It’s a fair question, 

“I’m new to my voiceover journey, so how do I come up with the content required to present myself in a professional light, like someone who knows what they’re doing?”

Before you climb under the covers, here are some handy tips to help you as we consider what you do have to promote…

Here’s No:1

Focus on YOUR personal background 

The first thing to consider in figuring this out is: 

Your client's problem…

Yup! 

Your client's problem… and that is, they need a solution to their problem, whatever that is… Why you? 

You need to show them that with all your life experience, you are a unique solution to their problem!

So, let’s play this idea out…

Tell me, aside from having some understanding of voiceover, what experience do you have in life that you can draw upon, as a solution to your client's issue?

You’ve read,

You’ve experienced relationships, been in...

I wanted to start today’s blog by sharing a story from the very famous Stephen Fry,

UK’s celebrated narrator of JK Rowling’s Harry Potter series…

So, the story goes that Stephen was discussing the narration of the then-new author’s first Potter book and she mentioned proudly that she had another on the way… 

(who would’ve guessed, right?) Apparently Stephen Fry said something terribly condescending to ‘JK’ about her next book along the lines of: Oh how splendid! Good for you! 

According to Stephen Fry, he was a marked man from that day…

In a chapter of the first book, a line that Stephen had to read was ‘Harry pocketed it’... he had no end of trouble trying to pronounce the phrase so, he suggested a revision to JK Rowling, saying that it would be so much easier to say ‘Harry put it in his pocket’... JK Rowling vehemently disagreed with any change in the copy and to add insult to injury...

- To be smooth, creamy, and noise-free!

It sounds like an advert for a new thick shake, I know… however, it’s also an important subject when it comes to the craft of voiceover and a working knowledge of these plug-ins will help you immensely on your VO Journey…

Today, we are going through the plug-ins that are hard to live without, are well worth their investment many times over and their powerful effects will save your hair, your stress levels, and most importantly, your growing band of clients…

You’ll find most voiceover artists are familiar with and recommend Waves or Izotope plugins and it’s a good idea to check out both as deals and packages come up across the year… both brands are great and completely adequate for the type of editing and production you’ll require.

Most are pretty much ‘set and forget’ and it’s also possible and highly advisable to organize a ‘preset’ in your post-production...

So, today we’ve decided to enter the murky, oily, vacuous world of Microphones, and which one is the right one for you?? Oh, Brother!!

Let me quietly and carefully start by saying, there are many different types of Microphones and all of them have their place in the world and some of them shine in certain applications and aren’t so great in others, some are iconic, some are old school… but in order to try and pull back the curtains to ‘demystify’ the whole process of choosing the right microphone from a Voiceover Journey point of view… we’d better start with what each Microphone does…

But first, What does a Microphone do?

Put simply, a microphone captures sound waves and converts these waves into electrical impulses that can then be read and ‘understood’ by analog or digital recording equipment, or in our case, a digital interface or DAW, connected to your computer.

We could get into how microphones produce AC...

Hi all, 

I just wanted to share an experience that really stuck with me and I hope it is of great benefit to you and your daily habits on your voiceover journey…

I was watching my cat, still sleeping peacefully in his bed (after running an all-night rampage) whilst I shook off another less than spectacular night’s sleep like a bear with a sore head and had ‘breakfast’ with the family… I’d only recently dragged myself out of the sack, disheveled, the little bit of hair I had was even messed up, shuffled to the kitchen a little bleary-eyed and managed to help to get the kids sorted with cereals, toast, a spoon in the eye as per usual, only to have it dawn on me that I’d missed a major opportunity and I was also reminded of a super valuable habit we should all consider.

While I was preoccupied, trying to get a cornflake out of my ear, my cat opened his dreamy eyes, yawned wide to his very back molars, gave a little...

There’s a point in every voice over journey when we’ll need to move from one recording space to another space and the reasons are endless…

The noisy neighbours, a better suburb, a different town or city, a new daytime job, the variables go on and on, but sure enough, at some point you’ll need to create a recording space, whether it be a permanent arrangement or just a solution in a hotel for the weekend…

If I was to ask you what was the most important aspect of the quality of your voiceover recordings, what would your answer be? 

• Your Microphone?
• Perhaps it’s your audio chain and the way it’s configured?
• Your DAW? (Digital audio workstation)
• Interface?

Let me preface my next statement with a big, fat, resounding NO!

Listen closely: The most important aspect to the quality of your recording is:

Your recording space!

Your recording space needs to be:

• Quiet
• Free of reverb or echo…
• Free of refraction
• Treated 

So,...

Three tips to market yourself locally... 

So, firstly, how do we keep the clients we have?

Here’s your first tip:

Under promise and Over deliver…

It means when you get an audition, don’t give one take and move on, give three, provide them fast and friendly, always say please and thank you and be cheery, informative and easy to work with…

When that audition finally becomes a project or two or three...

Be professional, helpful, and convenient.

I’m sure you’ve heard the saying: It’s all about how you market your voice over business…

Here is the hot tip people, IT IS...all about how you market your voice over business!

But there’s also an ‘addendum’ to that statement,

Do more of what works… and less of what doesn’t…

What does that mean exactly? This one took me a long time to knuckle down but I think I got it...

It means you need to be constantly leaving ‘marketing landmines’ for potential clients to ‘trip over’ but these landmines need to be where your potential clients will find them!

It’s a fact that as an entrepreneur, you can spend a lot of money and time on voiceover portals, pay to play and social media websites and mailer programs, etc, that bring slim results, if any.

Which brings me back to the statement, DO MORE of what works…

Now, to Fiverr...

Fiverr was once known as a ‘cheapie freelancer...

“So, just in case you didn’t know it yet, you’re a can of soup”…

“What? How do you come to that conclusion?”

“Well, you have a label, don’t you? And content? And you’re attracted to some, but maybe not to others, for all sorts of reasons… and you’ve got a price! 

But who sets that price? YOU? Or your market? Or both?...

All good questions that we will explore in this article, What price does your Brand command?

Not sure if you’ve struck upon it yet, but there will come a time in your VO journey when someone tells you:

1. They like your voice and

2. They’d like you to forward your rate card…

I don’t think, in all my years as a voice talent, when I’ve sent my rate card to someone, they’ve emailed back and said Great! I love your rates! Here’s a Voiceover job for you! 

There’s usually some form of negotiation that takes place, which brings up a good...