Well,
I spent the first two weeks of August working on my commercial reel, and I also had to put together a quick Animation reel as well for an audition and possible agent meeting. Through my class over at Voicecaster I met some excellent talent, and one girl got me in contact with Katie Von Till, a hardworking voice over artist and the new voice of Disney's Snow White!! :-) She gave me some great advice and then I set up a one on one coaching session with her, and we went over my commercial reel, and she was nice enough to go over my animation characters as well. With her ongoing help and support I was able to put two reels together that sound pretty darn good, I gotta say. They may not be complete professional quality, but they are pretty darn close, and get the point across. Here they are. Please have a listen
Animation Reel
Commercial Reel
Now, I still want to add some stuff to the animation of course and record them and mix them professionally, but for now, I need to focus on making more connections with casting directors and booking work on my own. With booked gigs and more connections under my belt, the agents will hire me. Without that stuff, it's literally just waiting for lady luck to knock on your door. I also have updated my website a bit to cater more to a voice over agent or casting director logging on. I took off my picture on the front page and made the first thing you come to my reels. That way, they aren't focused on what I look like when they hear the voices, and can rather, in their mind make out whatever they hear. Another useful note from Katie. www.JayPreston.com
As for my last class, I honestly don't think I learned much. But I did get some good practice in the booth, and the connection to Katie I think was the reason I took it. So I must save up for a class now over at Talkshop. If there are three big casting companies for voice-over, Talkshop is one of them, and it's the only one i haven't taken a class in yet. So, that will be in September when I can save enough money again. I swear, if I could go back, I would have skipped out on college, which has only given me horrible debt and bad credit, and convinced my parents to send me out here with even a quarter of the money spent for college. Alas...but then I wouldn't have gotten to experience this wonderful struggle that is talked about so often in "making it".
There is gold at the end of my tunnel. For now, I must enjoy my surroundings and sing the tunnel song. I hope you all like my reels, feel free to subscribe to my blog, and suggest it to anyone else starting this path. :-)
Be Wonderful!
Jay Preston VO
Friday, August 12, 2011
Thursday, July 28, 2011
Bring on August & Creating your Demo
Hello again!! And welcome back to a glimpse of my life. I sometimes forget I started this blog, but it is something I enjoy doing, and hopefully it can be a help to someone out there, or at least a bit of entertainment.
Since May, I have done extensive work on my Commercial Voice Over Reel, gone out on 3 Voice Over auditions, and sent 6 auditions from my home studio. All the feedback I have received has been positive but each time they went with another voice. A few times they wanted a deeper voice, and one time, they wanted a "name". Which to me, always stinks a little. I can't become a "name" until I've booked some reputable gigs, and it's hard to book those gigs unless your a "name", oh, and have an AGENT! The ol' Hollywood Catch 42. (And I've upped the usual "Catch 22", because Hollywood has soo many more ridiculous catches!)
As far as the VO demo reel goes. It sure is a lot of work. And I have to say, as usual, everyone has their own opinions on what you SHOULD and SHOULDN'T do. I've learned to listen to people out here, and get multiple opinions before just jumping on the first thing someone says, even if they are reputable. My advice is to listen to many people and take from them the underlying consensus that is common throughout all advice. If something sticks out to more than one person, or the same advice pops up more than once, Then that is the advice you need. Now understand, that doesn't mean throw out any other valuable advice, it just means be careful and choose wisely. The next part of this blog is a good example.
The Commercial Demo
I was told by a few people that the demo should be no more than 2 minutes and it should be done professionally for it is your calling card. I looked around and the cheapest demo production in California is anywhere from $1,300 to $2,000 and can even be more expensive. That was very disheartening. Taking the VO classes was already hard enough being from $4 to $500 a pop. Not having an agent, not booking extra work, and only waiting tables along with all the bills, There is no way to afford it for someone like me. So, like the home studio, I had to find another way.
I listened to countless demo reels online from various agency websites, (the agencies I wanted to be represented by) and got a great feel for how one should sound. There are a couple rules for your demo.
1) Do not use someone Else's material. Do not re-do commercials you hear on the radio or TV. Someone else already booked that job, and chances are you will submit your demo to an agency that represents the person that did it. And you will not be given a chance.
2) Don't fool with your voice in post. Don't speed up or slow down your voice in your demo electronically. If you fool someone on your demo, you won't be able to re-create that in real life. Big no no.
So with that knowledge, my home studio, and Adobe Audition. I started writing my own commercial spots. Things that I wanted to get booked for. I thought, what do I love? What am I most passionate about? And I wrote commercials for it. But I needed variety, You can't have your demo be all the same sort of commercials, you need a hard sell, a soft sell, and for me, I wanted to showcase the relaxed everyday guy, your friend, humor, my personal "signature" voice. I began recording and re-recording and RE-RECORDING. When all was said and done I had recorded 7 commercials, all about 20 seconds long. I then had to edit them all together and cut them down to under 2 minutes. THEN, I had to find music for each piece. I searched two fantastic free databases; Incompetech and Auditionautix. You can find them both under the links section of JayPreston.com. I spent probably 2 hours listening for the perfect jingles and songs, importing them and cutting them to fit the spots. After alll that was done, I had cut it down to 1 minute and 57 seconds. And I was pretty excited. This is what it sounded like.
My first Demo Take 1
So I sent this out to many people, teachers from my classes, friends, family and reputable VO actors. From friends and family I got great responses, they loved it, from the teachers and VO industry folks, it was quite different. Here is part of an e-mail from a very successful source.
So there you have it. I definitely welcome your feedback and suggestions. I am content with this reel for now, however there still are some tweeks I'd like to make. I am working on my legal and trying to write a good spot that involves two people for dialogue purposes.
Animation Class
I also have begun an Animation Class at Voicecaster with Marsha Goodman. A sort-of legend in the casting directors for Voice Over in my opinion. The first person she ever directed was Mel Blanc, and has been the casting director for shows such as Captain Planet, Inspector Gadget, Ghostbusters, and Sonic the Hedgehog to name ONLY a few. I have one week left, and have gotten many a "high-five" from Marsha. Our last class consists of a feature length animated film where I will be portraying 7 different roles. I can't wait to be doing this sort of thing and getting paid!
Until next time, May the Voice be with you, and as always,
Since May, I have done extensive work on my Commercial Voice Over Reel, gone out on 3 Voice Over auditions, and sent 6 auditions from my home studio. All the feedback I have received has been positive but each time they went with another voice. A few times they wanted a deeper voice, and one time, they wanted a "name". Which to me, always stinks a little. I can't become a "name" until I've booked some reputable gigs, and it's hard to book those gigs unless your a "name", oh, and have an AGENT! The ol' Hollywood Catch 42. (And I've upped the usual "Catch 22", because Hollywood has soo many more ridiculous catches!)
As far as the VO demo reel goes. It sure is a lot of work. And I have to say, as usual, everyone has their own opinions on what you SHOULD and SHOULDN'T do. I've learned to listen to people out here, and get multiple opinions before just jumping on the first thing someone says, even if they are reputable. My advice is to listen to many people and take from them the underlying consensus that is common throughout all advice. If something sticks out to more than one person, or the same advice pops up more than once, Then that is the advice you need. Now understand, that doesn't mean throw out any other valuable advice, it just means be careful and choose wisely. The next part of this blog is a good example.
The Commercial Demo
I was told by a few people that the demo should be no more than 2 minutes and it should be done professionally for it is your calling card. I looked around and the cheapest demo production in California is anywhere from $1,300 to $2,000 and can even be more expensive. That was very disheartening. Taking the VO classes was already hard enough being from $4 to $500 a pop. Not having an agent, not booking extra work, and only waiting tables along with all the bills, There is no way to afford it for someone like me. So, like the home studio, I had to find another way.
I listened to countless demo reels online from various agency websites, (the agencies I wanted to be represented by) and got a great feel for how one should sound. There are a couple rules for your demo.
1) Do not use someone Else's material. Do not re-do commercials you hear on the radio or TV. Someone else already booked that job, and chances are you will submit your demo to an agency that represents the person that did it. And you will not be given a chance.
2) Don't fool with your voice in post. Don't speed up or slow down your voice in your demo electronically. If you fool someone on your demo, you won't be able to re-create that in real life. Big no no.
So with that knowledge, my home studio, and Adobe Audition. I started writing my own commercial spots. Things that I wanted to get booked for. I thought, what do I love? What am I most passionate about? And I wrote commercials for it. But I needed variety, You can't have your demo be all the same sort of commercials, you need a hard sell, a soft sell, and for me, I wanted to showcase the relaxed everyday guy, your friend, humor, my personal "signature" voice. I began recording and re-recording and RE-RECORDING. When all was said and done I had recorded 7 commercials, all about 20 seconds long. I then had to edit them all together and cut them down to under 2 minutes. THEN, I had to find music for each piece. I searched two fantastic free databases; Incompetech and Auditionautix. You can find them both under the links section of JayPreston.com. I spent probably 2 hours listening for the perfect jingles and songs, importing them and cutting them to fit the spots. After alll that was done, I had cut it down to 1 minute and 57 seconds. And I was pretty excited. This is what it sounded like.
My first Demo Take 1
So I sent this out to many people, teachers from my classes, friends, family and reputable VO actors. From friends and family I got great responses, they loved it, from the teachers and VO industry folks, it was quite different. Here is part of an e-mail from a very successful source.
"Reels are no more than 60 seconds at this time - that is the trend - fast and furious - yours is 2 minutes.
Take out the character spot, the spot with the accent and the legal tag - this is a commercial demo not an animation demo. If they want a Brit they will call a Brit not you. And if you want them to know you do legal tags - make a demo with just that - there are people who make that their primary work so you must compete with them.
My favorite spots were the Old Spice and the Hair spot - all of the spots sounds great though - the quality is fabulous - you just need to edit this right down and take out the stuff that shouldn't be in there. Then just use smaller sections of the spots - they are all too long - you need one or two lines at most.
You can't throw all the genres in there to show them how great you are (Animation, Accents, Legal) - it will just show them how inexperienced you are okay? so save them for the appropriate demo (they are good - except the legal which I didn't think was clean or fast enough, sorry)
The advice I am giving you is not my opinion it is the way things are done in vo right now"
Take out the character spot, the spot with the accent and the legal tag - this is a commercial demo not an animation demo. If they want a Brit they will call a Brit not you. And if you want them to know you do legal tags - make a demo with just that - there are people who make that their primary work so you must compete with them.
My favorite spots were the Old Spice and the Hair spot - all of the spots sounds great though - the quality is fabulous - you just need to edit this right down and take out the stuff that shouldn't be in there. Then just use smaller sections of the spots - they are all too long - you need one or two lines at most.
You can't throw all the genres in there to show them how great you are (Animation, Accents, Legal) - it will just show them how inexperienced you are okay? so save them for the appropriate demo (they are good - except the legal which I didn't think was clean or fast enough, sorry)
The advice I am giving you is not my opinion it is the way things are done in vo right now"
So with that and similar replies from industry, I went back into editing and cut it down to 1 minute exactly. And it sounded like this.
I added two new spots and removed a few others. I thought it was great. Sent it back to everyone and the one who wrote that email said it was fantastic. I then heard back from some sound engineers and another actor in the VO world that I hold in very high regards. He said,
"I'm a little concerned about the audio quality. The music doesn't feel integrated with the spots. It feels like the voice track is just laid down on top of it and not mixed."
So, I started to ask around, to figure out what it was that I was doing wrong. It took some time before I got any sort of response from anyone, and then finally I realized, with the help of my good friend Mike, that I was recording in Mono, AND without the use of monitor headphones. I was editing everything to the crappy laptop speakers that I had. So when people heard it on better speakers or different computers it sounded awful. This meant that I had to go back, buy a good pair of headphones, set it all up, and re-record all the spots, and re-mix all the music. I figured while doing this, I'll take into account a few more notes from people, and re-do it all. The headphones are amazing by the way, I highly recommend them. Sony MDR-V6 Monitor Series Headphones You can actually find them cheaper than amazon. Just do some searching. After the new recording and editing, my current Commercial Demo Reel is here.
Jay Preston Commercial VO Demo Reel
Jay Preston Commercial VO Demo Reel
So there you have it. I definitely welcome your feedback and suggestions. I am content with this reel for now, however there still are some tweeks I'd like to make. I am working on my legal and trying to write a good spot that involves two people for dialogue purposes.
Animation Class
I also have begun an Animation Class at Voicecaster with Marsha Goodman. A sort-of legend in the casting directors for Voice Over in my opinion. The first person she ever directed was Mel Blanc, and has been the casting director for shows such as Captain Planet, Inspector Gadget, Ghostbusters, and Sonic the Hedgehog to name ONLY a few. I have one week left, and have gotten many a "high-five" from Marsha. Our last class consists of a feature length animated film where I will be portraying 7 different roles. I can't wait to be doing this sort of thing and getting paid!
Until next time, May the Voice be with you, and as always,
Be Wonderful
Wednesday, May 4, 2011
"MAY" bring me an agent!
It's the beginning of May which will mark the month that this Voice Over career takes another step forward. I am one week away from finishing my second run of classes with Huck over at Voicecaster. He is an excellent teacher and I have definitely increased my knowledge and skills. The classes have given me extra booth experience which is exactly what I wanted. Huck talks very fast which is fantastic, It allows him to cover more in the three hours then usual. He also called me in for an audition recently, that alone, makes the class worth it. :-)
I will be creating my new Demo's this month in prep for my interview/audition with the agent that started this little learning quest. I am very excited to go in there with all I've learned and book myself an agent. In the past two months, I can't tell you how often I heard the words "I would cast you in an instant" and "You are very cast-able" and "It's so hard to find that natural sound" THEREFORE!!! I know I'll be able to book jobs, I just need to get those auditions. I've been working with my home studio, and learning adobe audition which has been alot of fun. As soon as I get some video editing software I will be able to post some funny voice-over video's for you all.
Check back in a few weeks for my demo's! :-)
Be Wonderful!
I will be creating my new Demo's this month in prep for my interview/audition with the agent that started this little learning quest. I am very excited to go in there with all I've learned and book myself an agent. In the past two months, I can't tell you how often I heard the words "I would cast you in an instant" and "You are very cast-able" and "It's so hard to find that natural sound" THEREFORE!!! I know I'll be able to book jobs, I just need to get those auditions. I've been working with my home studio, and learning adobe audition which has been alot of fun. As soon as I get some video editing software I will be able to post some funny voice-over video's for you all.
Check back in a few weeks for my demo's! :-)
Be Wonderful!
Tuesday, March 1, 2011
Creating a Home Studio
Well, today (February 28th) was my last class at Kalmenson & Kalmenson. One of the casting directors for Kalmenson was there today and we got a chance to read some material in front of her and they got a feel for everyone's "truth". So now everyone in the class will be entered into the Kalmenson data base and who knows, maybe one day soon I'll get a phone call for an audition that will pay for my next set of classes! :-) Which means, I've decided to take another class. I'm still debating whether it will be the Kalmenson animation class or another companies. In the meantime I have some reading and practicing to do.
I'm currently reading the book called "the Law of Success" original 1925 edition written by Napoleon Hill. My dad sent it to me and it is an incredible book so far. It's changing my view on some things and strengthening my idea's that I've already been forming. I highly suggest it for yourself. While I'm on the subject of books. Here are three others I suggest and that were suggested to me.
Voice-Over Voice Actor : What it's like behind the mic
I've read this book twice now, once before taking a class in Voice Over, and once during. I may even read it again soon. It's an amazing handbook for anyone thinking about or already in a voice-over career.
These next two books were suggested to me by my voice-over teacher after class today. And this isn't the first time I've heard these books mentioned in my life. So I will be going to the bookstore tomorrow to pick up them up. Here are links for you.
Rich Dad, Poor Dad
How to Win Friends and Influence People
And finally, these next two are books that no actor should be without. They are fun fast reads and you learn more than what you read in the pages. You're thinking, "how is that possible?" Well, pick them up and you will see what I mean. :-)
True and False: Heresy and Common Sense for the Actor
Improvise.: Scene from the Inside Out
So there you have it. A few books I've read and love and some that I will be reading in the very near future. I hope you find them to be as much help as I did and still do today. And now, as promised. I will give you all the necessary tools to create your own at home Voice-Over studio. A must for at home auditions and every day practice. As many of you, I don't have alot of money but I try to make what I do have, last and work for me. Online you can find at home studios to buy, but they are WAY too expensive. These are two examples.
The Porta-Booth Pro : Price $349
Porta-booth : Price $149 (Does not include Microphone)
I decided, that I could just make it myself for $50. The whole set up with a microphone and a pop filter costs a total of $154. VERY VERY affordable! Now, I linked exactly what I bought. Feel free, depending on your budget to upgrade or downgrade the filter and/or microphone. I also have included two recent purchases as optional buys.
You will need:
2 Acoustic Foam 2-1/2" 24" x 18" UL 94
1 14-Inch Collapsible Cube
1 Pop Filter
1 Microphone
Optional Items
Book Light
Music Stand
When the Acoustic Foam comes in you will need to cut it into 5 parts. The first goes into the far back of the cube. Measure and cut out the following pieces of the foam
One Piece @ 14inches X 14inches.
Two Pieces @ 11.7inches X 13inches
One Piece @ 11.2inches X 5.2inches
One Piece @ 10.5inches X 4.8inches
The largest piece fits in the back of the cube, the two sides go in the left and right side, the smallest piece fits on the bottom towards the opening and the final piece squeezes into the top and will curve. The finished product will look like this.
~Jay
I'm currently reading the book called "the Law of Success" original 1925 edition written by Napoleon Hill. My dad sent it to me and it is an incredible book so far. It's changing my view on some things and strengthening my idea's that I've already been forming. I highly suggest it for yourself. While I'm on the subject of books. Here are three others I suggest and that were suggested to me.
Voice-Over Voice Actor : What it's like behind the mic
I've read this book twice now, once before taking a class in Voice Over, and once during. I may even read it again soon. It's an amazing handbook for anyone thinking about or already in a voice-over career.
These next two books were suggested to me by my voice-over teacher after class today. And this isn't the first time I've heard these books mentioned in my life. So I will be going to the bookstore tomorrow to pick up them up. Here are links for you.
Rich Dad, Poor Dad
How to Win Friends and Influence People
And finally, these next two are books that no actor should be without. They are fun fast reads and you learn more than what you read in the pages. You're thinking, "how is that possible?" Well, pick them up and you will see what I mean. :-)
True and False: Heresy and Common Sense for the Actor
Improvise.: Scene from the Inside Out
So there you have it. A few books I've read and love and some that I will be reading in the very near future. I hope you find them to be as much help as I did and still do today. And now, as promised. I will give you all the necessary tools to create your own at home Voice-Over studio. A must for at home auditions and every day practice. As many of you, I don't have alot of money but I try to make what I do have, last and work for me. Online you can find at home studios to buy, but they are WAY too expensive. These are two examples.
I decided, that I could just make it myself for $50. The whole set up with a microphone and a pop filter costs a total of $154. VERY VERY affordable! Now, I linked exactly what I bought. Feel free, depending on your budget to upgrade or downgrade the filter and/or microphone. I also have included two recent purchases as optional buys.
You will need:
2 Acoustic Foam 2-1/2" 24" x 18" UL 94
1 14-Inch Collapsible Cube
1 Pop Filter
1 Microphone
Optional Items
Book Light
Music Stand
When the Acoustic Foam comes in you will need to cut it into 5 parts. The first goes into the far back of the cube. Measure and cut out the following pieces of the foam
One Piece @ 14inches X 14inches.
Two Pieces @ 11.7inches X 13inches
One Piece @ 11.2inches X 5.2inches
One Piece @ 10.5inches X 4.8inches
The largest piece fits in the back of the cube, the two sides go in the left and right side, the smallest piece fits on the bottom towards the opening and the final piece squeezes into the top and will curve. The finished product will look like this.
Now maybe you are wondering... Does it really make a difference? Why not just buy the microphone? I thought the same thing. But unless you have a wide walk in closet, or a soundproof bathroom, these microphones will pick up EVERY little nuance around you. And your voice will bounce of walls and make you sound like your in a cave even if your in a small room. Till next time, Enjoy the books and projects!
~Jay
Thursday, February 17, 2011
The Beginning of a New Voice
February 17, 20011
Working on Voice
I've noticed many signs in my life last year. I've never been one to "look" for signs, and read into things too much. But I began reading a few books at the end of the year and each one of them had something about, "following your path". One day in December I sat back and began to reflect on the past year, and I noticed a few constants. I was constantly getting introduced to people in the Voice Over industry. I thought it was cool, and thought, "hell yah, that would be fun to do". But that's about it. Then I met Rob Paulsen one day at the Technicolor studios. One of my friends is a sound editor there, and allowed me the chance to come in and watch him "work".
Now, I wasn't sure who Rob was. All I knew, is that he was a successful Voice Over actor and he was one of the voices for the Animaniacs (one of my favorite after school shows). So in he comes, average looking guy with a twinkle of "I got this" in his eye. He was to do the voices of three characters in a video game. Two characters he's done before, and then a new one, that he hasn't seen before. He gets in the booth, reads off the page and his voice brings life to the words. Only 1 or two takes needed. First character down, second character down. All the meanwhile joking and laughing in between takes. The third character gets shown on the screen so he can see what it looks like. He immediatly has an idea for the voice, and tries it out. 2 takes later, he's got it. Amazing. He was in the booth for a max of 30 minutes. Job done, paid. It resembled nothing of work, only of a guy playing with his voice and having a fantastic time. He then came into the recording area and chatted with us for a while, and we asked him to do the voice from Animaniacs, he laughed and said he got that all the time, he started to sing the "Nations of the World" song from the show.
Around that same time, I was realizing that I was friends with another Voice Over duo of incredible caliber. Yuri Lowenthal and Tara Platt.
Working on Voice
I've noticed many signs in my life last year. I've never been one to "look" for signs, and read into things too much. But I began reading a few books at the end of the year and each one of them had something about, "following your path". One day in December I sat back and began to reflect on the past year, and I noticed a few constants. I was constantly getting introduced to people in the Voice Over industry. I thought it was cool, and thought, "hell yah, that would be fun to do". But that's about it. Then I met Rob Paulsen one day at the Technicolor studios. One of my friends is a sound editor there, and allowed me the chance to come in and watch him "work".
Now, I wasn't sure who Rob was. All I knew, is that he was a successful Voice Over actor and he was one of the voices for the Animaniacs (one of my favorite after school shows). So in he comes, average looking guy with a twinkle of "I got this" in his eye. He was to do the voices of three characters in a video game. Two characters he's done before, and then a new one, that he hasn't seen before. He gets in the booth, reads off the page and his voice brings life to the words. Only 1 or two takes needed. First character down, second character down. All the meanwhile joking and laughing in between takes. The third character gets shown on the screen so he can see what it looks like. He immediatly has an idea for the voice, and tries it out. 2 takes later, he's got it. Amazing. He was in the booth for a max of 30 minutes. Job done, paid. It resembled nothing of work, only of a guy playing with his voice and having a fantastic time. He then came into the recording area and chatted with us for a while, and we asked him to do the voice from Animaniacs, he laughed and said he got that all the time, he started to sing the "Nations of the World" song from the show.
As he sang the song, a flood of memories came back to me. Sitting at home after school, eating mac & cheese and watching the animaniacs, followed by Ninja Turtles and Gargoyles. After he gave us a taste, he told us a few other voices we may remember, and sure enough. He was in all the shows I watched. He was more of a star to me than I could ever have imagined. I grew up watching pretty much everything he did.
I dare say, it was a life changing moment. My friend urged me to talk to him before he left. He said I may never get the chance again. So I built up some courage quite quickly and met him before he got on the elevator. I told him how much of a fan I was and how I JUST realized it. He laughed and expressed his gratitude. I then asked him, how I could begin. What was the best way for me to start a voice over career. He stated that me being there at that moment is years ahead of anyone just starting. He urged me to continue on "the path" that lead me there. Learn wherever I could, and just have fun. He stated that he wakes up at least once a week and laughs to himself that he does what he does. "It's not work, it's playing." he continues. "Can you believe I just got paid for that, a full days pay, and I have two more jobs later, full days pay." We talked a little longer, he shook my hand and went on his way.
I met these two through the same friend at the Tam O'Shanter (where I work) They are both down to earth and very cool people. It wasn't till about the 2nd or 3rd time I met them that I did the "hollywood thing" and looked them up on IMDB. Then I realized just how well known they both were. I will confess however, that I like meeting people as "people" first, and not knowing that they are "stars". It's nice to know you like someone for who they are and not what they do. And these two are very much that for me. Granted after I realized how successful they are, I am slightly more timid around them, although I try not to be, I think it's just a side effect. They wrote a book called Voice-Over: Voice actor. http://voiceovervoiceactor.com/
I immediately purchased it through their website and was very excited to read it. My first voice-over book, written by people I knew!! They were incredibly nice enough to sign the book and give it to me in person on St. Patty's day last year. I have to say, it felt pretty awesome. I read the book in two days and have since gone back to pages of it at least once a week. I am now, reading it from the start again. It's fantastic. And if you are "THINKING" about a career in Voice-Over, I suggest buying it.
So those are the BIGGEST signs. There still were many small ones here and there throughout the year.
Finally the kicker.
I've never been a fan of the "Hollywood scene", and don't like downtown L.A. much. Long story short, I met a friend of mine's cousins friends who happens to have an extra business card of his aunts in his pocket, My friend tells him about my voice-over interests, a conversation ensues and he hands me the card. "Be sure to call her" he says. So two days later, I call, and set up an interview. Come to find out she's Mary Ellen Lord with SBV (one of the top five casting agencies for Voice-Over in L.A) We talk for a while, she's very down to earth and I can see myself being represented by them. So she sends me to the studio with 5 scripts. I spend about 15 minutes reading them over, and "preparing". I go into the booth and have a blast with the scripts. Really felt good. It was so much fun that while I was in there I was thinking. I could definitely get use to this. I thanked everyone in the agency for there time, and the lady told me she would get back to me in a few days after she listened to the audition. A few days passed and I was very eager to hear from her. She sent me an e-mail saying that it was great meeting me, and she could tell that was definitely not new to acting, however she could tell that I was new to Voice-Over, and suggested a class to take.
Now, up till that point I had 3 other voice-over auditions that I also did not book. I thought. "What is it that I'm doing wrong?? After the audition, everything feels fantastic. I "feel" like I did great. So what am I missing?"
I decided to put my pride away, and sign up for the class. I must be missing something. So I signed up with Kalmenson & Kalmenson
It was expensive, but it is what was suggested to me, and the reviews online seemed great. I'm not one to take classes in L.A. due to all the horror stories I've heard about and witnessed. They are 90% scam/moneypits. But this one, this one was on my "path".
I learned within the first two classes exactly what I was doing wrong. I learned how people could tell I was new. Little things, little "tells". It's been 6 weeks and I have one more class left. I hope to be prepared and use everything I've learned to impress the casting director during this class. But here is what is funny. I've never been one to admit something like this. But I still don't feel "ready". I feel like I need more practice, like I can learn more. Unfortunately the price for such education is a bit ridiculous. I would love to take there next course and there animation course. But I feel I may want to try a new company. Maybe a more affordable company. At least that's where my mind is pulling me.
I am setting up a home recording studio and learning Adobe Audition, so that I can practice at home every day and hopefully start producing some little wav. files for you all to listen to. I also have a very exciting project in the works. But I can't tell you about that now. If you have lasted through this "book-like-blog" I commend you. I am not really writing it "for" anyone. But if it can help anyone, or if it holds enough interest for at least one person, then it's worth it. I am writing this to keep my thoughts in order, and to keep track of a year of success.
I leave you with this.
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