Voice Acting And Practice – The Not Silent Blog 9/22/20

Practice does NOT make perfect. Hear me out…

Many new voice actors think just having talent is enough to succeed. False.

Many new voice actors think that talent + practice is enough to succeed. Also false.

It’s false for many reasons, but the reason we’ll focus on today is that most voice actors don’t know how to practice effectively. Here’s why.

In this blog entry as well as this blog entry I wrote about how much I was learning from Geoff Colvin’s amazing book “Talent Is Overrated”. Here’s a great quote:

The best performers set goals that are not about the outcome but about the process of reaching the outcome.

Talent + Process (or lack of) = your effectiveness as a narrator. If you don’t have an effective process to develop your skills as a narrator and are just repeating lines in the mirror until you think they sound good (whatever the hell that means), you will not get far.

TIP OF THE WEEK

Adjust your mentality of practice. Focus on being engaged in the story, seeking the author’s truth, and being open to direction.

Don’t practice, experiment. Do not get married to one interpretation of a read because you think it makes you sound good or you think it’s the “perfect” take. There is no such thing.

Here’s one way to put on the lab coat. Think about how much you are trying to inform, engage, or entertain with your read. What does the genre call for? What does the culture of the end-client’s company call for? Can you turn up or down how informative, engaging, or entertaining you sound?

Remember: there is no such thing as “good” or “bad” choices when narrating. There are only strong and weak choices. Make strong choices but don’t get married to them. The producer/director has the final say in what they regard as the best take so you need to be able to present them with strong choices. That is a huge part of your value as an effective voiceover business!

NEWS AND NOTES

THIS SUNDAY!!! Sunday, September 27th @2PM EDT: “The Practical Voice Actor: How To Make Informed Decisions About Your Voiceover Business” In this brand-new workshop, you will learn how to develop your decision-making skills so you can move your voiceover business in the direction you want it to go. You’ll also learn which questions to ask yourself and how to find the right answers in order to be the voiceover artist and business you truly want to be. It’s only $40 and virtual seats are limited. Click here to sign up!

Thursday, October 8th @8PM EST: My next Edge Studio Business and Money 201 webinar will be ‘Workflow’. In this one-hour webinar, we’ll talk about how to manage your office, inbox, and Systems of Thought. This webinar caps at 25 attendees and sells out fast. Click here to sign up.

Thursday, October 22nd @8PM EST: My next Edge Studio Marketing 201 webinar will be ‘What Your Website Says About You’. In this one-hour webinar, we’ll talk about how your website can help you gain or lose clients without you ever knowing it. This webinar caps at 25 attendees and sells out fast. Click here to sign up!

Saturday, October 24th @1:30 PM EDT: Johnny Heller’s NEW ENGLAND VIRTUAL NARRATOR RETREAT 2020. I will be presenting about Time Management and Workflow. There will be many amazing audio book narrators, coaches, and publishers. It’ll be swell! Learn more and sign up here.

November 6-8: Mini-MAVO is getting closer! This year I will be presenting “Rates, Negotiating, and Billing”. Sign up here!

HAPPY HAPPYS

Happy Doodle Day and Ice Cream Cone Day!

QUOTE OF THE WEEK

Tom Dheere is a voice actor who has narrated thousands of projects for hundreds of clients in over a dozen countries. He is also a voiceover business & marketing consultant known as the VOStrategist and produces the comic book “Agent 1.22”. You can subscribe to his weekly blog and the monthly VO Strategist Learnin’ Stuff Notice here.