VC Radio
Voice Coaches Radio Episode 724 ” Most Misunderstood Parts Of Voice Overs Part 1″
John: [00:00:00] Well, hello my friends. I'm John.
Tina: And I'm Tina.
John: And this is Voice Coaches Radio.
Tina: Oh, was I supposed to... Every time I
John: forget. I know. That sounded pretty official, though, didn't it?
Tina: It did. Yeah. It's- you sounded like a voice actor.
John: Yeah, yeah. Sounded good. Uh, all right, so here we are, and it is a, a beautiful day here- Mm-hmm
in upstate... Although, you know what? I don't know if we're upstate New York. I say upstate- Hmm ... New York, but when people think upstate, they think, like, Buffalo, Rochester.
Tina: Yeah.
John: We're far from that,
Tina: right? They're wrong. Yeah. We're right. We are upstate. Yeah. We're upstate. Straight upstate. Yeah, yeah. Straight up.
Th-
John: they're more-
Tina: That's why. West ...
John: west or- Yeah ... New York, yeah. All right. Well, anyway. So w- the, the topic for today.
Tina: Mm.
John: What is it?
Tina: Um, I for- y- I forgot. We have a bunch of things that we're gonna talk about
John: today. I know. Let, let me look. Let me look. I, hold on.
Tina: I- Misunderstandings of voice acting. I'm gonna go with that.
John: Oh, yeah. That, well, [00:01:00] what was the official... Hold on. I have it written down so, so we get- You have a,
Tina: you've got the official ...
John: the official name of the po- uh, of this podcast or this episode of the podcast is The Most Misunderstood Parts of Voiceover.
Tina: Okay. There you go.
John: There we go.
Tina: All right. That's good.
John: And I think this will be really helpful because- Mm-hmm
there are so many.
Tina: There are so lots.
John: We're gonna keep to six, though.
Tina: Yes.
John: We'll do six. But we're gonna do, we're gonna split this up into two episodes- Mm-hmm ... because this could be long, right? So- Yeah ... we're gonna do, uh, three- Mm-hmm ... for this episode, and we're gonna do part two- Okay ... maybe next week, which, you know, is like a cliffhanger.
It is. It means you have to listen.
Tina: I know. Have to. I know. You'll be, you'll be waiting for it, too.
John: Not that we need cliffhangers, because I know we keep you intrigued every week. You can't help yourself but listen.
Tina: I'm so... Oh, my goodness. All the people who tell me- Yeah ... they love listening to us. Yeah.
John: All right.
Oh, and maybe I should make this clear, by the way.
Tina: All right.
John: A- apparently, I wasn't clear enough when I, when I did the, I think, what episode it was, but, uh, it was about, I think it was about the types of voiceover work out there. Mm-hmm. Where I talked about how I did, uh, The Amazing Race, and I did, uh, I thought I was clear when [00:02:00] I said it wasn't the real Amazing Race.
It was an Amazing Race- Mm-hmm ... uh-
Tina: Type of activity. Yeah ...
John: activity in Cozumel. Mm-hmm. I've had multiple people tell me- ... "Hey, I recognize you from The Amazing Race." Yeah. I wasn't on The Amazing Race.
Tina: No, it was not, you were not on The Amazing Race.
John: It was a, a, an activity you could sign up for in Cozumel, Mexico.
Yeah. It wasn't the Amazing Race.
Tina: No.
John: Although, I feel like I could go on it now.
Tina: And, and win?
John: And win. I've- Yeah. Well, yeah. I mean, I, I d- didn't win that one.
Tina: No.
John: But I think I could now. I've learned from my mistakes. Now. Yeah.
Tina: Yeah.
John: Now I'm ready. Uh, all right. So l- let's talk about it. So number one, okay? Mm-hmm.
Number one on this list of, uh, misunderstandings-
Tina: Yes ...
John: right? Would be it's all about having a great voice.
Tina: Okay.
John: It, it- We get this a lot, don't we?
Tina: Yes, we do get... It's, it's like, I think at one point, there was at one point, you always heard the same type of voice.
John: Yes. You
Tina: know?
John: Way back.
Tina: Uh, way back.
John: In a world.
Tina: Yes. Right. It was that. It was that [00:03:00] voice. You do not hear... Not saying that is gone. Yeah. It's not, not gone.
John: It'll always be around.
Tina: It will always be around. But there's so many different voices. One person can say to you, "I love your voice," and then the person next to you, "I love that voice." They, there's so many different voices in voice acting.
You do not have to have one certain voice.
John: Absolutely. It's, it's, it's all different types of voices now. Mm-hmm. And when you talk about good voices It's subjective.
Tina: Yeah.
John: Right? Yeah. So just exactly what you said. A- and sometimes they don't even know what they want. Like, a producer could say, "All right, I'm cast, I'm gonna cast for this job," and they couldn't even tell you what they're looking for until they hear it.
Tina: Yes.
John: Right? They listen to a demo, they go, "There it is."
Tina: Yep.
John: So don't get wrapped up in that, "Oh, I have to have..." And I get this a lot. Mm-hmm. I'll meet people who are just getting into this, you know, when I do my webinars. Uh- Yeah ... keep in mind, if you wanna do an intro webinar with me- ... don't. Yep. Go to the website, sign up, and use the c- what is it?
Pod?
Tina: Pod.
John: Is the code.
Tina: Yes.
John: Discount code Pod. Yes. You get 50% off. Uh, uh, but anyway, when people [00:04:00] come to my intro to voice acting webinar and I speak with them afterwards- Mm-hmm ... I give them a chance to read or whatever, we speak a little on the phone. And they'll say things like, "I just, but I don't have that voice."
Tina: Mm-hmm.
John: And I try to explain, "We're not looking for that voice anymore."
Tina: No. "
John: We're looking for your voice. We're looking for real people."
Tina: That's exact- and, and the biggest thing I tell, 'cause I do get a lot of, especially when I do the evaluation, they're like, "People always tell me, and I don't hear it," you know.
Listen to commercials. Just go ahead. You're in your car, in your house, turn on a radio station. L- don't change the channel when the commercial break comes on, and listen to those commercials. And you will find, boom, one after another, it's a completely different voice.
John: Absolutely.
Tina: Yep. Between male and female.
You'll even have kids in there. You just, it's, it's different. There's no one voice that's the same. And it's
John: the way we want it.
Tina: Yes.
John: Because we want you to identify with-
Tina: Mm-hmm ...
John: the, the, whether this be a commercial, or whether it be an audiobook- Mm-hmm ... whether it be even a documentary, they're not only using those voices anymore.
Nat Geo, National Geographic at this [00:05:00] point- Yeah ... is using so many female voices right now. Which in the past, you know, wasn't. Wasn't, no. I mean, documentaries-
Tina: It was
John: always,
Tina: yes ...
John: predominantly male voices. Mm-hmm. Not anymore.
Tina: Yeah.
John: So we're looking for all different types of voices, okay? So that was number one.
Um, i- it's all about having a great voice. It's just not true. Although, again, there's different types of great voices.
Tina: Yes, there is. Different types. When, when
John: we talk, when we say great voice, you know, it's like the voice of God, right? Yeah. What it's doing, right? So- You
Tina: don't have to have that voice. No. Yeah.
John: Uh, number two, reading is easy. I read all the time.
Tina: Yeah, so do I.
John: Yeah. It's a little different in voiceover.
Tina: It is.
John: Right? So yes, great. Uh, you know, your number one job description as a voice actor- Mm-hmm ... is to read out loud accurately. Now, if you tell me you read all the time- Mm-hmm ... I'm guessing that means you don't read out loud all the time.
No,
Tina: yeah.
John: You read books to yourself. Mm-hmm. And when we read to ourselves, we don't read, we skim.
Tina: Exactly. Our
John: eyes see it- Yes ... but we don't... Right? It doesn't have to be perfect. Mm-hmm. This industry, you have to be very, you have to be accurate.
Tina: Yep, that is the m- number one, accuracy.
John: Accuracy. Accuracy. [00:06:00] Um, but also you have to learn- Mm
how to be conversational. It's completely different. Reading a book to yourself-
Tina: Mm-hmm ...
John: uh, is completely different than- Being conversational during the read.
Tina: Yes.
John: And when I say that, being believable, sounding r- real. We, we, we don't know what that's like. We've been taught our whole lives- Mm-hmm ... to read incorrectly.
Yeah. As far as being a voice actor, right? Mm-hmm. You remember the days. I, I can remember to this day when I was in, in school. Yeah. Especially middle school is when it happened the most. They would say, "Okay, stand up and read to the class." And-
Tina: Yes. ...
John: you were, you're, like, nervous, your palms are sweating. Yeah.
And then you do that thing where you're, "All right, so t- yesterday." Yeah. You, you... Right? You're just reading, you're projecting out, you're just trying to get it over with. Mm-hmm. That is not, obviously, this job.
Tina: No.
John: You have to sound natural. And there are skills, we've said this before, there are skills you absolutely have to have when it comes to reading copy.
Mm-hmm.
Tina: Yeah. And we definitely go over those. A lot of it is when we do, when you're not a voice actor, you just read it to read it. And [00:07:00] as a voice actor, you're doing something different. You are reading it to us, but you may be telling us a story, you know, about a company. Yeah. You know? Or giving us instructions.
But it doesn't, it... It's not to sound like you're reading it, but, like, off the top of your head, even though you are reading it. Exactly. And that's that conversational sound- Yeah ... that we get into, and we talk about that in that, uh, in our classes.
John: Yep. And you have to be able to interpret copy.
Tina: Yes.
John: Uh, what's the intention behind each l- I tell people that, break it down, too.
Because- Mm-hmm ... you know, you can't just break down a, a, a, just a piece, right? A whole piece. You really have to understand the intention between each line.
Tina: Yeah.
John: Right? And that, that helps you be natural. Because in conversation, we have intention- Mm ... in everything we say.
Tina: Yes.
John: We're never just saying things for
Tina: no reason.
No. Yeah.
John: Right? So yeah, so, so it is important. So again, that is the second misunderstanding. Mm-hmm. Which is reading is easy, I read all the time. Uh, number three. And this is a big one I get- Mm-hmm ... all the time.
Tina: Yes. "
John: I need a home studio before I even start."
Tina: No.
John: [00:08:00] Oh, I c- I just hate this happen.
Tina: No. And it,
John: and it can discourage people.
Tina: It, yes, it definitely can. It-
John: I just met someone in my intro webinar- Mm-hmm ... who, the first thing they said was, and by the way, I, this does, this is sometimes perplexing to me. When someone does something, right? Mm-hmm. A- and they do, and, and they haven't had, they haven't spoken to me yet. They maybe haven't had an intro- Mm-hmm
or I don't know, they had an intro with someone who doesn't know what they're talking about- Yeah ... which can happen. Uh, so- Yeah. ... they do things out of order, and they, and they're discouraged- Mm-hmm ... which is why they're taking another intro, and they're, and they get the right person, which is me. And, and then when I explain to them how it really works, they, they, they re-ask the question.
Like, I'm talking about something, and I, and I talk about how, I actually said during the webinar- Mm-hmm ... the recording equipment or the home studio is not the first step, right?
Tina: Yeah.
John: And then the person goes, "Well, w- well, what about, um, doing stuff w- with your home studio online?" I said, "Are you a, are, so are you a voice actor that's had any coaching?"
"No." Mm-hmm. I go, "Let me guess how [00:09:00] that's going for you." Yeah. "You haven't gotten any jobs yet online." "Well, no." "Correct."
Tina: Yeah. "
John: I'm trying to explain to you this is not the order. Right? It's education, demo, work. That's the order. And then- Mm-hmm ... once you start to build some clients, somewhere in there- Yeah ... you can start looking at..."
Does it, of course, listen, if you wanna record from home, I encourage it.
Tina: Oh, absolutely. There's so much work
John: out there.
Tina: Yes,
John: yes. But you're not gonna do that right away.
Tina: No, no. Right?
John: The, the, there's important things that c- that come- Mm ... prior to that, right? Yes,
Tina: yeah.
John: Uh, number one, educating yourself as a voice actor.
Mm-hmm. Getting some voice coaching, right? So, yeah.
Tina: Well, that's the biggest thing. You think about it, though. If you're buying equipment first, w- how are, how... First of all, I'm a, I'm gonna assume you're walking into maybe, like, a, a music store or calling some place. And yeah, that salesperson is gonna sell you a lot of equipment.
Oh, they
John: sure are. Yeah,
Tina: they'll- A lot of equipment that you probably don't need. And, and that's, so you started there, and then you're coming in for, and then you're r- coming it back, kinda going [00:10:00] backwards, you know? Yeah. And then, but do the training first so that you can realize what you need and what direction you're gonna go in so that you do buy the right equipment instead of spending all that money on the wrong equipment.
Yeah,
John: yeah. I think what happens is there's s- there, th- th- unfortunately, there's some, um, people out there, and, uh, what happens is you see these ads. Like, I've seen them.
Tina: Mm-hmm.
John: There's these ads on social media from people doing webinars like I do, but they, the, the way they're selling tickets to the webinar- Mm
ah, j- I, I, I, my personally have a bit of an issue with it. Like, 'cause the ad will say something like When you, you know, you, uh, everyone wants to get into voiceovers, but I know you think you need, you think you need- Ah, see now, see- ... to have a demo. You think you need all this, but you don't. Mm. And it's like all those people who are telling you that-
Tina: Yeah
John: all have demos.
Tina: Yes, they do. Yes, they do. They
John: all have demos.
Tina: Yes.
John: So when they say you don't need a demo, they're just lying to you. It's a straight out lie, by the way.
Tina: Yeah.
John: They're lying to get you to sign up to, for their [00:11:00] webinar, right? Mm-hmm. So they're selling you tickets by telling you f- things that are not true.
Believe me- Yeah ... when you get to that webinar, remember what they said.
Tina: Yeah.
John: Because you're gonna learn during the webinar you do need a demo. You need a demo. Even though they told you during their ad to get you in the webinar you don't need a demo. You do.
Tina: You absolutely do. You do. And, and you're, you're gonna get certain type of jobs where, one, they will say, "Here's a sample of our script.
Please record that for me and send it to me." Or, r- you know, they wanna hear what your voice sounds like. But then I will tell you, majority will say, "Can you send me your demo?"
John: Yes. "
Tina: Can you send me your demo?" Yes, I can, but you have to have a demo to send it to them.
John: Yeah. N- not only is most work on a local and regional level, which is where you're gonna start.
Yes. Most work on a local- Yeah ... and regional level, demo-driven, right? Mm-hmm. They're gonna listen to your demo. A lot of national work is, is also cast- Yeah ... with your demo.
Tina: Yeah.
John: A lot of it. The guy who's doing the McDonald's ads right now, we, we met him here. I- Oh ... think he, yeah. I did not know that. Yeah, he did something here.
Um, I don't think he did McDonald's here, but it was something else. Mm-hmm. But he's the guy who does- Yeah ... McDonald's now. He said he was cast [00:12:00] based on his demo.
Tina: There you go.
John: So he didn't audition for it. No. He was cast based on his demo. So, um, this, this, this, like, false, I don't even- Mm-hmm ... know where it comes from.
I, I, again, it's just people trying to... People will say- Yeah ... anything to g- right? And that's the difference. When I do my webinar, I'm gonna tell you the truth- Right, yes ... because either this is for you or it isn't. I don't want you to do something that's not for you.
Tina: No, absolutely not.
John: I love the industry.
Yeah. Doesn't mean you're gonna love it. Y- you might. Mm-hmm. I think it's awesome. Yeah. I think it's the best industry in the world, but I want you to know all the, the real facts before- Yes ... you make that decision. So, I, yeah, eh, so, no, you do not need a home studio before you get- Before ... into this. Yes. As a matter of fact, there's a bunch of things that come first.
I'm not saying that you shouldn't buy- Mm-hmm ... recording equipment down the road as a part of your voiceover journey.
Tina: Yes, down,
John: yes. I'm not saying that. Mm-hmm. I'm saying that that's not the first thing you do. Absolutely not. It's down the road.
Tina: Yeah.
John: First thing, get a voice coach. Mm-hmm. Or i- if you haven't even done that yet, listen, first thing, go to an intro webinar.
Tina: That's, yeah, it's-
John: Specifically with [00:13:00] me.
Tina: Yes, absolutely.
John: If you want the, the best one. Uh, but then, but then, you know, learn about this. That's, that's the key.
Tina: That is the biggest thing because, you know, you... And I do get a lot of students who will say because someone said, "Oh, you've got a really w- nice voice, you should do this."
Look into that. Look into, "How do I become a voice actor?" Mm-hmm. That's your first step.
John: Yeah.
Tina: You know? And then that's gonna lead you to everything else. Education's always gonna be first. Yes, education first.
John: Right. All right, so there you go. That, that is the first half. Yes. The first half-
Tina: Mm-hmm ...
John: of that episode.
Tina: Um- Of misunderstandings in voice acting.
John: The most misunderstood parts- Understood ... of voiceover. That's the official name of the episode. All right, that's
Tina: the official-
John: The most misunderstood parts of voiceover. That is, uh, the first half of that.
Tina: That's part one. W-
John: yep. When we come back- Mm-hmm ... uh, next week, you're gonna hear the second half.
The, the, there's six total bullet points- Mm-hmm ... I guess you'd call them.
Tina: Yep.
John: And we'll come back and do the last three.
Tina: All right, sounds good.
John: All right. So, I wanna thank everybody very much for listening. Uh, again, uh, [00:14:00] [email protected] if you wanna contact me.
Tina: Or [email protected].
John: All right. I wanna thank everybody very much.
We love you, and we out.
Tina: And I'm Tina.
John: And this is Voice Coaches Radio.
Tina: Oh, was I supposed to... Every time I
John: forget. I know. That sounded pretty official, though, didn't it?
Tina: It did. Yeah. It's- you sounded like a voice actor.
John: Yeah, yeah. Sounded good. Uh, all right, so here we are, and it is a, a beautiful day here- Mm-hmm
in upstate... Although, you know what? I don't know if we're upstate New York. I say upstate- Hmm ... New York, but when people think upstate, they think, like, Buffalo, Rochester.
Tina: Yeah.
John: We're far from that,
Tina: right? They're wrong. Yeah. We're right. We are upstate. Yeah. We're upstate. Straight upstate. Yeah, yeah. Straight up.
Th-
John: they're more-
Tina: That's why. West ...
John: west or- Yeah ... New York, yeah. All right. Well, anyway. So w- the, the topic for today.
Tina: Mm.
John: What is it?
Tina: Um, I for- y- I forgot. We have a bunch of things that we're gonna talk about
John: today. I know. Let, let me look. Let me look. I, hold on.
Tina: I- Misunderstandings of voice acting. I'm gonna go with that.
John: Oh, yeah. That, well, [00:01:00] what was the official... Hold on. I have it written down so, so we get- You have a,
Tina: you've got the official ...
John: the official name of the po- uh, of this podcast or this episode of the podcast is The Most Misunderstood Parts of Voiceover.
Tina: Okay. There you go.
John: There we go.
Tina: All right. That's good.
John: And I think this will be really helpful because- Mm-hmm
there are so many.
Tina: There are so lots.
John: We're gonna keep to six, though.
Tina: Yes.
John: We'll do six. But we're gonna do, we're gonna split this up into two episodes- Mm-hmm ... because this could be long, right? So- Yeah ... we're gonna do, uh, three- Mm-hmm ... for this episode, and we're gonna do part two- Okay ... maybe next week, which, you know, is like a cliffhanger.
It is. It means you have to listen.
Tina: I know. Have to. I know. You'll be, you'll be waiting for it, too.
John: Not that we need cliffhangers, because I know we keep you intrigued every week. You can't help yourself but listen.
Tina: I'm so... Oh, my goodness. All the people who tell me- Yeah ... they love listening to us. Yeah.
John: All right.
Oh, and maybe I should make this clear, by the way.
Tina: All right.
John: A- apparently, I wasn't clear enough when I, when I did the, I think, what episode it was, but, uh, it was about, I think it was about the types of voiceover work out there. Mm-hmm. Where I talked about how I did, uh, The Amazing Race, and I did, uh, I thought I was clear when [00:02:00] I said it wasn't the real Amazing Race.
It was an Amazing Race- Mm-hmm ... uh-
Tina: Type of activity. Yeah ...
John: activity in Cozumel. Mm-hmm. I've had multiple people tell me- ... "Hey, I recognize you from The Amazing Race." Yeah. I wasn't on The Amazing Race.
Tina: No, it was not, you were not on The Amazing Race.
John: It was a, a, an activity you could sign up for in Cozumel, Mexico.
Yeah. It wasn't the Amazing Race.
Tina: No.
John: Although, I feel like I could go on it now.
Tina: And, and win?
John: And win. I've- Yeah. Well, yeah. I mean, I, I d- didn't win that one.
Tina: No.
John: But I think I could now. I've learned from my mistakes. Now. Yeah.
Tina: Yeah.
John: Now I'm ready. Uh, all right. So l- let's talk about it. So number one, okay? Mm-hmm.
Number one on this list of, uh, misunderstandings-
Tina: Yes ...
John: right? Would be it's all about having a great voice.
Tina: Okay.
John: It, it- We get this a lot, don't we?
Tina: Yes, we do get... It's, it's like, I think at one point, there was at one point, you always heard the same type of voice.
John: Yes. You
Tina: know?
John: Way back.
Tina: Uh, way back.
John: In a world.
Tina: Yes. Right. It was that. It was that [00:03:00] voice. You do not hear... Not saying that is gone. Yeah. It's not, not gone.
John: It'll always be around.
Tina: It will always be around. But there's so many different voices. One person can say to you, "I love your voice," and then the person next to you, "I love that voice." They, there's so many different voices in voice acting.
You do not have to have one certain voice.
John: Absolutely. It's, it's, it's all different types of voices now. Mm-hmm. And when you talk about good voices It's subjective.
Tina: Yeah.
John: Right? Yeah. So just exactly what you said. A- and sometimes they don't even know what they want. Like, a producer could say, "All right, I'm cast, I'm gonna cast for this job," and they couldn't even tell you what they're looking for until they hear it.
Tina: Yes.
John: Right? They listen to a demo, they go, "There it is."
Tina: Yep.
John: So don't get wrapped up in that, "Oh, I have to have..." And I get this a lot. Mm-hmm. I'll meet people who are just getting into this, you know, when I do my webinars. Uh- Yeah ... keep in mind, if you wanna do an intro webinar with me- ... don't. Yep. Go to the website, sign up, and use the c- what is it?
Pod?
Tina: Pod.
John: Is the code.
Tina: Yes.
John: Discount code Pod. Yes. You get 50% off. Uh, uh, but anyway, when people [00:04:00] come to my intro to voice acting webinar and I speak with them afterwards- Mm-hmm ... I give them a chance to read or whatever, we speak a little on the phone. And they'll say things like, "I just, but I don't have that voice."
Tina: Mm-hmm.
John: And I try to explain, "We're not looking for that voice anymore."
Tina: No. "
John: We're looking for your voice. We're looking for real people."
Tina: That's exact- and, and the biggest thing I tell, 'cause I do get a lot of, especially when I do the evaluation, they're like, "People always tell me, and I don't hear it," you know.
Listen to commercials. Just go ahead. You're in your car, in your house, turn on a radio station. L- don't change the channel when the commercial break comes on, and listen to those commercials. And you will find, boom, one after another, it's a completely different voice.
John: Absolutely.
Tina: Yep. Between male and female.
You'll even have kids in there. You just, it's, it's different. There's no one voice that's the same. And it's
John: the way we want it.
Tina: Yes.
John: Because we want you to identify with-
Tina: Mm-hmm ...
John: the, the, whether this be a commercial, or whether it be an audiobook- Mm-hmm ... whether it be even a documentary, they're not only using those voices anymore.
Nat Geo, National Geographic at this [00:05:00] point- Yeah ... is using so many female voices right now. Which in the past, you know, wasn't. Wasn't, no. I mean, documentaries-
Tina: It was
John: always,
Tina: yes ...
John: predominantly male voices. Mm-hmm. Not anymore.
Tina: Yeah.
John: So we're looking for all different types of voices, okay? So that was number one.
Um, i- it's all about having a great voice. It's just not true. Although, again, there's different types of great voices.
Tina: Yes, there is. Different types. When, when
John: we talk, when we say great voice, you know, it's like the voice of God, right? Yeah. What it's doing, right? So- You
Tina: don't have to have that voice. No. Yeah.
John: Uh, number two, reading is easy. I read all the time.
Tina: Yeah, so do I.
John: Yeah. It's a little different in voiceover.
Tina: It is.
John: Right? So yes, great. Uh, you know, your number one job description as a voice actor- Mm-hmm ... is to read out loud accurately. Now, if you tell me you read all the time- Mm-hmm ... I'm guessing that means you don't read out loud all the time.
No,
Tina: yeah.
John: You read books to yourself. Mm-hmm. And when we read to ourselves, we don't read, we skim.
Tina: Exactly. Our
John: eyes see it- Yes ... but we don't... Right? It doesn't have to be perfect. Mm-hmm. This industry, you have to be very, you have to be accurate.
Tina: Yep, that is the m- number one, accuracy.
John: Accuracy. Accuracy. [00:06:00] Um, but also you have to learn- Mm
how to be conversational. It's completely different. Reading a book to yourself-
Tina: Mm-hmm ...
John: uh, is completely different than- Being conversational during the read.
Tina: Yes.
John: And when I say that, being believable, sounding r- real. We, we, we don't know what that's like. We've been taught our whole lives- Mm-hmm ... to read incorrectly.
Yeah. As far as being a voice actor, right? Mm-hmm. You remember the days. I, I can remember to this day when I was in, in school. Yeah. Especially middle school is when it happened the most. They would say, "Okay, stand up and read to the class." And-
Tina: Yes. ...
John: you were, you're, like, nervous, your palms are sweating. Yeah.
And then you do that thing where you're, "All right, so t- yesterday." Yeah. You, you... Right? You're just reading, you're projecting out, you're just trying to get it over with. Mm-hmm. That is not, obviously, this job.
Tina: No.
John: You have to sound natural. And there are skills, we've said this before, there are skills you absolutely have to have when it comes to reading copy.
Mm-hmm.
Tina: Yeah. And we definitely go over those. A lot of it is when we do, when you're not a voice actor, you just read it to read it. And [00:07:00] as a voice actor, you're doing something different. You are reading it to us, but you may be telling us a story, you know, about a company. Yeah. You know? Or giving us instructions.
But it doesn't, it... It's not to sound like you're reading it, but, like, off the top of your head, even though you are reading it. Exactly. And that's that conversational sound- Yeah ... that we get into, and we talk about that in that, uh, in our classes.
John: Yep. And you have to be able to interpret copy.
Tina: Yes.
John: Uh, what's the intention behind each l- I tell people that, break it down, too.
Because- Mm-hmm ... you know, you can't just break down a, a, a, just a piece, right? A whole piece. You really have to understand the intention between each line.
Tina: Yeah.
John: Right? And that, that helps you be natural. Because in conversation, we have intention- Mm ... in everything we say.
Tina: Yes.
John: We're never just saying things for
Tina: no reason.
No. Yeah.
John: Right? So yeah, so, so it is important. So again, that is the second misunderstanding. Mm-hmm. Which is reading is easy, I read all the time. Uh, number three. And this is a big one I get- Mm-hmm ... all the time.
Tina: Yes. "
John: I need a home studio before I even start."
Tina: No.
John: [00:08:00] Oh, I c- I just hate this happen.
Tina: No. And it,
John: and it can discourage people.
Tina: It, yes, it definitely can. It-
John: I just met someone in my intro webinar- Mm-hmm ... who, the first thing they said was, and by the way, I, this does, this is sometimes perplexing to me. When someone does something, right? Mm-hmm. A- and they do, and, and they haven't had, they haven't spoken to me yet. They maybe haven't had an intro- Mm-hmm
or I don't know, they had an intro with someone who doesn't know what they're talking about- Yeah ... which can happen. Uh, so- Yeah. ... they do things out of order, and they, and they're discouraged- Mm-hmm ... which is why they're taking another intro, and they're, and they get the right person, which is me. And, and then when I explain to them how it really works, they, they, they re-ask the question.
Like, I'm talking about something, and I, and I talk about how, I actually said during the webinar- Mm-hmm ... the recording equipment or the home studio is not the first step, right?
Tina: Yeah.
John: And then the person goes, "Well, w- well, what about, um, doing stuff w- with your home studio online?" I said, "Are you a, are, so are you a voice actor that's had any coaching?"
"No." Mm-hmm. I go, "Let me guess how [00:09:00] that's going for you." Yeah. "You haven't gotten any jobs yet online." "Well, no." "Correct."
Tina: Yeah. "
John: I'm trying to explain to you this is not the order. Right? It's education, demo, work. That's the order. And then- Mm-hmm ... once you start to build some clients, somewhere in there- Yeah ... you can start looking at..."
Does it, of course, listen, if you wanna record from home, I encourage it.
Tina: Oh, absolutely. There's so much work
John: out there.
Tina: Yes,
John: yes. But you're not gonna do that right away.
Tina: No, no. Right?
John: The, the, there's important things that c- that come- Mm ... prior to that, right? Yes,
Tina: yeah.
John: Uh, number one, educating yourself as a voice actor.
Mm-hmm. Getting some voice coaching, right? So, yeah.
Tina: Well, that's the biggest thing. You think about it, though. If you're buying equipment first, w- how are, how... First of all, I'm a, I'm gonna assume you're walking into maybe, like, a, a music store or calling some place. And yeah, that salesperson is gonna sell you a lot of equipment.
Oh, they
John: sure are. Yeah,
Tina: they'll- A lot of equipment that you probably don't need. And, and that's, so you started there, and then you're coming in for, and then you're r- coming it back, kinda going [00:10:00] backwards, you know? Yeah. And then, but do the training first so that you can realize what you need and what direction you're gonna go in so that you do buy the right equipment instead of spending all that money on the wrong equipment.
Yeah,
John: yeah. I think what happens is there's s- there, th- th- unfortunately, there's some, um, people out there, and, uh, what happens is you see these ads. Like, I've seen them.
Tina: Mm-hmm.
John: There's these ads on social media from people doing webinars like I do, but they, the, the way they're selling tickets to the webinar- Mm
ah, j- I, I, I, my personally have a bit of an issue with it. Like, 'cause the ad will say something like When you, you know, you, uh, everyone wants to get into voiceovers, but I know you think you need, you think you need- Ah, see now, see- ... to have a demo. You think you need all this, but you don't. Mm. And it's like all those people who are telling you that-
Tina: Yeah
John: all have demos.
Tina: Yes, they do. Yes, they do. They
John: all have demos.
Tina: Yes.
John: So when they say you don't need a demo, they're just lying to you. It's a straight out lie, by the way.
Tina: Yeah.
John: They're lying to get you to sign up to, for their [00:11:00] webinar, right? Mm-hmm. So they're selling you tickets by telling you f- things that are not true.
Believe me- Yeah ... when you get to that webinar, remember what they said.
Tina: Yeah.
John: Because you're gonna learn during the webinar you do need a demo. You need a demo. Even though they told you during their ad to get you in the webinar you don't need a demo. You do.
Tina: You absolutely do. You do. And, and you're, you're gonna get certain type of jobs where, one, they will say, "Here's a sample of our script.
Please record that for me and send it to me." Or, r- you know, they wanna hear what your voice sounds like. But then I will tell you, majority will say, "Can you send me your demo?"
John: Yes. "
Tina: Can you send me your demo?" Yes, I can, but you have to have a demo to send it to them.
John: Yeah. N- not only is most work on a local and regional level, which is where you're gonna start.
Yes. Most work on a local- Yeah ... and regional level, demo-driven, right? Mm-hmm. They're gonna listen to your demo. A lot of national work is, is also cast- Yeah ... with your demo.
Tina: Yeah.
John: A lot of it. The guy who's doing the McDonald's ads right now, we, we met him here. I- Oh ... think he, yeah. I did not know that. Yeah, he did something here.
Um, I don't think he did McDonald's here, but it was something else. Mm-hmm. But he's the guy who does- Yeah ... McDonald's now. He said he was cast [00:12:00] based on his demo.
Tina: There you go.
John: So he didn't audition for it. No. He was cast based on his demo. So, um, this, this, this, like, false, I don't even- Mm-hmm ... know where it comes from.
I, I, again, it's just people trying to... People will say- Yeah ... anything to g- right? And that's the difference. When I do my webinar, I'm gonna tell you the truth- Right, yes ... because either this is for you or it isn't. I don't want you to do something that's not for you.
Tina: No, absolutely not.
John: I love the industry.
Yeah. Doesn't mean you're gonna love it. Y- you might. Mm-hmm. I think it's awesome. Yeah. I think it's the best industry in the world, but I want you to know all the, the real facts before- Yes ... you make that decision. So, I, yeah, eh, so, no, you do not need a home studio before you get- Before ... into this. Yes. As a matter of fact, there's a bunch of things that come first.
I'm not saying that you shouldn't buy- Mm-hmm ... recording equipment down the road as a part of your voiceover journey.
Tina: Yes, down,
John: yes. I'm not saying that. Mm-hmm. I'm saying that that's not the first thing you do. Absolutely not. It's down the road.
Tina: Yeah.
John: First thing, get a voice coach. Mm-hmm. Or i- if you haven't even done that yet, listen, first thing, go to an intro webinar.
Tina: That's, yeah, it's-
John: Specifically with [00:13:00] me.
Tina: Yes, absolutely.
John: If you want the, the best one. Uh, but then, but then, you know, learn about this. That's, that's the key.
Tina: That is the biggest thing because, you know, you... And I do get a lot of students who will say because someone said, "Oh, you've got a really w- nice voice, you should do this."
Look into that. Look into, "How do I become a voice actor?" Mm-hmm. That's your first step.
John: Yeah.
Tina: You know? And then that's gonna lead you to everything else. Education's always gonna be first. Yes, education first.
John: Right. All right, so there you go. That, that is the first half. Yes. The first half-
Tina: Mm-hmm ...
John: of that episode.
Tina: Um- Of misunderstandings in voice acting.
John: The most misunderstood parts- Understood ... of voiceover. That's the official name of the episode. All right, that's
Tina: the official-
John: The most misunderstood parts of voiceover. That is, uh, the first half of that.
Tina: That's part one. W-
John: yep. When we come back- Mm-hmm ... uh, next week, you're gonna hear the second half.
The, the, there's six total bullet points- Mm-hmm ... I guess you'd call them.
Tina: Yep.
John: And we'll come back and do the last three.
Tina: All right, sounds good.
John: All right. So, I wanna thank everybody very much for listening. Uh, again, uh, [00:14:00] [email protected] if you wanna contact me.
Tina: Or [email protected].
John: All right. I wanna thank everybody very much.
We love you, and we out.
Tina and John talk about the misunderstandings many people have about voice overs.
