As much as possible, I really like to keep in contact with students who have come through the SuchAVoice.com voice over training program. I encourage students to reach out with their success stories so we can feature them in our newsletters, but I also encourage former students to reach out with questions and concerns when things don’t go as planned.
This is a big part of our ongoing commitment to the lifetime support SuchAVoice.com offers to students. Personally, it’s one of the facets of this business I enjoy most. I relish the opportunity to support students at getting those first few voice over gigs.
Recently, I was contacted by one of these former students. She had gone through our voice over coaching program a few years ago. She was actively engaged in the client acquisition strategies that we had taught her, but she was frustrated with the feedback she was getting from many of her auditions.
This particular voice over artist has an incredible vocal sound. Her voice has a crisp ring and a strong nurturing quality. Her diction and vocal inflection could really grab people, so I knew her problem wasn’t one of lacking authentic talent.
I listened to a few of her recordings, and I could hear something was off. It wasn’t her voice. It was the space around her voice causing the dilemma. I could hear an ever so slight echo. Her microphone didn’t seem to be picking up the full resonance of her speech, and there was also a small hint of ambient noise coming through.
I asked her a few questions about her audio recording space, and the source of the problem became clear. She indicated that she was recording while facing a 90- degree corner of her office right next to her desk. She did have some sound foam on the wall to absorb the echo, but it was clearly not enough.
There are several problems with this. First, speaking into a corner means that her voice was literally bouncing off the walls as she was recording. She and her microphone were so close to the wall that the sound was reverberating back into her microphone. The sound foam intended to prevent this was simply inadequate at stopping the echo. Second, her recording space wasn’t clean from ambient noise. She was close enough to her computer that the slight hum from her laptop fan was picked up by the microphone. Lastly, she was not speaking directly into the microphone from the appropriate distance to ensure that the microphone picked up the full resonance of her voice.
Within a few minutes we were able to identify several inhibitors that were sabotaging her audition efforts. I shared how to make a simple inexpensive sound booth from a milk crate stuffed with foam and how to clear her recording space from invasive noises. The results were profound. She sent me some new voice over samples, and I could immediately hear the improvements.
The point of the story is this: Sometimes we need to call upon our professional mentors to help us overcome a struggle. Struggle is a natural part of mastering any new skill. Assessing the cause and effect with these struggles accurately is critical to improvement, and receiving assistance from qualified professionals can greatly increase the odds of clearly identifying what’s working from what isn’t.
Prior to my feedback, this student was thinking about starting from scratch with a big investment into new voice over demos. Her self-confidence was besieged with doubt in her skills, and she was beginning to question whether she really had the talent for professional voice over work in the first place.
All she needed was a few adjustments in some simple-to-fix areas and some encouragement in her abilities from a credible source. We all need this sometimes, and at SuchAVoice.com this service is available to every student who has ever gone through our voice over coaching program. If you are a former student who is still struggling to get your voice over career launched, call us at 802-275-0154, or email us from our website.
SuchAVoice.com offers webinars and introduction workshops at hundreds of locations around the United States. If you’ve ever considered beginning a career as a voice over artist, reach out to us for a complimentary consultation and voice evaluation.
Lonny Hogan is a marketing and business development expert, working directly with Such A Voice to grow the brand.
