Cocktails, hors d’oeuvres and a steady stream of good cheer flowed through a crowd of prominent voice-over artists including Randy Thomas, Paul Pape, George Del Hoyo and Don LaFontaine Legacy Award winner Joe Cipriano. After the Lab’s grand opening ribbon was cut by Nita Whitaker LaFontaine and SAG Foundation Board President JoBeth Williams, words of rousing welcome and appreciation were shared by members of the Lab’s Advisory Board in the Actors Center Screening Room.

Many of the top voice-over talents on hand for the event were personally mentored by the late “King of Voice-Overs” Don LaFontaine, whose generosity and professional reputation inspired the construction of the Lab. The Don LaFontaine Voice-Over Lab’s classroom and dual-recording booth capabilities are designed to facilitate production as well as instruction of voice-over work, making it the first resource center of its kind.

Voicebank is proud to be one of the contributing sponsors to this wonderful project.  Congratulations to everyone involved.

The Staff at Voicebank

Tori Hartman began her voiceover work at the suggestion of her publisher, who wanted her to record one of her books on tape. Two weeks later, she was in a studio launching her new career. In 2005, Tori opened what has become The Garage 247, a full service voiceover recording studio. The Garage specializes in low-cost ISDN and has become a vital gathering place for new and established voice talent. She’s just launched her VO marketing teams where actors help each other with networking and marketing strategies.

Right+Click to download podcast (11.8 MB)

{Intro Music}

This Voice Registry podcast is brought to you by Voicebank.net

Tracy: Hi everyone I am Tracy Pattin and I am here at the Garage 247 with Tori Hartman. Hi Tori!

Tori: Hi Trace

Tracy: This is Tori’s studio, Tori is a voice over artist and many many other things. Let’s talk about that, let’s talk about your background and how you got started in voice over.

Tori: Well actually I didn’t step out and go “I want to do voice over” what happened was I wasn’t paying attention in a meeting and I’m an author I have written books and they said “So great, what do you think” and I said “Terrific, idea” and they said “Good” and the next thing I knew I was in a studio recording.

Tracy: And you had never done it before

Tori: No and you know what (Laughs) I had some experience as a kid, I mean you know I had done some commercial stuff as a kid. I got my SAG card when I was fifteen.

Tracy: Uh Huh

Tori: And my father was in the business so I grew up in the industry. But I really had moved away from that into writing books. Something happened Tracy in the thirty hours it took me in the studio.

Tracy: Yes, Right

Tori: And I didn’t know what I was doing I think most people don’t and you think “Oh! I am going to do voice over” and you jump into the studio and you have no idea the amount of work, the amount of intimacy, how the acting changes.

Tracy: Yes

Tori: How the conversation changes and because what happens like right now were doing a conversation that is inclusive of our listener. So I am very much aware of the person listening even as we are having this conversation.

Tracy: Yes

Tori: So it breaks that third wall, you know that fourth wall or whatever that wall is in acting.

Tracy: Exactly

Tori: But it’s that you know I am very much aware of the audience, not so much that I can show off to them but so that the person listening is getting benefit and that’s what voice over is, you are including them.

Tracy: Exactly, so it is interesting you have this hands on experience right of the bat.

Tori: Mhm

Tracy: And learned about these insights as you were doing your narrating your book.

Tori: Yeah and it was really like hitting the ground running. My background was, I have much more of a background in spirituality I have been a psychic for years so a lot of my work was in that area. So this was like what? But something I want to say, even as I am saying that to you is that I really respected this business as I respected all businesses but really I respected the fact that I didn’t know what I was doing. And so I took five years and studied, I studied with amazing people like Calmenson and Huck. And there is just a bevy of people.

Tracy: And Huck, what’s Huck’s last name

Tori: Huck Liggett at Voice Caster

Tracy: Okay, great

Tori: And you know I studied with people that really taught how to do voice over so that I wasn’t just you know another person coming in because you know there is a lot I want to say about that and you are really only going to get one big shot at LA.

Tracy: Yes

Tori: And so you know I have so many stories about that stuff.

Tracy: Well Tori, let’s jump right into marketing because what I find is so fascinating is you are really focusing on the marketing aspect of voice over and my listeners, all want to know about that especially with the economic issues. Although I wonder if we are really struggling that much as voice over actors because it seems like we are already having to reinvent ourselves all the time.

Tori: Well

Tracy: So

Tori: I mean I think the thing is and I will say this and then get right into the marketing aspect, which is that you know I think what’s going on in the world is a virus. So what I tell people is don’t catch it because I think it is one of those things that its convenient to be frightened.

Tracy: Yes

Tori: I think it’s an, let me put it this way, anytime we don’t know what we’re doing we get frightened, the reason voice actors and actors in general are doing better is that when we don’t know what we’re doing we study it. So it’s a different conversation, the world at large wants security, comfort, knowing, if you’re in this business and you want that you need to leave.

Tracy: (Laughs)

Tori: (Laughs) Cause it’s not going to be that way

Tracy: It’s true we were talking last night with your group, which we will get into that later with the actors and everybody is upbeat because this is what we already do. This is what we have to always deal with, curve balls.

Tori: Well and let me get to the marketing thing cause Tracy I think what we are really talking about, when I talk about marketing and when I teach marketing to people. We have a marketing team here that I started and it’s really kind of it started out as a class I was teaching but it has evolved. So it was back in October in 08 that we started it and now these people have been together for five months and you have to remember that we are missing in general in the world is a sense of community.

Tracy: Yes

Tori: Because know we are in a community where we don’t even have to talk to people, we can say one line on facebook and think we have connected.

Tracy: (Laughs) Exactly

Tori: So the thing is, is that especially with voice over it is so lonely.

Tracy: Yes

Tori: That the first thing that we established in our team is that we are all in a community, its like being in community theatre. And everybody is very supportive, so you will get in our team someone saying “so and so is hiring” or you know “don’t forget here is another thing I say on craigslist.” or “Voice 123” or there is different, um you know people talk about Voice 123 and how it’s affecting the business and all that, at the end of the day clients will work with you if your talented, your good at what you do and your very professional. You know what the solutions don’t change but when I am teaching people to market I am teaching them what I learned the hard people and most people in this town don’t do that because they don’t want you in it.

Tracy: (Laughs) And explain a little more about your team and what this group does? Does this group together on a weekly basis? Do you practice VO copy, as well as the marketing? What is the structure?

Tori: There’s a bunch of different things, initially it was going to “be here is some information on how to market yourself” that is how it started and so what I do is I teach them how to take stock of everyone they know. How to really create true relationships and what an authentic relationship is and authentic relationships in this business by the way and in this town are really, excuse me, they’re crap. Because here is what is going on, I had a client, I was working with and she came in very mad, she wasn’t on this team I was working with her privately and she said “I can’t believe this, this man just hit on me, he said he would have lunch with me and he would help me with my career and then he was like you know telling me he wants to have sex with me and I’m married.” So I backed up the story and I said “wait a minute, how did you meet him” “oh we were at a party and I started talking to him and we were talking about God and spirituality” and you know she said it was very interesting she said in the conversation she said “I wanted him to help me with my script”

Tracy: Uh Huh

Tori: Or whatever, you know it’s usually that or something my voice over career you know, different conversations. And I said “well, so let me ask you this, you went in with an agenda and now you are mad that he came in with an agenda”

Tracy: Good Point

Tori: Right so what a lot of our marketing does, a lot of what our work is, is getting rid of the agenda and remembering that we are here to be a service to people. And when we get into that vein we get more work because what happens is, it’s like what has happened in our economy, the hoarders, those who are greedy and are “I got to have that, I got to have that, I got to have that” are losing in the end run. Those we are in share mode are winning and we have to come together in communities, so the marketing team to answer your question does have a structure. First of all I had to strip away what was in their way of voice over, I also work them, I bring in one of my agents and in fact you met him last night but he does every once a month we do signature voice night and I teach people what signature voice is and I show them how to find theirs. And so a lot of the work were doing, we do a lot of, it can almost feel like in some ways like group therapy but a lot of this is like for a lack of a better way “peeling the onion back and finding what is the authentic you” because that is voice over, it is authentic. So if you are coming to the table with a “Hi, my name is Tori and can you listen to my demo?” It’s a very different conversation then “Tracy, tell me about what you do and who you are?”

Tracy: So you’re saying as the voice over actor ask that producer or that director about them?

Tori: Yeah and I don’t do it, even as I say that it’s much more than that. It is making sure that your agenda is clean, if you have an agenda people see it, I mean it’s like everybody knows like even the people listening, you know you have that one person that you roll your eyes every time that person walks in the room because it’s like “Hi! Let me tell you more about me and then you talk about me for awhile”

Tracy: Yeah, exactly

Tori: You know and you feel like, whoa. And here is the thing everyone talks about themselves but you have to at the end of the day realize that you are in a relationship with other people and you have to be willing to help them.

Tracy: I mean it is true Tori, in any business, I mean voice over I was saying again this to someone last night who is just getting into the business, saying that “you know what it is a business” and this guy has a business background and I said “great, you have a business background that is going to help you understand about this marketing component” which a lot of voice actors I think, I think we depend on our agents and we all understand we have to do some of the work but we don’t know how to do that.

Tori: Well then I think,

Tracy: I mean what do we need to do?

Tori: You know what constitutes getting to the next level is knowing where you are right now and they get into it thinking “Okay, I got to get an agent”

Tracy: Mhm

Tori: And it’s like “no, you have to really assess what you are bringing to the table” you know like people on my marketing team, I have got people, I have one man in his sixties and he’s starting out but he’s a great read, he’s good but I have said to him a hundred times and I continue “Your not ready for LA, I am not going to bring you into the LA market yet because you need more mic time”. And what happens is people get so impatient about making these demos and I have a whole conversation about demos that get me infuriated because people just throw copy at you and go okay read this and your demo sounds like you read it, it’s stilted and what I do with people is we pull tears out of magazines and I say “Okay, just read this” and they go “o’kay, Bayer aspirin feel better” and I go okay hand it to so and so and we pass that same copy around and we go “okay, who booked it?” and everybody goes “oh, so and so did”

Tracy: Oh, that’s good

Tori: Because what we learn is that it doesn’t, when we start hearing other people reading it in a group like that were not competitive because we love each other. Everybody has a great read, it is a question of “oh, I have to bring me to the mic” because the minute you start bringing to the copy what you think should be read.

Tracy: Exactly

Tori: You won’t book it, you will not book

Tracy: What is so funny in the improve roundtable we had this exact conversation, it keeps coming up about being truthful like Don Lafontaine would say “it is all about honesty”

Tori: And he was himself, the thing is that what’s interesting in doing the marketing team is that we have been together for five months now and I have just brought in a new team because I had just had five new team members and I had done a weekend with them and intensive and brought them in. And so every couple months I will bring in a few people and it is a very closed group in that sense but you know what’s great about it, is we are so tight that when everybody hears everybody in the team read the same line they all go “Oh, wow, everybody is good” and it was very interesting because one guys is a very good mimic so he read right after somebody else and he mimicked the other person and it was a good read but when it came back around, I was able to say to that person you just mimicked him but you’re a good mimicked. So now we know you shouldn’t listen to anybody else before you go in and he was like “oh” because you won’t be bringing you to the mic, you will be bringing what you think sounded good and everybody is like “yeah”.

Tracy: Mhm

Tori: And what was interesting is we did this I think twice and each time different people booked it and it wasn’t that person was better than anybody else but really it reminds us to be authentic in our dealings, really ourselves because that’s what people will buy.

{Outro Music}

This has been Part One of my interview with Tori Hartman join me next time for Part Two.

This Voice Registry podcast was brought to you by Voicebank.net, join us next time.

Tori Hartman began her voiceover work at the suggestion of her publisher, who wanted her to record one of her books on tape. Two weeks later, she was in a studio launching her new career. In 2005, Tori opened what has become The Garage 247, a full service voiceover recording studio. The Garage specializes in low-cost ISDN and has become a vital gathering place for new and established voice talent. She’s just launched her VO marketing teams where actors help each other with networking and marketing strategies.

Right+Click to Download Podcast (14.5 MB)

{Intro Music}

This Voice Registry podcast is brought to you by Voicebank.net

This is Part Two of my interview with Tori Hartman check out last week’s podcast for Part One

Tracy: Tori, how do you do that? I mean what advice do you give to voice actors in finding that truest self?

Tori: You know one of the best pieces of advice that I ever got was probably on Bo Weaver’s website and I love Bo Weaver and he is so talented. He said “You’ve got to give them the impression you’re not going to go away” and so the best advice I can give any voice talent is don’t be in a rush. Learn your craft and the more unlike this, any other section of this business is about peeling away the layers of who you are. We don’t have any thing else but the voice to go on.

Tracy: Exactly

Tori: So you have to believe me when I am talking to, you know you have to go “I am going to invest in that voice” in that moment “I believe her over her” and I am not always the best read, you know. Sometimes I am dead on when I am doing what I do but you know I’ll always bring me to the table and your either going to buy me or your not.

Tracy: Exactly

Tori: You know

Tracy: Hence the specs and dealing with the specs and often they don’t even go by the specs after the fact, right? You hear the commercial and go “wait, that wasn’t the specs” but they go with the authentic read.

Tori: I think the other thing is people really don’t know the difference between radio and television reads. They really don’t get that there are completely different reads. Like radio read you are the whole world and your voice has to be an actor’s voice, so on radio you are going to hear the voice, your going to hear a lot more actors. On TV your matching a product, so your read is as they say flatter, I love when they say “more energy” and what they are saying is that you are just not really committed to the copy.

Tracy: Oh yeah

Tori: See if your not committed to something, it’s like being in a relationship you can tell when that guy’s slipping away or if that girl is like “she’s not interested in you” because you feel it. And it is the same thing with copy, if you think you are going to get away with it your wrong, you know?

Tracy: Yeah exactly, it is interesting as voice actors we know when we are believable you feel it, you just know it.

Tori: And I think that gets in to the technique stuff but when it comes right down to it, it really is about forming relationships with people in this industry and that’s what I teach in the marketing stuff. It’s about people knowing you and trusting you because you are showing up to help them first, you know? There is a famous saying and I forgive me I think it was a Napoleon saying that says, it might of even be Zig Ziglar guys and he said “If you help enough people get what they want, you’ll get what you want”

Tracy: That’s great

Tori: And it really is about, you know being there for people and that was the thing for me with the marketing team. To be honest I went into it thinking okay great this is going to be an extra source of income but at the end of the day I have lowered the prices so much that it’s not even much money. But what is coming to me the value of these wonderful people and this community we have created, we have a team of voice over people who are wonderful people to be around. And they’re all next Saturday they’re going to one guys house to do vision boards, so you know they have created their own community of friendship with you know, I am going to tell you something at the end of the day it’s much more valuable because we are learning that now, all we really have is each other. I mean I get a lot of repeat clients, thank you God you know and I think when the business gets tough people turn to entertainment so I do believe we will see more work and I am not worried about Voice123. People say “Aren’t you worried about it taking?” and I’m like “No just imagine being a producer who has to listen to six hundred bad auditions”

Tracy: Right

Tori: I mean and you know really will still pay for quality.

Tracy: I think you are so right, in fact I was listening to Warren Buffet yesterday talking about the whole economy and the economic crisis and he sang it’s all about being the very best. Great, that’s great news, so what we have to do is rise to the top and those people as he was saying get hired over and over again and also community.

Tori: Yeah and also listen and look at people who are doing stuff great. Look at people like Mark Row who does great demos for people, look at the top people in the business, listen and learn from people like Cathy Calmenson, listen and learn from people. Gosh Voicebank is a source that’s beyond not just your podcast but I mean I am constantly pulling up Voicebank and listening to the top top top. Listen to Bill Ratner, listen to Ashton Smith, listen to these guys that have unique sounds and that are just nailing it Steve Mackall he is so loose. I mean you want to listen to people who that, that’s the way to learn, to really listen to the people that have got it. And by the way people like Bill Ratner their constantly marketing, one of the guys on my marketing team went to lunch with Bill Ratner and had a lovely conversation and brought it back to the team and said “Bill was fascinated with you are doing with marketing because we forget that we’ve got to constantly be letting people know” we’re in the closet

Tracy: Yes

Tori: Right, we’re not sending a headshot out “Hi!” you know and it’s just we’ve got to let people know who we are and that’s so important.

Tracy: And Tori, what are some pieces of advice in that way. Okay so we have the agents, we get the auditions, we do that part but this other part this marketing in part one building community as you said and what else in letting people know your there.

Tori: Number One

Tracy: Number One

Tori: Number One is Relationships and you have go to tackle your relationships and I am not talking about you know “Hi, can you help me?” but you know the first thing I do with the team is I say “Okay, call people you know, let them know what you’re up to and say, Is there anyone you think I should meet because is there anyone that I can be of service to?” And sometimes you know one of the guys on the team the gentleman we are talking about Paul. You know he comes from a golf background he knows tons of people and you know saying to him, everybody has different challenges like he knows people at a higher echelon of business but you know he is also able to step in and say “hey, do you think there are people you think I should meet?”

Tracy: Exactly

Tori: And it’s amazing how people will say “Sure”

Tracy: People like to help

Tori: They really do and I think we like to help each other.

Tracy: Exactly

Tori: I think the thing is that we get fearful that person is going to get my job and I think that at the end of the day the relationships you form. It was great we had one producer, I booked like five campaigns through this one producer and we hade one producer and I said to him “Listen Mark, would you mind even just doing a phone with the team” and he said “Sure, not at all”. So I put him on speaker phone and I asked him some questions and he said “Can I give you a great piece of advice?” and everybody is like “Yeah” you know they are leaning into the phone and he says “Find about five people in this business that can hire you to champion you” and he said “you will work all the time” and he said “because” he used me as an example “Tori is somebody who always had this one sound” but what happens is people try to do to many things

Tracy: Yes

Tori: So we try to be too much for too many and what I would say is, what you really want to do is find you and that your first demo should really be about knocking people in I know who that is and I know who that person coming into the booth. Don’t over produce it, don’t let me hear a hundred things that are not what you can deliver. Do you know the number one problem with the demo is that person, when they walk into the booth they can not deliver what they did on the demo.

Tracy: Yeah, I have heard a lot of producers complain about that and casting directors.

Tori: And that’s the thing is that if you really want just nail down your type again and again and my current demo that is on my website the Tori Hartman voice over website

Tracy: Which is a great website by the way

Tori: Thanks

Tracy: Check out her website it’s just torihartman.com right?

Tori: No its torihartmanvoiceover.com, that’s where my voice over stuff is.

Tracy: and they can Google your name

Tori: Mhm and so that’s where my voice over demo is and my voice over demo on there is a compilation of all of my work. So it seems a little out there but you start to get a story of who I am in it and you want a story of who the person is, listen to demos who are with the top agencies because they got there for a reason.

Tracy: Yeah

Tori: And I will tell you something listen to enough excellence and it can’t help but affect you.

Tracy: And there is another business tip I have heard this over and over again in business, in any business, whatever you want to go into find the people who are doing it at the top of their field and connect with them and find out how they, study them.

Tori: And that’s the thing that this producer said he said you know here is something where and I have to be honest with yall he asked me to do this whole narration series for a wine campaign it was a wine a campaign and I was like “Oh, no that’s not my thing, I am not narration, I am kind of perky and cute” and he said “No, I think you can do it” and I got to tell you when you are in the situation and you have the headsets on and the producer is on the other end of the line and he is saying “so just go ahead and give me a take” you just have to step into it with courage and just read. And what they do, what really good director, producers do is it’s like landing the plane with instruments because they tell you how they want you to land. And the key is to be flexible and open and step out of your own fear because I said to him “Geeze I don’t know this isn’t my thing” and he said “listen to me, I am going to tell you how to read, you just do it” and I said “okay” and he walked me through my first real narration piece and I thought wow and it opened up a whole other facet but I didn’t have that on my demo prior because it wasn’t an area I was comfortable in, due the stuff on your demo that you are really comfortable and confident in first.

Tracy: Mhm

Tori: You can expand as you get a great agent here in town and there are so many good ones, I mean really. AS you get a really cool agent here in town what is going to happen is they’ll kind of get to know your sound a little “And yeah I can bring Tori in for you know New York or I can bring so and so for the tough guy” you know or whatever and they’ll expand your repertoire. Don’t try and be everything on a demo because it confuses people.

Tracy: I think that is such good advice, I think it is such good advice.

Tori: And by the way that is your first demo, I want to say because if your in this business you’re going to do at least three or four until they don’t suck anymore. (Laughs)

I got to tell you cause like

Tracy: Yes (Laughs) Exactly

Tori: It’s like oh my gosh and I got to tell you, it doesn’t matter who does your demo the chance are pretty good your first demo is going to be like “Oh my gosh, did I sound like that?”

Tracy: (Laughs)

Tori: It’s sort of like you know being drunk at a party and going “what did I say?”

Tracy: (Laughs)

Tori: But it’s true your demo is going to be like (Gasp) “That was me!” I can listen to my first demo and “go (sigh) I could hear the awkwardness” you know and the hind sight is twenty twenty. That is only what ten years later I can listen now and go (sigh)

Tracy: You know in writing they say you have go to write the crappy first draft

Tori: Well I always say write it wrong, just do it wrong

Tracy: Yes, just get it out there

Tori: Make the commitment and everything I have done in my life and I will say this is that it’s always been when people said to me I couldn’t do it or I shouldn’t do it or am wrong for it, that I just go “oh, alright” and I just do it anyway

Tracy: Oh yeah, okay

Tori: Because if you let to many people, give you too much advice you will never get out of your house

Tracy: Exactly

Tori: I got to a point with the voice over thing, I did everything in order, I got a demo together it was okay but I couldn’t get an agent in this town so I got an agent in Atlanta and then I booked my first job in Atlanta and I didn’t have an ISDN and I went “what is an ISDN?” and they called me from my dial up’s and I was like “what’s that?”

Tracy: (Laughs)

Tori: You know and when I needed it, luckily I found a buddy of mine that lived in Simi Valley. I drived all the way out there at like six in the morning and I did the session in his closet, his ISDN and I thought this is crazy, if I need this other people need this. Which is how the original studio happened and so I created the studio to help actors.

Tracy: And this is a great studio by the way, it is lovely lovely.

Tori: Thank You, well I mean more than anything it’s like at the end of the day all that voice talent care about really, is can I get the job, is this going to make me money and do I get to work? Because you know talent we just want to work.

Tracy: Yes, exactly

Tori: What I did hear was I created a place where it’s $75 and hour for ISDN, people can come in we charge actors half hour rates our rates our higher to producers but when the actors pay and they do their own session, they can keep a gig in another city so we do a lot of that stuff. I have a lot of relationships with regional agents which is how the whole thing happened with the marketing team because initially people were like “I want agents in other cities” and so that’s what I was teaching but it became “wait a second guys, you need to be making a living in voice over”

Tracy: Right

Tori: So we have expanded that really the whole definition. The studio here, what I did was I wanted a place where actors didn’t feel like poor relatives that they could come in and work with pride that they were paying an honest dollar for their session. And you know you go to most studios in town and they would treat you like, you are our after thought, here voice talent is our main thought that’s what we are here for. It’s not always easy, if somebody said to me let’s open a studio now I would say “No way” you know.

Tracy: You’re here and it’s great that you are.

Tori: But it’s here and it’s what I am doing.

Tracy: And you have the most fabulous backyard too (Laughs)

Tori: Well, it’s nice because I have had, one of the things that have grown out of here is that we have had a lot of celebrities that like to come here and do their documentaries because they love sitting in the yard and it’s quiet so nobody bothers them and you know there is a nice team of people that come here. People who come gosh you know they don’t want to drive over to Santa Monica to their agency, so you know they come in here and do $1.00 a minute auditions but you know Huck does it too over at Voice Casters over in the valley and I think Voice Tracks does it too. So there is a lot of people now doing it but I will be honest with you I’m just glad, people go “aren’t you worried about competition?” and I go “no, I’m happy” because it means that there’s more work coming to LA and my mission is to make sure that we become a portal to LA talent, so that there is more work funneled here because we have a great talent pool, we really do.

This has been Part Two of my interview with Tori Hartman; join me next time for Part Three.

This Voice Registry podcast is brought to you by Voicebank.net

{Outro Music}

Tori Hartman began her voiceover work at the suggestion of her publisher, who wanted her to record one of her books on tape. Two weeks later, she was in a studio launching her new career. In 2005, Tori opened what has become The Garage 247, a full service voiceover recording studio. The Garage specializes in low-cost ISDN and has become a vital gathering place for new and established voice talent. She’s just launched her VO marketing teams where actors help each other with networking and marketing strategies.

Right+Click to Download Podcast (11.6 MB)

{Intro Music}

This Voice Registry podcast is brought to you by Voicebank.net

This is Part Three of my interview with Tori Hartman to hear Parts One and Two check out the previous week’s podcasts.

Tracy: And speaking of more work, what’s in the future? What do you see in the voice over world and how has the internet impacted our world of voice over and in terms of marketing? Talking about Facebook and LinkedIn and all of those sites Twitter, how does that come into the mix?

Tori: Well there’s two different questions there okay so I am going to separate them. Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, all of that; that is one conversation. What I want to address first is that thing you brought up first that is the idea of the internet with voice over. And I am going to tell you something I think eventually I don’t think we will see it go away but I think a lot of these like I think you can make $25 as a voice over artist sites. I think that a lot people on Voice123 who don’t book who are not how can I put it um professional VO talent really.

Tracy: Yeah experienced.

Tori: I think more experience I think a lot of those folks are going to go to those types of jobs and you know what I will tell you something it’s yes there has been and I have said this ten years ago to agents I said “If you don’t get into service clients in other cities at their own level we are going to have a problem”. And I remember going to Allen Rosenberg five years ago and pulling him aside at a SAG thing and saying “Listen, can I tell you something? We’ve have got to do our SAG residuals based on media buys”. Now I know this may not seem important to this but bear with my thinking here.

Tracy: Okay

Tori: Just to explain and I am going to tell you something, as a voice talent if you don’t understand media buys, markets, what’s going on forget it because the top guys they know. And let me tell you something those guys they will pull out their thing and go “Oh well I see I ran in seven markets” they know what they’re doing and don’t kid yourself Don Lafontaine was a business man. He knew his business and he knew who was running where to what and cycles, you need to know this stuff.

Tracy: That’s great

Tori: Even if you’re doing non union because even non union you have to negotiate it. Okay it’s a thirteen week cycle you can get three thirteen week cycles you know I am going to run t hat and I will give you the fourth free, so if you are doing non union you still have to negotiate that way. But I said this to Allen Rosenberg five years ago or over six years ago now where I said “You’ve got to residuals by media buys or we’re going to, the union, the whole idea of union is going to crash into non union” because here is what happens and just to give you an idea. When I talk about a media buy what I mean in English is for example that commercial in Oklahoma let’s say in one market in Oklahoma they’re going to run it I don’t know thirteen weeks. But they’re air time may only be a hundred dollars per run, right, that’s a media buy it may be a hundred dollars for that spot. Where as the same spot running in Chicago may be two thousand, okay, what happened was the union said “No, F you were going to charge, you still have to pay that actor for markets still this high percent.” So what’s happening is the Oklahoma market is almost paying the exact amount for a residual as they do in Chicago. Now Chicago doesn’t care because quote the media buy that two thousand dollars is covering a lot of it but in Oklahoma at a hundred dollars you have to pay the actor five times that, they’re not liking that. So what’s happening is that’s where the problem is, if we had said hey, let’s say okay the residual may be only twenty five dollars for that market but it’s going toward union money see.

Tracy: Yeah

Tori: What’s happened is it does add up, its accumulative but people don’t think like business people they’re either thinking emotionally like talent or they’re thinking the other way which is “We have got to save our rights” but guess what your rights are going to sink your boat so to answer your question in terms of what’s going on in the industry. I warned people a few years ago and I said “It’s all going to go regional and it’s all going to go non union and it’s got to.” There are some places where you can still pick up an AFTRA spot a SAG spot you know, AFTRA is a great union I have go to be honest with you I love working with AFTRA. Um you know even dealing with SAG in terms of trying to get a signatory status they’re not just helpful, they’re not and it is a shame because these are our people, you know. And I am just saying it, I am just speaking the truth to people because it’s not that I am having a union conversation I am having an actor conversation because what I want to say to people is be responsible for what your making, be responsible for your buys, get a sense of how much you should be charging in markets. And I don’t care what anybody says you know, we’ve got to make a living now it’s a different conversation I mean the way the economy is you can’t control people’s income the way that the bigger unions and all of us tried to do. And so that is why people are going “I’m seeing similar auditions coming out of Chicago and Atlanta and Portland”

Tracy: Right, all the same, the same spot in different cities that are all vying.

Tori: Right

Tracy: Let’s just jump into the whole internet social media thing, in terms of all of this, what do you think about that do you think Facebook and LinkedIn and Twitter and all those social media sites, are they valuable and can they help us as voice actors to market ourselves?

Tori: You know I’m going to be honest with you, the jury’s out a little bit for me on that because I think when it comes to business yes I think when it comes to you know when it comes to buyers and when I talk about buyers I mean the ones buying voices, okay. When I think it comes to the buyers looking for you, looking for talent, they’re still going to go the easy route they’re not going to look for you on twitter, on Facbook because there is going to be a thousand and there is also the voice over there are so many voice over clubs on LinkedIn and all that stuff. And the thing is that a lot of times they are newbie questions that pro’s answer which is great cause I see you know I am on it because I like to see as well. However what happens with it and this is the thing is that everybody I don’t know I just think it is problematic because I don’t necessarily think there is yet a funnel to find those people in one place. It is sort of like you know, if you want dairy products you have got to go to the dairy aisle and I think that buyers still want to go to a place like Voice123 or something where they can get twenty auditions or they go to Cathy Kalmenson and go I need the crème de la crème or I need you know I’ll go to an agency, I still think you are going to see that.

Tracy: And also it could be a great place to be to build those relationships though instead of just saying I hope they will come to look for me for voice talent. But if I am out there building relationships with people and meeting producers and connecting just because I am on Facebook. And you know in the last six months Facebook has reached critical mass I mean agents are on Facebook now, so you know you need to be there just because everybody is there, so you should have a presence you should open up your own store front.

Tori: Well I agree with you and I think though what’s happening though and remember this that there is nothing that beats face time.

Tracy: Exactly

Tori: We talk about Facebook but at the end of the day you know like last night we had a party here. My marketing team decided that we wanted to have a party and so we just you know invited people and I don’t know maybe there way forty of us fifty of us last night. But I think this exponentially will grow because even though the producers that came were like “Wow, it’s so nice to sit and talk to voice talent” and one guy said to me “and not feel like I am being sold but geeze some of these people are really nice” and here is where it benefits you here is where it really benefits you and I made a rule with my team saying “Don’t offer your demo to anyone, you don’t talk about your business and don’t offer your demo and you don’t ask them if they’re hiring, you just find out who these people are” and it was such a pleasant nice party. But here is what happens with that when the auditions come in and some of my team goes in front of these people they are going to go “Oh, I remember Bob, oh he was nice” you know. What happens is as you get to know the producers there may be fifty people reading but the difference is you’ll get heard differently when you know them. And you still might not book, you know but you might book, you know but you’ll get heard and it’s a different kind of hearing that happens.

Tracy: Well Tori this has been so wonderful and I think the listeners will take away this importance of face time like we’re having right now and how important that is in building community right now. So it is a time to really look at that and look at the silver lining in all of this chaotic economy situation that we’re in.

Tori: And I think you’re right and I’m just going to jump back for one second I know we’re wrapping but I just want to say this it’s important. Look at the amount of people in communities on, in like in clubs; there are hundreds of thousands of them starting that’s telling you that people want to connect.

Tracy: Exactly and speaking of that meetup.com is using social media it is a social media site that you can connect with people to go have that face time.

Tori: Mhm

Tracy: So that may be the best way to use the social media sites is as a way to find about events that you can really have that one on one or the face time experience, the live experience with people.

Tori: And one thing I want to say to were doing our monthly potluck here that is going to be our thing but also we’ve been talking about picking up you know I think gosh Bob Bergen used to have Vox on the Rocks.

Tracy: Yes, yes

Tori: And we have been talking about as a team getting back together and finding different locations each month to do a kind of like in person meet up and not necessarily as a you know any kind of, how can I say it like a class but a just an evening of hey come have an appetizer and a drink and join us, you know.

Tracy: It’s great, and also because we can share ideas and that’s also valuable as a class is valuable.

Tori: Well and it’s a small community you know at the end of the day you know when the buyers know who you are and they know your communities that your in it’s amazing because we had, I had a producer call me that knew me and he said “Geeze I need ten people” it was Christmas time and he said “I need ten people to jump in can you? You know it’s a non broadcast vignette, can we do it?” and I said “Well, yeah I have a little link off the studio of the marketing team, so you can go listen to all their demos” and he booked ten people, like that.

Tracy: And the thing is your making their job easier they don’t want to have to slug, sloth through whatever the word is, through all these voices if they know somebody whose a point person who can give them an immediate selection that’s, your helping them those producers.

Tori: But I want to be clear, I am not a casting person I’m really a voice talent and that’s where my focus is. It’s like these are my tribe, these are my folks you know because we’re really part of the same community. Somebody who is amazing at casting like Cathy Kalmenson or you know I am trying to think oh gosh Terry Berland, there is casting people out there who are very good at what they do and that’s the higher end stuff. This is something that is just a little thing at Christmas time and he needed ten people, that’s fine. So I want to just say that you know we all as a community have that, so if we can get together in groups and say “Oh Tracy I have got somebody you should talk too” that’s where the gold is.

This has been Part Three of my interview with Tori Hartman join me next time for Part Four.

This Voice Registry podcast is brought to you by Voicebank.net

{Outro Music}

Tori Hartman began her voiceover work at the suggestion of her publisher, who wanted her to record one of her books on tape. Two weeks later, she was in a studio launching her new career. In 2005, Tori opened what has become The Garage 247, a full service voiceover recording studio. The Garage specializes in low-cost ISDN and has become a vital gathering place for new and established voice talent. She’s just launched her VO marketing teams where actors help each other with networking and marketing strategies.

Right+Click To Download Podcast (9.6 MB)

{Intro Music}

This Voice Registry podcast is brought to you by Voicebank.net

This is Part Four of my interview with Tori Hartman to hear Parts One, Two and Three check out the previous week’s podcasts.

Tracy: Before we finish tell us your other careers.

Tori: (Laughs) I know I have like seven things.

Tracy: The candles and the jewelry.

Tori: Well liked I said at the beginning I’ve been a professional psychic for a long time and you know it was one of those things where it was in the closet so to speak and then one of my clients got a very high profile bravo show, so there is a lot of stuff that has happened in that regard and I launched an intention candle kit line. As well as a chakra vortex jewelry which is all about and this is what I work with in my group as well is aligning people to step into who they want to be and a lot of this being this is the conversation around voice over, so it has been very powerful to have a spiritual aspect bringing who I am to the table in terms of not just guiding but eliciting from people. On my spiritual website that’s the Tori Hartman website and this is torihartman.com and that’s the one where my slogan is ‘Enrich, Enlighten, Inspire’ and it’s really about it bringing out the best of you, so bringing out that aspect of myself and my teaching to the work as well that we’re doing is really. And I got to be honest with you, you know it’s really somebody said to me the other day one of my clients, I had just finished a gig and he said “you know it’s funny I can’t believe how out of the closet you are with your spiritual stuff” and I said “what do you mean?” he said “well, you know there are people that frightens and what have you” and I said “well

Tracy: Well this is LA (Laughs)

Tori: I mean yeah I mean you know the thing is that I said “well does it frighten you?” and he said “no” and I said “well then I’m not worried because I’m working with you” you know (Laughs)

Tracy: (Laughs)

Tori: People that are going to gravitate me want to work with me and the energy that I have, people that gravitate to somebody else that’s what they want and that’s okay. I think this thing of like trying to be something for everyone is not realistic; some people are just going to go “ew, I don’t like her she’s this”. Oh, okay you don’t like me that’s alright; I think we’ve got to get out of the idea that it is a popularity contest.

Tracy: Yes

Tori: And we are trying to do something, I mean we just have to be who we are and that’s enough and just really be gentle with ourselves and others and just know I had one guy in my marketing class who was like “I always thought I had to do it myself and this has just been so nice to feel like I am part of a group” and that’s really opening us up because guess what in voice over you can not do it alone, think about it. Consider that when you really think about it, in voice over you need a lot of people you need a script, you need an agent, you need an engineer to run your session, you need a producer, think of how many people it takes to get you to a mic to do a job. And when you really consider that as being part of the bigger whole the community you’ve got to approach it in a way with gratitude. I talk all the time about gratitude and possibility and we have to open up and remember that we are bring people into our world and we’re sharing with them and right now in this moment this is a very intimate moment with who ever is listening because they’re getting it. If they’re listening this far, who ever is listening right now is going that makes sense or they’re going this is hogwash and they are turning it off, right. So it’s going to be the people who listen past that, that’s where you get the gold and I say don’t quit before the miracle, don’t ever quit, just when you think you should give up the business and you want to slap it on the floor. You have to go wait a second that’s my process, that is who I am and this is what I teach in the voice over group. One guy was like “I don’t know” and I said “How many years did it take you to become the professional the business you’ve been in?” “Thirty Years” “I go uh huh and how long have you been doing voice over?” “Nine Months” I go “Uh Huh” “Shut Up”

Tracy: (Laughs)

Tori: But the thing is it’s not even that it’s like it takes time, like people want to do their demo in an hour and it’s like, No, give yourself the time to become a professional and step into that because it’s a whole new persona it is a whole new way of beginning and it’s a whole new you. Because you can not where you are where you want to be from where you are right now you have to step into that life and that’s what we work on releasing who you think you are supposed to be. I can listen to a read and I can go “Oh, that person is in their head”, right?

Tracy: Mhm

Tori: And I can say “Drop it down to your body” when I’m listening to someone I can say “Drop it into your body” and they go “Oh” and they start to drop it into their body so it’s all a spiritual conversation, Tracy.

Tracy: I hear you, I know what you’re saying

Tori: You have got to hear through it

Tracy: Right, right

Tori: And even in the reality of what we’re having right now this is the real conversation you know. The other stuff is just what do you think of going on with trends but the reality is that who ever is listening is going “oh, hey, that makes sense to me”. So in the work I do with people in my spiritual work is I work a lot of stepping through what they consider a block which is really just a challenge and opening up the world that they’re looking to create for themselves and so the marketing team there is a lot of I give them the information but you know what can I tell you something I can give you a book that lists everything to do in the business and I can guarantee you won’t do it unless you’re working on being that person. See I can tell you everything about the business but you’re not going to listen because if you’re intention is “I got to get a demo!” you’re not going to hear what I’m having to say. I looked at somebody last week I said “It won’t matter if you have a demo” and he looked at me and said “Well what do you mean?” I said “You’re coming at the business at such a ferocious way your going to chase everything away” and he went “Oh” and I said “You have to shift how you’re being with people because they read it”. You know we read it and I can tell you right now the people that the people listening are going to either hear me as being authentic or they’re going to hear me as being full of crap and either way it doesn’t matter. See this is the funny thing and even as I say that nothing matters, right but everything matters, what matters is the connection we are having right now because by the time it’s listened to it’s another person’s connection.

Tracy: Exactly, exactly

Tori: So, it’s got to be your connection with the microphone, who you are when you come up to the microphone, who you are in that intimate moment with this piece of apparatus and in this case sitting with you, who am I with you, who am I hear because by the time it’s get listened to by a producer and by the time the producer brings the client in and the client’s cousin listens and they all determine that it sounds real and they come back to you, you are in a whole different space. So you have to consistently be you when you come up the mic and really so you bring up my spiritual work which to me is the basis of how I create what I create and how I teach people how to create because you have to shift how your being if you want to be successful because I can guarantee if you are not doing what you love to do and not successful at it right in this moment it’s because there is something in you that is not giving you permission. And so with my work I go back in and I a lot of times it’s a multi generational healing and I will pull something out and go here it is and we work and it and it’s done and some people go “how can you do that?” because you see it happen and it’s so simple and the other person’s life is changed and “how did that happen” because we change things in a moment, who can ever forget mean joe green that commercial, remember that little kid “here, kid” and he shows them the coca cola

Tracy: Yeah, yeah

Tori: Can you imagine All State being done by anybody else but Dennis Haybert. Imagine Lowes you can still hear Gene Hackmans voice when I say it, I mean there’s voices and you hear it crisply in your brain and you know the Don Lafontaine voice it’s so crystal and all of those people are bringing who they are to the mic. And even the people that are not in VO necessarily um gosh my brain went blank but uh gosh such a great actor Kevin Spacey doing Honda, I said “Oh, there’s Kevin Spacey” and they went “That’s not Kevin Spacey” and I go “Yeah” and they listen and they went “Oh” I said “yeah” cause the crispness of who he is comes to the mic.

Tracy: Yes, yes

Tori: Christine Laughty and other brilliant voices coming to the mic and all I’m saying to you is that these people have opened up an intimacy and by the way intimacy isn’t what you think it is, it’s into me see where you are letting people see into you and you have to be that at the mic so the conversation we are having right now is the real conversation, the other stuff is just “How to make a cake. First get a demo, First get duh, duh, duh…”. But the real conversation is your preparation before you even get there has got to be you ready for this business because most people will quit.

Tracy: Well Tori this has been really, really great.

Tori: (Laughs) Thank You

Tracy: And just the insights are so helpful and getting down to the essence of what voice over is about, it’s so much more than sort of the outskirts of it and the audition there is so much more going on.

Tori: its fun, it’s energetic

Tracy: Building communities so that is great and I Thank You.

Tori: Thank you so much I know we’ve had like three false ending on this but Thank You. (Laughs)

Tracy: (Laughs) Thanks

This Voice Registry podcast was brought to you by Voicebank.net; join us next time.

{Outro Music}

(Video Above) Hear from top voice actors, Joe Cipriano, Rino Romano, Tara Strong and Rick Zieff about their experience on the Voicebank.net’s Voice Over Panel last weekend at ShowBiz Expo LA. Then find out what the attendees thought.

-Tracy Pattin

Voice Over experts, Bob Bergen (voice of Porky and other Looney Toons characters), Joyce Castellanos (former audio director/producer for NBC, Disney Channel) Bill Holmes (commercial producer/director/demo producer/ The Voice Over Doctor) share their insights about the industry in this NEW! Voicebank/Voice Registry Roundtable. You can reach Joyce Castellanos at promoteach@aol.com. Check out Bob Bergen/Bill Holmes upcoming workshop Sept. 27 & 28 in Los Angeles.

Right + Click here to download podcast (12.0 MB)

{Intro Music}

This Voice Registry podcast is brought to you by Voicebank.net

Tracy: Hi everybody I am Tracy Pattin and I am here at Compost Productions in North Hollywood yet again. This time we are going to do something a little different, we have some sort of round table. I have a panel of experts that are going to talk everything voice over. We have animation voice actor extraordinaire Bob Bergen.

Bob: (Character Voice) Hi!

Tracy: Wahoo and Bob has voiced hundreds of cartoons, he is in commercials, promos, radio imaging, he’s been the voice on Looney Toons for Porky, Tweety, Marvin the Martin, Henry Hawk, Sylvester.

Bob: Sylvester Jr.

Tracy: Sylvester Jr.

Bob: Yeah, Sylvester has a son that nobody knows who Sylvester Jr.’s mother is but he is the legitimate child of Sylvester the cat.

Tracy: Interesting, okay and then we have promo, trailer, producer, director Joyce Castellanos.

Joyce: Yay!

Tracy: And also teacher of promo and trailers.

Bob: Brilliant

Tracy: And she has been doing that for twenty five years, you have been producing and directing promos and trailers and your teaching.

Joyce: I am and now for almost ten years now.

Bob: Use the mic.

Tracy: Great

Bob: Ten Years, there you go (Laughs)

Tracy: And then we have Bill Holmes commercial, voice over teacher, producer, director, film maker, you do just about everything.

Bill: And the Voice Over Doctor.

Tracy: And yes, the Voice Over Doctor. On this podcast that we do, we do a whole series.

Bill: (Laughs) Tracy Pattin is making me famous.

Tracy: Yes

Joyce: (Laughs)

Tracy: We will get you a new doctor’s outfit soon

Bob: Are we going to talk about your crap’s table escapades too?

Bill: Well eventually

Bob: Because we want to make sure that this is a well rounded podcast.

Bill: Oh yeah, no we will talk about gambling.

Tracy: Oh good, this will be a very balanced podcast. So let’s start with Bob.

Bob: Alright, well sure.

Tracy: Bob Bergen

Bob: Yeah!

Tracy: Okay, so everybody wants to know you are the guy, the animation guy. Most of my listeners know who you are.

Bob: I love these people, I pay them well.

Tracy: (Laughs) And so tell us how you got into animation, how did you get into it?

Bob: Well see a lot of people want to get into voice over, want to do cartoons, want to do promos, want to do commercials. I wanted to be Porky Pig since I was five years old and my mom said “You can’t be Porky Pig your Jewish”

Joyce: (Laughs)

Bob: And I didn’t know what that meant because we basically ate BLT’s and ham.

Tracy: (Laughs)

Bob: So

Bill: (Laughs)

Bob: We moved to LA when I was fourteen, not for me to be Porky Pig but my dad took a job and I picked up the phone book and started calling anything that said animation and cartoons. And through some connections I studied with Daws Butler and I met Mell Blank and I crashed a recording session and I stalked him. I got my first agent in cartoon a week out of high school, I found out that A. Mell Blank was still doing Porky Pig but also B. You have to do other things in this business; even if you have a real specific goal like that you can’t just make that it. People know me as these characters but that is really a teeny percentage of my day to day work, mostly it is commercials and promos and imaging exedra. So I found out that I had to get into the voice over industry to be available to be professionally available when opportunity knocked which was 1990, that is when I started doing the Looney Toons characters.

Tracy: Before you got started doing the Looney Toons, you practiced all of these characters on your own.

Bob: Sure yeah I mean this was before VCR’s or Beta Maxes.

Bill: (Laughs)

Bob: I know, before silent movies we were so old.

Bill: (Old Voice) You were doing a wonderful job.

Joyce: (Laughs)

Bob: I would put my tape recorder in front of the TV and I would tape record cartoons and I would memorize the cartoons and I remember when I was about five that I said I think there is one person doing all of these voices.

Bill: See that is where I made my mistake I was recording Adam Twelve.

Joyce, Tracy: (Laughs)

Bob: Oh, was that you basically you are an expert on Kent McCord.

Bill: I never became a cap and I never got to do Kent McCord stuff.

Bob: (Theme Song)

Joyce: (Laughs)

Tracy: So Bob how did you go from practicing these voices, how did you get from that point I know my listeners are dyeing to know this I mean here your practicing these voices, you are recording the cartoons and you end up taking it all to the next level. How did you do that part?

Bob: Well when we moved to LA I found out that this was a business called Voice Over. I heard voice over’s on commercials but I didn’t realize that there was not only a business and a name but a craft. I took classes from everybody that offered. I studied with Daws Butler, I studied Bryan Cummins, I studied with Joanie Gerber, and I studied with Michael Bell, Louise Channis. If they offered a class I took it. Well they were $10.00 back then.

Bill: Yeah, right

Bob: They have gone up a little bit.

Tracy: The good ole’ days

Bob: My mother had fit when they went up to $12.00, this is the same lady who every years says “Honey, you should raise the prices for your classes”

Joyce, Tracy: (Laughs)

Bob: So I studied voice over, back then they wouldn’t hire you if you were under 18 today they will but back then they wouldn’t.

Tracy: Okay

Bob: So I had to wait until I was 18 and I was of legal age. I had studied for four solid years and not just voice over but acting and scene study and improve.

Tracy: That is another very interesting thing about your background, it is really important to be balanced.

Bob: I have not met any successful voice actor’s ever and when I say successful I mean the major players who are not either trained or have a background in theatre, improve, acting, music, something other than voice over. I think one of the biggest mistakes that people make is they do that. People tell me I have such a great voice.

Tracy: Right

Bob: Well there is no such thing as a great voice because there is no such thing as a bad voice or only great actors and bad actors. So these are the people who go spending thousands of dollars in voice over classes without becoming a solid actor first. My personal opinion is that improve is the greatest training anybody could ever do.

Bill: And I totally agree

Tracy: Too shay, yes Bill Applebaum has been on this podcast talking about that very thing because I think that it is so very important. So you have studied improve over the years.

Bob: I studied improve, I studied acting, solid, my technique of choice was Meisner but I tried everybody to see what worked for me.

Bill: And that is very important

Joyce: Yes

Bill: That you go to different people and you get different opinions and you know I mean I studied at the Goodman School of Drama in Chicago one of the best schools in the country. I like to brag that I have been thrown out of some of the best schools in the country.

Joyce, Tracy: (Laughs)

Bill: And the Goodman was one of them it was not the technique for me but I also studied with a guy in Chicago who his name was Bud Meyer who used to teach at Northwestern University I still think he does. And he was the guy who I latched on to and I understood what he was telling me as an actor and when I was at Goodman I just didn’t understand what they were telling me so I moved on.

Bob: We are getting to a place right now in the world of voice over where because under $500 you can have a home set up, microphone, program, you can pursue voice over. But because you can purchase it t a relatively cheap price people are not training.

Bill: Right

Bob: They are not getting prepared, so just because you can doesn’t mean you should. I worked with a hand held tape recorder that was what I worked from that was my homework, this is what I worked with and I did just fine. People aren’t doing that training that I think is necessary.

Bill: And you also have to understand that you know people like Bob and I who are out in the field acting every day. When we tell people in our classes that you need to read out loud every day and you need to practice every day and you have to do this. We are doing it everyday, we don’t practice at home anymore but we audition.

Bob: Well we do but we call it an audition.

Tracy: Right

Joyce: Exactly

Bill: I mean this morning before you all came to the studio I just banged out three auditions that I sent to Atlanta.

Tracy: Yeah

Bill: I have an agent in Atlanta, so I am auditioning every day and that is my practice.

Bob, Joyce, Tracy: Right

Bill: That’s how I get better.

Joyce: And having the home studio is really important.

Bob: It is so great

Joyce: Because once you do need to train, you need to have the right techniques and you need to understand the technology and the styles and all that. But having the opportunity to work at home to work at home to practice that is very important but you can’t for go the training because the training gives you the tool you need to do the right practice.

Tracy: And Joyce now you have done, you have done promo and trailer which is a whole other area from animation.

Joyce: Completely

Tracy: So you started out directing and producing and working with actors at the WB, Disney and NBC.

Joyce: NBC was my first area, yeah.

Tracy: And so many of my listeners are always asking the promo industry and how to get in and what does it take? So what does it take?

Bill: Ha-ha me too, I am curious myself.

Joyce: Well like I said every area has it’s own techniques so training is really important it is a different type of technique from commercial, narration, from animation. Each one has its own tools so the training is very important because you have to understand that you are working to picture for promo and you have to understand to create a timing clock and to make those adjustments and how to tell your story. It is all about acting; it is about telling your story honestly.

Tracy: So it is always working to picture, promo is always.

Joyce: 95% of the time you are working to picture because they have created a thirty second, a twenty second, fifteen second or a ten second spot that has to fit. They have to know that you are fitting into what they want.

Bill: And for those of you who don’t know, working to picture means you are looking at the television screen, you are seeing what you are going to do.

Bob: You are seeing the video.

Joyce: Exactly, you are seeing the video and you are hearing the music, you are hearing the sound bytes, you have you have to act.

Bill: You have to plug your voice right in.

Joyce: And with that, that is where you get more of the acting because you are acting and responding to what is being said and what are you seeing.

Bob: And can I, I want to share because I did my very first promo job with Joyce.

Tracy: Uhuh

Bob: I was the fill in guy at the Disney Channel when their regular announcer would go on vacation and I eventually became the main voice for about five years. But I had never studied promo; nobody had ever told me how to do it. The way the studio worked, the producer Joyce and the engineer were in one room and I was in another. And I am watching the monitor and they are watching the monitor and there is a little window when the announcer is supposed to talk and I have got my lines in front of me but nobody told me here is how it’s done. And after that clip was done and I was really quiet, Joyce really sweetly says “Well let’s just try that again” and I ran again and it was quiet and I am waiting for somebody to say talk or something on the screen to say this is where you talk.

Joyce, Bill, Tracy: (Laughs)

Bob: And after about twenty, thirty times Joyce very sweetly says “Honey that is where you talk”

Joyce, Bill, Tracy: (Laughs)

Bob: And I went “Oh, okay” and I learned by the seat of my pants because when I was hired to bet he voice of the Disney Channel I would get twenty thirty promos a day. And the amount of sweat that came from my brow that first day because that was not easy. Thank God there are workshops for people to study the technical. It is storytelling, it is absolutely storytelling.

Joyce: There is the technical side and then there is the creative side.

Tracy: And in your classes you work on that too. And that is the beeps right, the one, two three?

Bob: We don’t have beeps

Tracy: Oh, not even beeps.

Bob: Not for promos

Joyce: You might, you might

Bob: Do they do beeps now, those lucky people!

Joyce: In some studios you will, when we work we don’t have beeps we have time code. You have to get used to, if you can do it without the beeps you are going to be fine when you have that.

Bob: But we didn’t have time code at Disney Channel.

Joyce: No, no

Bob: We just had windows of silence

Joyce: That’s, right

Bob: yeah

Joyce: Each place is different, so you have to learn how to prepare yourself for it. How to do the breathing, how to get prepare to start.

Bob: I also say that one trick that she taught me, I don’t even know if you know you taught me this but have your mouth open ready to go. Don’t have your mouth closed at the line, have your mouth wide open and ready to go because it takes time.

Tracy: Oh

Joyce: Because you have your deep breath while the sound bytes are coming and then you talk.

Bob: She taught me that the very first day and it was like I heard the angels, Hallelujah!

Bill: (Laughs)

Bob: It was such a, the end of the miracle worker, he gets it yes!

Joyce, Tracy: (Laughs)

Tracy: This has been Part One of my Round Table interview with Bob Bergen, Bill Holmes and Joyce Castellanos join me next time for Part Two. And don’t forgot Bob Bergen and Bill Holmes have their upcoming workshop here in Los Angeles on September 27^th and 28^th, you can find out all about it on BobBergen.com

This Voice Registry podcast was brought to you by Voicebank.net

{Outro Music}

Voice Over experts, Bob Bergen (voice of Porky and other Looney Toons characters), Joyce Castellanos (former audio director/producer for NBC, Disney Channel) Bill Holmes (commercial producer/director/demo producer/ The Voice Over Doctor) share their insights about the industry in this NEW! Voicebank/Voice Registry Roundtable. You can reach Joyce Castellanos at promoteach@aol.com. Check out Bob Bergen/Bill Holmes upcoming workshop Sept. 27 & 28 in Los Angeles.

Check out Part 1 of the Roundtable Series.

Right+Click here to download podcast (13MB)

{Intro Music}

This Voice Registry podcast is brought to you by Voicebank.net

This is Part Two of roundtable interview with Bob Bergen, Bill Holmes and Joyce Castellanos.

Tracy: Joyce another question that so many people want to know is about the whole trailer promo and the men and woman and men is always get all the jobs. Is that the same and has it changed?

Bob: It’s the same and we don’t mind it do we Bill?

Joyce: (Laughs) It is the same in many aspects especially in trailer, trailer is really a mans world.

Tracy: And isn’t that such an odd thing that it’s always men who does those trailers.

Joyce: It is because women are wonderful storytellers but it has to be written for a woman and they are being written for the man. So in order to do it for woman to get into it, there are appropriate cells that the woman could be selling that I think is not being utilized right now.

Tracy: Because even in woman movies, movies all about woman they will use a man.

Joyce: Exactly and I believe the man will always be doing their part which is wonderful. It is a male cell, it is a general cell but if there is a female cell you may want to try writing for a woman to bring out a different. If you have an action film it’s a guys film normally, okay so the man is out there giving a hard sale. Now if you want to draw some of the woman to it, some woman love the action film but if you want to draw the woman to it give a female cell bring out the romantic side they are going to say “Oh, there is something for me to” and I think having woman train in the area when the door opens they have to be ready.

Bob: I have to tell you something I think the door is already cracked open because there is more work today for woman.

Tracy: For TV promo for sure

Joyce: Definitely women have a large opening

Bob: Listen, Randy Thomas is the voice of entertainment tonight

Tracy: Yes

Joyce: She is fantastic

Bob: Yeah

Tracy: She just did a podcast interview with me, so she is great

Bob: Melissa Disney, Jennifer Hale there is more work today I think in promo, trailer, staff announcing I think in the history of broadcasting.

Bill: Oh Yeah, Definitely

Bob: And it is just going to get wider and wider because there are more and more outlets.

Bill: Because there are so many more chances

Joyce: Right, exactly

Bob: That’s it, exactly

Bill: Filler channels that need to be filled

Joyce: Absolutely and I think

Tracy: Oh, Sorry

Joyce: Oh, I’m sorry and I think one of the problems for woman in voice over for promo and trailer has been that they weren’t secure in telling their story as a woman they thought they had to be cute or everything had to be (High Pitched Voice) “Isn’t that sweet”

Tracy: And sound like they are twenty (Laughs)

Joyce: Yeah

Bob: Joyce can I ask you a question?

Joyce: Yes

Bob: Do you think that because of Oxygen, Lifetime, WE all these outlets that have been marketed for woman and have staff announcers woman, hasn’t that helped a lot?

Joyce: Oh it has

Tracy: It has helped over all.

Joyce: It has, Lifetime I think has gone more to men now

Bob: Was the first, Lifetime has gone more to men? I have got to call my agent

Joyce, Tracy: (Laughs)

Joyce: And they are doing wonderful but I still think it is still missing out being a woman’s channel you want to relate and have the woman talk. So I would like to hear them bring back some of woman for some of the right spots.

Tracy: And what does it take for a woman to be in promo, because that is a different kind of voice then just commercials across the board?

Joyce: Well again like Bob said there are spots for every voice, it is knowing what to do with your voice.

Tracy: Okay

Joyce: It is about bringing a person to your story not just a sound. So they have to understand, woman as well as men have to understand the point of view that they are taking to tell their story. There are a lot of shows or a lot of stations that want that young & hip cool sound and if you have got a 18-30 something sound that can be working quirky can be great. You know the texture can be great or just a full bodied to do something very sensual. You just have to understand yourself and your characters that you can create. How to find that person, but it’s not just a very low sexy voice or a high cute cheerleader voice there is every place in between.

Tracy: Yeah depending on the programming, I noticed that.

Joyce: Absolutely

Tracy: Whether it is Lifetime or any of those networks and depending on the show you definitely have a different feel.

Joyce: Depending on your audience, if you know your audience you can talk to your audience you don’t talk down. If it is children or elderly you or not talking down to anybody you are talking to them and with them.

Tracy: Yes

Joyce: So if you understand your audience if you are talking to kids or teenagers you want to have more of a contemporary coolness to your sound because you are talking you want to relate the people.

Bill: And again that doesn’t necessarily mean you have to try to be cool and hip.

Bob: No, no

Bill: The old guy who has the deep voice too because then you are going to sound kind of silly. I think you need to be comfortable with the voice that you are and who you are and you want to find how that fits into the type of advertising or promo’s or whatever you are going after.

Joyce: Absolutely, you have to be appropriate. That is one of my pet peeves.

Bob: Right

Joyce: Not having an appropriate voice for the show.

Bob: And you don’t have to, you don’t have to be all things voice over.

Joyce: Exactly

Tracy: Yeah, That’s always

Bill: Right

Bob: You have to know what you do well and trust me nobody in this business needs another voice. What they don’t have is you.

Bill: Right

Joyce: Yes

Bob: Your heart, your brain, your sense of humor, your individual timing, your branding

Joyce: Your experience

Bob: The you that you are with your family and friends

Joyce: Right

Bob: If you can’t convey that in a commercial or a trailer a narration you are just another voice they are going to pass because you are just trying to be another voice over person instead of putting the personality your born with into that script.

Tracy: And improve is the best way to build that school

Joyce: It takes you out of your head

Tracy: And it turns you into who you really are

Bill: Improv teaches you how to react on honestly, that’s all it does.

Tracy: Exactly and Bill in your teaching techniques

Bill: Yes

Tracy: Speaking about finding you being real, tell us about how you work with commercial acting.

Bill: Well commercials in my opinion they just want you to be who you are. See what actors, especially actors who are just starting out what they don’t understand is the people on the other side of the glass who are doing the auditions or producing. They want you to succeed at the audition, they want you to walk into the room and be the person that they hear in their head immediately so that they can all go to lunch.

Joyce, Tracy: (Laughs)

Bill: It is more about lunch to them, so what you have to do as an actor is exactly what Joyce and Bob have been saying. You want to figure out who you are, you want to figure out what you do and be comfortable doing that because when I am making demo’s for people. Okay we produce demos, when I am making some of the demos and I am directing them

Bob: I am so proud of you for not saying tape

Bill: Yeah, yeah (Laughs)

Bob: I am so proud of you

Joyce, Tracy: (Laughs)

Bill: I know I am getting old, when we produce a demo people come in and when I am directing them in the demo session. I am not directing them into a read that I think they should do because then it would be come my demo. What I am trying to do is figure out what they do and put that on digital audio recording materials.

Tracy: (Laughs)

Bill: How is that Bob?

Bob: That’s good

Bill: And what we are trying to do is figure out what they do and then where the variety on the demo comes from in my opinion is how their voice fits into advertising. So when I am teaching people in my classes I teach them a lot about acting because acting is very important but I also teach them about advertising because even though I didn’t study advertising when I was in college I have been in the advertising business for thirty years. I have done thousands of commercials over the years on camera and voice over wise, so I understand advertising; I understand how it is supposed to work. Again a lot of advertising doesn’t work; a lot of advertising is bad advertising okay. But when you get into that good advertising that is when you realize “that is when I understand what I am supposed to be doing, so I am just going to be myself and I am going to walk into the audition and I am going to hope that I fit into their advertising.” If you go into an audition and you try to get the job, you will never get the job. I have freelance, I have been freelancer at places like that Voice Caster and Sheila Manning Casting and places like that over the years. And it was amazing to me how easy it was to see to me who was going to get the job because it is the guys the veteran guys, guys like Bob Bergen and hundreds of others out there and they walk in and do what they do and they walk out. A lot of times you will go “Do you want to hear that back?” and they are half way out the door. And they will say “Nope, thanks got to go to lunch”

Joyce: (Laughs)

Bill: You know

Bob: It’s really all about lunch isn’t it?

Bill: (Laughs) It is for me, it’s about lunch and margaritas

Tracy: I was just going to say, margaritas you’re forgetting.

Joyce, Bill: (Laughs)

Bill: Those are the people who work all the time and the people who come in, my children do voice over’s and they are college age now but when they were little kids they wanted to do voice over’s because Daddy did voice over’s and Daddy’s friends did voice over’s. And I said you can do voice over’s but we are not going to go into the whole acting thing and I never told my kids go on in there and get the job. It was an after school activity for them and they booked all the time, my oldest son put himself through college with voice over’s and he is not an actor by trade he is a baseball coach and a teacher but basically once he started working at starbucks for a month and I make $1,200 and I go do a voice over a job and I make $1,200 and I worked about an hour.

Joyce: (Laughs)

Bill: And he came to me and said “Dad this talking thing, I like that let’s do that more often” and again the thing I am trying to teach them now and he is older and he is actually pursuing it as a living, what I am really trying to get in his head is don’t try and get the job, it worked when you were a kid because it was fun keep it fun. And as long as he keeps it fun, he keeps booking. Okay let’s go back to advertising, advertising wise he is in a good category is 23 years old so he sounds 15-25 he is in a great category. I don’t know about you Bob but when I was that age I worked my ass off, when I was that younger guy the young voices because demographically in advertising 18-25 those people spend the most money in advertising, so there is a lot of advertising geared towards that. So all of the sudden my son has this part time job that he is making more money at then his full time job.

Tracy: So Bob was that true for you what he was saying, when you go in for an audition do you just kind of do your thing not worry about it and not try to hard.

Bob: You have to; I tell my students pay no attention to the man behind the glass.

Joyce: (Laughs)

Bob: Be available to their direction but when you are doing an audition either ISDN where the client is in a different city or let’s say you are in a studio like this, that silence after your read is so loud.

Tracy: (Laughs)

Bob: You know that they are saying, okay who can call Sandi Schnarr

Tracy: (Laughs)

Bob: Call these people find another actor, see now I tested this once I put a tape recorder in my backpack and I put it next the client.

Tracy: That’s great (Laughs)

Bob: During that silence they were talking lunch. Okay, so

Bill: Yeah

Joyce: (Laughs)

Tracy: Right, right (Laughs)

Bill: Are you going to get the tuna, I am going to get the tuna

Bob: Now I saw the look on their face, I thought they didn’t like me but they didn’t like lunch. So the bottom line is be available to their direction. I think the biggest mistake, there are two huge mistakes actors make when pursuing voice over. 1. Is doing the demo before they are ready 2. Is trying to please. Billy is absolutely right if you do it fort he fun, you have got theatre actors in New York who remember they were in high school drama, they were in college theatre and they are doing it for the fun rather than I have got to please my agent or my agent will drop me if I don’t get this job, I have got to pay my rent, I have got to make my parents happy because if I don’t make a living at this they are going to say that I am loser or whatever. You have got to do it for the pure joy and if you can’t see yourself doing anything else than do something else.

This has been Part Two of my Round Table interview with Bob Bergen, Bill Holmes and Joyce Castellanos join me next time for Part Three.

This Voice Registry podcast was brought to you by Voicebank.net

{Outro Music}

Voice Over experts, Bob Bergen (voice of Porky and other Looney Toons characters), Joyce Castellanos (former audio director/producer for NBC, Disney Channel) Bill Holmes (commercial producer/director/demo producer/ The Voice Over Doctor) share their insights about the industry in this NEW! Voicebank/Voice Registry Roundtable. You can reach Joyce Castellanos at promoteach@aol.com.

right+click here to dowload podcast [14MB]

{Intro Music}

This Voice Registry podcast is brought to you by Voicebank.net

This is Part Three of my roundtable interview with Bob Bergen, Joyce Castellanos and Bill Holmes.

Bill: I have been doing this for thirty years, I mean when I was in high school somebody told me, I mean I was acting in high school and I just loved it; I was hooked on it. And then one of my drama teachers Fred Katner said “You know you could do that for a living” and I said “You’re kidding me “

Bob, Joyce, Tracy: (Laughs)

Bill: I said “People will pay me for this?” and that is when I made my decision and you know what I have not changed, I am going to be forty nine years old next week and I have not changed at all. I am having a great time doing this, my kids have a good time doing it, all these people the Joyce Castellanous and the Bob Bergen’s. All the voice over people in this industry are fun, fun people.

Bob: You know what is interesting about that is it is true. We have the most wonderful community of actors.

Bill: Of support

Bob: I can’t think of any other town, I live in Los Angeles but so often I would get the “Hey, did you go to McCoy today to read for 7-Eleven? If not call your agent because your perfect for this.”

Bill: Oh Yeah, I am from Chicago and Chicago is the same way. In fact when I was about twenty three years old starting out in Chicago a guy named Chelsea Ross and Marie Curkburk a group of people in Chicago took me under their wing and started recommending me as the hot young voice in Chicago. My agent there is Linda Jack

Bob: Hi Linda!

Bill: Hi Linda

Bob: I love you!

Bill: And she grabbed a hold of me and started my voice over career but if it wasn’t for that group of people in Chicago that said “You know there is this new voice” Chelsea Ross is the god of voice over he used to be the god of everything. And I think he still is and he just said “There is this young guy that I think you should take a look at” you know to some producer. And boom, I am the voice of Marshall Fields in Chicago!

Joyce: Oh my goodness

Bob: But don’t you find its more voice over than on camera.

Bill: Oh Yes!

Joyce: Yes

Bill: Most definitely because

Joyce: Very, Very kind to one another and because a lot of people what we do is when we are taking our training and all we are finding out what your best place is, what is your most competitive area. So you find your range and you create the image. If you get called into a spot that you realize is just not you, I have seen more and heard of more people saying “You know I appreciate you having me in for this but I would like to recommend so and so because they are perfect for this.” It is a very generous group of people.

Bob: And then there is the I will get a piece of copy, my agent’s god love them send me everything that asks for a mouth.

Tracy, Joyce, Bill: (Laughs)

Bob: And I do pass on stuff because sometimes I am just not right for it. But every once and awhile I will say okay I am so not right for this, for what they are asking for so I will give them what I can do.

Joyce: Yeah

Bob: I am going to put my stamp on this.

Bill: Right

Bob: And I get those I have booked those because they are listening to everybody doing same old same old, “OH! There is a direction” talking about the generosity. Joyce and I were sitting next to each other at Don Lafontaine’s memorial last week and as people got up to speak we just kept hearing over and over again “Don would take you on the limo ride”

Joyce: Yeah

Bill: (Laughs) Yeah

Bob: People who were aspiring actors wanting to get into voice over

Joyce: The ride along

Bob: The ride along, spend a day with Don and go from session to session in his limo. The generosity I mean I crashed a recording; I called Mel Blank at home when I was fourteen.

Joyce: (Laughs)

Bob: He spent time with me on the phone, I bugged the conversation in case you want to hear it, it is on my website. It’s completely illegal but it has been over forty years or something like that.

Tracy, Joyce: (Laughs)

Bob: I am not that old but I love the voice over community because of the generosity

Bill: Yeah

Tracy: So what you all think about currently the whole voice over industry right now we know we have got lots of high tech things happening, things are changing all the time, what are the trends now? Where do voice actors go now to get started?

Bill: The nice thing about now is you have so many avenues of classes and workshops and things out there that when we were starting out they just weren’t available. Bob talks about his on the job training I basically did it the same way to, when I became the voice of Marshall Fields in Chicago I had to do a little doughnut piece of copy no beeps in my ear, you just heard it once and they would go that’s where you come in and you kind of go oh okay.

Joyce: (Laughs)

Bill: And you learn on the job you know. There is so many people because of Don Lafontaine so many people are so aware that it is an avenue of vocation, that everybody kind of wants to do it and because of the internet and because of the technology everybody in the country can do it now. So the thing is there are so many people who want to do it there is so much competition now even for the veteran guys and gals out there and the money has gone way down because as well these smaller advertising agencies I can just put it out on the voice over blog and people will do it for fifty bucks.

Tracy: So has that changed, you really think that it has changed the dynamic?

Bob: It has changed the dynamics but I also am hearing that it is coming back to the agents.

Tracy: Really?

Bill: Which is good because again I think they are realizing out there that the quality

Bob: They don’t have time to listen to ten thousand submissions

Tracy: Oh so it’s swinging back

Bob: I will also tell you this that when I started out in voice over and I wanted to hear the agents clients I would call the agents and I would say I am a producer and I would love to get a copy of your house reel because I have got some projects I am casting and it was on reel to reel and it was a one minute snip it of all their clients stuff that was updated maybe once every couple of years. Now we have this thing called Voicebank where every body and their mother can just go to their computer go to SBV commercial male sit back and listen. So when you are marketing your demo or preparing to make your demo you can not only listen to the competition but in your cover letter you can be very specific I know you have announcers like this person, this person and this person but they don’t do the promos I do and you have nobody that does the animation I do and nobody does the imaging that I do, I have a client list I am bring to you. The amount of homework and preparation no matter where you live in the country can do today, can you imagine if we were starting out?

Bill: Oh Yeah

Bob: I mean if or if they had brought this technology twenty or thirty years ago the opportunities that we never had.

Bill: Yeah

Joyce: Right

Tracy: In speaking about LA versus the rest of the country and all of the accessibility now, do actors need to be here to really up there career to the next level? Or can they still be in other cities?

Bob: I think every city has voice over.

Bill: Yeah

Bob: Commercial at least

Joyce: The training how ever you know, there is training all over between seminars that will travel to do or internet, over the phone doing training. Its accessible from anywhere but I think that there are agents who prefer people locally.

Bob: It has harder for actors outside out of Los Angeles without a track record to get a Los Angeles agent.

Bill: Yes

Bob: But Billy and I have agents in every port, we do.

Joyce: And that is the big thing now

Bill: Milwaukee, Atlanta

Joyce: And it is not a conflict with your LA agent because they are regional agents, so one of the things that I am doing is marketing talent to agents around the country

Bill: Because then you have the LA talent going to the smaller markets so if you are in LA you can market. When I moved here from Chicago it was funny because my commercial career took off because everybody said oh he is the young funny guy from Chicago and then when I lived here for about six or seven years I would go back to Chicago and work and they would market me “He is out here from Los Angeles, he is a Los Angeles talent”

Joyce: (Laughs) Right

Bill: But little did they know I came from Chicago

Tracy, Joyce: (Laughs)

Bill: But it got me work because that is the mind set sometimes “He is from LA and he is just here for a short time, let’s use him!”

Tracy: Yes, it is always interesting that whole cache here LA, NY

Bob: Well if animation is your thing you are going to live in Los Angeles

Tracy: That was another question

Bob: But you know what today because ten years ago Trace if you said to me “You know you could live in Cincinnati and have for under $500 have a broadcast quality mic, a recording program and have access to the same copy they have got in Los Angeles, New York and Chicago” Ten years ago I would of said that you were crazy. Now today common place, all my agents send me the same copy that my LA agent has.

Bill: Yeah

Joyce: Really?

Bob: OH yes, now animation I don’t when but right behind Tracy you people can’t see this but there is a pane of glass and on the other side of the glass there is the engineer in five, ten years, two years, twenty years I don’t know when. Who is to say that, that is not a plasma television set with a two way video and I am in Cincinnati looking at the camera and the client is in Los Angeles Disney, Pixar, DreamWorks, whatever and it is just like you are there. They are directing you, look the bottom line is that they want the best talent.

Tracy: Yeah

Joyce: Right

Bob: So as technology grows you have to be prepared which is why I travel the country and do weekend animation seminars.

Bill: Yeah

Bob: I go to Atlanta to teach a class, is there animation in Atlanta? Yes, first of all Cartoon Network is in Atlanta but if you want to be prepared when opportunity knocks you better study. Because you know if you’re not somebody else is.

Tracy: Yeah, exactly well speaking of the rest of the country we have some questions from our listeners.

Bill: News with Larry King

Joyce: (Laughs)

Bob: What’s the question?

Tracy: (Laughs) yes

Bob: Hurry up, not much time my suspenders are rusting.

Tracy: Let’s see I have got a question for Joyce from Margaret in San Francisco.

Bill: Margaret in San Francisco

Joyce: Hey Margaret!

Tracy: Joyce do you recommend that VO talent be able to do all the categories of voice over work or should they focus primarily on what they are really good at?

Joyce: Oh I think definitely with what they are really good at, to be honest commercial is really your bread and butter that is how you are going to find an agent.

Bob: For your day to day

Joyce: So you need to start with commercial, definitely find your way, find your signatures your styles and then find it is great to take a class in another area to see what you like and then you pursue you do not as Bob said have to be all things to all people you need to find what work for you and if your promo is something that is great or trailer sounds really good or animation is fantastic, narration there is  a zillion areas but start with commercial, understand the techniques the tools everything in commercial and branch out from there. But I would not try to do everything at once you need to start with a foundation.

Tracy: Okay

Bill: I have people who walk in to my class and that have that certain sound and as soon as they open their mouth I will just go “You are going to make a million dollars”

Joyce: (Laughs)

Tracy: I have heard you say that

Bill: I have said to people I go “If you figure this out, if you can figure this out you will make million dollars, okay” and then sometimes I will say “If I had your voice and what I have in my head I would make million dollars”

Joyce: (Laughs)

Bill: So figure this out, keep pursuing it.

Tracy: Okay so this is for Bob from Bill Price

Bob: Hi Bill!

Bill: Hello Bill

Tracy: Another Bill here we go with another Bill please share some techniques for creating characters to read for reading relatively straight copy, so how do you make the transition? How do you take your characters because you know for commercials they want characters?

Bob: Well first of all people have to stop thinking they need to do voices for cartoons, you are creating characters. Quiet often an actor or an animation actor, it’s a series of teenagers or young adults and you get five different characters they are all the same age and they are all from the same town, how do you make them different. Okay the bottom line is you only need to book one of them but the more you book the more they pay you, so instead of  changing your thinking I need to change my voice from character to character it is all about acting and personality. So look at the characters traits change the attitude.

Tracy: And that changes the change would you say if you have to play a teenager versus a twenty five year old?

Bob: Yeah and I think that if you start, as far as this is my technique there are three things that make up a character voice acting and a little signature that you are adding to the character. Every character has a voice but not every voice has character. So if you are thinking voice first you are blowing it, it has nothing to do with the sound it has to do with the personality and if you look at the character traits the description of what they are asking for even if it is a straight sounding character. There is going to be something within that personality within that performance, your voice is automatically going to adjust as you figure out that personality of the character, so again it is all about the acting. The other thing you need to ask yourself with every script is who am I talking to, what is my relationship with them and where are they in the room? Because acting is reacting because even though you are auditioning with a solo piece of copy you have a scene partner and you better in your mind think about what is my relationship with this scene partner, quiet frankly the scripts give you very limited direction as far as what they want from scene to scene you must create that you must make those choices and you can’t waver from your choices otherwise the mic is going to hear that you just aren’t confident, you are not committed this is where the improve training comes in handy but the bottom line is character and acting over voice.

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Voice Over experts, Bob Bergen (voice of Porky and other Looney Toons characters), Joyce Castellanos (former audio director/producer for NBC, Disney Channel) Bill Holmes (commercial producer/director/demo producer/ The Voice Over Doctor) share their insights about the industry in this NEW! Voicebank/Voice Registry Roundtable. You can reach Joyce Castellanos at promoteach@aol.com. Check out their upcoming 2009 VoiceLympics cruise.

Right + Click here to download podcast (14 MB)

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This Voice Registry podcast is brought to you by Voicebank.net

This is Part Four of my roundtable interview with Bob Bergen, Bill Holmes and Joyce Castellanous.

Bill: Again what actors don’t realize is there are people that sound like those characters naturally; those are the people that are probably going to be called in for that. So for you to try and be something that your not, chances are you are not going to book it anyway. People come to me when they are making demos and stuff and they go “I do a great British dialect, I do a spot on British dialect” and I’ll say unless it is perfect you probably don’t want to put it on your demo for the commercial portion of your demo. If you want to do a dialect portion that’s fine, what people don’t realize is that there are a thousand people here from England that I could cast in that role. And if you are better than them, which you probably are not going to be, you know don’t bother with it.

Joyce: (Laughs)

Bill: You know what I mean and again you know we need a gruff cop well then they are going to call in guys that sound like this (gruff voice).

Bob: But also along those same lines everybody I do a really good witch, I do a really good little kid well so does everybody represented and working today. So when it comes to your character demo it is all about originality and character.

Bill: Right

Bob: You said British voice well big deal, take away the British and what do you have left? Nothing, there is no character there is no personality, so you have to think not just the accent and the dialect not just the voice but originality in character.

Bill: What’s behind what you’re saying.

Bob: And what’s behind you.

Bill: Right

Bob: Because I listen to a Bill Holmes commercial, good god if you got a residual every time I heard E Harmony you know. You know I hear Billy, I hear Rob Paulson as Mr. Opportunity for Honda, I hear Jack Riley with Shedspread. It’s the people I meet on the street when I see these actors I hear on their commercials. If you can’t put yourself into it you are just trying to be Mr. or Mrs. Voice Over and you don’t need that.

Bill: They are just being who they are.

Tracy: You know isn’t it amazing how simply that is, but for some reason so hard for us for so many to just be yourself.

Bob: And this is why if you go to acting class, if you learn technique, if you learn the steps and the techniques of how to be real, how to be organic, genuine with the copy when you are doing scene study with a David Mammoth play it will absolutely translate to a toilet paper commercial. It doesn’t sound like it will, I used to say to my teachers when I was studying voice over because for two solid years I would hear “Be real” in my ears but what came out of my mouth was trying to do voice over

Tracy: Right

Bob: And on a Saturday morning at 9:32 am I got it.

Bill: (Laughs) Epiphany

Bob: It was, it was a Hallelujah moment. I don’t know if it was confidence, timing or whatever but I all the sudden I put me into the copy, I stammer that’s just the way I talk so I put myself in the copy I went “Oh, this is a breeze. Give me another piece of copy.”

Joyce: (Laughs)

Bill: Yeah

Bob: And it’s an exciting exhilarating moment, don’t make the demo until you have that moment.

Bill: The biggest direction that I give people the most in voice over classes is “Stop complicating this, stop complicating it”

Bob: Mhm, You’re working to hard.

Bill: Yeah, you’re working to hard. Why are you working so hard when if you do it quickly we can go to lunch?

Joyce: (Laughs)

Tracy: It’s all about lunch.

Bob: Don Cuco’s in Burbank, great margaritas, good chips and salsa!

Bill: Oh, the best!

Joyce: Think less, feel more.

Bill, Tracy, Bob: Ohhh!

Bob: I love Joyce!

Joyce: That’s my whole thing

Bob: Say that again Joyce, say that again.

Joyce: That’s what I say

Bob: Say it again

Joyce: To everybody I work with, think less, feel more.

Bob: Oh, I love you.

Bill: Yes

Joyce: It’s get out of your head and get into your heart.

Bob: If I give you credit, can I borrow that?

Joyce: You may indeed.

Bob: That was great

Joyce: Anytime

Bill: I steal from both of you all the time.

Joyce: (Laughs)

Bob: Borrow

Joyce: Oh, I love that response, I love that. But it is so true.

Bob: It is

Joyce: People are always trying, that was the big difference, okay here is the big difference where you are talking about announcer and story telling. It went from the big announcer style to the conversational, a conversational doesn’t mean flat, it doesn’t mean a dead read. It means you are talking to somebody you have inflection, you have impact.

Bill: You’re sharing with them.

Joyce: You’re sharing

Bill: You’re sharing the information as opposed to talking them into the information.

Bob: And you’re engaging

Joyce: Exactly, it’s about the way a sentence is phrased.

Bill: Right

Joyce: Instead of these big pauses in awkward places, you don’t speak like that. You might take an ellipses to make your point and then you continue on.

Bob: Can I stop you for one second

Joyce: Sure

Bob: You people can’t see this but Joyce is talking with her hands

Bill: Yes

Tracy: (Laughs)

Bob: I call it conducting yourself.

Bill: Yeah

Bob: For every word, for every idea, whether it’s a commercial, promo or animation.

Bill: Which Bob is doing right now with his hands

Joyce: That’s right (Laughs)

Bob: What you do physically with be translated vocally, so for whatever intent you want to perform vocally you must and what with animation physically play the character and the voice with follow. Joyce and I again we are going to go back to Mr. Lafontaine, God love him, I did a seminar with him last year at the screen actor’s guild. He did an exercise for the audience, he said “I am going to recite something to you that you have all heard you could do it back to me but I am going to do it in a way that is going to touch you” And all he did was the pledge of allegiance and we were in tears because the words, he brought the words to life, the importance of them. One nation under God, I mean the way he did it was organic and real and we are sitting there going “I pledge allegiance, nah, nah, nah…apples and oranges, guitars and couches…

Bill, Joyce: (Laughs)

Bill: Wait I don’t remember that in the pledge of allegiance.

Bob: What naked individual

Joyce: (Laughs)

Bob: Well I said one naked individual

Bill: One naked individual

Bob: Yeah

Joyce: (Laughs)

Bob: He did that and that was like one of the greatest voice over classes I have ever had in my life sitting next to him at this panel because I learned more that if you can put yourself and what were you saying, what is your rule again?

Joyce: Think less, feel more

Bob: If you can do that with something like the pledge of allegiance, you could be Don Lafontaine.

Joyce: (Laughs)

Bill: You know what is interesting because collectively the three of us here have been doing this for a couple hundred years.

Joyce: (Laughs) At least

Bill: What gets me is every time I do one of these round table discussions or panels at the voice over convention or whatever, I learned so much from listening to what these people are saying. And a lot of times we’re all saying the same thing because you know there is no real patented way of doing any of this stuff. We are all teaching the same thing in different ways as you can hear just from this discussion but the point I bring up is I have been doing this for thirty years and I am still learning how to do this. You know, that is the cool thing about acting and again voice over is acting. And the cool thing is that when you become an actor you never stop learning, it’s the discovery process that makes it fun. It’s that cool thing that where Joyce said that little phrase there and Bob and I say “Oh! That’s so cool!”

Joyce: (Laughs)

Bob: I wish people could of seen us, it’s almost liked “That’s called chocolate!”

Tracy, Joyce, Bill: (Laughs)

Bill: So I say to people out there at all levels “Don’t stop learning, keep learning all the time!” And again I will go back to the improve class, I don’t teach improve classes so I don’t get any kick backs or anything for telling people to take improve classes.

Joyce: (Laughs)

Bill: My training for improve was a comedy club in Chicago called “Who’s on First” with every Sunday night for five years myself, Brian Phelps, Steve Rudnick, Leo Benvenuti, Lou Schynder look up their names they are very famous people.

Bob: Are these Space Jam writers?

Bill: Huh? Yeah the guys who wrote Space Jam. We would do improve for free in front of an audience every Sunday night for three or four hours a night and that was my training. We train in front of the audience and you know when you’re doing improves for a bunch of drunk people and you say something and get a beer bottle thrown at your head you go “Oh! Well I’m not going to do that again!”

Joyce: (Laughs)

Bill: You know it is really good training you know but then when something does work and you feel hat feeling and you go “Oh, Wow! Oh, that worked, I am going to remember that, I am going to take that out and I am going to put that in my bag of tricks and I can going to do that again some day” Because that is the cool thing about acting is that you are paid to remember things, you’re paid to hit your marked, you’re paid to remember your lines, you’re paid to remember things all the time. So when you come across a script its like “Oh, that’s like that scene I did in that improve thing that really worked, I am going to do that” and boom you do that, you book the audition and you get paid for it and you go to you lunch and have a margarita.

Joyce: (Laughs)

Bill: Okay, because that is what it is all about. Do you understand what I am saying? It is like you are always learning and you are always putting something in your bag of tricks and again I have been doing this for thirty years now and it is still exciting to me when I hear something new. Why, because it is fun.

Bob: And also you have to adapt to the marketing that is the other thing you can be the most brilliant actor in the world but if you don’t know how to market and adapt what you have to offer to what the market wants. When I got into the business and probably you too everything was (Uppy Voice) “Hi! I am very Proctor and Gamble” and I used this and you still had to be yourself but it was a little bit over sell. Now it is very conversational “Listen here’s the thing Trace I don’t use the product I don’t even like the product, they are telling me to talk about he product so bottom line I bought the product and it worked for me, I don’t know if it is going to work for you”

Bill: It’s kind of like a sharing thing

Tracy: Of Course

Joyce: Mhm

Tracy: So everyone what are your classes? Speaking of all of these great techniques, great insights, I know you teach these techniques to the masses, where are you guys teaching?

Bob: Joycie

Joyce: Well, I teach in studios in Studio City, Sherman Oaks, I do phone private sessions over the phone.

Bob: We’re not supposed to talk about the phone stuff.

Tracy: (Laughs)

Joyce: Oh…

Bob: That’s between you and I

Joyce: Phone sex (Laughs) So we

Bill: I expect more money out of Joyce Castellanous

Bob: That’s Right

Tracy: (Laughs)

Bill: It has nothing to do with voice over

Joyce: Oh, but I’m worth it

Bob: Nice mic technique, what are you wearing?

Joyce: (Laughs)

Bob: Yeah baby

Joyce: So I have you know a twelve week program for promo, I have a four week program for trailer

Tracy: So you have on going classes?

Joyce: On going classes

Tracy: Okay, good

Joyce: And I’m available for anywhere, anytime

Bob: And I have to say that she is brilliant, she is brilliant

Joyce: Oh, I’ll pay them later

Bob: These are two of my favorite people in this business to recommend for whether it is classes or demos. Not because they are just friends of mine but because they are good and I have to tell you that if there was third person here I didn’t respect I would just keep my mouth shut. So I am not going to offer that just because their here but because they really really are.

Bill: But that is kind of how we really became friends

Bob: We did

Bill: Because we would hear our names all the time

Bob: Oh, I just kept hearing good demos and I would say “Who is doing that demo?” “Bill Holmes” Oh, okay and the same with your promo trailer “Where did you get that done?” “Joyce Castellanous” Okay because you start consistently hearing good stuff and there is a common denominator and you want to contact that common denominator and “I need to keep recommending you, what is your phone number?”

Bill: And also you know hear the three of us talking here, one of the reasons we came up with the idea of the three of us you know chatting with you, we are all kind of on the same page and we all kind of believe in the same things, the same styles of teaching and stuff.

Tracy: Which brings to mind the three of you are teaching together?

Bob: Yes

Tracy: Next year

Joyce: Oh!

Bill: Yeah, a year from next week Deb Monroe up in

Bob: What is she calling it? Voice Olympics

Bill: Yeah, Voice Olympics. And it’s a voice over cruise. Bob you know more about it. You have actually done one so.

Bob: Well it’s basically, I did an animation workshop on a cruise ship three years ago and Joyce came along and Deb came along and a few other people who happen to teach. I was teaching animation but I spent an afternoon doing Q & A, so Deb had contacted me about a year or so ago and said “Hey! Would you want to do a workshop on a cruise ship again from Vancouver to Los Angeles?” I said “Great!” Then the voice conference this past summer with all these other teachers and instructors gave Deb the idea of “Why don’t we have different people with each category of voice over?” Joyce for promo, Bill for commercial and demos, me for animation, Deb is from Canada she is a voice over instructor and Julie Williams for commercial. And spend four days on a cruise ship; it’s basically a vacation with workshops.

Bill: Yeah

Tracy: And how do they find out, how do our listeners find out about the cruise?

Bob: Well first of all they can go to website bobbergen.com, all of my classes because I am doing the cruise it is listed there. Deb Monroe I don’t know what her…

Bill: Mic and Me

Bob: MicandMe, yeah

Tracy: And we will have that on our site as well

Bill: Mic, C mic

Tracy: Mic and Me

Bob: Right

Tracy: And lastly Bob Bergen, your going out of town your doing your one man show

Bob: Yeah

Tracy: In addition to your classes

Bob: It is the story of a nice Jewish boy who wanted to be Porky Pig basically. Yeah I teach, my LA class has about unfortunately a three to four year waiting list but I teach weekend workshops all over the country.

Bill: Right

Tracy: Okay

Bob: So usually when I go to a city to teach a class I bring, I find a theatre and I bring in my one man show. So I am doing Atlanta in October and I have got a class in Dallas in October, I am going to Portland next year, Atlanta, New York.

Tracy: So they can find that?

Bob: Everything is on my website; I will also say that if people have questions. If you have a demo you want critiqued or listened to please don’t hesitate to pop me a note, you know.

Tracy: Okay

Bill: Yeah, likewise

Joyce: Me too, I would love to do that.

Tracy: Okay everybody you have heard that so definitely take advantage of that. Well I thank all of you Joyce Castellanous, Bob Bergen, Bill Holmes

Bob: Did we get a good level are we ready to record this now?

Joyce: (Laughs)

Tracy: Yes we’re ready now

Bob: Oh good

Tracy: In closing the very last thing, Bob Bergen will you do a little Porky

Bill: Do the pig!

Tracy: and sign out

Bill: Do the pig!

Bob: Bill Holmes will call me, I have been in different countries, I have been out of state and I will go “Hello?”

Bill: And I will just said “Uh, Hello, Porky?”

Joyce: (Laughs)

Bill: Because I have some kid standing next to me

Bob: I think my mother had, had gull bladder surgery and I was at Cedar Sinai

Bill: (Laughs)

Bob: (Strained Voice) “I can’t do the pig right now, maybe later”

Tracy, Joyce: (Laughs)

Bill: Okay, just do the pig!

Tracy: Okay!

Bill: Show them a little pig, just do the pig!

Tracy: Just…

Bob: (Porky Voice) Eh Thanks for listening folks, eh that’s all folks! (Porky Laugh)

Joyce, Bill: (Laughs)

Tracy: Thank you all!

This Voice Registry podcast was brought to you by Voicebank.net, join us next time.

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Gustavo Rex began his acting in New York in 1980 in Classical Spanish Theatre. Soon he found himself doing “Sexy voices” for the  Late Night soft porn show “Electric Blue.”  But his full time voice over career began here in LA in 1989 and it’s been his bread and butter ever since.  Thanks to his agents at Cunningham (CESD) he quickly became one of the top Hispanic voice over talents in LA. And even though he did a lot of theatre in New York and  TV and film work her in LA, his love is the voice.  His work ranges from commercial vo to trailers, animation and narration. He was the voice of Captain Crunch in Spanish, the annoncer for Taco Bell with “dat dog,”  launched the Fox Network in Latin America, was nominated for an Emmy for a PBS show called Rock en Espanol and did multiple voices on and directed the animation series Leo the Lion and the Adventures of Honey-Honey. He’s also a Spanish Star Search winner.

Click Here for Gustavo Rex part 1

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Written Transcript

{Intro Music}

This voice registry podcast is brought to you by Voicebank.net

Tracy: Hi Everyone I am Tracy Pattin and I am here at the Invisible Studios in West Hollywood and we are going talk everything studio, audio, sound with the wonderful Mark Holden audio engineer extraordinaire. (Laughs) I don’t know what do you call yourself?

Mark: (Laughs) Studio Owner

Tracy: Studio Owner (Laughs)

Mark: Studio Engineer

Tracy: You wouldn’t believe how gorgeous this studio is.

Mark: Thank You

Tracy: This is pretty fabulous. He does umm, I have written about the radio plays, I interviewed Michael York here recently and he does a lot of BBC projects so he I think you are the best person to ask about you know what do we as voice talent need to know. Let’s just talk generalities.

Mark: Okay. Sure.

Tracy: Like anything new we need to know.

Mark: Okay.

Tracy: In terms of let’s say in terms of equipment for our home studios.

Mark: Okay, Umm well there’s not, there’s nothing super new other than some new software from the old people pro tools eight is out now and it adds some nice functionalities some things for musicians and possibly some things for voice over talent.

Tracy: Okay and for those that you don’t know about Pro Tools that is the high end audio recording software. Because some of us work in Garage Band and the PC people as well.

Mark: It is the industry standard, it has been for years it has its own avid who have the industry standard video editing software. So its just most studios have Pro Tools.

Tracy: Is it necessary for us though for us to have Pro Tools.

Mark: Absolutely not Pro Tools is basically you know editing and recording software in the quality of the recording doesn’t have anything to do with pro tools it has to do with your microphone your room uh your analog to digital converters and your microphone pre amplifiers.

Tracy: So this uh recording audio to digital Mark what exactly is that for the people that don’t know what that means.

Mark: Right, analog to digital conversion basically your microphone is outputting a signal to a microphone amp and then in turn is outputting an analog signal which is not 1s and 0s it is an analog audio signal a line level signal. Basically the analogs digital converter, what it does is it converts your signal from your microphone or from whatever sound source into the digital domain that you are you know your computers can then deal with and read. So the way that that happens.

Tracy: Mhm

Mark: Is really important on uh in the audio quality.

Tracy: I mean and are you talking about even for auditions, for a lot of my listeners have their home studio most people have home studios but also need to record sometimes projects at home. That seems to be happening more and more.

Mark: Yeah

Tracy: So let’s talk about what we need for the home studio setup for auditions and what do we need for the home studio setup for actual recording.

Mark: Um I mean its kind of one in the same it just depends on if you are actually doing you know recordings that you are sending to clients that they are going to use. I mean I am sure that they would require a little bit more uh sound proofing a little bit deader space. Where as if you’re just doing and audition they are just basically wanting to hear your voice. Um you know you might have traffic going by and things like that and they probably won’t care too much but if you’re actually sending something to them then you need a lot more treatment.

Tracy: But what can you get away with though what can you actually get away with. Let’s say because of the internet and because of there are a lot of internet projects do you need to have the same kind of set up for those kind of projects versus a broadcast project.

Mark: No I mean if your doing internet podcasting things like that, I mean the internet is extremely forgiving for so many reasons because the quality because you are compressing the audio you know before your sending it up and people are listening on computer speakers and headphones and things like that and people on the internet are basically listening for content as opposed to quality most of the time.

Tray: Okay.Yeah. Good Point.

Mark: Yeah for that kind of stuff I mean if your doing you know voiceovers you know directly to internet, I would think that the requirements you know quite a bit less all though it is nice to have a nice quite room a nice quite dead room if you’re doing voice over type stuff.

Tracy: Yeah you want to sound as good as.

Mark: Yeah

Tracy: Um before we talk microphones.

Mark: Sure

Tracy: What about the recording the room can you do stuff (spooky voice) in the closet.

Mark: Yeah

Tracy: (Laughs)

Mark: Well here’s, well here’s the big

Tracy: Between clothes

Mark: Right, Right

Tracy: Not that I’ve ever done that (Laughs)

Mark: Right and then coming out of the closet and uh breathing

Tracy: So how uh so how so how do you uh

Mark: Basically I mean basically in order to get sound proofing a lot of people mix up sound proofing and acoustics um uh I shouldn’t say sound proofing, sound isolation and acoustics if, in order to get a quite space really the only thing you can do is density you have to have thick walls things that its just more sort of padding sheet rock and dry wall you have the more air space you have

Tracy: Or a cluttered closet like I have

Mark: Yeah. No well cluttered closets are great

Tracy: Cause I actually do admit

Mark: Right, Right

Tracy: Alright everybody I am admitting I have done auditions in the closet between my gazillion amounts of clothes that I need to give away and it sounds pretty darn good.

Mark: Right, but now uh

Tracy: (Laughs)

Mark: Now a cluttered closet is going to be great for sound absorption so its going to sound really nice and dead but your not you don’t have it still doesn’t keep the sound from coming in from trucks and things going by

Tracy: Yeah like if a helicopter comes over

Mark: Exactly a helicopter coming over a truck going by

Tracy: Paparazzi helicopter

Mark: So in the city you know a nice quite closet in a in a internal closet so uh a best thing is to find a closet in your house or apartment that doesn’t uh share a common wall with the exterior wall.

Tracy: Okay

Mark: The best uh isolation is still air, sound travels slower through than it does wood, metal, um your materials sound travels much slower through air. So if you have internal closet in your house or apartment and you can get some doors that seal you are probably going to be pretty good to do auditions and maybe even some performance stuff.

{Outro Music}

Tracy: This has been part one of my interview with sound expert Mark Holden join me next time for Part Two

This Voice Registry podcast was brought to you by Voicebank.net

Right+Click to Download Podcast (6.3 MB)

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This voice registry podcast is brought to you by Voicebank.net

Tracy: This is part two of my interview with Mark Holden to hear part one go to last weeks podcast. But what about microphones?

Mark: Okay well it really depends on what you are doing, if your doing sort of broadcast type stuff as opposed to you know voice over for animation and things like. Broadcast type stuff, I mean do you want to know what types of microphones or what brands or?

Tracy: Well just, you know if people want to go out and get some equipment what do they need to get? I mean you don’t have to get into to much detail.

Mark: Yeah, well a lot of people really like the RODE NT1A and

Tracy: Is that R O A D?

Mark: Yeah, no its R O D E it is an Australian company. RODE R O D E N T 1 A. It is a great microphone for the price; it doesn’t have a lot of what we call rejection which means that it actually picks up quite a bit. So it’s a very sensitive because it’s a condenser microphone. So it picks up a lot sort of ambient sounds. Like if I said if you are doing something more broadcast oriented and you want to get really tight in and have that big sort of broadcaster sound. You are better with a broadcasting mic which is a HEIL PR40

Tracy: And how do you spell HEIL?

Mark: HEIL is H E I L and it is from a guy named Bob Heil who actually got inducted into the rock and roll hall of fame a couple of years ago, he helped to create the first live sound console for the Who and the Grateful Dead way back.

Tracy: Okay, so he knows sound.

Mark: yeah, well he makes the great microphones and they are basically broadcast mics but that they have a lot rejection so they have a lot of side rejection, so they are going to pick up more of you right in front of your microphone then they are of things going around in your apartment or your traffic outside and things like that, so those are two really good

Tracy: Okay so I was just going to ask you price, price range

Mark: Yeah, those are two good options the PR40 is a little pricier I think it is around $329 the NT1A is about $229

Tracy: Okay

Mark: But depending on what you’re doing they’re both great microphones. If you are doing voice over auditions the NT1A is probably just less forgiving mic so if you move your head a little bit you know it will sound like your going off mic where as the PR40 it is more of a broadcast mic so you have seen broadcasters on TV or whatever you notice that they just kind of sit there on their mic. So that is what kind of mic that is, so its more of you have to site there right in front of it and do your thing.

Tracy: And in addition to that what do people need to just the basics, for their setup. So they need the mic obviously and then they need the mixing board if?

Mark: Well not necessarily I mean you know a lot of people just use the interfaces. Like for Pro Tools it would be an M Box, M audio has several that can be used with Logic

Tracy: And are they fairly easy to figure out?

Mark: Well that is kind of the million dollar question (Laughs)

Tracy: I mean what is an easy set up? Because already it is like UH, and do they come with think manuals you know?

Mark: No, I mean you can use garage band software to like I said if you have.

Tracy: But I am talking about in the recording process when you have your mic do you need it hooked in I mean you need it hooked into something

Mark: Well you need a microphone pre amplifier and you know your computers with a built in microphone pre amplifiers, laptops are

Tracy: So you can hook it right into your computer?

Mark: Technically you can, it is not ideal because they are really cheap microphone pre amplifiers so and you can start up that way especially for auditions that are stuff will be fine. And then if you want to upgrade there are so many options, I think the most difficult thing for people to overcome when they do this thing for the first time you know when they want to do a little home set up is just the software issues. If they are not really used to you know non linear editing, if they have never done video or audio editing it is something you have to kind of work through. And basically all of the software programs they run very similarly they are non linear editing so you have a timeline and you know you look at the time line

Tracy: And they look like an AKG for those of you who haven’t seen that

Mark: (Laughs)

Tracy: I am sure most of you people have

Mark: So there non destructive editing and recording which means when you erase things and stuff on your screen it doesn’t actually erase the audio files unless you tell it to do that. So they are forgiving as far as they are not going to erase something that you did but as far as cutting things together I think that is what people find complicated.

Tracy: Right

Mark: So most people who are doing auditions have been in front of a microphone and can kind of hear with their headphones, you know if they are sounding distorted. So yeah I mean a very standard setup is a microphone into a microphone amplifier into your interface or your computer and then it is usually plugged in USB and there is usually a headphone output on the interface.

Tracy: And you recommend using the headphones always?

Mark: Always, because there is now way, I mean if there is no one monitoring you there is no way for you to ever know what you’re getting and what you’re not getting

Tracy: Until you listen it

Mark: Unless you want to just do trial and error, you can hear immediately if headphones if your distorting or if your too far away or if you are hearing something else like in your room that’s. If you have your headphones on you may all of the sudden hear your computer fan going and you may want to try and make that quieter.

Tracy: Okay

Mark: Or you may hear your dishwasher running or something like that.

Tracy: And Mark we know you can hear, I always say Mark can hear dogs barking in Eagle Rock which is about ten miles away from here. (Laughs)

Mark: Easily

Tracy: We don’t all have that kind of hearing but okay so do you recommend any particular software PC and MAC for either one? I mean I personally use garage band and I think it’s great, I have used Pro Tools and I mean that is more complicated.

Mark: Like I said they all work on a very similar basic sort of level. The thing with Pro Tools is that it can be very simple and very complicated all at the same time. Where as Garage Band

Tracy: Right, Okay

Mark: Garage Band is very simple I mean you can do some quite complicated things with it but it doesn’t go to you know the realm where Pro Tools does and Logic and some of the bigger ones. But there all you know all of the projects Logic to Digital Performer there used to be one called Acid Pro but I think it is called something else now. Things like that they all work on the same basic philosophy that it is just you know you record you see your wave file you edit it and you send it off.

{Outro Music}

Tracy: This is Part Two of my interview with Mark Holden join me next time for Part Three

This Voice Registry podcast was brought to you by Voicebank.net

Right+Click to Download Podcast (8.7 MB)

Click below for the previous episodes of this podcast:

Podcast part 1 Home Studio Set up

Podcast part 2 Microphones

-Tracy Pattin

{Intro Music}

This voice registry podcast is brought to you by Voicebank.net

Tracy: This is Part Three of my interview with Mark Holden. To hear parts one and two go the previous week’s podcast. Well let’s switch over as we kind of wrap up here. There is so much ISDN going on now.

Mark: Well we are ISDN ready here.

Tracy: Oh yes, okay you are ready for everything here.

Mark: We have an ISDN box.

Tracy: You don’t rent out for auditions but for actual projects.

Mark: Yeah, well I mean you know voice over demo’s things like that, professionally done voice over demos or ISDN sessions if you book a client and you need ISDN that kind of stuff.

Tracy: Well you have got a great studio. Well let’s talk about home ISDN setups because I know people have those now. Are they necessary, in the phone patch and all these and Skype and I also want to talk to you about Skype. So let’s start with the ISDN and phone patch and just briefly explain to people if they don’t know the difference what is the difference?

Mark: Well, I mean an ISDN is basically a way to, its sort of old technology but it still works really well and people use it all the time it has been around for several years. But basically it’s a way to connect to a studio directly or a client directly. So what’s needed for that ISDN is very expensive thing to get into for home studios because the boxes the ISDN boxes I believe start at around $3000. And then of course if your or whoever your client is or the studio your working with needs to have a similar ISDN box and then they have to be able to link to each other. It’s kind of cool it sort of like you just appear in the studio even though you’re not in the studio you are just at home doing your ISDN in the studio. As long as you have a nice room and stuff to the studio it sounds to them like you are in their studio. So it is just a way to do that. ISDN’s only something that people who are very working do in a home studio because it is very costly and I think it is about $100 a month for the service as well.

Tracy: Wow, Okay

Mark: It might be like $50 for the home service.

Tracy: So ideally its better to pretty much use a studio to have a client and work out something.

Mark: Yeah, to my knowledge the only people who have a home ISDN box are people who have been working in VO for years and years.

Tracy: Well like the late Don LaFontane who makes millions and millions and millions.

Mark: Yeah, I did several sessions with him while he was at home but he sort of had it down to a science. It is a little more complicated than the average person and expensive than the average person.

Tracy: And did he operate it from his home? Or did he have somebody there?

Mark: From what I understand, I never met him in person when I work with him you would just talk back to him like he was in your studio but from what I understand he had a uh, correct me if I am wrong I think he had a nice booth in his basement area or his downstairs area and he had he used a really nice microphone he used a Manly Reference microphone which is about a $2500 microphone and that was sort of and that was the Don LaFontane sound you know.

Tracy: And then did he operate the ISDN box himself?

Mark: Yeah once you get it installed and somebody comes in and shows you how to do it its fairly simple. But actually you always called in to Don he didn’t call your studio you called his studio. So he basically, if he were to open up the door at 10 o’clock and that was his booking you would already be online talking to him. And he would walk in and say “hello” and that was it, it would be one take and then we were done.

Tracy: Okay and so phone patch just give us an explanation of what that is if you could.

Mark: A phone patch is just a way that radio stations and studios do interviews via the phone and all it really does is it connects a phone line into your audio system so um, the only you wouldn’t ever use that to do auditions or things like that because it is phone fidelity and phone quality.

Tracy: And you can tell.

Mark: Yeah, but it patches that in, if you are doing a lot of interviews and things like that it can be very helpful.

Tracy: So essentially it is for the director, so that they are in the studio recording and you are listening to their direction or they can be on the phone not in a studio you can be recording in a studio.

Mark: Oh that type of phone patch.

Tracy: You could do that as well.

Mark: Yeah that is another aspect of phone patch. When you are not recording an interview, if you have a phone patch let’s say you have a client who is Seattle, Washington or something and you are down here. And they don’t need to hear full fidelity they just want to hear your performance and your takes you just call them from your phone patch box or they can call in to and they can hear your performance via their cell phone.

Tracy: But you still have to be in an actual studio, recording actual work.

Mark: I mean if you are recording actual takes and you would either be in your nice home studio or at a studio recording they are just listening and giving you direction and things like that via the phone patch. So lets a really cool way to work if they don’t really care about hearing your full sort of fidelity voice.

Tracy: Yeah

Mark: And they just want to hear your performance

Tracy: It makes it convenient for them.

Mark: Yeah, I have just done so many of those, I mean I have done phone patches when they are literally on their cell phone driving home and they are listening to takes “Oh yeah that was good”

Tracy: Yeah that’s great (Laughs)

Mark: Or they direct from their cell phone driving home you know, so that’s a neat thing.

Tracy: So and finally about all of what do you call these things these devices, Skype. Explain Skype and how it is useful for voice talent.

Mark: You know I am not actually, I am not super familiar with Skype I have used it a few times basically to call people for free but I am not sure you know what voice talent uses it for or if they use it.

Tracy: Because it does sound well I just know that it sounds like they are on the phone so the quality is really not good.

Mark: Yeah it is definitely low quality. I don’t know what it is but it is probably 64 KVS or you know maybe 96 or something but its definitely not full fidelity at all.

Tracy: Okay, well this has been so great Mark. So basically, what changes have happened I mean we talked about a year and a half a ago we did our last interview you and I. What changes have you seen, do you see any changes coming up?

Mark: Um

Tracy: Any advice for us?

Mark: You know I think its just so interesting to me because one might think it is counter productive for me to give people advice on how to set up home studios because I want them to come to my studio but really its technology you don’t ever want to curve technology its just times they are a changing. So, basically I just feel like we are getting better and better communicating high speed internet and things like that. And you know we should all sort of embrace this type of thing and then when pretty soon we will be able to do sort of full fidelity Skype. Our bandwidths will be so much larger and we will be able to do all of this stuff with great fidelity.

Tracy: Which means great quality sound.

Mark: Yeah a much higher quality sound because it is going to be much less compressed. So as we move through this whatever age we are in and the technology its just sort of embracing something that comes next to be able to communicate better quality faster you know easier. So specifics as far as what I’ve seen, I mean from a professional stand point there is a lot of changes going on right now in studios and things like that. But from a home studio stand point it is really about sort of creating your nice dead quiet space and getting some software that you can familiarize yourself with and just continuing to embrace the changing technology and you know it may seem annoying that you have to upgrade your software and things like that but we all as a professional studio owner we have to do that and it is much more expensive for us to do that.

Tracy: (Laughs)

Mark: So just keep your stuff updated, put a little money into to put the quality up and keep embracing the new technology.

Tracy: And come to you

Mark: Yeah

Tracy: (Laughs)

Mark: I mean if you have serious auditions and questions come over here and check us out.

Tracy: And they can check you out at Theinvisiblestudios.com

Mark: Yeah

Tracy: Well Mark Holden thank you for your great great insights. We will do another one of these with the next round of new technology.

Mark: Alright, Thanks

{Outro Music}

This Voice Registry podcast was brought to you by Voicebank.net join us next time.

Amy Stoller is an award-winning dialect coach based in New York City. She teaches accents and dialects to performers, and American English speech and diction to non-performers.

She has been literary manager of an Off-Off-Broadway theatre company, casting director for a Brooklyn Shakespeare company and an American musical-in-progress, director of New York workshops and readings, and production manager of two one-acts that journeyed from the US to Scotland.

Amy Stoller is an award-winning dialect coach based in New York City. She teaches accents and dialects to performers, and American English speech and diction to non-performers.

She has been literary manager of an Off-Off-Broadway theatre company, casting director for a Brooklyn Shakespeare company and an American musical-in-progress, director of New York workshops and readings, and production manager of two one-acts that journeyed from the US to Scotland.

Amy Stoller is an award-winning dialect coach based in New York City. She teaches accents and dialects to performers, and American English speech and diction to non-performers.

She has been literary manager of an Off-Off-Broadway theatre company, casting director for a Brooklyn Shakespeare company and an American musical-in-progress, director of New York workshops and readings, and production manager of two one-acts that journeyed from the US to Scotland.

Click below to listen to the previous Chris Allport podcasts.

Chris Allport part 1

Chris Allport part 2

Chris Allport part 3

Chris Allport part 4

Chris Allport is voice talent, coach and director. Known for the role of “Tootles” in Fox’s cult classic, Peter Pan & the Pirates, Casper the Ghost and various Disney character voices such as Edsel the Dinosaur, Chris has also voice-matched many celebrities in feature films including Robin Williams, Leonardo DiCaprio, Elijah Wood and Andy Dick. In part 3, Chris continues talking about his directing and performing and what advertising executives look for in voice talent.

Bob Bergen began his illustrious animation voice over career at age 5: When he knew he wanted to be the voice of Porky Pig. Fast forward years later, and Porky Pig became his voice-over claim to fame. His resume consists of 100s of cartoons, commercials, promos, radio imaging, live award show announcing, and interactive games. If that’s not enough, Bob has a one man show about his career called, So Here’s The Deal! You’ll hear Bob in these recent feature films; Wall-E, Up, Ponyo, and Toy Story 3.

Bill Holmes is an award winning director and is owner of his own production company, Compost Productions. Not only has he been working very successfully in the voice over business for the past 25 years but he has been teaching commercial voice over classes for the last 15 as well. If you’re in the LA area on December 16th, check out the “Margaritas Mojitos and Microphones” class, featuring Gregg Berger and Jill Kershaw. A very fun and productive evening!

Bob and Bill also teach in tandem with their BillyBob workshops.

-Tracy Pattin

Bob Bergen began his illustrious animation voice over career at age 5: When he knew he wanted to be the voice of Porky Pig. Fast forward years later, and Porky Pig became his voice-over claim to fame. His resume consists of 100s of cartoons, commercials, promos, radio imaging, live award show announcing, and interactive games. If that’s not enough, Bob has a one man show about his career called, So Here’s The Deal! You’ll hear Bob in these recent feature films; Wall-E, Up, Ponyo, and Toy Story 3.

Bill Holmes is an award winning director and is owner of his own production company, Compost Productions. Not only has he been working very successfully in the voice over business for the past 25 years but he has been teaching commercial voice over classes for the last 15 as well. If you’re in the LA area on December 16th, check out the “Margaritas Mojitos and Microphones” class, featuring Gregg Berger and Jill Kershaw. A very fun and productive evening!

Bob and Bill also teach in tandem with their BillyBob workshops.

-Tracy Pattin

In the early part of her career, Tasia Valenza played the role of Dottie Thornton on All My Children from 1982 to 1986, earning a Daytime Emmy nomination for her work. She also showed up in a guest star appearance in the fifth season of The A-Team, as a Vulcan in the Star Trek: The Next Generation episode “Coming of Age”, and a recurring role as Lt. Winslow in Space: Above & Beyond.

Tasia eventually found her way to a successful voice over career and never looked back. She works constantly (almost daily!) in voice over for commercials, video games, promos, film, animation. “Everything but Kabuki!” In Part 2 of this Video Cast, Tasia talks about using her voice to give back.

Click here for part 1 of the Tasia Valenza video cast

Click here for more info on SOS Children’s Villages

Click here for Tasia Valenza’s “Big Give” video sent Oprah