Audio VO interview for jitZul

Here is a pretty comprehensive interview I did about the Voice Over business and how I work and what goes on! Ryan Cooper interviewed for JitZul:

Lili Wexu Interview for JitZul
Transcript_ Lili Wexu Voice Over interview for JitZul

VO Interview…

Someone this summer asked me a couple questions and I thought I’d share the answers as they might be helpful to you:

Q: How did you go about getting such a wide range of work towards the beginning of your career?
A: I didn’t really…I was very much hired to do the same thing all the time, which over time, kind of stifled me and made me lazy (however fortunate I was to be working at all!). So I trained with some of the very best coaches to get me out of my comfort zone and record new demos, showcasing a better range…

Q: Did you get an agent early on?
A: I didn’t have a Voiceover agent for most of my 14 year career. Their help has been extremely limited in my case. I now have several agents, but none exclusively. I get most of my work online, through my website.

Q: Your tone is so conversational/relaxed in each of your clips, no matter the subject or emotion. What types of practices do you do each day/week to keep your range?
A: Read, read, read, read…out loud, like you mean it, just read and “admit” the information (one of the many tricks my mentor taught me). That’s the best exercise. Don’t ever try to sound “good”. A good voiceover artist shouldn’t sound good, but rather be believable. We forgive lots of things if we can believe what we hear…same with acting…we forgive many bad looks and strange faces if we believe the actors. If you say a line like “43 cats escaped form the pound the other day”, just make a confession. Don’t try and make it “sound” like anything…it’s the biggest mistake people make. Focus on your acting, on story telling, not on your voice.

A: What is your recording process like? I end up recording multiple takes of each piece in order to get the correct annunciation and inflections. I assume it will always be like this, but perhaps eventually it will only be 1-3 takes instead of 3-6!
Q: Absolutely. I still do 5 takes some times! Not as often, but some times I am challenged because of words or a new style of copy or because a client is being picky, or because I am in a funny mood! -Remember this is performance so you’re not always the same, and besides, hopefully you’ll always be learning.

A Voice Over look Behind the Scenes

If you wonder what recording a voice over might be like, here is an example of a few sessions:

Lili Wexu: Female Voice Talent – Artiste Voix Off from Lili Wexu on Vimeo.

Voiceover business Overview

Since my early days in 1997 and until I had a website in 2003, things were still running the “old way” so to speak: a voice over artist had an agent with contacts at advertising agencies and production companies, who were in turn actively seeking talent to record their campaigns or projects. The talent would get selected to do a job; the call was made to the talent as well as a studio to record the job from, and the talent would simply show up, record and go home and probably never hear about the client again.

In 2003, I must have been among some of the very first female voice over artists to have a professional “home studio”, enabling a whole new “work at a distance” process for producers and advertising agencies. At the time, most VO professionals would never think twice about figuring out how to work a recording rig, and edit their own work; showing up at a studio was far too comfortable.

Meanwhile, due to a strike in the American Actor’s union, which had a domino effect on the Canadian union, many Unionized actors and voice over talents could not work, but production companies still needed voice over talent. At this point, it seemed the world was conspiring to change: advancements in technology suddenly made having a home studio affordable, and many savvy radio disc jockeys figured they could do some freelance work and service those needy clients “outside” of their “radio station” outfit.

Producers realized they could save big money by using Non-Union talent, without having to negotiate rates either or even schedule through an agency, and without having to hire a separate studio.  As mentioned previously, many voice over talents, -mostly radio jocks, were in the sidelines and able to take advantage of this window of change. It was argued many times over that the level of talent available online was simply not up to par with agency talent. Many times, this proved to be true, doubly so because the world of advertising and television narration itself was shifting to a much more natural style, versus the classic “announcer” style of read, which many disc jockeys struggled with.

But still, by the time the acting strike was over and by mid 2006, the world had changed: producers could now get talent online on the spot, for cheaper, with no agency hassle, and no studio costs. If the Union actors wanted to compete, from here on, no matter how talented, they would need to equip themselves with recording gear and learn new production skills.

Also during this time, businesses like Voices.com along with their competitor, Voice123.com, emerged and consequently became an enormous force on the market and have helped tremendously in shaping the world of voice overs as it is today; they enabled producers and clients to connect online (as opposed to the traditional agency model way of connecting). As a result, Voices.com is home to over 20,000 voice actors from around the world, representing over 100 languages, and servicing over 83,000 organizations who need voiceovers recorded for a wide spectrum of projects, including text to speech systems, commercials for television and radio, audio books, video games, animation, telephony, eLearning, business and corporate narration, imaging, movie trailers, film, etc.

In conclusion, the voice over professional of today is empowered and perfectly able to build his/her very own independent business and find leads easily and promptly. And with methods of payment like paypal.com, the VO talent no longer needs to wait 30 days to be paid, and chase after a paper trail. She can invoice directly from the system and get paid on time, and securely from the customer’s stand point.

Needless to say that in contemporary times, this job is perfect for a stay at home mom or dad looking for personal realization and adjustable hours. It’s also perfect for any actor who wants to take charge of his of her career. But like any business, it is highly competitive and understanding the requirements of the field as well being committed to Excellency is necessary to enjoy future success.

What is a voice over? (TV & Radio Commercial VOs)

Voice Talent is a term commonly used to designate a voice over professional. Voice over talent is the more accurate and descriptive term; -since voice talent can also designate a singer.

The term “voice overs” describes the effect of having a “voice” juxtaposed to an image on Television or in the Theater, -say in the case of a commercial or in a documentary. The idea is to “hide” the person or the actor who is “voicing” the words, so as not to distract from the image, which is meant to evoke more emotions than if the viewer were to watch a person, or actor, tell the story in words. The “image” consequently becomes the “hero”.

TV and Radio Commercial Voice Overs:

Let’s assume for the sake of this article, that advertisers want to take us on an emotional journey in order to sell us their product, thus neatly hiding the sale in between some emotional cushions meant to create needs in us, -along with the subsequent desire to obtain their product, rather than just coldly selling their us their product.

This is why many voice overs for television commercials are generally more soothing. Anything loud or intrusive would distract from the film, so to speak, or the image, and suddenly the viewer would be forced out of the experience and realize he was being sold something.

Whereas, in radio, a story is told “sonically”; in words, music, and often, accompanied by sound effects. Here, voices can have much more variations, and it is in fact often required of them to be much more animated and to “act out” a scenario. Characters take center stage: a mother checking in with her son, a husband asking his wife for advice, two women sharing experiences about a product, etc. In this case, what takes the listener out of the experience is the lack of authenticity from the voice over actors, i.e. If one believes he is listening to a father recounting the story about how he lost his son to a drunk driver, the listener is effectively taken on emotional voyage, akin to the dramatic film he might see on TV.

As a side note, it’s also worth mentioning that in contemporary advertising, voice “placing” has evolved as such that it is now much more common to find a “working class” type of voice in a classic TV announcement and a “voice over narrator” in a radio commercial. The latter is often used for comedic effect while the former often helps bring authenticity to a brand (usually trying to convey that the brand is “real” and so the viewer isn’t being sold anything, but rather suggested to use the product as plain common sense).

Hello Voice Over world!

Ah voice overs! Slowly compiling Resources, Trends, How to’s, General Info, News, etc…