Famous, stickers, breath & God

Alright? How's it goin'?

Pleasantries, tick.

May was a busy month. Lots of voice work, podcast editing and generally mucking about. (Not to be confused with mucking out).

And something, something award winner so I'm famous now.*

I couldn't make it to the ceremony but some buds from a voiceover accountability group woke me up at 10.30pm (I'd been asleep for AGES by then) to tell me I'd won. To be honest, it was better than the weird dream I was having about a parsnip growing out of my leg that got snapped off by my Puma school bag.

Who knows what difference this will make other than becoming even more arrogant.

Job of the month

Remember collecting stickers when you were growing up? Got, got, need, need, got. OMG A SHINY!! Well, that's what it's like in voiceover for me. If I get a "name" client, it reminds me of filling up a Panini sticker album. Except I get paid, rather than wasting all my pocket money trying to get Frank Stapleton.

ANYWAY.

May was pretty good for getting a shiny or two. Did a radio ad for a DIY store that isn't Homebase or B&Q and rhymes with Brickes. Did an in store announcement for a gym. A Pure one. Did a commercial for some railway company whose name is the opposite on a compass to London SouthEastern.

Sorry for the secrecy, but y'know, NDAs.

ANYWAY x2.

The funnest one from the last few weeks was some pre-recorded voice of God stuff for a local dance school's 20th anniversary show.

I had to say LAAADIES AAAAND GEEENTLEMEN.

Life complete.

A voiceover tip

There are lots of opinions on breathing technique for voiceover. Some say to mark points on the script where you should breathe. Others say take a deep breath, then let a bit out, then keep topping back up whenever you need to.

My breathing was all over the place for a long time. Very loud, in weird places, having to stop for breathers. It was bad.

So I stopped thinking about it. We don't think about breathing when chatting with someone, do we? Same as we don't think about blinking.

Since I stopped worrying about it and letting it become a natural process, I've had no more problems.

Frequently Asked Question

When I'm asked "Ooh what voices can you do?" I tend to go off on one about how 90% of my work is my normal voice with different emotions, styles, etc etc. Then when I'm hit with the follow up "Yeah but what voices can you do tho?", I relent and whip something out of the toolbox while I die inside for becoming a performing monkey.

Fact is, voiceover isn't "doing voices". It's acting. Of course, part of that can be changing your voice completely for a character, but it only works if you can act and make people believe.

Do keep asking me this question though, I'm very lonely.

Yes, I've resorted to a meme. And actually, in this context, it makes no sense.

Bye then

Bye then.

If you'd like to talk to me about talking for you, or have a talk about talking for a living, let's talk.

*I'm not famous.

(I am).