Recently a subscriber to my Radio Advertising Letter uploaded her voiceover demo and asked for some feedback.
I hadn’t ever had any contact with this person. The only information I had about her was her name, her e-mail address, and her geographic location. Her email address was at a Yahoo.com account, so it didn’t give any clues as to who her employer is.
Here is what I said:
“You asked for my opinion, so….It sounds very much like a radio person, while people who sound like real people get most of the good jobs. You’d profit from some good acting lessons. Virtually all the great VO people have studied acting.”
She replied:
“One of the things I’ve always been told as a DJ is that I’m unradio. Conversational.”
She simply refused to believe that she had “radio” in her voice. Even though I — who knew absolutely nothing at all about her, not even if she was employed at a radio station — instantly could tell she’s worked in radio.
Voiceover mastery is not about your voice. It’s about your ability to act in front of a microphone.
If you want a real voiceover career, by all means purchase the wonderful VO-related products in my catalogue. But more importantly: Take acting lessons.
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As a former production director, I used to cringe when I had to produce those local two voicer spots with announcers trying to be real people with bad copy to start with. The result most times is somewhere between laughing out loud funny and just plain terrible. Announcers are just that, announcers. They really don’t know how to grasp anything else most of the time and trying to direct them in that concept can be rather frustrating, especially when you want to achieve a superior product, but the talent doesn’t have the skills to talk like a real person while interpreting copy, it’s a skill all it’s own.
I often think of the WKRP line when out of work DJ Bob Burnett hijacks Johnny Fever’s broadcast at the stereo shop “Can’t you see the Announcer? it’s written all over me!” Yes it often is.
I will go as far to say that acting training should be manditory for anyone taking a broadcast course.
You really can hear the radio in your voice.
Dan,
Thanks for the very insightful post. It’s so very hard to hear ourselves for how we really sound, but we’re never going to make much progress in voiceover until we can.
Acting classes are vital. I’d say working with a superior voiceover coach is also very important.
Be well,
Bob Souer