media studies and production. I loved that too, but found the public schools in the United States a disaster area of mediocrity. OK, that’s a little judgmental, but if you’ve been in a public school in the last 10 years, I’m sure you know what I mean.

Fortunately, my wife gave me the opportunity to become a stay-at-home dad, to be an important part of my kid’s lives. This was also rewarding, but a very lonely life.

After a few years of too little adult conversation, and my kids now being at school, I looked to contribute to my family with something I had always wanted to do.

I had always dabbled at home with recording and I had always kept an open door to doing freelance voice over work. It was now 2004. Since I had last ventured into a professional recording studio, the world of voice over had witnessed a revolution.

I came across this quite by accident.

I was finishing my Masters degree in 2002 and was offered to do a documentary about a legendary, local jazz musician as my Masters thesis project. It dawned on me that a bunch of talking heads would not convey the story the way just pure audio would. It became a radio documentary with the artist’s rare recordings serving as the musical bed. In order to record interviews I purchased a great studio microphone and a portable digital workstation at my local Guitar Center store. (A great resource, if you haven’t discovered that yet).

The transition to digital recording from the ol’ tape an grease pencil days was a pleasure. Tasks that took a great deal of time could now be done with the click of a mouse.

The hour long radio documentary was played on our local NPR affiliate and I was reconnected with the News Director, an old friend from my radio days some 15 years earlier.

One thing lead to another and I was given the opportunity to do a monthly political commentary at the station. After trudging to the station to record my conservative, almost Rush Limbaugh like commentaries, I offered to do them from home and just e-mail the 5Mb MP3 file to the station.

The News Director was thrilled. It saved him a couple of hours of precious time each month. And then…. Duh,… it dawned on me again. I could record anything and send it anywhere. I did a quick Google search, typing in “Voice Over.”

I’m sure you’ve seen the classic scene from the “Wizard of Oz” when Dorothy opens the door of her black and white tornado tossed house into the Technicolor Munchkin land. It was like that.

While I had been hibernating, the world of voice over had been revolutionized.

Virtual casting sites made it simple to get your voice out there and to do business with anyone and everyone. I was in a perfect position to exploit it with my knowledge of day-to-day production skills and the ability to do it from my custom home studio. I’ve never regretted it.

Since I began, I’ve received many questions from other beginners on how to set up their studios.

While attending a weekend seminar for a nationally known voice over coach, I found people asking more questions of me than our host. It seems the big trainers and coaches are training you guys to work in big studios. The philosophy is that a home studio is merely a facility to audition from. Nonsense!

The big guys doing the big stuff in NYC and LA Don’t want you to compete with them and their home studios. They want you to fight like cats and dogs over a declining industry, while they clean up in the comfort of their own home.

Folks, good quality sound and production IS NO MYSTERY. The skills to compete ARE NO MYSTERY. You can do it at home and make a nice side income or you can make that leap of faith to try to compete with the big boys and girls.

If you seek to succeed in voice over, you must learn some very basic technical stuff.

There’s jargon, there’s Internet protocols. There are more genres of voice over content than you can count, each with its own special needs and skills.

That’s why I’m here.

You will be faced with technical requirements from clients that you won’t understand. By the time you figure it out, the job will have gone to someone else. When that happens, or if you just are curious about something that seems technically mysterious, jump on my blog and ask away.

I’ll try to feature as many good questions as I can. Much of what I do is “been there, done that.” My answers are simple and understandable. From KHz to Kbs, I’ve got the answer or I’ll find it for you.

I am here grasshoppers! Seek and ye shall find!

Dan Lenard, Master VO

If you have any questions, please write to me and I’ll get back to you on the blog with my answers.